Laney, Lucy Craft (1854–1933)

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Laney, Lucy Craft (1854–1933)

African-American educator. Born in Macon, Georgia, in April 1854 (in various sources seen as April 11, 12, and 13); died in Augusta, Georgia, on October 23, 1933; seventh of ten children, six girls and four boys, of David Laney (a carpenter and lay minister) and Louisa Laney; graduated from Lewis High School, Macon, Georgia; graduated in the first class of Atlanta University, 1873; took graduate courses at the University of Chicago; never married; no children.

The daughter of former slaves, Lucy Laney was born in 1854, the seventh of ten children of David and Louisa Laney . Louisa's father, born a slave in South Carolina, later purchased his freedom and became a carpenter and a lay minister in Macon, Georgia, where he settled in 1836. Louisa's mother had been a slave of the prominent Campbell family of Macon. At 13, Louisa married David Laney, who afterward purchased her freedom, although she continued to work for the Campbell family. Lucy was taught to read and write by her mother and later attended Lewis High School in Macon, a private institution for blacks. Upon graduation, she was selected to become a member of the first class of the newly founded Atlanta University.

After graduating in 1873, Laney spent the next 12 years teaching public school in Savannah, Augusta, Macon, and Milledgeville, Georgia. In 1885, she accepted an invitation from the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen to begin a private school for black youths in Augusta. Securing a charter from the state in January 1886, she opened her school in a rented room in the basement of Augusta's Christ Presbyterian Church. From an initial enrollment of five students, the school quickly caught on, largely because of its superior curriculum. At a time when educational opportunities for blacks were limited to vocational training or a few poor public schools, Laney's goal was to prepare her students to enter reputable colleges and become qualified teachers. To that end, she set high standards and offered a full liberal arts curriculum. By the end of the second year, enrollment had reached 234, and Laney was forced to solicit aid from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to keep the school going. While the assembly could offer only moral support, funds were obtained from several individual donors, among them Francina E.H. Haines , in whose honor Laney eventually named her school the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. Other donors contributed to the construction of several new buildings, and the school eventually expanded to cover an entire city block. The Presbyterian Board assumed some responsibility for maintenance and salaries but financing remained an ongoing concern, and Laney traveled extensively to plead her cause. By the time of World War I, the school had 900 students and 30 teachers, and had built a reputation as one of the best schools of its kind for blacks in the state. Among the many dedicated educators to work with Laney was Mary McLeod Bethune , who would begin her teaching career at Haines in the early 1900s.

In the early 1890s, Laney established at Haines the city's first kindergarten and a nurses' training department which evolved into the school of nursing at the University Hospital at Augusta. A Lucy Laney League was organized in New York City in 1900, and held a yearly fundraiser to support the school's kindergarten. By the 1930s, the school had dropped the elementary grades and offered a four-year high school course plus a year of college-level studies. Graduates of Haines expressed their gratitude by sending their own children to the school and by supporting its programs.

Following Laney's death in 1933, the Haines Institute was taken over by her niece Louisa Laney , who was succeeded after a year by Reverend Augustus Cummings Griggs. Although the Depression caused the Presbyterian Church to gradually withdraw its support, the school managed to operate until 1949, when it was forced to closed. The buildings were razed, and a modern structure, the Lucy C. Laney High School, was built on the site. Laney, whose portrait hangs in the Georgia State House in Atlanta, is remembered as one of the South's foremost educators.