39. Lucy Colman School Site

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Type: Unmarked Location Involved: Colman, Lucy N.
Location: Favor Street, Rochester, NY Cause: Abolition

Residing in Rochester by the mid-1800s, Lucy Colman briefly accepted employment at an all-black "colored school." In her autobiography she said the school was based in an "African church" in "a low part of town." Disgusted at its segregation, Colman contends that she secretly persuaded so many parents to withdraw their children that the school closed the year after she joined its staff.

While the exact location of this church and school are unknown, a review of Rochester-history documents suggests that the colored school's only permanent location was in connection with an African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) church on Favor Street, a short street now just south of the I-490 Inner Loop and just east of Ford Street.

Anyone having more detailed knowledge about this school (or possessing independent documentation of Colman's extraordinary claim of having singlehandedly closed it) is invited to contact Trail management at tflynn@centerforinquiry.net.