Baltimore's Colored School No. 1
Education, Resistance, and the Legacy of The Peale
From 1878 to 1889, the Peale building played a pivotal role in Baltimore’s African American educational history. Known then as Male and Female Colored School No. 1, the building housed one of the city’s first grammar schools for Black students—and later became the first high school for people of color in the state of Maryland.
This chapter of the Peale’s past reflects a broader struggle for educational equity in post–Civil War Baltimore.
At a time when public education for African Americans was severely underfunded and restricted, the school represented both progress and persistence. Students, families, educators, and community leaders fought for expanded curricula, proper facilities, and the right to advanced education—efforts that unfolded over decades and helped shape Baltimore’s public school system.
The story of Colored School No. 1 also highlights the Peale building itself as a site of activism. Within its walls, generations of students pursued education as a pathway to citizenship, professional opportunity, and self-determination. Graduates of the school would go on to become some of Baltimore’s earliest African American educators, reinforcing the community’s long-standing demand for “colored teachers for colored schools.”
Today, this digital exhibition brings together historical documents, images, audio, and scholarly research to illuminate a story that has rarely been told in full.
By situating the Peale within the larger fight for educational justice, Baltimore’s Colored School No. 1 invites visitors to reflect on the enduring link between education and civil rights—past and present.
