The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study

Chapter VIII. Education and Illiteracy

CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY. 19. The History of Negro Education.-Anthony Benezet and the Friends of Philadelphia have the honor of first recognizing the fact that the welfare of the State demands the education of Negro children. On the twenty-sixth of January, 1770, at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends, the g-eneral situation of the Negroes, and especially the free Negroes, was discussed. On motion of one, probably Benezet, it was decided that instruction ought to be provided for Negro children.' A committee was appointed, and on February 30 this committee proposed " that a committee of seven Friends be nominated by the Monthly Meeting, who shall be authorized to employ a schoolmistress of prudent and exemplary conduct , to teach not more at one time than thirty children in the first rudiments of school learning, and in sewing and knitting. That the admission of scholars into the said school be entrusted to the said committee, giving to the children of free Negroes and Mulattoes the preference, and the opportunity of being taught clear of expense to their parents." A subscription of £100 (about $266.67) was recommended for this purpose. This report was adopted, aud the school opened June 28, 1770, with twenty-two colored children in attendance. In September the pupils had increased to thirty-six, and a teacher in sewing and knitting was employed. Afterward those who could were required to pay a sum, varying from seven shillings sixpence to ten shillings per quarter, for tuition. The following 1 This account is mainly from the pamphlet: "A Brief Sketch of the Schools for Black People," etc. Philadelphia, 1867. (83) Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII. year a school-house was built on Walnut street, below Fourth-a one-story brick building, 32 by 18 feet. From 1770 to 1775 two hundred and fifty children and grown persons were instructed. Interest, however, began to wane, possibly under the war-cloud, and in 1775 but five Negro children were in attendance and some white children were admitted. Soon, however, the parents were aroused, and we find forty Negroes and six whites attending . After the war Benezet took charge of the school and held it in his house at Third and Chestnut. At his death, in 1784, he left a part of his estate to "hire and employ a religious-minded person or persons to teach a number of Negro, Mulatto or Indian children, to read, write, arithrnetic , plain accounts, needle-work, etc." Other bequests were received, including one from a Negro, Thomas Shirley , and from this fund the schools, afterward known as the Raspberry street schools, were conducted for many years, and a small school is still maintained. In the early part of the century sixty to eighty scholars attended the school, and a night school was opened. In 1844 a lot on Raspberry street was purchased, and a school-house erected. Here, from 1844 to 1866, eight thousand pupils in all were instructed. Public schools for Negroes were not established until about 1822, when the Bird school, now known as ·the James Forten, was opened on Sixth street, above Lombard; in 1830 an unclassified sclI001 in West Philadel phia was begun, and in 1833 the Coates street school, now known as the Vaux school, on Coates street (now called Fairmount Avenue l.'near Fifth, was established. Other schools were opened at Frankford in 1839, at Paschal ville in 1841, on Corn street in 1849, and at Holmesburg in 1854. In 1838 the Negro school statistics were as follows: .6.75] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 08:52 GMT) Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education. NltGRO SCHOO~ STATISTICS, 1838. 85 Schools. 9 free schools . 3 schools, partly free .. 3 pay schools, white teachers .. 10 pay schools, colored teachers 25 schools . Pupils Enrolled. 1,116 226 102 288 Average Attendance. 1, 187 Total children of school age . . . . . . . . 3,0 25. Ten years later school facilities had greatly increased: NEGRO SCHOOL STATISTICS, 1847. Schools. Public Grammar School, Lombard street . Abolition Society Infant School, Lombard street. Public Primary School, Gaskill street. . . . . . . . Raspberry Street School . Public Primary School, Brown street . . . . . . . . • . Adelphi School, 'Vager street . . . . . . .. . ... Shiloh Baptist Church Infant School, Clifton and Cedar Sts. Bedford Street School . . . . . . . . . Moral Reform School . . . . . Public School, Oak street, West Philadelphia . At undesignated public schools ... At twenty private schools Total .... At work and apprenticed. . . At home and unaccounted for Total Negro children Pupils Enrolled. 463 7° 226 155 113 166 2°7 32 81 12 67 296 1,888...