Established in 1911 as the Trustees of Phelps Stokes Fund by an act of the New York State legislature and known for much of its history as the Phelps-Stokes Fund, Phelps Stokes connects emerging leaders and organizations in Africa and the Americas with resources to help them advance social and economic development. In November 2008, the organization dropped "Fund" from its name.

Among the many organizations that trace their roots to Phelps Stokes are UNCF

United Negro College Fund

The United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...

, the Booker Washington Agricultural and Industrial Institute (BWI), the American Indian College Fund

American Indian College Fund

The American Indian College Fund is an nonprofit organization that helps Native American students, providing them with support through scholarships and funding toward higher education...

, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium

American Indian Higher Education Consortium

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium was established in 1972, in order to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations...

, the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the Association of Black American Ambassadors.

Phelps Stokes (PS) is especially known for its contribution to education in the U.S. South and British colonial Africa. Indeed, Edward Berman writes that between 1911 and 1945, Phelps Stokes "played a role in American Negro and especially in African education disproportionate to the rather meagre financial resources it contributed directly to these endeavors between 1911, when it was incorporated, and 1945. The Fund's [Phelps Stokes'] endowment of slightly less than $1 million was small when compared with other philanthropic organizations established early in the twentieth century."

United States

Phelps Stokes has promoted a number of published studies on critical social issues. In the United States, it commissioned groundbreaking studies of black intellectual potential for college education at the University of Virginia and the University of Georgia. Phelps Stokes also supported the historic Jeanes Teachers Program, which became a model for education in the rural South.

American Indians

The original charter of Phelps Stokes (PS) included deliberate attention to the needs of American Indians, particularly for the educational and human development of those historically underrepresented and marginalized. Throughout its history, PS has built upon this foundation in a variety of ways.

The first thirty-years: 1911 - 1941

During the first thirty years, PS made small grants totaling approximately $19,000 for Indian schools, organizations, and scholarships. Its first grant was allocated in 1915 with $1,000 to Reverend Henry Roe Cloud and Professor F.A. McKenzie to conduct a preliminary survey of the state of Indian schools.
In 1926, PS gave a $5,000 grant to the Institute for Government Research (now the Brookings Institution) to conduct a research project under the leadership of Lewis Meriam. John Rockefeller, Jr. provided primary financial underwriting for that program. The report, the Problem of Indian Administration, commonly known as the Meriam Report

Meriam Report

The Meriam Report , whose official title was The Problem of Indian Administration, was commissioned by the Institute for Government Research and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation...

, served as the basis in the 1930s for the Roosevelt Administration’s policy towards American Indians. This policy, groundbreaking for its time, urged the U.S. government to allow American Indians to exist as culturally unique peoples, and to retain reservation land bases in their control. The policy also established most of the contemporary tribal governments through the Indian Reorganization Act.
In 1939, the Indian Rights Association (IRA) requested assistance to study the controversy over the range management controversy on the Navajo Reservation. Phelps Stokes provided $1,800 for the study. This inquiry was eventually published by Thomas Jesse Jones, The Navajo Problem: An Inquiry. One aspect of that study was Ella Deloria’s The Navajo Indian Problem. That year, PS also helped found the American Indian Institute in Wichita, Kansas under the leadership of Henry Roe Cloud.

Subsequent decades: 1942 - 1969

Phelps Stokes’ involvement in American Indian communities waned after World War II. However, its commitments renewed with the appointment of Dr. Wilton Dillon as Executive Secretary and Director of Research in 1957.
During the initial years of Dillon’s leadership, PS became involved in planning studies and conferences related to American Indian development and encouraged cooperation and communication among public and private agencies that were concerned with Indian affairs. This assistance typically came in the form of $1,500 grants to organizations such as Arrow, Inc., an affiliate of the National Congress of American Indians

National Congress of American Indians

The National Congress of American Indians is a American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the U.S. government forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and...

