Avery College
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
To the south, at Nash and Avery Streets, stood Avery College. Founded in 1849 by Charles Avery (1784-1858), Methodist lay preacher, philanthropist, abolitionist, to provide a classical education for Negroes.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Founded in 1849 by Charles Avery—a Methodist lay preacher, businessman, and committed abolitionist—Avery College offered a classical education to African Americans at a time when such opportunity was almost universally denied them. Located on Pittsburgh's North Side, it became an important institution for Black advancement and a center of antislavery sympathy in the decades before the Civil War. Avery devoted much of his fortune to the education and uplift of the people the nation still held in bondage.
Why it matters
It was a rare beacon of higher education for Black Americans in the antebellum North and a concrete expression of the abolitionist cause.
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Related people
- · Charles Avery
Themes & tags
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