African Free School(Etching)
On this date in 1787, one of the first schools for Blacks in America opened.
The African Free School was started in New York City by the Manumission Society. The African Free School commenced as a one-room school, and the first permanent build was erected later that year. After a fire destroyed the building, African School No. 2 opened in 1815, with room for 500 pupils.
By 1834, there were seven African Free Schools, and they were eventually incorporated into the public school system.
The African American Desk Reference
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Copyright 1999 The Stonesong Press Inc. and
The New York Public Library, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pub.
ISBN 0-471-23924-0
