Now that you've reviewed the basic facts of Reconstruction, you are going to view a collection of sources about the time period. The objective at the end of viewing these sources will be to evaluate an argument from a major historian on the time period. Over the next three sections you will answer questions in your notes. Then, you will be asked to refer to those notes in order to make a final declaration.

The first three documents you will examine concern increases in education levels for African Americans. The first is a chart.

Literacy Rates, African Americans

Year

Percentage of African Americans who
could read or write in any language

1870

19.1

1880

30

1890

43.2

1900

55.5

1910

69.5

  1. What is the basic trend demonstrated by the chart above?

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for the answer The trend shows that African Americans had a very low literacy rate at the start of Reconstruction, but within a period of 40 years, the vast majority of them were literate. Close Pop Up

  2. What types of organizations might have contributed to the trend in the chart? Does the chart provide any reasons for the trend?

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for the answer Organizations like the Freedman's Bureau and public schools would contribute to the trend in the chart. However, the chart does not indicate any of that. Close Pop Up

  3. The largest gains for African Americans occur after Reconstruction was over. Can these gains be used to support an argument that says that Reconstruction was a success?

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for the answer It depends. Certainly, the movement to educate increasing numbers of African Americans began in Reconstruction and only grew larger as more African-American children were raised with a basic public education. Close Pop Up

  4. Many gains from Reconstruction, such as access to voting, were short-term. Looking at the chart, does it appear that an increased education provided a short-term or a long-term gain?

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for a possible answer The gains in education continued into the next century. Moreover, while voting rights can be taken away, once a person is educated, that cannot be taken from them.Close Pop Up

Reasons for Education Gains

Read the following adapted passage from Eric Foner's A Short History of Reconstruction. As you read it, consider how this passage explains the statistics in the above chart.

Perhaps the most striking illustration of the freedman's question for self-improvement was their seemingly unquenchable thirst for education… Urban blacks took immediate steps to setup schools, sometimes holding classes temporarily in abandoned warehouses, billiards rooms (pool halls), or, in New Orleans and Savannah, former slave halls. In rural areas, Freedman's Bureau officials repeatedly expressed surprise at discovering classes organized by blacks already meeting in churches, basements, or private homes. And everywhere there were children teaching their parents the alphabet at home [and] laborers on lunch breaks "poring over the elementary pages."

Source: Foner, E. (1990). A Short History of Reconstruction 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, p. 43

  1. In one sentence, state Foner's argument about black education during Reconstruction.

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for a possible answerAfrican Americans had an "unquenchable thirst" for education and went to great lengths to receive one.Close Pop Up

  2. Cite two pieces of evidence that Foner uses to support his argument.

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for a possible answerFoner references the many different places that people held classes including warehouses, billiards rooms, churches, and homes. He also says that children are teaching their parents how to read, which means that parents must have wanted to learn pretty badly.Close Pop Up

  3. How does this passage explain the statistics in the above chart?

    Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click for a possible answerThe fast rise in literacy rates is explained by the strong desire among the freedmen to receive an education and learn how to read and write.Close Pop Up

A black and white sketch of an African American classroom. A man in a long waistcoat is standing on a raised platform addressing numerous children seated on church-style pews.

Source: Zion school for colored children, Charleston, South Carolina,
Harper's Weekly December 16, 1866, Library of Congress

Reflection: Think about the evidence you have just analyzed and look at the above picture of an 1866 African-American classroom. Consider how hard freedmen had to work in order to learn how to read and write. How does it compare to your own education? Do you have the same "unquenchable" desire to learn?