Heurich was 11 years old living in germany. In 1853, she was a white woman from new york, moved down here and built the first africanamerican Teaching School for free africanamericans in washington, d. C. This is before the civil war. It was also called the miner school for colored girls. Mytrilla came in 1851 and only had 100 in her pocket when she came. Most people thought she would be arrested or killed when she said what she wanted to do. And although there were abolitionists who sympathized with her cause it was like her own independent project. I first thought for a while when i first read about the story she might have been some kind of tool of the Abolition Movement, really, she came down here all on her own at the start. She first established the school by the force of her own will, something almost unimaginable, giving the cultural firsts that opposed her at the time. Remember, this is a woman who came by herself to a city she never visited before, a city where slavery was still legal. She wanted to start a school for free africanamerican women for the decade leading up to the civil war. Although the initial experiment of her school lasted only about 10 years her project funded a success of teaching colleges that were eventually absorbed into the university of the district of columbia. So im not the first person to know about this. I discovered it, sort of was special to me in the way i discovered it, that my mentor gave me a book, which is the field guide to washington, d. C. , that was written during the wpa. And i opened the book and within the first three minutes of looking at it, saw this description i was sitting in my office upstairs and read a description of this land, was like, this is something ive never heard of before. I looked into it a little bit deeper and really discovered although there are articles published about this and historians have looked into it and written articles there really hasnt been deep Extensive Research and i couldnt find someone else to talk about it. I decided to do research myself. I used the articles from that i could find. There was something from the 1920s from a woman written about myrtilla, historian from the 40s, tried to write a manuscript about her, try to get a book published. I think he may have passed away before it was completed. It was never completed. He managed to get ahold of her personal papers and those are in the library of congress. He really did the bulk of the work at that time to get her story to still remain with us today. I used all that stuff to come up with my presentation today. I tried to delve in deeper than most of the things i could find or put some pieces together. Its not this is a new thing that has come to us here at the heurich house. These things may change over time as we study them more. I want to let you know im going to be reading direct quotes from articles, from her biography written about 10 years after she died. The language is going to vary how comfortable we would necessarily be using it today. I just want to put that out there before we start. Before i talk about what the school was like, actually and what kind of challenges it faced, lets talk about myrtle la myrtilla herself and why would she undertake this task. She was born in 1815 in brookville, new york, excuse me, she was one of 10 or 12 children, the daughter of seth and eleanor miner and she had moved from brookfield to eastern connect in the 1800 with a group of extended family and neighbors. At this time, you can see brookfield, right in the middle of the state. At this time, brookfield was part of the west. In other words, the miner family really lived the life of pi nears. In 1813, two years before she was born the port of buffalo, you can kind of see what it looked like. An upbringing in the wilderness did a lot to shape myrtilla. I will read you a passage from the obituary of her brother, ab so lom, which could have described her especially with what we know she accomplished. The young lad met the difficulties of pioneer life with self reliant courage acquiring selfeducation at the primitive schools and home fireside under the teachings of his religious parents, christians broad deep humanitarian controlled his actions through a long useful life. The environment of his youth tended to form a strong selfrestrained well balanced character. The hardships and dangers stimulating his innate energy, independence, industry and frugality. Myrtilla got a Primary School education walk down from her familys home almost a mile from the village and forvaceously read books from the library that was in her familys home. She worked to pay for education and buy books. She was often sidelined by an unknown spinal illness or deformity that gave her more time to read books and rode to school and picked the hops despite constant pain she suffered her entire life. Her father was one of the Founding Trustees of the Second Baptist Church society in brookfield. Im fairly certain this was the same church. During this time period upstate new york was known as the burned over district because of its intense religious fervor and frequent revivals. Burned over meaning the area had been so heavily eadvantagealized, there was no fuel or leftover population to burn or convert. To paint more of a picture in this atmosphere and religious forces that shaped her, i will read you one of the passages whose articles i used for this, who wrote one of the things i could find, quote, like the other settlers moving into this area, her family carried with them as a their legacy of the great awakening, moral intensity. No one living in the burned over district could remain untouched by the revivals and high