Mo’ Charters Mo’ Problems
The historical documents found on this website are primary sources: historical records produced in one moment in time, that help us understand that moment in time.
school facilities
Focus on Learning, excerpt
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Parents Protest for School Transportation
In early 1979, the Board of Education decided to change the rules for private bus operators in a way that would have lowered wages for many drivers.
Statement by Martin H. Gerry, Director, Office for Civil Rights, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, excerpts
In 1977, the New York City Board of Education was the focus of the “largest civil rights investigation of a public educational institution ever undertaken.
Hart v. Community School Board 21, excerpt 1
Jeffrey Hart was a student at Mark Twain Junior High School in Brooklyn.
Evelina Antonetty and United Bronx Parents Protest School Lunch
In 1969, parents in the South Bronx were concerned about what their children ate at school.
Fifteen Demands of Black and Puerto Rican Students
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Check Your School!
Ella Baker was an influential organizer in New York City struggles against segregated schools, police brutality, voting restrictions, and more.
Underwriting Manual, excerpt
As part of the New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the National Housing Act of 1934.
Hotel Pennsylvania Meeting Learns of Harlem School Ills
On April 16, 1937, Lucile Spence and the Teachers Union of New York organized a conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania in downtown Manhattan to discuss schools in Harlem.
New York City’s Schools and What They Cost
At the beginning of the 20th century, New York City required more and more students to attend school and prohibited them from working.
Public School 47
New York City’s Public School 47 opened in 1908.
Elizabeth Farrell and Ungraded Classes
Special education classes for children with intellectual disabilities were pioneered in New York City by a social welfare reformer, Elizabeth Farrell.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cisco
Photography has an important place in African American history.
The Elsberg Bill Signed
Mrs. Cisco’s activism brought attention to segregated schooling in New York, and the state adopted a new law that ended legal segregation in schools.
Cisco on Trial in Queens
Samuel B. Cisco, a Black man, lived in Jamaica, in Queens County.
Grammar School No. 33, New York City, Assembled for Morning Exercises
New York City’s rapid growth in the 1880s and 1890s meant a dramatically increasing number of children in the city, and in schools.