Although Americans today place a very high value on our education, it may

seem hard to believe that access to a formal education had not always been so
widely available. Since Colonial times many people such as Emma Willard, Horace
Mann, and India Harris Simmons have been respected leader in the progress of
education and its reforms. Due to the beliefs of Horrace Mann, and other reforms
made on a federal level for education, African-Americans, men, women, and all
people are allowed a proper education. Horrace Mann had proved that this country
and society need education in order to survive, and the Federal government
encouraged such organizations such as the Freedmens school and equal learning
opportunities to shape education today.

Education became something that would be very vital to the backbone of out
country. During the earliest times of our country, education was not seen as the
most important thing to have. It was also seen to only have been useful for men
because womens role during this time was to stay home and raise the children,
cook, clean, and take of important household matters. Men on the other hand would
go out and pursue a profession that would help bring an income to the family.
During the U.S. expansion in the Northwest Territory, the Land Ordinance of 1785
had encouraged education greatly. During the expansion, the Land Ordinance set
aside 640 acres of land for public schooling (Doc. 1). That land would be granted to
each township. This inclusion of land being set aside for educational purposes
allowed for the U.S to be able to finally identify themselves as separate to other
countries and to teach their citizens in their way. Although education was supported
in the United States, in the 1800s it was still not open for all people. Women, slaves,
and former slaves could still not attend Public Schooling. Emma Willard was an
activist for the movement of women being educated as well as men. She argued that
women would benefit from education and fought got that right. Willard believed
that with an education women could have, ..Their reasoning powers developed and
strengthened and act more from the dictates of reason and less from those of
fashion.. (Doc. 2) Willard believed that with an education women could make wiser
decisions and their decisions could be valued amongst men and other people
because they would have an education that would allow them to be at the same level
of knowledge as men. The efforts of Emma Willard were not directly seen, but
through other movements for women, such as women suffrage and rights, women
are allowed the right to a proper education. Without activists such as Emma Willard
we may not have ever been able to see any discussion of women rights in education.




While education for women was a very large debate, it was still much of a
debate to gain the rights for every free slave or even white men. Many people
believed that white males had no need for an education and this was mostly due to
the occupations available during this time period. At this time slaves controlled the
labor on farms and plantations and there were not any large industries built in the
United States or any occupations that required much knowledge. People such as
Horace Mann had explained the importance of a proper education. Mann had said,
[Education] gives each man the independence and the means, by which he can
resist the selfishness of another man The spread of education [would aid] by
enlarging the cultural class or caste [and] will open a wider area over which the
social feelings, will expand; and if this education should be universal and complete,
it would do more than all things else to obliterate factitious distractions in society..
(Doc. 3) Mann had believed that with a universal education social classes would
inevitably disappear and everyone would be set equal to one another based on their
level of knowledge and they would be able to then see the bad in society and be able
to obtain a successful society. Mann also believed in freedom of education for freed
slaves. He wanted freed slaves to have a proper education in order to also be set
equal in society to the white man. Horace Mann was successful in his push for freed
slaves to receive a proper education because soon the United States would open
schools for freed slaves under the Freedmens Bureau.

The United States soon organized an organization called the Freedmens
Bureau and it had invited freed slaves to receive an education. The federal
government opened this organization and as seen in Document 4 you can see a class
of freed slaves pictured outside of their classroom. There they would learn how to
read, and write. This was an advantage most slaves had received while being a slave.
Most slaves were not taught how to read or write by their masters. They were
simply abused and used for manual labor. As this education as provided for the
freedmen they began to learn very quickly and many freedmen were eager to learn.
Mary S. Battey says, At the end of six weeks, we had enrolled eighty-five names,
but fifteen were unable to read. (Doc. 4b) Not only were the freedmen eager to learn
the language, but many also traveled miles by foot in order to attend these classes
each day. This shows how dedicated the freed slaves were to have a good education
and to learn how to read and hopefully to eventually place themselves in American
Society. As slaves and blacks were allowed to attend schools racism arose and white
people felt that they were inferior to the black community and so segregation laws
arose and were put in place. These laws segregated facilities such as water
fountains, buses, and even public schooling. These laws were supported under the
constitution, but only if the facilities were separate, but equal. This meant that each
facility would be separated, but must accommodate both races equally. Soon the
question arose if black children were in fact receiving an equal education to white
children. It is seen that, On average, southern states spent half as much educating
a black child as they spent educating a white seventeen segregating states spent
forty-two million dollars busing white children less than one million on blacks
This showed an obvious difference in treatment and education of black and white
children. This case was soon proven un constitutional and white and blacks were
funded equally and educated equally and soon even allowed to attend the same
schools.

Today America places a very high value on education, it has been seen that is
education was not as easy to receive as it is today. Since colonial times, up to the
early 1900s activists such as Emma Willard, Horace Mann, and India Harris
Simmons have been respected leaders in the progress of education and its reforms.
African Americans, Men, Women, and all people are allowed a proper education due
the efforts of these people. Horace Mann had proved that this country and society
need education in order to survive and evolve from its descendants and he had
influenced the Federal Governments decisions on such organizations such as the
Freedmens School, and equal learning opportunities to shape education today.