the school offers business and general courses. Like Palmer, both St. Francis and St. Frances are âuniform schools.â Unlike Palmer, however, St. Francis de Sales does not make music instruction mandatory, but charges extra for it. St. Francis de Sales is the sister school of the first black military school in America, St. Emma Academy, also in Rock Castle. In addition to the military, St. Emma, with its surrounding 1,700 acres of farmland, offers a complete agricultural course and has a trade school that teaches students to be automobile mechanics, cabinetmakers, carpenters and such. The two schools share social events, and have joint commencement exercises.
There are elite primary schools for blacks as well, and one of the most selective of these is the Junior Academy of Brooklyn, which takes childrenâmostly from Brooklyn and Manhattanâfrom nursery school through junior high school. âTo gain admittance, studentsmust be recommended either by the parent of a child in the school or by a church or one of the recognized organizations, such as Jack and Jill of America or the Business and Professional Women,â explains Mrs. Dorothy M. Bostic, who founded the Academy in the late 1940s. âMost of our students are the children of professionals. We always have a long waiting list for the earlier grades.â
For many years, boys and girls who attended such schools as the Junior Academy or Palmer or St. Francis de Sales were sent away to summer camp at the equally elitist Camp Atwater in East Brookfield, Massachusetts. Like Palmer, Camp Atwater had vaguely religious origins and was run by the Springfield Urban Leagueâsupposedly for the children of underprivileged blacks in the Springfield area. In fact, it turned out to be something very different, and âunderprivilegedâ children arrived at Camp Atwater in chauffeur-driven limousines from New York, New Jersey, Washington, and Philadelphia. The daughter of the president of Howard University was a camp counselor. Such families as the distinguished Dammonds from New York sent their children to Camp Atwater. (The Dammonds are descendants of Ellen Craft, a heroine from slave days; so fair was Ellen Craftâs skinâshe, the family claims, was a descendant of Thomas Jeffersonâthat she was able to disguise herself as a white man going north for medical treatment and to escape slavery in Georgia. Traveling with her was a âmanservantâ named William, who was actually Ellen Craftâs husband. They traveled to Boston in first class accommodations, and arrived in time to take part in a mass meeting against slavery at Faneuil Hall.)
Atwater, under the surveillance of a Reverend and Mrs. DuBarry of Springfield, was strictly run. July was for the girl campers, and August was for the boys. âWe all knew each other, and our parents all knew each other,â recalls one alumna of many July summers at Atwater. âI remember one afternoon, coming home from a canoe trip, and seeing all the girls from my cabin in a huddle down by the side of the lake. There was obviously some sort of crisis. It turned out that two little black-skinned girls from Springfield had arrived whom nobody knew. We didnât know who their parents were. They didnât look like us, dress like us, talk like us. We were sure they were covered with germs. We made them sleep in the center of the cabin, as far away from our bunks as we could get them.â
Far more important than where an upper-class black goes to prep school or camp has been which fraternity or sorority he or she joinsat college, or which club or fraternal order he or she joins afterward. In fact, black educators have often complained that, in terms of the Greek letter societies, upper-class black parents spend far more time and energy grooming and preparing their children for the social side of college life than they do for the academic side. On most college campuses, the most
There are elite primary schools for blacks as well, and one of the most selective of these is the Junior Academy of Brooklyn, which takes childrenâmostly from Brooklyn and Manhattanâfrom nursery school through junior high school. âTo gain admittance, studentsmust be recommended either by the parent of a child in the school or by a church or one of the recognized organizations, such as Jack and Jill of America or the Business and Professional Women,â explains Mrs. Dorothy M. Bostic, who founded the Academy in the late 1940s. âMost of our students are the children of professionals. We always have a long waiting list for the earlier grades.â
For many years, boys and girls who attended such schools as the Junior Academy or Palmer or St. Francis de Sales were sent away to summer camp at the equally elitist Camp Atwater in East Brookfield, Massachusetts. Like Palmer, Camp Atwater had vaguely religious origins and was run by the Springfield Urban Leagueâsupposedly for the children of underprivileged blacks in the Springfield area. In fact, it turned out to be something very different, and âunderprivilegedâ children arrived at Camp Atwater in chauffeur-driven limousines from New York, New Jersey, Washington, and Philadelphia. The daughter of the president of Howard University was a camp counselor. Such families as the distinguished Dammonds from New York sent their children to Camp Atwater. (The Dammonds are descendants of Ellen Craft, a heroine from slave days; so fair was Ellen Craftâs skinâshe, the family claims, was a descendant of Thomas Jeffersonâthat she was able to disguise herself as a white man going north for medical treatment and to escape slavery in Georgia. Traveling with her was a âmanservantâ named William, who was actually Ellen Craftâs husband. They traveled to Boston in first class accommodations, and arrived in time to take part in a mass meeting against slavery at Faneuil Hall.)
Atwater, under the surveillance of a Reverend and Mrs. DuBarry of Springfield, was strictly run. July was for the girl campers, and August was for the boys. âWe all knew each other, and our parents all knew each other,â recalls one alumna of many July summers at Atwater. âI remember one afternoon, coming home from a canoe trip, and seeing all the girls from my cabin in a huddle down by the side of the lake. There was obviously some sort of crisis. It turned out that two little black-skinned girls from Springfield had arrived whom nobody knew. We didnât know who their parents were. They didnât look like us, dress like us, talk like us. We were sure they were covered with germs. We made them sleep in the center of the cabin, as far away from our bunks as we could get them.â
Far more important than where an upper-class black goes to prep school or camp has been which fraternity or sorority he or she joinsat college, or which club or fraternal order he or she joins afterward. In fact, black educators have often complained that, in terms of the Greek letter societies, upper-class black parents spend far more time and energy grooming and preparing their children for the social side of college life than they do for the academic side. On most college campuses, the most
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