DOUGLASS TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — Founded in 1946 to provide Black students with a high-quality Christian education free from racism and discrimination, Pine Forge Academy continues to carry out its mission nearly 80 years later.
As part of Black History Month, Action News reporter Leland Pinder visited the historic Adventist boarding school near Pottstown to examine its origins, history and lasting impact on generations of students.
“We were founded on the idea that students need to come out of the city and be able to learn about themselves from people who look just like them,” said Adrienne Rhodes, the school’s headmaster and principal and an early 1990s alumna.
“People ask me all the time, ‘What’s your dream job?’ This was my dream job,” she added.
Pine Forge Academy was established by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a northern secondary school where Black boys and girls could receive a quality education without the barriers of racial discrimination common in the south at the time. Today, the school serves approximately 130 students in grades nine through 12 from across the country and around the world.
“We have students here from Antigua, the Bahamas, Kenya, Canada and all over the United States. I love the international community,” Rhodes said. “I love, love teaching Black students. And in teaching them, they see what our world looks like, not just through my eyes but through the eyes of ancestors, understanding whose shoulders they stand on.”
The school sits on nearly 600 acres of land once owned by Thomas Rutter, a British immigrant, Quaker and pioneering Pennsylvania iron master.
Rutter was an early abolitionist and outspoken opponent of slavery. His manor, which still stands on the property, was later used by his descendants in the 19th century as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
“When I was a student here in the ’90s, you could still find different openings for the tunnels that ran through the campus. Many of those tunnels have collapsed. They’ve been cemented over, etc. In our African American history class, students do a walk of the campus where they can see not just the history of Pine Forge, but they’re also seeing the Rutter family history,” Rhodes said.
With money provided by Dr. Grace Kimbrough – a wealthy physician in Philadelphia who helped establish Ebenezer SDA Church on “Black Doctors Row”, specifically 15th & Christian – the Rutter estate was purchased in the 1940s by leaders of the Allegheny Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to establish Pine Forge Academy, initially called Pine Forge Institute.
“It is so amazing to think, you have a group of gentlemen coming together in 1946 trying to find a space for young Black students to feel heard, to be well educated and to allow for success in their future. Even though it was a coincidence, it’s an amazing idea that they found this space, where you had a family that, key to their beginnings, was working with Black people,” Rhodes said.
The school’s alumni include current U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black; actor, singer and songwriter Clifton Davis; actress Starletta DuPois; and the 97th mayor of Philadelphia, John F. Street.
For Leland Pinder, there’s also a personal connection. His father, Richard, also attended the school. He entered Pine Forge Academy as a freshman in 1968 from Savannah, Georgia, just months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and graduated in 1972.
The elder Pinder credits the school with helping him and his classmates develop a clear sense of identity.
“Being there in that environment with people who looked like me, that was major,” Pinder said.
Pinder, who went on to college and graduate school like most Pine Forge students, credits the school with shaping and nurturing values he still holds today and helping him develop a strong work ethic.
“I got to Pine Forge at 14-years-old during the summer to work and try to earn some money to cover tuition. I think that part of my PFA experience probably has informed almost everything else about my life,” Pinder said.
Throughout the campus, Pine Forge Academy highlights Black history and culture in many ways. There are subtle nods, like dolls in the principal’s office honoring Ida B. Wells, Madam C.J. Walker and Maya Angelou, as well as a large mural in a history classroom painted by a former teacher that reflects the school’s origins and the broader fight for equality for Black Americans.
“The manor house, which is the Rutter estate there at the top; Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad down there to your left; and in the middle, you have JFK, Robert Kennedy, Mr. Lincoln and Martin Luther King,” Rhodes said while describing the artwork.
As Pine Forge Academy prepares to celebrate 80 years of education, Rhodes says the school remains committed to its founding principles.
“We’re teaching them (students) how to maneuver their world but stay true to who they are, and in staying true to who they are, they can help those around them,” she said.
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