Colored Orphan Asylum

Colored Orphan Asylum

In 1836, three Quakers, Anna and Hanna Shotwell and Mary Murray, founded the Colored Orphan Asylum to provide assistance to homeless black children in New York City. This was the first establishment made for homeless black children in America. It was a home to 400 children annually. The children learned skills that they could further use to find jobs when they left the orphanage. Between July 13th and July 16th, 1863 there were many civil war draft riots in NYC which was one of bloodiest and most violent insurrections in American history. On July 13th, 1863 the building was ransacked and then burned to the ground by a group of men and women. All 233 children who were living there at the time survived. The association had to start from scratch because everything had been lost in the fire. At the time there was an estimated $80,000 worth of damage, which today is about $1,470,000. I thought it was interesting that the three white women who founded the association named it The Colored Orphan Asylum. The word asylum is associated with people who are mentally ill. They could have used the words orphanage, home, or shelter. The black children whom lived there weren't mentally ill like an asylum makes them out to be, they were abandoned and needed a place to live.

Unknown

Unknown. Colored Orphan Asylum Exterior, circa 1860-1861 (PR 065, Stereograph File). 1860-1861. New York City. New York Historical Society. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.

http://blog.nyhistory.org/burning-of-orphan-asylum/

December 8th, 2015

Erin Donlon