People, Locations, Episodes

Mary Smith Kelsey Peake, Seamstress, and Teacher born

*The birth of Mary Smith Kelsey Peake is celebrated on this date in 1823.  She was a Black teacher, school administrator, and seamstress.   Born in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of a free Black woman and a white Englishman. When she was six, Mary was sent to live with her aunt and uncle to attend […]

Laura M. Towne, Educator, and Abolitionist born

On this date in 1825, Laura Matilda Towne was born. She was a White American educator and abolitionist.

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Towne studied homeopathic medicine privately and attended the Penn Medical University. She taught in charity schools in various northern towns and cities in the 1850s and ’60s. Early in 1862 she answered an appeal for volunteers to teach, nurse, and otherwise help former slaves who had been freed in the Union capture of Port Royal and other Sea Islands area of South Carolina. In April of that year she arrived at St. Helena Island, SC.

Martin Freeman, Educator born

*The birth of Martin Freeman in 1826 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black educator, and administrator.

From Rutland, Vermont, Martin Henry Freeman graduated from Middlebury College as Salutatorian in 1849. In 1854, he was appointed Professor at the Allegheny Institute near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which later became Avery College. Here, he gained a great following in mathematics and science. Freeman was appointed President of the school in 1856, the first Black man to hold the position of College President in America.

The Oneida Institute Begins Classes

*The Oneida Institute opening is celebrated on this date in 1827.  They were a short-lived (16 years) but highly influential school that was a national leader in the (then) emerging anti-slavery movement.   George Washington Gale founded it as the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry.   His former teacher (in the Addison County Grammar School, Middlebury, John Frost, now a Presbyterian minister in Whitesboro […]

Emily Howland, Educator and Abolitionist born

*Emily Howland was born on this date in 1827.  She was a white-American philanthropist, abolitionist, and educator.   Emily Howland was born in Sherwood, Cayuga County, New York.  She was the daughter of Slocum and Hannah Tallcot Howland, who were prominent in the Society of Friends.  Her brother, William Howland, served in the 106th New […]

The African Dorcas Association Begins

*On this date in 1828, the African Dorcas Association was founded.  This was a Black women’s community aid society in New York City.   The women of this group sewed clothes for the Black children of the city so that they would have appropriate attire for school. They were also one of the first societies where “women met independently and without the supervision […]

Saint Frances Academy High School Opens

*On this date in 1828, we celebrate Saint Frances Academy. This secondary institute is an independent Catholic high school in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the first and oldest continually operating Black Catholic educational facility in the United States. In the early 1800s, various Protestant organizations in Baltimore, such as Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church’s Free African […]

Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood, Educator born

*The birth of Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood is celebrated on this date in 1828.  She was a 19th-century Black educator and activist.    Elizabeth Thorn was born a free woman in New York State. She received a good education in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and married her first husband, Joseph Scott.  In 1852, Elizabeth and her husband […]

Clinton Fisk, Freedman’s Bureau Pioneer born

Clinton Fisk was born on this date in 1828. He was a White American soldier, prohibitionist, businessman, and educator.

Born near the Erie Canal in Western New York, Clinton Bowen Fisk was the son of Benjamin Bigford Fisk and Lydia Aldrich Fisk. His parents moved to what was then Michigan Territory while he was a baby. His father’s death caused him and his family to grow up in poverty.

Young Fisk did establish himself as a small banker in Coldwater, Michigan, where in 1850, he married Jeannette Crippen. Fisk’s bank business was ruined in the economic Panic of 1857.

Oliver Howard, Soldier, and Administrator born

*Oliver Howard was born on this date in 1830.  He was a white-American soldier and spiritual base administrator.   Oliver Otis Howard was born in Leeds, Maine, the son of Rowland Bailey Howard and Eliza Otis Howard. Rowland, a farmer, died when Oliver was nine years old. Oliver attended Monmouth Academy in Monmouth, North Yarmouth […]

Mathilda Beasley, Educator, and Nun born

*Mathilda Beasley was born on this date in 1832. She was a Black teacher, seamstress, and nun. Mathilda Taylor was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 14, 1832. She was baptized as a Catholic in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy free Black restaurant owner in Savannah, who […]

Joseph C. Corbin, Scholar, Educator born

On this date we celebrate the birth of Joseph Corbin, born in 1833. He was a Black teacher, editor, and the highest-ranking Black official in Arkansas Reconstruction.

Oberlin College is Founded

*Oberlin College was founded on this date in 1833. It is a private, coeducational institution in Oberlin, Ohio southwest of Cleveland.

The Noyes Academy Begins Classes

*On this date in 1835, we celebrate the Noyes Academy in New Hampshire. In March of that year, twenty-eight Whites and fourteen Blacks commenced classes at newly established Noyes Academy.

Abiel Smith School (Boston) Opens

*This date in 1835 celebrates the opening of Abiel Smith School, a school for Black children in Boston, Massachusetts. Black parents in early America organized a school for their children in 1798; the school’s forerunner was first held in the home of Primus Hall. The school moved to the African Meeting House was built, and […]