Grimble Bell School

Grimble Bell School
Location
Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States
Information
Other name	Grimble Bell School for Free Negroes
Established	c. 1830s
Closed	1860

Grimble Bell School (1830s–1860), was a segregated private school in Washington, Louisiana, United States, for African American students. It was the earliest African American school in the St. Landry Parish, founded in the 1830s, and shut down in 1860 by White vigilantes.^[1][2][3]

Early educational opportunities for local Black students, like at the Grimble Bell School of the 1830s, were almost exclusively available to only the children of wealthy free people of color.^[4][5] Tuition cost fifteen dollars, and the school had up to 125 students enrolled at its peak.^[1][2] Subjects taught in the classes included history, bookkeeping, arithmetic, writing, English, French, and Latin.^[1]

See also

• Opelousas massacre (1868)

References

1. Hartley, Carola Lillie (February 22, 2020). "Parlons Opelousas: History of African American education in Opelousas". Daily World. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
2. Dormon, James H. (1996). Creoles of Color of the Gulf South. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 73, 79. ISBN 978-0-87049-917-3.
3. Neidenbach, Elizabeth Clark (April 28, 2011). "Free People of Color from the Early American Period through the Civil War". 64 Parishes. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
4. Hartley, Carola (2022-02-22). "Tidbits of Opelousas History". St. Landry Now. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
5. Mignon, Francois (1971-09-20). "Plantation Memo: Planters of Color". The Town Talk. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-02-20 – via Newspapers.com.