Excursus: Maryland, My Maryland: African-American Schools in Garrett County

The 1880 and 1900 federal censuses for Oakland, MD, showed a number of school-age children, so the natural question that immediately arose was "In this era of segregation, where did these African-American children go to school?"

My first clue came from a more-or-less off-hand mention on the Western Maryland Historical Library website about the opening of an African-American school in Oakland. The entire mention was this:

From "The Republican" newspaper, November 29, 1884: "A colored school was opened in Oakland last week, with Mr. Patrick Stanton as teacher."