History of American Education
Dan Driscoll
The History of American Education
Recap/Review
o Common Schools and the Catholics > ?
o Common Schools and African-Americans
 Quaker Free Schools > ?
 Colonization Movement and Ed > ?
 The Salem Decision > ?
The History of American Education
A Study in Contrasts and Conflicts
 Patterns common throughout most of U.S.
 Education crystallizes, clarifies values and beliefs
o Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois
 Very different > shaped by backgrounds
 Washington born a slave > educated, raised,
lived in south > man of action
 DuBois born MA to free AAs in white town >
first AA Harvard PhD > intellectual, aloof
 Washington founded Tuskegee 1881 > selfhelp, racial solidarity, accommodation > accept
discrimination as stage
The History of American Education
o Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois
 Washington’s beliefs based on his own success
> described in autobiography Up From Slavery
 Stressed education in crafts, industrial and
farming skills, virtues of patience, enterprise,
thrift > very much Franklin’s practical
education
 DuBois attended Fisk College, TN > exposed to
racism > became increasingly radicalized as he
encountered white attitudes toward AA
 Studied, wrote on roots of racism > doctoral
dissertation, The Suppression of the African
Slave Trade in America, still authoritative work
on the subject
The History of American Education
o The Atlanta Compromise Split
 DuBois convinced roots of racism > ignorance
> answer = knowledge > history, lit, sciences
 Those AA who would lead DuBois called “The
Talented Tenth” > most gifted > like himself
 DuBois an elitist > views on ed, advance very
much Jefferson’s >formal studies for talented
 Differences turned bitter after Washington’s
Atlanta Compromise speech 1895 > accept
segregation > races like fingers on the hand,
separate but all necessary
 In his landmark work, The Souls of Black Folks
1903, DuBois devoted whole chapter to
dissection of Washington’s views, strategies
The History of American Education
o The Niagara Movement
 DuBois organized the “Niagara Movement”
1906 > civil justice, abolish discrimination >
became NAACP 1909
 He served as editor NAACP’s Crisis mag for 25
years > views more militant, aggressive
 DuBois mantra: “educate and agitate”
 Became increasingly radicalized as he got older
> moved further to political left > visited Soviet
Union > taken with Marx, Engles
 Grew more and more international in interests
and thinking > became advocate for colonized
African nations > “Father of Pan-Africanism”
The History of American Education
o DuBois’ International Turn
 Wrote 1949:
Drunk with power, we (the U.S.) are leading the
world to hell in a new colonialism with the
same old human slavery, which once ruined us,
to a third world war, which will ruin the world.
 Called for end to atomic weapons > branded
Soviet propagandist > indicted under Foreign
Agents Registration Act > acquitted
 Became expat > emigrated to Ghana > became
citizen, communist > died there at 94 in 1963
The History of American Education
Assignments
o Readings:
 Urban & Wagoner: Chap. 6
o Written:
 Begin Second Analysis Paper