Looking Back: Education of African Americans During the Civil War

By: Leah Jenkins, Assistant Researcher

The education, or lack thereof, of African Americans during the Civil War was a concentrated effort integral to the preservation of slavery. Formal education was essentially non-existent for African Americans as on-the-job training was favored. Limiting African American educational access was more than safeguarding economic prosperity. Many Southerners (and Northerners) believed allowing African Americans access to formal education would invite discontent and rebellion, toppling America’s enslaved-based society and economy. Safeguarding slavery ingrained itself into law when several southern states passed anti-literacy laws. The laws forbade free and enslaved African Americans from reading, writing, and assembling. Despite harsh anti-literacy laws, small numbers of African Americans were educated in secret by their educated peers or masters.

The end of the Civil War marked unprecedented educational access for African Americans. Established in 1865, the Freedman’s Bureau supervised and coordinated a regulated educational system for African Americans. By 1866, nearly 8,000 formerly enslaved African Americans were attending schools in Georgia. Aside from northern aid, freedmen often supported the schools through tuition fees and donated materials. Kids and adults alike attended school, with adults comprising nearly one-third of students. The Freedmen’s Bureau schools are the foundation for contemporary universal schooling in the United States.

References:

• https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/freedmens-education-during-reconstruction/

• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/education-for-african-americans#:~:text=Formal%20education%20was%20practically%20nonexistent,lead%20to%20discontent%20and%20rebellion.

• https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/2-battleground/quest-for-education-1.html

• https://www.nps.gov/articles/african-americans-and-education-during-reconstruction-the-tolson-s-chapel-schools.htm#:~:text=Before%20Emancipation%2C%20whites%20generally%20denied,the%20former%20slave%2Dholding%20states.

• https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau#:~:text=The%20Bureau%20was%20responsible%20for,and%20US%20Treasury%20Department%20officials.