The Site

BDEA sits atop a hill overlooking Dudley Square in Roxbury, MA. The campus includes two gardens that serve as outdoor classrooms, as well as produce vegetable crops that BDEA shares with its neighbors including the Haley House Bakery Cafe.

The school itself, built in 1932, was originally the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, until it became the Phillis Wheatly Middle School, named in honor of the late 18th Century African-American poet.  Ms. Wheatly's collection, Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral, was the first collection of poetry to be published by an African-American. (Biographical information taken from The Boston History and Innovation Collaborative: http://www.bostonhistorycollaborative.org/BostonFamilyHistory/neighborho...)

BDEA continues to honor the mission and life work of Phillis Wheatly in its mission to provide high quality, equitable education to all that walk through our doors.

Tour the School

with former Head of School Meg Maccini