SFACADEMY.ORG

Established in 1828, Saint Frances Academy (SFA) is an independent Catholic high school with African American and Hispanic roots. Saint Frances Academy serves as an agent of positive change within its inner-city neighborhood... On June 13, 1828, thirty-five years before President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Mother Mary Lange - then Elizabeth Clarisse Lange (1784-1882), established a school to provide a "Christian education to colored children." She recognized the need for education for African American children and opened the school in her home in the Fells Point area of the city. The school was established with the mission to teach "children of color to read the Bible" - an act that would have been tremendously difficult during the era of American slavery.

Primary location: Baltimore United States