The Institute for Colored Youth was founded in 1837 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. It became the first high school for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

s in the United States, although there were schools that admitted African Americans preceding it. At the time, public policy and certain statutory provisions prohibited the education of blacks in various parts of the nation and slavery was entrenched across the south. It was followed by two other black institutions— Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854), and

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University is a private historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. It participates in ...

in Ohio (1856). The second site of the Institute for Colored Youth at Ninth and Bainbridge Streets in Philadelphia was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1986. It is also known as the Samuel J. Randall School. A three-story, three-bay brick building was built for it in 1865, in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italia ...

-style ''Note:'' This includes After moving to

Cheyney, Pennsylvania Cheyney is an unincorporated community that sits astride Chester and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It corresponds to the census-designated place known as Cheyney University, which had a population of 988 at the 2010 census ...

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the fifth-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the third=smallest in area. De ...

its name was changed to

Cheyney University Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is a public historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1837, it is the oldest university out of all historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. It is a mem ...

History

The Institute was founded as the African Institute by Richard Humphreys, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000, one-tenth of his estate, to design and establish a school to educate people of African descent. Born on a plantation in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater ...

, Humphreys came to Philadelphia in 1764, where he became concerned about the struggles of free African Americans to make a living. News of the

Cincinnati riots of 1829 The Cincinnati race riots of 1829 were triggered by competition for jobs between Irish immigrants and native blacks and former slaves, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States but also were related to white fears given the rapid increases of free and fu ...

prompted Humphreys to write his will, in which he charged thirteen fellow Quakers to design an institution "to instruct the descendants of the African Race in school learning, in the various branches of the mechanic Arts, trades and Agriculture, in order to prepare and fit and qualify them to act as teachers...." Using the money Humphreys bequeathed, the Quakers formed an organization in 1837. The school was soon renamed the Institute for Colored Youth. For several years, they experimented with agricultural and industrial education, as well as trade apprenticeships for African-American children. By 1851, the Managers, as the Quakers came to be called, instead decided to focus on Humphreys's wish to train African-American children to become teachers. In 1852, the Managers opened the first Institute for Colored Youth building at 716–718 Lombard Street in Philadelphia."History of the Institute for Colored Youth"
(The Institute for Colored Youth in the Civil War Era" "...a great thing for our people"), Villanova University. Grace A. Mapps was appointed head of the 'Female Department'. The

Noyes Academy The Noyes Academy was a racially integrated school, which also admitted women, founded by New England abolitionists in 1835 in Canaan, New Hampshire, near Dartmouth College, whose then-abolitionist president, Nathan Lord, was "the only seated ...

in New Hampshire preceded it and there had been efforts to establish a college for African Americans in New Haven, Connecticut but efforts to form the college were stopped by opposition from whites and the school was destroyed in mob attacks.

Prudence Crandall Prudence Crandall (September 3, 1803 – January 27, 1890) was an American schoolteacher and activist. She ran the first school for black girls ("young Ladies and little Misses of color") in the United States, located in Canterbury, Connecticut. ...

was not allowed to admit an African American girl to her

Canterbury Female Boarding School The Canterbury Female Boarding School, in Canterbury, Connecticut, was operated by its founder, Prudence Crandall, from 1831 to 1834. When townspeople would not allow African-American girls to enroll, Crandall decided to turn it into a school for A ...

. She converted the boarding school to one for only African American girls, but was jailed for her efforts and a Black Law was passed in the state. The school closed after mob attacks. Although operated by the Quaker Board of Managers, the faculty of the Institute for Colored Youth were entirely African-American men and women. The Institute contained both Boys' and Girls' High Schools, as well as a Preparatory School (sometimes known as the Brown Preparatory School). The school provided a

classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...

to young African Americans in Philadelphia, with a curriculum including advanced mathematics, sciences, English, philosophy, various social sciences, and classical languages.

Development

Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett (October 16, 1833 – November 13, 1908) was United States Ambassador to Haiti from 1869 to 1877. He was the first African American diplomat and the fourth U.S. ambassador to Haiti since the two countries established ...

, who later served as

United States Ambassador to Haiti This is a list of United States ambassadors to Haiti. See also * Haiti – United States relations * Foreign relations of Haiti * Ambassadors of the United States References * External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of ...

from 1869 to 1877, was the school's principal from 1857 to 1869.Freedom's Lawmakers by

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstru ...

Louisiana State University Press (1996) page 13 By 1861, the Managers recognized a need for a better facility for their growing school. After an extensive fundraising campaign, the Managers purchased a lot at 915 Bainbridge Street. The new Institute for Colored Youth building opened on March 9, 1866. It was capable of holding twice as many students as the original school and had facilities such as a lecture hall and chemistry laboratory.

Move to Cheyney

In 1902, under the leadership of newly appointed principal Hugh M. Browne, the Institute moved to George Cheyney's farm, west of Philadelphia, and afterward the name "Cheyney" became associated with the school.

Current use

The Randall School House is now used as condos.

Notable alumni

Academics

Frazelia Campbell Frazelia Campbell (March 18, 1849 – October 5, 1930) was an American classicist, linguist and teacher. She was featured in the "12 Black Classicists" travelling exhibition celebrating the achievements of African Americans working in Classical ed ...

* James B. Dudley

Artists

* Robert Douglass Jr. *

Sarah Mapps Douglass Sarah Mapps Douglass (September 9, 1806 – September 8, 1882) was an American educator, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer. Her painted images on her written letters may be the first or earliest surviving examples of signed paintings by ...

Educators

Lucy Addison Lucy Addison (December 8, 1861, in Upperville, Virginia – November 13, 1937, in Washington, D.C.) was an African-American school teacher and principal. In 2011 Addison was honored as one of the Library of Virginia's " Virginia Women in Hist ...

* James M. Baxter * Octavius Valentine Catto * Jacob C. White Jr. * Caroline LeCount

Miscellaneous

Julian F. Abele Julian Francis Abele (April 30, 1881April 23, 1950) was a prominent Black American architect, and chief designer in the offices of Horace Trumbauer. He contributed to the design of more than 400 buildings, including the Widener Memorial Library a ...

, architect * Rebecca Cole, physician *

John Wesley Cromwell John Wesley Cromwell (September 5, 1846 – April 14, 1927) was a lawyer, teacher, civil servant, journalist, historian, and civil rights activist in Washington, DC. He was among the founders of the Bethel Literary and Historical Society and th ...

, lawyerWilliam J. Simmons, Henry McNeal Turner, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising, G. M. Rewell & Company, 1887, p 898-907 * Emilie Davis, diarist * John H. Smythe, diplomat *

Josephine Silone Yates Josephine Silone Yates (1852 or November 15, 1859 – September 3, 1912) was an American professor, writer, public speaker, and activist. She trained in chemistry and became one of the first black professors hired at Lincoln University in J ...

, chemist

References

{{Authority control African-American history in Philadelphia School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Italianate architecture in Pennsylvania School buildings completed in 1865 Education in Philadelphia Pennsylvania state historical marker significations South Philadelphia Cheyney University of Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Educational institutions established in 1837 1837 establishments in Pennsylvania Antebellum educational institutions that admitted African Americans