The Establishment of Education for Blacks in Prince George’s County, Md. During Reconstruction
By Bianca. P. Floyd, Project Director
Black History Study, History Division, M-NCPPC, (1982-1989)
2-27-84
Delivered to Prince George’s County Council, 2-28-84
Black History Month Observance
According to an ancient African proverb of Cameroon, “Knowledge is better than riches.” Webster’s New World Dictionary defines knowledge as “all that has been perceived or grasped by the mind.” It defines education as the process of training and developing that knowledge, the mind, one’s character etc., by formal schooling. Like the Africans of Cameroon, the Freedmen of Prince George’s County considered knowledge and education as valuable and necessary. Though the process of acquiring an education and value placed on that process is, and always will be debatable, the need of it was (and is) quite evident. With that in mind, I’d like to share with you a few descriptions of the quest for education among the Freedmen of this county.
During the period of institutionalized slavery, it was illegal to teach chattel to read or write. A literate slave was considered a dangerous slave for various reasons. Infractions of this rule, along with other slave code regulations, could result in the sale of the offending slave, harsher physical labor or severe flogging (whipping). Nevertheless, many slaves secretly sought to obtain some semblance of reading and writing skills.
For example, on the plantation of George Calvert of Riversdale, Adam Francis Plummer, learned to read as well as write. Adam Plummer was the personal slave of George Calvert’s son, Charles Benedict.
John Bowser, a black itinerant preacher, secretly taught young Adam to read and write. In 1841, Adam Plummer began to keep a diary which he maintained until his death in 1905. His daughter, Nellie Arnold Plummer, based her biography of the family on her father’s diary. Her book “Out of the Depths” was published in 1927 and chronicles the experiences of this family from slavery, reconstruction and the early Jim Crow period of (1900-1925). Of her father’s literacy she writes:
“As is well known, it was against the law for anyone to teach a slave to read and write. There was a colored preacher known as John Bowser who in some way unknown to me, had learned to read and write. He taught Adam. So instead of spending his time among ideal gossipers, or with those who drank, Adam taught himself all he possibly could. This he kept up to the end. His rainy days were spent in mending chairs, etc. or in doing other lessor jobs. But for his having improved that one opportunity to learn how to read and write, we would know very little of our family history, not even the births and deaths.”
In 1865, the state of Maryland legally abolished institutionalized slavery. The Civil War had left southern and border states in disarray. It was a time of tremendous physical and mental adjustment on the part of former masters and slaves. With the assistance of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Black people in Prince George’s County immediately organized themselves into school-church associations in order to establish these permanent institutions within their communities. From the 1865-1878, these early log buildings served as the first schools (as well as churches) for Black people. Let me illustrate by quoting three northern teachers who opened the first three schools established in the county during Reconstruction.
Sally Cadwallader, white female and Pennsylvania Quaker, opened Union Institute at Bladensburg in 1866. She was a dedicated teacher and had become very fond of her school. In her letters (which are quite detailed and many) she describes her experiences of the Bladensburg community.
“Our school is nice yet tho smaller than in winter and will be smaller next month, I presume. Several are in service and some moved away. I have 9 women I teach between school in their home. They are learning nicely to read and write. There are so many Blacks here that the rebels can get them to work for almost nothing, keep one a month then turn them off sometimes without pay, sometimes with only half. I shall leave here in July and I am trying to thin out the blacks so that those who do stay can make a living reduce the whites to paying for their work. There is no justice here for the black man anyway. I wish they could all leave Maryland.”
Salle Cadwallader was involved in the relocation of over 70 Freedmen from Maryland to Pennsylvania.
Jerome A. Johnson, a black man and field agent for the Freedman’s Bureau, was an exceptionally eloquent and enthusiastic teacher. In 1866, he opened Marlboro Seminary at Upper Marlboro, in the community of Valley Lane from Main Street in the town. In a letter describing his experiences he wrote:
“My school is increasing daily and rapidly, and I can safely say that it steadily increase. My duties are somewhat arduous and taxes me considerably, but the intense gratitude that my people here show prompts me to strain every nerve and use every exertion to consummate in great end, viz. promote the welfare and interest of education in their midst.”
In Aquasco, Dellie Gordon, a black woman from Philadelphia, opened school at Woodville in 1868. Like many northern teachers, Gordon met the challenge of working among the Freedmen during Reconstruction. In a letter dated May 20, 1868, she wrote: “Please send me one dozen copy books, eight fine hand simple sentences, the remainder sentences also, but the handwriting larger. If you will send too, as many pens and handles as the money will obtain after purchase of the books, I will be much obliged.”
This money was obtained from the proceeds of a Festival held last Monday evening. The people here have not the means to pay for books , yet they all contributed cake, pies, etc. and we cleared sufficient to pay my board bill…and purchase books. That is the drawback here, the poverty of the people. The children are taken from school at the opening of the spring to work on farms and if they attend school at all during the spring months, it so irregular, that most of the fruits of the winter’s labor is lost.”
In researching the history of Black people in Prince George’s County, it is clear that the quest for education is a consistent thread linking the past with the present.
In 1923, Theresa Douglas Banks completed her Master Thesis on the “Development of Public Education for the Negro in Prince George’s County, 1878-1940.”
Recent development s in black education would include the issue of desegregation/integration of public schools in the early 70s. This is an item that has been well documented. However, research on the establishment of early black schools has just begun. In following their development, the history of a community can be documented. With this is mind, I will conclude by noting the first ten school-churches established by black people in Prince George’s County from 1866-1868.
- May 19, 1866 – Union Institute at Bladensburg, St. Paul’s Baptist Church
- April 15, 1868 – Marlboro Seminary at Upper Marlboro, Union Memorial Methodist Church
- April 29, 1868 – Woodville School in Aquasco, John Wesley Methodist Church
- May 1868 – Niles School at Forestville, St. Luke’s Methodist Church
- June 1868 -St. Thomas School at Baden, St. Thomas Methodist Church
- July 1868 – Riverview at Oxon Hill, St. Paul’s Methodist Church
- October 7, 1868 – Sumner School at Piscataway (Now Accockeek), Asbury Methodist Church
- October 8, 1868 -Nottingham at Croom, Brooks-Myers Methodist Church
- October 13, 1868 – Johnson Hill School at Chapel Hill, Grace Methodist Church
- December 1, 1868 – Robeystown in Clinton, Mt. Hope A.M.E.
