B.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF EDUCATION AMONG COLORED CHILDREN.
To the Honorable the Commissioners for examining into the condition of Common Schools in the City and County of New York.
The following statement in relation to the colored schools in said city and county is respectfully presented by the New York Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children:
1. The number of colored children in the city and county of New York (estimated in 1855, from the census of 1850), between the ages of 4 and 17 years 3,000 a. Average attendance of colored children at public schools in 1855 913 Average attendance of colored children in corporate schools supported by school funds (Colored Orphan Asylum) 240 ---- 1,153 b. Proportion of average attendance in public schools of colored children to whole number of same is as 1 to 2.60. 2. The number of white children in the city of New York in 1855 (estimated as above), between the ages of 4 and 17 years 159,000 a. Average attendance of white children in public schools in 1855 43,858 Average attendance of white children in corporate schools supported by public funds 2,826 ----- 46,684 b. Proportion of average attendance of white children in public schools to whole number of same is as 1 to 3.40.
3. From these facts it appears that colored children attend the public schools (and schools supported by public funds in the city of New York) in the proportion of 1 to 2.60, and that the white children attend similar schools in said city in the proportion of 1 to 3.40; that is to say, nearly 25 per cent. more of colored children than of white children attend the public schools, and schools supported by public funds in the city of New York.
4. The number of colored children attending private schools in the city of New York, 125.
a. The number of white children attending private schools in 1850, census gave 10,560, which number has since been increased by the establishment of Catholic parochial schools, estimated in 1856, 17,560.
b. The proportion of colored children attending private schools to white children attending same, is as 1 to 140.
c. But the average attendance of colored children in all schools is about the same as that of the white in proportion, that is to say, as many colored children attend the public schools as do whites attend both public and private schools, in proportion to the whole number of each class of children.
Locality, capability, etc., of colored schools.
1. The Board of Education, since its organization, has expended in sites and buildings for white schools $1,600,000.
b. The Board of Education has expended for sites and buildings for colored schools (addition to building leased 19 Thomas), $1,000.
c. The two schoolhouses in possession of the Board now used for colored children were assigned to same by the Old Public School Society.
2. The proportion of colored children to white children attending public schools is as 1 to 40.
a. The sum expended on school buildings and sites of colored and white schools by the Board of Education is as 1 to 1,600.
3. a. Schoolhouse No. 1, for colored children, is an old building, erected in 1820 by the New York Manumission Society as a school for colored children, in Mulberry street, in a poor but decent locality. It has two departments, one male and one female; it consists of two stories only, and has two small recitation rooms on each floor, but as primary as well as grammar children attend each department, much difficulty and confusion arises from the want of class room for the respective studies. The building covers only part of the lot, and as it is, the best attended and among the best taught of the colored schools, a new and ample school building, erected in this place, would prove a great attraction, and could be amply filled by children.
b. Schoolhouse No. 2, erected in Laurens street more than twenty years ago for colored children by the Public School Society, is in one of the lowest and filthiest neighborhoods, and hence, although it has competent teachers in the male and female departments, and a separate primary department, the attendance has always been slender, and will be until the school is removed to a neighborhood where children may be sent without danger to their morals.
c. School No. 3, for colored children, in Yorkville, is an old building, is well attended, and deserves, in connection with Schoolhouse No. 4, in Harlem, a new building midway between the present localities.
d. Schoolhouse No. 5, for colored children, is an old building, leased at No. 19 Thomas street, a most degraded neighborhood, full of filth and vice; yet the attendance on this school, and the excellence of its teachers, earn for it the need of a new site and new building.
e. Schoolhouse No. 6, for colored children, is in Broadway, near 37th street, in a dwelling house leased and fitted up for a school, in which there is always four feet of water in the cellar. The attendance good. Some of the school officers have repeatedly promised a new building.
f. Primary school for colored children, No. 1, is in the basement of a church on 15th street, near 7th avenue, in a good location, but premises too small for the attendance; no recitation rooms, and is perforce both primary and grammar school, to the injury of the progress of all.
g. Primary schools for colored children, No. 2 and 3, are in the rear of church, in 2d street, near 6th avenue; the rooms are dark and cheerless, and without the needful facilities of sufficient recitation rooms, etc.
| 1. The number of colored children in the city and county ofNew York (estimated in 1855, from the census of 1850), betweenthe ages of 4 and 17 years | 3,000 | |
| a. Average attendance of colored children at publicschools in 1855 | 913 | |
| Average attendance of colored children incorporate schools supported by school funds(Colored Orphan Asylum) | 240 | |
| ---- | 1,153 | |
| b. Proportion of average attendance in publicschools of colored children to whole numberof same is as 1 to 2.60. | ||
| 2. The number of white children in the city of NewYork in 1855 (estimated as above), between the ages of4 and 17 years | 159,000 | |
| a. Average attendance of white children in publicschools in 1855 | 43,858 | |
| Average attendance of white children incorporate schools supported by publicfunds | 2,826 | |
| ----- | 46,684 |
From a comparison of the schoolhouses with the splendid, almost palatial edifices, with manifold comforts, conveniences and elegancies which make up the schoolhouses for white children in the city of New York, it is evident that the colored children are painfully neglected and positively degraded. Pent up in filthy neighborhoods, in old and dilapidated buildings, they are held down to low associations and gloomy surroundings.
Yet Mr. Superintendent Kiddle, at a general examination of colored schools held in July last (for silver medals awarded by the society now addressing your honorable body) declared the reading and spelling equal to that of any schools in the city.
The undersigned enter their solemn protest against this unjust treatment of colored children. They believe with the experience of Massachusetts, and especially the recent experience of Boston before them, there is no sound reason why colored children shall be excluded from any of the common schools supported by taxes levied alike on whites and blacks, and governed by officers elected by the vote of colored as well as white voters.
But if in the judgment of your honorable body common schools are not thus common to all, then we earnestly pray you to recommend to the Legislature such action as shall cause the Board of Education of this city to erect at least two well-appointed modern grammar schools for colored children on suitable sites, in respectable localities, so that the attendance of colored children may be increased and their minds be elevated in like manner as the happy experience of the honorable Board of Education has been in the matter of white children.