The New Lincoln School was a private experimental coeducational school in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

enrolling students from kindergarten through grade 12.

History

New Lincoln's predecessor was founded as Lincoln School in 1917 by the Rockefeller-funded General Education Board as "a pioneer experimental school for newer educational methods," under the aegis of Columbia University's

Teachers College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

. In 1941 Teachers College merged Lincoln School with

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , count ...

, which it operated as a demonstration school. When Teachers College closed down the combined school in 1946, parents of Lincoln School enrollees established the New Lincoln School in 1948 as "an extension of the philosophy which made those redecessorschools famous," i.e., to carry on the tradition of progressive, experimental education, concentrating on the individual child, offering an interdisciplinary core program as well as electives in elementary grades, and emphasizing the arts. In 1956, the school acquired the former Boardman School on East 82nd Street and moved its Lower School (through second grade) to that campus, under the coordination of Terry Spitalny. In 1974, the school moved to 210 East 77th Street. The school merged with the Walden School in Fall 1988 to become the New Walden Lincoln School, which ultimately closed in Summer 1991. The

progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...

movement had a significant impact on curriculum and instruction in American schools. For example, as a demonstration school, New Lincoln, like its predecessors, attracted widespread attention, including about 1,000 visitors each year. Eleanor Roosevelt attended the school’s tenth anniversary celebration and conference and wrote in her syndicated newspaper column that “this day was one of the most stimulating that I have spent in a long time.”

Campus

The New Lincoln School building had previously been the 110th Street Community Center. An eight-story building that had been recently renovated and had a swimming pool in the basement, it was further renovated to meet the new school's needs of a cafeteria, classrooms, laboratories, and a library. After the school closed the West 110th Street site became home to the

Lincoln Correctional Facility Lincoln Correctional Facility was a United States minimum-security men's prison located at 31–33 West 110th Street in Manhattan, New York, facing the north side of Central Park. It was used primarily as a work-release center for drug offenders; ...

, a minimum-security work-release center, which itself closed in 2019. The East 77th Street campus has been occupied by the

Birch Wathen School The Birch Wathen Lenox School is a college preparatory K-12 school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Birch Wathen Lenox comprises approximately 500 students from all around New York City. The Birch Wathen Lenox School is one o ...

since 1989.

Curriculum

The curriculum was centered on Core, a combination of Social Studies and English. Other subjects were tied in to Core as much as possible, for instance, songs chosen for Music class or projects chosen for Home Economics. Each class put on a play each year arising from their Core studies. Core was designed to focus on the real world as experienced by the students. Thus when the 5th-6th grades studied their city, New York, there was a section on Tunnels and Bridges, as well as one on History; and when a 7th-8th grade class studied Japan they built a “house” of homemade shoji screens in their classroom. Science, Art, and Math were generally not linked to Core, but still emphasized hands-on approaches to learning. Instruction was individualized, with individual exploration and small work groups greatly encouraged. Seating plans were generally informal, and most teachers were called by their first names. Foreign language instruction, French and Spanish, began in the eighth grade. The arts were stressed. An extensive studio art program explored many media. The ceramics program used kilns and a wide range of materials. The school used a great variety of instruments in teaching, and students played on autoharps, temple blocks, marimbas, and gongs. Singing ranged from folk and work songs to Broadway tunes. Besides Music and Art, all students, regardless of gender, took Wood Shop and Home Economics. While grade levels were conventional, the Middle School combined fifth and sixth grades and seventh and eighth into two or three groups each. Groups were identified by letters, not by grade level, so that first grade was called Group A, second grade Group B, up to 7th-8th grades, Groups K, L, and M. This was intended to de-emphasize age and grade differences.

Racial integration

Prominent educator

William Heard Kilpatrick William Heard Kilpatrick (November 20, 1871 – February 13, 1965) was an American pedagogue and a pupil, a colleague and a successor of John Dewey (1859–1952). Kilpatrick was a major figure in the progressive education movement of the early 20 ...

