A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy

About Addy’s Time

Discusses what life would’ve been like for Addy, as an African American girl and former slave, growing up in Philadelphia in the 1860s. Topics include:

• Slavery was outlawed in the North since the early 1800s, but the community was still segregated
  • Addy and Momma wouldn’t have been able to shop in some stores, attend cultural events, or even live where they wanted
• Addy was able to get a free education, but she had to attend a school only for Black children
  • These schools had fewer supplies and worse building conditions
  • Children weren’t required to go to school, but many former slaves were eager to learn and attended for at least a few years
  • Many children stopped attending school around age twelve or thirteen
  • By the 1860s, thousands of African Americans had learned to read and write
• Many newly freed and escaped slaves started new lives in northern cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Boston
  • Most people turned to an African American church for help when they first arrived
  • Churches would welcome newcomers with food, clothing, and assistance with adjusting to life as free people
  • Freedmen’s aid societies also assisted with finding housing and jobs—Philadelphia had more than a hundred of these societies
• The Quaker Aid Society was a White religious organization that was also abolitionist (meaning they opposited slavery)
  • The Quakers founded the Institute for Colored Youth in 1837
  • The I.C.Y. was the first high school for African Americans, and was one of the only places Black students could get an excellent education
  • The goal of the I.C.Y. was to train Black students to become teachers
  • It’s possible that with hard work, Addy could’ve earned a spot at the I.C.Y. and gone on to teach other Black students in the North