Bishop Cheshire's active interest in the church's work among the Negroes began when he was rector of St. Peter's Church, Charlotte. His organization of the colored mission of St. Michael and All Angels and the part he took in helping to establish the Good Samaritan Hospital have already been related. When he became bishop he continued and greatly enlarged his activities in behalf of the Negro work.

In the early part of his episcopate the Bishop made an address to the Conference of Church Workers Among Colored People, in which he expressed some interesting ideas on the colored work. He first pointed out that the reconstruction acts had failed to accomplish for the Negro many of their designed objectives. Although those acts were for the most part of a purely political character, he realized many sincere people in the North had advocated them in the belief that they would help the Negro. In his opinion, the legislation of the reconstruction period had not accomplished for the colored people what its sincerest advocates had confidently expected. If the Negroes are to play a significant role in the future of this country, the Bishop declared, "it will be only because they shall have become fitted for that part. No theories of predominant political equality will avail for preserving privileges which are not exercised for the benefit of the community...." He believed that the disabilities of the Negro could not be removed, nor the disadvantages under which he worked conquered, by legislation against particular evils, "but simply by changing the actual conditions of the race itself." Those who are interested in the welfare of the Negro must work for the elevation of his ideals of living, of working, and of self-restraint. The Bishop emphasized the importance of developing a spirit of self-reliance and self-help among the colored clergy and laity, believing this to be the best means by which they could strengthen their economic and social position.

The colored churchmen of the Diocese soon learned that in Bishop Cheshire they had a staunch friend and one from whom they could count upon receiving a fair and sympathetic hearing. He reciprocated this confidence with a like faith in them. It was a regular practice of the Bishop to attend only the first day's session of the annual meetings of the white and colored convocations. He did this in order to give the clergy an opportunity of "speaking their mind freely." He always remembered an observation of George Eliot that "the first thing the clergy do, when they get together in convocation, is to abuse the Bishop." In this connection Bishop Cheshire once remarked: "I do not know what the white clergy may do, but I do not believe my black clergy will have anything to say against me even in my absence."[49]

At the opening of the twentieth century one of the most important questions facing the Episcopal Church in the South was the separation of the Negro work in each diocese from that of the white. Bishop Cheshire was strongly opposed to any separation of the church's work founded solely on the racial feeling. He disliked to see the unity of the Diocese disrupted, and believed the ideal situation was "a church and a diocese which in its annual gatherings should represent visibly the oneness of all races and colors in Christ."[50] He realized, however, that he could not be guided entirely by his personal feelings on a question of such importance. A large body of the Negro clergy and many white churchmen throughout the South felt that the welfare of the church demanded some sort of separate organization for the colored work.

When he met his diocesan convention in the spring of 1907, Bishop Cheshire announced his position on this question. Since the colored people seemed to desire an organization of their own, he believed the time had come for the church to take some definite action. He asked the convention to make known its views on the question of separation, since it would come up for discussion in the General Convention that fall. The Bishop stated that two plans of organization for the Negroes were being considered. One provided for the consecration of suffragan bishops who should have charge of the colored clergy and laity and should be under the diocesan bishop. The other called for the consecration of missionary bishops who should have charge of the colored work in contiguous dioceses and who should be responsible to the General Convention. The Bishop declared that he was heartily in favor of the latter plan, believing that it met the needs of existing conditions much more justly and adequately than the former. Moreover, the colored people themselves seemed to favor the plan of using missionary bishops. If they were used they would be under the direct control of the General Convention and would be given more independence than suffragan bishops, who would be under the administrative jurisdiction of the white diocesan bishop. Bishop Cheshire felt that if the colored work was to be made independent of the white, the Negro bishops should be given some administrative as well as spiritual responsibilities.

When the convention took up the question of the colored work, it referred the whole matter to a special committee. After careful study, the committee recommended that the Negroes be given a separate organization, that the plan of missionary bishops be adopted, and that the deputies from the Diocese should present these recommendations to the General Convention. The committee's report was adopted.

