Unit
Years: 1830-1850
Freedom & Equal Rights
Historical Events, Movements, and Figures
Students should have prior knowledge of the similarities and differences between the development of colonies by region, especially as it relates to the reliance on enslaved people for labor. Students should also understand the role of government in the early 1800s as it relates to equality.
You may want to consider prior to teaching this lesson:
You may want to consider after teaching this lesson: Plessy v. Ferguson
The early to mid-1800s brought with it many efforts to improve life for all Americans. These improvements included the Common School Movement, an effort to create and fund free public schools. Education to improve and change one’s station in life had always been a crucial issue for free African Americans; these larger societal efforts brought new life to the antebellum free Black community’s fight for equal education. Led by pioneering African American attorney Robert Morris, activists brought a landmark case to court, Roberts v. The City of Boston in 1849. This case, though it presented ground-breaking arguments for equal education, ended in bitter disappointment, creating the “separate but (theoretically) equal” framework that would underpin racial segregation deep into the 20th century. Going forward, the Black community and abolitionist allies continued to agitate for educational equality with a more limited set of strategies available.
Educational Opportunities
Based on the recently crafted Massachusetts Constitution and the legal activism of enslaved and free individuals, the abolition of slavery as an institution was effectively accomplished in Massachusetts by 1783. This made Boston an important location for abolitionist activity, as well as a more desirable place for African Americans to settle and raise their children. Simultaneously, the early to mid-1800s brought with it many efforts to improve life for all Americans, including providing free public schools, known as the Common School Movement. Led by Horace Mann, secretary of the newly founded Massachusetts Board of Education, the goal of education was initially on ensuring ethical and democratic participation in society.
Free African American parents in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries knew that beyond those goals, human freedom and literacy were inextricably bound together. They observed that literacy wielded power in the world. As tax paying citizens they believed it was the right of their children to have free public education. When access to education was denied, they knew their rights were being infringed based on the beliefs and values of a larger community that considered African Americans inferior.
Soon Boston had a thriving public school system of 161 schools. The Boston School District operated a two-tiered system of schooling that placed White students in one of 160 neighborhood schools across the city and Black students in one school- the Abiel Smith School. Though this school had its roots in community schooling and private funding, the Abiel Smith School was officially established in 1835 as the first public school for Black children in the country.
However, there were soon numerous petitions by Black families against the conditions of the Smith School, which called upon city officials to address the degrading conditions that Black children were forced to endure. Some families chose to boycott the school entirely, while other Black families believed that the school might have been imperfect, but it did provide a necessary service for Black families and they appreciated the school for giving their children an education. These tensions continued throughout the 1840s among Black families, Boston residents, and the School Committee.
Educational Inequality
Benjamin Franklin Roberts was an African American printer in Boston and a father of five children. He was raised in an activist household where his grandfather was a soldier in the Continental Army and his parents frequently protested against the segregation of their local church in Brockton, MA. In addition, Roberts used his job as a writer and owner of a printing press to advocate for progressive views on a variety of issues including equal education and interracial marriage, among others.
Roberts enrolled two of his children in the Otis School, a white school near their home. Though he was aware of the Abiel Smith School, Roberts did not want to subject his children to the long walk to the Smith School as many Black students were subjected to harassment on their walks across the city. Further, Roberts recognized that the Smith School did not have the same resources and quality education as the Otis School.
The Boston School Committee maintained enforcement of a segregated system and the Roberts’ children were rejected from the Otis School in 1848. Not deterred, Roberts continued his efforts but was subsequently unsuccessful in his attempts to enroll his 5-year-old daughter, Sarah Roberts, in four other White schools. Finally, leaning into his activist upbringing and mindset, Roberts employed Robert Morris and Charles Sumner to represent his family in court. They brought suit against the City of Boston by utilizing a statute that made it illegal to bar students from accessing public education.
Sarah C. Roberts v. City of Boston
Roberts Morris was one of the first African American men to pass the bar in Massachusetts and Charles Sumner, a White abolitionist, would eventually go on to become a Massachusetts senator. Morris and Sumner argued that segregation of schools in Boston went against the Massachusetts Constitution which explicitly stated that all men, regardless of race, were equal before the law.
Judge Lemuel Shaw, of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, sided with the School Committee explaining that he felt that no law had been broken because Black students did have access to public education and that the city was simply providing a separate environment for their access. This ruling set the precedent for the “separate, but equal” argument seen in many cases for the next 100 years following the Roberts v. City of Boston ruling.
Black families did not relinquish their struggle for educational equality. Advocates in Massachusetts successfully passed a state law in 1855 reversing the ruling by barring segregated schools. However, the long-term impact of the case was already set in motion; this legal theory underpinning segregation would not begin to unravel around the country until the landmark ruling of Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, KS in 1954.
“Brown v. Board at Fifty: ‘With an Even Hand’ a Century of Racial Segregation, 1849–1950.” Library of Congress. November 13, 2004. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-segregation.html.
Goodman, Susan E. The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016). The Sarah Roberts case, for middle elementary readers.
“In Pursuit of Equality – Separate Is Not Equal.” Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education. https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/2-battleground/pursuit-equality-1.html#:~:text=Roberts%20v.,City%20of%20Boston&text=The%20Massachusetts%20Supreme%20Court%20ultimately,later%20cases%20to%20justify%20segregation.
Kendrick, Paul and Kendrick,Stephen . Sarah’s Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. (Beacon Press, 2006).
“Prelude to Brown – 1849: Roberts V. The City of Boston.” Prelude to Brown – 1849: Roberts v. The City of Boston. http://www.brownvboard.org/content/prelude-brown-1849-roberts-v-city-boston.
Right to Public Education, Mass Moments http://massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=93
The Fight for Equal Education, Mass Moments http://massmoments.org/teachers/lesson.cfm?lid=22
“Virtual Black Heritage Trail® Tour.” National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/boaf/virtual-black-heritage-trail-tour.htm#5AA98433-92CD-4863-9A5A-F497040FC929. Stop 9 is the Abiel Smith School and includes a 2 min audio tour.
White, Barbara. “The Integration of Nantucket Public Schools.” Nantucket Historical Association, Volume 40, # 3 (Fall 1992) http://www.nha.org/history/hn/HN-n40n3-white.htm Legislature Guarantees
As a “hook” to this unit, you may want to complete Activity 1 (based on a powerful visual source from this time period) prior to sharing the student context. This would allow students the opportunity to enter the discussion without pre-judgments or pre-formed answers.
Throughout the activities there are multiple opportunities for open ended discussion where different experiences, understandings and perspectives may come into play. For your reference this unit includes a Discussion Support guide for selected activities.
Primary sources throughout the activities utilize historical expressions of racism. These sources are included in order to help students recognize and understand the influence of White supremacist ideology before, during and after enslavement. Before interacting with primary sources, you should prepare students to encounter and appropriately respond to outdated terminology to describe African Americans. For example, in some of the sources, African American people are referred to as “colored” or “Negro.”
Students should also be prepared to encounter the harmful and demeaning arguments made to support segregation. It is important for teachers to preview the materials that may upset students and vocalize that even though these documents are from the past, the arguments made remain demeaning and harmful in present day
Finally, it is also important to recognize that there are still many unequal structures and outcomes for African Americans and other historically marginalized groups–including those in education. These similarities may enter the conversation for students as they make connections to modern day inequalities and you should allow for time and space for student voices and concerns to be heard.
