Hannah Nemanic

HNR-3615
Dr. Ringel
History of African American Education in Pittsburgh

The history of African American education in Pittsburgh is a story of misguided White

civility and the beginnings of Black agency. In 1834, the Pennsylvania legislature excluded

African Americans from the public-school system. Backlash to this exclusion led to leaders in

Pittsburgh and the State creating separate schools for Black students. However, this act of civility

hindered the achievement of civil rights and equitable education for Pittsburgh’s African

American community. During this period, several African American organizations formed,

which highlight the importance and benefits of Black agency. The hard work and determination

of the African American organizations and progressive Whites allowed Pittsburgh’s African

Americans to access educational opportunities much earlier than Blacks in other states.

Statewide Public Education

On April 1, 1834, Pennsylvania passed the Common School Act (McCoy 220). The law

mandated the organization of school districts run by the county commissioners and funded by

taxpayer dollars. A state subsidy equaling one half of the taxpayer contribution would be

provided to each district to offset some of the upkeep costs associated with running the schools

(McCoy 220). Governor Wolf, a strong supporter of a statewide public-school system, believed

education was the “cornerstone of democratic freedom and social progress” (Downey, et al.).

Ironically, the Common School Act of 1834, excluded an important population: African

American Pennsylvanians.

Many Pennsylvanians opposed the passage of the Common School Act. African

Americans resented their exclusion from the public-school system, while many Whites opposed
the act for economic and religious reasons (McCoy 221 & 223; Downey, et al.). Two different

opposition groups began to form: those who opposed increased taxes and advocates for church-

based schools (Downey, et al.). Consequently, in 1835, only one year after the enactment of the

Act, 558 petitions with over 31,000 signatures were presented to the state legislature in support

of repealing the Common School Act.

In response to the potential repeal, Thaddeus Stevens, a state legislator, gave a speech in

support of the Common School Act and the “absolute necessity of education” (Stevens). Stevens

urged his fellow representatives to vote against the repeal to ensure “the blessing of education

shall be conferred on every son of Pennsylvania, shall be carried home to the poorest child of the

poorest inhabitant…, so that even he may be prepared to act well his part in this land of freedom,

and lay on earth a broad and solid foundation for that enduring knowledge which goes on…

through increasing eternity” (Stevens). Although Stevens became a prominent abolitionist and

outspoken supporter of African American rights, he did move to include African Americans in

the public-school system at this time.

Following the passing and failed repeal of the Common School Act, the Allegheny

County sheriff held a meeting of delegates to discuss the implementation of a public-school

system in Pittsburgh (McCoy 220). At the conclusion of the meeting, the delegates unanimously

voted to follow the “provisions of the new school law,” dividing the county into four wards with

six school directors elected to each ward (McCoy 220). Following the protocol of the Common

School Act, this vote excluded African American youth from participating in the Alleghany

County school system (McCoy 223).

Backlash to this exclusion began to grow among the African American community.

Eventually, a petition by the African American citizens of Pittsburgh, supported by a few

American education (McCoy 223). In an effort to project civility, the school directors decided to

erect one school, centrally located in the County, to provide education for African American

children in 1837 (McCoy 223). Segregated education continued statewide for many years. In

1854, the state legislature passed a law requiring school directors to create separate schools in

“districts where there were twenty or more colored pupils” (Brown 46). Additionally, if an

African American school existed, then school directors were not permitted to allow African

American children entrance into the White schools (Brown 46). Again, the state leaders

attempted to project civility towards the African American community. However, many African

Americans continued to be denied access to education because there was only one segregated

school per district. Therefore, many Black students could not obtain transportation to the school

because only Whites had access to public transportation. Also, the distance to walk to the Black

schools often was too far for the average student to walk daily (Brown 46-47).

For almost 30 more years, the segregated public-school system remained. It began to

change as a result of a court case coming out of Crawford County, which is approximately two

hours north of Pittsburgh. Elias H. Allen, an African American father, applied for his children to

go to a White school in Meadville, Pennsylvania (Brown 55). Once his application was denied,

Allen took his complaint to the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas. In May of 1881,

Judge Pearson Church decided that the 1854 legislation mandating school segregation violated

the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Brown 55). Subsequently, the state

legislature passed legislation to repeal the 1854 segregation laws (Brown 55). The new

legislation, signed by Governor Henry M. Hoyt on June 8, 1881, made it illegal for “school
officials to make any distinction on account of race or color among pupils attending or seeking

admission to the public schools of the Commonwealth” (Brown 55-56).