(a student of

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

’s) assisted in founding New Lincoln and became chair of its board. He believed that education was critically important to combat the evil of prejudice. Consequently, in the 1950s New Lincoln’s board included several prominent black people, including Kenneth Clark, psychologist, and

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, Undersecretary of the United Nations. One of the goals for the school was to help students become competent “in relating constructively with a variety of human beings from different economic levels, religions, races, and nationalities.” Starting in the 1950s, a number of influential Black people enrolled their children at New Lincoln including

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

(singer, songwriter, activist and actor), Robert Carter (a prominent civil rights lawyer and judge),

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

(painter, writer, sculptor and quilter), and

Eileen Jackson Southern Eileen Jackson Southern (February 19, 1920 – October 13, 2002) was an American musicologist, researcher, author, and teacher. Southern's research focused on black American musical styles, musicians, and composers; she also published on earl ...

(the first black woman to be tenured at Harvard). Following the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decision, Minnijean Brown was one of the students who integrated the Little Rock, Arkansas public schools. In 1958, after she was expelled from Little Rock’s Central High School, and at the urging of director John Brooks, New Lincoln offered her a scholarship to attend the school, which she accepted. Initially only a small percentage of New Lincoln students were Black or members of other minority groups. By 1970, however, New Lincoln had among the highest percentages of minorities in New York private schools (22%) and more than 60% of its scholarship fund was spent to support minority students. In his memoir, then-director of the school Harold Haizlip wrote that, “New Lincoln was firmly committed to integration. Over time, the board, faculty, and parents decided to increase the minority presence in the school beyond a token level and set fundraising priorities and targets to make this possible.” As a result, many notable alumni, such as some of those listed below, are people of color. Several important leaders of the school were Black. Dr. Mabel Smythe, who was head of the high school from 1959 to 1969, “went to various churches all over Harlem” to look for potential students from that community. (Before joining New Lincoln in the mid-1950s, Smythe assisted Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and after leaving New Lincoln she became Ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.) Harold Haizlip, director of the school from 1968-1971, later became Commissioner of Education for the U.S. Virgin Islands for eight years. Verne Oliver had a distinguished teaching career at New Lincoln starting in 1957, and became director of the school from 1971–1974. In 1963, Oliver arranged for

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote ''Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collecti ...

to speak with the senior class about his award-winning book ''

Invisible Man ''Invisible Man'' is a novel by Ralph Ellison, published by Random House in 1952. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by African Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship b ...

''. That same year Kenneth and Mamie Clark (founders of the Northside Center for Child Development, housed on one floor of the New Lincoln School) arranged with Malcolm X for Mamie to take two 12th grade students, one Black and one white, to meet with Malcolm X at a Black Muslim coffee shop on Lenox Avenue, in Harlem. This was a period when Malcolm X seldom spoke to white people.

Notable alumni

Lisa Aronson Fontes Lisa Aronson Fontes is an American psychologist, author, activist and academic associated with the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Biography Fontes was born in New York City. She graduated from the New Lincoln School and completed her under ...

, psychologist and author *

Robin Bartlett Robin Bartlett (born April 22, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in two NBC sitcoms ''The Powers That Be'' and ''Mad About You''. Career She appeared in the short-lived series ''The Powers That Be''. She played the le ...

, actress *

Shari Belafonte Shari Lynn Belafonte (born September 22, 1954) is an American actress, model, writer and singer. The daughter of singer Harry Belafonte, she began her career as a fashion model before making her big screen debut appearing in the 1982 drama film ' ...

, actress * Minnijean Brown of the

Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering ...

Alan S. Chartock Alan Seth Chartock (born July 25, 1941) is the president and chief executive officer of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, a National Public Radio affiliate, a position he has held since 1981. He was professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz a ...

Shirley Clarke Shirley Clarke (née Brimberg; October 2, 1919 – September 23, 1997) was an American filmmaker. Life Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, she was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother w ...

