User:Herinlove/sandbox

New Brunswick
In August 1820, the first racially separate school, known as The African School, was opened in Saint John. This school was opened because Black children were not allowed entry into the schools that white children attended. While there was no legislation enforcing segregation within the schooling system in New Brunswick, government officers abided by this racial social practice by providing grants for the establishment of segregated schools across New Brunswick. Segregated schools were opened in Loch Lomond in 1825, Fredericton in 1826, Kingsclear in 1831, Willow Grove in 1834, and Woodstock in 1866. The schools were in poor conditions and were prone to frequent closures because of insufficient grants to cover school expenses and a lack of teachers to educate the Black children. Attendance records filled by Matthew Thomas in January 1844, the teacher at the African School in Saint John, remarked that there were days without wood for heating; therefore, schooling could not occur. Additionally, after the resignation of Robert Lindsay Saunders from the segregated school in Willow Grove, the school was shut down for four years as no teachers were available to fill the vacant role. As a result of poor management of segregated schools and schooling in general within the province, The New Brunswick legislation passed the Commons School Act on May 17, 1871, to unify and centralize schooling within the province, which would provide free education to all children in New Brunswick. However, segregated schools were still in operation well into the 1910s.