SAHRA AHMED
BORDENTOWN
MANUAL TRAINING AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
THE TUSKEGEE OF THE NORTH
ED P&L 863: AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION 1700-1950
NOVEMBER 24th, 2010
BORDENTOWN
MANUAL TRAINING AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
“For a seventy year period, when America cared little about the education of African Americans and discrimination was law
and custom, The Bordentown School was an educational utopia. An incubator for black intellect, Bordentown taught values,
disciplines and life skills to generations of black children. The school closed in 1955 in the wake of the Supreme Court Brown
vs. Board of Education decision. What was lost and what was gained in the march toward integration and equality?” (PBS- A
Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School, May 2010).
The Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School went by many names; it was
called The New Jersey Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth, Ironsides
Normal School, Old Ironsides, and it was also referred to as “The Tuskegee of The North.”
Tuskegee University in Alabama was founded by African American educator and leader
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915). Washington 1 believed African Americans needed
vocational and manual skills in order to prosper and “disparaged literature and
philosophy as unnecessary for and unsuited to agricultural and industrial 2 menials”
(Dennis 1998:146). Washington’s biggest nemesis in regards to what constituted as
proper education for African Americans was historian, educator and civil rights activist
W.E.B. Du Bois 3. Du Bois encouraged “the talented tenth” of black people to strive for the
highest education possible to uplift and elevate the masses and advance civilizations to
come.
The Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School was established in 1886 by
Walter Rice, an African American Methodist Minister who was a former slave from
Laurens, South Carolina. Reverend Rice wanted to provide educational opportunities for
black youths who were migrating to the north in large numbers. In 1894, the state of
New Jersey became aware of the school’s potential and took it under its control by
1
Washington declared: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet as one as the
hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Anderson 1988:93). He insisted that teaching African Americans
to love labor for labors own sake would enable them to be economically prosperous and self reliant.
2 Washington continued with the legacy of his teacher- Samuel Armstrong (1839-1893) with whom he studied
under at Hampton Institute that education was not “found in books but rather in the rigors of labor.”
3 Du Bois stated that the purpose of education was “not to make carpenters out of men, but men out of
carpenters” (Du Bois 1930:315).
assigning it to a special Board of Trustees. By 1897, Bordentown Manual Training and
Industrial School was eligible to receive money from the federal government under an act
Congress passed in 1890, enabling the state to lease property at “the banks of the
Delaware River as the site for a new and larger school” (Adams 1977:6). The school
consisted of almost four hundred acres that was once residence to the great Irish patriot,
Charles Parnell and Admirable Stewart, commander of the battleship, Old Ironsides - one
of the names of “endearment” by which the Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial
School went by.
BORDENTOWN CAMPUS
The Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School was a four hundred acre
Georgian style boarding school that was filled with lush, green lawns and imposing
architecture. The school consisted of roughly thirty buildings with co-ed dormitories,
trade and academic buildings (students studied a variety of trades in addition to the
academic curriculum), a spacious dining hall, farming structures, and private residences
for the school staff. The school’s buildings and dormitories were “of red brick and of
colonial architecture except for the private residences and farm houses which were frame
structures” (Adams 1977:9). Visitors who went to Bordentown were immediately taken
away by its immense beauty. One such visitor, Benjamin Brawley, wrote in a journal- The
Southern Workman about his visit to the school in 1930. He wrote:
“It is impossible, even with the assistance of photographs, to describe the striking
beauty of the grounds. The graceful lines of the Citizen Gateway, the imposing
columns of the Administration building seen through the trees, the green of the
Campus lawns against the white facing and the red brick buildings with the
Delaware River as a background, all go to make up what is one of the finest natural
school sites be found in the country, and one of which New Jersey should be justly
proud” (Brawley 1930:412)
SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY
The school was a co-educational boarding and vocational school for both middle and high
school students that was run by the state of New Jersey. Ezola Bolden Adams, author of “The
Role and Function of the Manual Training and Industrial School at Bordentown,” describes it
as a “an alternative school that provided a choice other than public school or no further
schooling at all” (Adams 1977). Students arrived in Bordentown in September and stayed
through May where they were instilled in strict discipline and self confidence and a sense of
Black pride. Bordentown was more than a school, it was a community in which students and
staff lived, worked, studied and enjoyed the extra-curricular school activities.
Alumni, scholars and historian in the PBS documentary titled: A Place Out of Time, describe
the Bordentown School as “an incubator for black pride and intellect that taught values,
discipline, and life skills to generations of Black children, despite institutionalized racism,
limited resources, and political interference” (Incollingo 2010). It was therefore quite possible
for over four hundred African American boys and girls to receive a well rounded education
and strict social discipline. In order for students to graduate Bordentown they had to not only
complete their academic studies, but also obtain mastery in one of the trades that was offered
by the school.
