Mary Peake:Stole It Back

The first and most important thing that the master stole from (and kept from) the slave was their education, memory, and identity...to the master, education and slavery were totally incompatible. In light of this crushing oppression, it is not surprising that the first thing freed people "stole back" was their education.

 Mary Peake (1823-1862) devoted her life to education, senior citizens, and service to the poor. She is mostly remembered for starting a school for newly freed "contraband" underneath an oak tree (later known as the "Emancipation Oak") near Fort Monroe, Virginia. I commonly refer to her as the "First African-American Teacher at Fort Freedom."

Thousands of fugitives escape to Fort Monroe

In 1862, Reverend Lewis C. Lockwood shared this recollection of Mary after her death (Tuberculosis):

"A very old man, in the suburbs, often came to her door, and never went empty away; and frequently at evening she would go and carry him warm tea, and in the winter she brought him wood in small armfuls. When he died, he said he wanted Mary to have all that belonged to him. Though he was scarcely worth three cents, it was a rich heart gift."

The "First Freedmen's School":1831-present

Mary Peake should be an "inspiration of service" and to us all...

What do we seek in this life...fame...fortune..."superiority"?

 Or will we "steal things back" and receive the "rich heart gift" of thanks from those we serve?