BLUEPRINT OF THE VIRGINIA STATE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU SCHOOL SYSTEM
BLUEPRINT OF THE VIRGINIA STATE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU SCHOOL SYSTEM
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Date
1976
Authors
Joray, Thomas M.
Advisor
Nicklason, Fred
Citation
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Abstract
In the late summer of 1861 the American Missionary
Association sent missionaries to teach and distribute relief
goods to the contraband Negroes at Fortress Monroe. This
effort began missions that eventually grew into successful
experiments to settle and educate the thousands of refugee
slaves that flocked to the Hampton Roads area during the
Civil War. During 1862 the missions underwent a difficult
period struggling to progress in the midst of active military
campaigns and conservative politics. The ability of
the contrabands to overcome the difficulties of this early
period to establish homes and schools, and labor peacefully
on the farms influenced federal policy to carry out
emancipation.
After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 Norfolk
and Portsmouth became the sites of two experiments to discover
a workable method of acquainting the newly freed
slaves with free labor status in a complex society. The
educational aspect of these experiments led to the development
of a system of schools encompassing the student population
in the Twin Cities, adjoining experimental farms,
the efforts of many benevolent societies, and the army. Two
factors set the consistency needed to insure steady progress
to develop the schools from infancy. The AMA kept a tight
rein on the activities of their missionaries, and the army
personnel remained in the system throughout the war period.
The resulting systemization of the schools in an urban-rural
cross section in the mainstream of the active military conflict
cast the mold for a workable system for Postwar
Reconstruction. The blueprint became the prototype used
to organize the Freedmen's Bureau schools in Virginia.
These schools matured into one of the most successful
state systems within the Bureau, and made education the
most lasting contribution of the Reconstruction era.