Chapter XII: Negro School Laws (1)

1619-1860.

THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUMAN INTELLECT.--IGNORANCE FAVORABLE TO
SLAVERY.--AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA IMPOSING A PENALTY
ON ANY ONE INSTRUCTING A COLORED PERSON.--EDUCATIONAL PRIVILEGES
OF THE CREOLES IN THE CITY OF MOBILE.--PREJUDICE AGAINST COLORED
SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT.--THE ATTEMPT OF MISS PRUDENCE CRANDALL TO
ADMIT COLORED GIRLS INTO HER SCHOOL AT CANTERBURY.--THE
INDIGNATION OF THE CITIZENS AT THIS ATTEMPT TO MIX THE RACES IN
EDUCATION.--THE LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT PASSES A LAW
ABOLISHING THE SCHOOL.--THE BUILDING ASSAULTED BY A MOB.--MISS
CRANDALL ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED FOR TEACHING COLORED CHILDREN
AGAINST THE LAW.--GREAT EXCITEMENT.--THE LAW FINALLY
REPEALED.--AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF DELAWARE TAXING PERSONS
WHO BROUGHT INTO, OR SOLD SLAVES OUT OF, THE STATE.--UNDER ACT OF
1829 MONEY RECEIVED FOR THE SALE OF SLAVES IN FLORIDA WAS ADDED
TO THE SCHOOL FUND IN THAT STATE.--GEORGIA PROHIBITS THE
EDUCATION OF COLORED PERSONS UNDER HEAVY PENALTY.--ILLINOIS
ESTABLISHES SEPARATE SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN.--THE "FREE
MISSION INSTITUTE" AT QUINCY, ILLINOIS, DESTROYED BY A MISSOURI
MOB.--NUMEROUS AND CRUEL SLAVE LAWS IN KENTUCKY RETARD THE
EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES.--AN ACT PASSED IN LOUISIANA PREVENTING
THE NEGROES IN ANY WAY FROM BEING INSTRUCTED.--MAINE GIVES EQUAL
SCHOOL PRIVILEGES TO WHITES AND BLACKS.--ST. FRANCIS ACADEMY FOR
COLORED GIRLS FOUNDED IN BALTIMORE IN 1831.--THE WELLS
SCHOOL.--THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED IN
BOSTON BY INTELLIGENT COLORED MEN IN 1798.--A SCHOOL-HOUSE FOR
THE COLORED CHILDREN BUILT AND PAID FOR OUT OF A FUND LEFT BY
ABIEL SMITH FOR THAT PURPOSE.--JOHN B. RUSSWORM ONE OF THE
TEACHERS AND AFTERWARD GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF CAPE PALMAS,
LIBERIA.--FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED
IN 1820.--MISSOURI PASSES STRINGENT LAWS AGAINST THE INSTRUCTION
OF NEGROES.--NEW YORK PROVIDES FOR THE EDUCATION OF
NEGROES.--ELIAS NEAU OPENS A SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY FOR NEGRO
SLAVES IN 1704.--"NEW YORK AFRICAN FREE SCHOOL" IN 1786.--VISIT
OF LAFAYETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOLS IN 1824.--HIS
ADDRESS.--PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN IN NEW
YORK.--COLORED SCHOOLS IN OHIO.--"CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOL" FOR
COLORED YOUTHS FOUNDED IN 1844.--OBERLIN COLLEGE OPENS ITS DOORS
TO COLORED STUDENTS.--THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COLORED SCHOOLS IN
PENNSYLVANIA BY ANTHONY BENEZET IN 1750.--HIS WILL.--"INSTITUTE
FOR COLORED YOUTHS" ESTABLISHED IN 1837.--"AVERY COLLEGE," AT
ALLEGHENY CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, FOUNDED IN 1849.--ASHMUN INSTITUTE,
OR LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, FOUNDED IN OCTOBER, 1856.--SOUTH CAROLINA
TAKES DEFINITE ACTION AGAINST THE EDUCATION OR PROMOTION OF THE
COLORED RACE IN 1800-1803-1834.--TENNESSEE MAKES NO
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST COLOR IN THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1840.--LITTLE
OPPORTUNITY AFFORDED IN VIRGINIA FOR THE COLORED MAN TO BE
ENLIGHTENED.--STRINGENT LAWS ENACTED.--HISTORY OF SCHOOLS FOR THE
COLORED POPULATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The institution of American slavery needed protection from the day of its birth to the day of its death. Whips, thumbscrews, and manacles of iron were far less helpful to it than the thraldom of the intellects of its hapless victims. "Created a little lower than the angels," "crowned with glory and honor," armed with authority "over every living creature," man was intended by his Maker to rule the world through his intellect. The homogeneousness of the crude faculties of man has been quite generally admitted throughout the world; while even scientists, differing widely in many other things, have united in ascribing to the human mind everywhere certain possibilities. But one class of men have dissented from this view--the slave-holders of all ages. A justification of slavery has been sought in the alleged belief of the inferiority of the persons enslaved; while the broad truism of the possibilities of the human mind was confessed in all legislation that sought to prevent slaves from acquiring knowledge. So the slave-holder asserted his belief in the mental inferiority of the Negro, and then advertised his lack of faith in his assertion by making laws to prevent the Negro intellect from receiving those truths which would render him valueless as a slave, but equal to the duties of a freeman.

