Kristine Ashton and Mary Stovall Richards, History

Racial prejudice failed to dissipate after Confederate soldier stacked their rifles at Appomattox. Blacks were predominantly viewed as backward, indolent, child-like people, incapable of the new responsibilities of freedom. The historian John David Smith explained, “After slavery whites continued to perceive blacks as marginal men and women. . . . Blacks were to be acted upon. . . . Decisions were to be made for them, not by them.” (1) Although Northern and Southern views differed on blacks’ place in American society, they both relied on common assumptions of black inferiority. Most Northern and Southern whites agreed that blacks were physically, intellectually, and temperamentally different from whites. Most Northerners wished blacks to remain in the South, to maintain their current social position, and to retain racial purity. Southerners also wanted to preserve social order. The predominant view of black inferiority influenced those who wanted to re-enslave the black community and also those who declared that they wanted to “elevate” it.

This worldview lay at the heart of educational philosophy for freedmen. Many educators believed that backwards, if not inferior, blacks needed moral education to overcome the effects of slavery and the supposed hereditary limitations of their race (2). District Superintendent of Schools S.S. Ashley explained that the educational philosophy of the Freedmen’s Bureau included more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Northern educators intended to “instruct [freedmen] in the duties which now devolved upon them in their new relations . . . to inculcate obedience to law and respect for the rights and property of others, and reverence those in authority; . . . enforcing honesty, industry, and economy . . . above all, indoctrinating them in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (3) Bureau educators believed that educating freedmen would promote social stability and order in the South. They hoped to overcome Southern white fears that emancipation would result in chaos if blacks reverted to their natural “barbaric” state.

The Freedmen’s Bureau administered schools established by northern aid societies during and after the Civil War. The aid societies provided teachers and operated schools for emancipated slaves, while the bureau subsidized buildings, transportation, and textbooks (4). The Boston and New York branches of the American Tract Society were the most prolific publishers of freedmen’s texts. Both branches published teaching materials designed “to communicate . . . religious and moral truth, and such instruction in civil and social duties as is needed by them in the new circumstances in which they are placed.” (5) The ATS readers taught reading and writing with lessons that emphasized religious doctrine, moral attributes, and civic duty. Despite statements that former slaves had the capacity for self-improvement and citizenship, paternalistic attitudes permeated the freemen’s readers and perpetuated racial inferiority. Racial and class distinctions emerged in subtle ways. The ATS texts evinced paternalism with repeated emphasis on deference and duty to superiors, inferior economic positions, and attempts to transform blacks into a Victorian mold. Despite honorable intentions to educate freedmen, editors perpetuated common stereotypes to preserve the current social order.

The freedmen’s readers reflected nineteenth-century ideals. However, the ATS texts exaggerated the religious, moral, and civic duties of students far more than the nation’s standard textbook, the McGuffey readers. William Holmes McGuffey designed his series of eclectic readers “to fix the attention and to interest the mind” with simple words and easy sentences “connected with pleasing and impressive pictures” in order to teach the children of the nineteenth century (6). He used subject matter familiar to his predominantly rural audience as well as pictures they would recognize. McGuffey directed his readers to a white middle class audience as evidenced by the drawings he placed in the books. Little girls dressed in frilly lace dresses sat in the garden reading books. Men wore top hats and tails while reading newspapers. The Freedman’s Readers also perpetuated this middle class ideal. A majority of the illustrations depicted white, middle class women and children. The only pictures of blacks portrayed them working, jumping for joy because of their freedom, or studying in the classroom. The Freedman’s Spelling Book, Second Reader, and Third Reader contained over 500 pages of text replete with illustrations, but only twelve pictures depicted the intended audience (7). The ATS perpetuated paternalistic attitudes by posing the white Victorian as an ideal for freedmen.

Comparison of the dominant themes in the McGuffey and freedmen’s readers revealed the degree of paternalism evidenced in the American Tract Society’s texts. These readers taught freedmen to read and to write, but they also inculcated the religious values of the American Tract Society. Lessons were designed to teach the benevolence of God, moral attributes of honesty, charity, and industry, as well as duty to family and country. The readers warned students of the evils of idleness and tobacco consumption. Paternalism emerged throughout the readers. Lessons assumed that blacks were lazy and morally deficient.

The freedmen’s readers taught emancipated slaves the “duties” of freedom by attempting to shape them in a Victorian mold. David Singal characterized Victorian culture by its belief in a predictable universe presided over by a benevolent God and the humanity could overcome “animal” forces with “civilization.” (8) This description matched the values expressed in the freemen’s readers. The texts taught Protestant doctrines of faith, repentance, and grace. They describe acceptable moral behavior at home, at school, and in the workplace. Blacks were taught appropriate careers and deference to superiors. Through education, editors hoped to raise blacks’ “animal” nature to a “civilized” level that preserved order in society.

The McGuffey readers also expressed moral values. The texts referred to religious principles but did not assert doctrine. The religious emphasis was present by toned down. McGuffey addressed the benevolence of God, the moral attributes of honesty and charity. The readers also encouraged work and civic duty. The texts that “embodied piety, justice, and commonwealth” (9) reflected the culture of the nineteenth century. The paternalism in the freedmen’s readers exceeded this standard. ATS editors wanted emancipated slaves to be educated: “Education is the training of the mind, the gaining of knowledge. . . . Every person should try to be educated (10).” Yet, the American Tract Society’s texts taught more than reading and writing. Despite honorable intentions the editors perpetuated inferiority.

References

1. John David Smith, ed., The “Ariel” Controversy: Religion and “The Negro Problem” (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1993), xii.
2. Robert C. Morris, Reading, ‘Riting, and Reconstruction (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), 156.
3. S.S. Ashley to N.A. McLean, 7 February 1866, AMA Archives, Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, Louisiana; quoted Morris, Reading, ‘Riting, and Reconstruction, 149.
4. Morris, Reading, ‘Riting, and Reconstruction, 49. George R. Bentley, A History of the Freedmen’s Bureau (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1955), 169.
5. American Tract Society, Annual Report, (Boston, 1865); quoted in the introduction to The Freedman’s Spelling Book, Robert C. Morris, ed., Freedman’s Schools and Textbooks, volume
6. Boston: American Tract Society, 1865. Reprint: New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1980.
7. William H. McGuffey, McGuffey’s First New Eclectic Pictorial Primer (Cincinnati: Wilson, Hinkle, and Company, 1867) 1.
8. Author survey of The Freedman’s Spelling Book, The Freedman’s Second Reader, and The Freedman’s Third Reader.
9. David Singal, “Towards a Definition of American Modernism,” American Quarterly 39 (1987): 9.
10. John H. Westerhoff III, McGuffey and His Readers (Milford, Michigan: Mott Media, 1978), 54.
11. Morris, Freedman’s Spelling Book, 109.