Exploring Daily Life at the 1839 Parker Academy in New Richmond, Ohio

The Parker Academy was a school founded in 1839 in New Richmond, Ohio, by Daniel and Priscilla Parker. Originally known as Clermont Academy, it is one of the first schools in the United States to offer fully integrated classrooms that were open to anyone that desired an education – no matter the age, gender, race, or ideology. The Parkers were pioneers of their time; establishing such a school over twenty years before the Civil War even began. This preparatory accademy was a safe haven for its numerous students, many of whom were runaway slaves. Despite backlash from pro-slavery advocates, the Parkers were determined to offer a genuine education to any and all students. In a time plagued with racism, slavery, and crippled by the devastating effects of the Civil War, the ability to achieve an education regardless of color or gender was an opportunity unheard of in the United States at that time. In the midst of one of the country’s darkest moments, the Parker Academy was a beacon of hope, freedom, and resistance, in a small town on the Ohio River that divided the North and South. Dr. Sharyn Jones has been working at the Parker Academy since 2015 with the support of the National Science Foundation. She is involved in a multidisciplinary collaboration among historians, geographers, and anthropologists that engages student and community participants in research exploring important problems of race, gender equality, and social justice in American History through archaeological excavations and archival research at the Parker Academy site. Her talk at ARI will highlight the team’s archaeological and archival work.

After the talk there will be a Happy Hour to follow at Hoosier Icehouse