Covert Michigan Schoolhouses

The biracial schoolhouses in Covert, Michigan, were not only the first implemented in the United States but also drastically influenced the town’s educational landscape. Having their origins dating back to the mid-to-late 19^th century, these institutions served as centers for teaching the local children of Covert, despite their race. This had started because of the morals of the founders of this town, who were radicalists, believing that the color of each other's skin should not determine a difference in equality. This marked a significant step in both integration as well as the educational divide, becoming an example to the state and the rest of the nation. Even to this day, Covert still stands as a crucial historical place in representing the start implantation of integration and equality into the United States with the Covert History Museum giving more insight into stories such as the schoolhouses and more.

Rooted deep into the history of Western Europe, as well as America, has been the suffering of those with a skin tone other than "white," primarily focused on those with a black skin tone. Especially in the history of America, African Americans have had to face countless accounts of oppression from seeing an equal opportunity in the so-called 'land of the free.' In one town, however, since its uprising in the 1860s, an important part of the civil rights movement was created, where the people of this town coexisted peacefully despite consisting of biracial people. This coexistence lived in the town called Covert, Michigan. In the aspect of education, Covert, Michigan, was the first town in the United States to have an integrated biracial school system, despite it being both illegal and unpopular due to the community's normative utilizing segregation on a multiracial society's establishment since its formation. 

After the civil war in the United States, previous African American slaves searched for a home to call their own. Even though the African Americans were freed, they still faced an intense backlash from the white members of society, seeing them as unequal and unworthy. Therefore, living a normal, peaceful, and prosperous life anywhere in this country was challenging. However, in the town of Covert, Michigan, this was not the case; starting up from a piece of the forest, the community began as a bunch of “New England whites and former slaves who did not mind the color of each other’s skin and laid a foundation of trust in one another.”³ The white people that were a part of the creation of this town were not opposed to this idea of living with African Americans because they were supposedly a part of the Congressional Church, which was strictly against slavery. The radicalistic idea of creating a biracial town where citizens could live in harmony with each other was brought to life.

In the first 30 years since Covert's making, it was a relatively small town, with only a few buildings available and the primary source of the town's income deriving from the lumber mills and farms, taking up most of the grounds. Over the years, Covert attracted many African Americans searching for a better life in the United States. Covert was a place where African Americans could have not only a better life but also one with more of an equal chance for opportunity. An 1870s Census illustrated that no black-owned farm was smaller than 40 acres, which is about twice the area of today's Chicago's Millennium Park, with an average of around 660 acres, and that all of the black-owned farms collectively added up to approximately $21,600. That amount is around $800,000 in today's value.² Additionally, according to this same 1870s Census, the amount of African American people living in Covert was 48, which is roughly 6% of the total population of Covert during this time, showing that the white population of this town was indeed unphased by this radical idea of coinciding with other races equally.¹ 

One of the most historically significant moments Covert was known for was implementing a biracial school system in the town. Even though this was illegal and unwanted by the white members of society during this time, Covert was unwilling to back down on the established equality in their social norms. So, when it was time for a census report to record all of the children attending schools, the races of the children were left unmentioned by the auditor, a white farmer by the name of Adolphus Sherburn, allowing even black children to attend school along with white children, with 19 African American children attending schools in Covert, spreading throughout 5 of the 6 school districts in 1872.¹ These number increased throughout the years too, with 37 black children attending 4 of the 6 districts, and growing steadily from then on, solidifying this idea that the people of Covert did not back down from the equality that they sought. 

Today, Covert, Michigan, still stands as a historically vital town to recall in the history of Michigan and even has installed a museum within its downtown area to keep the history of its contributions alive. 

Community Connections 

One community organization on the map that could use this information to make its displays more powerful, diverse, and accurate is the Michigan History Museum. Within the Michigan History Museum is one section in specific that stood out and could use more context for accuracy, which is the One Room Schoolhouse sections section could use this information to more accurately depict the situation that most people, not just white middle-to-upper-class children, were in, either allowing or not allowing them to pursue an education. 

¹ Cox, Anna. “Open and Free Content on JSTOR and Artstor - about JSTOR.” Jstor, 1995. https://about.jstor.org/oa-and-free/. 

² Middleton, Daniel J. “Covert, Michigan: The American Town That Never Experienced Segregation.” Unique Coloring, November 10, 2021. https://www.uniquecoloring.com/articles/covert-michigan. 

³ Donelly, Francis. “Michigan Townships Association Home.” Michigan Townships, December 2017. https://michigantownships.org/wp-content/uploads//December-2017-Township-Stories.pdf. 

Cox, Anna. “Open and Free Content on JSTOR and Artstor - about JSTOR.” Jstor, 1995. https://about.jstor.org/oa-and-free/. 

Middleton, Daniel J. “Covert, Michigan: The American Town That Never Experienced Segregation.” Unique Coloring, November 10, 2021. https://www.uniquecoloring.com/articles/covert-michigan. 

Donelly, Francis. “Michigan Townships Association Home.” Michigan Townships, December 2017. https://michigantownships.org/wp-content/uploads//December-2017-Township-Stories.pdf. 

Lyden, Jacki. “Covert, Michigan: A History in Black and White.” NPR, December 24, 2006. https://www.npr.org/2006/12/24/6670689/covert-michigan-a-history-in-black-and-white%20.