African-Americans & Education

I. Reconstruction Era (1867-1877)

A. 13^th Amendment (Free slaves), 1866

B. 14^th Amendment (Citizenship), 1868

C. Reconstruction Act, 1867

D. 15^th Amendment (Black males’ right to vote

E. Many gains for freed men and women

II. “Redemption” Era (“Redeemers” = white Democrats)

A. White supremacy laws: “Jim Crow”

1. Pig laws

2. Poll taxes

3. literacy tests

4. U.S. Supreme Court = “legal”

B. 1890-1910: “vale of tears”

III. Booker T. Washington

A. Accommodation with white supremacy and racial segregation

B. Labor Force education: Industrial skills =

means to overcome discrimination & inequality

C. Chief influence = Samuel Chapman Armstrong

1. i.e., Social Darwinism (Ideology)

a. system of ideas which maintains an existing system of social relations

D. Fierce Criticism from W.E.B. DuBois (in The Souls of Black Folk)

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