Examination Days: The New York African Free School Collection; Virtual field trip/scavenger hunt to the New York Historical Society Museum & Library

Welcome to Travel + Explore + Play with Sallee Jay where I am your host. I cannot believe that it is December already and that you have been rocking with me all year long! THANK YOU!!!

In looking at my year in review, it has been brought to my attention that my blog “Virtual Field Trip and Scavenger hunt: The Smithsonian -National Museum of Natural History,” is my most popular blog. In the spirit of giving the people what they want, I have decided to take you all on another virtual field trip and created a scavenger hunt so that you can join in the fun too!

Pack your virtual bag(s) and grab a snack as we head to New York to see New York Historical Society Museum & Library. The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum.

Currently, the museum has 21 online exhibitions that you can explore, in addition to a host of other activities and forums listed in the website. Follow along with me as we explore the “Examination Days: The New York African Free School Collection” According to the website, “In 1787, at a time when slavery was crucial to the prosperity and expansion of New York, the New York African Free School was created by the New York Manumission Society, a group dedicated to advocating for African Americans. The school's explicit mission was to educate black children to take their place as equals to white American citizens.

It began as a single-room schoolhouse with about 40 students, the majority of whom were the children of slaves, and by the time it was absorbed into the New York City public school system in 1835, it had educated thousands of children, a number of whom went on to become well known in the United States and Europe. The New-York Historical Society’s New York African Free School Collection preserves a rich selection of student work and community commentary about the school. This site showcases pages from Volume IV of the collection, Penmanship and Drawing Studies, 1816–1826, and tells the story of the school and of African American New York in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. “

Let’s begin by click on “learn about AFS history” and begin under the “Introduction”

Activity #1

Activity 1: Click” Philosophy of the African Free School” and find the name of the first principal of the school. Also name his replacement as principal and the reason for his resignation. I have included excerpts below so you can fill in the blanks.

The school was run by a black principal, ________________ , for many years. His appointment was a remarkable achievement for a black man at this moment in history, and sent a clear message that blacks could—and should—aspire to leadership positions.However, clashes with the Manumission Society led to his dismissal in 1809.

He was replaced by _____________, a white man, who would eventually argue that black children should consider resettling in Africa because New York offered such paltry opportunities. Often, school administrators took a condescending tone towards the parents of their students and seemed to encourage a sense of inferiority among the students themselves. He resigned in 1831.

Activity #2

Activity 2: Click on “History of the School,” and then click “curriculum,’ for the next set of fill in the blank activities.

“The school operated under the ______________ plan of education, which was designed by Joseph Lancaster in late-eighteenth-century England to provide a system for educating the lower classes.

___________ were advanced students who had shown particular promise, and were charged with both instructing younger students and maintaining discipline.

Also, be sure to read about a “day in the life of a New York African Free School Student,” it is very interesting to note how the day was split the varied curriculum for between female and male students.

Activity #3

We are almost out of the introduction section, the last stop, “Teachers vs Parents

Activity 3: FIll in the blank

Often it seemed that the members of the New York __________________ Society who oversaw the school's operations were more likely to see parents as big children to be patronized, instead of co-contributors to their children's education.

Activity #4

Activity #4: For this section, please read through the biographies of the men associated with the New York African School. Name the seven men listed in this section:

Alright one more activity and then we have to catch our return flight home. Lol

Activity #5

Activity 5: You must check out the archives. If you have trouble accessing them like I did, go to the classroom guides and access them there.

image 38 of 51 “Standards of Beauty” fill in the blank.

“s in so many areas of their education, New York African Free School students' art lessons about beauty and grace were based on white ___________ traditions and models. Nowhere in this volume do we find a portrait of a black subject.”

Thank you so much for traveling with me to New York to explore the New York Historical Society. I hope you learned something new today, I certainly did. If we want to change the current systems we have to understand how they were created, what a great glimpse into the education system.

Also be sure to check out the rest of the New York Historical Society website, they have so much to see and do!