energy and expectations. Evangelists recruited thousands everywhere and eccentrics brought in smaller numbers but shocked Church Members with their doctrines and unusual practices. Whether because of these forces or in spite of them, myrtilla held feminist ideas early on. She wrote to the then governor of new york, William Seward to ask how a woman can do any more in life than what was offered to her, how could she get more of an education. His reply was vague and unsatisfactory. [ laughter ] she refused to celebrate Independence Day her whole life and wrote protest letters every year because women were left out of the declaration of independence. Throughout the course of her life she came to believe women suffrage was directly tied to the end of slavery. She never married because one friend noted it would not allow her to do the things she wanted to do in life. When she was 15 or 16, around 1831, she began to teach in a small school near her home. In 1841 she worked for board and traded work for tuition and board at the young ladys domestic seminary in clinton, new york. Although a flareup of her illness cut it short she was one of many that she attended and worked with about teaching about slavery and africanamerican. The principal had admitted three africanamerican students and said i chose to invite them as people and not as colored peoples. In 1844 she started teaching in rochester, new york. She was exposed to the subject of slavery more here than in the past. She made a decision during this period if she could she was going down south and witness slavery first hand. A year later she taught in providence, rhode island, where she became acquainted with abolitionists and those who supported their cause. Finally, in 1847, she went south, accepting a position as preseptress of the womens school in mississippi, a school for planters daughters. And i want to read you about someone who started to write a book about her, lester mills but never finished it. He talks about her time in mississippi. Quote she became much disturbed by observing slavery and asked her principal if she might teach colored children in her spare hours. He informed her it would be impossible for her to do so as it would violate the laws of the state. If she wished to ameliorate colored people she should work with them in her certification of the country where northern philanthropists had vast work to elevate the standard of colored people. She said, i was silent for it seemed to me to be true. My health soon failed and upon returning home my observations did but strengthen the impression. Dr. Farris, the principal of the Mississippi School worked out his own scheme how he thought he would emancipate the slaves he was working with. While she was initially excited about that idea she realized it was a completely unrealistic plan. It was a very strange plan i can go into more detail later if you want to. It was around this point she set her mind to creating a school to teach free africanamerican people how to teach themselves. When i first as i said before, when i first learned about this story i thought she must be a tool of the abolitionists at the time, must have been taken and sent down here with a particular purpose and agenda. Really, i found out that although she had sympathetic friends she really was doing this 100 on her own at the start. She was talking to people about it and trying to gain support and really, when she pulled the trigger to come here it was all on her own. We can see some of why this happened. Many important people discouraged her from the project. Frederick douglass recalled his meeting with her in a letter he wrote published as part of the biography her friend wrote in later years. He said this about her when she had dropped in unannounced to his Newspaper Office in rochester, new york, to ask for his support. This is around how old he would have been when they met. This is a contemporary photo. A slender wiry pale not overly healthy bit singular animated figure was before me and startled me with the announcement she was on her way to washington to establish the education for colored girls. I stopped mailing my paper at once and gave attention to what she said. I was amazed and looked to see if she was in ernest and meant what she said. The doubt in my mind was transient. I saw at a glance a fire of real enthusiasm was in her eyes and few martyred spirit was in her soul. My feelings were of mingled joy and sadness. Here is another enterprise, wild, dangerous, desperate and impracticable, destined to bring only failure and suffering. Douglass doubt for her school specifically came from his own attempts that had failed to Teach Sunday School as well as other similar projects he specifically noted in this letter. One of them was Prudence Crandall. In 1831, quaker Prudence Crandall opened a private Girls Academy in connecticut, became one of the states best schools and really intended to be for the white wealthy daughters of the town. In 1832, she transformed it into a school for africanamerican girls. Despite protests of violence from the white townspeople she continued until the canterbury Legislature Passed the law making it illegal to run a School Teaching africanamerican students from a state other than connecticut. She was arrested and jailed and an angry mob attacked the school she closed to keep her students safe. He was really thinking of that and other examples when he told her this isnt going to work for you. She ignored him and continued on anyway. It seems she did try to raise money or donations of books but had such a hard time convincing people it may have caused her to give up further solicitations until she had