Endowments; Students, Foreign--Religious life; Students, Foreign--Services for; New York (N.Y.); Committee on Friendly Relations among Foreign Students; YMCA of the USA. International Committee; Mott, John R. (John Raleigh), 1865-1955
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Date
[between 1911 and March 11, 1914]
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 79
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
The YMCA and Mission Boards of different denominations worked extensively with foreign students to imbue them with American Christian values. They also encouraged the students to keep in close contact with students and Christian movements back in thei r homelands. In an effort to centralize the coordination of foreign student work, a Committee on Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students (the Committee hereafter) was organized in 1911 under the auspices of the YMCA with the legendary Christian leader John R. Mott as the General Secretary. The formation of this organization indicated the beginning of a unique endeavor of American Christian groups to win the hearts of foreign future leaders to Christianity. The Committee mobilized local churches and intercollegiate YMCAs to promote contact and cultural understanding between foreign students and Americans in a time when racial discrimination and prejudice created tremendous social barriers and alienation for non-white students in American society. The Committee also helped foreign students organize Christian associations according to national origins, which included the Chinese Students' Christian Association, the Japanese Students' Christian Association, the Filipino Students' Christian Movement, the Korean Students' Federation, the Indian Student Organization, the Russian Students' Christian Association, and the Latin American Student Organization. Various service programs such as the port-of-entry service, personal visits, group meetings, faculty advising, summer conferences, and home hospitality were developed to help students adjust to American society and to foster ecumenical fellowship. The Committee's publications and annual surveys of foreign students made known their needs to a wider public and motivated other individuals and organizations to work with foreign students." [SOURCE: Bu, Liping. “The Challenge of Race Relations: American Ecumenism and Foreign Student Nationalism, 1900-1940.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, 2001, pp. 217–218. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27556965. Accessed 25 Sep. 2018.]