.
In 1958, Phelps Stokes began to look beyond the borders of the United States. Phelps Stokes provided $1,500 to American Indian Development Inc. for a group of American Indian leaders to travel to Puerto Rico. There, the group studied a local community development program, which resulted in scholarships for Indian students to study at the University of Puerto Rico. On a smaller scale, PS informally helped the Museum of Primitive Art in New York organize an art exhibit and provided small grants to individual studies related to Indian issues.
In 1960, Dillon organized a symposium on Economic Development and the American Indian during the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology held at the University of Pittsburgh. During that meeting, participants discussed such issues as how tribal structure compares to that of a corporation.
Over the next several years, PS continued to provide small grants for projects. For example, in 1961, PS gave $500 for a photographic study of Navajo education. In 1963, Dillon represented PS at the National Congress of American Indians Leadership Conference where PS sponsored discussions focused on juvenile delinquency, law enforcement, land tenure problems and relationships with state governments.
In 1962, Dillon was asked to become the Executive Secretary for the Association of American Indian Affairs. Although he did not accept the position, the offer recognized his leadership and commitment to the welfare of the American Indian.

The 1970s and 1980s

In 1970, Franklin Williams

Franklin Williams (diplomat)

Franklin H. Williams was a lawyer and civil rights leader in the United States. As an assistant to Thurgood Marshall he represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People before courts in criminal cases throughout the South...

 became President of Phelps Stokes. Williams began organizing conversations with various organizations, such as the American Indian Community House to help revitalize and strengthen Phelps Stokes’ presence in Indian communities.
The following year, PS began work on the American Indian Reference Book, modeled after the American Negro Reference Book, also previously sponsored by PS. In 1973, Dr. Mable Smythe, Vice President for Research and Publications, held a planning conference with an ad hoc committee to determine whether the Reference Book should be developed using a $7,500 Ford Foundation grant. Fred Dockstader, Director of the Museum of the American Indian in New York, was a member of the committee. The Museum was later absorbed by the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Because the Smithsonian Institution was launching a more extensive Native American Reference Book, PS ceased its efforts and returned the remaining grant money to the Ford Foundation in 1957.

In 1973, Tom Katus joined PS as Program Coordinator. Katus assisted the development of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Together with Gerald One Feather, he secured a $25,000 grant from the Ford Foundation.

Katus also initiated the Indian Educational Development Internship Program at PS. The first intern was Twila Martin (Chippewa), followed by Paige Baker, Jr. (Mandan-Hidatsa), Robert McLaughlin (Standing Rock Sioux) and Chuck Jacobs (Oglala Lakota). Discussions began with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State to develop International Indigenous Educational Exchange Programs for American Indians and indigenous groups throughout the world.

Phelps Stokes also implemented an international Indian educational exchange conference by enabling a Navajo Community College staff member to participate in an exchange with Caribbean and African educators. It also assisted in the proposal writing and funding for Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota.

In 1974, PS implemented a contract with AIHEC to provide assistance for training a development officer, Paige Baker, Jr. and conducted initial research to develop the American Indian College Fund based on the model of the United Negro College Fund whose creation Phelps Stokes supported. Barbara Bratone, Development Officer at PS helped AIHEC launch AICF, and offices were initially located at the Phelps Stokes headquarters in New York City. Bratone later became Director of Development for AICF and served in that capacity for 25 years.

Under the AIHEC contract, PS, the Johnson Foundation and AIHEC co-sponsored the first philanthropic conference ever held in “Indian Country.” More than 40 philanthropists from throughout the United States attended a conference at the Chief Gall Inn on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. As a result of that meeting, PS and AIHEC published a report on Indian Higher Education and Philanthropy. Baker, Martin and Katus conducted the research and wrote The Directory of American Indian Private Funding Sources, published by AIHEC. This directory was critically reviewed by The Foundation News as “the best [funding directory] ever published.”

In 1975, Paige Baker, Jr. became the Director of American Indian Programs at PS, where he continued to develop international exchange programs. A State Department grant allowed Paige Baker, Tom Katus and Gerald Gipp to travel to Ghana to explore exchange programs between Ghanaian and American Indian educators. The group also traveled to South Africa and met with leaders of South Africa’s Bantustans, who were opposed to the apartheid government. They concluded their visit to the African Continent by meeting with officials in Kenya.

While the Ghanaians were responsive to the idea of an exchange program, American Indian community colleges could not release key faculty members for an extended exchange. The trip was a successful example of an international exchange of ideas. The work with American Indians across national boundaries continued when Martin, Baker and others attended the first major conference between North and Latin American Indians. Baker later secured funding for a Central American tribal exchange exploration.

