Greetings!
The story of Historically Black Independent Schools is the story of enterprising and determined educators and parents who were denied good schools by the public system, and who heroically created the schools they desired. I use the term Historically Black Independent schools in reference to the documented 400+ pre-collegiate schools (day and boarding) founded and operated by people of African ancestry during the 20th century (over 70 in NYC alone), as well as schools founded centuries ago. I spent the first half of my career researching such schools for the
Toussaint Institute and the
Institute for Independent Education, and I have created a website with related publications and history, including a 300-year timeline:
AHBIS.org
My daughter, Zinou, attended such a school. With the Learning Tree in the Bronx, she traveled to the favelas of Brazil and waded in the river where enslaved Africans took their last bath before leaving Ghana. She was steeped in the academic and cultural experience of an Africentric school with a staff and curriculum that affirmed her heritage. This was an important social/emotional and intellectual counterbalance to our five years living upstate, where she was almost always the only black person in her rural schools, and with head high, survived the racism that attended that experience. Before she could travel the world and negotiate America, I knew she had to be steeped in her own heritage.
The wonderfully diverse, multilingual, early childhood program I now operate,
Morningside PlayCare—which I’m proud to say is about to expand to the Upper West Side—was founded with the assistance of the founder of another HBI school, Sheree Palmer, of the Cambria Center in Queens. Like most, she started with a small early childhood program in her home which grew to an N–8 grade school, now serving 300 children. (I hope to grow my school the same way!). Ms. Palmer was also a founding member of the Association of Historically Black Independent Schools. HBI schools have over the centuries organized themselves into
associations who have their own rich histories.
According to several studies, including
my own research for various think tanks, these non-elite private schools outperform public schools in so many ways. And like Historically Black Colleges, they have for centuries been the bedrock of educational opportunity for people of African ancestry.
Just last week, graduates of two different Historically Black Independent Schools attended a Morningside PlayCare Open House seeking to make their toddlers multilingual through our immersion program. That pleasant surprise brought memories back and inspired me to share this rich history with you. I hope you enjoy it.
Until now, this research has only been available in scholarly journals.
Be encouraged to share widely.
Sincerely,
Gail Foster, Ed.D.
Founder and CEO, Morningside PlayCare
Founder, Toussaint Institute
