University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1977 Massachusetts Blacks and the quest for education, 1638-1860. Gerald Nelson Davis University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Davis, Gerald Nelson, "Massachusetts lB acks and the quest for education, 1638-1860." (1977). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 3135. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/3135 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MASSACHUSETTS BLACKS AND THE QUEST FOR EDUCATION: 1638 to 1860 A Dissertation By Gerald Nelson Davis Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION June 1977 Major Subject: Education 2i*b (c) Gerald Nelson Davis 1977 All Rights Reserved ii MASSACHUSETTS BLACKS AND THE QUEST FOR EDUCATION: 1638 to I860 A Dissertation By Gerald Nelson Davis Approved as to style and content by: '/ f/t'\ Dr. V'illiam Kornegay, v J Chairman of Corrird.tt.ee Cl. Dr. George E. Urch, Member Dr. Sidney Kaplan, Member Mario D. Fantini. , Dean C«->V.r\rO /-'•p on June, 1977 Dedicated to my wife and children Gale, Channing and Sterling ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In completing the requirements for a doctoral degree, one necessarily depends upon many individuals and groups for support, inspiration and guidance. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those persons and institutions without whose help this study could not have been completed. I am indebted to Northfield Mount Hermon School, my employer since 1964, for its full financial support of all my graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts. I am particularly grateful to William Compton, Jean Hatheway, Jane Robinson, Glenn Vandervliet and Robert Treat for their constant support, patience and understanding during the preparation of this dissertation. I must also express my appreciation to Young II Shin, a fellow doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts and my colleague at Northfield Mount Hermon School, for serving on my comprehensive examination committee. The Reverend Glyn Jones, Chaplain at Northfield Mount Hermon and most generous in providing me with my supporting colleague , has been scholarly works pertinent to my study and subject field. former colleague, and I am also indebted to Frederick E. Bauer, a for his help Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, in my research at the Society. appreciation to those persons I would also like to express my during the course specifically involved in guiding and supporting me v of my graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts. I am especially grateful to Professors George E. Urch, Philip Eddy and William Kornegay for their patience, inspiration and support in both my course work and in the research on this dissertation. I am also grateful to Professor Sidney Kaplan for serving as a member of my dissertation committee. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. William Kornegay, the chairman of my dissertation committee and my most constant adviser during my doctoral studies. He has been more than generous and most helpful with his ideas, materials and time during the preparation of this study. My warmest appreciation must go to my wife, Gale, whose special love, loyalty, understanding and constant help during my graduate studies have made the completion of this dissertation possible. ABSTRACT Massachusetts Blacks and the Quest For Education: 1638-1860 (June, 1977) Gerald Nelson Davis, B. S., Hampton Institute M. A. , University of Massachusetts Directed by: Dr. William Kornegay The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive narrative and analysis of black educational opportunities in Massachusetts from the colonial era to the Civil War. In the absence of a definitive history of blacks in Massachusetts, and recognizing the need to expand this phase of Afro-American social history, this study offers a general overview of both colonial and antebellum black society, its problems, institutions and leadership as they relate to black educational oppor- tunities. Furthermore, it explores the efforts of both blacks and whites, individuals and groups, to provide schooling for blacks, to raise their political consciousness and lead them in a campaign for racially integrated public schools. Operating on the premise that Massachusetts was the most committed of northern states to the expansion of free public education, the general advancement of the free black population, and the abolition of slavery, this study aims to test the validity of that premise by exam- rights prior ining the history of the black's struggle for equal school to the Civil War. vii Proceeding on the premise that the maximum exploitation of African slaves required that they be given some basic training and instruction, Chapter I reveals the limited but significant educational opportunities offered to slaves. Specific examples of formal literacy training, individual tutoring, and vocational training provide the basis for an analysis of the educational opportunities of slaves. Chapter II examines the effects of racism and segregation on the growth, education and advancement of free blacks. This phase of the study offers numerous examples of racial discrimination in the politi- cal, economic, social and religious institutions of white society, and reveals the rise of a caste system which hindered the advancement of free blacks. Chapter III explores the separate black schools, churches, lodges, societies and associations. These organizations are viewed as the black response to white racism and the poverty and powerlessness of blacks, and they represent an earnest attempt toward self-improvement and group unity. school Chapters IV, V and VI are devoted to the campaign for equal 1850 s. In rights and the desegregation victories in the 1840's and abolitionists, Boston, Salem and Nantucket, blacks, aided by white When blacks petitioned and protested against segregated schools. Supreme Court challenged this Jim Crow system, the Massachusetts Justice I^muel Shaw's refused to outlaw segregation. Indeed, Chief city enforced segregated opinion in the Roberts Case (1849) condoned but equal" nearly fifty years schools, using the doctrine of "separate viii . before the United States Supreme Court's decision in the famous Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896). Through black unity and with the support of abolitionists, blacks waged a twenty year campaign against separate and inferior schools. In 1855, a Know-Nothing-Free Soil coalition which controlled the legisla- ture, passed a law banning segregation in public schools on the basis of race. By examining the situation of blacks in several Bay State cities, i.e., Boston, Salem, Worcester, Springfield and Pittsfield, this study offers a general overview of antebellum Massachusetts blacks and their struggle for equal school rights. Throughout the study, the term "educational opportunities" is interpreted broadly so as to include non- formal instruction, vocational training, and the conditions and quality of community life. The dis- cussion of formal schooling is limited to primary, grammar and high schools. Among the most pertinent and valuable published works consulted were Lorenze Greene, The Negro in Colonial New England ( 1942 ); Stanley K. Schultz, The Culture Factory: Boston Public Schools, 1789-1860 (1973); and Leonard W. Levy and Douglas L. Jones (editors) Jim Crow in Boston: The Origin of the Separate But Equal Doctrine ( 1974 ) . The Liberator and other contemporary newspapers provided valuable informa- tion on the situation of Bay State blacks. The most valuable demo- graphic data was obtained from Jesse Chickering, A Statistical View of the Population of Massachusetts From 1765 to 1840 ( 1840 ) ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v ABSTRACT vii LIST OF TABLES x iii LIST OF MAPS xi v INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY xv Objectives of the Study xv Significance of the Study xviii Review of the Literature xx Methods and Limitations of the Study xxi Chapter I. SLAVERY AND THE EDUCATION OF SLAVES IN MASSACHUSETTS 1 Developing a Colonial Policy on Negro Slavery 1 The African Slave Population Increases 6 The Privileges and Responsibilities of Slaves 14 Opportunities for Formal Instruction 24 Informal Literacy Instruction by Whites 29 Vocational Training on the Job 42 II. THE FREE BLACK POPULATION: SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL 42 The Methods of Manumission 49 Growth and Distribution of Free Blacks Political Rights and Status Before the Law Limited Employment Opportunities and Poor Housing x Page Segregation in White Churches 73 Discrimination in Schools, Lyceums and Public Facilities 77 III. THE RISE OF BLACK SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: A REACTION TO WHITE RACISM 86 . 0 Boston's African Lodge and African Baptist Church 86 Boston's Separate Black Schools 93 Salem's Black Schools and Associations 107 Worcester's African Schools and Black Churches 113 Springfield's Black Church and the Underground Railroad 117 Pittsfield's Black Church and the Underground Railroad 124 IV. THE EQUAL SCHOOL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: THE CAMPAIGN FOR RACIALLY INTEGRATED SCHOOLS IN BOSTON 130 Background