| The
Common Schools Act of 1850 allowed separate schools for racial
or religious reasons while providing for black education.
Blacks could attend white schools when separate schools were
not provided, but blacks were required to attend separate
schools if they were available. But in practice Canadian racism
and local decree frequently kept blacks unschooled or relegated
them to inferior separate schools, particularly in the southwestern
portion of Canada West, where the majority of fugitives lived.
As a result, blacks often had to establish their own schools,
frequently with the assistance of white missionary organizations;
the best examples were schools in the black settlements at
Windsor, Wilberforce, and Dawn, and the Colonial Church and
School Society's institution at London. In 1853 the case of
Hill v. School Trustees of Camden and Zone upheld, clarified,
and further rigidified this practice. The separate school
system remained intact well into the l96Os. Source:
The Black Abolitionist Papers: Volume II, University
of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill and London, 1986, pp.
186 |
