the Harlem school where Gertrude Elise MacDougald Ayer taught
From The New York Age, January 10, 1920, p.2. Newspapers.com.
One hundred years ago today, The New York Age, a weekly devoted to its Harlem neighborhood and New York’s African American population, ran a front-page story about P.S. 119, located at 257 West 134th Street, off what is now called Frederick Douglas Boulevard but in 1920 retained the name 8th Avenue. The school no longer exists; the building itself was torn down in 1961 after Mayor Robert Wagner visited it and saw a rat.
But on January 10th, 1920, P.S. 119, a K-8 (kindergarten through 8th grade) school, was marveled at and lauded for its integrated student population, its patriotism, and its curriculum.. The headline reported its “Large Enrollment of Colored Pupils.” Subheadings noted that the “loyal” student body of 2,450 had contributed to the recent war effort by raising funds, and that the school had a robust “pre-vocational” program.
Newspapers.com
In our day, New York’s public schools have become scandalously segregated. In 1920, however, the Age could tell another story: “There are no separate schools in New York City–all children of all races attend the school that is nearest.”
P.S. 119’s principal was Harriet A. Tupper. In the Age article, Tupper describes the work the school’s new “vocational counselor,” Gertrude Elise MacDougald, who, later, under the name Gertrude Elise MacDougald Ayer, would become New York City’s first African American Woman principal. Tupper also mentions teacher Hallie B. Craigwell, who had an activist background, having done work for the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, later called the Urban League.
An educator since at least 1905, Tupper was also a labor and education activist; in 1919 she had advocated for raises in teachers’ pay.