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Name
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Hannah Highgate
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Biographical Information
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Hannah Highgate was an African American woman from Syracuse, N.Y., born around 1820. She and her husband Charles were active in the abolition movement and prepared their six children to be active in advancing the cause of their race.
In April, 1864, with the Civil War still unresolved, Hannah wrote to the American Missionary Association regarding her desire to teach in the liberated areas of the South. Her eldest daughter Edmonia was already engaged in this field. “I have long desired,” she wrote, “to do something for my people who have been less fortunate than myself.” She offered her services to the A.M.A. as a matron or assistant teacher. It was only in April, 1865, that Hannah Highgate arrived to teach at Darlington, replacing her daughter Edmonia, who had resigned after starting the school a month earlier in favor of seeking a posting farther south. On July 5, 1865, she reported that the school was “progressing finely.” In August, she was compelled to close the school for a few weeks to allow for the berry picking season. Around the end of that month, Hannah left the school. Although the trustees had wished to remain, she informed the A.M.A. that she was not willing to manage the fall term on her own. This suggests that she may have had previously had the help of her daughter Willella, who is known to have taught at Darlington at some point in 1865.
In 1872, the A.M.A. gifted a portrait bust to Hannah Highgate, presumably in recognition of her service. She was unable to come to Philadelphia to collect it in person, and requested it be sent to her current residence in Albany, N.Y.