A community of free African American people had begun to grow and flourish in Boston in the early 1800s, fueled by Massachusetts’ abolition of slavery in 1783. At the same time, the early to mid-1800s brought with it many efforts to improve life for all Americans, including efforts to provide free public schools, known as the Common School Movement. Led by Horace Mann, secretary of the newly founded Massachusetts Board of Education, the focus was on ensuring ethical and democratic participation in society.
African Americans, free and enslaved, had long recognized that literacy, freedom and equality were closely tied together. The Common School movement in Massachusetts now raised their hopes for educational opportunity. Free Black people knew, and began to argue, that as tax paying citizens, it was the right of their children to access quality public education.
By 1840, Boston had a thriving public school system. The Boston School District operated a two-tiered system of schooling that placed White students in neighborhood schools across the city and Black students in one school–the Abiel Smith School. Though this school had begun with private funding, the Abiel Smith School was officially established in 1835 as the first public school for Black children in the country.
However, by the 1840s, many questions about the quality of education provided to children at the Smith School were raised by parents. Often, schools with better outcomes and resources were closer to where a Black family lived, but their children were categorically excluded based on race. In 1848, recognizing the inequality at play, an African American writer and printer, Benjamin Franklin Roberts, chose to challenge this barrier. He attempted multiple times to enroll his daughter Sarah in one of the White neighborhood schools which were closer to their home.
Each time, the school committee rejected his requests and assigned his daughter to the Smith School. Frustrated with the injustice of having to watch his children travel across the city to attend a lower-quality school, Roberts filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston. The case of Sarah Roberts vs. the City of Boston cited that this policy of segregation violated the Massachusetts Constitution.
Judge Lemuel Shaw of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, disagreed with the Roberts family. He sided with the Boston school committee, asserting that no law had been broken because Black students did have access to public education, the city was simply providing a separate environment for their access. This ruling set the precedent for the “separate, but equal” argument upholding racial segregation in countless cases for the next 100 years following the Roberts v. City of Boston ruling.
Going forward, the Black community and abolitionist allies continued to agitate for educational equality, but with a more limited set of strategies available. It was not until the US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the legal underpinnings of racial segregation began to unravel, opening a legal path toward educational equality.
Select the activities and sources you would like to include in the student view and click “Launch Student View.”
It is highly recommended that you review the Teaching Tips and sources before selecting the activities to best meet the needs and readiness of your students. Activities may utilize resources or primary sources that contain historical expressions of racism, outdated language or racial slurs.
Display or share with students the Colored Scholars Excluded from School (page 1-with no caption) from the Anti-Slavery Almanac in 1839. Ask students to first reflect independently and then engage in a larger group discussion using some or all of the “questions to consider” that follow.
Questions to Consider:
Following the discussion, share additional context on the almanac to help students understand where the image originated from as well as the image with the caption- Colored Scholars Excluded from School (page 2). Note that with younger students, the caption alone may be sufficient to add at this stage of discussion; or you might summarize selected content from the long description as appropriate for your group.
Anti-Slavery Almanacs
According to the American Antiquarian Society, almanacs dating from as early as 1656 were abundant and essential pieces of literature in colonial households. When books were a luxury, almanacs provided information for farmers and navigators as well as advice for living. Today the one that is best-known is Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. Less familiar is the work of Benjamin Banneker, a free man of color. Banneker, a resident of Maryland, published and sold his annual almanac from 1792-1797. His work contradicted widespread opinion of the time that Africans were intellectually inferior to whites.
During the 19th century abolitionists published antislavery almanacs to inform Americans about the horrors of slavery. Almanacs typically included thirteen woodcuts, one for each month and the cover. Each image informed readers about the experiences of enslaved people as well as the dangers and discrimination that free people of color faced. The woodcut, featured in this lesson, focused its attention on incidents of educational discrimination against black children; the caption below the image revealed the almanac’s anti-colonizationist stance (an opposition to African resettlement that was widespread though not universal in the African American community in this period).
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 161st, 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.
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)
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.
Educational Inequality: The Roots of “Separate but Equal”
Vocabulary & Key Terms:
Student Context:
A community of free African American people had begun to grow and flourish in Boston in the early 1800s, fueled by Massachusetts’ abolition of slavery in 1783. At the same time, the early to mid-1800s brought with it many efforts to improve life for all Americans, including efforts to provide free public schools, known as the Common School Movement. Led by Horace Mann, secretary of the newly founded Massachusetts Board of Education, the focus was on ensuring ethical and democratic participation in society.
African Americans, free and enslaved, had long recognized that literacy, freedom and equality were closely tied together. The Common School movement in Massachusetts now raised their hopes for educational opportunity. Free Black people knew, and began to argue, that as tax paying citizens, it was the right of their children to access quality public schools.
By 1840, Boston had a thriving public school system. The Boston School District operated a two-tiered system of schooling that placed White students in neighborhood schools across the city and Black students in one school–the Abiel Smith School. Though this school had begun with private funding, the Abiel Smith School was officially established in 1835 as the first public school for Black children in the country.
However, by the 1840s, many questions about the quality of education provided to children at the Smith School were raised by parents. Often, schools with better outcomes and resources were closer to where a Black family lived, but their children were categorically excluded based on race. In 1848, recognizing the inequality at play, an African American writer and printer, Benjamin Franklin Roberts, chose to challenge this barrier. He attempted multiple times to enroll his daughter Sarah in one of the White neighborhood schools which were closer to their home.
Each time, the school committee rejected his requests and assigned his daughter to the Smith School. Frustrated with the injustice of having to watch his children travel across the city to attend a lower-quality school, Roberts filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston. The case of Sarah Roberts vs. the City of Boston cited that this policy of segregation violated the Massachusetts Constitution.
Judge Lemuel Shaw of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, disagreed with the Roberts family. He sided with the Boston school committee, asserting that no law had been broken because Black students did have access to public education, the city was simply providing a separate environment for their access. This ruling set the precedent for the “separate, but equal” argument upholding racial segregation in countless cases for the next 100 years following the Roberts v. City of Boston ruling.
Going forward, the Black community and abolitionist allies continued to agitate for educational equality, but with a more limited set of strategies available. It was not until the US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the legal underpinnings of racial segregation began to unravel, opening a legal path toward educational equality.
This school is for colored children of both sexes. A school for Africans was commenced by themselves, in 1798, the Selectman having first granted permission; and was kept in the house of Primus Hall. The yellow fever broke it up, and three years afterwards it was revived by Rev. Drs. Morse of Charlestown, Kirkland of Harvard College, Channing, and Lowell, and Rev. Mr. [William] Emerson of Boston. They provided for its entire support two years. It was then proposed to have the colored people hire a building, and a carpenter’s shop was selected adjoining to the old church, and this continued three years. The site of the meeting-house was then selected, and purchased by subscription, and the African Baptist Church erected a house, of which the school occupied the basement. The room was completed in 1808, and immediately occupied by the school, and the reverend gentleman mentioned supported the school, with aid from subscriptions, until 1812, when the town first took notice of it, granting $200 annually. In 1815 Abiel Smith, Esq,. Died and left a legacy of about $5000, the income of which is to be appropriated “for the free instruction of colored children in reading, writing and arithmetic.” The city then took the school under its entire charge, and in 1833 the ill-condition of the room attracted attention, and Committee, of which D.L. Child was Chairman, reported in favor of a new house. The present house was built in the next two years, and on the 10th of February 1835, the school was named for its benefactor. Its masters have been Prince Saunders, James Waldach, John B. Russwarm, William Bascom, Abner Forbes, and the present incumbent, since 1836. Latest attendance show only 18 pupils; attendance, 53.