In 1976, PS received a grant from USOE Title III for its Indian Education Division to provide long-range planning and management assistance to AIHEC member institutions, including: Ft. Berthold Community College, Standing Rock Community College, Turtle Mountain Community College (ND), and Sinte Gleska College (SD). Phelps Stokes also secured an initial grant to launch the Native-American Philanthropic News Service (NAPNS). Rose Robinson (Hopi), noted Native American journalist, was hired to direct NAPNS. She published The Exchange, a quarterly publication for information exchange between Indians and the Philanthropic world; The Roundup, news briefs and opportunities for Indian groups; Bulletins, an information piece on meetings and events; and the famed Red Book, a pocket size directory updated quarterly of all key federal officials with an interest in Native American programs. In 1977, Robinson succeeded Baker as Director of Phelps Stokes’ Native American programs. She was based out of Phelps Stokes’ Washington, DC office.

In 1977, Katus established the western office of Phelps Stokes, located in Rapid City, South Dakota. Together with Gerald One Feather and with full support of PS, they launched the Rural Ethnic Institute. Mr. One Feather and Mr. Katus co-hosted the Red-White TV Dialogue. For seven years, this program aired on over 20 commercial television stations in eight states, reaching an audience of 4.3 million viewers. One Feather and Katus also teamed up to conduct an exchange program with twelve African educators. These educators from French- and English-speaking African countries stayed on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations, hosted by Native families for one week. Their visit culminated in a dynamic wrap-up conference comparing the issues of colonialism in Africa and the subsequent acculturation of many African leaders with the issue of U.S. colonialism and its subsequent acculturation of Native Americans on the nation's reservations.

In 1977, PS created an Indian Advisory Board. The Board guided PS in the planning and coordination of a State Department-sponsored project, Indian Meso-American Linkages. This program sent four American Indians on a tour of Mexico and Guatemala to determine the feasibility of exchange program between Central and North American Indian groups.

The Phelps Stokes New York office continued to grow as it hired a Native American intern to focus on its efforts in American Indian communities. The Native American-Philanthropic News Service (NAPNS) expanded its publication services and began to also provide technical assistance and consultative services to tribes and urban Indian

Urban Indian

Urban Indians are Native Americans in the United States who live in urban areas. Urban Indians represent a growing proportion of the Native population in the United States...

 organizations throughout the United States. It also showcased forums and receptions highlighting Native American issues and generating private funding support. Lionel Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota), President, Sinte Gleska College (later to become Sinte Gleska University) succeeded Twila Martin Kekahbah as a Trustee on the PS Board. Richard West (Cheyenne), currently Director of the National Museum of the American Indian and Gene Crawford (Omaha), Director of Native American Services for the Lutheran Church of America, also served as Trustees of Phelps Stokes.

Phelps Stokes’ American Indian Program relied primarily on grants from foundations and corporations, including: General Mills Foundation, Donner Foundation, Aetna Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, New Land Foundation, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, AMAX Corporation and Union Carbide. By the end of the 1970s, the Phelps Stokes budget for American Indian programs was $114,000.
In the 1980s, international exchanges continued. In 1980, PS arranged an exchange experience between American Indians and a group of African students studying in the U.S. This exchange was coordinated by the Native American Center for the Living Arts in Niagara Falls, New York. In 1983, PS staff traveled to West Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Morocco) to study legal and educational institutions in those countries in comparison to American Indian institutions. This program was funded by several grants, including funds from the Ann Maytag Shaker Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.

Rose Robinson became a Vice President of Phelps Stokes and conducted numerous conferences, workshops and meetings to assist Native Americans to raise their visibility and attract the attention of foundations. During this time, PS worked with the Native American Science Association as on the suicide prevention work of Zelma Minthorn.

Today

Phelps Stokes’ involvement with American Indian issues waned again in the 1990s. With the appointment of Dr. Badi Foster as Phelps Stokes’ sixth president in 2001, Phelps Stokes is committed to reinvigorating its efforts with American Indian and indigenous communities worldwide.
Phelps Stokes is reestablishing its ties in Indian Country with AIHEC and others and honors its legacy as a convener of people and facilitator of exchanges for indigenous people.
In 2007, Phelps Stokes hosted a three-day conference and film festival at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in Cloquet, MN. The purpose of the conference, themed “Erasing Preconceptions: From Stereotype to Reality,” was to increase Native American students’ ability to understand and deconstruct media images and messages embedded in popular culture. The conference exposed students to films and videos that explore the social and political complexities related to race, ethnicity, class, and gender. After viewing the films, students engaged with prominent filmmakers in order to further their understanding of the messages, values and lifestyles portrayed in the stories.
One of the other major projects of Phelps Stokes is its involvement as a national programming organization for the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program

International Visitor Leadership Program

The International Visitor Leadership Program is a professional exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State Office of International Visitors in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The purpose of the program is to help build mutual understanding between citizens of the U.S....

