The Colored Orphan Asylum was an institution in New York City, open from 1836 to 1946. It housed on average four hundred children annually and was mostly managed by women. Its first location was on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

between 42nd and 43rd Streets in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, a four-story building with two wings. It later moved to Upper Manhattan and then to Riverdale in the Bronx.

History

The Colored Orphan Asylum was founded in Manhattan in 1836 by three Quakers: Anna and Hanna Shotwell and

Mary Lindley Murray Mary Lindley Murray is known in the American Revolution as the Quaker woman who in 1776 held up British General William Howe after the British victory against American forces at Kips Bay. Life Mary Lindley was the daughter of Thomas Lindley ...

. It was one of the first of its kind in the United States to take in black children whose parents had died, or were not able to take care of them. Prior to its founding, orphaned black children were housed in jails or worked as beggars or chimney sweeps as orphanages refused to take them. The orphanage initially offered schooling only for infants, feeling that their wards would not advance far in society due to being Black and orphans. Older children were bound by

indentured servitude Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...

in which they were contracted to families, both Black and white, to learn a trade or skill until age 21. The families, in turn, paid a small fee to the Colored Orphan Asylum for the services which were placed in the bank for when the child left the institution. By 1897, schooling was increased until grade six and sent several students to the Hampton Institute for further study. In 1918 schooling was increased until grade eight and the indenture system evolved into a loose foster care system in which the child was to be incorporated into the family and continue their studies. In 1846 Dr. James McCune Smith, the country's first licensed African American medical doctor, became the orphanage's medical director. The orphanage moved several times in Manhattan.

1863 riots

New York Draft Riots Harpers colored asylum

The riots in New York, destruction of the colored orphan asylum

In March 1863,

conscription in the United States In the United States, military conscription, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the U.S. federal government in six conflicts: the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, a ...

became stricter, and the federal government used a lottery system to choose citizens for the draft. Those chosen could hire a substitute or pay the government, but most working-class men could not afford substitution, while black men were ineligible for the draft (they were not considered citizens of the United States at the time). Working-class white males, furious about the federal draft laws, rioted and attacked federal buildings and black neighborhoods. The Colored Orphan Asylum was burned down by Irish mobs on July 13, 1863, during the first day of the New York Draft Riots. A policeman was killed while leading the children out the back door to escape.

Rebuilding

(King1893NYC) pg456 COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM, WEST 143D STREET, NEAR TENTH AVENUE (cropped)

The asylum was rebuilt by the Quakers in 1867 on 143rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The operation moved to a new building in 1907, in Riverdale, Bronx. At the new site, the orphanage adopted a new plan to house its wards in cottages, with 25 children and a housemother in each cottage. The new plan was received favorably and encouraged ownership and self-respect in the children. In 1910, the asylum purchased a farm in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later organ ...

for boys to learn practical skills. In 1944, the asylum was renamed the Riverdale Children's Association and changed itself into a foster care agency by 1946. The building later became the Hebrew Home for the Aged.

References

Relevant literature

*Seraile, William. ''Angels of mercy: White women and the history of New York's Colored orphan asylum.'' Fordham Univ Press, 2013. *Sappol, Mike. 1990. ''The Uses of Philanthropy: The Colored Orphan Asylum and Its Clients.'' Columbia University: MA thesis. *''Riverdale Childrens Association, 120th anniversary, 1836-1956. Founded in 1836 as the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans by N.Y.'' Riverdale Children's Association (New York). *From Cherry Street to Green Pastures: A History of the Colored Orphan Asylum at Riverdale-on-Hudson, 1836-1936 (New York: Riverdale Children's Association, 1936)

External links