Gilbert Academy
Gilbert Academy was a premier preparatory school for African American high school students in New Orleans, Louisiana. Begun in 1863 in New Orleans as a home for colored children orphaned by the American Civil War, the home moved to Baldwin, Louisiana in 1867. The Orphans Home evolved into a school and, over the next 80 years, became Gilbert Academy, a college preparatory school for African Americans. Gilbert Academy returned to New Orleans, achieved accreditation by the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, and graduated many notable students until it closed in 1949. History Civil War origins The Union Army captured New Orleans April 25th, 1862, one year into the American Civil War, and the United States Department of War set up the Department of the Gulf as part of the United States Army. Nathaniel P. Banks, the Gulf Department's second commander, appropriated the vacant mansion of Confederate exile Pierre Soulé on Esplanade Avenue to house the Colored Orphans Home in 1863. Banks appointed fellow Bostonian Louise De Mortie to run the Home (Some sources name De Mortie herself as the founder). The Orphans Home remained in the Soulé mansion under De Mortie's care until 1866. She fundraised tirelessly, holding concerts and fairs at the Soulé mansion itself and touring the country to raise money until her death from yellow fever in New Orleans in 1867. Banks himself assisted in raising money for the orphanage, as evidenced by his name appearing on the imprint of cartes de visit sold on behalf of the institution. When the Civil War ended, New Orleans residents returned to reclaim their homes, Pierre Soulé among them. This necessitated finding the Colored Orphans Home new quarters. The Freedmans Bureau, a government agency created in 1865, transferred the children in 1866 to a Marine Hospital being built to replace one destroyed by explosion in 1861. Due to cost overruns and construction problems the hospital was never finished, requiring the children be moved yet again with a year. A combination of private donations and public funds enabled supporters to purchase a former sugar plantation 104 miles west of New Orleans. The orphans were moved there in 1867, to the area that eventually became today's town of Baldwin, Louisiana. The hope was that the Colored Orphans Home could become self-sufficient in its new location. However, promised public funds were withdrawn and a series of setbacks at the plantation made this impossible. Most of the orphans were placed with families by the end of 1874. From orphanage To academy As early as 1865 the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) began funding free schools across the Southern United States. Overwhelmed by the need the MEC formed the Freedman's Aid Society in 1866. Its primary mission was to support free public schools and train Negro teachers. Under the auspices of the MEC, the former orphanage in Baldwin opened in 1875 as La Teche Seminary. When William L. Gilbert, the owner of Gilbert Clock Factory in Winsted, Connecticut donated $10,000, plus a further $40,000