Ex-Slave School: Rare Photo Reveals Harrisburg Black History
Ex-Slave School: Rare Photo Reveals Harrisburg Black History
Stumbling upon a rare photo of a classroom at an “Ex-Slave School” in Harrisburg in the early 1900s, was an exhilarating moment in my journey as a public historian. This isn’t merely a rare historical find; it’s a profound revelation of Harrisburg Black History, bringing to light the educational strides taken by our once-enslaved ancestors in a Freedmen’s School classroom. The scarcity of such imagery in Harrisburg’s archival newspapers amplifies the photo’s significance, transforming it from a mere visual record to a symbol of identity and legacy for Harrisburg’s African American ancestors. To me, this image is not just a picture; it is a visual echo of resilience, a beacon that guides us through a chapter of Black history that is often left uncharted in Harrisburg’s documented past.
Imagining SOAL’s Harrisburg Black History Scrapbook
I can imagine this black-and-white image, carefully cut from an old newspaper and pasted onto the page of a scrapbook. It is perhaps yellowed and etched with the marks of time, its edges curling slightly, as if trying to hold onto the secrets of the past it has witnessed. The faces of the individuals, frozen in a moment long gone, are like echoes of a history that has shaped the present. They sit in a classroom in an Ex-Slave school, a mix of young and old, all brought together by a common goal: education. The teacher stands at the back, a figure of guidance, bridging the gap between what was and what could be.
In the foreground, two women command our attention, their presence a striking blend of dignity and resolve. The central figure, garbed in dark clothing with a contrasting light collar, meets the camera’s gaze head-on. Her direct stare is more than a pose for a photograph; it is a silent statement of her intent, her engagement with the world she is claiming her rightful place in. By her side, another woman emerges from the shadow, her features partially veiled yet her participation unmistakable.
The less distinct figures in the background contribute to the story’s depth, suggesting a collective narrative of aspiration. A man stands watch over the group—perhaps the instructor or an observer—his role in this microcosm of learning integral yet unspoken. The indoor setting, with its patterned backdrop, serves as the stage for this daily act of quiet rebellion against the status quo of their times.
This photograph does more than simply document; it evokes the resilience, community, and unquenchable thirst for knowledge that characterized the African American educational journey during a period when such opportunities were preciously scarce. Each individual in the photo, from those boldly clear to those blurred by time, shares a chapter of history that resonates with the struggle for education and equality.
Rare Photo of an Ex-Slave School to Seeing Our Enslaved Ancestors’ Faces
As we uncover and share these visual echoes of Harrisburg’s Black history, we’re moved to consider the personal stories behind the faces. Could the central figure, poised and engaged, be “Aunt Harrie,” the great-great-grandmother who, at the age of 67, embraced the adage “It’s never too late to learn”? This thought-provoking possibility invites us to delve deeper, to look beyond the photograph and into the lives of those it immortalizes.
The article, transcribed below, speaks of ex-slaves, white-haired with the weight of their former lives, now diligently learning to spell, to calculate, to write. It’s not just about the basic knowledge they gain, but the affirmation of their humanity and their right to growth and enlightenment that had been denied for so long. The photograph and the story it tells are powerful reminders of resilience and the enduring quest for knowledge against all odds.
It’s in a room not of confinement but of liberation, where the knickerbockers and pigtails typical of younger learners are replaced by the dignity of those who have lived more and seen much. Here, they sit as students, claiming their place in a society that has been slow to learn how to recognize them as equals. It is a testament to their strength and the transformative power of education. This image, now part of SOAL‘s Harrisburg Black History Scrapbook, serves as a historical witness to the progress made and the distances yet to be traveled.
Transcribed Newspaper Article Reveals Harrisburg Black History
Many White Haired Ex-Slaves Studiously Learn How to Spell Cat, to Add Two and Two and to Write
Not All ‘Primer Class’ Pupils in Harrisburg’s Schools Wear Knickerbockers and Pigtails
Not all of the thousands of pupils for whose benefit Harrisburg has established its splendid school system can associate memories of “primer days” with eager offers of assistance from fond father or mother, sister or brother, when explanations were necessary as to why “c-a-t” instead of “k-a-t” spelled cat, or why two and two made four instead of three or five.
There are those, who at the “primer age,” can connect only the memory of waving fields of cotton under southern skies, or, maybe, the distant whistle of passing steamers to suggest vague possibilities of “down river” if one wasn’t a “good little pickaninny,” or perhaps the harsh voice of an overseer whose rawhide suggested possibilities that were not so vague.
There are two schools for these [people] in Harrisburg; one is taught by the Rev. William H. Marshall, one of the city’s prominent negro ministers, in the Calder building, and the other by J.P. Scott, in the Wickersham building. They are called the colored “night schools” and are supported by the School Board.From a very few scholars the membership of the two institutions has grown to enough to fill the ordinary schoolroom and the two teachers are as proud of their pupils as is the average parent whose son or daughter stars at commencement. They worked early and late with their charges. There are not very young folks in either school. Most of them are ‘way up in years, bent with the years and pose that goes with the washtub and the mop, the pick and shovel or the street broom. From 16 to 74 the ages range and there were a few, perhaps, whose ages crumbled with records of long-ago bills of sale.
For in all that rather pathetic crowd of old, old pupils there are many ex-slaves, and they work with all the eagerness of one who realizes that there are lessons to be learned and that time surely has wings—at fifty, sixty and seventy.
It is just the simple “R’s” that the pupils are eager to master now. How to read the paper or the ‘old, old story,’ or the letter from enterprising son or daughter who has had the advantages of the schools to-day, the writes the replies, to make out the little bills, and, even, in one or two instances to write checks, or to handle the small accounts of little restaurant or shoe or blacksmith shop.
A visit to the school is not unlike most any schoolroom of the grade that shows wonderful straight-legged things labeled “A Cat” or “A Dog” on the blackboard. And the questions and answers are much the same—
“Who can tell me how many two and two are?”
“Ah can, sah!”
“Well, go on.”
“Five—no, fo’, sah!”
And a 75-year-old “mammy” proudly sinks back into her seat with a sigh of satisfaction.
“Now tell me, what does ‘c-a-t’ spell? All right, Uncle Henry, go ahead. Rise, please.”
“Just a minute, young man, sah, just a minute—mah ole bones am considerable bent wif rheumatiz—why, sah, ‘cat’, sah!”
And a white-headed old pupil who easily remembers the days of long before the marching blue-clad hosts from out of the North appeared on southern hills winces a trifle as he carefully returns to his “desk.”
References
Harrisburg Telegraph. “Not All ‘Primer Class’ Pupils in Harrisburg’s Schools Wear Knickerbockers and Pigtails.” December 27, 1911.
Harrisburg Telegraph. “Pupils Not All in ‘Primer Class’ Continued From First Page.” December 27, 1911.
Shehigian, Alex. “Sharing the Stories of Harrisburg’s Schools through Story Maps.” Digital Harrisburg (blog), December 15, 2022. https://digitalharrisburg.com/2022/12/15/sharing-the-stories-of-harrisburgs-schools-through-story-maps/.