ALABAMA

had an act in 1832 which declared that "Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than $250, nor more than $500." This act also prohibited with severe penalties, by flogging, "any free negro or person of color" from being in company with any slaves without written permission from the owner or overseer of such slaves; it also prohibited the assembling of more than five male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they belonged; but nothing in the act was to be considered as forbidding attendance at places of public worship held by white persons. No slave or free person of color was permitted to "preach, exhort, or harangue any slave or slaves, or free persons of color, except in the presence of five respectable slave-holders, or unless the person preaching was licensed by some regular body of professing Christians in the neighborhood, to whose society or church the negroes addressed properly belonged."

In 1833, the mayor and aldermen of the city of Mobile were authorized by an act of the Legislature to grant licenses to such persons as they deemed suitable to give instruction to the children of free Colored Creoles. This applied only to those who resided in the city of Mobile and county of Baldwin. The instruction was to be given at brief periods, and the children had to secure a certificate from the mayor and aldermen. The ground of this action was the treaty between France and the United States in 1803, by which the rights and privileges of citizens had been secured to the Creoles residing in the above places at the time of the treaty.

ARKANSAS,

so far as her laws appear, did not prohibit the education of Negroes; but a study of her laws leaves the impression that the Negroes there were practically denied the right of instruction.

CONNECTICUT

never legislated against educating Colored persons, but the prejudice was so strong that it amounted to the same thing. The intolerant spirit of the whites drove the Colored people of Hartford to request a separate school in 1830. Prejudice was so great against the presence of a Colored school in a community of white people, that a school, established by a very worthy white lady, was mobbed and then legislated out of existence.

"In the summer of 1832, Miss Prudence Crandall, an excellent,
well-educated Quaker young lady, who had gained considerable
reputation as a teacher in the neighboring town of Plainfield,
purchased, at the solicitation of a number of families in the
village of Canterbury, Connecticut, a commodious house in that
village, for the purpose of establishing a boarding and day
school for young ladies, in order that they might receive
instruction in higher branches than were taught in the public
district school. Her school was well conducted, but was
interrupted early in 1833 in this wise: Not far from the village
a worthy colored man was living, by the name of Harris, the owner
of a good farm, and in comfortable circumstances. His daughter
Sarah, a bright girl, seventeen years of age, had passed with
credit through the public school of the district in which she
lived, and was anxious to acquire a better education, to qualify
herself to become a teacher of the colored people. She applied to
Miss Crandall for admission to her school. Miss Crandall
hesitated, for prudential reasons, to admit a colored person
among her pupils; but Sarah was a young lady of pleasing
appearance and manners, well known to many of Miss Crandall's
present pupils, having been their classmate in the district
school, and was, moreover, a virtuous, pious girl, and a member
of the church in Canterbury. No objection could be made to her
admission, except on acount of her complexion, and Miss Crandall
decided to receive her as a pupil. No objection was made by the
other pupils, but in a few days the parents of some of them
called on Miss Crandall and remonstrated; and although Miss
Crandall pressed upon their consideration the eager desire of
Sarah for knowledge and culture, and the good use she wished to
make of her education, her excellent character, and her being an
accepted member of the same Christian church to which they
belonged, they were too much prejudiced to listen to any
arguments--'they would not have it said that their daughters went
to school with a nigger girl.' It was urged that if Sarah was not
dismissed, the white pupils would be withdrawn; but although the
fond hopes of success for an institution which she had
established at the risk of all her property, and by incurring a
debt of several hundred dollars, seemed to be doomed to
disappointment, she decided not to yield to the demand for the
dismissal of Sarah; and on the 2d day of March, 1833, she
advertised in the 'Liberator' that on the first Monday in April
her school would be open for 'young ladies and little misses of
color.' Her determination having become known, a fierce
indignation was kindled and fanned by prominent people of the
village and pervaded the town. In this juncture, the Rev. Samuel
J. May, of the neighboring town of Brooklyn, addressed her a
letter of sympathy, expressing his readiness to assist her to the
extent of his power, and was present at the town meeting held on
the 9th of March, called for the express purpose of devising and
adopting such measures as 'would effectually avert the nuisance
or speedily abate it if it should be brought into the village.'

"The friends of Miss Crandall were authorized by her to state to
the moderator of the town meeting that she would give up her
house, which was one of the most conspicuous in the village, and
not wholly paid for, if those who were opposed to her school
being there would take the property off her hands at the price
for which she had purchased it, and which was deemed a reasonable
one, and allow her time to procure another house in a more
retired part of the town.

"The town meeting was held in the meeting-house, which, though
capable of holding a thousand people, was crowded throughout to
its utmost capacity. After the warning for the meeting had been
read, resolutions were introduced in which were set forth the
disgrace and damage that would be brought upon the town if a
school for colored girls should be set up there, protesting
emphatically against the impending evil, and appointing the civil
authority and select-men a committee to wait upon 'the person
contemplating the establishment of said school, and persuade her,
if possible, to abandon the project.'

