n 1830 one fourth of the twelve
hundred colored children in the schools of that city paid for their
instruction, whereas only two hundred and fifty were attending the
public schools in 1825.[4] The fact that some of the Negroes were able
and willing to share the responsibility of enlightening their people
caused a larger number of philanthropists to come to the rescue
of those who had to depend on charity. Furthermore, of the many
achievements claimed for the colored schools of Philadelphia none were
considered more significant than that they produced teachers qualified
to carry on this work. Eleven of the sixteen colored schools in
Philadelphia in 1822 were taught by teachers of African descent. In
1830 the system was practically in the hands of Negroes.[5]

[Footnote 1: Turner, _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, p. 129.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid._, p. 130.]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 377.]

[Footnote 4: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc., 1825, p.
13.]

[Footnote 5: _Proceedings of the Am. Convention_, etc., 1830, p.8; and
Wickersham, _History of Education in Pennsylvania_, p. 253.]

The statistics of later years show how successful these early efforts
had been. By 1849 the colored schools of Philadelphia had developed
to the extent that they seemed like a system. According to the
_Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of Colored People in and about
Philadelphia_, published that year, there were 1643 children of color
attending well-regulated schools. The larger institutions were mainly
supported by State and charitable organizations of which the Society
of Friends and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society were the most
important. Besides supporting these institutions, however, the
intelligent colored men of Philadelphia had maintained smaller schools
and organized a system of lyceums and debating clubs, one of which had
a library of 1400 volumes. Moreover, there were then teaching in the
colored families and industrial schools of Philadelphia many men and
women of both races.[1] Although these instructors restricted their
work to the teaching of the rudiments of education, they did much to
help the more advanced schools to enlighten the Negroes who came to
that city in large numbers when conditions became intolerable for
the free people of color in the slave States. The statistics of the
following decade show unusual progress. In the year 1859 there were
in the colored publ