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Memory stream Dipping into Philadelphia's illustrated past

In April 1907, a wealthy Quaker woman from Philadelphia donated $1 million to improve African American education. Anna T. Jeanes lived a very unostentatious life in the city and gave much of her inherited wealth to local schools, such as the Spring Garden Institute and Friends organizations. At the age of 80, Jeanes decided to put $1 million toward the establishment

Booker T. Washington, president of Tuskegee Institute, was appointed one of the trustees of the Fund for Rudimentary Schools for Southern Negroes.
Booker T. Washington, president of Tuskegee Institute, was appointed one of the trustees of the Fund for Rudimentary Schools for Southern Negroes.Read moreHistorical Society of Pennsylvania
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In April 1907, a wealthy Quaker woman from Philadelphia donated $1 million to improve African American education.

Anna T. Jeanes lived a very unostentatious life in the city and gave much of her inherited wealth to local schools, such as the Spring Garden Institute and Friends organizations. At the age of 80, Jeanes decided to put $1 million toward the establishment of the Fund for Rudimentary Schools for Southern Negroes. According to newspapers, the money was to be devoted "toward the maintenance and assistance of community, country, and rural schools for colored people in the United States."

Her gift was thought to be the largest single amount ever given to African American education at the time. It received national attention, and the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, in its minutes of April 1907, expressed its "great appreciation" for Jeanes' gift. Booker T. Washington - educator, author, and president of Tuskegee Institute - was named a trustee of the fund, which was used to rejuvenate small educational facilities.

When Jeanes passed away later that year, her gift was administered by Washington and educator Hollis B. Frissell, along with a group of several state representatives, including Talcott Williams from Philadelphia, James C. Napier from Nashville, and Andrew Carnegie from New York.

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