A pit school was a covert school for African American children from the time when they were prevented from receiving an education due to repression and lack of freedom of assembly.
These schools were held at night. A pit would be dug and covered over.
A pit school is referred to in the book Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen.
Famous quotes containing the words pit and/or school:
“The great snake lies ever half awake, at the bottom of the pit of the world, curled
In folds of himself until he awakens in hunger and moving his head to right and to left prepares for his hour to devour.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“A sure proportion of rogue and dunce finds its way into every school and requires a cruel share of time, and the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)