of such schools to the managers of the white system. This
was taken as a reflection on the blacks of the city and tended to make
them refuse to cooperate with the white board. On account of the failure
of this body to act effectively prior to 1856, the people of color were
again given power to elect their own trustees.[50]

During this contest certain Negroes of Cincinnati were endeavoring to
make good their claim to equal rights in the public schools. Acting upon
this contention a colored man sent his son to a public school which, on
account of his presence, became a center of unusual excitement. Isabella
Newhall, the teacher, to whom he went, immediately complained to the
board of education, requesting that he be expelled because of his color.
After "due deliberation" the board of education decided by a vote of 15
to 10 that the colored pupil would have to withdraw. Thereupon two
members of that body, residing in the district of the timorous teacher,
resigned.[51]

Many Negroes belonging to the mulatto class, however, were more
successful in getting into the white schools. In 1849 certain parents
complained that children of color were being admitted to the public
schools, and in fact there were in one of them two daughters of a white
father and a mulatto mother. On complaining about this to the principal
of the school in question, the indignant patrons were asked to point out
the undesirable pupils. "They could not; for," says Sir Charles Lyell,
"the two girls were not only among the best pupils, but better looking
and less dark than many of the other pupils."[52]

Thereafter, however, much progress in the education of the colored
people among themselves was noted. By 1844 they had six schools of their
own and before the war two well-supported public schools.[53] Among
their teachers were such useful persons as Mrs. M. J. Corbin, Miss Lucy
Blackburn, Miss Anne Ryall, Miss Virginia C. Tilley, Miss Martha E.
Anderson, William H. Parham, William R. Casey, John G. Mitchell and
Peter H. Clark.[54] The pupils were showing their appreciation by
regular attendance, excellent deportment, and progress in the
acquisition of knowledge. Speaking of these Negroes in 1855, John P.
Foote said that they shared with the white citizens that respect for
education and the diffusion of knowledge, which has been one of their
"characteristics," and that they had, therefore, been more generally
intelligent than free persons of color not onl