Ira Aldridge's Life in New York City (Biography‪)‬

Daniel Aldridge (2) had wanted his son Ira to follow in his footsteps and become a preacher. To this end he enrolled him in one of the two African Free Schools that had been established in New York City by the Manumission Society "for the special purpose of opening the avenues to a gratuitous education to the descendants of an injured race, who have a strong claim on the humanity and justice of our State." (3) A more explicit purpose was to educate "young men of colour, to be employed as teachers and preachers among the people of colour in these States [New York and New Jersey] and elsewhere." (4) The first of these institutions had been opened in November 1787 with a single schoolmaster and twelve pupils. (5) In 1791 a female teacher was employed to instruct girls in needlework. (6) However, the school did not have a permanent building until one was constructed on Cliff Street in 1796. By then it had 122 pupils--63 males and 59 females, with an average attendance of about 80. (7) The curriculum consisted of reading, writing, arithmetic and geography, "with sewing, & c, in the girls' school." (8) When this school burnt down in 1814, a replacement measuring 30 by 60 feet, sufficient space for about two hundred students, was built at 245 William Street the following year. This later became known as African Free School No. 1. Within a few months of opening, "the room became so crowded with pupils that it was found necessary to engage a separate room, next to the school, to accommodate such of the females as were to be taught sewing." (9)