[E]x slaves did much more than establish a tradition of educational self-help that supported most of their schools. They were also the first among native southerners to wage a campaign for universal public education. From its small beginnings in 1860 and with the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau and northern benevolent societies, the school system was virtually complete in its institutional form by 1870. According to historian Henry Allen Bullock, fourteen southern states had established 575 schools by 1865, and these schools were employing 1,171 teachers for the 71,779 Negro and white children in regular attendance. School attendance was not uniform across cities and towns, but it was visible in enough places to signal a fundamental shift in southern tradition.

Notes

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