pened to Negroes, the
friends of the race continued to agitate and raise funds to extend
their philanthropic operations. With the donation of Anthony Benezet
the Quakers were able to enlarge their building and increase the scope
of the work. They added a female department in which Sarah Dwight[1]
was teaching the girls spelling, reading, and sewing in 1784. The
work done in Philadelphia was so successful that the place became the
rallying center for the Quakers throughout the country,[2] and was of
so much concern to certain members of this sect in London that in
1787 they contributed five hundred pounds toward the support of this
school.[3] In 1789 the Quakers organized "The Society for the Free
Instruction of the Orderly Blacks and People of Color." Taking into
consideration the "many disadvantages which many well-disposed blacks
and people of color labored under from not being able to read, write,
or cast accounts, which would qualify them to act for themselves or
provide for their families," this society in connection with other
organizations established evening schools for the education of adults
of African blood.[4] It is evident then that with the exception of the
school of the Abolition Society organized in 1774, and the efforts
of a few other persons generally cooeperating like the anti-slavery
leaders with the Quakers, practically all of the useful education of
the colored people of this State was accomplished in their schools.
Philadelphia had seven colored schools in 1797.[5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., p. 251.]

[Footnote 2: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 42.]

[Footnote 3: Wickersham, _History of Ed. in Pa_., p. 252.]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_., p. 251.]

[Footnote 5: Turner, _The Negro in Pa_., p. 128.]

The next decade was of larger undertakings.[1] The report of the
Pennsylvania Abolition Society of 1801 shows that there had been an
increasing interest in Negro education. For this purpose the society
had raised funds to the amount of $530.50 per annum for three
years.[2] In 1803 certain other friends of the cause left for this
purpose two liberal benefactions, one amounting to one thousand
dollars, and the other to one thousand pounds.[3] With these
contributions the Quakers and Abolitionists erected in 1809 a handsome
building valued at four thousand dollars. They named it Clarkson Hall
in honor of the great friend of the Negro race.[4] In 1807 the Quakers
met the needs of the increasing population of the city by fo