To Educate a Race

Essay Summary: “To Educate a Race”

The essay, “To Educate a Race” written by Mark Andrew Huddle focuses on the triumphs and tragedies of colored education. The Essay starts off with the proposal of Governor Zebulon Vance with for an educational reform. His plan was to establish State-funded schools. One of his main ideas was the training of teachers with the latest educational practices at the time. At the time the means for public education was intended and served for the white population, however Vance brought the attention to have a first normal school to the colored citizens of North Carolina. After the civil war there was not much support for the freedmen in the south. Vance proposed that African American teachers should be instructed in the same manner as the Caucasian scholars. Long before these reforms began, there was evidence that organizations with the intent to educate local African Americans had been on going. Many free blacks had been secretly teaching slaves the basics of education, such as reading and writing. The main sources came from religious organizations. One man credited for the most part of the movement was Robert W. Harris who had been born to free slaves in Fayetteville. He took over as the Leader of the American Missionary Assosication (AMA), after their previous leader had been attacked and killed. He quickly appointed his younger brother Cicero Harris as his assistant along with his brother they divided the school and renamed the school to Howard school, it was divided based on the students knowledge, with the financial support of the AMA and Freedmen’s Bureau and certain white leaders. The courses were designed to be religious and based on moral behavior aside from general education. During this time the rate of students increased drastically which lead to a higher education and more African American scholars. This movement spread like a wildfire as more black teachers were sent to neighboring towns and counties to...