Besides, race
prejudice was not long in making itself the most disturbing factor.
In 1852 Benjamin Drew found the minds of the people of Sandwich much
exercised over the question of admitting Negroes into the public
schools. The same feeling was then almost as strong in Chatham,
Hamilton, and London[4]. Consequently, "partly owing to this
prejudice, and partly to their own preference, the colored people,
acting under the provision of the law that allowed them to have
separate schools, set up their own schools in Sandwich and in many
other parts of Ontario"[5]. There were separate schools at Colchester,
Amherstburg, Sandwich, Dawn, and Buxton[6]. It was doubtless because
of the rude behavior of white pupils toward the children of the blacks
that their private schools flourished at London, Windsor, and other
places[7]. The Negroes, themselves, however, did not object to the
coeducation of the races. Where there were a few white children
in colored settlements they were admitted to schools maintained
especially for pupils of African descent.[8] In Toronto no distinction
in educational privileges was made, but in later years there
flourished an evening school for adults of color.
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