Source: Boston Almanac for 1849. Boston: S. N. Dickinson.
Document 3.7.1
Report of School Committee visit to Smith School, 1849
SMITH SCHOOL
BELKNAP STREET.
A. Wellington, Master.
This School was visited and examined May 7, P.M. by the Chairman and Messrs. Wink1ey and Palmer.
We regret to say that in almost all respects it is in a very low condition. In most of the studies the best scholars were deplorably deficient, considering the time, expense, and care that have been bestowed upon them. The reading of three or four (all who were called on was pretty good, but we were surprised at the ignorance of Grammar. The best scholar in the class was ca1led on to parse the word " is," and she called or guessed it to be a preposition, and two or three other parts of speech before it occurred to her that it might be a verb.
The result of the oral examination in Arithmetic was to show a very limited and imperfect acquaintance with the rules, but in working out a single problem in vulgar fractions, on the blackboard, a little more readiness was manifested, though nothing more than would be found in much younger classes in the other Schools.
There was no examination in Physiology or History. The class appeared better in Geography than in any other study, and had made some progress in Natural Philosophy. Some words were given out to be spelled on plates, but the result showed but a low average of correct spelling.
But the condition of this School in the deportment of the scholars is more discouraging than their backwardness in their studies. It is bad enough to see the little advance in intellectual cultivation, to repay for the care, the expense, and perplexity of which this school has been the cause. But it is lower in point of discipline than in mental culture. In no other School have we seen so little of the sentiments of reverence and respect, in no other have we seen any want of the courtesy due to the committee and the instructers, and of the self respect which children owe to themselves. But in this School all these things were wanting. Whether it is from a want of appreciation of what propriety in conduct is,—whether it is a jealousy lest a respectful demeanor to their instructers and Committee might be construed into a concession they were indisposed to make, we know not, but we saw little inclination to observe the most ordinary rules of good manners. The general tone of the School was disorderlv. There was more of disagreeable noise and confusion among the twenty-eight pupi1s who were in the room, at the examination, than we have seen in other School rooms in Boston, containing nearly or quite ten times the number.
At one time the sound of an harmonicon or some other musical instrument was heard breaking in upon the examination. Again, a child actually engaged in recitation would turn away from the blackboard to play with another who was at his desk, and frequently the Committee were obliged to interpose and reprimand individuals for their noisy conduct or their improper postures. After the examination was closed, some remarks were made to the children on the
state of the School, and on their improper conduct, and from some at least, the only response was a broad and unconcealed laugh in the faces of the Committee and the master. We cannot account for this state of things. We did not expect it from the promise of the last annual examination. The fault appears to be in the pupils themselves, in the influences other than those of the School room to which they are exposed, and to the jealousies which characterize this part of our population in their intercourse with others. It is hard to point out the remedy, but we have no hesitation in saying that as it is, and has been, the Smith School is an incumbrance upon the finances of the city, and upon the patience of the School Committee, and that there is no one of our public institutions that more needs reform, and that such reform must be pointed out by a person or persons uniting weight of character with wisdom, mildness, firmness, and fearlessness.
We have concluded, after some hesitation to print the preceding notice, as it was written immediately after the examination, and is just a faithful representation of the impressions we received. It is but just however to say that the school had received no notice that the Committee was about to visit it, and that of course the examination at that time, was unexpected and not prepared for. We think, however, that although this fact may be an excuse for any defects in personal appearance or even in scholarship, it is none for the general tone of behavior and manners in the School. As it was thought by the Committee that justice had not been quite evenly meted out to this School, owing to the want of notice, on a subsequent day another examination was made, of which due and full notice was given. At this examination the behavior of the children was much improved, and they appeared rather better in their studies with the exception of Grammar. Of this there was an almost total ignorance. At this examination the girl who had told is at the first, that “is” was a preposition was asked the same question and gave the same reply. We have since seen her name among those of the medal scholars, of the Smith School.
_________________________________________
Source: “The Report of the Annual Examination of the Public Schools of the City of Boston” 1849.
Document 3.7.2
Report of Boston School Committee visit to the Wells School, 1849
WELLS SCHOOL,
MCLEAN STREET.
Cornelius Walker, Grammar Master.
Reuben Swan, Jr, Writing Master.
This School was visited May 1lth, A.M., by the Chairman and Messrs. Winkley and Palmer.
It fully maintains the character it has acquired in former years, for the thoroughness of the instruction. The pupils appeared very well in all the studies of the course. There appears to be an extraordinary development of the powers of thought and perception in this School, and maturity of intellect and of knowledge such as is seldom met with in children of the age of the pupils here assembled. The masters have great advantages from the character of the population of the School district, and as far as could be judged from the examination, they have been most faithful in improving them.
Source: “The Report of the Annual Examination of the Public Schools of the City of Boston,” 1849.
Document 3.7.3
Excerpt from article “Smith School,” The Liberator, August 27, 1841
The annual examination of the Smith School in Belknap street, under the direction of Mr. Abner Forbes, passed off in a manner lightly creditable to the pupils, and greatly to the satisfaction of their parents and friends who were present. Where all the performances were praiseworthy, it is difficult to make a distinction, though if it would not appear invidious, we might allude to several of the youthful performers by name, as those who were decidedly superior. The exercises in general and selected reading, and the correctness and ability manifested during the recital of lessons in grammar, geography, and other branches, gave evidence of close application, and was worthy of all praise. The various recitations were interspersed with a variety of singing, under the direction of Mr. Lowell Mason, the celebrated Professor of the Boston Academy. A solo was sustained by Master Robert Shephard with much taste, while the animated countenances and cheerful voices of the scholars bespoke their joy as they united with good effect in the chorus.
Frederick Emerson, Esq., in behalf of the Committee, in awarding premiums to Master John Rider, Charles A. Snowden, and Misses Mary R. Gray and Sarah R. Jackson, remarked that it afforded him great satisfaction in presenting the tokens of approbation to those who were entirely worthy to be held up as examples for the whole school to follow—that their fidelity to their studies, and their good deportment imparted to the teacher, the Committee and their parents, a glow of satisfaction amply repaying them for all the labor they had bestowed. He referred them to the situation of the school some six or eight years ago, presenting its then unfavorable condition, and contrasting it with the present : in view of the prospect, he felt tightly encouraged. I look forward says he, to the time when this school shall in its attainments as far excel its present state as the present is beyond that of the time referred to. He urged them to renewed exertions, and enforced upon the parents the importance of affording their children every opportunity for mental improvement, as one of the surest means of elevating them to an equality to those who at present enjoyed superior advantages. He remarked that it was evident that the colored people of Boston were improving intellectually, and that complexional differences could exert no influence over the mind to restrain its progress. He concluded by reminding them that by industrious efforts at improvement, their course would most assuredly be denied….
Source: The Liberator, August 27, 1841
(Document 3.7.4)
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 and then engage them in a discussion using the discussion questions that appear below.
The first petition of many against the Smith School was presented to the Boston Grammar School Committee in 1840. Signatories included such noted White abolitionists as William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Later petitions were submitted in 1844, 1845, 1846, and 1849. In every case, the school committee refused to change its policy even though visiting committee members reported extensively on the Smith School’s weaknesses and failures. There were a couple of school committee members who agreed with the petitioners and published their own minority report on Boston’s segregated schools.
