Women in History: Lucy Craft Laney

Rev. David Laney was a slave, Presbyterian minister and a carpenter who worked hard to purchase freedom for himself and his wife.

Lucy Craft Laney was born to Dr. Laney and his wife, the seventh of their ten children, twenty years after the purchase of their freedom.

Growing up in Macon, Georgia, Laney learned to read by the time she was four with the help of the ex-slave owner's sister. Laney attended Atlanta Missionary Association School, then the new Atlanta University. She graduated in 1973 with school's first graduating class.

Upon her graduation, Laney taught black children in Milledgeville and Savannah before settling in Augusta, Georgia. It was there where Laney would make the greatest impact.

Laney received a lot of support from the people in Augusta in her efforts to educate black children. So much so that she was encouraged to start her own school.

She began holding classes at Christ Presbyterian Church in the lecture room. Initially she had only six students but that attendance quickly grew to 200 students. It was time for Laney to expand. In order to do that, she needed some help.

At that time, the church provided the most support and assistance in the education of black youth. So with only a one-way ticket in her hand, Laney set out for the Presbyterian General Assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Laney spoke eloquently and passionately before the assembly in a plea for financial assistance. But the assembly only offered moral support and fare home in return.

But Laney's pleas did not go completely unheard. Francine E.H. Haines, president of the Women's Department of the church, was very impressed with Laney. She raised $10,000 for Laney to begin her school

Laney returned to Augusta and named her school the Haines Normal and Industrial School after the benefactor whose money provided its inception. Additional financial support eventually came from the Presbyterian church.

The Haines Normal School provided courses in all the basics and then some. English, French, German, history, chemistry, mathematics, physics, psychology and sociology were some of the curriculum provided. It was Laney's vision to prepare black children, not only for college, but also to enable the opportunity for them to become teachers and leaders.

Laney's vision was most prominent and came to fruition in at least one of her students, Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune was an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and founded her own school, Bethune-Cookman University.

Laney founded the first black kindergarten in Augusta, and the first nurses' training institute for black women, the Lamar School of Nursing. She also organized the first black high school football in Georgia.

For her achievements, Laney received many honorary degrees from a number of universities in her lifetime.

Lucy Craft Laney died oct. 23, 1933.

Lucy Craft Laney High School now stands where the Haines Normal and Industrial School once stood. Her portrait hangs in the Georgia State Capitol building and her home in Augusta is now the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.

Sources:
The New Georgia Encyclopedia
Georgia Women of Achievement