User:Rubioregaladoc22/Black Educators in the 19th Century

= NOTE: edits are on the other sandbox! -> African American teachers =

= African-American teachers = African-American teachers educated African Americans and taught each other to read during slavery in the South. Enslaved people ran small schools in secret, since teaching those enslaved to read was a crime (see Slave codes). While, in the North, African Americans worked alongside with Whites. Many privileged African Americans in the North wanted their children taught with White children, and were pro-integration. The Black middle class preferred segregation. During the post-Reconstruction era African Americans built their own schools so they didn't have White control. The Black middle class believed that it could provide quality education for their community. This resulted in the foundation of teaching as a profession for Blacks. Some Black families had multiple individuals who dedicated their lives to teaching. They felt that they could empower their communities. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Southern States passed Jim Crow laws to mandate racial segregation in all aspects of society, and prevent Blacks from voting. Racism made it difficult for Black professionals to work in other professions. In 1950, African American teachers made up about half of African-American professionals.

The Great Depression in the 1930s had a dramatic economic impact among Southern Black Americans. This resulted in the degradation of segregated Black schools. African Americans were deteriorating economically and pled for integration, in hopes of making more resources available. The legal desegregation of schools in the U.S. by federal enforcement of a series of Supreme Court decisions following Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Desegregation resulted in the closure of Black schools and the loss of most jobs for African-American teachers. Whites didn't want their children taught by Black teachers. The African-American communities lost their leaders and role models. It created a distrust in schools from the Black community.

Black Women Educators (19th Century) [NEW SECTION]
During the 19th Century in the United States, African-American advocates and educators began to teach across the states. Slavery in the United States was abolished in mid 19th century and allowed for the establishment and push for education among black communities. Education varied in the North and the South yet prominent figures wrote speeches and fought for equal education.

Pre & Post Civil War Education
Education was a recurring subject in the pre-civil war era and can be cited to be a subject of interest at the 1843 National Convention of Colored Citizens. Early efforts highlight the importance of eliminating inequality and education being a tool to succeed that. The African-American struggle for education was rooted in the desire to bring about social and political equality and to defeat racial prejudice. After the civil war, there were localized efforts to establish schools and create school systems. Ongoing constraints limited educators from teaching in the classroom. It was common for school districts to obstruct black educators by placing mandated teacher trainings only available to white educators. Obtaining higher education was often emphasized throughout leaders speeches. In order to battle certain expectations and eliminate the prejudice that black educators faced, many employed a strategy that called for the emphasis of Christian Ideals. Additionally, many of the Black educators that championed for equal access to education were also fighting for gender equality (See Black feminism). The 19th Century is where the fight for education finds itself beyond the classroom and concerning many other societal issues.

Advocates
Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Anna Julia Cooper

Ann Plato

Ida B. Wells Barnett

Lucy Craft Laney

Quotes
"Black Women saw education as a vehicle to ready both personal and larger community goals"