Baltimore Normal School Account Book, 1870-1908, MS 94

FOR THE

COURTLAND AND SARATOGA STREETS.

BALTIMORE.

1904.

This institution is the oldest in the State of Maryland for the instruction of colored people. It dates its origin from an invitation, signed by seven men on November 25th, 1864, calling a meeting on November 28th: to consider the best means, by organized effort, in view of the present condition of the colored people of the State, to promote their moral, religious and educational improvement. At this meeting was organized the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People. The recent State Constitution had enfranchised all the negroes in the State, and it was felt that an organized effort must be made to educate that race. On December 5th, 1864, the Board of Managers of the Association held its first meeting and issued an address to the people, calling for funds to open schools. As a result of this appeal, it was found possible to open the first school on January 3, 1865, in the African Baptist Church, corner of Calvert and Saratoga Streets. The hours were from 8 A. M. to 12.30 P. M., and from 8 to 10 P. M. The same month the first county school was opened at Easton, with a colored teacher, and by February 4 schools with 15 teachers and 2200

scholars had been opened at an annual expense, calculated at $16,000. From the outset the Association set itself to obtain from the City and State a recognition of the need of the education of negroes by the public funds.

In Baltimore City, this result was attained on June 9, 1865, when the City Council appropriated $10,000 for schools for colored people. The city schools were not taken off of the hands of the Association however, until 1868, when the appropriation was increased to $20,000. By October, 1865, there were 7 schools in Baltimore City and several in the counties. A year later, there were 16 teachers in Baltimore and 18 county schools, 14 of which were conducted by colored teachers. In 1867, there were 22 schools in the city and 51 in the counties, all but three counties having at least one school. Funds came not alone by contributions from members of the Association and other charitably disposed persons in Maryland, but also from the Freedman's Bureau, from persons interested in the Northern States, and from Friends in Great Britain and Ireland. For example, $1,300 were received from Pennsylvania in June, 1865; in 1866, 15 teachers' salaries were paid by gifts from New England, 5 by gifts from Pennsylvania and by gifts from New York. The first contributions from any ecclesiastical organizations in Baltimore came from two synagogues. In 1876, the Association received $42,000 of which $10,000 came from the Mayor

and City Council, $4,500 from individuals in the City, nearly two-thirds of this from Unitarians and Orthodox Friends, and $6,000 from Colored people in the counties.

The State of Maryland was slower than Baltimore City to take up negro education but did so by a law passed at the session of 1870, and the Association then transferred its County Schools to the several school boards, and voted on June 14, 1870, to close its existence. Among those who gave unselfishly of both time and money to its service should be mentioned; Evans Rodgers and Wm. J. Albert, the two Presidents; John A. Needles and Joseph M. Cushing, for many years President of the Baltimore Normal School for the Education of Colored Teachers. This school was a continuation of the first one organized by the Association and was placed in 1868 in its present location on Courtland and Saratoga Streets, the building formerly used as a Friends' Meeting House being then bought for it. The Association was incorporated on January 23, 1867, and the building was transferred to the School by the Association shortly thereafter. The school was continued until 1893 as a Graded and Normal School, but was then reorganized solely as a Normal School to train colored teachers. Mr. George Harrison has been principal since the reorganization, and in that time 53 have been graduated and the number of pupils increased from 10 to 75.

In 1903, the standard of the school was considerably raised. At the Commencement this year, 8 students were graduated and an address was delivered by Prof. Henry Wood, of the Johns Hopkins University. The State has made an appropriation for the support of the school since 1872.

It is interesting to note that the only legacy the school has ever received was one of $3,500 in 1871 from Nelson Wells, a colored man.

As a part of the State's Educational System, this school is a professional one, fitting colored people to go forth to the instruction of their own race.

ADMISSION AND GRADUATION.

Applicants from Baltimore City must have successfully completed the seventh grade of the Grammar School course. Applicants from the counties may be admitted with less preparation in the discretion of the Principal.

The applicant is requested to present a letter from the school previously attended. There is no age limit for admission.

The Principal will personally superintend a written examination, given in June, to all candidates for graduation. Any candidate who can successfully answer seventy-five per cent. of the questions given in all the studies of the whole course, will be recommended to the Trustees for the diploma of the school.

COURSE OF STUDY.

PREPARATORY.

