Slater Fund

a gift held by trustees for the education of the negro of the South. The sum of $1,000,000 was placed in the hands of trustees in 1882, by John Fox Slater, a wealthy cotton manufacturer of Norwich, Connecticut, whose father, Thomas Slater, established the earliest cotton mill in the United States, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. By the terms of the gift the principal is invested. The interest is used in assisting worthy institutions, not in founding new ones. Among the institutions that have received timely aid are the Hampton Normal and Industrial School, and Booker T. Washington's school at Tuskeegee. President D. C. Gilman of Johns Hopkins, Chief Justice Fuller, Mayor Seth Low of New York, and others have served on the board of trustees with fidelity. Over half a million dollars has been disbursed and the fund has grown (1910) to $1,500,000.