"The resolutions were advocated by Rufus Adams, Esq., and Hon.
Andrew T. Judson, who was then the most prominent man of the
town, and a leading politician in the State, and much talked of
as the Democratic candidate for governor, and was a
representative in Congress from 1835 to 1839, when he was elected
judge of the United States District Court, which position he held
until his death in 1853, adjudicating, among other causes, the
libel of the 'Amistad' and the fifty-four Africans on board.
After his address on this occasion, Mr. May, in company with Mr.
Arnold Buffum, a lecturing agent of the New England Anti-Slavery
Society, applied for permission to speak in behalf of Miss
Crandall, but their application was violently opposed, and the
resolutions being adopted, the meeting was declared, by the
moderator, adjourned.

"Mr. May at once stepped upon the seat where he had been sitting,
and rapidly vindicated Miss Crandall, replying to some of the
misstatements as to her purposes and the character of her
expected pupils, when he gave way to Mr. Buffum, who had spoken
scarcely five minutes before the trustees of the church ordered
the house to be vacated and the doors to be shut. There was then
no alternative but to yield.

"Two days afterward Mr. Judson called on Mr. May, with whom he
had been on terms of a pleasant acquaintance, not to say of
friendship, and expressed regret that he had applied certain
epithets to him; and went on to speak of the disastrous effect on
the village from the establishment of 'a school for nigger
girls.' Mr. May replied that his purpose was, if he had been
allowed to do so, to state at the town meeting Miss Crandall's
proposition to sell her house in the village at its fair
valuation, and retire to some other part of the town. To this Mr.
Judson replied: 'Mr. May, we are not merely opposed to the
establishment of that school in Canterbury, we mean there shall
not be such a school set up anywhere in the State.'

"Mr. Judson continued, declaring that the colored people could
never rise from their menial condition in our country, and ought
not to be permitted to rise here; that they were an inferior race
and should not be recognized as the equals of the whites; that
they should be sent back to Africa, and improve themselves there,
and civilize and Christianize the natives. To this Mr. May
replied that there never would be fewer colored people in this
country than there were then; that it was unjust to drive them
out of the country; that we must accord to them their rights or
incur the loss of our own; that education was the primal,
fundamental right of all the children of men; and that
Connecticut was the last place where this should be denied.

"The conversation was continued in a similar strain, in the
course of which Mr. Judson declared with warmth: 'That nigger
school shall never be allowed in Canterbury, nor in any town of
this State'; and he avowed his determination to secure the
passage of a law by the Legislature then in session, forbidding
the institution of such a school in any part of the State.

"Undismayed by the opposition and the threatened violence of her
neighbors, Miss Crandall received, early in April, fifteen or
twenty colored young ladies and misses from Philadelphia, New
York, Providence, and Boston, and the annoyances of her
persecutors at once commenced: all accommodations at the stores
in Canterbury being denied her, her pupils being insulted
whenever they appeared on the streets, the doors and door-steps
of her house being besmeared, and her well filled with filth;
under all of which, both she and her pupils remained firm. Among
other means used to intimidate, an attempt was made to drive away
those innocent girls by a process under the obsolete vagrant law,
which provided that the select-men of any town might warn any
person, not an inhabitant of the State, to depart forthwith,
demanding $1.67 for every week he or she remained after receiving
such warning; and in case the fine was not paid and the person
did not depart before the expiration of ten days after being
sentenced, _then he or she should be whipped on the naked body,
not exceeding ten stripes_.

"A warrant to that effect was actually served upon Eliza Ann
Hammond, a fine girl from Providence, aged seventeen years; but
it was finally abandoned, and another method was resorted to,
most disgraceful to the State as well as the town. Foiled in
their attempts to frighten away Miss Crandall's pupils by their
proceedings under the obsolete 'pauper and vagrant law,' Mr.
Judson and those who acted with him pressed upon the Legislature,
then in session, a demand for the enactment of a law which should
enable them to accomplish their purpose; and in that bad purpose
they succeeded, by securing the following enactment, on the 24th
of May, 1833, known as the '_black law_.'

"'Whereas, attempts have been made to establish literary
institutions in this State for the instruction of colored persons
belonging to other States and countries, which would tend to the
great increase of the colored population of the State, and
thereby to the injury of the people: therefore,

"'_Be it enacted, etc._, That no person shall set up or establish
in this State any school, academy, or other literary institution
for the instruction or education of colored persons, who are not
inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, for the purpose of
attending or being taught or instructed in any such school,
academy, or literary institution, any colored person who is not
an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent in
writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil authority,
and also of the select-men of the town in which such school,
academy, or literary institution is situated,' etc.

"'And each and every person who shall knowingly do any act
forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein,
shall for the first offense forfeit and pay to the treasurer of
this State a fine of $100, and for the second offense $200, and
so double for every offense of which he or she shall be
convicted; and all informing officers are required to make due
presentment of all breaches of this act.'

"On the receipt of the tidings of the passage of this law, the
people of Canterbury were wild with exultation; the bells were
rung and a cannon was fired to manifest the joy. On the 27th of
June, Miss Crandall was arrested and arraigned before Justices
Adams and Bacon, two of those who had been the earnest opponents
of her enterprise; and the result being predetermined, the trial
was of course brief, and Miss Crandall was 'committed' to take
her trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Brooklyn,
in August. A messenger was at once dispatched by the party
opposed to Miss Crandall to Brooklyn, to inform Mr. May, as her
friend, of the result of the trial, stating that she was in the
hands of the sheriff, and would be put in jail unless he or some
of her friends would 'give bonds' for her in a certain sum."

