Jemima Williams

"Jemima Williams with School Children 1859"
Mission to Fugitive Slaves in Canada: Being a Branch of the Operations of the Colonial Church and School Society . . . 1858-9.
[London]: Society's Offices, 1859.

In the wake of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which forced Northern law enforcement officers to aid in the recapture of runaways, more than ten thousand fugitive slaves fled to Canada. In response the Colonial Church and School Society established a mission school in London Ontario for children of fugitive slaves but open to all. The school was started by Thomas Hughes and Jemima Williams was appointed the school's Mistress. Williams, noted that their success proves the "feasibility of educating together white and colored children." http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3b.html