Prince Hall Petitions Massachusetts Legislature for a Black School

In 1787 Prince Hall and 73 other free Black Bostonians petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for a school for Black children, noting that Black taxpayers were denied access to public schools their taxes supported. The legislature rejected the petition. The African Masonic Lodge then organized its own school, meeting in Hall's home. The petition was one of the earliest formal demands by Black Americans for equal access to public education and anticipated the school desegregation battles of the