“Full and Impartial Justice”: Robert Morris and the Equal School Rights Movement in Massachusetts

Abstract In early nineteenth-century Boston, African American children and youth faced severe educational inequalities and inequities in the city's racially segregated public school system. In response, Robert Morris and other African American youth organized for change. This article traces their organizing efforts, from establishing a literary society to petitioning the Massachusetts state legislature. Their collective work resulted in the overthrow of racially segregated public schools in Boston in 1855.