Discussion Questions
Then, share with students excerpts from two petitions from the 1840s initiated by African American parents as well as a response to a petition. Working in small groups, students should discuss the approaches taken by the parents and the response, answering the following questions:
As a whole group, close by asking students to consider both at that time and in present day the following:
Sources/Resources/Handouts:
Educational Inequality: The Roots of “Separate but Equal”
Vocabulary & Key Terms:
Student Context:
A community of free African American people had begun to grow and flourish in Boston in the early 1800s, fueled by Massachusetts’ abolition of slavery in 1783. At the same time, the early to mid-1800s brought with it many efforts to improve life for all Americans, including efforts to provide free public schools, known as the Common School Movement. Led by Horace Mann, secretary of the newly founded Massachusetts Board of Education, the focus was on ensuring ethical and democratic participation in society.
African Americans, free and enslaved, had long recognized that literacy, freedom and equality were closely tied together. The Common School movement in Massachusetts now raised their hopes for educational opportunity. Free Black people knew, and began to argue, that as tax paying citizens, it was the right of their children to access quality public schools.
By 1840, Boston had a thriving public school system. The Boston School District operated a two-tiered system of schooling that placed White students in neighborhood schools across the city and Black students in one school–the Abiel Smith School. Though this school had begun with private funding, the Abiel Smith School was officially established in 1835 as the first public school for Black children in the country.
However, by the 1840s, many questions about the quality of education provided to children at the Smith School were raised by parents. Often, schools with better outcomes and resources were closer to where a Black family lived, but their children were categorically excluded based on race. In 1848, recognizing the inequality at play, an African American writer and printer, Benjamin Franklin Roberts, chose to challenge this barrier. He attempted multiple times to enroll his daughter Sarah in one of the White neighborhood schools which were closer to their home.
Each time, the school committee rejected his requests and assigned his daughter to the Smith School. Frustrated with the injustice of having to watch his children travel across the city to attend a lower-quality school, Roberts filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston. The case of Sarah Roberts vs. the City of Boston cited that this policy of segregation violated the Massachusetts Constitution.
Judge Lemuel Shaw of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, disagreed with the Roberts family. He sided with the Boston school committee, asserting that no law had been broken because Black students did have access to public education, the city was simply providing a separate environment for their access. This ruling set the precedent for the “separate, but equal” argument upholding racial segregation in countless cases for the next 100 years following the Roberts v. City of Boston ruling.
Going forward, the Black community and abolitionist allies continued to agitate for educational equality, but with a more limited set of strategies available. It was not until the US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the legal underpinnings of racial segregation began to unravel, opening a legal path toward educational equality.
Petitions urging the desegregation of Boston’s public schools were submitted to the school committee in 1840, 1844, 1845, 1846, and 1849.
To the Primary School Committee of the City of Boston:
The undersigned colored citizens of Boston, parents and guardians of children now attending the exclusive Primary Schools for colored children in this City, respectfully represent:—that the establishment of exclusive schools for our children is a great injury to us, and deprives us of those equal privileges and advantages in the public schools to which we are entitled as citizens. These separate schools cost more and do less for the children than other schools, since all experience teaches that where a small and despised class are shut out from the common benefit of any public institutions of learning and confined to separate schools, few or none interest themselves about the schools, —neglect ensues, abuses creep in, the standard of scholarship degenerates, and the teachers and the scholars are soon considered and of course become an inferior class.
But to say nothing of any other reasons for this change, it is sufficient to say that the establishment of separate schools for our children is believed to be unlawful, and it is felt to be if not in intention, in fact, insulting. If, as seeks to be admitted, you are violating our rights, we simply ask you to cease doing so.
We therefore earnestly request that such exclusive schools be abolished, and that our children be allowed to attend the Primary Schools established in the respective Districts in which we live.
George Putnam, And Eighty-five Others
(Document 3.7.7)
Transcription of the PETITION of THE COLORED PEOPLE: To the School Committee of the City of Boston, entered in the record July 1849
GENTLEMEN:—We the undersigned, Parents of children, guardians and others, citizens of Boston, constitute a portion of the community who are excluded from the privilege of common School instruction for those children who are identified with us in complexion, in the various districts where we reside. A number among us have more than once made application to members of your Honorable Board for the admission of our children to the District Schools, but are refused, on the ground that there is an "exclusive School " for Colored children to which there is no objection. To this School, every intelligent person among us are ready to bear a direct testimony in opposition. Among some of the reasons why we are opposed to it, are these:—It is a great inconvenience on account of the scattered state of our residences—lt is an obstacle in the way of common rights—It secures to the child of the Foreigner a privilege that is denied to the native Bostonian—It holds up a barrier against a portion of the people, "solely on account of color," and encourages the worst of influences in the community. In no other place, in this Commonwealth, do we find "exclusive Schools " in existence; all children in the respective cities and towns meet together at the several places for School instruction. The results, you are well aware, are not unfavorable to a similar experiment in this City.
In relation to the present Teacher (Mr. Wellington) in that School, we have not the slightest dissatisfaction. We do not hold him responsible for the thin attendance or the lack of interest in the studies of the pupils. We consider him fully competent and able under ordinary circumstances to give the highest tone of character to a Public School. His case finds not a precedent in the State—having charge of a number of pupils who feel that indignation against the injustice which consigns them to that School or none, it is impossible for him to succeed as he would happily do. These pupils are every day witness to the agitation among their parents and guardians relative to the School. A great number among us have pledged ourselves never to countenance or encourage such a system of partiality and injustice.
In regard to the recommendation of a colored man, as Principal in that School, we hail the circumstance an attempt to quiet our efforts against its dissolution. We do, therefore, regard with suspicion and as unworthy of confidence, any individual who is identified with us, that will suffer himself to be a tool to suit the wishes of those who are opposed to the full enjoyment of our rights.
As all good citizens should, we ask to be placed in possession of common rights. Open the doors of our District Schools and let in those who are “hungering and thirsting” for instruction. We ask you to ABOLISH THE SMITH SCHOOL, and erect on its site if need there be for more Schools, a School free to all the children who reside nearest to it. And as it is our duty and our right, we will ever pray.
Signed by Jonas W. Clark and 201 others.
Boston, July, 1849
Source: Petition of the Colored People to the School Committee of the City of Boston, entered in the record July, 1849
(Document 3.7.9 )
Excerpts from the June 15, 1846 report of the Primary School Committee of the City of Boston responding to the parents’ petition
REPORT
In Primary School Committee,
Boston, June 15, 1846.
The Sub-Committee, to whom was referred the Petition of sundry colored persons, praying for the abolition of the special schools for colored children, respectfully
REPORT:
That they have given to this Petition, and to the subject embraced in it, their most respectful and careful consideration. They have listened to the arguments of able Counsel employed by the Petitioners, and to the testimony of several colored persons interested in the objects of the Petition; and, after having diligently sought for all the information which they could obtain, will now endeavor to present to the Board, such a view of the whole subject, as shall be both just and kind to the colored people, and for the best good of all the schools under our charge. . . .
