A new blog by Kyle Dixon, “History Surrounds You,” remembers Ellen Garrison Jackson, a freedmen’s Bureau Teacher working in the Port Deposit area.
Ellen Garrison Jackson “applied to the American Missionary Association as early as 1863 to serve as a teacher in schools for African American children in the south,” Kyle writes. “When Ellen’s application was approved, she was eventually assigned to teach in Port Deposit, Maryland. Davis states that Ellen taught two sessions of school daily along with running a night school for adults. It is also noted that she gave public speeches advocating for the rights of African Americans to an education and to raise money to pay rent for the school location, furniture, and supplies for her students. Davis also cites two incidents of resistance by members of the community including harassment by white children and the burning down of her boarding house in the middle of the night. During her tenure teaching in Port Deposit, Ellen became one of the first to openly challenge laws that were meant to protect the rights of African Americans. . . . .”
Continues on the new local history blog, “History Surrounds You” by Kyle Dixon.