Rev. David Laney was a Presbyterian minister and a carpenter who wanted a better life for his children. Through hard work and devotion, he was able to purchase freedom for himself and his wife.
Twenty years later, on April 13, 1854, the seventh of his ten children were born in Macon, Georgia: Lucy Craft Laney.
A bright child, Laney was reading by the time she was four years old with the help of the ex-slave owner’s sister, Ms. Campbell. She continued her education at an Atlanta Missionary Association School. At the age of fifteen, she entered the newly-founded Atlanta University. She graduated in 1873 with the school’s first graduating class.
She taught black students in Milledgeville, Savannah and Augusta, finally settling in Augusta. People in Augusta were supportive of Laney’s efforts to educate black children and persuaded her to open her own school.
Starting Her Own School
Laney’s initial endeavors with her own school began at Christ Presbyterian Church in the lecture room to six students in 1883. Attendance quickly outgrew the lecture room with as many as 200 students attending. It was time for Laney to seek assistance.
Since, at that time, the church provided the most support and assistance in education black children, Laney set out for the Presbyterian General Assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota armed with only a one-way train ticket.
A Benefactor in Francine Haines
Laney’s passionate plea for financial assistance received moral support from the assembly. But moral support was all they had to offer in addition to fare back home.
Laney’s plea did not fall upon deaf ears. She made an indelible impression upon Francine E.H. Haines, president of the Women’s Department of the church. Haines raised $10,000 for Laney’s school.
Chartering a New School
With Haines as her most ardent supporter, Laney returned to Augusta and in 1886 she chartered the Haines Normal and Industrial School, named for its benefactor. The Presbyterian church eventually provided additional support.
Holding her students to high standards to enable them to one day attend college, Laney provided courses in English, French, German, history, chemistry, mathematics, physics, psychology and sociology. Her mission was to educate black youth to become teachers and leaders. The curriculum at Haines Normal provided job and vocational training in addition to arts and sciences.
One of Laney’s students was Mary McLeod Bethune who founded Bethune-Cookman University and was an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Laney also founded the first black kindergarten in Augusta, the first nurses’ training institute for black women - the Lamar School of Nursing - and organized the first black high school football in Georgia.
Laney died October 23, 1933.
Laney received numerous honorary degrees from various universities during her lifetime. In 1974, her portrait was unveiled in the Georgia State Capitol building. Lucy Craft Haney High School now stands in the location of the Haines Normal and Industrial School. Laney is buried on the grounds of the school on an Augusta street bearing her name. Her home was restored and in 1991 it was reopened as the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.
Sources:
The New Georgia Encyclopedia
Penny White - Penny White has been writing since the age of ten. She is an avid supporter of women's history. She also loves music, movies, NCIS, ...
