![]() ![]() Because of her testimony, Maritcha became the first African-American graduate of Providence High School in 1869. Downing had petitioned for equal access to the city's schools for years, but the requests did not gain traction until the end of the Civil War. ![]() The Providence public school system was segregated at the time, and there was no high school for students of color. They lived at 16 B Street, two doors down from the celebrated painter Edward Mitchell Bannister and his wife, Christina Bannister, also a successful hairdresser and activist. Her father made and sold ice cream and other frozen desserts and her mother was a hairdresser. The Lyons fled the city, ultimately resettling in Providence. During the New York City Draft Riots of 1863, Black people, homes and businesses were targeted and attacked, including Maritcha's family. ![]() In 1869, she was the first African-American to graduate from Providence High School. Maritcha Lyons was an African-American teacher, writer, and activist who testified before the General Assembly as a 16-year-old girl to desegregate the Providence Public School System. ![]()
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