Bishop School | |
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Location | |
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Established | 1858 |
Bishop School, also known as the Bishop Union School and Old Bishop School, was a public school in Detroit. [1] [2] Students included African Americans and members of The Purple Gang, a predominantly Russian Jewish criminal gang. [3] [4]
Levi Bishop, the president of the Detroit Board of Education, saw a need to create a new union school as opposed to a high school. Though there was disagreement within the Board of Education, Bishop Union School was established in July 1858 and named after Levi Bishop. [5] It was the third union school built by the Detroit Board of Education, [6] and it served kindergarten to 8th grade and had a pool, baths, a clinic, a dental clinic, and a "Foreign Room". [7]
In 1894 the school was described as having a great variety of nationalities. [8] A 1914 report described the school as serving mostly Jewish students and stated that much of their education was done at the library with students "completing their education in a year and a half." Other Detroit schools served mostly Italian or Polish students. [9] The school was one of those selected for a program to "Americanize" Jewish community members and teach them English as well as assist them with naturalization papers. [10]
Cora Brown, the first African American woman elected state senator in the United States, attended Bishop School. [11] The Kaufmanns, businessmen in Detroit, attended the school. [12]
Yusef Lateef recorded the song Bishop School on his 1969 Atlantic Records album Yusef Lateef's Detroit.