African American Education Essay

After the abolition of slavery, the need to educate the first generation of Black Southerners is critical. As the founder of a college that provides black students with the best education possible, it is important to make sure that the school provides students with a strong education that caters to the needs of their newly liberated community. Multiple factors affect the school's mission, target audience, curriculum, and educational philosophy. In this essay, I will explore the choices and challenges that will be a part of shaping this institution. After weighing the beliefs and benefits of a liberal arts education against an industrial education, I believe a combination would benefit students the most, with a stronger focus on liberal arts

He believed that industrial education could provide immediate job readiness and self-sufficiency. A liberal arts education could provide black students with various disciplines to help them become strong, independent individuals, especially as the first generation of black southern students. W.E.B. Du Bois was an African American civil rights activist and author who believed that the most effective schooling was in the well-rounded liberal arts. In his work, The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, Du Bois explained his thoughts. He wrote, “And above all, we daily hear that an education that encourages aspiration, that sets the loftiest of ideals and seeks to end culture and character rather than bread-winning, is the privilege of white men and the danger and delusion of black” (Du Bois Pg. 94). The syllable of the syllable. A high-quality, culture-changing education is not reserved for white men. He thought that through a liberal arts education, African Americans would be able to experience a quest for identity, challenge racism, and find empowerment through

He reasons that in many ways, being a slave was like going to an industrial school, and there is a lot of money to be made in those businesses. The aspects that would be missing are critical thinking and civil involvement, which are gained from an industrial education. Washington was not the only advocate for industrial education; Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white American soldier, carried similar ideas. In James D. Anderson’s book, The Education Of Blacks In The South, 1860-1935, Armstrong’s views are explained. He felt that industrial education would be positive for adjusting African Americans to a new social role in the New South. Both men’s views align with the general fact that this schooling was the most effective for African Americans at the time, but Armstrong also held racist beliefs, which made his desire for industrial education seem to have malicious intent. The book explained that “Armstrong insisted that the freedmen. were culturally and morally deficient and therefore unfit to vote and hold office in "civilized" society (Armstrong,