, filmmaker *

Suzanne de Passe Suzanna Celeste de Passe (born July 19, 1946, 1947 or 1948) (sources differ) is an American businesswoman, television, music and film producer. De Passe serves as the co-chairwoman of de Passe Jones Entertainment, de Passe Jones Entertainment Gr ...

, film and television producer *

Brandon deWilde Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he comp ...

, actor * Donald H. Elliott, urban planner *

Bonnie Erbé Bonnie Ginzburg Erbé (born April 2, 1954) is an American journalist and television host based in Washington, D.C. Biography Bonnie Ginzburg Erbé graduated from the New Lincoln School and attended Barnard College, where she received her bachelo ...

journalist and television host *

Tisa Farrow Theresa Magdalena "Tisa" Farrow is a retired United States, American actress and model. Early life Farrow was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Irish-born actress Maureen O'Sullivan and Australian-born film director John Farrow. S ...

, actress *

Maria Foscarinis Maria Foscarinis is the founder of thNational Homelessness Law Center(formerly known as the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty), a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., United States, and dedicated to using the power of ...

, founder of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty *

Thelma Golden Thelma Golden (born 1965 in St. Albans, Queens) is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, United States. Golden joined the Museum as Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs in 2000 before succeeding ...

, curator *

Deborah Holland Deborah Holland is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She rose to national prominence in 1987 as the lead singer and songwriter of Animal Logic featuring Stanley Clarke and Stewart Copeland. As of March 2020, Deborah Holland has released s ...

, singer-songwriter and film composer * Wendy Jedlička, designer, educator, author, sustainability advocate *

Charles Kadushin Charles Garfiel Kadushin (June 5, 1932 – September 21, 2022) was an American psychologist and emeritus professor of psychology at the City University of New York. He was an expert in the field of social network analysis. Biography Kadushin' ...

, psychologist and professor * Steve Knight, musician *

David Lowenthal David Lowenthal (26 April 1923 – 15 September 2018) was an American historian and geographer, renowned for his work on heritage. He is credited with having made heritage studies a discipline in its own right. Biography David Lowenthal was bor ...

, geographer and historian *

Dinah Manoff Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Grease'', Libby Tucker in both ...

American stage, film, and television actress and television director. *

Robert M. Morgenthau Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Atto ...

, lawyer, New York City District Attorney (Lincoln School) *

Josh Mostel Joshua Mostel (born December 21, 1946) is an American actor with numerous film and Broadway credits. The son of Zero Mostel, he is best known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (1973), ''Harry and Tonto'' (1974) ...

, actor *

Jill Nelson Jill Nelson (born June 14, 1952) is a prominent African-American journalist and novelist. She has written several books, including the autobiographical ''Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience'', which won an American Book Award. She wa ...

, writer * Stanley Nelson Jr., filmmaker *

Deborah Offner Deborah Offner (born August 7, 1959) is an American actress, songwriter, playwright, and theatre director. Life Offner was born in New York City in 1959. Her father was Mortimer Offner, a photographer, screenwriter, and TV and theatre director. ...

, actress *

Adrian Piper Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (born September 20, 1948) is an American conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher. Her work addresses how and why those involved in more than one discipline may experience professional ostracism, otherness, racial ...

, artist *

Stephen Porter Dunn Stephen Porter Dunn (March 24, 1928 – June 4, 1999, Kensington, California) was a U.S. anthropologist specializing in ethnic groups of the Soviet Union. He translated and edited a number of works on the topic from the Russian language, and lec ...

, anthropologist and poet *

Mason Reese Mason Reese is an American former child actor and restaurant entrepreneur who appeared in numerous television commercials in the 1970s, including Underwood Deviled Ham, Ivory Snow, Dunkin' Donuts, and Post Raisin Bran. Early life and acting car ...

, actor *

Charles A. Reich Charles Alan Reich ( ; May 20, 1928 – June 15, 2019) was an American academic and writer best known for writing the 1970 book, ''The Greening of America'', a paean to the counterculture of the 1960s. Excerpts of the book first appeared in ''The ...

