Addison, Michigan

 

Woodstock Manual Labor Institute Michigan Historical Marker 18123 Greenleaf Rd

This school for African Americans was founded by a free black from Ohio, named Prior Foster. The Institute opened on December 14, 1846. Teachers at the school included two of Foster’s brothers, Joseph and Levi, and Sarah Nichols of Oneida, New York—it was the first school in the Old Northwest Territory where African American students were taught by African American instructors. The curriculum was much like that of the Raisin Institute in Adrian and included liberal arts instruction in writing, literature, and mathematics, as well as training in trades like agriculture. The school was incorporated in 1848, and the leader of the Board of Trustees became James G. Birney, formerly a political candidate for the Liberty Party in 1840 and 1844. Birney garnered national support for the school in the form of money and books. At the time of the school’s incorporation, it also became integrated, offering its varied and quality instruction to white students from the Addison-Rollin-Woodstock area. The school continued through the 1850s, but, due to a fire in 1855 that destroyed the main building and unstable conditions during the Civil War, the school had to be closed permanently. A Michigan historical marker was erected on the former location of the school in 1971.

Resources Center for Geographic Information. "Historic Sites Online." (2003). History, Arts and Libraries. 19 November 2007 <http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/map.asp?action=am&x1=636625&y1=162832&smt=wg&aml=Woodstock+Manual+Labor+ Institute+Informational+Site>. Coggan, Blanche B. Prior Foster, pioneer Afro-American educator, first Afro-American to found and incorporate an educational institution in the Northwest Territory, Woodstock Manual Labor Institute, Addison, Lenawee County, Michigan. Lansing, MI: John Kaechele, 1969. Grand Rapids Community College Library 921 F816c. Dillon, Merton L. "The Failure of American Abolitionists." The Journal of Southern History 25, 2 (May 1959): 159-177. JStor. Albion College, Albion, MI. 19 November 2006 <http://www.jstor.org/>. Foster, Prior. Letter to Jared Sparks. (7 April 1855). Jared Sparks Collection of American Manuscripts. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. "History of Lenawee County, Michigan." Lenawee History. (2005). 19 November 2007 <http://www.lenaweehistory.com/ lenawee-ch33.html>. Lundquist, Charles. "The Antislavery-Underground Railroad Movement in Lenawee County, Michigan, 1830-1860." (1999). Lenawee Historical Society Museum. 19 November 2007 <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~keller/museum/work/ underrail2.html>. "Woodstock Manual Labor Institute." Michigan Historical Markers. (2007). 19 November 2007 <http://www.michmarkers.com/ Pages/S0297.htm>. "Woodstock Manual Labor Institute." Waymarks. (2007). 19 November 2007 <http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/ WM16QM>.