re springing up from year
to year. As early as 1824 Mrs. Mary Wall, a member of the Society
of Friends, had opened a school for Negroes and received so many
applications that many had to be refused. From this school came many
well-prepared colored men, among whom were James Wormley and John
Thomas Johnson. Another school was established by Thomas Tabbs, who
received "a polished education from the distinguished Maryland family
to which he belonged." Mr. Tabbs came to Washington before the War
of 1812 and began teaching those who came to him when he had a
schoolhouse, and when he had none he went from house to house,
stopping even under the trees to teach wherever he found pupils who
were interested. See _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871,
pp. 212, 213, and 214.]

Of this self-educative work of Negroes some of the best was
accomplished by colored women. With the assistance of Father Vanlomen,
the benevolent priest then in charge of the Holy Trinity Church, Maria
Becraft, the most capable colored woman in the District of Columbia at
that time, established there the first seminary for the education of
colored girls. She had begun to teach in a less desirable section, but
impressed with the unusual beauty and strong character of this girl,
Father Vanlomen had her school transferred to a larger building on
Fayette Street where she taught until 1831. She then turned over her
seminary to girls she had trained, and became a teacher in a convent
at Baltimore as a Sister of Providence.[1] Other good results were
obtained by Louisa Parke Costin, a member of one of the oldest
colored families in the District of Columbia. Desiring to diffuse the
knowledge she acquired from white teachers in the early mixed schools
of the District, she decided to teach. She opened her school just
about the time that Henry Smothers was making his reputation as an
educator. She died in 1831, after years of successful work had crowned
her efforts. Her task was then taken up by her sister, Martha, who had
been trained in the Convent Seminary of Baltimore.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid._, p. 204.]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 203.]

Equally helpful was the work of Arabella Jones. Educated at the St.
Frances Academy at Baltimore, she was well grounded in the English
branches and fluent in French. She taught on the "Island," calling her
school "The St. Agnes Academy."[1] Another worker of this class
was Mary Worm