Segregation at Home
A History of School Segregation in Glassboro and Pitman, New Jersey
TW/CW
Much of Elsmere, a Black enclave in Glassboro, NJ, no longer exists. It once housed a school for Black students from not only Glassboro, but from neighboring towns. Prior to 1917 there is no evidence of students being deliberately segregated. But, following angry reactions to the film Birth of a Nation in 1915, segregating schools soon became a point of contention among white residents.
Glassboro forged ahead of neighboring towns by providing free public education to all students, and in 1908 it built its own high school. Without a high school of their own, local towns Clayton, Mullica Hill, Richwood, Pitman, Williamstown, and Franklinville all sent their students seeking higher education to Glassboro. Pitman had 31 students enrolled in grades 9-12 in 1912.
On 22 Feb 1917, the grammar school on Academy Street built to house the rising student population was burnt down while school was in session. Less than one month following the torching of Glassboro’s Association Hall across the street, arson was suspected but never proven. Grammar students were then incorporated into various buildings, with grades 3-8 put into the high school. To accommodate this merger, split sessions were made with the younger students taught in the morning, and the high schoolers in the afternoon. Sometime between 1917-1919 all Black and Irish students were pushed out of Richwood School further increasing volume.
Following the fire, a situation was created where Black students could be segregated and taught in sub par conditions. Lacking sufficient resources, books, and desks, dissatisfaction was soon expressed by their families. Upon a failing inspection by the Superintendent of the 2 rented rooms above a glass factory being used, lengthy board talks resulted in the decision to rent new space for the “colored students”. At the same time, Mullica Hill and Swedesboro were in talks to establish their own all-black schools, with other districts creating segregated classes within their buildings.
In August 1920, the school board accepted a donated plot of 125 ft by 175 ft between Washington and Jerell Streets. With the cheapest bid of $8349 accepted by Glassboro Council, a 2 room all-black school opened its doors December 20th. It did not contain any electricity, plumbing or bathrooms, and its only source of heat was 2 pot belly stoves. Temperatures regularly did not exceed 50 degrees, and with temps recorded as low as 30 degrees along with a shortage of coal, school was cancelled several times that first winter. This was a common theme in any of the remaining rented school rooms for colored students.
*It should be noted in July 1919, Glassboro awarded an $82,000 contract to replace the burnt down grammar school on Academy Street.
Many students walked to school and those inside of Glassboro districts walked up to 2 1/2 miles each way. By February of 1921, Black attendance reached a low point. Receiving complaints, the Board of Education elected to employ a trucking service within Glassboro boundaries that was reported to regularly not arrive to take the children home.
Elsmere School built 1928, located 801 Ellis St Glassboro, NJ 08028
The new 2 room “Colored School” known as South Glassboro School soon reached compacity and lacked supplies. At the start of the 1923-24 school year it reached 91 students, and by Nov 1923 it reached 108. In Feb 1924, Elk Township was informed they could no longer send their colored students to Glassboro pushing them to rent space in a local Black church. By October 1927 after long delayed proceedings and $22,000 in secured bonds, a new 6 room grammar school was to be built near Elsmere Park for the 1928-29 school year.
Unlke the elementary grades, Glassboro High School was never officially segregated. At the time it was not uncommon for black students to learn a trade following 8th grade rather than attend high school. Trades typically involved domestic work or labor.
In 1949 New Jersey Desegregation Laws finally outlawed racial discrimination. Local townships were instructed to stop referring their Black students out to Elsmere, and those in Glassboro could enroll elsewhere within the district. By 1983, Elsmere School was officially closed as a grammar school and turned into a trade school offering GED classes.
Courier-Post Camden, NJ 15 Aug 1922
In 1921 Pitman had 52 enrolled in Woodbury and 63 in Glassboro. Prompted by Woodbury declaring they would no longer house Pitman students and Glassboro refusing any additional, Pitman was forced into a corner. With approximately 800 K-8 students in Pitman in Nov 1921 and an anticipated 1000 by the opening of a new high school, Pitman broke ground on a $225,000 building in Aug 1922 to open for the 1923 school year. This building is where Pitman Middle School now resides.
When researching Pitman’s role in school segregation, there is little to find because there were few Black residents at that time. According to the 1920 census, 27 Black individuals resided within Pitman’s borders, with only 6 born in New Jersey. This was up from 12 registered in 1910, 9 of whom were live-in servants, and zero in 1900.
Of those 27 Black residents in 1920, 11 were boarders working as servants or hired men, 2 of which were employed at the Pitman Hotel. There were 4 married couples, 3 with no children registered, 2 with their husbands listed as cement workers for the railroad, and 1 a servant couple. 6 were under the age of 18, with the majority employed, and only 2 under the age of 12. The family with 3 children had their address listed simply “The Gravel Pit.” 25 were registered as either a boarder or renter, with only one married couple listed as owning or mortgaging their home. That home was near Andbro Dr, and close by other Black families renting on Muriel and Elwood Aves.
By the 1930 Census there are 60 Black residents, but in 1940 only 45 and 1 woman listed specifically as 1/4 Black. By 1950 it had risen to 49. It is clear by these reports many Black residents were living in the home of their employer, and any children being raised in a family did not grow up to remain living in Pitman.
Not until the fall of 1936 did Pitman High School receive its first 3 Black students. One of those students would grow up to become Tuskegee Airman David H. Hinton; who walked to school from his family’s home in Sewell. He wrote in his autobiography that he would fantasize about growing up and living in one of Pitman’s homes he would regularly walk past. He accomplished a great many things in his life, but sadly that was not one of them.
To learn more about Elsmere, PARC recommends reading The History of Elsmere, African American Life in Glassboro, NJ by Robert P Tucker. It can be found at Words Matter Bookstore.
To read more on David H Hinton’s life, we recommend his autobiography We Kept Them Flying. It is out of print, but second hand copies can be found at various online sites.
Pitman demographics thru 2020, can be found here.
