# Lucy Craft Laney > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lucy_Craft_Laney > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lucy_Craft_Laney.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Craft_Laney > Source revision: 1355722230 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American educator (1854–1933) Lucy Craft Laney Born (1854-04-13)April 13, 1854 Macon, Georgia, United States Died October 23, 1933(1933-10-23) (aged 79) Education Atlanta University University of Chicago Lincoln University South Carolina State College Alma mater Atlanta University Occupation Principal Years active 1886–1933 Employer(s) Haines Normal and Industrial School Known for Principal and founder of Haines Normal and Industrial School, Augusta, Georgia Political party Republican **Lucy Craft Laney** (April 13, 1854 – October 23, 1933)[1] was an American educator who in 1883 founded the first school for black children in [Augusta, Georgia](/source/Augusta%2C_Georgia). She was principal for 50 years of the **Haines Institute for Industrial and Normal Education**. ## Early life Lucy Craft Laney was born free on April 13, 1854, in [Macon](/source/Macon%2C_Georgia), [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._state)), 11 years before slavery was abolished by constitutional amendment after the end of the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War). She was the seventh of 10 children born to Louisa and David Laney, free people who were both formerly enslaved. Her father had saved enough money to buy his freedom and that of his wife about 20 years before Lucy's birth.[1] Both her parents were strong believers in education and were very giving to strangers; this upbringing would strongly influence Laney in her life.[2] At the time of her birth it was illegal in Georgia for black people to learn to read. But with the help of Ms. Campbell, her parents' former enslaver's sister, Lucy learned to read at the age of four. She continued to study and attended Lewis (later Ballard) High School in [Macon, Georgia](/source/Macon%2C_Georgia), a [mission school](/source/Mission_school) run by the [American Missionary Association](/source/American_Missionary_Association). In 1869 she entered the first class of [Atlanta University](/source/Atlanta_University) (later [Clark Atlanta University](/source/Clark_Atlanta_University)), where she prepared to be a teacher.[3] She graduated from the school's teacher training program (the Normal Department) in 1873.[1] ## Teaching career Laney worked as a teacher in Macon, [Milledgeville](/source/Milledgeville%2C_Georgia), and [Savannah, Georgia](/source/Savannah%2C_Georgia) for ten years before deciding to open a school of her own.[4] Due to health reasons, she settled in [Augusta](/source/Augusta%2C_Georgia), Georgia, where she founded the city's first school for black children. Her first class in 1883 had six students, but Laney quickly attracted interest in the African-American community. By the end of the second year, the school had 234 students.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] With the increase in students, she needed more funding for her operation. She attended the northern [Presbyterian](/source/Presbyterian_Church_(USA)) Church Convention in 1886 in [Minneapolis, Minnesota](/source/Minneapolis%2C_Minnesota) and pleaded her case there, but was initially turned down. One of the attendees, Francine E. H. Haines, later declared an interest in and donated $10,000 to Laney for the school. With this money, Laney expanded her offerings. She changed the school's name to The Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in honor of her benefactor and to indicate its goals of industrial and teacher training.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] The school eventually grew to encompass an entire city block of buildings. By 1928, at a time when public education was still segregated, the school's enrollment was more than 800 students.[4] ## Haines Normal and Industrial Institute Cadets at the school Kindergarten class at the school Sewing class **Haines Normal and Industrial Institute** was a school for African Americans in Augusta, Georgia established by Lucy Craft Laney. It was named in honor of a benefactor who funded its expansion. A historical marker was added to the school site in 2009.[5] It eventually became [Lucy Craft Laney High School](/source/Lucy_Craft_Laney_High_School).[6] Laney opened a school with a few students in 1883.[7] She served as the school's principal.[8] Chartered in 1886, it was expanded with a kindergarten and junior college (Lamar School of Nursing).[9] By 1928, it had more than 800 students. The school also served as a community center.[7] Photographs of the school were gathered by [W.E.B. Du Bois](/source/W.E.B._Du_Bois) and [Thomas J. Calloway](/source/Thomas_J._Calloway) for the American Negro Exhibit at the [Paris Exposition of 1900](/source/Paris_Exposition_of_1900) (Exposition universelle internationale de 1900).[10] In 1928, negotiations were engaged to have Du Bois speak at the school.[11] It was supported by the Presbyterian Board of National Missions. A.C. Griggs served as president of the school.[12] Sewing, laundry, and printing were taught in a building on the campus. An entity on the school appeared in [James T. Haley](/source/James_T._Haley)'s [Afro-American Encyclopaedia](/source/Afro-American_Encyclopaedia).