For example, in 1915-1930, girls in sixth to eight grade were taught skills such as “plain
sewing, dressmaking, laundering, housekeeping and millinery” in addition to their academic
classes. Ninth grade girls were taught all the above and they also took culinary classes and
beauty culture classes. Sixth through tenth grade boys during the same time period, did their
academic classes and also took up trades in areas such as “agriculture, woodworking, printing,
carpentry, painting, blacksmithing, auto repair, farming, and
horticulture” (Adams 1977:46).
Figure 2: Students in beauty culture classes at the Bordentown School
SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
In 1897, James Gregory, a professor and dean of Howard University became the first
principal of the Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School. He served as a
principal until 1915 when his duties as a principal were transferred to Dr. William R.
Valentine. Dr. Valentine was a Harvard graduate who had worked as a principal in
one of the poorest townships in Indiana. He is noted to have graduated from Harvard
“in the distinguished company of classmate Franklin Delano Roosevelt” and also taught
at the famous “Tuskegee Institute” in Alabama (Adams 1977:71).
Dr. Valentine was an outstanding leader who served the school for the longest
period of thirty five years; he retired from Bordentown in 1950. During his time at
Bordentown, he brought significant distinction and praise to the school and to the
African American community at large. He is known to have instituted the “Annual
Parents’ Day” where parents visited the Bordentown campus and interviewed their
children’s teachers and learnt more about the school’s rules and regulations and
student expectations. Another event that was begun by Dr. Valentine was the “Annual
Memorial Day” celebration where students performed many activities for their parents
and the African American community in New Jersey. The “Memorial Day” festivities
was one of the “grandest, most colorful, and most gratifying celebrations” for the
students and the entire Bordentown community. The students performed military drills
going in perfect motion with the school band,
there were also racing and relay
matches, tennis and baseball games, and dances to mention but a few. As the number
of spectators rose every year, the school choir joined in to entertain the crowds and
partake in the celebrations.
Concerning the jubilation of the Bordentown festivities, Dr. Valentine stated the
following: “More and more people of the State are looking toward Bordentown as their
Mecca, a place where they can go which they feel to be their own. The influence which
the school can exert for the improvement of Negro life is inestimable in its possibilities
and reaches far beyond the confines of the campus” (Adams 1977:98).
Figure 3: William R. Valentine, Principal: Bordentown Manual and Industrial School
FACULTY AND STAFF
The staff at Bordentown School were divided into five categories; agricultural teachers,
boarding supervisors, industrial instructors, academic teachers, and miscellaneous employees.
These incredible and outstanding staff worked seven days a week, including most holidays to
keep up with the maintenance of the spacious campus and the supervision and teaching of the
Bordentown students. The main responsibility of faculty members was to teach students both
the academic and the vocational trades of the school that they will find useful upon graduation
and beyond. Bordentown teachers embedded in their students a sense of pride, belonging, and
a spirit of excellent work ethics. They also had to instill students to embrace their beautiful
Black heritage against the backdrop of racism, oppression, subjugation and white dominance.
Black teachers at Bordentown:
“Restored the fables and folk lore tales of Africa, giving new meanings to the stories of faithfulness and
service that came from the slave period; inspired a love for the plantation melodies by bringing them
from ridicule and dishonor to a plane of respect and reverence; and gave serious purposes to the lives of
students by placing before them the notable achievements of people of color” (Adams 1977:56).
These teachers were not only teaching academics and trades to their students; they were
simultaneously cultivating a sense of love for oneself, and love for ones heritage and culture.
Figure 4: Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School’s Teaching
and Administration Staff. (Dr. Valentine is pictured in the center).
BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION
In 1955, Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School unfortunately had to close its
doors to its beloved students and their nurturing teachers, staff, and administration. The New
Jersey Board of Education failed unsuccessfully to integrate Bordentown because of the 1954
“landmark” Supreme Court ruling in the Brown vs. Board of Education which declared:
“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored
children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races
is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group.” (Zagrando 1970:436)
While this ruling was mainly aimed at the all white schools, it also placed black schools
such as Bordentown in jeopardy.
Since Bordentown was run and controlled by the State of
New Jersey, Governor Robert Meyner (1908-1990), opted to convert the school to a mental
institution despite vehement opposition from parents, Bordentown committee and majority of
the African American community in NJ. In addition, the twenty six commission member set up
by the state to oversee and investigate whether closure of the school was necessary, also
overwhelmingly supported the school with twenty one votes in favor of its continuance, and
five votes to its closing. Regardless of the keen and neutral study of the commission, and the
dismay of parents who believed that Bordentown provided a safe haven for their students, the
school was closed overnight as though it had never been in existence.
