EARLY BLACK SCHOOLS

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New Brunswick's First Black School

From its earliest days, New Brunswick was a segregated city. Blacks and whites were separated by geography and social status. Whites controlled the city government, including the Board of Education, and in that way, they enforced the separation of the city’s people. When the public school system was established, a big, beautiful school was built on Bayard Street for the use of the city’s white children. Known as the Bayard School, it was well-appointed and furnished, costing the city over $13,000.

The Bayard School opened in 1853. By August of that year, the student population had outgrown the building and the overflow was directed to the Presbyterian Church.

For the city’s Black children, the Board of Education authorized the building of the much more modest Colored School. Built for a total cost of just over $1,000, this simple, 2-room building was deemed sufficient for the needs of the New Brunswick’s Black schoolchildren. It was so cheaply built that there weren’t any locks on the doors or windows. The Board of Education expressed mild surprise when the building was robbed and vandalized, and eventually installed locks on the doors.

The much more modest Colored School opened in 1854. In September of 1864, the building was needed to ease overcrowding at the Bayard School and Presbyterian Church. The Black students were then moved to the Mission Sunday School on Hamilton Street, where the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum stands today.

After moving first to the Mission Sunday School and then to a rubber processing plant in the Ryno Building at 94 Church Street, the New Brunswick Board of Education gave in to the complaints of the city’s Black families and built a new, Black-only school building on Hale Street.

The Hale Street School was situated on a lot just between French Street and Jersey Avenue. It was a 2-room brick building with room for up to 100 students. It opened in 1871 with one teacher and by 1875, the Black student population was large enough that Black parents petitioned the Board of Education to authorize the hiring of an assistant teacher. That same year, New Brunswick High School opened, but enrollment was initially denied to Black students.

In 1879, it became apparent that the quality of subjects offered at the Hale Street School was not as high as those offered in the other schools, and Black parents once again petitioned the Board of Education to correct this imbalance. It wasn’t until 1881, when New Jersey outlawed school segregation, that Black students were permitted to enroll at New Brunswick High School.

After integration, the Hale Street building was rented to a local church. It was occasionally used for classroom overflow as well, while New Brunswick figured out how best to manage their burgeoning student population. In 1885, it became an integrated primary school until the Washington School was built in 1898. The Hale Street School closed for good in 1891.

The building, which still stands, was then used as a knitting-machine parts factory to support New Brunswick’s bustling textile industry. It was purchased in 1940 by the Appignani family, who used it as a factory where they produced children’s clothing under the label, “Yolanda Dresses.” The company was based there until 1978. In 1982, the building was purchased by New Brunswick’s Housing and Urban Development Corporation, who built an addition to the back of the building, added more windows and dormers to create a second story, and turned the building into apartments. The main structure was left mostly intact, and the original chimney is still on the building and can be seen today.

Edward L. Voorhees: New Brunswick's First Black Graduate

In 1887, New Brunswick High School graduated its first Black student. His name was Edward L. Voorhees and he was ranked 5th out of 13 in his graduating class. Because he was Black, he was barred from taking part in many school activities, including sports. Therefore, no mention is made of him anywhere (school annuals, literary magazines, etc.) until he is listed with his graduating class. The fashion at the time was for a member of the graduating class to make predictions about his or her classmates’ futures. Edward’s prediction was that he would become a minister or a missionary, either of which would have been a prestigious career for a Black man of the time. He was not permitted to join the school’s Graduate Association (an alumni club).

The New Brunswick 1886 city directory (a precursor to the modern phone book) lists an Edward L. Voorhees as a boarder at 80 New Street. Many high school students came to New Brunswick from the surrounding area and would have taken a room in town, so it’s very likely that this listing is him. There are other Voorheeses living at this address, most likely his mother Betsey, and sisters. By 1897, there is a listing for an Edward L. Voorhees living at 126 New Street. This must be the same person, because as in 1886, the other people living at that address are the same as the ones at 80 New Street, 13 years earlier.

The 1897 directory lists his occupation as “reporter,” and indeed he was hired by the Fredonian Publishing Company in 1891 as a reporter for The Daily Times. Articles weren’t always published with a byline, but the occasional item in the “social column” mentions Mr. Voorhees. An 1894 note about the New Brunswick Graduate Association shows that not only was Mr. Voorhees eventually permitted to join the association, he was an active member of a committee to nominate officers for election. An 1896 item notes that Mr. Voorhees was enjoying a well-earned vacation.

By 1906, Mr. Voorhees had married and moved out of New Brunswick. He made his way to Philadelphia with his wife, Gertrude, where he took a job with the United States Postal Service. He worked there until his retirement and would pass away in Philadelphia in 1936.