The denouement may be related most appropriately in the language of Mr. May:

"I calmly told the messenger that there were gentlemen enough in
Canterbury whose bond for that amount would be as good or better
than mine, and I should leave it for them to do Miss Crandall
that favor. 'But,' said the young man, 'are you not her friend?'
'Certainly,' I replied, 'too sincerely her friend to give relief
to her enemies in their present embarrassment, and I trust you
will not find any one of her friends, or the patrons of her
school, who will step forward to help them any more than myself.'
'But, sir,' he cried, 'do you mean to allow her to be put in
jail?' 'Most certainly,' was my answer, 'if her persecutors are
unwise enough to let such an outrage be committed.' He turned
from me in blank surprise, and hurried back to tell Mr. Judson
and the justices of his ill success.

"A few days before, when I first heard of the passage of the law,
I had visited Miss Crandall with my friend, Mr. George W. Benson,
and advised with her as to the course she and her friends ought
to pursue when she should be brought to trial. She appreciated at
once and fully the importance of leaving her persecutors to show
to the world how base they were, and how atrocious was the law
they had induced the Legislature to enact--a law, by the force of
which a woman might be fined and imprisoned as a felon in the
State of Connecticut for giving instruction to colored girls. She
agreed that it would be best for us to leave her in the hands of
those with whom the law originated, hoping that, in their
madness, they would show forth all their hideous features.

"Mr. Benson and I, therefore, went diligently around to all who
he knew were friendly to Miss Crandall and her school, and
counselled them by no means to give bonds to keep her from
imprisonment, because nothing would expose so fully to the public
the egregious wickedness of the law and the virulence of her
persecutors as the fact that they had thrust her into jail.

"When I found that her resolution was equal to the trial which
seemed to be impending, that she was ready to brave and to bear
meekly the worst treatment that her enemies would venture to
subject her to, I made all the arrangements for her comfort that
were practicable in our prison. It fortunately happened that the
most suitable room, unoccupied, was the one in which a man named
Watkins had recently been confined for the murder of his wife,
and out of which he had been taken and executed. This
circumstance we foresaw would add not a little to the public
detestation of the _black law_. The jailer, at my request,
readily put the room in as nice order as was possible, and
permitted me to substitute for the bedstead and mattrass on which
the murderer had slept, fresh and clean ones from my own house
and Mr. Benson's.

"About 2 o'clock, P.M., another messenger came to inform me that
the sheriff was on the way from Canterbury to the jail with Miss
Crandall, and would imprison her unless her friends would give
the required bail. Although in sympathy with Miss Crandall's
persecutors, he saw clearly the disgrace that was about to be
brought upon the State, and begged me and Mr. Benson to avert it.
Of course we refused. I went to the jailer's house and met Miss
Crandall on her arrival. We stepped aside. I said: 'If now you
hesitate--if you dread the gloomy place so much as to wish to be
saved from it, I will give bonds for you even now.' 'Oh, no,' she
promptly replied, 'I am only afraid they will not put me in jail.
Their evident hesitation and embarrassment show plainly how much
they deprecated the effect of this part of their folly, and
therefore I am the more anxious that they should be exposed, if
not caught in their own wicked devices.

"We therefore returned with her to the sheriff and the company
that surrounded him, to await his final act. He was ashamed to do
it. He knew it would cover the persecutors of Miss Crandall and
the State of Connecticut with disgrace. He conferred with several
about him, and delayed yet longer. Two gentlemen came and
remonstrated with me in not very seemly terms: 'It would be a
---- shame, an eternal disgrace to the State, to have her put
into jail--into the very room that Watkins had last occupied.'

"'Certainly, gentlemen,' I replied, 'and this you may prevent if
you please.'

"'Oh!' they cried, 'we are not her friends; we are not in favor
of her school; we don't want any more ---- niggers coming among
us. It is your place to stand by Miss Crandall and help her now.
You and your ---- abolition brethren have encouraged her to
bring this nuisance into Canterbury, and it is ---- mean in you
to desert her now.'

"I rejoined: 'She knows we have not deserted her, and do not
intend to desert her. The law which her persecutors have
persuaded our legislators to enact is an infamous one, worthy of
the dark ages. It would be just as bad as it is whether we would
give bonds for her or not. But the people generally will not so
soon realize how bad, how wicked, how cruel a law it is unless we
suffer her persecutors to inflict upon her all the penalties it
prescribes. She is willing to bear them for the sake of the cause
she has so nobly espoused. If you see fit to keep her from
imprisonment in the cell of a murderer for having proffered the
blessings of a good education to those who in our country need it
most, you may do so; _we shall not_.'

"They turned from us in great wrath, words falling from their
lips which I shall not repeat.

"The sun had descended nearly to the horizon; the shadows of
night were beginning to fall around us. The sheriff could defer
the dark deed no longer. With no little emotion, and with words
of earnest deprecation, he gave that excellent, heroic, Christian
young lady into the hands of the jailer, and she was led into the
cell of Watkins. So soon as I had heard the bolts of her prison
door turned in the lock, and saw the key taken out, I bowed and
said: 'The deed is done, completely done. It cannot be recalled.
It has passed into the history of our nation and our age.' I went
away with my steadfast friend, George W. Benson, assured that the
legislators of the State had been guilty of a most unrighteous
act, and that Miss Crandall's persecutors had also committed a
great blunder; that they all would have much more reason to be
ashamed of her imprisonment than she or her friends could ever
have.

