Jim Crow School Kids as Mentally Unfit
By the 1940s, New York City schools frequently used intelligence tests to decide which kind of schooling a child needed.
K-12 organizing
Club Borinquen
Italian immigrant Leonard Covello was the principal of East Harlem’s Benjamin Franklin High School, an all-boys school.
Children Participating in a Public Campaign
In the 1930s and 1940s, Benjamin Franklin High School was a dynamic place.
The Role of the School in a Housing Program for the Community
Benjamin Franklin High School students came together in clubs that celebrated their cultural identities, like Club Borinquen and clubs focused on Italian American culture.
Hotel Pennsylvania Meeting Learns of Harlem School Ills
On April 16, 1937, Lucile Spence and the Teachers Union of New York organized a conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania in downtown Manhattan to discuss schools in Harlem.
Mayor LaGuardia’s Commission on the Harlem Riot, excerpt
On March 19, 1935, rumors spread through Harlem that police had beaten a young man to death after they arrested him for allegedly stealing a knife from a local store.
Wadleigh’s School Zone
School zones establish where students go to school, often on the basis of where they live.
Nationality of Pupils
Who were New York City’s students? This seemingly simple question became the focus of a citywide research project led by the Board of Education.
Two Public School Teachers
In March 1925, The Survey Graphic published a special issue.
The Brownies’ Book, April 1920, letters from readers
The Brownies’ Book included different kinds of writing, visual art, and photography by adults.
The Brownies’ Book, February 1920, cover
The NAACP and W.E.B. Du Bois created The Brownies’ Book to speak directly to Black children about the world and their lives.
The Brownies’ Book, January 1920, excerpts
Here are a few pages from the first issue of the magazine.
The Binet-Simon Scale, excerpt
In 1905, French psychologist and educator Albert Binet created a tool that he hoped would help to identify and understand children who were struggling in school.
William Maxwell
Who should have made decisions about what happened to the hundreds of thousands of children in New York City’s schools?
New York City’s Schools and What They Cost
At the beginning of the 20th century, New York City required more and more students to attend school and prohibited them from working.
Public School 47
New York City’s Public School 47 opened in 1908.
A Day’s Work in a New York Public School, excerpt
Many photos of New York City schools in the early 20th century show so many students that it is hard to see them as individual people.
Elizabeth Farrell and Ungraded Classes
Special education classes for children with intellectual disabilities were pioneered in New York City by a social welfare reformer, Elizabeth Farrell.
Albany Evening Journal
Mrs. Elizabeth Cisco worked for more than five years, with her husband and on her own, to fight for educational equality and desegregation.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cisco
Photography has an important place in African American history.