SCHOOLING AFRICAN AMERICANS

1
SCHOOLING AFRICAN AMERICANS

• Reconstruction
• Redemption
• Booker T. Washington
• William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

2
Political Economy

• RECONSTRUCTION
• 1863-Emancipation Proclamation announced the end
  of slavery
• 1865-Congress passed the 13th Amendment freeing
  four million slaves (3.5 million in South)
• 1866-14th Amendment passed giving full
  citizenship to slaves upon its ratification in
  1868
• 1867-North increased its influence in the South
  with the 1st Reconstruction Act which gave
  Congress more control over the Southern political
  economy
• 1870- 15th Amendment established right for black
  males to vote-made black men the majority voters
  in 5 southern states
• 1877-Withdrawal of federal troops for the South
  and the end of Reconstruction

3
Political Economy cont

• REDEMPTION
• 1877-marks beginning of the Period of Redemption
• Local white supremacy laws were passed to
  prohibit black people from using public
  facilities such as parks, buildings, cemeteries,
  railroad cars, rest rooms, etc
• 1890-Mississippi established literacy and poll
  tax requirements-deprived most black people from
  voting and other states followed this plan
• In Louisiana black voters were cut from 130,000
  to 1,300 in a six year period
• Successfully destroyed most of the advances made
  by African-Americans during Reconstruction

4
Schooling

• After Civil War there were no laws requiring
  equal education for African Americans in the
  constitution.
• During Reconstruction freed men and women
  constructed laws that included decisive wording
  as shall regarding education.
• 1867-Alabama freed men and Republicans enacted
  constitutional laws providing revenue for
  education
• 1868-1870-Reconstruction laws enabled blacks to
  make gains in public education. Higher
  percentage of blacks than whites going to school,
  longer school terns, higher teacher pay
• 1875-White Democrats began to take control of the
  black belt (Redemption). Freed men were driven
  out of political offices. Governance of all
  schools now in the hands of whites.
• Black schools still developed with some success
  because of 2 key factors
• Black people could still votedangerous to tamper
  with black public education if you wanted
  (needed) the black vote
• Black education was protected because of level
  safeguards of equal funding that freedmen had
  inserted in state constitution

5
Schooling continued

• 1877-1887-percentage of black school age children
  exceeded white and still longer school year
  (84-86 days vs. 71-82)
• 1890- Alabamas State Superintendent of Education
  Solomon Palmer devised a plan due to 2 main
  complaints
• 1. Black schools received nearly all the areas
  school funds while paying virtually no taxes
• 2. Black pupils were not mentally advanced to
  the point where they needed as much education as
  white people, and therefore didnt need as much
  money for school funds
• 1890-House Bill 504 passed (Palmers Plan)
• Required State Superintendent to apportion the
  public school fund according to the school-age
  population. Authorized township trustees to
  apportion funds as they deemed JUST AND
  EQUITABLE

6
Schooling Continued
After 1890 -1887-1897-significant decline in
education of blacks General enrollment and school
terms of black children as well as average pay of
black teachers came to a standstill or
decreased -1915 -Enrollment of white children in
public schools exceeded that of
black students -Average monthly pay of white
teachers doubled that of black
teachers -Approximately 60 of black schools
were privately owned. Large amount of money
was contributed by blacks above what they paid
in taxes
7
Booker T. Washington

• Most prominent black leader from 1895-1915
• Founded Alabamas Tuskegee Institute after his
  graduation from Hampton Normal School
• Strong believer in education
• Emphasized pragmatic (oriented toward practical
  thought or action) approach to work, traditional
  morality. And industrial education
• Believed that hard labor and the accumulation of
  property were the keys to resolving all social
  problems
• Believed that respect and citizenship would come
  to blacks in proportion to their accumulation of
  property, education, and good jobs
• Thought that if African Americans achieved
  economic success, political and social gains
  would automatically follow

8
Washington cont

• Believed in Darwins theory of biological
  evolution
• Thought teachers at the Normal School should
  remain free from politics and the discussion of
  the race question and he publicly advised the
  general black population to abstain from voting,
  running for political office, or speaking out
  against racial injustices
• His Atlanta Compromise speech called for the
  advancement of public education as a means to
  bring blacks into useful employment, and economic
  justification for education of blacks and an
  argument aligned with the human capital theory

9
William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.)Du Bois

• Born and raised in Massachusetts. He was one of
  50 blacks living in a town of 5000. Did not
  experience much overt racism
• Attended Fisk College (now University) in
  Tennessee where he saw discrimination in forms he
  never dreamed of.
• First African American ever to receive his
  Doctorate from Harvard
• Became professor at Atlanta University teaching
  history and economics
• Saw racism as institutionalization and oppressive
  in the US
• Believed the race problem was one of ignorance.
  Wanted to gain as much knowledge about this as
  possible as to form a cure for color prejudice.
• Thought assimilation(to take in and incorporate
  as ones own) should be achieved through
  self-assertion

10
Du Bois cont

• Called for organized public protest, legal action
  against racist institutions and higher education
  for blacks
• Believed in the higher education of a Talented
  Tenth who could guide African Americans into
  higher civilization.
• 1906-1 of 25 members of the Niagara Movement.
  The objectives of this group were to advocate
  civil justice and abolish caste discrimination.
• 1909-Niagara Movement was forced down by
  opponents (rumored Washingtons followers). 24
  of the members merged with some white liberals
  and formed the NAACP (National Association for
  the Advancement of Colored People)
• Became editor-in-chief for 25 years of Crisis
  Magazine, distributing the news of the NAACP and
  policies. Only wrote of views that he felt could
  Lift the coffin lid off his people.

