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Black residents of Illinois fought hard for schools for their children. Taxpayer-funded public schools were slow to get off the ground, and early state legislation made clear that white students would receive priority. In 1825, the legislature called for a property tax to fund schools that would be \u201cfree to every class of white citizens.\u201d Ten years later, the legislature required school funds to be divided among districts according to the number of white <\/i>children under age twenty-one.[1]<\/span><\/p>\n Black communities responded in part by establishing independent schools. Black churches frequently doubled as schoolhouses. In 1848, for instance, African Americans in Jacksonville opened a school that provided lessons to seventeen students between the ages of six and twenty-six. By 1850 in Sangamon County, home to the state capital of Springfield, African Americans had organized a school, and a women\u2019s committee was soliciting donations from the white community.[2<\/span>]<\/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 _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Header and Instructions” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Use left and right arrows to navigate, use scroll bar on the right side to read entire length of text.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Timeline” _builder_version=”4.24.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]African American Schools in Antebellum Illinois<\/h3>\n