, legal and social scholar *

David Rieff David Rieff (; born September 28, 1952) is an American non-fiction writer and policy analyst. His books have focused on issues of immigration, international conflict, and humanitarianism. Biography Rieff is the only child of Susan Sontag, who ...

, nonfiction writer and policy analyst *

Tad Robinson Tad Robinson (born June 24, 1956) is an American singer, harmonica player, and songwriter. Robinson was born and raised in New York City. He graduated the New Lincoln School and attended Indiana University's school of music and graduating in 1 ...

, American singer, harmonica player, and songwriter *

Vicki Sue Robinson Vicki Sue Robinson (May 31, 1954 – April 27, 2000) was an American theatre and film actress, and singer, closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around". Early life Bor ...

singer *

David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...

banker (Lincoln School) *

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

politician (Lincoln School) * Zack Rogow, poet, playwright, literary translator *

Elizabeth Sackler Elizabeth Ann Sackler (born February 19, 1948) is a public historian, arts activist, and the daughter of Arthur M. Sackler. She is the founder of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Fe ...

, philanthropist *

Victor Scheinman Victor David Scheinman (December 28, 1942 – September 20, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of robotics. He was born in Augusta, Georgia, where his father Leonard was stationed with the US Army. At the end of the war the family mov ...

, robotic pioneer *

Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film ''Pretty Baby'' (1978). She continued to model into ...

, model, actress * Andrea Simon, documentary filmmaker *

Nina Simons Nina Simons (born January 10, 1957, in Manhattan, NY) is a co-founder & co-CEO of Bioneers, and an organizer of women's leadership retreats and trainings. Her book ''Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership'' (2018) received t ...

co-founder & co-CEO of

Bioneers Bioneers, under its parent foundation, Collective Heritage Institute, is a nonprofit organization based in New Mexico and California that promotes practical and innovative solutions to global environmental and bio-cultural challenges. Founded in ...

Michele Wallace Michele Faith Wallace (born January 4, 1952) is a black feminist author, cultural critic, and daughter of artist Faith Ringgold. She is best known for her 1979 book ''Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman''. Wallace's writings on literature, ...

, author and professor *

Matthew Wilder Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. In early 1984, his single "Break My Stride" hit No. 2 on the ''Cash Box'' chart and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...

, musician * Jon Wolfsthal, national security expert and journalist *

Michael Wright Michael Wright may refer to: Sportspeople *Michael Wright (Australian footballer) (born 1959), former VFL footballer for South Melbourne *Michael Wright (basketball) (1980–2015), murdered American–Turkish basketball player *Michael Wright (cycl ...

, actor

School Directors

*Dr. John J. Brooks (1948–1959) *E. Francis Bowditch (1959–1960) *Dr. Gerhardt E. Rast (1960-1963) *Edgar S. Bley (1963-1964) *John J. Formanek (1964–1968) *Dr. Harold C. Haizlip (1968–1971) *Verne Oliver (1971-1974) * Collin Reed (1974-1987) *George Cohan (1987–1988)

In popular culture

A benefit concert for the school on April 19, 1959, at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

was one of two such concerts recorded and released as ''

Belafonte at Carnegie Hall ''Belafonte at Carnegie Hall'' is a live double album by Harry Belafonte issued by RCA Victor. It is the first of two Belafonte Carnegie Hall albums, and was recorded on April 19 and April 20, 1959. The concerts were benefits for The New Lincoln ...

''. The other benefit concert, for the Wiltwyck School on April 20, netted $58,000 for that school.Bollard, Bob. liner notes for ''

''. RCA Records LOC-6006/6006-R/07863-56006

References

Notes

External links

New Lincoln School
{{Education in Manhattan Defunct schools in New York City Educational institutions established in 1948 Educational institutions disestablished in 1988 1948 establishments in New York City 1988 disestablishments in New York (state) Private elementary schools in Manhattan Private middle schools in Manhattan Private high schools in Manhattan