Groundsite Image Gallery
New York School
Artist: Hughes, Langston
Height: 0.000"
Width: 0.000"
New York School, 936 New York St. (1869)
E.S. Tucker took this 1898 photo of the New York School building. Langston Hughes attended this school from fourth through sixth grades. The school and the neighborhood were integrated (Armitage). The city directory shows African Americans clustered together but living in mixed areas throughout town. However, schools often grouped African American students apart from others.
In his fictionalized novel about his childhood, Hughes wrote, Sandy found the fifth-grade room upstairs and went in shyly. He described the African American students being seated in the back rows. Sandy (a boy similar to Hughes) won the boys’ spelling contest and was interested in geography and science books (Not Without Laughter ).