Arithmetic through Percentage, Geography complete, Sixth Reader, English Grammar including Diagram Analysis, Physiology, History of the United States, History and Government of Maryland, Vertical System of Writing.

FIRST YEAR.

General History Outlines, Algebra to Simple Equations, Physical Geography, Plane Geometry, Arithmetic, English Literature, English Composition, Review of Studies of Preparatory Year.

SECOND AND THIRD YEARS.

General History, English History, Algebra, Physical Geography, Plane Geometry, Arithmetic, Bookkeeping, English Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, High School Physics, Lectures on Teaching, Psychology, Review of Studies of Preceding Years.

Tuition, Books and Stationery are furnished, free to all pupils. The school year consists of one continuous session, beginning about the middle of September and ending on the last Thursday in the following June.

The daily session begins at 9 A. M., and is continuous until 2 P. M. Promptness and regularity in attendance are insisted upon. No time is allowed for study periods during school hours, but the whole day is devoted to recitations and blackboard work. New pupils may enter any class for which they can successfully stand the examination.

The school offers to pupils who have become proficient in the Grammar School studies the opportunity to fit themselves for teaching in a short time, provided they are resolved to give to the work their undivided attention, Successful completion of the whole course will fully prepare graduates to secure certificates from any School Board in the State.

The curriculum, it will be observed, is confined exclusively to the studies required by law to be taught in the public schools of Maryland, enabling those whose time and means are limited, to equip themselves as quickly as possible for teaching.

The school possesses a small reference library. The Enoch Pratt Free Library, the munificent gift of the late Enoch Pratt to the City of Baltimore, and the reference collection of the Peabody Institute are open to the students, enabling them to obtain the use of any needed books.

TRUSTEES.

BERNARD C. STEINER...... PRESIDENT.

F. HENRY BOGGS, TREASURER AND SECRETARY.

JOHN M. CARTER.

JOHN H. BUTLER.

FREDERICK D. MORRISON.

WILLIAM B. SANDS.

CARROLL T. BOND.

WILLIAM A. DIXON.

SAMUEL H. SHRIVER.

GEO. HARRISON. PRINCIPAL.

WOODLAWN.

BALTIMORE COUNTY.

MARYLAND

GRADUATES SINCE REORGANIZATION.

NAME., WHEN GRADUATED.

ELLA C. GREEN, 1896

HOWARD GROSS, 1896

BESSIE JEFFERSON, 1897

FLORENCE PAGE, 1897

PIENETTA AUGUSTUS, 1897

MAMIE GREEN, 1897

ELIZABETH KING, 1897

MAMIE GROSS, 1897

ANNIE HENSON, 1897

CHARLES WOODLAND, 1898

JOHN GREEN, 1898

ROYAL ADDISON, 1898

MAMIE MOORE, 1898

ROSA PAGE, 1898

MARTHA DOWELL, 1898

INEZ E. PATTERSON, 1899

VICTORIA HAYS, 1899

FLORENCE V. TRAVERSE, 1899

GEORGE M. PATTERSON, 1899

HENRY J. LOWERS, 1899

HENRY A. BUTLER, 1899

JANEY WHYTE, 1900

BESSIE HENSON, 1900

ALVERTA GREEN, 1900

CHARLES WALLACE, 1900

SUSIE ROSS, 1901

LUCINDA LEWIS, 1901

MARY FRAYER, 1901

ROSA STEWART, 1901

TYESE BROWN, 1901

CHARLES DORSEY, 1901

EDITH THORNTON, 1902

ALVERTA NORRIS, 1902

HATTIE MATHEWS, 1902

CHARLES LANE, 1902

ELMER HENDERSON, 1902

OLONZO DORSEY, 1902

EYELYNIA GREEN, 1903

JULIA BEVERLY, 1903

MARY LEE, 1903

BESSIE CROWNER, 1903

NETTIE WADE, 1903

ETHEL HALL, 1903

ANNIE WING, 1903

IDA TORNEY, 1903

JULIA LAVINIA DORSEY, 1904

RUTH ELLA ROBINSON, 1904

MAUD VIOLA JOHNSON, 1904

CARRIE VIRGINIA TYLER, 1904

JOHN THOMAS WILLIAMS, 1904

HARVEY JOHNSON, JR., 1904

MOLLIE ESTELLA GREGORY, 1904

ELLIE BALLOU, 1904