Free public education for Black children began in 1876, five years after Knoxville’s citizens voted in 1871 for free public schools. Austin East, the successor of the Colored School and the once all-white East High school, has stood the test of time.
Before schools were built for Black children, some passionate students learned by spying on schools, according to records at the Knox County Museum of Education. The Rev. Thomas Hures, St. John’s Episcopal Church’s rector, taught Black kids before the Civil War. One of his students, Laura Cansler, went on to start Knoxville’s first school for Black children, called Burnside School, in 1864 at 1503 Detroit Ave. It closed in the early 1900s.
Then came the the Colored School and Austin School.
In January 1876, the Knoxville Board of Education authorized funding to create a Black school. A June 1876 article in the Knoxville Chronicle referenced the Colored School, which was reportedly “recently purchased or leased” by city officials.
Separately, Austin School was established by Emily Austin, a white woman from Philadelphia who came to Knoxville in 1870 to teach Black children. The city assumed responsibility for the school in 1879.