Eastman Business College

The Eastman Business College was a business school located in Poughkeepsie, New York.

It was founded in 1859 by Harvey G. Eastman, and was for a time one of the largest commercial schools in the United States.

Rather than merely being a theoretical school, students gained practical experience in the business arts of the time by actually performing the tasks that would be expected of them in their working careers. This approach was novel at the time, and Eastman Business College might be considered an early example of a laboratory school.

The 1898 catalog of the Eastman Business College and its affiliated school, the New York Business Institute, stated that "These schools do not receive students of the Negro Race".

In 1905 S. V. Daniels, a 17-year-old from St. Thomas, withdrew from the main college following the petition of 160 southern students alleging that he was partially of African descent, and transferred to the Harlem branch.

The Eastman Business College closed on June 10, 1931.

References

*"Daniels Leaves College", Washington Post, April 18, 1905
*http://www.officemuseum.com/offices_african_american.htm