Reverend John Berry Meachum had about 300 students walking down to the basement for free education at the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis. But in 1847, Missouri banned all education for Black people. Police came to arrest and threaten him, forcing him to disband the gathering.
Or so they thought.
Reverend Meachum decided to buy a steamboat and anchor it in the middle of the Mississippi River, beyond Missouri jurisdiction. All it needed was some desks, chairs, and a library. Then, the “Floating Freedom School” was born.
For over a decade, students traveled back and forth to the steamboat school in little boats. Educators came from the East to teach. And even after Meachum’s passing, his legacy continued as old students became teachers and established schools themselves.
But censorship and the denial of education to Black people isn’t just history. It’s today.
Critical race theory professors are stifling their curriculums to avoid breaking the law. States are plotting to imprison librarians who don't remove books. Florida's governor recently destroyed the AP African American Studies Program under his "Stop WOKE” rampage. And more.
Reverend Meachum's response to education's criminalization is the kind of spirit we can aspire to uphold. Our right to education is being attacked. But from after school programs to prisons to neighborhoods, we can build our own freedom schools wherever we go.