Founding , founder of Normal School for Colored Girls
Myrtilla Miner was a schoolteacher in Mississippi in the 1840s when she sought permission to conduct classes for African-American girls. After she was refused, she spent several years contemplating founding a school of her own. She moved to Washington, D.C., where she received encouragement from
Henry Ward Beecher and funding from a
Quaker philanthropist. She also faced opposition: from Washington Mayor
Walter Lenox, who believed that education would make Blacks a "restless population", and from local white residents. "She met with opposition and some violence, but finally triumphed," the abolitionist newspaper
The National Era would remark in 1857. On December 3, 1851,''' and its six pupils began classes in a rented room about 14 feet square, in a frame house then owned and occupied as a dwelling by African American Edward Younger. Its emphasis from the outset was on training teachers, although it also offered primary schooling and classes in domestic skills. It was the first
normal school in the District of Columbia and the fourth in the United States. In addition to rigorous academic training, Miner stressed
hygiene and nature study.Miner raised $2,000 ($ today) and borrowed $2,000 more to build the school's first building, a wood-frame structure behind the British legation on 20th Street NW, near New Hampshire Avenue NW just south of
Dupont Circle. As it grew, the school was forced to move three times in its first two years, but in 1854, it settled on a 3-acre (1.2-hectare) lot with a house and barn on the city's edge. Around this time,
Emily Edmonson enrolled in the school. To help protect the school and those involved with it, the Edmonson family took up residence on the grounds, and both Emily Edmonson and Myrtilla Miner learned to
shoot. In 1856, the school came under the care of a board of trustees, among whom were Beecher and wealthy Quaker
Johns Hopkins. Others included Benjamin Tatham of New York; Samuel M. Janney of
Loudoun County, Virginia; Samuel Rhoads and Thomas Williamson, Philadelphia; G. Bailey and L. D. Gale, Washington; H.W. Bellows, New York; C. E. Stowe, Andover. Its executive committee was B.J. Bowen, J.M. Wilson, and L.D. Gale, of Washington; Principal Miner; and Secretary William H. Beecher of Reading. By 1857, Miner's failing health had reduced her connection with the school, and activist, teacher, and philanthropist
Emily Howland was in charge. By 1858, six former students were teaching in schools of their own. In 1860, the school was closed, and the next year, Miner went to California to regain her health.
Refounding During the
American Civil War, on March 3, 1863, the
United States Senate granted the school a charter as the "Institution for the Education of Colored Youth" and named a board of directors: Miner,
Henry Addison, John C. Underwood, George C. Abbott,
William H. Channing, and Nancy M. Johnson. Miner returned to D.C. in 1864 but died shortly afterward. In August 1879, renamed
Miner Normal School, it became part of the
District of Columbia public school system. It was housed, briefly it seems, in the
Charles Sumner School building at 1201 17th Street NW. By 1880, the school had moved to 1526 17th Street NW, to the east of Dupont Circle. The principal was Miss M.B. Briggs and the graduating class had 15 students.In March 1890, an item in the
Evening Star said, "
T.F. Schneider, A.T. Britton and other property owners in the vicinity of the Miner school, on 17th street near Q, was referred to the board by the District Commissioners. The petitioners ask that the schools in that building be not continued there after the close of the present school year in view of the many improvements being made in that locality and the objection of many who have or intend to have houses in the vicinity of the school. The petition was referred to the trustees of the seventh division for report."
College era In 1913, the school built a
Colonial Revival and Georgian Revival-style building on
Georgia Avenue NW. It was designed by
Leon E. Dessez and
Snowden Ashford. Miner Teachers College and its predecessors were instrumental in the development of the black school system in the district between the 1890s and the 1950s and held a virtual monopoly on teaching jobs in black schools during that period. Many graduates found jobs in black school districts in other parts of the country, expanding the influence of the Miner school beyond the district. In 1976, after additional incorporations, the school was renamed
University of the District of Columbia. ==Building==