"Admirably Fitted for a Teacher": P. W. Cassey and the Beginnings of Black Education in California, 1862–1878

• In Event: Mapping Black Teaching Experiences Across Time and Space

Abstract

Peter Williams Cassey was an abolitionist, educator, and religious leader within California’s Black community during the 19th century. Cassey established the Phoenixonian Institute, the first secondary school for African Americans in the state, and maintained the site as teacher, fundraiser, and headmaster for almost two decades. This paper traces Cassey's evolution as an educator/activist. It argues that Cassey learned a repertoire of activist strategies during his youth in Philadelphia under the guidance of figures and Prince Saunders, James Forten, and his own father Joseph Cassey. Emigrating to the San Francisco Bay, Cassey applied these tactics to the fight for education in California. This paper helps us consider the ways Black educational activism carried into the American West.

Author

• Michael Hines, Stanford University
  Presenting Author