We maintain, that the true interests of' both races require, that they should be kept distinct. Amalgamation is degradation. We would urge on our brethren of the African race, the duty of cultivating the genuine virtues, peculiar to that race. Is it degrading to them to be unmingled with their pale-faced neighbors? Confound the tongue that would utter such slander upon them! Let them not lean upon, nor look up to, the whites; but trust, under God, to their own native energies, unmingled and uncorrupted. Let them cultivate a respect for themselves, for their own race, their own blood, aye, and for their own color. Let them not come to us with the humiliating confession, that they cannot make their separate schools as good as those for the white children and tell us that their children, if put by themselves, even under the best instruction, must sink, unless they have the white children to pull them up. We will not believe this, we pronounce it a slander on the colored people; but we do say, that this course of policy will never elevate them, nor cause them to be respected.
We are bound, too, to consult the interests of the white children. Even if the colored children would be the gainers by the proposed change, we are bound to ask, whether the white children will not be, in an equal degree, at least, the losers? It is quite obvious, that disagreements and troubles, of various kinds, would immediately arise, if the change should be made, and that much injury would be done to the schools. How serious it would be, it is impossible to say. It is probable, too, that the attendance of the colored children would, in the aggregate, be seriously diminished. And we are unable to see that any good would accrue, to counterbalance these evils.
While, therefore, your Committee maintain, that the reasonable request, of even one colored parent, should be scrupulously respected, yet we also maintain, that if "the greatest good of the greatest number" will be promoted by our present arrangement, it ought to be retained. If these separate schools were abolished, and the colored children were mingled promiscuously in the other schools, the white children would not associate cordially with them. The whites would vex and insult the colored children, who would retort by blows, and thus continual quarrels would arise. It is also certain, that many scholars would be driven from our schools, by such a change. Many parents would not allow their children to associate with colored children; and these, too, from among the class who most need instruction; for the prejudices against color are strongest among the most ignorant. Another consequence would be, to impair the present high standing of our schools, by introducing a cause of discord, which would drive away some of the best scholars. . . .
One of the most serious evils in our schools, which has long been a subject of complaint, is, the injury arising from the irregular and inconstant attendance of a portion of the scholars.
Now, the average absences, in all our Primary Schools, has usually been about nineteen or twenty per cent.;—in some schools only four, five, and six per cent. : but in the Schools for colored children, it has been, as stated in past Reports, forty-four, forty-five, forty-nine, and even fifty-three per cent. For the last six months, while the average absences, in all the Primary Schools has been about twenty percent in the School for colored children; in District No. 1, it has been more than thirty-eight per cent. ; and that in the District No.2, it has been fifty-nine per cent. It cannot be supposed that these children would attend any more regularly if they were sent to the Schools for white children; and this Board would not certainly be justified, in causelessly introducing such an additional source of irregularity into those Schools. And your Committee submit, whether, if any other class of children could be found, so irregular in their attendance, it would not be legal, right, and expedient, for the Board to provide special and separate schools for their instruction, on this ground alone; in order to lessen the evils which are hereby occasioned to our schools. . . .
In looking into the history of the separate Schools for colored children, your Committee have been much impressed with the fact, that these special Schools were established at the urgent and repeated requests of the colored people themselves.
Thus it appears, that, although it must be confessed that the colored people have not manifested much interest in the education of their children, yet the request for the establishment of a separate school for this purpose came from them.
Our inquiries into the origin and history of these Schools have also convinced us, that the leading motive for their establishment was precisely the opposite of a design to degrade the colored people, as has been so frequently charged upon them
The question arises, by what means the views and feelings of the colored people, in reference to these special schools for their benefit, have been so mysteriously changed. The Petition now before your Committee holds the following very extraordinary language: "The establishment of separate schools for our children is believed to be unlawful, and it is felt to be, if not in intention, in fact, insulting." Is this the kind return of the present generation of colored men, to the City of Boston, for granting the petition of their sires?
After spending far more money for the education of the colored children, in proportion, than for the children of her white citizens, in the very way in which it was asked, is the munificence of this, perhaps too generous, certainly too indulgent City, to be declared insulting? Unworthy successors of Primus Hall, of Gyrus Vassall, and of Prince Sanders!
In applying these principles to the case of colored children, we maintain,
1. That their peculiar physical, mental, and moral structure, requires an educational treatment, different, in some respects, from that of white children. Teachers of schools in which they are intermingled, remark, that, in those parts of study and instruction in which progress depends on memory, or on the imitative faculties, chiefly, the colored children will often keep pace with the white children; but, when progress comes to depend chiefly on the faculties of invention, comparison, and reasoning, they quickly fall behind.
2. That the number of colored children, in Boston, is so great, that they can be advantageously placed in separate schools, where all needful stimulus, arising from numbers and competition, may be felt, without their being degraded or discouraged.
3. That they live so compactly, that in very few (if in any) cases, is it at all inconvenient to attend the special Schools provided for them.
4. That the facts, connected with the origin and history of these Schools, show, that, without them, the colored people would have remained ignorant and degraded, and very few would have been found in the Schools.
5. That if these special Schools were now abolished, the number of colored children in the Public Schools would be greatly diminished, while serious injury would also be done to the other Schools, and no benefit would result.
6. That the majority of the colored, and most of the white people, prefer the present system.
As, then, there is no statute, nor decision of the civil Courts, against classifying children in schools according to a distinction in races, color, or mental and physical peculiarities, the Committee believe that we have the right to classify on these principles; nor do they believe, that, by so doing, we defeat the intent, or violate the spirit, of the law, the Constitution, or the invaluable common-school system established by our fathers; nor in any way infringe the rights of the colored child, or degrade the colored people. These Schools were established for their special benefit: for the same reason we would have them vigorously sustained. No man, colored or white, who understands their real value to the colored people, would seek their destruction. While, therefore, your Committee propose no change in the policy of this Board, they recommend the adoption of the annexed Resolution, as expressive of their opinions.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM CROWELL,
JOSEPH W. INGRAHAM,
DAVID KIMBALL.
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this board, the continuance of the separate Schools for colored children, and the regular attendance of all such children upon those Schools, is not only legal and just, but is best adapted to promote the education of that class of our population.
(Document 3.7.8)
Share with students the following additional context around responses to the educational inequality happening in the Boston Schools.
The Smith School was the only school in Boston where African American students were able to attend although there were 160 other schools for white students. The conditions and outcomes were deemed inferior at the Smith School and petitions for change had not been successful. In 1844, William Cooper Nell headed a movement, the Equal School Association, which led a boycott of the Smith school that lasted eleven years. During that time, attendance fell from 263 in 1840 to 51 in 1849. The boycott also caused increased tensions within the black community between those participating in the boycott and those who chose to send their children to school despite any reservations or dissatisfactions they might have had. Some members of the black community, including Nell, wanted the school committee to close the Smith School and allow black students to go to their neighborhood “white” school. Others, including Reverend James Simmons and Thomas P. Smith, petitioned the committee to maintain the separate “colored” school with reforms, such as appointing a black headmaster with a college degree.
