"[James] McCune Smith started school while still legally a bondman, at the New York African Free-School No. 2 on Mulberry Street. Headed by the white educator and reformer Charles C. Andrews, it was an extraordinary institution. Andrews 'regarded his black boys as a little smarter than whites,' and taught them 'to regard the higher walks of life as within their reach.' Partly owing to Andrews inspiration and instruction , the school produced some of the most notable African Americans in antebellum America: Henry Highland Garnet, the famous abolitionist; Ira Aldridge , the preeminent Shakespearean tragedian; Charles L. Reason, professor of literature and languages at New York Central College, and his brother Patrick Reason, an accomplished artist; the Reverend Alexander Crummell, an internationally respected minister and intellectual; Samuel Ringgold Ward, a brilliant public speaker and well known abolitionist; Phillip Bell, a journalist and one of McCune Smith's closest friends; Theodore Wright, a Presbyterian minister; Samuel Cornish, who edited 'Freedom's Journal,' the nation's first black newspaper; John Peterson, an educator; and Peter Williams Jr., a mentor to McCune Smith and the pastor of St. Philips Episcopal Church, one of the cities largest black congregations. McCune Smith was a star student, and graduating with honors in 1828, he studied languages with Peter Williams."
P.xx, "Introduction," THE WORKS OF JAMES MCCUNE SMITH: BLACK INTELLECTUAL AND ABOLITIONIST edited by John Stauffer (Oxford: 2006)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Free_School
Thursday, July 6, 2017
NEW YORK AFRICAN FREE SCHOOL
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/africanfreeschool/history/history.html
FOR ITS DAY, IN ITS WAY, IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, THE NEW YORK AFRICAN FREE SCHOOL, WAS AS ICONIC AS OBERLIN, HOWARD, HAMPTON, TUSKEGEE, WILBERFORCE, AND BOTH LINCOLN'S, IN THE EDUCATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS OF GREAT RENOWN. AMONG ITS LUMINOUS FOUNDERS WERE THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE, JOHN JAY; ALEXANDER HAMILTON. CHARLES ANDREWS TAUGHT.
The African Free School was an institution founded by members of the New York Manumission Society on November 2, 1787, including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. It was founded to provide education to children of slaves and free people of color.
"[James] McCune Smith started school while still legally a bondman, at the New York African Free-School No. 2 on Mulberry Street. Headed by the white educator and reformer Charles C. Andrews, it was an extraordinary institution. Andrews 'regarded his black boys as a little smarter than whites,' and taught them 'to regard the higher walks of life as within their reach.' Partly owing to Andrews inspiration and instruction , the school produced some of the most notable African Americans in antebellum America: Henry Highland Garnet, the famous abolitionist; Ira Aldridge , the preeminent Shakespearean tragedian; Charles L. Reason, professor of literature and languages at New York Central College, and his brother Patrick Reason, an accomplished artist; the Reverend Alexander Crummell, an internationally respected minister and intellectual; Samuel Ringgold Ward, a brilliant public speaker and well known abolitionist; Phillip Bell, a journalist and one of McCune Smith's closest friends; Theodore Wright, a Presbyterian minister; Samuel Cornish, who edited 'Freedom's Journal,' the nation's first black newspaper; John Peterson, an educator; and Peter Williams Jr., a mentor to McCune Smith and the pastor of St. Philips Episcopal Church, one of the cities largest black congregations. McCune Smith was a star student, and graduating with honors in 1828, he studied languages with Peter Williams."
P.xx, "Introduction," THE WORKS OF JAMES MCCUNE SMITH: BLACK INTELLECTUAL AND ABOLITIONIST edited by John Stauffer (Oxford: 2006)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Free_School
"[James] McCune Smith started school while still legally a bondman, at the New York African Free-School No. 2 on Mulberry Street. Headed by the white educator and reformer Charles C. Andrews, it was an extraordinary institution. Andrews 'regarded his black boys as a little smarter than whites,' and taught them 'to regard the higher walks of life as within their reach.' Partly owing to Andrews inspiration and instruction , the school produced some of the most notable African Americans in antebellum America: Henry Highland Garnet, the famous abolitionist; Ira Aldridge , the preeminent Shakespearean tragedian; Charles L. Reason, professor of literature and languages at New York Central College, and his brother Patrick Reason, an accomplished artist; the Reverend Alexander Crummell, an internationally respected minister and intellectual; Samuel Ringgold Ward, a brilliant public speaker and well known abolitionist; Phillip Bell, a journalist and one of McCune Smith's closest friends; Theodore Wright, a Presbyterian minister; Samuel Cornish, who edited 'Freedom's Journal,' the nation's first black newspaper; John Peterson, an educator; and Peter Williams Jr., a mentor to McCune Smith and the pastor of St. Philips Episcopal Church, one of the cities largest black congregations. McCune Smith was a star student, and graduating with honors in 1828, he studied languages with Peter Williams."
P.xx, "Introduction," THE WORKS OF JAMES MCCUNE SMITH: BLACK INTELLECTUAL AND ABOLITIONIST edited by John Stauffer (Oxford: 2006)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Free_School