At the General Convention, which met in the fall of 1907, the Conference of Church Workers among Colored People presented a memorial in which it advocated a separate organization for the Negroes and the election of suffragan bishops. A joint committee of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, of which Bishop Cheshire was made a member, was appointed to consider the memorial. This committee recommended the adoption of the principal features of the memorial. Bishop Cheshire and one other member of the committee presented a minority report in which they urged the use of missionary bishops. Their report was defeated in the House of Bishops by a vote of fifty to thirty-four, while that of the majority was carried, forty-five to thirty-three. After the defeat of his proposal, Bishop Cheshire voted for the majority's report, believing it preferable to no action on the subject.

The question of the racial episcopate was, however, far from being settled. During the next three meetings of the General Convention Bishop Cheshire and a few others continued to work for the adoption of the plan of missionary bishops. In 1913 they succeeded in getting the plan approved by the House of Bishops, but it was defeated by the House of Deputies. The southern bishops and clergy were the most undecided as to what plan they wanted to put into effect. Up to 1918 the Diocese of North Carolina had taken no action towards electing a suffragan bishop for the colored work. In 1917 Bishop Cheshire advised his diocesan convention to consider the question. The next year the convention voted to proceed to the election of a suffragan bishop.

Before nominations for the office were called for, Bishop Cheshire gathered together the colored clergy and laity of the convention for an informal discussion. He told them that, in his opinion, Rev. Henry B. Delany, who was then archdeacon of the colored convocation, was the best man for the office. Rev. M. A. Barber strongly represented the qualifications of the Rev. Mr. Baskerville, who had been recommended by Bishop Guerry, of South Carolina. Mr. Delany then withdrew from the conference, and Bishop Cheshire asked the colored clergy to express themselves frankly on their preference. Every one of them expressed the opinion that, while they thought Baskerville was an excellent man, they did not think he could compare with Delany in qualifications for the office of bishop. Of this unanimity of opinion, Bishop Cheshire remarked: "It was something of a surprise to me—for I really did not know how strong their feelings were."

When the convention proceeded to the election of a suffragan bishop, Delany was the only man nominated. He received every vote of the clergy and laity. When he was presented to the convention and asked to say a few words, he simply remarked: "I cannot speak. I cannot utter what I feel. I thank you." Bishop Cheshire characterized his laconic expression as "about the best speech he could possibly have made."[51]

Archdeacon Delany was highly esteemed by both white and colored churchmen, and his election met with general satisfaction throughout the Diocese. Bishop Guerry wrote Bishop Cheshire that he thought Delany was "the logical man and I believe you have made a wise choice.... I envy you the privilege of having been the first Diocese in the Carolinas to take the lead in so far reaching a policy."

It will be remembered that while rector of St. Peter's, Bishop Cheshire had established in Charlotte a mission for Negroes, St. Michael and All Angels. Shortly after it was well started, Rev. Primus P. Alston, a colored priest, was placed in charge of the mission. Alston was an energetic and progressive man. He soon began a manual-training school for Negro boys and girls, which he called St. Michael's Industrial School. In time he erected buildings at a cost of about eight thousand dollars, raising almost all of the money by himself. After some twenty years of splendid work as head of this school, Rev. Mr. Alston died in 1910. Bishop Cheshire at once decided that something must be done to preserve the valuable work which Alston had carried on so successfully. Realizing the high regard which the people of Charlotte had for the man and his work, the Bishop determined to lay the question of the future of St. Michael's School before a body of representative citizens of Charlotte in the hope of making it a civic enterprise, irrespective of denominational interests but still under the official administration of the diocesan bishop. Acting upon this decision, the Bishop called together in Charlotte a group of progressive men representing different denominations. He pointed out that the school was the property of the Diocese of North Carolina, that it had for more than twenty years done a great work for the community, and that no religious test was made an entrance requirement, although religious training was a part of the school's work. The Bishop then asked the group if it would act with him as a board of managers for the direction and maintenance of the school. The men displayed a sympathetic interest, and promised to co-operate with him in any plan for making permanent the work of the institution. The Bishop thereupon organized the Board of Managers of St. Michael's Industrial School, under whose control it continued to operate.

