Susan Angeline Collins: With a Hallelujah Heart

Susan knew she had much to learn and many adjustments to make as the steamer moved south along the flat, arid Angolan coastline in July 1889. One again she was facing the unknown just as the first African slaves from Angola had upon their August 1619 arrival in Jamestown, Virginia. These twenty-plus Africans were stolen from a Portuguese slave ship and brought to America by an English warship flying a Dutch flag. Did Susan’s father share stories about his ancestral heritage and were her people from Angola? Going into the heart of Angola might have daunted a lesser being, but Susan’s deep reserve of confidence and faith led her forward. Some believe the school Susan started in Angola in 1893 may have been the model Mary McLeod Bethune used in 1904 when she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona, Florida.

Susan viewed the occasional cliffs and bluffs of red sandstone wondering what lay beyond and what had transpired over two centuries earlier that might have sealed her fate bringing her to this moment. White, fleecy clouds moved across the bright blue sky. Susan waited for the steamer bringing her from the Belgian Congo to anchor near the Luanda harbor so she could descend a wobbly ladder on the side of a swaying ship. She held the rungs tightly. Perhaps some of the local missionaries rowed a small boat out to meet her and helped her climb gingerly aboard to be taken to land.

As Susan came ashore, imagine the other Luanda-based missionaries extending greetings, perhaps offering a prayer of thanks for her safe arrival, and then walking her to their mission home situated on one of the highest bluffs in the city. Under Bishop William Taylor’s direction it was constructed after he bought land and began mission work in Angola in 1885. Later this building became a stop and a stepping stone for missionaries to prepare prior to going to the interior. Living higher up meant the smoke from the lower portion of the city was blown away and the chances of contracting malaria were limited creating healthier living conditions.

Dr. Jennie recounted the building’s appearance, typical of most Luanda structures, to her friend Lizzie while she stayed there in May 1894. “The walls of stone are covered with a beautiful colored cement. There is far more variety here than in Las Palmas and other tropical cities I have seen since we have purple, green, yellow, red, etc. instead of the ‘everlasting’ white which though beautiful becomes monotonous. The house is built in sections or wings; my room being in the third story of the central; the other wings have two stories. The house has six roofs each having four sides.”

She described bricks made of hard, fine material and looking like pipes arranged in vertical rows to form the exterior. They were covered with a cement made of plaster and supported on a bamboo-pole roof. Just as Susan had done earlier, Dr. Jennie frequently went to the roof to write letters and stay cool catching the breezes from the Atlantic Ocean.

Luanda was established in the mid-1500’s and its cathedral was completed in 1853. Ten years later a Jesuit Church was built and in 1604 the Monastery of San Jose could be seen in the city. Finally, after another 150 years the sandy, muddy streets were replaced with cobblestones and attractive public buildings were erected. By the time Susan arrived Luanda was considered, “the greatest and most developed of Portuguese cities outside mainland Portugal.”

Telephones were introduced in 1884 and one year later construction started on the first section of the railroad between Luanda and the fertile Malanje highlands, Susan’s eventual destination. Its completion in 1909 made it easier for Susan, her missionary colleagues, and their supplies to reach the Angolan interior. Obtaining fresh water had been a problem for the city since its inception and hindered growth. About the time Susan reached the city an aqueduct was being built to bring fresh water from the Bengo River located approximately ten miles north. Prior to that river water had been transported to Luanda in barrels. Though not as bustling as Chicago, it was undoubtedly a change for Susan after living in the Congo River Delta region for two years.

Susan was expected to begin learning Portuguese and Kimbundu upon her arrival and to gather needed supplies for her travels to Pungo Andongo. Soon she would go east through a region of varied terrain from the coastline to the inland plains of dry savanna called the Malanje Plateau with a high point of approximately 3,200 feet. Carriers would transport her supplies and she would probably ride in a hammock when walking became difficult. Susan would hear early morning sounds of lions and hyenas permeating the air. Their grunts, growls, and snarls often unnerved first-time missionaries as those sounds were unlike the night calls of the owls and coyotes often heard in the Midwestern United States. Likely Susan would have expressed amazement when seeing impalas, cheetahs, African wild hogs, and elephants cross her path during her trek inland.

Bishop Taylor’s first missionaries, their wives, and children, all Caucasians except Charles L. Miller arrived in Luanda in March 1885. Charles, an African American and son of freed slaves, died three weeks after his arrival and was buried in Luanda. The others stayed until about the middle of May. The Portuguese governor was surprised and dismayed to see families accompanying the men who didn’t realize the dangers of heat, humidity, and tropical diseases. Those missionaries became the founding members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Angola. Soon after their arrival some of the men ventured inland and established centers where Susan would soon serve. The thrust of their programs was fourfold: education, evangelism, industrial work, and health care.