Mary J.C. Anderson was an African American teacher who taught at the Havre de Grace colored school from at least 1865 to 1868[1]. Anderson’s life before she moved to Maryland is not fully known, but she was likely born in Pennsylvania in 1845 and named after her mother, Mary Anderson.[2] By 1860, the younger Anderson and her family, which consisted of 7 siblings, were living in Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward.[3] While it is unclear what year she left Pennsylvania, it is known that by 1864, Anderson was spending time in Harford County, Maryland. There she secured subscriptions to the Philadelphia Christian Recorder among several Harford residents, including William Bond, Stephen Wilson, and Joseph Peaco.[4]

On May 23, 1865, the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People opened the school at Havre de Grace, with Mary J.C. Anderson as the sole teacher. During the school’s first few months of operation, Anderson was responsible for the education of 70 pupils.[5] By October of that same year, attendance had dropped to 45 students due to sickness among the local children. Even so, the young teacher heaped praise upon her charges, writing: “It is not as I feared it would be, they have not grown careless now that the novelty has worn off, but still manifest quite a decided interest in the School…I am happy to be able to say that they improve in their studies quite fast, with a few exceptions, and are very punctual and obedient.”[6]

For her part, Anderson committed herself fully to the education of all Black residents. When students were unable to pay for their books, their teacher provided the necessary supplies at her own expense. In addition to her day school, Anderson also operated a night school from 8 pm to 10:30 pm. This endeavor primarily served adult pupils who worked at the local wharf late into the evening. Describing her adult students as “orderly, quiet, and studious,” Anderson excitedly reported that 24 of her 32 pupils were able to “read and spell very well.”[7]

In spite of her dedication to the community, segments of Harford’s white population harbored feelings of hostility towards the educator. Sometime during her first year of teaching under the Baltimore Association, Anderson was confronted by a group of men: “I was one evening returning from School with my port-folio in my hand, was met by several young white men, in a half intoxicated state, they pulled the folio from my hand and went off with it…the book was afterward recovered, but minus the papers.”[8] This encounter, it seems, passed without any harm to Anderson’s body; subsequent incidents, however, were significantly more violent.

On October 24, 1866, the young teacher was again confronted by a group of white men –  perhaps even the same ones who had taken her portfolio. This time, though, Anderson suffered an assault upon her body which resulted in her falling to the ground. Once there, the teenager who had initiated the attack, Robert Galloway, kicked Anderson several times. In an act of resistance, the young woman proclaimed that her attacker “was no gentleman” as he walked away. In response, Galloway “returned and kicked her again, beating her with his fist over the head” and ended the encounter by “aiming his gun at her in a threatening manner and snapping it.”[9] In addition to $100 in medical expenses, Anderson spent several days at home recuperating from the attack.[10]

Almost immediately, the teacher reported the incident to the authorities. Upon advice from a local judge, Anderson presented her complaint to the Harford grand jury, which quickly dismissed the case.[11] Unphased by this miscarriage of justice, Anderson decided to sue Robert Galloway’s father, Moses Galloway, in Baltimore’s Circuit Court. The trial took place on Friday, November 8, 1867. One witness, though called by the defense, testified to seeing the teenager shove and kick Anderson. With such damning evidence, perhaps no one was surprised when the jury returned a verdict in favor of the young woman. The amount of damages awarded to Anderson, however, was clearly meant to send a message in favor of racial intimidation and white supremacy: of the $5,000 sought by Anderson, the jury awarded only one cent.[12]

Unfortunately, this legal defeat was not Anderson’s first. On May 4, 1866, Anderson and her friend, Ellen Garrison Jackson, traveled to Baltimore to visit a friend and do some shopping. Upon completing their business the following day, the two women arrived at a depot for the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Company, where they settled into a ladies waiting room.[13] Soon after, a janitor at the depot informed the pair that, although the area was meant for ladies, it was “not the room for them.” After refusing to leave, Anderson and Jackson were ejected from the space by Adam Smyzer, one of the Railroad Company’s special officers.[14] Although the two teachers were eventually able to board a train and leave Baltimore, the women were left “with the impression that we had been outrageously abused, and insulted and hurt also.”[15]

