High School Opens
LRSH purchases the 40 Charlton Street building, a former church and settlement house purchased from the Episcopal Mission Society, and opens the high school, which is posthumously named for Elisabeth Irwin in 1942.
Elisabeth Irwin Letter to Students
Elisabeth Irwin sent this very moving letter to students, written from her hospital bed weeks before her death. In the letter, she encourages the students to “Please sing the songs that we love so well so that I can hear..Read More
THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE Published
Agnes Delima’s The Little Red School House is published. Contributors include Elisabeth Irwin, John Dewey, and LRSH teachers.
Elisabeth Irwin Dies
Elisabeth Irwin dies on October 16, 1942 at New York Hospital.
Dr. Randolph “Rank” Smith Becomes Director
Near the entrance to 198 Bleecker Street is a small brass plaque that honors the man who led our school for 25 years between 1943 and 1968. Dr. Rank Smith, who succeeded Elisabeth Irwin, was considered by contemporaries as one..Read More
Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson, Pearl Bailey Perform at Benefit
Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson, Pearl Bailey, and others perform at a benefit concert at Town Hall in 1943 to raise funds for the machine shop and science laboratory for wartime courses.
EI Students Get to Know their Neighbors
EI students interview journalist Celila Ventura about her Italian heritage in an effort to understand the Italian-American community just east of the school. “Instead of interviewing, I was interviewed by thirty well-behaved, friendly children,” Ventura writes. “Their questions ranged from..Read More
Students Mobilize for Yugoslav Relief
LRSH students participated in the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief’s Winter Clothing Campaign to aid Yugoslav children in need.
EI High School Song
Hear Tom Hurwitz, ’65, sing the Elisabeth Irwin High School song, written by David Roland, ’48 and Alan Garb, ’47. Listen to Hurwitz’s StoryLab interview where he talks about why the song is no longer sung, and about the only..Read More
Elisabeth Irwin Graduates Its First Class
Read about EISH’s early years and its first graduating class in INFO, the high school newspaper.
LRSH Student Gives Speech Before State Legislature, Receives Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt
Paul Coburn, a ten-year-old at LRSH, made a speech before the State Legislature, in favor of the Ives-Quinn Anti-Discrimination Bill, which would make New York the first state to enact legislation curtailing the practice of discriminating against job applicants and employees based on race, religion, or creed...Read More
Democracy in the Classroom
On democracy in the classroom: Of course the approach to this idea with very young children would necessarily and naturally be very different from that used with older children. … One does not use the word itself …[ b]ut one..Read More
Abraham Lincoln Carries On Club
10-year old LRSH students fight to end racial bias and advocate for legislation banning discrimination in employment based on race, creed, color, and national origin by forming the Abraham Lincoln Carries On club. They wrote to Mayor Laguardia, urging him..Read More
EI Students Send Christmas Boxes to European Children
EI students send ninety Christmas boxes of goods to European children in need in Russia, Yugoslavia, France, and Greece.
Students Visit Phelps-Dodge Strike
Ninth graders visit the Phelps-Dodge Strike at the Phelps-Dodge Copper Products Corporation plant in Elizabeth, NJ. The eight-month-old strike was one of the longest major industrial disputes on record in the nation, resulting in a 18.5% hourly wage increase and..Read More
LRSH Action Committee
The Little Red School House Action Committee joined other Greenwich Village schools in a brave try at getting some of its “anti-everything neighbors” to see the “other fellow’s point of view”. It established a Human Relations Workshop with the aim..Read More
Integration in Baseball
INFO, the school newspaper, devotes the majority of its February 1, 1946 issue to advocating for integration in baseball. INFO editors, harnessing the power of the press, write to sports writers of their day, and excerpted responses from eight journalists,..Read More
Avon Long Performs at EI
Broadway star Avon Long performs at EI as part of Black History Week celebration.
Freedom of Speech in the Classroom
Students in Mabel’s 9s class explore a map of the United States in the 1940s. Needless to say, this critical thinking must involve complete freedom of speech in the classroom. The child is not told what to think but rather..Read More
Israel Drive
EI held a month-long drive to aid people in Israel. The money collected was given to the United Palestine Appeal (UPA), a member of the a member agency of the United Jewish Appeal and a major fund raising agency for..Read More
EI Marches with NAACP
Elisabeth Irwin students marched with a delegation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Washington D.C. on January 16, 1950 to advocate for Congressional action on the passage of the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). EI..Read More
LRSH Saved from Demolition
LRSH is saved from demolition under Robert Moses‘ never-realized slum clearance plan despite his finding that it was “not advisable” for the school to remain standing (see letter). The threat of demolition that has hung over the Little Red School..Read More
Jack Gilford and Harry Belafonte Perform at LRSH Fundraiser
Third Annual Midnight Show of Stars to benefit the scholarship fund on Saturday, April 5, 1952 at the high school features Jack Gilford, Harry Belafonte and others. These annual fundraisers began at midnight and went well into the wee hours.
