Pretextato, a teacher, founded a grammar school between 1855 and 1856 in the capital city of Rio de Janeiro. In a request, he asked to open “in his house [...] a small elementary school, admitting his black and brown colored children” to be located at Rua da Alfândega, 313. He argued that “the parents of white students do not want their children to be together with those of black color” and “the teachers are loathe to admit black boys, and when some do admit them, [these boys] are not well received in class.” The Pretextato school remained open until 1873.