.

Africa

Phelps Stokes is known for its work in Africa. Phelps Stokes convened several commissions to study the educational conditions and needs of black Africans, and made recommendations for improving access and quality. The renowned Dr. James E. K. Aggrey, known as “the Booker T. Washington of Africa,” helped to lead the commissions and to not only established the blueprint for primary and secondary education in British Africa from the 1920s to the 1960s, but also to lay the foundation for Phelps Stokes’ comprehensive model for education.
Currently, Phelps Stokes supports the DuBois Center for Pan-African Culture in Accra, Ghana. Established in 1985 as a national monument of Ghana, the Center is being convert from a government-supported institution to one that is self-sustaining.
Phelps Stokes' relationship with South Africa began in 1929 with the establishment of the South African Committee on Race Relations, which later became the South African Institute on Race Relations. The Fund also operated the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Southern Africa Refugee Scholarship Fund and the Southern African Scholarship Fund, which in the 1980s provided free college education to hundreds of black young adults from southern Africa.

Focus on Liberia

Through its founding family, the Phelps Stokes Fund enjoys a long and special relationship with Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, dating back to the nineteenth century. The Phelps Stokes family played an active role in assisting freed U.S. slaves to settle in Liberia, and the first flag of Liberia was sewn in the home of Anson Phelps Stokes in the mid nineteenth century. The first President of Liberia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts

Joseph Jenkins Roberts

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first and seventh President of Liberia. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, Roberts emigrated to Liberia in 1829 as a young man. He opened a trading store in Monrovia, and later engaged in politics...

, was well acquainted with both Anson Greene Phelps and Thomas Stokes. The generous spirit of Anson Phelps upon his passing provided the necessary funding for a theological department in Liberia. The creation of this department led to the founding of Liberia College in 1851. Between 1911 and 1946 many African students passed through the office receiving almost $21,000.00 in educational support.
Over the years, the family’s profound interest in educating Liberians inspired the granddaughters of Anson Phelps Stokes, Caroline and Olivia Phelps Stokes. Their passion for the educational advancement of Liberians would lead to lifelong commitments to the country and its people. In 1898, Caroline Phelps Stokes endowed the Roberts Memorial Scholarship at Tuskegee College

Tuskegee University

Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...

 in honor of the first president of Liberia. In addition to the scholarship Caroline also willed a generous amount of money to support the creation of the Phelps Stokes Fund upon her passing in 1909. Through this bequest, the Phelps Stokes Fund was officially established in 1911. Phelps Stokes has maintained—with only brief interruptions due to conflict in Liberia—an official presence in Liberia since the 1920s.

Phelps Stokes’ contribution to Liberian education has been particularly outstanding. In 1924, the Fund convened an Advisory Committee led by James Sibley, a strong proponent of the Booker Washington education philosophy. In 1926, the committee conducted the first survey of educational work being done in Liberia. The Committee concluded that most of the work conducted by religious missions was superficial and lacked contact with the community. Sibley later organized a Teacher lecture series that was attended by 95% of teachers in Liberia and ultimately persuaded the government to contribute money towards publication of textbooks adapted to Liberian and West African conditions. In 1927, Sibley organized the Association of Jeanes Teachers for Liberia to raise money for education in Liberia. The Jeanes Teachers Association of Liberia was successful in supporting the much-needed expansion of the Methodist Episcopal’s St. Paul River Industrial Institute and changed its name to the Booker Washington Institute. In the latter part of 1927, the Liberian Legislature granted a charter to the Association to incorporate the Booker T. Washington Agricultural and Industrial Institute. At the same time, Ms. Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes, whose bequest established the Phelps Stokes Fund, provided significant financial support to the newly established Booker Washington Institute, thereby renewing a longstanding offer to make a significant grant towards the establishment of a “Tuskegee in Africa.” Since then, the Fund has worked closely with the leadership and staff of the Booker Washington Institute to build an institution that, like Tuskegee University, is deeply rooted in the notion of education in the service of the people. Phelps Stokes President Badi Foster reaffirmed the Phelps Stokes’ commitment to BWI when he accepted appointment to the BWI Board of Governors in spring 2008.

