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Biography

Edmonia Highgate

  • Activism
  • Education
  • Women's Voices
  • Slavery & Abolition, 1800-1860
Photograph of African American children dressed in school uniforms and seated outside in three rows of benches.

Edmonia G. Highgate

Though no portrait of her exists, Edmonia would have taught students in a schoolhouse such as this.

Edmonia Goodelle Highgate was an educator, writer, and activist during the Reconstruction Era. Born in Syracuse, New York in 1844, she was the eldest daughter of seven children by Charles and Hannah Francis Highgate. Edmonia graduated from Syracuse High School with honors in 1861. At age 17, she was the school’s first Black graduate. Highgate later earned a teaching certificate from the Syracuse Board of Education.

Though no portrait of her exists, Edmonia would have taught students in a schoolhouse such as this.

Joining the American Missionary Association

Teachers of the American Missionary Association at Slater Training School in Knoxville, Tennessee.

After completing her education, Highgate left home to join the American Missionary Association (AMA). The AMA was a Protestant abolitionist group founded in New York in 1846. Their ultimate mission was to promote racial equality, the abolishment of slavery, education of African Americans, and Christianity. As a teacher for the organization, she traveled to Mississippi in 1868 and other states throughout the South such as Virginia, Maryland, and Louisiana.

Teachers of the American Missionary Association at Slater Training School in Knoxville, Tennessee.

A Dangerous Occupation

While teaching African American children in New Orleans, Louisiana, Edmonia G. Highgate often faced violent opposition because of her educational efforts and her support of integrated schools. In an 1866 letter to an associate at the American Missionary Association, she shares the dangers posed to those in her profession and students alike who are in pursuit of an education, crediting God for her protection. Edmonia also wrote about her experiences in several newspapers, including the Christian Recorder.

Handwritten letter on off white paper.

Letter written by Edmonia G. Highgate to Reverend M.E. Strieby.

Twice I have been shot at in my room. . . But I trust fearlessly in God and am safe.

Edmonia G. Highgate, 1866

Teaching the Freedmen

A class photo of students at the Hosanna School Museum.

In 1865, Edmonia G. Highgate briefly stayed in Harford County, Maryland where she taught her first class in the Hosanna AME Church building. The Hosanna School was established soon after in 1867 as the first of the four Freedmen’s Bureau schoolhouses in the county. The property was originally owned by a free African American man named Cupid Paca who bought the 50 acres of land it was built on in 1822. Today, the history of the institution is preserved at the Hosanna School Museum.

A class photo of students at the Hosanna School Museum.

Preserving Black Schoolhouses

Screenshot from a news video showing an African American woman wearing glasses (Dr. Iris, the director of the Hosanna School Museum) seated at a wooden classroom desk.

MarylandPaul Gessler of WJZ-TV CBS Baltimore reports on the preservation of Black schoolhouses in Maryland, including the Hosanna School Museum in Harford County and the Elkton Colored School in Cecil County.

Screenshot of Hosanna School video

WJZ-TV CBS Baltimore

A Legacy of Educational Freedom

National Convention of Colored People, Nashville, Tennessee

Edmonia G. Highgate advocated for education outside the classroom. She organized the Louisiana Educational Relief Association for Black children. She also wrote about her experiences as an educator in several newspapers, including the Christian Recorder.

As one of the few Black women at local and national Colored Conventions, Highgate gave unifying and devout speeches on faith, freedom, and equal rights in education. Although Highgate largely went unrecognized for her contributions, she continued to fight for the right to learn until her untimely death in 1870 at age 26.

National Convention of Colored People, Nashville, Tennessee

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