Author:
Duane, Anna Mae, 1968- author.
ImprintNew York : New York University Press, [2020]
Description241 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note:Slavery at the school door -- Star student as specimen (ca. 1822-1837) -- Shifting ground, lost parents, uprooted schools (ca. 1822-1840) -- Orphans, data, and the American story (ca. 1837-1850) -- Throwing down the shovel (ca. 1840-1850) -- Pumping out a sinking ship (ca. 1850-1855) -- Follow the money, find the revolution (ca. 1850-1855) -- Bitter battles, African civilization, and John Brown's Body (ca. 1856-1862) -- War's end and the nation's future (ca. 1862-1865).
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:"James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet met as schoolboys at the Mulberry Street New York African Free School, an educational experiment created by founding fathers who believed in freedom's power to transform the country. Smith and Garnet's achievements were near-miraculous in a nation that refused to acknowledge black talent or potential. The sons of enslaved mothers, these schoolboy friends would go on to travel the world, meet Revolutionary War heroes, publish in medical journals, address Congress, and speak before cheering crowds of thousands. The lessons they took from their days at the New York African Free School #2 shed light on how antebellum Americans viewed black children as symbols of America's possible future. The story of their lives, their work, and their friendship testifies to the imagination and activism of the free black community that shaped the national journey toward freedom."
