From Humble Beginnings to a Historic Mansion

The last decades of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth were turbulent ones in the history of Negro education. A philosophical debate between two prominent black leaders set the stage for the future actions. W. E. B. DuBois, an intellectual who was the first African American to earn a PhD. from Harvard (1895), and Booker T. Washington, "the most prominent black American of the nineteenth and twentieth century," were both deeply concerned about strengthening the economic position of Negroes in American society.

DuBois proposed that preference be given to educating a "Talented Tenth" of the black population. These well-educated members of the race could in turn uplift the other nine-tenths. Washington, however, was a strong advocate for manual industrial education and believed it to be the model most likely to enhance the employment opportunities of blacks. For Washington, this educational model was the path of least resistance against racism and offered the greatest opportunity for the economic advancement of the race.

"The greatest problem facing the nation fifteen years after the Civil War was the education of a race of people who were treated as sub-humans in a racially hostile environment." When the post–Civil War program (the Freedmen's Bureau) to educate freed slaves ended in 1876, many former slaves still remained uneducated.

In the North, Quakers and colored churches assumed the responsibility of educating blacks. One example of a devoted advocate for the education of black people was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Although the church had been educating black children through its Sabbath School Program, it realized that there were many more children needing such opportunities. Thus, in 1876 a group of New Jersey affiliates of the church assembled to plan a special mission. This mission began in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where meetings were conducted to decide whether to open a private manual training and industrial boarding school. Emerging from the efforts of this group was a document designated as the "Articles of Incorporation." My grandfather, Rev. Walter Allen Simpson Rice, was chosen to play the central role in the development of the boarding school. However, it was not until ten years later that he actually began to make progress toward the establishment of the proposed institution.

Renting two two-story frame houses on West Street in Bordentown, Reverend Rice launched his bold venture with only eight students. Small and ordinary-looking, these houses became the school's first site. The minister, his wife, his students, and members of his church began an experiment in the education of colored children that in later years would develop into a highly respected and valued educational institution.

Walking the streets of Bordentown and its nearby community, Fieldsboro, Reverend Rice began recruiting homeless, abandoned children and those whose parents were working and had found no appropriate educational facility for them. As a result of his efforts, the student population grew quickly. By the end of the 1894–95 school year, enrollment had reached forty-two students. But from the beginning it was evident that larger facilities were needed. Without them, there would be no way for the young minister to continue to provide colored children with educational opportunities that would lead to economic empowerment. Other properties were available in the Bordentown area, making it possible for Rice, with the help of state appropriations of $3,000, to lease seven small buildings in different parts of the city of Bordentown. Yet in a short time, funds became extremely low, and the young minister spent much of his time soliciting voluntary contributions from whatever sources he could find. During a decade of struggling to keep his school going without adequate funding to support his ambitious project, there was always the threat of failure hovering overhead.

Reverend Rice's willingness to accept leadership in founding a school was admirable but somewhat idealistic. It was idealistic because there were limited funds to support his dream, and resources from church officials were either meager or nonexistent. Nevertheless, his dedication to building a solid financial foundation for his school was unwavering.

There are no known records indicating how the young minister felt about the challenges he faced in attempting to create a manual training and industrial school for colored children during a period of history that was characterized by severe racial discrimination. Undoubtedly, he was too busy to keep a journal or a written account of his early struggles, as did one of his contemporaries, Dr. Laurence C. Jones, who founded the Piney Woods School, a black boarding school in Piney Woods, Mississippi, in 1909. Nevertheless, as knowledge of the school spread, officials at the state level became more interested in supporting Rice in his efforts to make education a reality for at least some of the state's Negro population.

New Jersey was a northern, highly industrial state with abundant opportunities for labor in the trades and domestic service jobs. By 1898, the Negro population of the state was reported to be sixty thousand.

The major purpose of Reverend Rice's school was to help former slaves receive a basic education as well as become economically self-sufficient. Toward this end, the curriculum centered on courses that would fold blacks neatly into a segregated society without antagonizing or competing with the white population. By now the state had realized that it needed to acquire a property that would allow the consolidation of all seven Bordentown School sites. Consequently, with state and federal appropriations, plus generous donations, all amounting to $5,000, the struggling school began its ascent into history.

When making his first report to the state superintendent of public instruction, Reverend Rice made it very clear what this school was going to do for its colored students and in what way its goals would contribute to the economic status of the state of New Jersey:

This...