Phoenixonian Institute | |
---|---|
Address | |
| |
625 North 4th Street, San Jose, Santa Clara County, California United States | |
Coordinates | 37°20′57″N 121°53′47″W / 37.3492°N 121.8963°W |
Information | |
Other names | Phoenixonian Hall, St. Philip’s Mission School for Negroes |
School type | Private boarding school |
Religious affiliation(s) | African Episcopal Methodist |
Established | August 29, 1861 |
Founder | Peter William Cassey |
Closed | mid-1870s |
The Phoenixonian Institute, also known as St. Philip’s Mission School for Negroes, is a former secondary school for African American students active from 1861 until the mid-1870s and located in San Jose, California, United States. [1] [2] [3] It was the first African American secondary school in the state of California, founded by Peter William Cassey, and was a residential school. [3] [2]
The school building no longer stands. The site of the former school in present-day Japantown has been listed as one of the ethnic sites in San Jose identified by the state of California (number 81). [4]
By the 1860s there was a lack of schools in California, and few offered a secondary-level of education for white students. [5] [3] Until 1875, the Constitution of California forbade African American students from attending public schools. [3] After 1865, the Constitution of California provided public funds for African American education at the discretion of the local school district; with some school districts created separate segregated "colored schools", and other school districts did not provide education unless a Black child attended a private school. [3]
On December 2, 1862, the school was founded by Peter Williams Cassey as the St. Philip's Mission School for Negroes. [6] [7] [8] It had one large school building, surrounded by shade trees, with an artesian well on the property. [8] Enrollment in the boarding school averaged around 22 students a year, [6] with students coming from throughout California and even Oregon. [3]
In 1863, the California State Convention of Colored Citizens was held in San Jose, which helped drum up financial support for the school from the Black community. [3] The 1865 California State Convention of Colored Citizens passed a resolution that each Black person in the state should contribute one dollar to support the school. [3] For a period, the school also received some funding from the common school fund, [3] [9] in the amount of $125 per year. [3] Another source of income was school tuition, which cost $16 to $20 per four-week term in 1867. [3] [10] There was an additional charge for instrumental music lessons of $6 per month. [3] [10] Cassey himself put in $3,000 of his own money. [6] The school nevertheless struggled financially, leading journalist Jennie Carter to comment that the constant need to perform at fundraising concerts and exhibitions was an unfortunate distraction for the students. [2]
According to the St. Francis Episcopal Church in San Francisco, the Phoenixonian Institute closed sometime in the mid-1870s. [11] In 1874, the California Supreme Court established the notion of " separate but equal" schools in Ward v. Flood. [12] That year, the San Jose Board of Education set up its own "colored school", and discontinued its annual appropriation to the Phoenixonian Institute. [3]
Notable alumni of the school's seminary included Sarah Massey Overton. [13] Historian W. Sherman Savage wrote in 1976 that "the Phoenixonian Institute was not a great school, but it did show that black citizens were determined that their children should have at least a minimum education." [8]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (
link)