[13] ## NAACP and other organizations While living in Augusta, Laney joined the [Niagara Movement](/source/Niagara_Movement), founded in 1905. Later in 1918 she helped to found the local chapter of the successor civil rights organization, the [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People](/source/NAACP) (NAACP). She was also active in other organizations to promote the welfare of blacks and black women: the Interracial Commission, and the [National Association of Colored Women](/source/National_Association_of_Colored_Women's_Clubs). She also helped to integrate the community work engaged in by the [YMCA](/source/YMCA) and [YWCA](/source/YWCA) (which had separate organizations for white and black residents, respectively).[1] ## Honors and recognition In 1974, Governor [Jimmy Carter](/source/Jimmy_Carter) arranged to hang the first portraits of African Americans in the [Georgia state capitol](/source/Georgia_State_Capitol) to honor their contributions: included were Lucy Craft Laney, the [Reverend Henry McNeal Turner](/source/Henry_McNeal_Turner), and the [Reverend Martin Luther King Jr](/source/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.). In 1992, Laney was inducted into "[Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement)."[1] ## Personal life Laney died on October 23, 1933,[14] and is buried at the corner of [Laney Walker Boulevard](/source/Transportation_in_Augusta%2C_Georgia#Laney_Walker_Boulevard) and Phillips Street, where she first founded the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute.[15] ### Legacy The site of Laney's burial was redeveloped for the [Lucy Craft Laney Comprehensive High School](/source/Lucy_Craft_Laney_High_School), named in her honor. Her grave and memorial remain undisturbed.[4][15] Other schools named for her are: - Lucy Laney Elementary School in [Harris County, Georgia](/source/Harris_County%2C_Georgia)[16] - Lucy Craft Laney Community School, serving PK-5th grade students in North Minneapolis, Minnesota In 2005, the [Georgia Historical Society](/source/Georgia_Historical_Society) erected a Georgia historical marker recognizing Lucy Craft Laney. The marker is located at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History in [Augusta, Georgia](/source/Augusta%2C_Georgia).[17] Laney's image was included in the 1945 painting [Women Builders](/source/Women_Builders_(painting)) by [William H. Johnson](/source/William_H._Johnson_(artist)) as part of his *Fighters for Freedom* series.[18][19] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:0_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:0_1-4) ["Lucy Craft Laney (1854–1933)"](https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/lucy-craft-laney-1854-1933). *New Georgia Encyclopedia*. Retrieved April 24, 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Feger, H. V. (1942). ["A Girl Who Became a Great Woman"](http://www.jstor.org/stable/44246284). *Negro History Bulletin*. **5** (6): 123. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-2529](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-2529). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [44246284](https://www.jstor.org/stable/44246284). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-LCL_3-0)** Leslie, Kent Anderson. ["Lucy Craft Laney"](http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-820). *The New Georgia Encyclopedia*. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. Retrieved April 8, 2012. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-WWICA-1933_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-WWICA-1933_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-WWICA-1933_4-2) Yenser, Thomas, ed. (1933). *Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America 1930-1931-1932* (Third ed.). Brooklyn, New York: Who's Who in Colored America. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Haines Normal and Industrial Institute"](https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/haines-normal-and-industrial-institute/). Retrieved April 19, 2021. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["CONTENTdm"](https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/vg2/id/13574/). *vault.georgiaarchives.org*. Retrieved November 8, 2022. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-blog_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-blog_7-1) ["Haines Normal and Industrial Institute"](https://thepbsblog.com/tag/haines-normal-and-industrial-institute/). *The PBS Blog*. July 5, 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Lucy Craft Laney (1854-1933)"](https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/lucy-craft-laney-1854-1933). *New Georgia Encyclopedia*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Haines Normal and Industrial Institute Historical Marker"](https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=34807). *hmdb.org*. Retrieved November 8, 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Teachers and students at Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, Augusta, Ga"](https://www.loc.gov/item/2002716300/). *[Library of Congress](/source/Library_of_Congress)*. Retrieved November 8, 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Letter from unidentified correspondent to Haines Institute"](https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:ff368n84t). *digitalcommonwealth.org*. Retrieved April 19, 2021. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia - Crisis Magazine, August, 1940"](https://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/14889476580/). August 29, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2021 – via Flickr. