Education

Education. . , Education emerged as one of the most highly valued benefits of freedom for African Americans. While Springfield members conducted clandestine schools for black students before the Civil War, one of the first openly acknowledged schools for African Americans emerged at the corner of Ellis and Campbell (9th) Streets following Emancipation., In 1867, Springfield Baptist Church members established and supported Augusta Baptist Institute, which later emerged as Morehouse College decades after the school moved to Atlanta in 1879., In 1880, the Springfield community witnessed the formation of Ware High School, the first publicly funded high school for African Americans in the state of Georgia. Ware enjoyed years of success and produced some of Augusta's leading African American citizens. In the 1899 Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education decision, the United States Supreme Court supported the closing of Ware High School, prompting protests from African American citizens., (captions) , Dr. Joseph T. Robert was the first president of the Augusta Baptist Institute, later Morehouse College. Courtesy of the University of Iowa. Date: circa 1860s, Richard R. Wright was the first Principal of Ware High School. Courtesy of Savannah State University. Date: 1894, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows location of Ware High School. Courtesy of Historic Augusta, Inc. Inc. Date: 1830