Alethia Tanner

Alethia Tanner (née Alethia Lethe Browning) was a 19th-century American educator. She was a leader in the African American community of the District of Columbia in the early 1800s, known for helping found its first school for free black children.

Biography

Alethia Lethe Browning was born about 1785 near Baden, Maryland on the west side of the Patuxent River, Maryland opposite Lower Marlboro. She lived on a plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland, in Patuxent River with her two sisters, Sophia and Laurena Browning, and their slave-holder Rachel Pratt, the mother of Maryland governor Thomas Pratt. Being a slave, she had a vegetable market in Lafayette Square, where among her customers was President Thomas Jefferson.^[1] In 1826 Alethia was able to purchase her freedom for $1,400 after saving up her money from selling produce in Washington, D.C. markets. She received her manumission papers on July 10, 1810. Soon after, Alethia was able to purchase her sister Laurena, Laurena's husband, their children, and many of her family and friends. Sister Sophia had already bought her husband George F. Bell's (Beall) freedom for $400.00 from the Addison family, whereafter he purchased her freedom as well. She bought freedom for her nephew John Cook and helped him to receive an education at the Columbia Institute. He became a successful educator, the first black Presbyterian minister in the District of Columbia and Community leader before the Civil War.^[2]

At some point Alethia either married or changed her name to Tanner. Alethia was recognized as a leader in the early African American Community of the District of Columbia. She was regarded as a mother of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a Methodist church member in part because she was drawn to their position on slavery. Later, she and other African American former slaves left the church, finding it unwelcoming because they did not want to be confined to the galleria in the church. Alethia and her sister and her sister's husband joined Israel Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and later purchased it when it was being sold in auction. When she died she was a member of Union Bethel Church which was established with the help of her nephew John Frances Cook, Sr.^[3]

The Bell School

Altheia, George, Nicholas Franklin and Moses Liverpool started the first school for free black children in the District of Columbia called The Bell School. The Bell School failed from lack of funding and a small student base, leading to the formation of The Resolute Beneficial Society School. This school like the last failed, largely attributed to limitations caused by segregation. Smaller private schools were then opened. Alethia's safety was in danger due to the Snow Riot in August 1835, which started as a labor strike but extended into attacks on free blacks. Her nephew John Francis Cook fled, but there was no record of her fleeing the area.

References

External sources

• Sharp, John G, Washington D.C Genealogy Trails Biographies. 2006-2013
• Jessie Carney Smith, ed. (1996). Notable Black American Women, book 2. Detroit, USA: Gale Research Incorporated. p. 625. ISBN 0-8103-9177-5.