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{{Short description|Progressive Christian socialist boarding school}}
The '''Manumit School''' ("manumit" in Latin means ''freedom from slavery'') was an "experimental" Christian [[socialist]] [[boarding school]] in [[Pawling (town), New York|Pawling, New York]]. and, in 1944, [[Bristol, Pennsylvania]].
{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}
The '''Manumit School''' was a progressive Christian [[socialist]] [[boarding school]] located in [[Pawling (town), New York|Pawling, New York]], from 1924 to 1943, and in [[Bristol, Pennsylvania]], from 1944 to 1958.<ref>{{cite web |title=Manumit Timeline |url=http://www.manumitschool.com/history/manumit-timeline |accessdate=12 August 2020 |archive-date=16 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016152635/http://www.manumitschool.com/history/manumit-timeline |url-status=dead }}</ref>


Founded on purchased [[farm]] land in 1924 by Rev. [[William Fincke|William]] and [[Helen Fincke]], it was formally called The Manumit School for Workers' Children. An early promotional [[Flyer (pamphlet)|flyer]] for the school asked parents if they'd like their kids to grow up "to become men and women who can think for themselves, stand on their own two feet, and fight injustice and oppression." Its teachings were meant to provide a "[[progressivism|progressive]]," "workers education" slant during a time of increasing soclialist optimism in America. [[Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn]] worked here as an English and Drama teacher until 1929.
Founded on purchased farmland by Rev. [[William Fincke]] and his wife Helen, it was originally called The Manumit School for Workers' Children. Its curriculum provided a [[progressivism|progressive]] "workers' education" focus during a time of growing socialist optimism in America. [[Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn]] worked there as an English and Drama teacher until 1929.<ref name=Cleghorn>{{cite book|last=Cleghorn|first=Sarah N.|title=Threescore : the autobiography of Sarah N. Cleghorn|year=1936|publisher=Harrison Smith & Robert Haas}}</ref>


==History==
A former student, [[Robert Shnayerson]], is quoted in a [[Time Magazine]] article in 1961, describing the Manumit experience: "We drove trucks at nine years and plowed with tractors, slaughtered pigs and took care of the cows. But I didn't learn anything about anything."*[http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,874294,00.html 1]
In 1924, Rev. William Mann Fincke and his wife, Helen Hamlin, founded Manumit as a co-educational boarding school for elementary-level students on a working farm in Pawling, New York. The school was closely associated with several New York City labor unions. [[A. J. Muste]] served as Chair of the Manumit Associates/Board for several years.<ref>“A New Community School,” The Survey, 10/15/1924 & Rev. W. M. Fincke, “Elsie Wins a Point and We Get a View of Manumit,” Labor Age, 11/1925. “an alliance of progressive labor and progressive education” See: Scott Walter, “Labor's Demonstration School: The Manumit School for Workers' Children, 1924-1932,” 1998. 26 pp. (ERIC: ED473025) See: Threescore: The Autobiography of Sarah N. Cleghorn (1936) p. 253-81. Cleghorn, a poet, taught at early Brookwood, then Manumit, 1924 to early 1930s.</ref> The name "Manumit" is derived from a Latin word meaning "set forth from the hand"; in English, to "manumit" means to release a slave from slavery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Manumit |url=https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/manumit#:~:text=Manumit%20comes%20from%20a%20Latin,or%20simply%20to%20appear%20benevolent. |accessdate=12 August 2020}}</ref>