Phelps Stokes also contributed to the development of other postsecondary education institutions in Liberia. Specifically, Phelps Stokes helped to develop the curricula and training faculty at Cuttington College

Cuttington University

Cuttington University is a private university in Suacoco, Liberia. Founded in 1889 as Cuttington College by Episcopal Church of the United States , it is the oldest private, coeducational, four-year, degree-granting institution in sub-Saharan Africa.-History:In 1887, Robert Fulton Cutting,...

 and hosted Cuttington College in-exile at the Phelps Stokes offices in New York City during the height of the Liberian civil war. Phelps Stokes was also instrumental in supporting the development of the Ricks Institute in Virginia, Liberia. When the Liberian civil war ceased temporarily in 1997, the Fund implemented a training program for former combatants at the Booker T. Washington Institute (BWI) in collaboration with USAID. As a result of this program nearly 2,500 Liberians were trained and prepared for productive employment as artisans and skilled technicians. In addition to this training program, the library and several buildings at BWI were also renovated.

In 2006, the Phelps Stokes Fund created the Girls and Women’s Empowerment and Leadership program that utilized radio and information communications technology to give a voice to victimized girls and women of Liberia. The program delivered non-formal and formal educational information to individuals—particularly youth and women and girls—who lacked access to traditional schools. Phelps Stokes partnered with local organizations to form radio clubs whose members learned the technical components of producing content for dissemination via community radio stations, satellite radio, and other appropriate media outlets. In 2007, this program expanded to free computer and adult literacy courses to the underserved population of Monrovia. Other Phelps Stokes initiatives in Liberia include convening a joint advisory committee on education, appointing an educational advisor to support the Liberian government, performing multiple third-party needs assessments on education in Liberia, and fielding and funding proposals for private sector projects.

Presidents

• 1911-1946. Anson Phelps Stokes II
  Anson Phelps Stokes (philanthropist)
  Anson Phelps Stokes , was an American educator, clergyman, author, philanthropist and civil rights activist.Stokes was one of three men of the same name; his father was multimillionaire banker Anson Phelps Stokes, and his son was the Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes, III, an Episcopal bishop.He was born...
  
  
• 1946-1947. Jackson Davis
• 1947-1958. Isaac Newton Phelps (Ike) Stokes II
• 1958-1969. Frederick Douglass Patterson
  Frederick D. Patterson
  Frederick Douglass Patterson , born in Washington D.C. and orphaned at the age of two. Patterson would later become president of what is now Tuskegee University and founder of the United Negro College Fund . In 1987, President Ronald Reagan awarded Dr...
  
  
• 1970-1990. Franklin Williams
• 1990-2000. Wilbert LeMelle
• 2000-. Badi Foster

In 1958, the Phelps Stokes Board of Trustees changed the title of president to Chairperson of the Board and changed the title of Educational Director to President. Educational directors prior to this transition were:

• 1917-1945. Thomas Jesse Jones
• 1946-1953. Channing Tobias
• 1953-1958. Frederick Patterson

Notable Trustees

• Ralph J. Bunche
  Ralph Bunche
  Ralph Johnson Bunche or 1904December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine. He was the first person of color to be so honored in the history of the Prize...
  
  
• The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu (Honorary)
  Desmond Tutu
  Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
  
  

More Information about Phelps Stokes

The Anson Phelps Stokes Papers are housed at the Yale University Library. The Phelps Stokes Fund papers are housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Several important works have been published about Phelps Stokes. They include:

• Eric S. Yellin. (Winter 2002). The (White) Search for (Black) Order: The Phelps Stokes Fund's First Twenty Years, 1911-1931. The Historian.
• Sister Anthony Scally. (Winter-Autumn 1991). Phelps-Stokes confidential memorandum for the Trustees of the Phelps-Stokes Fund Regarding Dr. Carter G. Woodson's Attacks on Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones. The Journal of Negro History.
• R. Hunt Davis Jr. (September, 1976). Charles T. Loram and an American Model for African Education in South Africa. African Studies Review.
• Aaron Brown. (Autumn, 1956). The Phelps-Stokes Fund and its Projects. The Journal of Negro Education.
• Patti McGill Peterson. (June, 1971). Colonialism and Education: The Case of the Afro-American. Comparative Education Review.
• Edward H. Berman. (June 1971). American Influence on African Education: The Role of the Phelps-Stokes Fund's Education Commissions. Comparative Education Review.
• B. H. Y. Chiu. (2009). Carrie’s will: A Family Narrative of the Phelps-Stokes Fund. Doctoral Dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University.