Mildred Johnson's The Modern School at St. Philip's Episcopal Church

September 1934 - c. 1990

In September 1934, Mildred Louise Johnson opened her own private school, the Modern School (TMS), in a vacant parish house at St. Philips Episcopal Church in response to the discrimination against Black teachers in educational spaces. TMS served to fulfill Johnson’s Teacher Training Department program requirement, and she was able to receive her diploma from the Ethical Culture School in 1935. The school opened with eight of her Harlem friends’ children who were between the ages of 2 and 6 years old and of different race and social class. As the progressive school began to expand, TMS moved to 428 W. 154th Street between Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Ave in 1936. When that building was under maintenance in 1938, the school moved to the home of one of the students’ parents at W. 154th Street. In 1940, TMS moved to 411 W. 154th Street, which fit 100 students, and expanded to a second location for grades 4-6 at 437 W. 162nd Street. In 1953, Johnson purchased a five-story building from the Catholic Institute of Mercy to serve as TMS’s final location at 539 W. 152nd Street. Mildred Johnson’s The Modern School provided Black children with activity-based, creative education that emphasised community collaboration.

TMS
View Gallery

Details

Category
School
Instructional Level
Elementary/Grammar School, Middle/Junior High School, Pre-Kindergarten
Audience
Children
Founder(s)
Mildred Johnson
Tags
expansion, community, private, coeducational

Location

  • 539 W 152nd St, New York, NY 10031, USA
    c. 1953 - c. 1990
  • 411 W 154th St, New York, NY 10032, USA
    c. 1940 - ?
  • 437 W 162nd St, New York, NY 10032, USA
    c. 1940 - ?
  • 428 W 154th St, New York, NY 10032, USA
    c. 1936 - c. 1940
  • 204 W 134th St, New York, NY 10030, USA
    c. 1934 - c. 1936

References

  1. Erickson, & Morrell, E. (2019). Educating Harlem : A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community. Columbia University Press,. https://doi.org/10.7312/eric18220
  2. Flowers, D. B. (2020). A school for Modern Times: Mildred Louise Johnson and the founding of the Modern School of Harlem. The Journal of African American History, 105(4), 593–625. https://doi.org/10.1086/710665