A contested terrain

by AnneMarie Brosnan

ISBN: 9781531509293

Published: 2025-01-07

A testament to the resilience and determination of Black North Carolinians to achieve educational equality. This book examines the educational experiences of Black North Carolinians during the American Civil War and Reconstruction period, 1861-1877. By highlighting the collaborative efforts that led to the growing network of schools for the formerly enslaved people, it argues that schooling the Freedpeople was a contested terrain, fraught with conflicting visions of Black freedom and the role education should play. Although Black men and women emerged as the driving force behind the educational endeavors of this period, their work was facilitated by northern aid and missionary societies, the federally-mandated Freedmen's Bureau, and over 1,400 teachers from various regional and racial backgrounds. Yet the educational landscape was far from uniform, and the individuals and organizations involved had their distinct visions regarding the nature and purpose of Freedpeople's education....