"The next day we gave the required bonds. Miss Crandall was
released from the cell of the murderer, returned home, and
quietly resumed the duties of her school until she should be
summoned as a culprit into court, there to be tried by the
infamous '_Black Law of Connecticut_.' And, as we expected, so
soon as the evil tidings could be carried in that day, before
Professor Morse had given to Rumor her telegraphic wings, it was
known all over the country and the civilized world, that an
excellent young lady had been imprisoned as a criminal--yes, put
into a murderer's cell--in the State of Connecticut, for opening
a school for the instruction of colored girls. The comments that
were made upon the deed in almost all the newspapers were far
from grateful to the feelings of her persecutors. Even many who,
under the same circumstances, would probably have acted as badly
as Messrs. A. T. Judson & Co., denounced their procedure as
'un-Christian, inhuman, anti-Democratic, base, mean.'

"On the 23d of August, 1833, the first trial of Miss Crandall
was had in Brooklyn, the seat of the county of Windham, Hon.
Joseph Eaton presiding at the county court.

"The prosecution was conducted by Hon. A. T. Judson, Jonathan A.
Welch, Esq., and I. Bulkley, Esq. Miss Crandall's counsel was
Hon. Calvin Goddard, Hon. W. W. Elsworth, and Henry Strong, Esq.

"The judge, somewhat timidly, gave it as his opinion 'that the
law was constitutional and obligatory on the people of the
State.'

"The jury, after an absence of several hours, returned into
court, not having agreed upon a verdict. They were instructed and
sent out again, and again a third time, in vain; they stated to
the judge that there was no probability that they could ever
agree. Seven were for conviction and five for acquittal, so they
were discharged.

"The second trial was on the 3d of October, before Judge Daggett
of the Supreme Court, who was a strenuous advocate of the black
law. His influence with the jury was overpowering, insisting in
an elaborate and able charge that the law was constitutional,
and, without much hesitation, the verdict was given against Miss
Crandall. Her counsel at once filed a bill of exceptions, and
took an appeal to the Court of Errors, which was granted. Before
that, the highest legal tribunal in the State, the cause was
argued on the 22d of July, 1834. Both the Hon. W. W. Elsworth and
the Hon. Calvin Goddard argued with great ability and eloquence
against the constitutionality of the black law. The Hon. A. T.
Judson and Hon. C. F. Cleaveland said all they could to prove
such a law consistent with the _Magna Charta_ of our republic.
The court reserved a decision for some future time; and that
decision was never given, it being evaded by the court finding
such defects in the information prepared by the State's attorney
that it ought to be quashed.

"Soon after this, an attempt was made to set the house of Miss
Crandall on fire, but without effect. The question of her duty to
risk the lives of her pupils against this mode of attack was then
considered, and upon consultation with friends it was concluded
to hold on and bear a little longer, with the hope that this
atrocity of attempting to fire the house, and thus expose the
lives and property of her neighbors, would frighten the
instigators of the persecution, and cause some restraint on the
'baser sort.' But a few nights afterward, about 12 o'clock, being
the night of the 9th of September, her house was assaulted by a
number of persons with heavy clubs and iron bars, and windows
were dashed to pieces. Mr. May was summoned the next morning, and
after consultation it was determined that the school should be
abandoned."

Mr. May thus concluded his account of this event, and of the enterprise:

"The pupils were called together and I was requested to announce
to them our decision. Never before had I felt so deeply sensible
of the cruelty of the persecution which had been carried on for
eighteen months in that New England village, against a family of
defenseless females. Twenty harmless, well-behaved girls, whose
only offense against the peace of the community was that they had
come together there to obtain useful knowledge and moral culture,
were to be told that they had better go away, because, forsooth,
the house in which they dwelt would not be protected by the
guardians of the town, the conservators of the peace, the
officers of justice, the men of influence in the village where it
was situated. The words almost blistered my lips. My bosom glowed
with indignation. I felt ashamed of Canterbury, ashamed of
Connecticut, ashamed of my country, ashamed of my color."[58]

Thus ended the generous, disinterested, philanthropic Christian enterprise of Prudence Crandall, but the law under which her enterprise was defeated was repealed in 1838.

It is to be regretted that Connecticut earned such an unenviable place in history as this. It seems strange, indeed, that such an occurrence could take place in the nineteenth century in a free State in a republic in North America! But such is "the truth of history."

DELAWARE

never passed any law against the instruction of Negroes, but in 1833 passed an act taxing every person who sold a slave out of the State, or brought one into the State, five dollars, which went into a school fund for the education of _white children alone_. In 1852, the Revised Statutes provided for the taxation of all the property of the State for the support of the schools for _white children_ alone. So, by implication, Delaware prohibited the education of Colored children.

In 1840, the Friends formed the African School Association in Wilmington; and under its management two excellent schools, for boys and girls, were established.

FLORIDA.

On the 28th of December, 1848, an act was passed providing "for the establishment of common schools." The right to vote at district meetings was conferred upon every person whose property was liable to taxation for school purposes; but only white children were allowed school privileges.

