The Avery Normal Institute In Charleston Virgini Summary

Edmund Drago’s book provides a look into one of the first black educational institutions, The Avery Normal Institute in Charleston Virginia. This book discusses how this school was made too elitist, due in large part to the high-class nature of Charleston, Virginia, which segregated the students from the white people of the town as well as the black people of the town. They were separated from the white people because, while they were more elite than the common black citizen, and getting an education, they were also black, so many southern people did not want to socialize with them. Black citizens who did not attend the Avery Normal Institute were not fond of the students there because they struck them as too elitist. Drago’s argument is that the elite nature of this school allowed for the development of black leaders, who were crucial to the later transformation of the town and the destruction of racial barriers so many years later.

After the Civil War, black people had nothing, despite the many sacrifices they made during the war to fight for their emancipation. During Reconstruction they fought for their right to an education. Drago allows the reader to see how important access to education is in order for people to be able to make a real difference. After reading this book, it should be clear to the reader that without black people fighting for an education, their history could be much