Mr. Editor,—Dear Sir, In perusing the last number of the Liberator, I was exceedingly amused by a strain of characteristic allusions and a certain resolution in a communication signed by one W.C.N.; and that fairness may prevail, you will, I know, allow me a word in defence of those who have not favored the abolition of colored schools in Boston. It is most untrue and unphilosophical, that we should oppose the abolition of colored schools in order to degrade ourselves or our posterity. We are colored men, exposed alike to oppression and prejudice; our interests are all identical—we rise or fall together. We believe colored schools to be institutions, when properly conducted, of great advantage to the colored people. We believe society imperatively requires their existence among us. Many of us having children ourselves, for their sake we are opposed to any measure which would interrupt or retard their elevation. Believing ourselves to be right, and our policy judicious, we laugh at slander, scorn opposition, and rejoice in the approval of our consciences and judgements. It is worthy of remark, however, that while those individuals who profess to desire the abolition of the colored schools claim such an immense majority, they could show on their mass petition only 227 names, according to their own count, even including children as young as three years—and that out of a population of 1950! And furthermore, a petition of 170, at least, was presented against them, including several of our clergymen. To be brief, as the subject has been quite fully discussed elsewhere. We feel from experience (not hearsay) that education among our people requires the existence of schools among us; that from no other source can we obtain so much practical good; and, appreciating the sentiment that ‘knowledge is power,’ ay, and liberty and equality too, we feel determined as we regard the intellectual above the physical, mind above matter, principle above friends, to maintain our positions while we know them to be right, for ever true, for ever faithful, and slander may talk itself tired, opposition rage and riot to exhaustion; still we will fearlessly announce the truth, ‘amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds.’
Yours, with highest respect, THOMAS PAUL SMITH.
Letter to the Editor “School for Young Ladies,” The Liberator, October 15, 1841
Mr. Editor,
It has long been a source of regret to many residents of this city that there has been no opportunity afforded, through the medium of which their daughters could obtain a knowledge of those branches deemed so necessary to the completion of a young lady’s education. The baneful prejudice in active exercise against a large number of our citizens, merely because of complexional difference, has presented a barrier which has shut them out of from those facilities so richly enjoyed by the more favored classes.
But it is our pleasure to inform your readers, that a school has lately been opened in this city by Miss Susannah Bradshaw (a colored young lady,) where the accomplished branches are taught. Judging from the exercises to which we have listened, and the specimens of painting, sketching, rug-work, &c together with penmanship, composition, etc., with an examination of which we were favored, we feel justified in recommending the school to the attention of the public.
The terms are favorable and will be made known on application to the preceptress, at the school room in the basement story of the Baptist Church, Belknap Street.
Document 3.7.5
Share with students the following summary of the events leading up to the case of Roberts v. City of Boston as well as the events that followed it. Then in small groups assign students to read excerpts from arguments by Roberts’ lawyer, Charles Sumner and/or from the ruling of Judge Lemuel Shaw.
Students should prepare in small groups and then in whole group discussion to:
Benjamin Roberts was a printer and prominent figure in antislavery and social reform groups in Boston. In 1846, five-year-old Sarah Roberts had to walk directly past five primary schools to get to her assigned school, the Smith School in Boston. Her father tried on four separate occasions to enter Sarah in one of the public schools closer to her home, but each time her application for admission was rejected. This segregation was not in response to any state or city law; it was simply mandated by the Boston School Committee.
Mr. Roberts brought suit against the City of Boston to compel Sarah’s admission to one of the white primary schools closer to her home. He based his suit on a statute that provided that any child illegally excluded from a city’s public school might recover damages from the city. The case of Roberts v. The City of Boston (1849), argued for the plaintiff by Charles Sumner, with the assistance of black lawyer Robert Morris, would have a significant impact on the lives of African Americans. Judge Lemuel Shaw of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled against the plaintiff (the Roberts family).
In Massachusetts, the legislature later reversed course when in 1855, a law was passed that stated that “no person shall be excluded from a Public School on account of race, color, or religion opinions.” . However, the larger damage was done through precedent, as in1896, United States Supreme Court justices used the decision of Judge Shaw as a basis for their ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling established the “separate by equal” standard that formally legalized all manner of racial segregation laws, including those for schooling.
For students in the upper elementary grades it is suggested that the excerpts are pared down further or read as a whole group to support understanding and vocabulary.
Excerpts from the argument by Charles Sumner “Equality Before the Law: Unconstitutionality of Separate Colored Schools in Massachusetts,” delivered to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in the case of Sarah C. Roberts v. The City of Boston
Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a lawyer from Boston and a United States Senator from 1851 until his death. Renowned as an active abolitionist, it is noteworthy that he also was very sensitive to racism. He is profiled in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. In the Roberts case, Sumner worked with Robert Morris, a young black abolitionist and activist lawyer.
Obviously, men are not born to be equal in physical strength or in mental capacity, in beauty of form or health of body. Diversity or inequality in these respects is the law of creation. From this difference springs divine harmony. But this inequality is in no particular inconsistent with complete civil and political equality.
The equality declared by our fathers in 1776, and made the fundamental law of Massachusetts in 1780, was Equality before the Law. Its object was to efface all political or civil distinctions, and to abolish all institutions founded upon birth. “All men are created equal,” says the Declaration of Independence. “All men are born free and equal,” says the Massachusetts Bill of Rights. These are not vain words. Within the sphere of their influence, no person can be created, no person can be born, with civil or political privileges not enjoyed equally by all his fellow-citizens: nor can any institution be established recognizing distinctions of birth. Here is the Great Charter of every human being drawing vital breath upon this soil, what ever may be his condition, and whoever may be his parents. He may be poor, weak, humble, or black—he may be of Caucasian, Jewish, Indian, or Ethiopian race—he may be of French, German, English, or Irish extraction; but before the Constitution of Massachusetts all these distinctions disappear. He is not poor, weak, humble, or black; nor is he Caucasian, Jew, Indian, or Ethiopian—nor is he French, German, English, or Irish; he is a Man, the equal of all his fellow-men. . . .
In this rule—without the unfortunate exception—is part of the beauty so conspicuous in our Common Schools. It is the boast of England, that, through the multitude of schools, education in Boston is brought to every white man’s door. But it is not brought to every black man’s door. He is obliged to go for it, to travel for it, to walk for it—often a great distance. The facts in the present case are not so strong as those of other cases within my knowledge. But here the little child, only five years old, is compelled, if attending the nearest African School, to go a distance of two thousand one hundred feet from her home, while the nearest Primary School is only nine hundred feet, and, in doing this, she passes by no less than five different Primary Schools, forming part of our Common Schools, and open to white children, all of which are closed to her. Surely, this is not Equality before the Law. . . .
There is a respectable colored person, I am told, who became some time since a resident of East Boston, separated from the mainland by water. Of course there are Common Schools at East Boston, but none open to colored children. This parent was obliged to send his children, three in number, daily across the ferry to the distant African School. The tolls amounted to a sum which formed a severe tax upon a poor man, while the long way to travel was a daily tax upon the time and strength of his children. Every toll paid by this parent, as every step taken by the children, testifies to that inequality which I now arraign. . . .
The Committee of Boston, charged with the superintendence of the Public Schools, have no power under the Constitution and laws of Massachusetts, to make any discrimination on account of color or race, among children in the Public Schools.
It has been seen already that this power is inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence, with the Constitution and Laws of Massachusetts, and with adjudications of the Supreme Court. The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain-head; and if there be nothing in these elevated sources from which this power can spring, it must be considered nullity. . . .
A descendant of the African race may be Governor of the Commonwealth, and as such, with the advice and consent of the Council, may select the Board of Education. As Lieutenant Governor, he may be ex officio a member of the Board. He may be Secretary of the Board, with the duty imposed on him by law of seeing “that all children in this Commonwealth, who depend upon Common Schools for instruction, may have the best education which those schools can be made to impart.” He may be a member of any School Committee, or teacher in any Common School of the State. As legal voter, he can vote in the selection of any School Committee.
