Early African American education in the United States met great difficulties, but in spite of prohibitive codes, and the prevailing attitudes of most slave masters, many free African Americans and some slaves learned to read and write. With the growth of American cities, which created interaction of African American with other people, additional learning opportunities were opened.

Slaves were taught skills and trained as clerks and overseers. They were helped by fellow free African Americans and mulattoes protected from limiting codes. Missionaries and religious organizations established schools and free African Americans taught others in their homes. Churches opened schools, and the education of all African Americans was given impetus.

Noted among the thousands of African Americans (pre-emancipation and later) making significant contributions were:

JOHN FRANCIS COOK, SR. Educator and Minister (?-1855) Cook was born in Washington, D.C. of parents who had purchased their freedom in the 18th Century. Since there were no schools for African Americans in the newly built capitol, the Cook family opened one. John attended this school and later became its principal. After his death, his sons - John Francis, Jr. and George FT. - continued his work in the school and the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, which he helped organize.

LUCY CRAFT LANEY (1854-1933) Born a slave in Macon, Georgia, became founder and principal of Halves Normal Institute in Georgia. Ms. Laney was taught to read and write at the age of four by her master's sister, who helped her attend Atlanta University When funds promised from the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen did not materialize for a private school for African Americans, Ms. Laney raised the money herself. Her school was opened in 1888. In 1875, it had grown to a prospering educational community of over 1,000 students.

ATTORNEY CHARLES SUMNER, white, and ATTORNEY ROBERT MORRIS, African American, began the fight against exclusion of African Americans from Boston schools in 1848. Although their test case lost, Massachusetts passed a law in 1855 that admitted African Americans into the public school system.

PRINCE HALL petitioned the city of Boston to establish schools for African American children equal in quality to those for whites - 1787.

WILLIAM H. CROGMAN (1841-1831) Teacher and college president, Crogman was born in the Danish West Indies. He was orphaned at age 12, went to sea at 14 where he was encouraged to settle with a white family in Boston. At the age of 25, he entered school for the first time. After graduation, he taught at Claflin University in S.C., later enrolling at Atlanta University where he earned a degree in classic languages. He taught Latin and Greek at Clark University, beginning in 1880, and became its first African American President 23 years later

RICHARD THEODORE GREENER (1844-1023) At age 28, Greener became the first African American to graduate from Harvard University. An excellent student in classical literature, he became principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, the Sumner High School in D.C., and - in 1873 - was named professor of metaphysics and logic at the University of South Carolina, serving until the legislature adopted the segregation policy of the Hampton Legislature of 1877. Besides teaching, Greener studied law and served on a state commission to develop the public school system in South Carolina.

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON (1829-1897) The first African American elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia was born of a slave mother and a plantation master who made liberal provisions for his children. Langston was sent to Cincinnati and later to Oberlin College for his education. He studied law. Langston's career touched upon many areas of life. He was a member of the City Council of Brownheld, Ohio, 1855-1880; president of the National Equal Rights League, 1885; member of the Oberlin, Ohio Board of Education, 1887-1 888; Dean of the Law School of Howard University, 1880-1 878; minister-resident to Haiti, 1877-1885; and president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, 1885-1888. Among the last of the African Americans elected to Congress during the 19th Century, he was a U.S. Congressman for Virginia from 1890-1891.

RICHARD ROBERT WRIGHT, SR. (1855-1945) Outstanding in the fields of education and banking, Wright was born in Georgia prior to the Civil War. He attended the newly established Atlanta University and upon graduation, entered the field of education to help eradicate illiteracy among the freed men of Georgia. In 1891, he founded Savannah State College (Georgia). He remained with the school until 1921. Following retirement from Savannah State, Wright organized the Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia. At the age of 88, he was still directing the affairs of the bank, us well as serving as president of the National Negro Bankers' Association.

HALLIE QUINN BROWN (1849-1949) Ms. Brown wan born in Pittsburgh, but her family moved to Chatham, Ontario, Canada, shortly after her birth. She attended the Ontario public schools, returning to the U.S. to enroll at Wilberforce, Ohio. Ms. Brown became well known as a teacher and elocutionist; taught at Allen University and Tuskegee Institute, but is probably best known as a speaker and a dramatic reader. She traveled the U.S. and Europe in the name of Wilberforce. Her repertory was diversified and included such subjects as: 'The Progress of Negro Education and Advancement in America since Emancipation', 'The Status of the Afro-American Woman before and after the War", and "Negro Folklore and Folksongs". In addition to lecturing, she recited the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar in Germany, France, Switzerland and Great Britain, where she appeared before Queen Victoria.

JEAN BLACKWELL HUTSON, Curator: For more than 25 years, Ms. Huston has served as curator of the prestigious Schomburg Collection of Negro Life and History, a special non-circulating library and autonomous research division within the N.Y Public Library system.

ELIZABETH DUNCAN KOONTZ Ms. Koontz has devoted most of her professional life to the field of classroom education, having served as a teacher in the public schools of Salisburg, N.C. from 1938 to 1985, the year she became president of the 1.1 million member National Education Association. In 1987, she was appointed Director of the Women's Bureau in the Department of Labor, resigning in 1972.

CHARLES SPURGEON JOHNSON (1893-1958) Eminent sociologist and university president, Charles S. Johnson was born in Bristol, VA. This outstanding scholar was named president of Fisk University in 1948, one of the few African American college presidents who achieved notice as a scholar before becoming an administrator. As director of the social science department at Fisk, Dr. Johnson had already been recognized as an able authority in his field. His research and writings covered the sociological aspects of the African American from the rural areas to the urban centers. He was one of 20 American educators selected to advise on the educational reorganization of Japan in 1948.