In 1926, [[Henry R. Linville]] became interim director following the illness of Rev. Fincke.<ref>“The Manumit Yearbook: 1927,” 38 pp., includes group activity descriptions, lists of Associates, staff, and of current and former students, Web-site][Linville a founder of, and active in, NYC Teachers Union/TU (one of the precursors of the UFT) from 1916 into the 1930s</ref> who died in 1927.<ref>“GALLANT SPIRIT passed from us…” The Nation, 6/15/1927. New York Times, 6/1/1927. Memorial Service notes, 24 pages, June 7, 1924, at Tamiment Library.</ref> In the 1927/28 academic year, Nellie M. Seeds, wife of [[Scott Nearing]], became director.<ref>Nellie Seeds: “Democracy in the Making at Manumit School,” The Nation, 6/1/1927; “Labor’s Laboratory School,” The Survey, 6/15/1927; “Manumit’s Contribution to Social Reconstruction,” Progressive Education, 5/1931. Annual Conference of the Manumit Associates: ”Learning Through Doing;” (1928); “Creative Education,” (1929); “Educational Groundwork for a Changing Social Order,” (1931); NY University Tamiment Library.] [Seeds resigned in 1933; joined NY State Education Department. Died, 1946.]</ref><ref name=Cleghorn /> In 1933, William Mann Fincke's son, William, and his wife, Mildred Gignoux, became co-directors.<ref>William L. Stephenson, “A Brief Note on Manumit School,” 1943, Web site)] [William & Mildred were both experienced with “experimental/progressive” education in NYC. On his background re progressive education see: Fincke, “History” in “Manuscript,” 1949. Web-site.</ref> By this time, the school was facing significant financial difficulties, with only a few students remaining and concerns about whether the school's focus on political and social ideas was affecting the students' welfare.
Another former student, actress-comedienne [[Madeline Kahn]] , is quoted by TV news anchor Sue Simmons: “she told me that every artistic bone in her body was born at Manumit.”


In 1938/39, the Progressive Schools' Committee for Refugee Children was formed under the leadership of Mildred and William Fincke, and at least 23 Jewish refugee children attended Manumit.<ref>''Time'' magazine, 3/27/39). (See also: records of German-Jewish Children's Aid, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, NYC.)</ref> In 1942, the school added its first two years of high school to its elementary curriculum.<ref>“Broad Meadows” campus. See: Barbara Dutton Dretzin 2006 Web-site & 2/21/12 e-mail recollections; Steve Stevenson, “Manumit,” 11-page recollections, Web-site.</ref> In 1943, William I. Stephenson became director while William Fincke attended Yale University to pursue a doctorate.<ref>“Theory of Knowledge,” selections from blank verse paper, 100+ pages, c. 1944, NY University Tamiment Library</ref> On October 25, 1943, a fire destroyed the major school building, the “Mill,” along with most of the school's records.
Also see different comments by other former students on <manumitschool.com.>


In 1944, William M. Fincke resumed the directorship with his wife, Amelia Evans.<ref>W.M. Fincke, “A Philosophy of Discipline” (1941) & W.M. Fincke, “Memorandum on Manumit School” (n.d. probably late 1940s), Web-site.] [On Amelia re Manumit see WMF, “History” in “Manuscript,” 1949, Web-site. In mid-1960s Amelia was Superintendent of Eastern Star Home for the Aged in Somerville, NJ. Died, 12/1972.</ref> The school was relocated to Bristol, Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.<ref>Barbara Dutton Dretzin e-mail, 5/5/2006, Web-site.] [W. M. Fincke: “The staff is as cosmopolitan as the student body. It … has included Chinese, Nisei, American Negro, American Indian, English, Czechoslovakian, Scandinavian…German and Austrian anti-nazis [sic.] along with many members of the so-called old American group…. Judaism, Catholicism, Quakerism and Ethical Agnosticism as well as Protestantism are stimulatingly included in the backgrounds…” (W.M. Fincke fund-raising document, c. 1945-46, Web-site)</ref> In 1947, Benjamin C.G. Fincke, son of the founders, and his wife, Magdalene (“Magda”) Joslyn, became co-directors. In 1949, the school added the final two years of high school. In 1950, the school adopted a "work project" experiment.<ref>Report by W.M. Fincke to Board of Directors of School, Nov. 27, 1950; & Dixon Addison Bush, “An Experimental Study of Techniques for Instituting Cooperative Work Programs with Adolescent Students," Education Doctoral Dissertation, New York University, 1951. 313 pages.</ref> The first full high school graduation took place in 1951. Between 1950 and 1957, there were between 43 and 52 graduates annually. Of the 42 on a list, 29 attended colleges, 3 attended art schools, and 1 attended a technical school.<ref>Alumni list, “Manumit Closes,” Web-site) Note: one student graduated in 1950.] [Also see report (2/2012) of July 2011 reunion Symposium on the value of a Manumit Education & Speer comments (Website and Tamiment library)</ref>
==Manumit School: brief chronology==