proven herself. Her friend, mrs. Crandall, tried to get her to give up until she had more money. She said, no. So she gave her 100 and that is the money she brought to washington, d. C. In 1851 to open her school. Now, were here. Washington. Lets stop and talk a little bit about d. C. At the time and what myrtilla would have encountered here. Another letter to Harriet Beecher stowe. She talks about why she picked d. C. For three long years it was one unyielding thought this work must begin at home. Upon inquiry the best locality establishing a Normal School for girls i learned washington, d. C. Contained the greatest proportion of untaught colored people of any city in which prohibtory laws did not exist. There were other reasons not less important which aided in a speedy decision to locate here. Among these a distinct impression of religious duty and for want of proper instruction females were limited to sub sist steps and tempted to evil. And it was due them as sufferers and this guilty city. So according to the u. S. Census, this is from constance greens book, secret city, these numbers, this chart. In 1850, the district of columbia, in the district of columbia, there were 51,687 people total. 10,059 of these people were free africanamericans and 3,687 were enslaved. When myrtilla arrived they had just abolished the slave trade in d. C. Although it kept slavery illegal and the slave act that allowed the capture and return of run away slaves in the u. S. Something which propelled the abolition cause faster forward. There were already established schools for free africanamericans in d. C. On the island the section of washington cut off by the rest of the city by the canal that was by the arsenal point potomac by the white house i think is southwest now arabella jones, one time servant in John Quincy Adams household conducted a fine school for girls under the priest at st. Matthews, they had a free catholic colored school. At the union seminary, john cooks pupils divided into a male and female department and studied several subjects including math and anatomy. Probably as most other schools taught by colored or white children got a most sound elementary education. Despite the presence of these schools, public sentiment was against their existence. Washington was considered virtually slave territory as far as predominantly public sentiment toward the practice was concerned. On december 3rd in 1851, around the site of this photo maybe across the city center at new york and 11th, myrtilla opened her school for the first time in washington. It was a 14 square foot room in a wood frame house. She started with six people. By the end of the first month that had increased to 15. By the second month, she had almost 40 students. That number held steady the next two years as they moved locations three times because of threats, harassment or unfavorable landlords. During this time she also struggled to find housing for herself. In this lesser to her friend she describes really complains a little bit about her daily work which not only included teaching and advocating for her students but seeking funding for her school. After stimulating conversations with 40 bright people for six months you should see me get aid for them and the aid i write for them and all the people im obliged to call upon and then seek a colored girl for the wife of a congressman and be properly brought up. Besides teaching five days a week and doing most of my sewing i am already thin and pale and have a walk of one mile to school each day besides all else. I ride home in the ohmie bus at 3 00 because it is oppressibly warm and have no dinner which makes me faint as well as weary. I could not secure a good boarding place near my school nearly out of down the people having obliged to move twice to get out of their way and permitting us to have no better schoolroom than a private dwelling afford. Many ladies refuse to take me to board because i would teach colored girls. During this time she spends all her time off to write letters and raise money for support for her school. This time unlike the first time she was telling people about her project, she has an actual successful project to sell, not this crazy project nobody said would work and all the relationships she built over the years while building the school draws actual money and support this time and able to buy land to have a perimeter place for her school. That little red scaquare is us. Were in this middle of it. The top border is New Hampshire and maybe straight up to the circle. All of this land, at the time, including this plot north of the circle was farmland. This square hadnt been subdivided yet. There was no place going through, all the way up. The plot bordered 20th and started on the bottom, 19th to 20th on either side. This is her description of the land when she saw it. It is a whole square of ground comprising more than three acres, a little out of town in a thriving neighborhood convenient to market. It has many fruit an shade trees. Later, she describes it as having many good tree, some shrubs, raspberry, strawberries, rhubarb and in abundance and resultvated for vegetables and many remnants being left. She raised the 4,000 price of the land from various donors including ab ligsists and Quakers Society of friends. Her most generous benefactor wa Harriet Beecher stowe. This is the time she knew her. Harriet gave her 1,000 from the proceeds of uncle toms cabin. Dr. Bailey who wrote the national era and africanamerican residents of their hometown of brookfield were among the contributors. Publishers and friends contributed school books and Small Library and students were able to afford it paid 1. 