"We Intend to Agitate": The Fight for Black Teachers for Black Children in Baltimore, 1870–1910

• In Event: The Power of Black Teachers and the Public Good: Histories of Resistance, Agency, and Activism

Abstract

Objective
This paper centers on the resistance, agency, and grassroots social activism of Black parents, religious leaders, and community members in Baltimore in the 1870s through the turn of the twentieth century as they pushed for Black teachers in publicly supported Black schools. Rich historical accounts have focused on Black teachers’ professional preparation and their work in the schools (Fairclough, 2004; Fairclough, 2007; Foster, 1997; Fultz, 1995; Fultz, 2008; Jones, 1992; Mansfield, 1980; Morris, 1981; Siddle Walker, 1996; Siddle Walker, 2000; Taylor, 2005). However, much less is known about how these individuals made their way into schools in the first place or the activism that paved their way.

During the late 1800s, Black families and community members across the urban South banded together demanding Black, rather than white, teachers for their children. For them, teacher hiring and the presence of Black teachers in Black schools were key levers in the broader fight for social equality. This paper explores the grassroots fight for Black teachers in Baltimore from 1870 and into the early twentieth century.

Methods, Framework, and Evidence
This historical research is based on archival sources including local and national newspapers like The Sun, Washington Bee, Cleveland Gazette, The Sun, Peoples Advocate, and New York Freeman. In an effort to recover the activism of community members and the resistance to change, we make use of materials from the Baltimore City Department of Education housed in the Baltimore City Archives such as meeting minutes, annual reports, rules of order, employment lists, and circulars.

Results
Baltimore City School Board minutes from the 1870s and 80s reveal persistent efforts by community members to pressure the Board to hire Black teachers. Even as Board members rebuffed such calls, Black community members pressed on, stating “we have asked for colored teachers in our colored schools, and we intend to agitate the question until we have them here” (“Schools in Baltimore,” 1880, p. 1). In response to mounting pressure from the local Black community, the city hired its first Black teacher in 1888, Roberta Sheridan. This paper documents the debates surrounding the hiring of Black teachers, the points of resistance and opposition, and work of community activists to bring Black teachers to Black children in Baltimore during the late nineteenth century.

Scholarly Significance
In the conventional wisdom, Black teachers filled a critical void in Black schools, going where white teachers refused. As Anderson (1989) noted, “most southern white educators would not teach black children” (p. 110). According to this formulation, even as families and communities valued Black teachers, they had few other options. The archival evidence this paper relies upon complicates that classic narrative. Across the South as white families recoiled at the idea of Black teachers for white students, Black families and teachers actively and assertively fought for Black educators for Black children. In many communities, the presence of Black teachers was the victorious outgrowth of concerted grassroots action as parents and community members banded together to call for teachers of their own choosing.

Authors

• Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz, University of North Dakota

• Sonya Douglass, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Joel Miller, University of Maryland - College Park

• Dominique Quadray Lester, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Katherine Bowser, George Mason University