See _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871,
pp. 212, 213, and 214.]
Of this self-educative work of Negroes some of the best was
accomplished by colored women. With the assistance of Father Vanlomen,
the benevolent priest then in charge of the Holy Trinity Church, Maria
Becraft, the most capable colored woman in the District of Columbia at
that time, established there the first seminary for the education of
colored girls. She had begun to teach in a less desirable section, but
impressed with the unusual beauty and strong character of this girl,
Father Vanlomen had her school transferred to a larger building on
Fayette Street where she taught until 1831. She then turned over her
seminary to girls she had trained, and became a teacher in a convent
at Baltimore as a Sister of Providence.[1] Other good results were
obtained by Louisa Parke Costin, a member of one of the oldest
colored families in the District of Columbia. Desiring to diffuse the
knowledge she acquired from white teachers in the early mixed schools
of the District, she decided to teach. She opened her school just
about the time that Henry Smothers was making his reputation as an
educator.
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