While in power for only one term (1896-1900), the Maryland Republican Party officials “were correct in claiming that they had made greater appropriations for public education than any previous administration,” wrote Margaret Law Callcott in "The Negro in Maryland Politics, 1870-1912." And, the students at Mt. Nebo Colored School in Queen Ann Town were some of the beneficiaries of those changes. Here is an account:
By sunrise, after finishing chores on his farm, John W. “Big Dirty” Brown routinely travelled to Mulliken to pick up the mail. He usually returned to Queen Anne Town along Collington Road, coaxing his team of horses around the corner onto Queen Anne Bridge Road, then slowed as he drew near to the home of Dr. William Lane Watkins and his wife, Jane Ellen (Jennie). She would always be standing out front with the keys, awaiting his arrival.
“Big Dirty” unloaded some wooden crates from his wagon, addressed to Dr. Watkins, along with the locked box, filled with the usual piles of letters and advertisements. As Post Mistress, Jane Ellen would take it from there: the postal box would be (get) unlocked, and the mail sorted and readied for Jim Roberts, who carried it around to the mailboxes in Queen Anne Town.
He used a crowbar to open the nailed wooden boxes to find brand new books for the students at Mt. Nebo Colored School. The crowd was both surprised and joyful, almost worshipful.
The wooden crates, stacked on the porch, however, stood idle most of the day, immediately arousing the attention of neighbors and passersby alike. Speculation abound.
Family and neighbors quickly congregated for the unveiling soon after Dr. Watkins returned to his home that evening. He used a crowbar to open the nailed wooden boxes to find brand new books for the students at Mt. Nebo Colored School. The crowd was both surprised and joyful, almost worshipful.
Dr. Watkins had been teaching at Mt. Nebo for almost twenty years by 1896. At no time before had he been able to distribute new books to all of his students, free of charge. He was elated, but also realized, that the revered books symbolized both a political victory and, ironically, a badge of honor for a growing constituency who wanted to reinforce the notion of a “separate but equal” society. He did not share his thoughts with the crowd, but joined in the celebration.
The books were the direct result of the stunning Republican victory in the 1895 elections. Led by Governor Lloyd Lowndes, Jr., the Republican Party was now in total control in Annapolis, having trampled Democrats, ending that party’s thirty-year political domination in Maryland. Historians credited high turn-out and massive Negro (male) support in the southern and eastern counties of the state for the stunning Republican victory.
Prior to 1896, both White and colored children were required to pay for their own books. Now, for the first time, the Maryland General Assembly appropriated funds to provide free textbooks for all students in all grades regardless of need. As a result, school enrollment increased in every county.
How Maryland Colored Schools Finally Got Free Books
Praising the Past
Republicans also provided incentives to the counties to initiate industrial education in public schools. Although not widely known, another bill was enacted that “compelled the counties to maintain equal-length school terms for Negroes and whites, or forfeit all state school support.” That meant that the number of school days for colored students was no longer dictated by an agricultural calendar, but would be extended from the customary 7 ½-month school year to 10 months.
To Watkins, the changes made by the Republicans were significant, but did not address the wide disparities in public education for colored students in Maryland.
Dr. Watkins was a Republican; a loyalist to the “Party of Emancipation,” and a voter, thanks to the Fifteenth Amendment. He, like many other Black men in Prince George’s County at the time, had become a political activist. Over time, he became an elected leader of the local Republican Party Central Committee, as well as a delegate to state party conventions. He and his comrades intended to work within the Republican Party structure to advance the position of the Negro despite set-backs caused by intra-party division, trickery and unfulfilled promises.
To Watkins, the changes made by the Republicans were significant, but did not address the wide disparities in public education for colored students in Maryland, such as disproportionate state and local funding for schools; unequal salaries for Negro teachers; restricted access to an education beyond 6th grade, especially for rural students; limited training for Negro teachers.
After the resurgence of the Democratic Party in 1900 and the swift institutionalization of “separate but equal” ideology, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, few Negroes expected any change in their means to empowerment: political power, civil rights, and access to higher education, concepts advocated by W.E.B. DuBois.
Note: Jane Ellen Turner Watkins served as Queen Anne Town’s Post Mistress (ca 1890-1910) until the post office was moved to Mitchellville, Maryland around 1911. She and her father-in-law, William H. Watkins, whom she presumably never met, had one thing in common: she was a postal employee in Maryland, he, a “City Messenger” (postal carrier) in New Bedford, MA (ca 1860-1875).
Tales from Historic Mount Nebo Series is an ongoing series of stories about people connected to the historic Mount Nebo African American Episcopal Church, Cemetery, and/or Colored School in Bowie, Maryland. Click the link below for the original story and for links to this and other stories in the series.
Black Lives Matter in Death, Too – Mt. Nebo AME Preserves Historic Cemetery
To Watkins, the changes made by the Republicans were significant, but did not address the wide disparities in public education for colored students in Maryland.
Dr. Watkins was a Republican; a loyalist to the “Party of Emancipation,” and a voter, thanks to the Fifteenth Amendment. He, like many other Black men in Prince George’s County at the time, had become a political activist. Over time, he became an elected leader of the local Republican Party Central Committee, as well as a delegate to state party conventions. He and his comrades intended to work within the Republican Party structure to advance the position of the Negro despite set-backs caused by intra-party division, trickery and unfulfilled promises.
To Watkins, the changes made by the Republicans were significant, but did not address the wide disparities in public education for colored students in Maryland, such as disproportionate state and local funding for schools; unequal salaries for Negro teachers; restricted access to an education beyond 6th grade, especially for rural students; limited training for Negro teachers.
After the resurgence of the Democratic Party in 1900 and the swift institutionalization of “separate but equal” ideology, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, few Negroes expected any change in their means to empowerment: political power, civil rights, and access to higher education, concepts advocated by W.E.B. DuBois.
Note: Jane Ellen Turner Watkins served as Queen Anne Town’s Post Mistress (ca 1890-1910) until the post office was moved to Mitchellville, Maryland around 1911. She and her father-in-law, William H. Watkins, whom she presumably never met, had one thing in common: she was a postal employee in Maryland, he, a “City Messenger” (postal carrier) in New Bedford, MA (ca 1860-1875).
Tales from Historic Mount Nebo Series is an ongoing series of stories about people connected to the historic Mount Nebo African American Episcopal Church, Cemetery, and/or Colored School in Bowie, Maryland. Click the link below for the original story and for links to this and other stories in the series.
Black Lives Matter in Death, Too – Mt. Nebo AME Preserves Historic Cemetery
follow us on
Advertisers | Contact Us | Events | Links | Media Kit | Our Company | Payments Pier
Press Room | Print Cover Stories Archives | Electronic Issues and Talk Radio Archives | Writer's Guidelines