Black Seneca Village residents were able to improve education among Blacks because there were two schools in Seneca Village in the 1850s. In the basement of the AME Zion Church, there was a school. Also, a branch of the African Free School, which was controlled by the public school system, was built and named Colored School No. 3.
Catherine Thompson, a seventeen-year-old Black Seneca Village resident contributed greatly to the education of the community. Because of his effort and contribution, Colored School No. 3 became an impressive and successful institution because, even though it was housed in an "old building", it was actually "well attended." These schools were a crucial demonstration of the African American community’s growing commitment to their own development.
Seneca Village residents were probably in a better position to educate their children by sending them to their local school than the African American parents of other places in New York such as Little Africa, which is today Greenwich Village. According to the "United States Bureau of the Census 1850", almost three-quarters of the children who lived in Seneca Village had recently attended school. Thus, evidence suggests that Seneca Villagers were committed towards creating a higher quality of education for Blacks in their community.
Colored School No. 3
