Abstract
Black civic voluntary organizations were essential in the fight for equality, social justice, and racial and economic advancement from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Given that African Americans were virtually excluded from mainstream political and public life during this time, they established a range and number of organizations to help provide services and programs for black communities, as well as offering literary and artistic outlets. Central to the mission of black civic organizations were education and the schooling of black youth. Almost universally, the associations developed programs in education for adults and youth, shaped the curriculum in segregated schools, and educated members and the wider community about American civic ideals and the need for social justice and political reform. Through membership, African Americans learned leadership skills and cultivated important national networks. This chapter spotlights the range of black voluntary organizations in civil society, examining their origins, purposes, and characteristics regarding education in knowledge, skills, sensibilities, and values.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Brooks CH. The official history and manual of the grand united order of odd fellows in America. Freeport: Books for Libraries Press; 1902/1971.
Butchart RE. Schooling the freed people: teaching, learning, and the struggle for black freedom, 1861–1876. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; 2010.
Danns D, Purdy MA, Span C. Using past as prologue: contemporary perspectives on African American educational history. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing; 2015.
Dickerson CE. The benevolent and protective order of Elks of the world: a comparative study of Euro-American and Afro-American secret societies. PhD dissertation. University of Rochester; 1981.
Franklin VP. In pursuit of freedom: the educational activities of black social organization in Philadelphia, 1900–1930. In: Franklin VP, Anderson JA, editors. New perspectives on black educational history. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.; 1978.
Franklin VP. Black self-determination: a cultural history of African-American resistance. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books; 1984.
Higginbotham EB. Righteous discontent: the women’s movement in the black Baptist church, 1880–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1993.
Karpinski CF. “A visible company of professionals”: African Americans and the National Education Association during the civil rights movement. New York: Peter Lang; 2008.
Little KL. West African urbanization: a study of voluntary associations in social change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1965.
Mansfield HC, Winthrop D, translators. Alexis de Tocqueville: democracy in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2000.
Marlowe GW. A right worthy grand mission: Maggie Lena Walker and the quest for black economic empowerment. Washington, DC: Howard University Press; 2003.
Mjagkij N. Organizing black America: an encyclopedia of African American associations. New York: Garland; 2001.
Myrdal G. An American dilemma: the negro problem and modern democracy. York: Harper & Row Publishers; 1944.
Popkewitz T. The production of reason and power. In: Popkewitz TS, Pereyra MA, Franklin BM, editors. Cultural history and education: critical essays on knowledge and schooling. London: Routledge; 2001. p. 151–83.
Putnam RD. Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster; 2000.
Schlesinger AM. Biography of a nation of joiners. Am Hist Rev. 1944;50(1):1–25.
Skocpol T, Liazos A, Ganz M. What a mighty power we can be: African American fraternal groups and the struggle for racial equality. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2006.
Walker VS. Their highest potential: an African American school community in the segregated south. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; 1996.
Wesley C. History of the improved benevolent and protective order of Elks of the world, 1898–1954. Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; 1955.
Wilson RJ. A documentary history of the improved benevolent and protective order of Elks of the world: 100 years of benevolence and image building. Philadelphia: IBOEW; 1996.
Woyshner C. The national PTA, race, and civic engagement, 1897–1970. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press; 2009.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Woyshner, C. (2019). Black Civic Organizations in the History of Education. In: Fitzgerald, T. (eds) Handbook of Historical Studies in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0942-6_40-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0942-6_40-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0942-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0942-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education