African American education in the United States

Afro American Education

Black Americans have had to battle for their right to public education from their very start in this country (Forsyth, 1991). The precedent of Brown v. Board of Education catapulted this battle to the forefront in1954 (Forsyth, 1991). The struggle for education was one of the most important in the struggle against oppression because blacks were denied education as a group-based entirely on the foundation of race (Forsyth, 1991).

In earlier times, the general right to public education pertained only to Caucasians (Forsyth, 1991). In slavery times, Southern states prohibited teaching slaves to read and write (Forsyth, 1991). Some slaves learned to read and write in secret, had their owners found out, it would have meant a severe beating -- perhaps even death (Forsyth, 1991).

After the Civil War and during the Radical Reconstruction period, Black lawmakers developed the first Black free public schools (Forsyth, 1991). When Radical Reconstruction ended in the 1870s so did these schools, some were burned by racists, others were closed when funding was cut and when segregation was made into law in the 1896, landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson (Forsyth, 1991).

Plessy v. Ferguson called for "separate but equal education, separation occurred but equal education did not occur. Black children were given inferior schools, which were so overcrowded that only half of the Black children seeking to attend could do so (Forsyth, 1991). No high schools were furnished for Black students in Atlanta until the 1920s (Forsyth, 1991). Black teachers struggled against colossal hardship to operate schools for Black children (Forsyth, 1991). The struggle culminated into the Civil Rights Movement in the decades of the 1950s and 60s where blacks resorted to mass movement such as protests, sit-ins, marches, and strikes in order to accomplish their goals (Forsyth, 1991). The vision of black education has yet to reach its ultimate aim. Many predominantly black schools are still over crowded and lack funding.