THE NEGRO IN EDUCATION[1]

In the early history of America there were three types of
settlements--the French, Spanish, and English. In the French Provinces
the teachings of the "Code Noir" made it incumbent upon the masters to
teach the slaves, at least to read, in order, of course, that they
might read the Bible; and in the Spanish districts the Latin custom of
miscegenation prevented the rise of objections to the teaching of
slaves, in case there should be any who cared to instruct the Negroes.
In the English Provinces, on the other hand, since teaching the slaves
would probably result in their becoming Christians, the colonists
naturally were strenuous in their efforts to prevent any enlightenment
of the blacks, due to the existence of an unwritten law to the effect
that no Christian might be held a slave. Many planters forbade the
teaching of their slaves, until finally the Bishop of London settled
the difficulty by issuing a formal declaration in which he stated that
conversion did not work manumission.[2]

The rudimentary education of Negroes was one of the first claims on
pioneer Christian teachers. Although the _Negro Year Book_ for 1914-15
makes note of a public school for Indians and Negroes established in
1620, according to Brawley and Du Bois, the first schools to be
established were private institutions.[3] In New York City in 1704 a
school was opened for Negroes and Indians by Elias Neau and in 1750
Anthony Benezet established an evening school for the blacks in
Philadelphia. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
established in Charleston in 1744 a mission school, in which two
Negroes were employed to instruct their fellowmen. The free Negroes in
Charleston established a school in 1774 and those in Boston started a
school in 1798. In 1764 the editor of a paper in Williamsburg,
Virginia, opened a school for Negroes and in 1800 a schoolhouse and
350 acres of ground were left by the will of Robert Pleasants to be
used for the benefit of Negro children.[4] About this same time in
Newark, New Jersey, the Kosciusko School was established by means of a
sum amounting to $13,000 left by Kosciusko for the education of the
Negroes.[5] In the Middle West private schools had been organized by
manumitted Negroes.

St. Frances Academy, established in Baltimore in 1829, by The Colored
Woman's Society, was the first school for colored girls. An institute
for Negro children was established in 1837 in Cheyney, Pe