The Colored Orphan Asylum was a children's institution in New York City and was operational from 1836 to 1946. It housed on average four hundred children annually and was mostly managed by women.[1] Its first location was on Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, a four-story building with two wings. The Colored Orphan Asylum was burned down by Irish mobs on July 13, 1863 during the first day of the New York Draft Riots. It was rebuilt by Quakers in 1867 in Upper Manhattan and in 1907 moved to Riverdale in the Bronx.
The Colored Orphan Asylum was founded in Manhattan in 1836 by a group of Quakers[2] led by Anna Shotwell and Mary Murray. Despite the proliferation of many orphanages organized across race and religion at that time, the only option available to orphaned Black children were local poorhouses.[3] The Colored Orphan Asylum was then one of the first of its kind in the United States to take in Black children whose parents had died, or were not able to take care of them.[4] Prior to its founding, orphaned black children were housed in jails or worked as beggars or chimney sweeps as orphanages refused to take them. The orphanage initially offered schooling only for infants, feeling that their wards would not advance far in society due to being Black and orphans. Older children were bound by indentured servitude in which they were contracted to families, both Black and White, to learn a trade or skill until age 21. The families, in turn, paid a small fee to the Colored Orphan Asylum for the services which were placed in the bank for when the child left the institution. By 1897, schooling was increased until grade six and sent several students to the Hampton Institute for further study. In 1918 schooling was increased until grade eight and the indenture system evolved into a loose foster care system in which the child was to be incorporated into the family and continue their studies.[5] In 1846 Dr. James McCune Smith, the country's first licensed African American medical doctor, became the orphanage's medical director.[4] The orphanage moved several times - within Manhattan.
In March 1863, conscription in the United States became stricter, and the federal government used a lottery system to choose citizens for the draft. Those chosen could hire a substitute or pay the government, but most working-class men could not afford substitution, while black men were ineligible for the draft (they were not considered citizens of the United States at the time). Working-class white males, furious about the federal draft laws, which allowed richer whites to pay for substitutes, and did not draft blacks at all, rioted and attacked federal buildings and black neighborhoods.[6] The Colored Orphan Asylum was ransacked and burned down by Irish mobs on July 13, 1863, at about 4:00 pm on the first day of the New York Draft Riots, Monday .[7] However, the few police present were able to secure the orphanage for long enough to allow the orphans to escape before the building was looted and burned down.[8] The children were taken out by the backdoor of the home and escorted to Twentieth Precinct station house by the Superintendent of the asylum, William E. Davis, where they were received by Sergeant Petty, and housed for three nights.[9] On the Thursday they were taken to by Captain James Todd on Steamboat No. 1. to Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island) where the City Hospital was.[9] The loss of building and contents was estimated at $80,000.[9]
Rebuilding
Rebuilt on 143rd Street
The asylum was rebuilt by the Quakers in 1867 on 143rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The operation moved to a new building in 1907, in Riverdale, Bronx.[1] At the new site, the orphanage adopted a new plan to house its wards in cottages, with 25 children and a housemother in each cottage. The new plan was received favorably and encouraged ownership and self-respect in the children. In 1910, the asylum purchased a farm in Dutchess County for boys to learn practical skills.[5]
In 1944, the asylum was renamed the Riverdale Children's Association[1] and changed itself into a foster care agency by 1946.[5] The building later became the Hebrew Home for the Aged.[citation needed]
Seraile, William. Angels of mercy: White women and the history of New York's Colored orphan asylum. Fordham Univ Press, 2013.
Sappol, Mike. 1990. The Uses of Philanthropy: The Colored Orphan Asylum and Its Clients. Columbia University: MA thesis.
Riverdale Children's Association, 120th anniversary, 1836–1956. Founded in 1836 as the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans by N.Y. Riverdale Children's Association (New York).
From Cherry Street to Green Pastures: A History of the Colored Orphan Asylum at Riverdale-on-Hudson, 1836–1936 (New York: Riverdale Children's Association, 1936)
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