Dr. Randolph B. Smith Defends the Bill of Rights
Randolph Smith was called to testify on “Subversive Influence in the Educational Process” at hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate in September, 1952.
Sophomore Girls Visit Welfare Island
Three tenth grade EI students volunteer at the Metropolitan Hospital on Welfare Island. The students were members of the Councillettes of Jewish Women, an organization composed of girls from thirteen to seventeen years of age. Their job was to “keep..Read More
Frank Silvera Visits EI
As part of E.I.’s observance of Black History Week, Tony-nominated actor Frank Silvera, spoke to students about the history of Black actors in American theatre.
Tribune Forum Exchange Students
For many years, LREI participated in the Herald Tribune Forum, which brought students to the U.S. from all over the world for a period of twelve weeks. LREI hosted students from many countries, including Kimiko Fujii from Japan, and Wentworth..Read More
W.E.B. Dubois Visits
Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, well-known scholar, philosopher and writer, spoke to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades on February 14. His topic was freedom of opinion in the United States. In a short analysis of the fight for freedom of opinion..Read More
A Lasting Imprint
Students attend a campaign assembly in the 1950s. A focus on politics not only will help our students learn about history, geography, math, science, and language arts, but also will allow them to fashion their own political lives. It will..Read More
Natural Inquisitiveness
Progressive education works with a child’s natural inquisitiveness and desire to do, to experiment and to be involved. Progressive education asks students to truly understand a topic and to demonstrate and to defend their understanding. It asks them to think..Read More
Pearl Primus Visits LRSH
Pearl Primus, one of America’s greatest interpretive dancers and PhD candidate in Anthropology at Columbia University, performs at LRSH. “There is music everywhere,” she said. “Music is in the wind whistling by my ears. I hear it in the quiet..Read More
EI Students Attend Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
The date was May 17, 1957. Three years ago on that date the Supreme Court of the land added a new verse to freedom’s song. “Desegregate and state to integrate” chorused the nine men in black. And now three years..Read More
Getting Along
EI students on a field trip in 1957. Just as our little children often say at home, “We don’t learn anything, we just have fun,” we would like our older children to feel “We don’t learn about democracy, we just..Read More
10s Play About Integration
A play by the 10s about integration was performed at an assembly in 1957, and then later at the high school. Teacher Mimi Levy transcribed phrases from class discussions of integration and turned their words into the script, which was..Read More
Arthur Miller (P’62, ’65) Attends EI Performance of THE CRUCIBLE
EI parent Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, attends an EI production of his play said the following about the performance:
We Need Our Park
LRSH students make an appeal to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, explaining why building a highway through Washington Square Park would be detrimental to the community.
NAACP Youth Secretary Visits EI
Herbert Wright, NAACP Youth Secretary, speaks to the EI student council
Jackie Robinson Visits EI on Behalf of NAACP
In 1958, Jackie Robinson, ambassador of the NAACP, came to LREI with Herbert Wright, Youth Leader of the NAACP, to accept a check from EI students, funds raised to support their efforts in the fight for racial justice and to..Read More
Dwight Eisenhower congratulates LRSH on 25th Anniversary
Read The New York Times article from March 1, 1958 here.
EI Students Attend Youth March for Integrated Schools
On Saturday, October 25, 1958, EI students traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the Youth March for Integrated Schools led by A. Philip Randolph, Jackie Robinson, Coretta Scott King, Harry Belafonte, Bayard Rustin.
Prime Minister Nehru Writes to Students at LRSH
In 1958, LRSH students sent Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India letters and drawings wishing him a happy birthday. In response, he wrote: I am glad to know that you have been learning about India in your class. India is..Read More
Operation Pennsylvania
EI students take a week-long trip to Pennsylvania to visit Amish farms, a steel plant, and a coal mine, among other stops, to learn about the work and lives of others. Read the trip objectives and itinerary here.
Lorraine Hansberry Visits Book Week
On November 5, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry visited students to talk about her writing, including the play A Raisin in the Sun, as part of Book Week. LREI prides itself on shrinking the distance between the schoolhouse and the “real world.”..Read More
Village NAACP Organized
LREI Director Dr. Randolph Smith, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and Reverend Howard Moody of Judson Memorial Church, among other prominent Village leaders, are consulted in the formation of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chapter of the NAACP.