50 per month. When she first moved to the new property she felt pretty exposed to threats and she was right to feel them. During these early days, people threw stones at the building. She practiced shooting a pistol in the front yard. She felt a lot safer when she felt a high picket fence and the nite watch started coming to her aid. One of her students describes her as one of the bravest women i have ever known. One night with school in session, some rowdies came to the schoolhouse. She stood with the revolver and said she would shoot the first one that came to the door. They retreated at once. Her house was set on fire once but a passerbier helped her. Outside her house was a formerly enslaved woman, emily edmonton. Thats next to her, mary. She was pretty famous. In april of 1808 only 15 years old she was one of 77 enslaved people attempted to escape the schooner called the pearl. It was discovered and confiscated near Point Lookout maryland. The slaves and ship were brought back to d. C. And greeted by an angry mob. The passage im about to read you describes what happened next to them. Emily and her sister, mary, were taken to new orleans, a place known for trading young girls as prostitutes also known as fancy girls. They were returned to virginia when a yellow fever epidemic erupted. Paul tried to save his girls. We went to the reverend Henry Ward Beecher to discuss the situation. They got the funds to purchase the girls freedom and emily and her sister were liberated in 1848. After obtaining their freedom they provided money to attend school. Working as an outspoken abolitionist alongside fred douglas and others. While traveling she participated inanity slavery rallies. Both sisters demonstrated against the slave act passed by congress. The convention led by douglass declared them all slaves to be prisoners of war unless they were emancipated. After her sister died when she was 18 years old she went to washington, d. C. And enrolled in myrtillas school. She and her family moved to the School Property for protection and later in life she became very close with Frederick Douglass and founding member. Emilys participation in myrtilas school and the fact she was by herself shooting guns and the fact her family moved on her property demonstrates i couldnt find much correspondence talking about how emily got here. It demonstrates a connection and support for her undertaking and how it had grown in the Abolition Movement and now how they had infused into the school itself. Where it started as her own project really now it was turning into something more. So how was her Normal School for colored girls different from other schools that already existed in d. C. I mentioned a little earlier . This is how historian constance green describes it. Quote, miss miners high school went much further. The colored girls enrolled there received a better education than that available to most white children. The quality of teaching and range of subjects and pervasive atmosphere of affection and mannerliness between staff and students it made them such an institution envious white people objected. Lets not forget how it wasnt just for africanamericans but for girls and women only. Her standards for the school were unwaveringly high how she describes it. It becomes me to candidly confess my continuous weakness if weakness it be in not having reduced my standard of excellence for that school. I would rather see it suspended forever than continue in reduced principals and elements of characters that attend all oppressed classes. Students in her school ranged from 8 years old to 17. In addition to conventional subjects, she focused on teacher training mainly and provided lectures on scientific and literary subjects by leading citizens of washington, d. C. For example the reverend conway, minister of the Unitarian Church delivered a course of lectures on the origin of words and mr. Walter johnson gave a series of astronomy training them to trace constellations. She selected map, globes, paintings, scientific equipment all for the school. By the end of the second year the library contained about 500 volumes of books and the School Received 12 weekly and semiweekly newspapers and 26 monthly and semimonthly magazines. The library of congress i said has many of her papers has a bunch of her students stuff as well. There are essays done by her students that shows them responding to questions she asked them to write analytical essays on. Here are some drawings i copied for you. Because of the success of her growing school, she began dedicating herself of building a Proper School on the property. She had been using a wood frame house. She was looking for something designed specifically for the purpose of a school rather than this old drafty thing subject to fire. When she wasnt working she was visiting members of congress and senators, contacting reporters asking them to visit and write about the school, traveling to see potential donors and gathering book donations. She wrote so many letters they let her use their congressional franks so she wouldnt have to pay postage. She visited those from all over the country. By 1855 already naturally frail and often ill she was exhausted on the verge of a breakdown. When taking a vacation wasnt good enough to cure her she took off a quart over the school year and have others take over to go take the water cure. She went a lot of this time up north. In 1856 she writes, i am quite well again except my poor brain which will not work well more than three hours day or three days a week when the labor is more than six hours. My school doesnt know difference so i make my way successfully still. That wasnt quite true her