[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Page Header” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Exhibit Title” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”#E09900″ global_module=”6078″ global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50Ijoic2l0ZV90aXRsZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJlZm9yZSI6IjxoMj4iLCJhZnRlciI6IjwvaDI+In19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Section Title” module_id=”section-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”||5px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Page Title” module_id=”page-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
White and Black children attended school side by side in some Chicago schools. When the city\u2019s public school system began in 1837, children attended the schoolhouse nearest their home.<\/span> Dearborn Elementary School, also known as Public School No. 1 and located on Madison between Dearborn and State Streets, opened its doors in 1845. One year later, the school counted 543 students, both Black and white.<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/p>\n Within Illinois, Chicago was special. Elsewhere in the state, Black children were excluded from public schools, and adults lobbied the state government to include them or else return the taxes African Americans paid toward public education. <\/span><\/p>\n The city also offered African Americans a few opportunities for advanced education. In 1848, Philadelphia-born David Jones Peck became the first African American to receive a medical doctorate in the United States, graduating from Rush Medical College.[2<\/span>]<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/02\/CCP_028_DearbornSchool-1856-scaled.jpg” title_text=”CCP_028_DearbornSchool-1856″ show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.5em” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Dearborn School [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/09\/CCP_093_DrPeckNorthStar-1848.png” title_text=”Dr” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”64.3%” height=”319px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.5em” width=”97%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Dr. David Peck Describes Racial Prejudice [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”400.9px” custom_margin=”-3px|auto|17px|auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n African American Women and the Fight for Inclusion<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n African American women were often at the forefront of campaigns for equal access to education. Rumblings of school segregation in Chicago began in 1858, when the Board of Education considered the problem of crowding. Board member George M. Higginson suggested that the solution was to create a separate school for Chicago\u2019s 240 or so Black students. This measure, he said, would make more space for the city\u2019s 40,000-plus white students at the existing schools. The school board rejected Higginson\u2019s suggestion.[3]<\/p>\n A few years later, a young woman named Mary E. Mann<\/a> paved the way for African Americans to attend the public high school. As a child, Mary attended the Dearborn school with the rest of the children in her neighborhood\u2014both white and African American. She graduated eighth grade in the late 1850s. <\/span>She wanted to become a teacher, and this meant enrolling in the two-year teacher training program at Chicago\u2019s only public high school.[4]<\/span><\/p>\n Mary took the entrance exam, earned passing scores, and applied for admission. Her next obstacle was the city\u2019s Board of Education. Some of its members wanted to deny her admission because she was Black, while others supported her desire to attend high school. John Wentworth, a Republican, introduced a resolution to admit her, and on July 27, 1861, the board voted 6 to 3 in her favor.[5<\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n But Mary\u2019s trouble with the school board was not over. She completed the two-year program in 1863, graduating with high marks. <\/span>At the graduation ceremony that July, however, officials required Mary to sit in the crowd while her fellow graduates sat on a platform and came forward to receive their diplomas from the president of the board.<\/span> In an act not sanctioned by the official graduation program, John Wentworth awarded Mary her diploma at her seat in the audience.[6]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”342.3px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/09\/CCP_095_HighSchool-1857.png” title_text=”CCP_095_HighSchool-1857″ show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.5em” global_colors_info=”{}”]Location of Chicago\u2019s Only Public High School in the 1850s and 1860s
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<\/strong>An illustration of the Dearborn School, a public school in Chicago which opened in 1845. (Source: Newberry Library<\/a>)<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Rush Medical College graduate Dr. David Peck describes the racial bigotry he experienced in Philadelphia in Frederick Douglass’ The North Star, <\/em>Feb. 4, 1848. <\/em>(Source: Courtesy of\u00a0Accessible Archives.)<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A map of downtown Chicago depicting the location (circled in red) of the city’s only public high school in the early 1860s. (Source: Henry Hart’s City of Chicago, 1853, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.)[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|auto||auto|false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n