Sadly, what is left today of the Old Ironsides, The Bordentown Manual Training and
Industrial School and The “Tuskegee of the North,” is a juvenile center for the youth it was
initially meant to rescue. Bordentown was “founded in 1900 as a result of a law passed by the
New Jersey State Legislature; Bordentown was closed in 1955 as a result of a law passed by the
New Jersey State Legislature” (Adams 1977:142). A school that flourished for almost seventy
years and produced proud Black youth who could go anywhere and obtain a job while also
aiming for a higher education was forced to shuts its doors because it could not attract enough
white students. In conclusion, several pressing questions that beg to be asked are: Did we lose
more than we gained in our march towards integration? What if Bordentown was left intact to
serve its students and to flourish to the great heights that it once did?
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
a) Projects:
Students will:
Write an essay on the education of African Americans in Bordentown, NJ from 1700-1950.
Find out if there were other publicly supported segregated schools in Bordentown.
Learn the curriculum, lifestyle, and extra curriculum activities provided by The Bordentown
Manual and Training Industrial School.
Study the parental and community involvement at Bordentown School.
Discuss at length how former students feel about The Bordentown Manual and Training
Industrial School.
Try to understand why the Bordentown School was closed and under what circumstances.
Outline any lessons we can learn from the Bordentown School.
Discuss the values and attitudes taught to Bordentown students.
Analyze the Supreme Court ruling that made segregation illegal and its significance to public
education, and specifically to The Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School.
b) Dramatic Activities:
Students will
Watch the PBS documentary: A Place Out of Time, The Bordentown School (2010) and discuss
it. Link to trailer- http://www.pbs.org/aplaceoutoftime
Discuss the importance of having black institutions such as The Bordentown School.
Talk about the hefty price we paid for eliminating Black institutions in the name of integration
Have a mock trial in which they can pretend to vote for the continuance of Bordentown School
or its closure and analyze their results.
Be asked to consider whether or not Bordentown was an educational utopia for black students.
Discuss the outcomes for the Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education (1954).
Teachers can ask students:
Why a flourishing institution such as Bordentown had to shut its doors after sixty nine years of
service.
What role did the New Jersey Board of Education play in closing the school?
Did the Supreme Court decision on integration cause the ultimate demise of Bordentown?
Did the school change its mission and focus more on industrial education than academics, thus
causing it to shut down since it was unable to become a modern school in a changing,
tumultuous time period?
Historical Documentation:
Students will give an in depth analysis of the contributions by both African American leaders
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
They will write an essay about their contributions and any shortcoming they see in these two
leaders.
Games:
Students can play various activities in which they can pretend to be in vocational schools
whereby they take up specific “trades” while simultaneously continuing with their studies- a
long time tradition and philosophy at Bordentown School.
Students can learn Bordentown’s alma matter and recite it in class.
Bordentown School’s alma matter:
The following is
Proudly stands our Mother Ironsides
Framed against the sky,
Overlooking field and river
From her hilltop high.
Ironsides, Mother, School we love!
Loud we sing to thee,
Pledging through all the ages
Love and loyalty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Books:
Adams, Ezola Bolden. "The Role and Function of The Manual Training and Industrial School at Bordentown as an
Alternative School, 1915-1955" [Ed.D. dissertation]. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, 1977). [Copy from
the New Jersey State Library
Anderson, J. “The Education of Blacks in the South 1860-1935.” The University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
Blaustein, Albert and Zagrando, Robert. Civil Rights and the Black American: A Document History. New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1970.
Du Bois, William E.B. “The Negro Common School.” Atlanta: University Press, 1901.
Washington, Booker T. “The Future of the American Negro.” New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969, 1901.
Woodson, Carter G. The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. Washington D.C. The Associated Press, Inc.
1919.
Articles:
Brawley, Benjamin. Ironsides. Southern Workman. LX (1931), pp. 410-416.
Dennis, Michael. Schooling along the Color Line: Progressives and Education of Blacks in the New South. The
Journal of Negro Education. Vol. 67, No. 2. Spring 1998. pp. 142-156.
Du Bois, William E.B. Of the Training of Black Men: The Atlantic Monthly. September, 1902. 247 (4) pp. 99108.
Du Bois, William E.B. A Negro School Master in the New South. The Atlantic Monthly. January, 1899. 83 (495)
pp. 99-105.
Jensen, Norma. A Survey of Segregation Practices in the New Jersey School System. Journal of Negro Education,
Vol. 17, Issue 1. Winter 1948. pp. 84-88.
Washington, Booker T. The Awakening of the Negro. The Atlantic Monthly. September, 1896. 78 (466) pp.
322-328.
Newspapers
The Daily News. May 2010. http://www.hudsonwest.org/Images/Btown-DailyNews.pdf
The New York Times. May 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/arts/television/24bordentown.html
The Trentonian. May 2010.
The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 2010.
Miscellaneous
National Public Radio. May 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127091472
PBS: A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School. May 2010. http://www.pbs.org/aplaceoutoftime/
New Jersey Division and Archives and Record Management: State of New Jersey Department of State.
http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/guides/sedma000.html
All pictures are courtesy of: New Jersey Division and Archives and Record Management: State of New Jersey
Department of State.