In 1954, Benjamin Fincke resigned.<ref>Manumit Board resolution of appreciation, 1956, Web Site.] [Later: Co-Director then Director of Buxton School, Williamstown, MA. Died in Williamstown, MA, 2/18/2003. (See: New York Times, 6/1/2003). Magda, co-director and art teacher at Buxton, died 8/13/2004.</ref> John A. Lindlof, a former student and teacher at Bristol, became Co-Director.<ref>John died in 1982 in Maine. He had become Professor of Education at the University of Maine at Orono in 1961, where there is now (2010) a “John A. Lindlof Learning Center.”</ref> In the mid-1950s, 14% of the student body was Black, and 8% was of Asian descent.<ref>Fund-raising memo by WMF, c. mid-1950s, Web-site). “The complete respect for human beings as human beings and for their backgrounds as important parts of their personalities, the lack of prejudice of racial nature… are so taken for granted that the administrator whose job it is to maintain this enriching heterogeneity is often the only person who continues conscious of it.” (WM Fincke, fundraising document, c. 1945-46, Web-site)</ref> In 1956, external attacks on the school began, including fire hazard inspections. Local political manipulations were suspected due to recent housing projects surrounding the school and objections to its interracial status.<ref>Telegram to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower#Civil rights|President Eisenhower]], September 26, 1956)</ref>
'''1924 -- Rev. William Mann Fincke and his wife, Helen Hamlin, founded Manumit as an elementary level, co-educational, boarding school on a working farm in Pawling, NY.''' [It was closely associated with a number of NYC labor unions. A. J. Muste was Chair of Manumit Associates for a number of years. See: “A New Community School,” ''The Survey'', 10/15/24. Rev. W. M. Fincke, “Elsie Wins a Point and We Get a View of Manumit,” ''Labor Age'', November 1925.) “an alliance of progressive labor and progressive education.” See: Scott Walter, “Labor's Demonstration School: The Manumit School for Workers' Children, 1924-1932,” 1998. 26 pp. (ERIC: ED473025). See: ''Threescore: The Autobiography of Sarah N. Cleghorn'', 1936. pp.&nbsp;253–81.Cleghorn, a poet, taught at Brookwood, then Manumit from 1924 to early 1930s.]


In 1957/58, the school was closed following the denial of license renewal for 1958 by the State Board of Private Academic Schools, Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. Subsequently, school records were destroyed. The Board inspector had repeatedly singled out the school for complaints, raising suspicions of prejudice against its integrated nature.<ref>“Respondent’s Brief” and testimony by William M. Fincke, December 1957. See: Mike Speer (c. 2006 email) link of attacks to [[Brown v. Board of Education#Social implications|Brown v. Bd. of Ed, backlash]], “Manumit Ends,” Web Site.</ref> William Mann Fincke died on January 4, 1968, in Stonington, Connecticut, where he had been teaching remedial reading since 1963.<ref>W.M. Fincke, "The Effect of Asking Questions to Develop Purposes for Reading on the Attainment of Higher Levels of Comprehension in a Population of Third Grade Readers," Education Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University, 1968. 140 pages. Completed in 1967.)</ref>
'''1926 -- Henry I. Lineman became interim Director upon illness of Rev. Fincke.''' [“The Manumit Yearbook: 1927,” 38 pp. includes group activity descriptions, lists of staff and of current and former students.]