Thus, in every department connected with our Common Schools, throughout the whole hierarchy of their government, from the very head of the system down to the humblest usher in the humblest Primary School, and to the humblest voter, there is no distinction of color known to the law. It is when we reach the last stage of all, the children themselves, that the beautiful character of the system is changed to the deformity of Caste, as, in the picture of the ancient poet, what above was a lovely woman terminated below in a vile, unsightly fish. And all this is done by the School Committee, with more than necromantic power, in the exercise of a mere discretion. . . .
But there cannot be one law for the country and another for Boston. It is true that Boston is not divided strictly into geographical districts. In this respect its position is anomalous. But if separate colored schools are illegal and impossible in the country, they must be illegal and impossible in Boston. It is absurd to suppose that this city, failing to establish School Districts, and treating all its territory as a single district, should be able to legalize a Caste school, which otherwise it could not do. Boston cannot do indirectly what other towns cannot do directly. This is the first answer to the allegation of equivalents. . . .
Still further, and this consideration cannot be neglected, the matters taught in the two schools may be precisely the same, but a school exclusively devoted to one class must differ essentially in spirit and character from that Common School known to the law, where all classes meet together in Equality. It is a mockery to call it an equivalent.
But there is yet another answer. Admitting that it is an equivalent, still the colored children cannot be compelled to take it. Their rights are found in Equality before the Law….
In determining that the School Committee have no power to make this discrimination we are strengthened by another consideration. If the power exists in the present case, it cannot be restricted to this. The Committee may distribute all the children into classes, according to mere discretion. They may establish a separate school for Irish or Germans, where each may nurse an exclusive nationality alien to our institutions. They may separate Catholics from Protestants, or, pursuing their discretion still further, may separate different sects of Protestants, and establish one school for Unitarians, another for Presbyterians, another for Baptists, and another for Methodists. They may establish a separate school for the rich, that the delicate taste of this favored class may not be offended by the humble garments of the poor. They may exclude the children of mechanics, and send them to separate schools. All this, and much more, can be done in the exercise of that high-handed power which makes a discrimination on account of race or color. The grand fabric of our Common Schools, the pride of Massachusetts—where, at the feet of the teacher, innocent childhood should come, unconscious of all distinctions of birth – where the Equality of the Constitution and of Christianity should be inculcated by constant precept and example—will be converted into a heathen system of proscription and Caste. . . .
But it is said that these separate schools are for the mutual benefit of children of both colors, and of the Public Schools. In similar spirit, slavery is sometimes said to be for the mutual benefit of master and slave, and of the country where it exists. In one case there is a mistake as great as in the other. This is clear. Nothing unjust, nothing ungenerous can be for the benefit of any person, or any thing. . . . The whites themselves are injured by the separation. Who can doubt this? With the law as their monitor, they are taught to regard a portion of the human family, children of God, created in his image, co-equals in his love, as a separate and degraded class—they are taught practically to deny that grand revelation of Christianity—the Brotherhood of Mankind. Their hearts, while yet tender with childhood, are necessarily hardened by this conduct, and their subsequent lives, perhaps, bear enduring testimony of this legalized uncharitableness. . . .
The whole system of Common schools suffers also….The law contemplates not only that all shall be taught, but that all shall be taught all together. They are not only to receive equal quantities of knowledge, but all are to receive it in the same way. All are to approach the same common fountain together; nor can there be any exclusive source for individual or class. The school is the little world where the child is trained for the larger world of life. It is the microcosm preparatory to the macrocosm, and therefore it must cherish and develop the virtues and the sympathies needed in the larger world. And since, according to our institutions, all classes without distinction of color, meet in the performance of civil duties, so should they all, without distinction of color, meet in the school, beginning there those relations of Equality which the Constitution and Laws promise to all. . . .
You have already banished slavery from this Commonwealth. I call upon you now to obliterate the last of its footprints, and to banish the last of the hateful spirits in its train, that can be reached by this Court. The law interfering to prohibit marriages between blacks and whites, has been abolished by the Legislature. The railroads, which, imitating the Boston schools, placed colored people in a car by themselves, have been compelled, under the influence of an awakened public sentiment, to abandon this regulation, and to allow them to mingle with other travellers. . . . It is in the Caste schools of Boston that the prejudice of color has sought its final legal refuge. It is for you to drive it forth.
Source: “Argument of Charles Sumner, Esq. Against the Constitutionality of Separate Colored Schools, in the case of Sarah C. Roberts v. The City of Boston.” Boston: B. F. Roberts, 1849.
(Document 3.7.10)
The opinion was delivered at the March term, 1850.
Shaw, C.J. The plaintiff, a colored child of five years of age, has commenced this action, by her father and next friend, against the city of Boston, upon the statute of 1845, c. 214, which provides, that any child unlawfully excluded from public school instruction, in this commonwealth, shall recover damages therefor, in an action against the city or town, by which such public school instruction is supported. The question therefore is, whether, upon the facts agreed, the plaintiff has been unlawfully excluded from such instruction.
The plaintiff had access to a school, set apart for colored children, as well conducted in all respects, and as well fitted, in point of capacity and qualification of the instructors, to advance the education of children under seven years old, as the other primary schools; the objection is, that the schools thus open to the plaintiff are exclusively appropriated to colored children, and are at a greater distance from her home. Under these circumstances, has the plaintiff been unlawfully excluded from public school instruction? Upon the best consideration we have been able to give the subject, the court are all of opinion that she has not.
It will be considered, that this is a question of power, or of the legal authority of the committee intrusted by the city with this department of public instruction; because, if they have the legal authority, the expediency of exercising it in any particular way is exclusively with them.
The great principle, advanced by the learned and eloquent advocate of the plaintiff, is, that by the constitution and laws of Massachusetts, all persons without distinction of age or sex, birth or color, origin or condition, are equal before the law.
But, when this great principle come to be applied to the actual and various conditions of persons in society, it will not warrant the assertion, that men and women are legally clothed with the same civil and political powers, and that children and adults are legally to have the same functions and be subject to the same treatment; but only that the rights of all, as they are settled and regulated by law, are equally entitled to the paternal consideration and protection of the law, for their maintenance and security.
Conceding, therefore, in the fullest manner, that colored persons, the descendants of Africans, are entitled by law, in this commonwealth, to equal rights, constitutional and political, civil and social, the question then arises, whether the regulation in question, which provides separate schools for colored children, is a violation of any of these rights.
The power of general superintendence vests a plenary authority in the committee to arrange, classify, and distribute pupils, in such a manner as they think best adapted to their general proficiency and welfare.
The committee, apparently upon great deliberation, have come to the conclusion, that the good of both classes of schools will be best promoted, by maintaining the separate primary schools for colored and for white children, and we can perceive no ground to doubt, that this is the honest result of their experience and judgement.
It is urged, that this maintenance of separate schools tends to deepen and perpetuate the odious distinction of caste, founded in a deep-rooted prejudice in public opinion. This prejudice, if it exists, is not created by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether this distinction and prejudice, existing in the opinion and feelings of the community, would not be as effectually fostered by compelling colored and white children to associate together in the same schools, may well be doubted; at all events, it is a fair and proper question for the committee to consider and decide upon, having in view the best interests of both classes of children placed under their superintendence, and we cannot say, that their decision upon it is not founded on just grounds of reason and experience, and in the results of a discriminating and honest judgement.
The increased distance, to which the plaintiff was obliged to go to school from her father’s house, is not such, in our opinion, as to render the regulation in question unreasonable, still less illegal.