In the same year an act was passed providing that the school funds should consist of "the proceeds of the school lands," and of all estates, real or personal, escheating to the State, and "the proceeds of all property found on the coast or shores of the State." In 1850 the counties were authorized to provide, by taxation, not more than four dollars for each child within their limits of the proper school age. In the same year the amount received from the sale of any slave, under the act of 1829, was required to be added to the school fund. The common school law was revised in 1853, and the county commissioners were authorized to add from the county treasury any sum they thought proper for the support of common schools.[59]

GEORGIA

passed a law in 1770 (copied from S. C. Statutes, passed in 1740), fixing a fine of £20 for teaching a slave to read or write. In 1829 the Legislature enacted the following law:

"If any slave, negro, or free person of color, or any white
person, shall teach any other slave, negro, or free person of
color to read or write either written or printed characters, the
said free person of color or slave shall be punished by fine and
whipping, or fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court;
and if a white person so offend, he, she, or they shall be
punished with a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment in the
common jail at the discretion of the court."

In 1833 the above law was consolidated into a penal code. A penalty of $100 was provided against persons who employed any slave or free person of Color to set type or perform any other labor about a printing-office requiring a knowledge of reading or writing. During the same year an ordinance was passed in the city of Savannah, "that if any person shall teach or cause to be taught any slave or free person of color to read or write within the city, or who shall keep a school for that purpose, he or she shall be fined in a sum not exceeding $100 for each and every such offense; and if the offender be a slave or free person of color, he or she may also be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes."

In the summer of 1850 a series of articles by Mr. F. C. Adams appeared in one of the papers of Savannah, advocating the education of the Negroes as a means of increasing their value and of attaching them to their masters. The subject was afterward taken up in the Agricultural Convention which met at Macon in September of the same year. The matter was again brought up in September, 1851, in the Agricultural Convention, and after being debated, a resolution was passed that a petition be presented to the Legislature for a law granting permission to educate the slaves. The petition was presented to the Legislature, and Mr. Harlston introduced a bill in the winter of 1852, which was discussed and passed in the lower House, to repeal the old law, and to grant to the masters the privilege of educating their slaves. The bill was lost in the senate by two or three votes.[60]

ILLINOIS'

school laws contain the word "white" from beginning to end. There is no prohibition against the education of Colored persons; but there being no mention of them, is evidence that they were purposely omitted. Separate schools were established for Colored children before the war, and a few white schools opened their doors to them. The Free Mission Institute at Quincy was destroyed by a mob from Missouri in _ante-bellum_ days, because Colored persons were admitted to the classes.

INDIANA

denied the right of suffrage to her Negro population in the constitution of 1851. No provision was made for the education of the Negro children. And the cruelty of the laws that drove the Negro from the State, and pursued him while in it, gave the poor people no hope of peaceful habitation, much less of education.

KENTUCKY

never put herself on record against the education of Negroes. By an act passed in 1830, all the inhabitants of each school district were taxed to support a common-school system. The property of Colored persons was included, but they could not vote or enjoy the privileges of the schools. And the slave laws were so numerous and cruel that there was no opportunity left the bondmen in this State to acquire any knowledge of books even secretly.

LOUISIANA

passed an act in 1830, forbidding free Negroes to enter the State. It provided also, that whoever should "write, print, publish, or distribute any thing having a tendency to produce discontent among the free colored population, or insubordination among the slaves," should, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned "_at hard labor for life, or suffer death_, at the discretion of the court." And whoever used language calculated to produce discontent among the free or slave population, or was "instrumental in bringing into the State any paper, book, or pamphlet having such tendency," was to "suffer imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three years nor more than twenty-one years, or death, at the discretion of the court." "All persons," continues the act, "who shall teach, or permit, or cause to be taught, any slave to read or write, shall be imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months."

In 1847, a system of common schools for "the education of white youth was established." It was provided that "one mill on the dollar, upon the _ad valorem_ amount of the general list of taxable property," should be levied for the support of the schools.

MAINE

gave the elective franchise and ample school privileges to all her citizens, without regard to race or color, by her constitution of 1820.

MARYLAND

always restricted the right of suffrage to her "white male inhabitants," and, therefore, always refused to make any provisions for the education of her Negro population. There is nothing upon her statute-books prohibiting the instruction of Negroes, but the law that designates her schools for "white children" is sufficient proof that Negro children were purposely omitted and excluded from the benefits of the schools.

St. Frances Academy for Colored girls was founded in connection with the Oblate Sisters of Providence Convent, in Baltimore, June 5, 1829, under the hearty approbation of the Most Rev. James Whitfield, D.D., the Archbishop of Baltimore at that time, and receiving the sanction of the Holy See, October 2, 1831. The convent originated with the French Fathers, who came to Baltimore from San Domingo as refugees, in the time of the revolution in that island in the latter years of last century. There were many Colored Catholic refugees who came to Baltimore during that period, and the French Fathers soon opened schools there for the benefit of the refugees and other Colored people. The Colored women who formed the original society which founded the convent and seminary, were from San Domingo; though they had, some of them, certainly, been educated in France. The schools which preceded the organization of the convent were greatly favored by. Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, D.D., who was a French Father, and Archbishop of Baltimore from 1817 to 1828, Archbishop Whitfield being his successor. The Sisters of Providence is the name of a religious society of Colored women who renounced the world to consecrate themselves to the Christian education of Colored girls. The following extract from the announcement which, under the caption of "Prospectus of a School for Colored Girls under the Direction of the Sisters of Providence," appeared in the columns of the "Daily National Intelligencer," October 25, 1831, shows the spirit in which the school originated, and at the same time shadows forth the predominating ideas pertaining to the province of the race at that period.