Jackson reported the incident to a Freedmen’s Bureau official, which resulted in Smyzer’s arrest on May 15. Almost immediately, the railroad employee was released on security in anticipation of a criminal trial.[16] Anderson and Jackson, along with the colored people of Baltimore, were resolved to see the case through to the end in order to test the limits of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.[17] Enacted just one month before the two teachers were removed from the depot’s waiting room, the bill was the first to assert the citizenship of all African Americans born in the United States. Additionally, the act also established the violation of Black civil rights to be a misdemeanor crime punishable by fines and jail time.[18] Refusing to settle out of court, Anderson and Jackson believed their case to be ideal for settling the question of whether or not Black Americans had civil rights.[19] Unfortunately, for reasons that are still not entirely known, the case was dismissed on July 8, 1866.[20]

Throughout these legal battles, Anderson remained committed to developing educational opportunities for her pupils. When construction began in 1867 on a two-story schoolhouse in Havre de Grace, Anderson did her part to ensure the project’s success. In August of that year, the teacher sent communications to the Freedmen’s Bureau on behalf of W. W. Windham and George L. Forester, the mason and painter contracted to work on the building.[21] A few months later, Anderson requested springs for the schoolhouse’s windows in order to increase ventilation.[22] Finally, just a few weeks after the trial against the Galloways, a dedication ceremony was held celebrating the completion of the building.[23] When the time came to name the new school, the community quickly settled on a solution: the Anderson Institute.[24] While it is not known how the young teacher reacted to this honor, it can be imagined that Anderson, who was still in her early twenties, was touched by the gesture.

It is not known what Anderson’s life in Harford looked like in the months following the school’s dedication. By October 1868, Anderson had returned to Philadelphia, where she awaited her next teaching assignment.[25] By November, she had opened the colored school at Port Deposit, Maryland – the same school that had previously been led by her friend, Ellen Garrison Jackson.[26] Anderson appears to have continued to teach here until September 1869.[27] Somewhat abruptly, however, the school was assigned to Mary Watson in November of that same year.[28]

In January 1870, Anderson reached out to her contacts at the Freedmen’s Bureau requesting transportation to Florida for a teaching job she had been offered in Palatka. The Bureau promptly denied her request, explaining that “the appropriation for that purpose [had] been exhausted.”[29] Three months later, Anderson found a new job closer to home in the town of Pisgah, Maryland.[30] She remained there until at least June 1870 but, despite expressing a desire to stay in Pisgah and help the townspeople complete their school,[31] was reassigned to Chestertown in October.[32] After closing the Chestertown school for summer break at the end of June 1871,[33] Anderson traveled to Brooklyn, New York where she remained through the end of the year.[34]

It is at this point in her life, in the months following her time at Chestertown, that Anderson’s career experienced significant change. Initially, the experienced educator asked her former employer, the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, for letters of recommendation to help her secure a teaching position in Washington.[35] This endeavor was apparently met with limited success since, three months later, Anderson inquired about being re-employed by the Society.[36] By December 1871, the young woman had again found a teaching position for herself, this time in Shreveport. She wrote to the Society once more, asking her former employer to cover her transportation costs to Louisiana.[37]

A contact for the Aid Society responded to her inquiry with a promise of $160, but only on the condition that she return to Maryland’s Eastern Shore.[38] To this, Anderson agreed, until she received a letter from Louisiana’s Superintendent of Schools indicating her travel would be expensed by her new employer. Feeling that “her circumstances [justified] her accepting [the] offer,” Anderson resigned her position with the New England Freedmen's Aid Society.[39]

While no documentation has been found confirming Anderson’s relocation to Louisiana, one record from 1875 could indicate that the teacher eventually made her way back to Harford County. In a report by the State Board of Education, a “Mary J. Anderson” is listed as having taught at School #2 in District 1 for the fall semester of 1875.[40] Although much uncertainty exists about Anderson’s life after 1871, one thing is known for sure: Mary J.C. Anderson shared her passion for Black education wherever she went.

By Stephanie Martinez

[1] Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, First Annual Report of the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, (Baltimore: MD, 1865): pp 6-7.