When Bishop Cheshire met his diocesan convention in 1912, he reported what he had done and asked for its endorsement of his action and its assent to the new plan for operating the school. The convention confirmed the Bishop's work and consented to his plan for continuing St. Michael's School. Thus, by his promptness and resourcefulness, he preserved for the church and the community of Charlotte a valuable institution.

Bishop Cheshire's work among the Negroes of his Diocese received recognition from the national church when, in 1911, he was elected chairman of the Advisory Council of the American Church Institute for Negroes. The Institute had been organized in 1906 for the purpose of aiding the larger Episcopal schools for Negroes, such as St. Augustine's, the Bishop Payne Divinity School, and others. From this time forward he received a number of invitations to speak in the dioceses of the North on various phases of the church's work among the Negroes of the South. One of his most interesting addresses on this subject was made before the Woman's Auxiliary of the Diocese of Long Island at its annual meeting in 1915.

In this address the Bishop declared that the fact the Negro was increasing in population meant to him that "God is not done with him. He has something for him to do." The Negro had not only survived his contact with a higher civilization, but had made in it a place for himself. "Protected and trained by his two and a half centuries of American slavery, the greatest blessing which up to this time he has ever known," the Negro had lived through emancipation and the "incalculable injustice of his premature enfranchisement." He was turning from false political and social aspirations and attempting to lay sound foundations for his moral and material development. Referring to the religion of the Negro, Bishop Cheshire observed that he found it very little different from that of the white man. He spoke of the Negro's gift of religious emotion, which might be dangerous, "yet it is a gift; and it is needed to give power and life to faith." The Bishop declared that the church set up a standard for the Negro to live by, it acknowledged him as a brother, and it gave him a definite place in its organization.

In answer to the question of what the Woman's Auxiliary could do for the Negro, Bishop Cheshire replied it should try to teach the colored churches to support themselves and to be willing and able to aid others. As for a particular work the organization could undertake, he emphasized the importance of hospital care. This was a vital need and one which the Negro by himself could not supply.[52]

The address was well received, although a few of the ideas contained in it were doubtless a little disturbing to some of the listeners. The Bishop was fearless in expressing his convictions, and was ever ready to defend them when necessary.

St. Augustine's School for Negroes was founded in 1867 by North Carolina churchmen. It was built and maintained, however, by northern churchmen and agencies. While the school was not a diocesan institution, Bishop Cheshire throughout his episcopate gave it his full co-operation and support. He had a personal interest in the school, for his father had been one of the original incorporators. As ex-officio president of the Board of Trustees he kept in close contact with the development of St. Augustine's. Realizing that his state benefited most from the school, Bishop Cheshire time and time again urged his people to give it every encouragement and assistance within their means.

In appreciation of his services to St. Augustine's, the authorities of the school resolved to name a proposed new building for Bishop Cheshire. Of this decision, the presiding bishop, John Gardner Murray, remarked: "I can conceive of nothing more splendid that the Church or community could do than to erect at St. Augustine's a building in honor of Bishop Cheshire. The work itself is most deserving in every way, and the Bishop whose name you propose to have associated with it, is one of the greatest Bishops in our Church in his every relationship thereto."[53]

The dedication of the Cheshire Building at St. Augustine's College took place on Bishop Cheshire's eightieth birthday, March 27, 1930. In the course of the ceremony the Bishop delivered an address in which he traced the history of St. Augustine's from its establishment as a simple normal school to its present collegiate status. He touched upon the development of Negro education in the South since 1865, and emphasized the importance of this fact in the growth of a better relationship between the races. St. Augustine's, said the Bishop, in a larger sense represents the church's attitude towards the Negro problem in America and what it has done to solve that problem.

Dr. A. B. Hunter, principal of the school for twenty-five years, made a short talk in which he spoke of the Bishop's loyal support of St. Augustine's. He ascribed much of the institution's success to the "unfailing sympathy and material assistance of the Bishop." Towards the end of the ceremony a portrait of Bishop Cheshire, hanging in the hall of the new building, was unveiled.

Coming as it did towards the end of his life, this expression of appreciation from the colored people was a fitting close to the Bishop's work among the Negroes. He understood and respected his colored people, and in return they loved him and gave him their loyalty and confidence.