| Description |
As the Civil War concluded, freed people claimed their freedom to literacy. Schools teaching both basic literacy and offering higher education for Black people were quickly established throughout the South, supported by missionary associations, the Freedmen's Bureau, and Black communities. In 1868 the Hampton Institute was opened, funded by the American Missionary Association, with the white educator Samuel Armstrong as president. While the Hampton Institute and Armstrong's general teaching philosophy have been explored by other scholars, there has yet to be an extensive analysis of the specific social studies curriculum he oversaw. Examining the textbooks used in the history, moral science, and civics courses at the Hampton Institute until 1893, this paper begins to understand how Armstrong's beliefs about Black students manifest in the curriculum and pedagogy. A firm believer in Black moral and intellectual inferiority, Armstrong crafted the curriculum and pedagogy to disempower students by ignoring Black contributions and ignoring an obligation to develop and/or recognize students' analysis. |