The prospectus says:

"The object of this institute is one of great importance,
greater, indeed, than might at first appear to those who would
only glance at the advantages which it is calculated to directly
impart to the leading portion of the human race, and through it
to society at large. In fact, these girls will either become
mothers of families or household servants. In the first case the
solid virtues, the religious and moral principles which they may
have acquired in this school will be carefully transferred as a
legacy to their children. Instances of the happy influence which
the example of virtuous parents has on the remotest lineage in
this humble and naturally dutiful class of society are numerous.
As to such as are to be employed as servants, they will be
intrusted with domestic concerns and the care of young children.
How important, then, it will be that these girls shall have
imbibed religious principles, and have been trained up in habits
of modesty, honesty, and integrity."[61]

The Wells School, established by a Colored man by the name of Nelson Wells, in 1835, gave instruction to free children of color. It was managed by a board of trustees who applied the income of $7,000 (the amount left by Mr. Wells) to the support of the school. It accomplished much good.

MASSACHUSETTS.

A separate school for Colored children was established in Boston, in 1798, and was held in the house of a reputable Colored man named Primus Hall. The teacher was one Elisha Sylvester, whose salary was paid by the parents of the children whom he taught. In 1800 sixty-six Colored citizens presented a petition to the School Committee of Boston, praying that a school might be established for their benefit. A sub-committee, to whom the petition had been referred, reported in favor of granting the prayer, but it was voted down at the next town meeting. However, the school taught by Mr. Sylvester did not perish. Two young gentlemen from Harvard University, Messrs. Brown and Williams, continued the school until 1806. During this year the Colored Baptists built a church edifice in Belknap Street, and fitted up the lower room for a school for Colored children. From the house of Primus Hall the little school was moved to its new quarters in the Belknap Street church. Here it was continued until 1835, when a school-house for Colored children was erected and paid for out of a fund left for the purpose by Abiel Smith, and was subsequently called "Smith School-house." The authorities of Boston were induced to give $200.00 as an annual appropriation, and the parents of the children in attendance paid 12½ cents per week. The school-house was dedicated with appropriate exercises, Hon. William Minot delivering the dedicatory address.

The African school in Belknap Street was under the control of the school committee from 1812 to 1821, and from 1821 was under the charge of a special sub-committee. Among the teachers was John B. Russworm, from 1821 to 1824, who entered Bowdoin College in the latter year, and afterward became governor of the colony of Cape Palmas in Southern Liberia.

The first primary school for Colored children in Boston was established in 1820, two or three of which were subsequently kept until 1855, when they were discontinued as separate schools, in accordance with the general law passed by the Legislature in that year, which provided that, "in determining the qualifications of scholars to be admitted into any public school, or any district school in this commonwealth, no distinction shall be made on account of the race, color, or religious opinions of the applicant or scholar." "Any child, who, on account of his race, color, or religious opinions should be excluded from any public or district school, if otherwise qualified," might recover damages in an action of _tort_, brought in the name of the child in any court of competent jurisdiction, against the city or town in which the school was located.[62]

MISSISSIPPI

passed an act in 1823 providing against the meeting together of slaves, free Negroes, or Mulattoes above the number of five. They were not allowed to meet at any public house in the night; or at any house, for teaching, reading, or writing, in the day or night. The penalty for the violation of this law was whipping, "not exceeding thirty-nine" lashes.

In 1831 an act was passed making it "unlawful for any slave, free negro, or mulatto to preach the Gospel," upon pain of receiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the presumptuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present.

In 1846, and again in 1848, school laws were enacted, but in both instances schools and education were prescribed for "white youth between the ages of six and twenty years."

MISSOURI

ordered all free persons of color to move out of the State in 1845. In 1847 an act was passed providing that "no person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes in reading or writing in this State."

NEW YORK

had the courage and patriotism, in 1777, to extend the right of suffrage to every male inhabitant of full age. But by the revised constitution, in 1821, this liberal provision was abridged so that "no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any election, shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of $250 over and above all debts and encumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid." In 1846, and again in 1850, a Constitutional amendment conferring equal privileges upon the Negroes, was voted down by large majorities.

A school for Negro slaves was opened in the city of New York in 1704 by Elias Neau, a native of France, and a catechist of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." After a long imprisonment for his public profession of faith as a Protestant, he founded an asylum in New York. His sympathies were awakened by the condition of the Negroes in slavery in that city, who numbered about 1,500 at that time. The difficulties of holding any intercourse with them seemed almost insurmountable. At first he could only visit them from house to house, after his day's toil was over; afterward he was permitted to gather them together in a room in his own house for a short time in the evening. As the result of his instructions at the end of four years, in 1708, the ordinary number under his instruction was 200. Many were judged worthy to receive the sacrament at the hands of Mr. Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church, some of whom became regular and devout communicants, remarkable for their orderly and blameless lives.

