Abiel Smith School

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Coordinates: 42°21′36″N 71°03′55″W / 42.36001°N 71.06515°W / 42.36001; -71.06515
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Abiel Smith School
Abiel Smith School, 2007
Location
Map
United States
Information
Established1835
Websitewww.nps.gov/boaf/historyculture/abiel-smith-school.htm

Abiel Smith School, founded in 1835, is a

black
children.

The city constructed the school building with Smith's funds. Designed by

Black Heritage Trail, and is part of the Boston African American National Historic Site
.

Smith School, Belknap St. (later Joy St.), Boston, ca.1851
Abiel Smith School – facade, 2008

History

African-American parents organized a school for their children in 1798; it was first held in the home of Primus Hall. After the African Meeting House was constructed, the school was moved there to a first-floor classroom.

The African-American community worked to gain support from the city for their school as a public school, and the city started to contribute some funds in 1812. Abiel Smith, a white

black children. The city used part of his legacy to construct the school building next to the African Meeting House,[1] commissioning Richard Upjohn as architect, in his first public project.[2]
He later became well known for his church projects.

When the school was completed in 1835, all black children in Boston were assigned to it, replacing the basement school next door. The north side of Beacon Hill was then the residential center of the black community. Parents continued to press the city to improve services, as conditions at the school were less than in white public schools.[1]

Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were allowed under the state's constitution (Roberts v. City of Boston).[3] Integration of Boston's schools was achieved in 1855 after parents withdrew their children for a time from the Smith School[1] and Benjamin F. Roberts
helped bring the issue to the state legislature. The Smith School was closed the same year as schools in Boston were desegregated.

In the 1870s, many people migrated to the South End where new schools and churches were founded.

Legacy

The former school, designated as part of the

Black Heritage Trail and is now part of the Museum of African American History. With a renovation project completed in February 2000, it serves, in part, as the administrative offices for the Museum.[4] It is also within the Boston African American National Historic Site.[2]

Alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c Boston African American National Historic Site: Abiel Smith School, National Park Service
  2. ^ a b Kathryn Grover and Janine V. da Silva, Boston African American National Historic Site: HISTORIC RESOURCE STUDY, 31 DECEMBER 2002, p. 8
  3. ^ "BROWN V. BOARD: Timeline of School Integration in the U.S". April 2004.
  4. ^ The Abiel Smith School: A Multimedia Learning Experience Archived June 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

  • Bower, Beth Ann. "The African Meeting House, Massachusetts: Summary Report of Archaeological Excavation, 1975–1986." Museum of African American History, Boston, MA.
  • Jacobs, Donald M. ed. Courage and Conscience: Black and White Abolitionists in Boston. Bloomington: Indiana University Press for the Boston Anthenaeum, 1993
  • Kendrick, Stephen and Kendrick, Paul. Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changes America. Boston: Beacon Hill Press, 2004.
  • Wesley, Dorothy Porter, and Constance Porter Uzelac, eds. William Cooper Nell, Nineteenth-Century African American Abolitionist, Historian, Integrationist: Selected Writings, 1832–1874. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 2002.

42°21′36″N 71°03′55″W / 42.36001°N 71.06515°W / 42.36001; -71.06515

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