11
Ideology

• Conservative social philosophy which accommodated
  white supremacy and racial segregation
• Belief that industrial education and skilled
  labor would serve as a means to overcome racial
  and class discrimination
• Darwins theory of biological evolution which
  provided a rational explanation of the unequal
  class distribution of wealth and political power
  among racial groups
• Oppression thought to be the natural process of
  moral and cultural evolution (based on Darwins
  theory of biological evolution)
• Black people had only evolved to a cultural stage
  that was thousands of years behind whites thus
  their inferiority position was the natural order
  of social evolution

12
COLD WAR ERA1930S TO 1960S
Political Economy Ideology Schooling James Conant
13

• POLITICAL ECONOMY
• 1920s
• Businesses making large profits
• Food, clothing, new advances
• Agriculture, new low
• Urban areas-Poverty increased
• Racism continuing-Blacks denied decent livings,
  menial and low paying jobs
• 1929-1934
• Collapse of the Stock Market
• ¼ adult population unemployed/lost jobs
• Wages slashed
• Standard of living reduced
• Wealthy became poor

14
Political Economy cont

• 1945
• End of World War II
• War had created many jobs
• More consumerism
• Demand for single family housing, cars, household
  appliances
• Unemployment never exceeded 7 in 1950s
• Little sympathy shown for poor or dispossessed
• Fear of Soviet Communism
• Afraid that communism would spread
• Threat of spread led to policy of containment
• Containment-US declared they would take any
  economic and military means necessary
• Doctrine of First Use-Prerogative to initiate
  nuclear bombing whenever enemy forces threatened
  American military

15
Political Economy cont

• 1940s-1950s
• Fear of Soviet communism reached hysterical
  levels. Joseph McCarthy accused people of
  belonging to the Communist Party
• Mid 1950s
• Less hysteria
• Foreign policy based on the ideological split
  between the two superpowers
• Racism
• Since emancipation, African Americans had been
  deprived of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
  Happiness
• Slow steps taken toward the elimination of
  discrimination
• Armed forces desegregated
• Brown vs. Board of Ed.
• Playwrights and film makers focused on
  discrimination

16
Political Economy cont

• Resistance
• Parents of white children in some areas battled
  black people and government authority to
  forestall integration of public schools
• Zoning ordinances were devised to keep African
  Americans out of white neighborhoods
• Banks redlined black business district
• Civil Rights Movement
• Affirmative Action helped to develop a new and
  larger class of black professionals and
  entrepreneurs
• Public school officials called on schools to halt
  the vicious cycle of poverty that plagued many
  African American families

17

• Classic liberalism had given way in the
  Progressive Era to faith in scientific methods
• Progress considered achievable through science
  and technology
• Experts and centralized decision making was
  linked to progress. Workers were managed by a
  few elite
• Democracy had come to be regarded as a form of
  government that was properly administered by
  experts
• Leaders from all walks of life assumed that only
  a few individuals had superior intellects and
  that the welfare of the
• US depended on locating these individualsplacing
  them in positions of authority
• CLASSIC LIBERALISM VS. NEW LIBERAL CONCEPTIONS OF
  FREEDOMCHART-PAGE 224

18
Schooling

• Support for Social Efficiency
• Social Stability
• Employable Skills
• Meritocracy
• Equal Education Opportunities
• GI Billread independently-p. 227
• James Conant
• Doctorate at 23 in chemistry from Harvard
• Instructor, then Professor and finally President
  of Harvard University (after great depression)
• Great Universities must recruit researchers of
  the first rank who were acknowledged experts in
  their field
• Felt Harvards mission was to educate best and
  brightest students, regardless of their social or
  economic backgrounds

19
Schooling cont

• James Conant cont
• Saw the need to develop a valid measure of
  academic aptitude to ensure objectivity in
  determining scholarship eligibility
• Wanted to eliminate barriers of only elite being
  admitted
• Allow scholarship to those that were academically
  gifted
• Decided on SAT (Mid 1930s)
• Believed exams such as the SAT would be a nearly
  fool proof method of ascertaining academic
  promise
• Do you think the SAT would be a fool proof method
  back then? Now?

20
Schooling cont

• James Conant cont..
• Preached Meritocracyadvancement based on own
  ability talent---
• Favored Vocational Education
• Believed primary purpose of schooling should be
  not the growth of every individual (Dewey), but
  instead the national interest
• Modern comprehensive high school brought together
  all students, vocational and academic, under one
  roof.
• Tracking system ensured that all students took
  courses best suited to their needs
• Forge closer relationships among future
  professionals, crafts persons, engineers, and
  labor leaders.
• Education must match talent to occupations.
  Through testing, must select and sort students to
  prepare for different occupational roles.

21
Schooling cont

• Liberal Education suited only for a few students
• Conant compared goals of Vocational Education to
  Gifted Education
• 1957-Soviets launched Sputnik report alarming the
  American Public
• 1983-Nation at Risk equated a failure to teach
  math and science as equivalent to universal
  disarmament
• Progressive Eras focus of education being for
  the best interests of the child and a curriculum
  to match, Conant reformers moved back into
  schooling to be for the political, economical and
  social stability of the country