==Notable students==
'''1927 -- Rev. Fincke died.''' [See: “GALLANT SPIRIT passed from us…” ''The Nation'', 6/15/1927. ''NY Times'', 6/1/1927. Memorial Service notes, 24 pages, June 7, 1924 at Timiment Library.]
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* [[Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn]] (February 4, 1876 – April 4, 1959) was an educator, author, social reformer, and poet.
'''1927/28 -- Nellie M. Seeds became Director.''' [See: Nellie Seeds, “Democracy in the Making at Manumit School,” ''The Nation'', 6/1/1927; Seeds, “Labor’s Laboratory School,” ''The Survey'', 6/15/1927, Seeds, “Manumit’s Contribution to Social Reconstruction,” ''Progressive Education'' (May 1931). Annual Conferences of the Manumit Associates: ”Learning Through Doing;” (1928), “Creative Education,” (1929), “Educational Groundwork for a Changing Social Order,” (1931. Resigned in 1933, joined NY State Education Department. Died, 1946.]
* [[Frank Conroy (author)|Frank Conroy]], author (''Stop-Time: A Memoir'', 1967).
* [[John Herald]], American folk and bluegrass musician.
* [[Madeline Kahn]], actress/comedian ("She told me that every artistic bone in her body was born at Manumit" – Sue Simmons).
* [[Lee Marvin]], actor.
* [[Susan Oliver]], actress, director, and aviator.
* [[Robert Morse]], actor (''[[Mad Men]]'', ''[[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (film)|How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]]'').


==Sources==
'''1933 -- William Mann Fincke [son of WMF & Hamlin] assumed Co-Directorship, with wife, Mildred Gignoux''' [both experienced with “experimental/progressive” education in NYC. On his background re progressive education see: W. M. Fincke, “History” in ''Manuscript'', 1949.] [[“By 1933 the school was debt-ridden…and only a half dozen pupils remained....” “Sometimes the children’s welfare seemed subordinated to indoctrination of pet political and social ideas favored by directors or staff members…” (See: William L. Stephenson, “A Brief Note on Manumit School,” 1943).]]
* Scott Walter, “Labor's Demonstration School: The Manumit School for Workers' Children, 1924-1932,” 1998. typescript, 26 pp. (ERIC: ED473025)
*[http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&_urlType=action&objectId=0900000b801786fd History of Manumit by Scott Walter]
*Manumit School Archive, New York University, [[Tamiment Library]]
*[http://www.manumitschool.com/ Manumit School website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607030704/http://manumitschool.com/ |date=2013-06-07 }}
** Revision of the site has eliminated some of the quoted material.
* Much of Wikipedia posting by Mike Speer, former Manumit student, 1945-49.


==See also==
'''1938/39 -- Progressive Schools' Committee for Refugee Children formed under leadership of Mildred and William Fincke.''' [At least 23 Jewish refugee children attended Manumit. (''Time'' magazine, 3/27/39). (See also: records of German-Jewish Children's Aid, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, NYC.) Manumit “... contacts with European underground and resistance groups, and with Jewish groups, both dating back to 1935, later contacts with British groups (during the blitz of 1940) greatly enriched the enrollment with interesting evacuee children.” (WMF fund-raising document, c. 1945-46)]


* [[Henry Linville]]
'''1942 -- First two years of high school added to the elementary school.''' [“Broad Meadows” campus. See: Barbara Dutton Dretzin 2006 e-mail recollections, Web-site; Steve Stevenson “Manumit” evocative 11 page recollections Web-site.]

'''1943 -- William I. Stephenson became Director.''' [W. M. Fincke attended Yale Univ. to pursue doctorate.]

'''1943 -- Fire destroyed major school building, the “Mill.”''' [Fire: 10/25/43. Most school records destroyed.]

