People, Locations, Episodes

The New York Colored Orphan Asylum Opens

*The New York Colored Orphan Asylum is celebrated on this date in 1836.  This was a healthcare facility in New York City that existed until 1946. The Colored Orphan Asylum was founded in Manhattan by three Quakers: Anna, Hanna Shotwell, and Mary Lindley Murray. It was one of the first of its kind in the […]

Frances Jackson Coppin, Educator born

Frances (Fanny) Jackson Coppin was born on this date in 1837. She was a Black school principal, church and civic leader, and one of the leading Black women educators of the nineteenth century.

Cheyney University is Founded

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1837 on this date. Though not issuing degrees when founded, it is the oldest American institution of higher education founded for African American students. It is one the more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States.

The Institute Catholique is Formed

*On this date in 1837, the Institute Catholique was envisioned by Bequeath.  Also known as Ecole Des Orphelins Indigents (Catholic School for Indigent Orphans) and the Couvent School, it was a school founded in the Faubourg Marigny district of New Orleans.   It was dedicated to providing free education to Black orphans, the first school in […]

Historic Black Colleges, and Universities (HBCUs) in America, a story

On this date, the Registry looks at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in America.

At their beginning in the 1830s, the main duty of these institutions was to teach freed slaves to read and write. Today, there are more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States, which have evolved and grown over the last 75 years. HBCUs offer African American students graduate and post-graduate degrees and a setting to nurture their soul, get a sense of identity, learn their heritage, and find a place in their community.

Martha Bailey Briggs, Educator born

*Martha Bailey Briggs was born on this date in 1838.  She was a Black educator. Martha Bailey Briggs was the daughter of John Briggs and Fannie Bassett Briggs, a Black abolitionist family in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  After his emancipation, Frederick Douglass worked with her father in New Bedford.  She was the first Black to graduate […]

Helen Pitts Douglass, Suffragist born

*The birth of Helen Pitts Douglass is celebrated on August 16, 1838. She was a white-American teacher, and suffragist, known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. Helen Pitts was born in Honeoye, New York; her parents were activists in the abolitionist and suffragist movements. She was also a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Alden, who […]

Diana Fletcher, Black Seminole Teacher born

*The birth of Diana Fletcher is celebrated on this date in 1838. She was a Black Native American Seminole historian and teacher. Born in Oklahoma (Indian Territory), her black father was born in Virginia as a slave. While still a young child, he was sold to a man who lived in Florida. He ran away […]

Samuel C. Armstrong, Soldier, and Educator born

*Samuel Armstrong was born on this date in 1839. He was a white-American soldier, educator, abolitionist, and administrator. The third son of Christian missionary Richard Armstrong, Samuel Chapman Armstrong was born in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, the sixth of ten children. His mother, Clarissa Chapman Armstrong, grew up in a Congregational family in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His father […]

Octavius Catto, Educator born

*Octavius Catto was born on this date in 1839. He was a Black educator, Baseball player, author, and abolitionist. Octavius Valentine Catto was born free in Charleston, South Carolina. His mother, Sarah Isabella Cain, was free and a member of the city’s prominent mixed-race DeReef family, which had been free for decades and belonged to […]

Charlotte L. Brown, Teacher and Activist born

*The birth of Charlotte L. Brown is celebrated on this date in 1839. She was a Black educator and activist. She was born in Maryland, the daughter of James E. Brown, a slave, and Charlotte Brown, a free seamstress. Her mother purchased her father’s freedom, and in 1850, they were living as Free people of […]

Rosetta Douglass-Sprague, Educator, and Activist born

*Rosetta Douglass-Sprague was born on this date in 1839. She was a Black teacher and activist. She was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Anna Murray-Douglass and Frederick Douglass. When she was five, she moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, with her parents. She was the eldest of five children. Like her father, she was a critical thinker but struggled […]

Mary Jane Patterson, Educator born

The birth of Mary Jane Patterson in 1840 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black teacher.

William Crogman, Educator born

*The birth of Professor William H. Crogman in 1841 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American educator.

Born in the West Indies in 1841, he was orphaned at twelve years of age. For ten years he followed the sea. Then, encouraged by a shipmate, he entered school in Massachusetts. He passed every one of the hundreds of students in learning, accuracy, and scholarship. He accomplished as much in one quarter as the average student did in two, mastering both mathematical and linguistic requirements.

George Ruby, Politician, and Teacher born

*The birth of George Ruby is celebrated on this date in 1841. He was a Black teacher, journalist, and politician. George Thompson Ruby was born in New York City. His parents were the Rev. Ebenezer Ruby and Jemima Ruby, though their son would claim that his father was an aristocratic white man. He was mulatto. Ruby […]