On the whole the court are of opinion, that upon the facts stated, the action cannot be maintained.
Plaintiff nonsuit.
(Document 3.7.11)
Using the Legacy of Courage Film
Explain to students that the case of Roberts against the City of Boston was just one example of the larger effort towards gaining equal rights by African Americans in Massachusetts and beyond. Introduce Legacy of Courage: Black Changemakers in Massachusetts Past, Present, and Future as a film that chronicles not only Sarah Roberts’ case but two other activist-led legal efforts-those of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman in the 18th century, and Ruth Batson in the 20th century.
Access the Middle School film discussion guide or the High School film discussion guide and curate the questions that offer the best learning pathway for your own classroom community and fit the time frame you have. Alternatively, you may invite students to choose the questions they are most excited to discuss. And keep in mind that many of these would make excellent writing prompts for a journaling or quick-write exercise following the film depending on your time frame.
Using the Legacy of Courage Film
Explain to students that the case of Sarah Roberts against the City of Boston was just one example of the larger effort towards gaining equal rights by African Americans in Massachusetts that centered around women.
Introduce Legacy of Courage: Black Changemakers in Massachusetts Past, Present, and Future as a film that chronicles not only Sarah Roberts’ case but two other activist-led legal efforts-those of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman in the 18th century, and Ruth Batson in the 20th century.
After watching the film, students read or re-read the letter to the editor- “School for Young Ladies. Then have the students compare and contrast the educational aims of “young woman” as they are described in the letter versus in the film. Following that open a discussion of the role of women in the film through the use of the Middle School film discussion guide or the High School film discussion guide.
You can curate the questions that offer the best learning pathway for your own classroom community and fit the time frame you have. However a few selected and additional questions you may utilize are:
Letter to the Editor “School for Young Ladies,” The Liberator, October 15, 1841
Mr. Editor,
It has long been a source of regret to many residents of this city that there has been no opportunity afforded, through the medium of which their daughters could obtain a knowledge of those branches deemed so necessary to the completion of a young lady’s education. The baneful prejudice in active exercise against a large number of our citizens, merely because of complexional difference, has presented a barrier which has shut them out of from those facilities so richly enjoyed by the more favored classes.
But it is our pleasure to inform your readers, that a school has lately been opened in this city by Miss Susannah Bradshaw (a colored young lady,) where the accomplished branches are taught. Judging from the exercises to which we have listened, and the specimens of painting, sketching, rug-work, &c together with penmanship, composition, etc., with an examination of which we were favored, we feel justified in recommending the school to the attention of the public.
The terms are favorable and will be made known on application to the preceptress, at the school room in the basement story of the Baptist Church, Belknap Street.
Document 3.7.5
After learning more about the Roberts’ Case and reading some of the documents associated with schooling in Boston in the 1840s, students will consider what the long-term impact of the case was on the nation, by researching and learning about two pivotal cases, one that used the judge’s “separate but equal” ruling in the Roberts’ case as a precedent for allowing segregation to persist throughout the country, and one where that legal framework began to collapse.
Students should research and explore either Plessy V. Ferguson or Brown v. Board of Education and within their research answer the corresponding questions.
Teacher Tip-Depending on preference, you may ask students to use their online research skills to find answers to the questions. However, if you would like to provide students with a reliable source that will have the answers to all of the questions above, the National Archives-Plessy v. Ferguson and the National Archives-Brown v. Board sites both provide a robust page describing the case and it includes a transcript from the opinion in the case. There is a lot of text, but students can use the “find” feature on their computers to search terms and names such as “Roberts” that help them home in on the answer to the questions.
Read or reread the ruling of Justice Lemuel Shaw or the selected excerpt: Ruling of Justice Lemuel Shaw in the case Sarah C. Roberts vs. City of Boston, 1850.
“It is urged, that this maintenance of separate schools tends to deepen and perpetuate the odious distinction of caste, founded in a deep-rooted prejudice in public opinion. This prejudice, if it exists, is not created by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether this distinction and prejudice, existing in the opinion and feelings of the community, would not be as effectually fostered by compelling colored and white children to associate together in the same schools, may well be doubted; at all events, it is a fair and proper question for the committee to consider and decide upon, having in view the best interests of both classes of children placed under their superintendence, and we cannot say, that their decision upon it is not founded on just grounds of reason and experience, and in the results of a discriminating and honest judgment.”
The opinion was delivered at the March term, 1850.
Shaw, C.J. The plaintiff, a colored child of five years of age, has commenced this action, by her father and next friend, against the city of Boston, upon the statute of 1845, c. 214, which provides, that any child unlawfully excluded from public school instruction, in this commonwealth, shall recover damages therefor, in an action against the city or town, by which such public school instruction is supported. The question therefore is, whether, upon the facts agreed, the plaintiff has been unlawfully excluded from such instruction.
The plaintiff had access to a school, set apart for colored children, as well conducted in all respects, and as well fitted, in point of capacity and qualification of the instructors, to advance the education of children under seven years old, as the other primary schools; the objection is, that the schools thus open to the plaintiff are exclusively appropriated to colored children, and are at a greater distance from her home. Under these circumstances, has the plaintiff been unlawfully excluded from public school instruction? Upon the best consideration we have been able to give the subject, the court are all of opinion that she has not.
It will be considered, that this is a question of power, or of the legal authority of the committee intrusted by the city with this department of public instruction; because, if they have the legal authority, the expediency of exercising it in any particular way is exclusively with them.
The great principle, advanced by the learned and eloquent advocate of the plaintiff, is, that by the constitution and laws of Massachusetts, all persons without distinction of age or sex, birth or color, origin or condition, are equal before the law.
But, when this great principle come to be applied to the actual and various conditions of persons in society, it will not warrant the assertion, that men and women are legally clothed with the same civil and political powers, and that children and adults are legally to have the same functions and be subject to the same treatment; but only that the rights of all, as they are settled and regulated by law, are equally entitled to the paternal consideration and protection of the law, for their maintenance and security.
Conceding, therefore, in the fullest manner, that colored persons, the descendants of Africans, are entitled by law, in this commonwealth, to equal rights, constitutional and political, civil and social, the question then arises, whether the regulation in question, which provides separate schools for colored children, is a violation of any of these rights.
The power of general superintendence vests a plenary authority in the committee to arrange, classify, and distribute pupils, in such a manner as they think best adapted to their general proficiency and welfare.
The committee, apparently upon great deliberation, have come to the conclusion, that the good of both classes of schools will be best promoted, by maintaining the separate primary schools for colored and for white children, and we can perceive no ground to doubt, that this is the honest result of their experience and judgement.
It is urged, that this maintenance of separate schools tends to deepen and perpetuate the odious distinction of caste, founded in a deep-rooted prejudice in public opinion. This prejudice, if it exists, is not created by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether this distinction and prejudice, existing in the opinion and feelings of the community, would not be as effectually fostered by compelling colored and white children to associate together in the same schools, may well be doubted; at all events, it is a fair and proper question for the committee to consider and decide upon, having in view the best interests of both classes of children placed under their superintendence, and we cannot say, that their decision upon it is not founded on just grounds of reason and experience, and in the results of a discriminating and honest judgement.
The increased distance, to which the plaintiff was obliged to go to school from her father’s house, is not such, in our opinion, as to render the regulation in question unreasonable, still less illegal.
On the whole the court are of opinion, that upon the facts stated, the action cannot be maintained.
Plaintiff nonsuit.
(Document 3.7.11)
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