exhaustion continued. From 1856 to 1859 the school was only open intermittently and mostly closed. When it was open it was operated by emily howland, from new york interested in the cause of the school but had no teaching experience. Here are drawings of the school plans. Theres floor plans. Even while she was resting from her illness and the school was declining she was still going on with her plans for expansion. She hoped to build a more suitable school that could accommodate 150 students and have sleeping accommodations for students and teachers. Her own attempts to raise funds were scarcely successful how one of the historians describes it. She hardly received enough funds to pay for her travels. Someone took over for fundraising but got just enough for salaries and expenses and most pledges were never paid. It made the school appear as a free refuge for africans in washington a political storm arose costing one of the political trustees losing his job at the patent office. Meeting in 1857 for the purpose of raising funds for the school created further backlash. In response to that meeting, d. C. s mayor at that time wrote a letter in the newspaper of the National Intelligence objecting saying it would attract free africanamericans from adjoining states and educate them so far beyond theyre political and social condition it would be a center for antislavery activity in the district and might endanger the union itself. Its also possible some of her fundraising troubles came not only from political difficulties, problems with support but a difficult in her own personality. She was known to be impatient, sensitive to slights and perfectionist that demanded perfection from everybody else around her. Also adding to the ex a haugs, illness, political controversies and money woes, the viability of the school was threatened by a growing rift of the two factions supporting it, Philadelphia Community of quakers and Beecher Stowe ab ligsists. When she went north to cooperate, the Beecher Stowes held real control over the school and tensions increased. She was unable to mediate between the two groups. Complicating this issue even further were the fact the school and land were held in trust by two prominent quakers. Even though they held the name of the school for its exclusive use, myrtilla worried if there was a break between them she would be kicked out of the project. Lawyers felt incorporating it as a separate entity would be impossible because it would face major opposition politically and she tried to convince her friends to take over as trustees but so desperate in her tactics she just burned more brings. May 18th, 1860 an arsonist set fire to the old house she was using. She managed to put it out but that was the symbolic end. The next year it was opened by new teachers and in 1861 she picked up and moved to california. Theres nothing in her personal letters that really talks about doesnt give any clue shes about to pick up and move to california. All of a sudden she just does it. It seems pretty abrupt. Most of the books and publications i read about except for one talk about she moved to california because of illness and the School Closed because of civil war. Uncovering it a little more, thats not quite what happened. In hindsight, looking back, it seems like something was sort of building. Most of so leading up to the move she started to read publications like the water cure, the frontological journal, she became a spiritualist and embraced Different Things and compared notes about visions and visits with deceased friends. In california she started functioning as a medium, calling herself a sympathetic clairvoyant practitioner of vital magnetism. She advertised in local newspapers and seemed to have cut off back east. And she wrote about the simplification of purification preparing for the millennium. Years after moving to california she fell from a carriage after going to petaluma and spent several years with injured lungs and took a steam engine back to washington. My notes said 1853 but she died in 1865. Despite her death and seaming end to the school her goal in forming an africanamerican Teaching School in d. C. Did survive. The things she built were the legacy for that. In 1863, Congress Passed a law incorporating her school as the discussion for the education of colored youth. Thats the year she moved to california, a little later. In 1871, the schools trustees included johns hopkins, sold the property for 40,000. That was a 4,000 to 40,000 increase in a decade. This became the endowment for the Miner Trust Fund that funded educational projects in d. C. , howards miner hall that served as the only female dormitory for years. It was associated at this time but broke away to become part of the Public School system in 1879 as the miner Public School where theres a church now. In 1929, the school was renamed miners Teachers College. That merged in 1955 with the white Wilson Teachers College to become the district of columbia Teachers College. Around 1975 it was consolidated with other schools to become the district of columbia. Miners Teacher CollegeTeachers College was the Principle School to train africanamerican teachers for 70 years. The majority of children attending d. C. Public schools were taught by graduates of this school. Thats really her legacy here. That is the end of my talk. If you guys have questions im happy to answer them. [ applause ] yes. Actually, if you dont mind waiting until we have a microphone. Theres a little boy in that photograph. Is that a photograph of what 1900. This is later on. Any comments, any thoughts . Yes. Thank you very much for doing this research and looking these up. The