'''1944 -- William M. Fincke (“Billy”) resumed directorship with wife, Amelia Evans.''' [W. M. Fincke, “A Philosophy of Discipline” (1941). W. M. Fincke, “Memorandum on Manumit School” (n.d. probably late 1940s)] [On Amelia re Manumit see:WMF, "Histoyr" in "Manuscript," 1949, Web Site. In mid-1960s Amelia was Superintendent of Eastern Star Home for the Aged in Somerville, NJ. Died, December 1972.]

'''1944 -- School moved to Bristol, Bensalem Township, Bucks County, PA.''' [On move: Barbara Dutton Dretzin e-mail, 5/5/06. W. M. Fincke: “The staff is as cosmopolitan as the student body. It … has included Chinese, Nisei, American Negro, American Indian, English, Czechoslovakian, Scandinavian….German and Austrian anti-nazis [sic.] along with many members of the so-called old American group…Judaism, Catholicism, Quakerism and Ethical Agnosticism as well as Protestantism are stimulatingly included in the backgrounds…” (W. M. Fincke fund-raising document, c. 1945-46.).]

'''1947 -- Benjamin C. G. Fincke (“Ben”) [son of founders], with wife, Magdalene (“Magda”) Joslyn, became Co-Director.'''

'''1949 -- Final two years of High School created.'''

'''1950 -- School adopts “work project” experiment.''' [See: report by W. M. Fincke to Board of Directors of School, Nov. 27, 1950; & Dixon Addison Bush, “An Experimental Study of Techniques for Instituting Cooperative Work Programs with Adolescent Students," Education Doctoral Dissertation, New York University, 1951. 313 pages.]

'''1951 -- First full High School graduation.''' [1950-57—approx. 43-50 graduates: of 42 on a list, 29 attended college, 3 art schools, 1 technical school, others employed. (See: graduates list, “Manumit Closes” documents, 1957-58.) Note: one student graduated in 1950.]

'''1954 -- Benjamin Fincke resigned.''' [Later: Co- Director then Director of Buxton School, Williamstown, MA. He died in Williamstown, MA, 2/18/2003.(See: NY Times, 6/1/2003) Magda, co-director and art teacher at Buxton, died 8/13/2004]

'''1954 -- John A. Lindlof, student at Pawling and teacher at Bristol, became Co-Director.'''

'''mid-‘50’s – “Manumit … growth toward its interracial ideal was no mere token thing…”''' [“Negro children had reached 14%;” children of Asian descent had reached 8%. (See: fund-raising memorandum by WMF, c. mid-1950s) "The complete respect for human beings as human beings and for their backgrounds as important parts of their personalities, the lack of prejudice of racial nature…are so taken for granted that the administrator whose job it is to maintain this enriching heterogeneity is often the only person who continues conscious of it.” (WM Fincke, fundraising document, c. 1945-46. Web site)]

'''1956 -- Overt external attacks on school began.''' [Fire hazard inspections: “Local political manipulations are suspected because housing projects have recently surrounded the school and certain residents may object to the interracial status of the school, or local promoters may see the value of the school property…” (See: telegram to President Eisenhower, September 26, 1956)]

'''1957 /58 -- School closed following denial of license renewal for 1958 by the State Board of Private Academic Schools, PA Department of Public Instruction.''' [Subsequently, school records were destroyed.][The Board inspector ”has singled this school out for complaint over a long period of time, and there is every reason to believe that she is prejudiced against an integrated school, and against its director…” (See: “Respondent’s Brief” and testimony by William M. Fincke, December 1957.) See: Mike Speer (c. 2006 email) link of attacks to Brown v. Bd. of Ed, backlash, “Manumit Ends,” Web Site.]

['''NOTE:''' William Mann Fincke died on January 4, 1968 in Stonington CT, where he had been teaching remedial reading. William Mann Fincke, "The Effect of Asking Questions to Develop Purposes for Reading on the Attainment of Higher Levels of Comprehension in a Population of Third Grade Readers." Education Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University, 1968. 140 pages. Completed in 1967.)]