The 1881 desegregation legislation did not eliminate all African American schools.

Additionally, desegregation laws did not “mean the end of educational discrimination” (Brown

56). However, the law did provide African American Pennsylvania legal footing to challenge

educational discrimination and a means to enroll in White institutions (Brown 56). While the

Pennsylvania public education system was far from perfect, with White leaders using misguided

civility tactics, Pennsylvania proved to be ahead of many other states by desegregating decades

earlier than other states.

Pittsburgh African Education Society and Founders

Since African Americans in Pittsburgh were excluded from the public-school system

under the Common School Act, they banded together to fight oppression in the education sector.

One of the first reform organizations to emerge during this period was the Pittsburgh African

Education Society, with John B. Vashon serving as the first President. Vashon, born in 1792,

grew up as a freedman in Virginia (Thornell 285). At the age of 20, Vashon became a common

seaman on the U.S.S. Revenge during the war of 1812, where he was stationed along the coast of

South America (Thornell 286). Unfortunately, he was captured by the British and held for nearly

two years. He was eventually released in exchange for a White British soldier (Thornell 286).

Vashon viewed his exchange for a White man as a “symbolic act of equality,” which served as a

source of motivation for the rest of his life (Thornell 286).

After marrying Anne Smith, the couple relocated to Pennsylvania where they became one

of the most respected African American families in the Black community. Vashon became a
prominent businessman by owning a barbershop and a public bathhouse (Thornell 287).

Vashon’s successful businesses gave him the opportunity to interact with the prominent Whites

of Pittsburgh, which allowed Vashon to hold a higher status than many African Americans could

not obtain. Utilizing his prominence in the city, Vashon organized a meeting of the local African

American community to discuss the growing issue of education. Although Vashon himself did

not receive much schooling growing up in Virginia, he believed in the importance of traditional

education. He wanted to ensure the African American youth of Pittsburgh had access to adequate

schooling (Thornell 288). The group met for deliberation on January 16, 1832, and drafted the

Preamble and Constitution of the African Education Society.

The founders of the Society clearly believed education was one of the most important

instruments for African Americans to improve their inferior position in society. The preamble

stated, “ignorance is the sole cause of the present degradation and bondage of the people of color

in the United States (“African Education Society”). Any member of the Pittsburgh community

could join the society as long as the individual paid a fee of two dollars and subscribed to the

ideas that African Americans deserved equal education (“African Education Society”). The

Constitution gave the Treasurer the right to raise funds to purchase books and land, and then to

direct additional funds to “erect thereon a suitable building or buildings for the accommodation

and education of youth” (“African Education Society”).

Following the founding of the African Education Society, the organization established its

first school in the basement of the Little Bethel Church, an African Methodist Episcopal church

located on Wylie Street in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Society thus

achieved one of its first goals, creating a school for African American youth. However, the

conditions of the school were less than satisfactory (Thornell 288). The school did not have the
necessary resources, such as desks, school supplies, or textbooks (Thornell 228). The

organization struggled to raise enough funds to provide better arrangements, and often could not

afford textbooks or other school supplies (Thornell 288). While the school struggled to access

the necessary funding and school resources, the Little Bethel Church School provides an

example of the benefits of Black agency. During this period, a majority of African Americans

were excluded from White established public-school systems. The ability of the African

Education society to establish their own school allowed more Black youth access to education.

Without Black agency, most Black Pittsburghers would not have access to educational

institutions until 1881.

Through the financial hardships of the African Education Society, the organization

persevered under the direction of one of the founding members and first teachers of the Little

Bethel Church school, Reverend Lewis Woodson. Reverend Lewis Woodson was born in 1806 a

freeman in Greenbrier County Virginia (“Free at Last?”). After moving to Ohio with his family

in 1820, Reverend Woodson became a strong supporter of the abolitionist movement. Beyond

the abolitionist movement, Reverend Woodson believed education “as a key to Black self-

reliance” (“Free at Last?”). In an effort to improve African American education, Reverend

Woodson taught at several Black schools in Chillicothe, Columbus, and Gainesville, Ohio before

coming to Pittsburgh to work as a minister and teach with the African Education Society (Free at

Last?”).

