In 1918 schooling was increased until grade eight and the indenture system evolved into a loose foster care system in which the child was to be incorporated into the family and continue their studies. By 1897, schooling was increased until grade six and sent several students to the Hampton Institute for further study. The families, in turn, paid a small fee to the Colored Orphan Asylum for the services which were placed in the bank for when the child left the institution. Older children were bound by indentured servitude in which they were contracted to families, both Black and white, to learn a trade or skill until age 21. The orphanage initially offered schooling only for infants, feeling that their wards would not advance far in society due to being Black and orphans. Prior to its founding, orphaned black children were housed in jails or worked as beggars or chimney sweeps as orphanages refused to take them. It was one of the first of its kind in the United States to take in black children whose parents had died, or were not able to take care of them. The Colored Orphan Asylum was founded in Manhattan in 1836 by three Quakers: Anna and Hanna Shotwell and Mary Lindley Murray. It later moved to Upper Manhattan and then to Riverdale in the Bronx. Its first location was on Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, a four-story building with two wings. It housed on average four hundred children annually and was mostly managed by women. The Colored Orphan Asylum was an institution in New York City, open from 1836 to 1946.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |