African Americans struggled and fought to be educated. The racial identity of African Americans made their educational experiences uniquely different from every other racial group in the United States. The use of social capital[1], cultural capital[2], and collective agency[3] within African American communities made education possible for themselves and their children. Racial discrimination and violence continued across many American cities and states, but that did not prevent African Americans from going to school.

The racial identity of African Americans made their educational experiences uniquely different from every other racial group in the United States.

Collective agency to mobilize education for African Americans

The educational experiences for African Americans were like no other racial group in the United States. African Americans began coming to the realization that the same individuals that wanted to keep them living a life as slaves were not going to do anything to help them get free. Let alone be educated. As a response to this issue African Americans across numerous cities and states began using collective agency to mobilize education for themselves and their children. Collective agency is when people act together, such as a social movement working for change. Social capital and cultural capital were used in numerous American cities. This allowed African Americans to be educated despite laws, discrimination and segregation. Liberation thru education was the goal in acquiring an education for African Americans. Being literate and educated as an African American was looked upon as subversive action.

An educated Black man in America was thought to be a threat to society because of his ability to liberate others with the knowledge he possessed. Carter Julian Savage writes in Our School in our Community, the white residents took particular issue with public schooling for African Americans. In the same report, Edmonson noted that 300 masked men rode through the village of Franklin at night to protest against black public schools (Savage, 2004. p. 56). Racial violence nor the threat of violence did not prevent African Americans agency and self-determination to be educated.

African American parents making a way for their children to be educated

Self-determination fueled African American communities to make education possible for themselves and their children. In different cities, African American communities came together to fund schools for their children’s education. In 1882 in Jackson, Tennessee, a community of average African American citizens made a collective economic sacrifice. They pooled their resources to pay for the construction of school buildings, teachers’ salaries, building maintenance, and school supplies (Savage, 2004. p. 53). African American parents were responsible for the education of their own children.

In rural East Texas, the African Americans in that community showed their commitment to the education of their children by providing the needed funds to build a new school. The total cost for the school was $5,500. The Rosenwald Fund donated $1,000 while the remaining $4,500 was provided by the African Americans in that community. African Americans provided the resources to build schools in their communities, then provided the resources to keep the schools maintained in their communities.

Social Capital and Cultural Capital in Des Moines, Iowa

Education for African American students attending Iowa University was possible because of social capital and cultural capital. In Iowa city, social capital and cultural capital allowed African American families to open their homes to students in need. Between 1913 and 1946 the University of Iowa barred African American students from campus dormitories and some student activities (Breaux, 2004. p. 117). African American women students worked in the homes of middle-class families as domestics. The money these student workers of color earned paid for their education plus room and board. This was all possible because an existing presence of philanthropy and enterprise within the African American community before these students were in need.

The Iowa Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs (IFCWC) took it a step further than opening their own doors for students in need. At the request of the students, Sue Brown, the retiring club president, appointed Helen Downey as the chair of the house search committee; and the club launched a campaign to purchase a home in Iowa City for African American women students (Breaux, 2004. p. 122). Local African American Philanthropist and African American women clubs and organizations provided the funds needed for the Federation Home. The Princess Zora chapter of the Order of the Eastern Stars, the Oziel Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Stars and the Des Moines branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) contributed the money for the down payment and mortgage payments for what became the Federation Home.

In September 1919 the IFCWC made a $1,000 down payment on a two-story, twelve-bedroom home at 942 Iowa Ave. The home was for African American women students that were denied campus housing at Iowa University. During the 1919-20 academic year there were 11 residents at the Federation Home. By 1929 that number grew to 17. The cultural capital within the African American community around Iowa University grew over the years after students of color were denied campus housing. In 1946 when the University allowed for African Americans to live on campus five students continued living in the Federation home until 1950. The social capital and cultural capital amongst the African American community around Iowa University serves as a collective asset for different generations.

White Philanthropy and Black Education

American society is driven by economics, power, and politics. The strength of the nation depends upon the education of its working-class citizens. It was unlawful for African Americans to be educated under the institution of slavery. Because of the institution of slavery, the United States grew into an economic powerhouse globally.

The economy collapsed 70 years following the ending of slavery in America. A large philanthropic movement with malicious intent began to assert themselves into the development of the education of African Americans. This large philanthropic movement would have been a good thing, if it were not led by individuals with ideologies that supported white supremacy.

Philanthropist used their wealth and power to influence Americas educational institutions. Educational institutions began teaching an inferior education to African American students. The reasons for this philanthropic assertion into African American education was for their own economic benefit. Realizing that Americas economic industries depended upon a cheap labor force. There was more of a need to train rather than to educate African Americans. This philanthropic movement influenced the corporate structure of America’s capitalist society that was developed following slavery. More workers, less thinkers. More followers, less leaders.

