Education During Reconstruction

“Education during Reconstruction” In the south before, during, and after the reconstruction was a time for educational growth. Many states were just beginning to provide public education. The education system at the time was a shadow of the system that we know today during this era. The civil war brought the separation of races but also families. To distract from this the Radical Republicans stressed education during the reconstruction to avert the attention of the people from the war and racial issues. Before the civil war few states provided public education, but local churches and citizens started schools’. Where teachers were left to their own devices to decide the day-to-day running of the school. The school schedule was based
People thought that it was dangerous and wrong for them to be educated. That they would possibly take jobs and offices that were previously held by whites. That was when the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed in Tennessee in 1866 during reconstruction. In 1868 the KKK was in nearly every Southern state and many Northern states. The KKK was a group of white males against the rights of African Americans. They intimidated, destroyed the property of, assaulted, and murdered thousands of African Americans and Civil rights activists. In an attempt to intimidate anyone who supported African Americans rights. The group would also lynch people which is public execution often by hanging in order to frighten a minority group. They threatened and discriminated the teachers and students, the teachers were threatened regardless of their race. The country then started the “Separate but equal” act that was adopted by every state which mandated that segregation of whites and African Americans. The Plessy v. Ferguson court case created and enforced this law. All schools must be segregated, the schools must only teach one race. The school was only allowed to be separated as long as they remained equal. A dual system of education was established in each state. However, there was insufficient money to fund two schooling systems for each race. States struggled for years to fund this dual system and the schools were
Most states didn’t have a public education system prior to the civil war. The Freedmen’s Bureau was established to help the former slave’s transition into society, it was very crucial to the education system for them. The Bureau established many schools and funded them until the it closed after reconstruction. They freedmen were taught to read and write and many other helpful tasks in their schools. Though with almost the entire population of African Americans in the south needing an education the school were overpopulated and many couldn’t find seats. The end of reconstruction the education system had become established and was working well for some schools but not others. Many schools were struggling for funding. Education was trialed and errored during reconstruction and had become similar to the education system we know