Education of freed people during the Civil War
The American Civil War led to enormous cultural changes throughout the United States. No group experienced a more radical shift than slaves who were freed as the Union Army swept through the South. While there was no initial plan for addressing the specific needs of the slave population, Union generals quickly recognized their impoverishment and suffering, and sought to provide education and material support both for civilians and for former slaves who enlisted with Union forces.
As slaves were liberated by advancing forces, education quickly became one of their highest priorities. They saw literacy as a means of empowerment and social advancement. However, economic necessities, ongoing warfare, outbreaks of cholera and dysentery, and their overwhelming numbers made education both a dangerous and difficult endeavor. Throughout the South, generals and their staffs sought to establish and maintain order by providing basic education and training.
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Education of Civilians
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Virginia and North Carolina
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The Gulf Region
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In this region, however, there was widespread opposition to African-American education, and whites often refused to help teachers; some attacked the teachers and their schools directly. When planters refused to lodge teachers, banks threatened to remove their laborers, so the planters finally crumbled under the economic pressure. Despite these tensions, by the end of 1864, the Board had successfully established 95 schools, providing instruction to more than 9500 children and 2000 adults (Blasingame, p. 154).
Education in the Union Army
While the education of civilian populations was an admirable and necessary aim of the Union forces, a more pressing need was the instruction of former slaves who actually enlisted. Almost immediately, officers recognized the problems that resulted from illiteracy: verbal instructions and explanations cost valuable time, and despite the courage of these new troops, advancement without some degree of education was impossible, and this led to a loss of morale. Numerous regiments, including the 33rd, 55th, 67th, 73rd, 76th, 78th, 83rd, 88th, 89th, and the 128th received instruction from chaplains and Northern teachers. Not only was this training designed to improve the soldiers’ wartime efficacy, but by learning trades like bricklaying and carpentry, they felt more secure about their long-term stability.
Just as General Benjamin Franklin Butler had taken an active role in civilian education in North Carolina and Virginia, when he united 37 regiments to form the Twenty-Fifth Corps in December 1864, he ordered that chaplains oversee schools in each regiment: “thus, with a stroke of his pen, Butler guaranteed that 29,875 Negro soldiers would receive systematic instruction” (p. 157). Under his orders, taxes were levied to fund these schools and officers were threatened with dishonorable discharges if their soldiers did not improve in terms of discipline and education. Further, soldiers were offered tangible rewards for attending classes. Not only did learning and literacy predicate promotion, but soldiers could receive popular books, especially the Bible, exemption from certain duties, and day passes through these programs.
Thousands of freedmen received their first formal instruction through the involvement of the Union Army. These programs laid the groundwork for agencies such as the Freedmen’s Bureau and encouraged the intellectual and professional development of civilians and soldiers alike.
See also
References
- Blassingame, John W. (1965). "The Union Army as an Educational Institution for Negroes, 1862-1865." The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 34, No. 2. pp. 152–159.
- Fen, Sing-nan. (1967). "Notes on the Education of Negroes in North Carolina During the Civil War" The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 36, No. 1. pp. 24–31.
- Parker, Marjorie H. "The Educational Activities of the Freedmen's Bureau" (PhD dissertation, The University of Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1951. T-01438).
- Parker, Marjorie H. "Some Educational Activities of the Freedmen's Bureau," Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 23#1 (Winter, 1954), pp. 9–21. in JSTOR