School in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, U.S. (1830s–1860)
Grimble Bell School
Location
Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States
Information
Other name
Grimble Bell School for Free Negroes
Established
c. 1830s
Closed
1860
Grimble Bell School (1830s–1860), was a segregated private school in Washington, Louisiana, United States, for African American students. It was the earliest African American school in the St. Landry Parish, founded in the 1830s, and shut down in 1860 by White vigilantes.[1][2][3]
Early educational opportunities for local Black students, like at the Grimble Bell School of the 1830s, were almost exclusively available to only the children of wealthy free people of color.[4][5] Tuition cost fifteen dollars, and the school had up to 125 students enrolled at its peak.[1][2] Subjects taught in the classes included history, bookkeeping, arithmetic, writing, English, French, and Latin.[1]