Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
#OnThisDay in 1848, Sarah Roberts, a 5-year-old Black American, entered an all-white school in Boston, only to be turned away. She wound up entering four more white schools, and each time she was shown the door. And so she found herself walking from home, passing five all-white schools on the way to an all-black school the city of Boston was forcing her to attend.
This angered her father, Benjamin, one of the nation’s first Black American printers, and he sued the city. Robert Morris, one of the nation’s first Black lawyers, took up the case.
“Any child unlawfully excluded from public school shall recover damages therefore against the city or town by which such public instruction is supported,” Morris wrote.
He and co-counsel Charles Sumner argued that the Constitution of Massachusetts held all are equal before the law, regardless of race, and that the laws creating public schools made no distinctions.
Sumner wrote, “Prejudice is the child of ignorance … sure to prevail where people do not know each other.”
In 1850, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the racial segregation of public schools. The attorneys brought the issue to state lawmakers. In 1855, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts banned segregated schools — the first law barring segregated schools in the U.S.
mississippitoday.org/2025/02/15/on-…
#SarahRoberts #BostonSchools #RobertMorris #CharlesSumner
Share this post:
Join my email list to receive updates and information.
Historianspeaks is a dynamic web platform devoted to making Black History accessible to the public. This site seeks to
combat one-dimensional and stereotypical presentations of the Black past. It is a place to use the past to reflect on the present. Jargon free, this forum grapples with the most pressing issues impacting communities of color. Through a blog, podcast and audio and visual materials, this site makes the past relevant and demonstrates how Black History can inform the present and chart a dynamic course for the future.
Black History Now is a weekly blog focusing on contemporary Black History.
This podcast addresses contemporary issues in Black History. The topics will encompass everything from history to popular culture
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and build this platform.
Historianspeaks is a dynamic site that publishes blogs daily on the Black experience.
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.