Families like the Rockefellers began donating millions of dollars committed to the education of African Americans. It might be argued that while Junior and the family did not publicly advocate racial subservience, they accepted it by virtue of their continued support of colonial educators and their views (Watkins, 2001. p. 122). By accepting racial subservience as true by virtue, and by supporting colonial educators and their views of the inferiority of people of color. The money donated by the Rockefellers was done with the intention for the miseducation of African Americans.

 In 1902, Dr. Wallace Buttrick, one of the Rockefeller families trusted inner circle advisors, was the secretary and executive officer of the General Education Board (GEB). Buttrick studied economic, social, and educational conditions in southern states. Like colleagues Ogden and Baldwin, Buttrick was a committed white supremacist (Watkins 2001, p. 126). Buttrick advocated to teach negros a manual, industrial, and agricultural training rather than education. Eventually he used his power and influence to gain agreement from colleagues, becoming a shaper of the Rockefeller policy on education (GEB).

 The Hampton Institute curriculum became the blueprint for the education of African American children. The Hampton Institute was designed to be a special education for African Americans all the while maintaining the southern racial social structure. History and social studies had a Eurocentric and Christian emphasis leaving African American students disengaged and separated from an Afrocentric identity and historical perspective.

Development of Afrocentric Curriculum

Two African American leaders W.E.B. Dubois and Carter G. Woodson challenged the educational curriculum that these white philanthropists were pushing on educators. W.E.B. Dubois said that African Americans needed a proper education for social mobility as a race.

Written in one of his most controversial essays, Does the Negro Need Separate Schools, published in 1935, concluded that what the Negro needed was neither segregated schools nor mixed schools; rather, what he needs is Education (White, 2004. p. 143).  Dubois felt segregated schools were a disservice to African American children by way of under qualified teachers plus a lack of resources. White teachers did not know how to communicate or discipline African American children with behavioral issues. Communication is the basis of understanding. If students can’t understand their teachers, then they would not be able to demonstrate what they learned.

 African American students were identified as having learning disabilities or behavioral disabilities, then sent to special education classes where they would continue to fall behind in their studies. Along with under-qualified teachers, there was a lack of resources needed to maintain and upkeep proper functional buildings like heating and air during the summer and winter months. Textbooks were outdated and there was a constant need for basic schools supplies such as pencils and notebooks. All these conditions compounded to make it difficult for African American children to be properly educated.

 Carter G. Woodson said the negro was subjected to be second-class citizens for their miseducation. Both Woodson and Dubois advised that African Americans embrace Afrocentric curriculums. The Afrocentric curriculum is rooted in 150 years of black nationalism, pan Africanism, separatism, revitalization movements, and African identification movements, Afrocentrism as a foundation for school and curriculum organization has attracted considerable contemporary interest (Watkins, 2004. p .55). Afrocentrism has both a social and educational basis. Instead of an inferior education that was developed by white philanthropists. African American children should be educated in a curriculum that would lead them to liberation rather than agricultural training for a life of subservience. Afrocentrism should have been part of the curriculum and educational indoctrination of African American children.

Despite racial violence and the insertion of white philanthropist with racist ideas about African Americans and their education. African Americans figured a way to get educated by using social capital, cultural capital, and self-determined agency as a community to ensure collective social mobility. The African American Community in Iowa city helped students of color when the University refused them campus housing. In Tennessee, schools were funded by regular citizens who wanted an education for their children. African American leaders created historical Afrocentric curriculums for students of color challenging curriculums intended to keep them as second-class citizens. Across numerous cities, African Americans maintained social and cultural capital to ensure an education for themselves and their children, as a community. Making their educational experiences different from every other racial group in America.

Works Cited

Breaux, M. Richard. “Maintaining A Home for Girls: The Iowa Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs at the University of Iowa, 1919-1950”. Cultural Capital and Black Education, pages 117-141. 2004.

Savage, Julian Carter. “Our School in our Community: The Collective Economic Struggle for African American Education in Franklin, Tennessee, 1890-1967”. Cultural Capital and Black Education, pages 49-79. 2004.

Watkins, H. William. “Blacks and the Curriculum: From Accommodation to Contestation and Beyond”. Pages 40-65. 2004

Watkins, H. William. “Rockefellers and their Associates: For the “Promotion of Education Without Distinction of Race, Sex, or Creed”. Architects of Accommodation, pages 118-135. 2001.

White, A. Monica. “Paradise Lost: Teachers’ Perspectives on the Use of Cultural Capital in the Segregated Schools of New Orleans, Louisiana”. Cultural Capital and Black Education, pages 143-158. 2004.

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[1] Social capital is the network of relationships, shared values, and norms that enable individuals and communities to achieve common goals and benefit from collective action.

[2] Cultural capital is the non-economic resources, like knowledge, skills, and behaviors, that individuals possess and that can be used to navigate and succeed in a particular culture or social group.

[3] Collective agency is the ability of a group to act as a unified entity, pursuing common goals and objectives through the coordinated efforts of its members.