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["James T. Haley. Afro-American Encyclopaedia; or, the Thoughts, Doings, and Sayings of the Race, Embracing Lectures, Biographical Sketches, Sermons, Poems, Names of Universities, Colleges, Seminaries, Newspapers, Books, and a History of the Denominations, Giving the Numerical Strength of Each. In Fact, it Teaches Every Subject of Interest to the Colored People, as Discussed by More Than One Hundred of Their Wisest and Best Men and Women"](https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/haley/haley.html#p110). Retrieved November 8, 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Lucy Laney Dies At Augusta Home"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108686537/obituary-for-lucy-laney/). *The Macon Telegraph*. October 24, 1933. Retrieved August 31, 2022. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-georgiahistory_laney_15-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-georgiahistory_laney_15-1) ["Lucy Craft Laney"](http://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/lucy-craft-laney-1854-1933/), GeorgiaHistory.com. Accessed November 8, 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Seibert, David. ["Lucy Laney Elementary School"](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/harris/lucy-laney-elementary-school). *GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac*. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved December 1, 2016. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Lucy Craft Laney Historical Marker"](https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/lucy-craft-laney/). *Georgiahistory.com*. Retrieved May 1, 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Robinson_18-0)** Robinson, Shantay. ["How Painting Portraits of Freedom Fighters Became William H. Johnson's Life's Work"](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-it-became-william-h-johnsons-lifes-work-to-paint-portraits-of-freedom-fighters-180983933/). *Smithsonian Magazine*. Retrieved July 14, 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-SAAM_19-0)** ["Women Builders"](https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/women-builders-12691). *Smithsonian American Art Museum*. Retrieved July 14, 2024. ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Lucy Craft Laney](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lucy_Craft_Laney). - [Lucy Laney Elementary School](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/harris/lucy-laney-elementary-school) historical marker - [Lucy Craft Laney](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14775435) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave) v t e Georgia Women of Achievement 1990s 1992 Martha Berry Lucy Craft Laney Juliette Gordon Low Flannery O'Connor 1993 Dicksie Bradley Bandy Mary Musgrove Cassandra Pickett Durham Viola Ross Napier Ma Rainey 1994 Julia Flisch Carson McCullers Margaret Mitchell Ruth Hartley Mosley Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman 1995 Selena Sloan Butler Anna Colquitt Hunter Hazel Jane Raines 1996 Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson Nellie Peters Black Ellen Craft Corra Harris Lugenia Burns Hope 1997 Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Ann Harris Gay Nancy Hart Lucy Barrow McIntire 1998 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Julia Collier Harris Rhoda Kaufman Carrie Steele Logan 1999 Moina Michael Lillian Smith 2000s 2000 Sallie Ellis Davis Laura Askew Haygood Ellen Axson Wilson 2001 Julia L. Coleman Catherine Evans Whitener 2002 Wessie Gertrude Connell Lula Dobbs McEachern Alice Harrell Strickland 2003 Madeleine Kiker Anthony Helena Maud Brown Cobb Julia Lester Dillon Leila Ross Wilburn 2004 Mathilda Beasley Louise Frederick Hays Helen Dortch Longstreet Sarah McLendon Murphy Emily Barnelia Woodward 2005 Alice Woodby McKane Nina Anderson Pape Jeannette Rankin 2006 Eliza Frances Andrews Grace Towns Hamilton Sarah Porter Hillhouse 2007 Margaret O. Bynum Edith Lenora Foster Helen Douglas Mankin Sara Branham Matthews 2008 Elfrida De Renne Barrow Amilee Chastain Graves Susan Dowdell Myrick 2009 Caroline Pafford Miller Jane Hurt Yarn Harriet Powers 2010s 2010 Mary Ann Lipscomb Celestine Sibley Madrid Williams 2011 Lillian Gordy Carter Mary Francis Hill Coley May duBignon Stiles Howard 2012 Sarah Randolph Bailey Beulah Rucker Oliver Ethel Harpst 2013 Lollie Belle Wylie Mary Gregory Jewett Henrietta Stanley Dull 2014 Rebecca Stiles Taylor Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Bazoline Estelle Usher 2015 Allie Carroll Hart Frances Freeborn Pauley Nell Kendall Hodgson Woodruff 2016 Sarah Harper Heard Ellamae Ellis League Katie Hall Underwood 2017 Carolyn Mackenzie Carter Clermont Huger Lee Lucile Nix 2018 Ludie Clay Andrews Susie Baker King Taylor Mamie George S. Williams 2019 Leila Denmark Mary Dorothy Lyndon 2020s 2020 Clarice Cross Bagwell Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Juanita Marsh Jean Elizabeth Geiger Wright 2021 Ruby M. Anderson Mary G. Bryan Laura Pope Forester Allie Murray Smith 2022 Lizzie Lurline Collier Josephine Fields Sanders Hedy West Josephine Wilkins 2023 Phyllis Jenkins Barrow Alice Coachman Luck Flanders Gambrell Dorothy Rogers Tilly 2024 Beatrice Hirsch Haas Adella Hunt Logan Valerie Murphey Elizabeth "Bessie" Tift 2025 Jessye Norman Alma Thomas Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat National United States --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lucy Craft Laney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Craft_Laney) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Craft_Laney?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.