['''NOTE''': John A. Lindlof became Professor of Education at the University of Maine at Orono in 1961, where there is now a “John A. Lindlof Learning Center.” He died in 1982 in Maine.]

['''NOTE:''' In 2005, and after, many former Manumit students rediscovered each other via the Web, and a web-site includes: documents, photographs, lists, contemporary e-mail exchanges) was created by one of them. (<manumitschool.com>)]

['''Source:''' Manumit School Web Site <manumitschool.com> & Manumit archive, New York University, Tamiment Library]

[Prepared by Michael Speer – 4/2010; rev. 6/2010]

==Notable students==

*[[John Herald]], folk and bluegrass musician - "Greenbrier Boys."
* Lee Marvin, Hollywood star, westerns and tough guy roles
*Jean Rosenthal—Broadway theatrical lighting expert ("Profiles: Please Darling, Bring Three to Seven" by Winthrop Sargeant, ''New Yorker'', February 4, 1956,pp.&nbsp;33–59.)
*Charlotte Gercke—as Susan Oliver – actress: for example, “Butterfield 8,” also airplane pilot, author: ''Odyssey: a Daring Transatlantic Journey'', 1983
*Frank Conroy --- author: ''Stop-Time: A Memoir'', 1967. Director: Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa for 18 years, from 1987–2005.
*Eric Darling – banjo and 12-string guitar player/folk singer, replaced Pete Seeger with “The Weavers,” etc.
*Gabrielle Kirk McDonald—civil rights lawyer, law professor, federal judge, President for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
*Sue Simmons—TV news anchor at WNBC-TV in New York since 1980.
*Robert (Bobby) Sengstacke—prolific & award winning photo journalist, photographer of Civil Rights Movement
*Barry Schenker—Victorio Korjhan, known simply as Victorio, a former soloist of The Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
*Madeline Khan—actress-comedienne. “she told me that every artistic bone in her body was born at Manumit.” (Sue Simmons)


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
Scott Walter, “Labor's Demonstration School: The Manumit School for Workers' Children, 1924-1932,” 1998. typescript, 26 pp. (ERIC: ED473025)
*[http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&_urlType=action&objectId=0900000b801786fd History of Manumit by Scott Walter]

see www.manumitschool.com

Manumit archive, New York University, Tamiment Library]


[[Category:1958 disestablishments]]
[[Category:1958 disestablishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Boarding schools in New York]]
[[Category:Boarding schools in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Boarding schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Boarding schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Education in Bucks County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Education in Bucks County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Defunct schools in New York]]
[[Category:Defunct schools in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Defunct schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Defunct schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1924]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1924]]
[[Category:Elementary schools in New York]]
[[Category:Elementary schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:High schools in New York]]
[[Category:High schools in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Schools in Dutchess County, New York]]
[[Category:Schools in Dutchess County, New York]]
[[Category:1924 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1944 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1958]]

Latest revision as of 13:54, 10 September 2024

The Manumit School was a progressive Christian socialist boarding school located in Pawling, New York, from 1924 to 1943, and in Bristol, Pennsylvania, from 1944 to 1958.[1]

Founded on purchased farmland by Rev. William Fincke and his wife Helen, it was originally called The Manumit School for Workers' Children. Its curriculum provided a progressive "workers' education" focus during a time of growing socialist optimism in America. Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn worked there as an English and Drama teacher until 1929.[2]

History

[edit]

In 1924, Rev. William Mann Fincke and his wife, Helen Hamlin, founded Manumit as a co-educational boarding school for elementary-level students on a working farm in Pawling, New York. The school was closely associated with several New York City labor unions. A. J. Muste served as Chair of the Manumit Associates/Board for several years.[3] The name "Manumit" is derived from a Latin word meaning "set forth from the hand"; in English, to "manumit" means to release a slave from slavery.[4]

In 1926, Henry R. Linville became interim director following the illness of Rev. Fincke.[5] who died in 1927.[6] In the 1927/28 academic year, Nellie M. Seeds, wife of Scott Nearing, became director.[7][2] In 1933, William Mann Fincke's son, William, and his wife, Mildred Gignoux, became co-directors.[8] By this time, the school was facing significant financial difficulties, with only a few students remaining and concerns about whether the school's focus on political and social ideas was affecting the students' welfare.

