The Smith School
The examination of this interesting school took place on Tuesday last, and was highly creditable both to the teachers and pupils. When it is considered that these children with their parents, labor under the weight of the prejudices of a community, and that even in the liberal arrangements made for their instruction here, this prejudice is apparent*, and their proficiency in the studies pursued, and their neat and orderly appearance, were striking. The number in regular attendance if one hundred, and the city does not afford a more promising set of children — Men of Boston ! look to it that your prejudices do not by forbidding them to learn trades, drive them into idleness and crime.
*For instance: in what newspaper are the names of the successful candidates for prizes given? and why do not the most worthy of the Smith School dine with the Mayor, among their compeers of the other schools? Plainly, only because they are colored. If these marks of distinction are good for white pupils, why are they not good also for others?
(Liberator, August 27, 1836, pg 3)