Writing under the pseudonym “Augustine,” Reverend Lewis Woodson often expressed

Black separatist views, which meant African Americans formulating their own homogeneous

communities (“Free at Last?”). He visualized African Americans living in “rural farming

communities” within the United States separate from White society (“Free at Last?”). While
Reverend Woodson supported African Americans who wanted to move back to Africa, he

cautioned that moving away from the United States would not be the solution for all African

Americans (“Free at Last?”). He wanted to create a framework to establish Black-run

communities for African Americans who wished to stay in the United States. Reverend

Woodson’s most prominent viewpoint was for total “Black independence, political, economic,

and social” (“Free at Last?”). To obtain African American independence, Reverend Woodson

believed the fate of the African American community should rest solely on African Americans

(“Free at Last?”). For example, as Augustine, he wrote, “So long as we admit of others taking the

lead in our moral improvement and elevation, we never can expect it to be according to our wish

and desire” (Free at Last?”). Essentially, Reverend Woodson fought for Black agency in political

and economic sectors, along with the social sector which included education.

Reverend Lewis Woodson incorporated his Black nationalist views into his teachings at

the Little Bethel Church School. One student in particular, Martin R. Delany, illustrates

Reverend Woodson’s influence on his students. At the age of 19, Delaney walked over 150 miles

to attend the African Education Society’s school, where John Vashon, the Society’s president

opened his home for the new student (“Free at Last?”). Delaney became close with both

Reverend Woodson and Vashon, and he adopted many of the Black nationalist views taught at

the Little Bethel Church School.

Martin Delaney wrote on his social, political, and economic views in The Mystery, an

abolitionist newspaper he founded after leaving the African Education Society’s school (“Free at

Last?”). Along with Black nationalism, Delaney argued in favor of self-governance. He saw self-

government as a necessity for African Americans to achieve equality because “one cannot be

secure in one’s life, welfare, or liberty without an equal and effective say in matters of public
concern” (Shelby 669). Additionally, Delany believed that African Americans would not achieve

“true social equality” without matching the “cultural and economic achievements” of Whites

(Shelby 669). To gain cultural and economic equality, African Americans needed a strong

foundation of education, which Delany learned from Reverend Woodson.

The African Education Society used Black agency to create the Little Bethel Church

School in a time when most African Americans did not have access to education. While the

school had struggles, it shows that African Americans could provide opportunities for

themselves despite the barriers constructed by White civility.

The Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania

On August 23rd through 25th, 1841, the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania organization

held a state convention in Pittsburgh. The organization stated the purpose of the convention as,

“for the purpose of considering their condition, and the means of its improvement” (Convention

of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania). The majority of discussions at the convention revolved

around the right of suffrage, “a right, paramount in importance to all other political rights, being

their foundation and only safeguard, and without which all other rights are rendered unsafe and

insecure” (Convention of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania). In essence, the Colored

Freemen of Pennsylvania believed that without the right of suffrage, African Americans would

not be able to fight for other rights, like education.

While the convention focused mostly on the right of suffrage, the Colored Freeman of

Pennsylvania did discuss education as “a matter of the first importance” (Convention of the

Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania). In contrast to a more traditional education of reading and

writing taught at the African Education Society’s Little Bethel Church School, the Colored
Freeman of Pennsylvania supported an education rooted in trade. The organization saw the

mastering of a trade as the best form of education because “labor is the natural source of wealth”

and “honorable in the eyes of all good men” (Convention of the Colored Freemen of

Pennsylvania). The Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania wanted African Americans to gain

economic equality. An education with an emphasis in liberal arts would not necessarily equate to

African Americans gaining high paying jobs. Therefore, to gain economic equality, African

Americans should become proficient in a trade where one could gain financial stability.

The Colored Freeman of Pennsylvania did not seem concerned with establishing African

American vocational schools. The delegates ended the education discussion by saying, “we

would pursue this important subject more in detail, but deem it unnecessary, because the moment

you become rightly interested in it, you will find numerous friends around you, ready to give all

necessary advice and assistance” (Convention of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania).

Essentially, the Colored Freeman of Pennsylvania viewed education as an individual decision.