In 1938/39, the Progressive Schools' Committee for Refugee Children was formed under the leadership of Mildred and William Fincke, and at least 23 Jewish refugee children attended Manumit.[9] In 1942, the school added its first two years of high school to its elementary curriculum.[10] In 1943, William I. Stephenson became director while William Fincke attended Yale University to pursue a doctorate.[11] On October 25, 1943, a fire destroyed the major school building, the “Mill,” along with most of the school's records.

In 1944, William M. Fincke resumed the directorship with his wife, Amelia Evans.[12] The school was relocated to Bristol, Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.[13] In 1947, Benjamin C.G. Fincke, son of the founders, and his wife, Magdalene (“Magda”) Joslyn, became co-directors. In 1949, the school added the final two years of high school. In 1950, the school adopted a "work project" experiment.[14] The first full high school graduation took place in 1951. Between 1950 and 1957, there were between 43 and 52 graduates annually. Of the 42 on a list, 29 attended colleges, 3 attended art schools, and 1 attended a technical school.[15]

In 1954, Benjamin Fincke resigned.[16] John A. Lindlof, a former student and teacher at Bristol, became Co-Director.[17] In the mid-1950s, 14% of the student body was Black, and 8% was of Asian descent.[18] In 1956, external attacks on the school began, including fire hazard inspections. Local political manipulations were suspected due to recent housing projects surrounding the school and objections to its interracial status.[19]

In 1957/58, the school was closed following the denial of license renewal for 1958 by the State Board of Private Academic Schools, Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. Subsequently, school records were destroyed. The Board inspector had repeatedly singled out the school for complaints, raising suspicions of prejudice against its integrated nature.[20] William Mann Fincke died on January 4, 1968, in Stonington, Connecticut, where he had been teaching remedial reading since 1963.[21]

Notable students

[edit]

