Samaria Gaines, Sisters of Providence School, African American,
Baltimore, July 1859

In the nineteenth century prior to the Civil War, Baltimore was the American city with the largest population of free African Americans.  It was also the center of the Roman Catholic Church in America and the location of the first diocese, established in 1789.  The city was especially hospitable to the large numbers of people of color many of them formerly enslaved, some of whom came from the Caribbean as early as 1791 after the revolution in Saint Domingue (now Haiti).  In 1828 a group of three African American Catholic women of Caribbean descent, with the help of a white Catholic priest, established the first African American order, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, whose stated mission was to “renounce the world to concentrate themselves to God and the Christian education of coloured girls.” Their school was established in northwest Baltimore and is now recognized by scholars for its enormous significance: a community of women of color, united in their commitment to religion and education, leading young girls in a positive and previously unheard-of direction and defying deeply-held opinions and prejudices. This school has been in continuous existence since its founding.  The Sisters of Providence, without financial support from the Catholic Church, provided education for generations of African American girls and challenged the status quo. Diane Batts Morrow’s book entitled, Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time: The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828-1860 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2002) provides a fascinating history and in-depth study of this unique religious order and its teachings.

As the decades past, the school grew and flourished.  Conditions for free blacks deteriorated as those in support of slavery took more extreme positions; however, even in the turbulent 1850s, the Oblates prevailed in their mission. In 1839 the student population at the school, which accepted both boarding and day students, was 59 pupils; by 1855 there were between 250 and 300 students enrolled.  Gloria Seaman Allen, scholar, author and curator who has extensively studied the culture of American samplers, states that the Oblates’ curriculum included English, Cyphering, Writing, Religion, French and Embroidery, similar to the subjects offered at comparable schools for white girls. In her article in The Magazine Antiques, African American Samplers from Antebellum Baltimore (April 2004), as well as in other writings, Mrs. Allen documents the eleven samplers known to have been made at the schools of the Sisters of Providence, with the majority worked between 1842 and 1878.  The samplers remain in the collection of the Oblate order with the exception of one which is at the Maryland Historical Society and one which is privately owned.

The rarity of samplers made by African American girls cannot be overstated. Very few become available and we are privileged to offer this excellent Sisters of Providence School sampler, made by Samaria Gaines in July of 1859; this piece has only recently come to the attention of Mrs. Allen who wishes to include it an exhibition at the Maryland Historical Society in 2007. Samaria’s sampler closely resembles the type that would have been produced by white girls who were educated at religious seminaries in the middle of the 19th century: it is a Berlin wool work depiction of Christ, fully executed in cross-stitched Merino yarn.  The inscription along the lower edge reads, “Samaria Gaines worked at the Sisters of Providence School Baltimore July 1859.” School ledgers in the Oblate’s archives document that Samaria was a charity day student enrolled for one year beginning in the summer of 1858. Her father paid tuition at the rate of $1.50 per academic quarter and he must have been pleased with his daughter’s efforts, as Samaria was the recipient of a premium award for good conduct in 1859.  Her sampler was framed at a nearby Baltimore frame shop and retains much of the original framer’s label. It remained in the family for four generations until just recently. 

Needlework from this school drew attention even when it was produced. A black New York newspaper, The Weekly Anglo-African, published a report from their Baltimore correspondent in July 1859 which describes the year-end exhibition at the Sisters of Providence School and the reporter specifically praised the needlework pictures of religious subject. There is no doubt but that Samaria Gaines’ work was amongst those exhibited and admired.

Worked in wool and silk on canvas, it is in very good condition with slight loss. It has been conservation mounted and is in its original chestnut frame with the framer’s label.

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