[2] “1850 United States Census, Southwark, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,” “Mary Anderson,” Family Search, Entry for Mary Anderson and Eliza Anderson, 1850.

[3] “1860 United States Census, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,” “Mary Anderson,” Family Search, Entry for Mary A Johnson and Eliza Johnson, 1860.

[4] “Acknowledgements,” The Christian Recorder (Philadelphia, PA), September 17, 1864, Center for Research Libraries.

[5] First Annual Report of the Baltimore Association, 7.

[6] Mary J.C. Anderson to John T. Graham, October 31, 1865, in First Annual Report of the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, (Baltimore: MD, 1865), 26-27.

[7] Anderson to Graham, October 31, 1865.

[8] Anderson to Graham, October 31, 1865.

[9] Charles McDougall to Edward Knower, December 1, 1866, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[10] “Civil Rights Case in Baltimore - One Cent Awarded,” New York Times, November 13, 1867, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.

[11] McDougall to Knower, December 1, 1866.

[12] “Civil Rights Case in Baltimore - One Cent Awarded.”

[13] Ellen Garrison Jackson to W. E. Whiting, May 9, 1866, American Missionary Association Papers. Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA.

[14] “Another Civil Rights Case - Railroad Privileges to Colored Persons,” American and Commercial Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), May 16, 1866, America’s Historical Newspapers.

[15] Jackson to Whiting, May 9, 1866.

[16] “Local Matters - Colored Persons Claiming Equal Rights of Railroad Travel, etc.,” Baltimore Sun, May 17, 1866, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun.

[17] Ellen Garrison Jackson to S. Hunt, May 21, 1866, American Missionary Association Papers. Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA.

[18] “Civil Rights Act of 1866,” National Constitution Center, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/civil-rights-act-of-1866-april-9-1866-an-act-to-protect-all-persons-in-the-united-states-in-their-civil-rights-and-furnish-the-means-of-their-vindication.

[19] Jackson to Hunt, May 21, 1866.

[20] Jeanette Marantos, “Seeking its Black History, Altadena Gets a Surprise,” Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper, https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=3a80e8ba-e043-461f-85de-ac219cd6e8d1.

[21] Mary J.C. Anderson to Samuel J. Wright, August 13, 1867, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[22] Mary J.C. Anderson to Samuel J. Wright, October 16, 1867, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[23] William Howard Day, “Report of Schools in the District of Maryland and Delaware for Quarter Ending December 31, 1867,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[24] Harford County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, “Deed between Mt. Zion AME Church Trustees and Trustees of the Anderson Institute,” December 3, 1867, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[25] Robert R. Corson to Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association (Pennsylvania Branch, American Freedmen's Union Commission), October 17, 1868, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[26] Mary J.C. Anderson, “Teacher’s Monthly Report for the Month of November 1868,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[27] Robert R. Corson, “Schedule of Schools and Rental Accounts of the Pennsylvania Branch American Freedmen Commission for the Quarter Ending September 30, 1869, State of Maryland,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[28] Robert R. Corson, “Schedule of Schools and Rental Accounts of the Pennsylvania Branch American Freedmen’s Commission for the Quarter ending December 31, 1869, State of Maryland,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[29] Letter to Mary J.C. Anderson, January 4, 1870, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[30] Mary J.C. Anderson to W. L. Van Derlip, April 18, 1870, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[31] Mary J.C. Anderson to W. L. Van Derlip, June 6, 1870, Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[32] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Roster of Maryland Teachers, 1870-1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[33] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, July 5, 1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[34] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, December 23, 1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[35] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, July 12, 1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[36] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, October 9, 1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[37] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, December 6, 1871,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[38] J.S. Lowell to Mary J.C. Anderson, December 6, 1871, New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[39] New England Freedmen’s Aid Society, “Daily Journal, January 6,1872,” New England Freedmen's Aid Society records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[40] Maryland State Board of Education, Report of the State Board of Education Showing the Condition of the Public Schools of Maryland, For the year ending Sept. 30th, 1876, (Annapolis, MD: L. F. Colton & Co., 1877). https://archive.org/details/report00mary_10/page/172/mode/2up.