The 1st African Free School in NY

Description

A school for children of slaves and free people of color in New York City. Many of its alumni became leaders in the African-American community in New York. All together, there were at least seven African Free Schools in the city. With an amazing ratio of 200 students for only one teacher (under the Lancastrian learning Model - to save money) they educated a whole generation of outstanding Black Abolitionist leadership prior to the Civil War.

Founded, Nov 2, 1787

It was founded by members of the New York Manumission Society (an organization that advocated the full abolition of African slavery), including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, on November 2, 1787. For the first twenty years between forty and sixty students attended the school. In 1791, a female teacher was employed to teach female students needlework.

Burned, 1814

After the schoolhouse on Cliff Street burned down in 1814, members of the New York Manumission Society raised funds for a new building on William Street. A few months after the new schoolhouse was opened, it became so crowded that they opened another schoolroom to better accommodate the girls who wanted to learn sewing. In the intervening years, the female branch of the school had basically been abandoned. After a while, even this accommodation became too crowded.

Moved, 1820

More appeals went out to the wealthy citizens of New York, and another school, deemed No. 2, was erected on Mulberry Street in 1820. By this time, five hundred students were enrolled on the registers.

Factoids

Theodore Sedgwick Wright was educated at the African Free School

Related People & Organizations

John Jay,Member of the New York Manumission Society

Alexander Hamilton, Member of the New York Manumission Society

George Thomas Downing,The first school George attended was held by Charles Smith on Orange Street; he next studied at Mulberry Street School, also known as the African Free School.

Related Sites

Philomathean Literary Society

Seneca Village-There was also a branch of the African Free School next to the African Union Church, founded in the mid-1840s, which had become Colored School No. 3 as part of the public school system by the 1850s, serving 75 students, led by teacher Caroline W. Simpson.

Related Playlist

Alexander Hamilton Compilation - Member of the New York Manumission Society

Images

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Drawings and documents

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Lithograph of second school, 1922, after an 1830 engraving from a drawing by student Patrick H. Reason

A poster for the New York African Free School from the New York Historical Society

African Free School student James McCune Smith became the first African-American to hold a medical degree. The New York Historical Society

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