Jeremiah B. Sanderson, a free, New Bedford-educated Black man who was active within the abolitionist movement in the Northeast, moved to California during the Gold Rush era and became one of the most influential spokesman and educators in the state. He successfully petitioned to get public funding for "colored schools" in the 1850s-1870s…

Jeremiah B. Sanderson, a free, New Bedford-educated Black man successfully petitioned to get public funding for "colored schools" in the 1850s-1870s in Sacramento, San Francisco and Stockton. Jeremiah Sanderson was one of the most influential spokesmen and educators in the state.

This paper presents an historical study of the creation of the first publicly funded "colored school" in Marysville, California, in 1857, focusing on the community's efforts to open the school. The colored school was part of a dynamic Black community full of economic and social vitality, yet was in a time period in which Blacks still…