Prior to this activity, students should read the Educational Inequality Student Context, if they have not already done so. You should also share with students the following additional context.

In 1840, there were 161 primary schools in the City of Boston —160 of these were reserved exclusively for White children. On the surface, the 161^st, the Smith School, was the same as other schools in Boston. For example, students used the same textbooks, and Black children were permitted to continue their studies in the Latin or High School if they were advanced enough. Over the years, a few Blacks were admitted to Boston’s prestigious Latin School. However, the Smith School had poor funding and oversight by the school committee as well as unequal treatment in terms of the emphasis placed on academic achievement.

In this activity, you will introduce students to excerpts and descriptions that uncover some of the positive and negative forces affecting the education of free Black students in Boston in the first half of the nineteenth century. 

Organize the students into groups of 3-4, giving each group one to two reference documents to review depending on time. 

• A description of the Smith School from the Boston Almanac of 1849
• Report of School Committee visit to Smith School, 1849
• Report of Boston School Committee visit to the Wells School, 1849
• Excerpt from article “Smith School,” The Liberator, August 27, 1841

Ask groups to answer the following questions as they analyze their sources and to be prepared to report back on what they learned. Suggest to students that they read the material as if they are trying to solve a puzzle. Their questions about missing pieces should be considered just as valuable as the information they do find in the documents. (Discussion Support Guide Available for Teacher Reference)

• What do these documents tell them about schooling for African Americans in Boston in the years before the Civil War? 
• What resources did Black Bostonians have and what barriers did they face? 
• What facts can students learn from the documents?
• What information is missing? How would that information help them have a clearer perspective on the experience of African American students at that time?

After hearing from each group, engage the whole class in a discussion about why they believe these primary sources differ, what “lens” the writers may have had and what the goals of documenting these differences may have been.