Editing Pope Pius XI (section)

=== Involvement with American efforts ===
[[File:TIMEMagazine16Jun1924.jpg|thumb|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, 16 June 1924]]
Mother [[Katharine Drexel]], who founded the American order of [[Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament]] for Indians and Colored People, corresponded with Pius XI, as she had with his papal predecessors. (In 1887, Pope Leo XIII had encouraged Katharine Drexel—then a young Philadelphia socialite— to do missionary work with America's disadvantaged people of color). In the early 1930s, Mother Drexel wrote Pius XI asking him to bless a publicity campaign to acquaint white Catholics with the needs of the disadvantaged races among them. An emissary had shown him photos of [[Xavier University of Louisiana|Xavier University]], a [[Historically black colleges and universities|college for blacks]] in New Orleans which Mother Drexel had founded to provide higher education to Catholic African-Americans. Pius XI replied promptly, sending his blessing and encouragement. Upon his return, the emissary told Mother Katharine that the Pope said he had read the novel ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' as a boy, and it had ignited his lifelong concern for the American Negro.<ref>The Golden Door: The Life of Katharine Drexel, by [[Katherine Burton]] (P. J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, 1957, p. 261)</ref>
[[File:Pius xi 1.jpg|thumb|Pope Pius XI at his workdesk]]