The Colored Freemen would advocate for trade education, but the organization would leave how

to find such an education up to individual families.

The delegates further explained that their fellow African Americans should rely on each

other for educational opportunities, not White individuals (Convention of the Colored Freemen

of Pennsylvania). Similar to the African Education society and its founders, the Colored Freemen

of Pennsylvania believed in Black agency and self-reliance. While the organization promoted

both Black agency and vocational education, the group may have better served Pittsburgh’s

African American community if it had established a vocational school. During this time, there

was not a Black vocational oriented school in the city. However, the Colored Freemen of
Pennsylvania’s convention and guiding principles are still important to the history of African

American education in Pittsburgh.

Charles Avery & The Allegany Institute and Mission Church

Born in Westchester County, New York in 1784, Charles Avery, a White man, was

determined to build his own fortune. After moving to New York City and working in the drug

business for several years, Avery wanted to move his fortune West, relocating to Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania in 1812 (Belfour 19). In Pittsburgh, Avery became involved with the Eagle Cotton

Mill, which eventually became the main source of his wealth (Belfour 20). The cotton business

often caused Avery to travel South, where he saw firsthand the deplorable conditions of slavery

and the growing interracial tensions between African Americans and Whites (Ferda).

Returning North to Pittsburgh, Avery was determined to improve the lives of African

Americans because his travels South exposed him to the terrible living conditions and lack of

education of African Americans. He acknowledged African Americans as “men socially equal in

all respects,” a position that was extremely unpopular during this time period (Belfour 21). To

truly be equal, Avery believed that African Americans needed the opportunity to receive a

classical education (Belfour 21 & Ferda). Thus, Avery founded the Allegheny Institute and

Mission Church, a school dedicated to educating the African American population of Pittsburgh,

in 1849.

The official Charter of the Allegheny Institute and Mission Church provides insight into

the purpose and ideology of the school. The opening line asserts that citizens of the

Commonwealth have come together “for the purpose of promoting education and moral

elevation of the colored population” (“Charter of the Alleghany Institute and Mission Church”).
African Americans were to receive education in the “various branches of science, literature,

ancient and modern languages” (“Charter of the Alleghany Institute and Mission Church”).

The Charter also outlined the management plan for the Institute. The Institute was

governed by nine Trustees, all of whom were appointed by the President (“Charter of the

Alleghany Institute and Mission Church”). While the Trustees were appointed at the President’s

discretion, at least one third of the Trustee board had to be White citizens of the Commonwealth

(“Charter of the Alleghany Institute and Mission Church”). The Charter does not explicitly state

any reasons for requiring at least one third of the Trustees to be White. However, given the time

period, one can infer that most Whites believed African Americans could not govern or educate

themselves. Additionally, African Americans did not have many political rights at this time. For

example, in 1838, the Pennsylvania Constitution changed to limit voting rights to adult White

men, completely disenfranchising African American Pennsylvanians (Brown 46). To ensure the

Alleghany Institute and Mission Church maintained a strong foothold in both the political and

educational sectors, it was necessary to stipulate a certain number of White Trustees.

While there were legitimate reasons to stipulate a White portion of the Board of Trustees,

the decision does illustrate to a certain extent misguided White civility. The Allegheny Institute

and Mission Church did give Black individuals a seat at the table. However, the original

president and treasurer, the two positions with the most power were White. The president had

ultimate veto power, and the treasurer was responsible for the distribution of funds (“Charter of

the Alleghany Institute and Mission Church”). If a Black board member wanted to change

something that would improve the educational opportunities, it could be vetoed by the White

president. Therefore, the charter made certain that White individuals would still hold the most

power.
Conclusion

The Common School Act of 1834 served as a catalyst for the African American

community to fight for educational equality. The story of African American education is

Pittsburgh rooted in misguided White civility and Black agency. Undoubtedly, the barriers

constructed by White civility slowed down the achievement of educational equality. While

White leaders gave African Americans segregated schools or a seat at the table, the White

individuals did so to maintain the inferior status of African Americans. The African American

organizations and progressive Whites are the people who gave African Americans a fighting

chance to gain educational opportunities. They believed education was the foundation to

achieving equal rights. Due to their tenacious fight, Pittsburgh’s African American community

had educational opportunities much earlier than Black individuals in other states.
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