Sources

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Manumit Timeline". Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b Cleghorn, Sarah N. (1936). Threescore : the autobiography of Sarah N. Cleghorn. Harrison Smith & Robert Haas.
  3. ^ “A New Community School,” The Survey, 10/15/1924 & Rev. W. M. Fincke, “Elsie Wins a Point and We Get a View of Manumit,” Labor Age, 11/1925. “an alliance of progressive labor and progressive education” See: Scott Walter, “Labor's Demonstration School: The Manumit School for Workers' Children, 1924-1932,” 1998. 26 pp. (ERIC: ED473025) See: Threescore: The Autobiography of Sarah N. Cleghorn (1936) p. 253-81. Cleghorn, a poet, taught at early Brookwood, then Manumit, 1924 to early 1930s.
  4. ^ "Manumit". Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  5. ^ “The Manumit Yearbook: 1927,” 38 pp., includes group activity descriptions, lists of Associates, staff, and of current and former students, Web-site][Linville a founder of, and active in, NYC Teachers Union/TU (one of the precursors of the UFT) from 1916 into the 1930s
  6. ^ “GALLANT SPIRIT passed from us…” The Nation, 6/15/1927. New York Times, 6/1/1927. Memorial Service notes, 24 pages, June 7, 1924, at Tamiment Library.
  7. ^ Nellie Seeds: “Democracy in the Making at Manumit School,” The Nation, 6/1/1927; “Labor’s Laboratory School,” The Survey, 6/15/1927; “Manumit’s Contribution to Social Reconstruction,” Progressive Education, 5/1931. Annual Conference of the Manumit Associates: ”Learning Through Doing;” (1928); “Creative Education,” (1929); “Educational Groundwork for a Changing Social Order,” (1931); NY University Tamiment Library.] [Seeds resigned in 1933; joined NY State Education Department. Died, 1946.]
  8. ^ William L. Stephenson, “A Brief Note on Manumit School,” 1943, Web site)] [William & Mildred were both experienced with “experimental/progressive” education in NYC. On his background re progressive education see: Fincke, “History” in “Manuscript,” 1949. Web-site.
  9. ^ Time magazine, 3/27/39). (See also: records of German-Jewish Children's Aid, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, NYC.)
  10. ^ “Broad Meadows” campus. See: Barbara Dutton Dretzin 2006 Web-site & 2/21/12 e-mail recollections; Steve Stevenson, “Manumit,” 11-page recollections, Web-site.
  11. ^ “Theory of Knowledge,” selections from blank verse paper, 100+ pages, c. 1944, NY University Tamiment Library
  12. ^ W.M. Fincke, “A Philosophy of Discipline” (1941) & W.M. Fincke, “Memorandum on Manumit School” (n.d. probably late 1940s), Web-site.] [On Amelia re Manumit see WMF, “History” in “Manuscript,” 1949, Web-site. In mid-1960s Amelia was Superintendent of Eastern Star Home for the Aged in Somerville, NJ. Died, 12/1972.
  13. ^ Barbara Dutton Dretzin e-mail, 5/5/2006, Web-site.] [W. M. Fincke: “The staff is as cosmopolitan as the student body. It … has included Chinese, Nisei, American Negro, American Indian, English, Czechoslovakian, Scandinavian…German and Austrian anti-nazis [sic.] along with many members of the so-called old American group…. Judaism, Catholicism, Quakerism and Ethical Agnosticism as well as Protestantism are stimulatingly included in the backgrounds…” (W.M. Fincke fund-raising document, c. 1945-46, Web-site)
  14. ^ Report by W.M. Fincke to Board of Directors of School, Nov. 27, 1950; & Dixon Addison Bush, “An Experimental Study of Techniques for Instituting Cooperative Work Programs with Adolescent Students," Education Doctoral Dissertation, New York University, 1951. 313 pages.
  15. ^ Alumni list, “Manumit Closes,” Web-site) Note: one student graduated in 1950.] [Also see report (2/2012) of July 2011 reunion Symposium on the value of a Manumit Education & Speer comments (Website and Tamiment library)
  16. ^ Manumit Board resolution of appreciation, 1956, Web Site.] [Later: Co-Director then Director of Buxton School, Williamstown, MA. Died in Williamstown, MA, 2/18/2003. (See: New York Times, 6/1/2003). Magda, co-director and art teacher at Buxton, died 8/13/2004.
  17. ^ John died in 1982 in Maine. He had become Professor of Education at the University of Maine at Orono in 1961, where there is now (2010) a “John A. Lindlof Learning Center.”
  18. ^ Fund-raising memo by WMF, c. mid-1950s, Web-site). “The complete respect for human beings as human beings and for their backgrounds as important parts of their personalities, the lack of prejudice of racial nature… are so taken for granted that the administrator whose job it is to maintain this enriching heterogeneity is often the only person who continues conscious of it.” (WM Fincke, fundraising document, c. 1945-46, Web-site)
  19. ^ Telegram to President Eisenhower, September 26, 1956)
  20. ^ “Respondent’s Brief” and testimony by William M. Fincke, December 1957. See: Mike Speer (c. 2006 email) link of attacks to Brown v. Bd. of Ed, backlash, “Manumit Ends,” Web Site.
  21. ^ W.M. Fincke, "The Effect of Asking Questions to Develop Purposes for Reading on the Attainment of Higher Levels of Comprehension in a Population of Third Grade Readers," Education Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University, 1968. 140 pages. Completed in 1967.)
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