"Noyes Academy" [1835]

Was an interracial school founded by New England abolitionist in 1835 in Canaan,New Hampshire.The school was opposed by many local residents,who opposed African Americans in the town.After some months,several hundred white men of Canaan and neighboring towns demolished the academy.They replacd it with Canaan Union Academy,restricted it to whites,which operated for twenty years.
The Noyes Academy was organized by New England men sympathicetic to the anti-slavery movement,including attorney George Kimball of Canaan,New Hampshire.It was built in his town,located about 20 miles from Darthmouth College in Hanover.The
last slaves in the North were freed in 1827 in New York,but most had been freed early
by the early 1800s.
The demand was growing for educational facilities open to African Americans,as many were segregated at a time when public education was expanding.George noted,

"It is unhappily true that the colored portion of our fellow citizens,even in the free states with their toil and blood have have contributed to establish,and their taxes equally
with those of whites,to maintain our free system of Education,have practically  been excluded from the benefits of it.
Trustees and and donors to the school agreed to have an interracial student body,announcing it in a February 1835 issue of The Liberator newspaper in Boston.The school opened with 28 white students and 17 African-American students.
The white students were generally from local families,many of the African American
students traveled from far as New York to attend the academy,because of limited educational opportunities.They often had to travel on segregated steamboats and other transporation.Several future prominent African American abolitionist,such as Henry Highland Garnet,Thomas Paul,Jr,and Alexander Crummell,attended the school attended the school during the several months it was open.Henry
and some other students boarded with George.
Many local residents objected to allowing African Americans into the town to attend
the academy,which they called a "nuisance" in a town meeting."Segregationist launched a campaign to
discredit school offcials and cultivate hysteria over the possibility of interracial marriage and racial mixing.Opponents of the school organized a group of 500 men;in
August 1835,they used 95 oxen teams to pull the building of off its foundations over
the course of two days and haul much of the wreckage to a swamp.They burned the remains.George helped the African American students leave at night for their safety.
He shortly followed them,moving to Alton,Illinois,a center for abolitionists acyivity in the Midwest.The Canaan Union Academy,restricted was built and operated on this
site for about 20 years.Shortly before the Civil War,it was used as station on the Underground Railroad.