whole history of miner Teachers College is very powerful here. Im sure youre going to be able to find people who were educated through that system. It will be interesting to learn if they know any of this history, you know, because obviously theres material at the library of congress but not as accessible. I feel like i skimmed the surface of it. There was so much there. There were four reels of microfilm and each reel has 800 pages on it. Theres so much to mine thats not really been mined, at least in a published way. So, yeah. After the property burned down here and then was sold, what happened then between then and now . I have not traced it but i suspect that they sold the property to sunderland, and then that is when it was subdivided and lots were sold off. These were all built on spec by the same the architect was the same as heurich house and i think they bought it all from sunderland. A good question i still need to research and connect. I have a question. You mentioned the principal in mississippi. What was his plan to end slavery . He had this plan to raise money to purchase slaves, free them, teach them. Use the money that they were making teaching to buy more slaves and keep doing that over and over again. It just i think there were numbers in this whole really huge scheme, there were some pages of it at the library of congress in the files. She actually wrote very enthusiastically to some ab ligsists how to spread the word and realized it wasnt feasible. Abolitionists. Yes. Do you know anything about the historian from i believe the 1940s, who was researching this topic or why how he came to it and where he acquired the papers . Im really curious. He acquired the papers from her family. Okay. He was, i believe, a professor. Most of the people i could find who had researched this were from new york. The earliest article i found from the 20s she had been writing her topic she was focusing on was the education portion. Sort of these womens Teaching Schools that had cropped up across the north and they were progressive thought institutions. He was focusing on like the broader history but all of yeah he was an historian in new york. I wondered if you could tell us a little bit more about the rift between the quakers of pennsylvania and Beecher Stowe. Did they have different thoughts or different philosophy . I didnt quite get to the bottom of it. It almost seemed like a tension and credit. There was talk about renaming the school like the stowe school, and that ruffled feathers. The quaker group had given money and support and wanted to be acknowledged for it. They were holding the land in trust. Im not really sure. I wasnt able to dig deep enough. I know the naming of the school was a big deal. Im like dying to dig further into this because i think theres so many questions like that. Are you going to . I hope so, if i have time. Were there other schools in d. C. That were focused on Different Levels of education for black students . They were mainly elementary level schools. This is most advanced . Nis the most advanced and this is the most sophisticated. Karen, did you have a question . More of an idea than question. It seems like it would be a wonderful project to do some oral histories with any of the students who might have come out of the miner schools and pair that with research on her life. Wouldnt that be a wonderful documentary. What she felt. Perhaps the Humanities Council would be interested in funding such a project. Thats a great idea. Do you think there might be any potential for archeologic remains of the school in the garden . A good question. I thought about that before. Im not sure, this garden, we dont have a ton of information about it. I believe, based on the way the wall is built on the outside of it, that this that the buildup of it, its sort of raids up off the street. I think thats original. So, maybe if we dug down deep enough under the fill there would be something. We havent talked about that before. We can talk more after if you want to. Where did the school sit . We dont know exactly where it sat. It might be someone does. I have not, i didnt uncover that. Thats it . All right. Thank you, guys for coming. I appreciate it. [ applause ] have some more snacks. Thanksgiving day on cspan, here are some of the highlights, at 11 30 a. M. Eastern the Liberty Medal ceremony honoring john mccain and former secretary of state john kerry receiving a Lifetime Achievement award at the Kennedy Institute in boston and New York TimesDonald Brooks and white discuss the presidency. The southern festival of books in nashville. 2 30 p. M. Eastern, the former heavyweight champion of the world, muhammad ali and discussing the middle class and politics. And erickson, before you wait, life lessons from a father to his children. At 9 50 a. M. Eastern on the presidency, the life and times of teddy roosevelt. 11 a. M. Americans on 13th century trade in california. And a look at the first Motion Picture units world war ii films. Thanksgiving day on the cspan networks. Cspan student cam video documentary competition is under way and students across the country are busy at work sharing their experience with us through twitter. Its not too late to enter. Our deadline is january 18th, 2018. Were asking students to choose a provision of the u. S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why its important to you. Our commission is open to all middle school and high school students, grades 6 through 12. 100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. The grand prize of 5,000 will go to the student or team the best overall entry. For more information go to our website, studentcam. Org. Lori lyn price