The Watchman Industrial School and Camp, known to some as the Watchman Institute, was founded 1908 by Reverend William S. Holland in Providence, Rhode Island. It moved to North Scituate in 1923 and closed in 1938, although Holland's summer camp operated there until 1974.
William S. Holland (born October 1866 in Virginia; died 1958 in Rhode Island), the son of a former Virginia slave, founded the Watchman Industrial School at 140 Codding Street, i...
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The Watchman Industrial School and Camp, known to some as the Watchman Institute, was founded 1908 by Reverend William S. Holland in Providence, Rhode Island. It moved to North Scituate in 1923 and closed in 1938, although Holland's summer camp operated there until 1974.
William S. Holland (born October 1866 in Virginia; died 1958 in Rhode Island), the son of a former Virginia slave, founded the Watchman Industrial School at 140 Codding Street, in Providence in 1908.
The educational program there was inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington, and based on the programs at both the Hampton Institute and the Tuskeegee Institute. It focused on training black youths in vocational trades in addition to academic subjects, hence the name "industrial school," although it did not produce a commercial product. In lieu of seeing them enter Rhode Island's reform school or prison systems, Holland often took custody of young persons in trouble with the authorities.
The Watchman Industrial School...
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