But soon after this time some Negroes of the Carmantee and Pappa tribes formed a plot for setting fire to the city and murdering the English on a certain night. The work was commenced but checked, and after a short struggle the English subdued the Negroes. Immediately a loud and angry clamor arose against Elias Neau, his accusers saying that his school was the cause of the murderous attempt. He denied the charge in vain; and so furious were the people that, for a time, his life was in danger. The evidence, however, at the trial proved that the Negroes most deeply engaged in this plot were those whose masters were most opposed to any means for their instruction. Yet the offence of a few was charged upon the race, and even the provincial government lent its authority to make the burden of Neau the heavier. The common council passed an order forbidding Negroes "to appear in the streets after sunset, without lanthorns or candles"; and as they could not procure these, the result was to break up the labors of Neau. But at this juncture Governor Hunter interposed, and went to visit the school of Neau, accompanied by several officers of rank and by the society's missionaries, and he was so well pleased that he gave his full approval to the work, and in a public proclamation called upon the clergy of the province to exhort their congregations to extend their approval also. Vesey, the good rector of Trinity Church, had long watched the labors of Neau and witnessed the progress of his scholars, as well as assisted him in them; and finally the governor, the council, mayor, recorder, and two chief justices of New York joined in declaring that Neau "in a very eminent degree deserved the countenance, favor, and protection of the society." He therefore continued his labors until 1722, when, "amid the unaffected sorrow of his negro scholars and the friends who honored him for their sake, he was removed by death."

The work was then continued by "Huddlestone, then schoolmaster in New York"; and he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Wetmore, who removed in 1726 to Rye; whereupon the Rev. Mr. Colgan was appointed to assist the rector of Trinity Church, and to carry on the instruction of the Negroes. A few years afterward Thomas Noxon assisted Mr. Colgan, and their joint success was very satisfactory. Rev. R. Charlton, who had been engaged in similar labor at New Windsor, was called to New York in 1732, where he followed up the work successfully for fifteen years, and was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Auchmuty. Upon the death of Thomas Noxon, in 1741, Mr. Hildreth took his place, who, in 1764, wrote that "not a single black admitted by him to the holy communion had turned out badly, or in any way disgraced his profession." Both Auchmuty and Hildreth received valuable support from Mr. Barclay, who, upon the death of Mr. Vesey, in 1746, had been appointed to the rectory of Trinity Church.

The frequent kidnapping of free persons of color excited public alarm and resulted in the formation of "The New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting such of them as have been or may be Liberated." These are the names of the gentlemen who organized the society, and became the board of trustees of the "_New York African Free School_":

Melancthon Smith, Jno. Bleeker, James Cogswell, Lawrence Embree, Thomas Burling, Willett Leaman, Jno. Lawrence, Jacob Leaman, White Mattock, Mathew Clarkson, Nathaniel Lawrence, Jno. Murray, Jr.

Their school, located in Cliff Street, between Beekman and Ferry, was opened in 1786, taught by Cornelius Davis, attended by about forty pupils of both sexes, and appears, from their book of minutes, to have been satisfactorily conducted. In the year 1791 a female teacher was added to instruct the girls in needle-work, the expected advantages of which measure were soon realized and highly gratifying to the society. In 1808 the society was incorporated, and in the preamble it is recorded that "a free school for the education of such persons as have been liberated from bondage, that they may hereafter become useful members of the community," has been established. It may be proper here to remark that the good cause in which the friends of this school were engaged, was far from being a popular one. The prejudices of a large portion of the community were against it; the means in the hands of the trustees were often very inadequate, and many seasons of discouragement were witnessed; but they were met by men who, trusting in the Divine support, were resolved neither to relax their exertions nor to retire from the field.

Through the space of about twenty years they struggled on; the number of scholars varying from forty to sixty, until the year 1809, when the Lancasterian, or monitorial, system of instruction was introduced (this being the second school in the United States to adopt the plan), under a new teacher, E. J. Cox, and a very favorable change was produced, the number of pupils, and the efficiency of their instruction being largely increased.

Soon after this, however, in January, 1814, their school-house was destroyed by fire, which checked the progress of the school for a time, as no room could be obtained large enough to accommodate the whole number of pupils. A small room in Doyer Street was temporarily hired, to keep the school together till further arrangements could be made, and an appeal was made to the liberality of the citizens and to the corporation of the city, which resulted in obtaining from the latter a grant of two lots of ground in William. Street, on which to build a new school-house; and in January, 1815, a commodious brick building, to accommodate 200 pupils, was finished on this lot, and the school was resumed with fresh vigor and increasing interest. In a few months the room became so crowded that it was found necessary to engage a separate room, next to the school, to accommodate such of the pupils as were to be taught sewing. This branch had been for many years discontinued, but was now resumed under the direction of Miss Lucy Turpen, a young lady whose amiable disposition and faithful discharge of her duties rendered her greatly esteemed both by her pupils and the trustees. This young lady, after serving the board for several years, removed with her parents to Ohio, and her place was supplied by Miss Mary Lincrum, who was succeeded by Miss Eliza J. Cox, and the latter by Miss Mary Ann Cox, and she by Miss Carolina Roe, under each of whom the school continued to sustain a high character for order and usefulness.

The school in William Street increasing in numbers, another building was found necessary, and was built on a lot of ground 50 by 100 feet square, on Mulberry Street, between Grand and Hester streets, to accommodate five hundred pupils, and was completed and occupied, with C. C. Andrews for teacher, in May, 1820.

General Lafayette visited this school September 10, 1824, an abridged account of which is copied from the "Commercial Advertiser" of that date:

VISIT OF LAFAYETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOL IN 1824.