From the Civil War to Civil Rights: The Black Educational Experience as a Vehicle for Social Justice

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

Panelist Elvatrice Belsches will survey the Black experience in education in Virginia from 1861-1870 via primary and secondary documents, rare photographs and first-person narratives. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of Black educators, the Freedmen’s Bureau and religious relief organizations on the creation of secondary schools and early HBCUs.

Panelist Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee will examine the social impact of the successful entrepreneurial and educational efforts of two Black Tidewater families in Virginia in the 1880s-1890s. The narrative will chronicle the lives of one of the families after their migration to Bangor, Maine.

Panelist Deidre B. Flowers will discuss her scholarship on the role of both students and alumnae of the Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC, as activists for social justice during the years 1930-1960.

Sub Unit

• 101st Annual Meeting and Conference of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History

Chair

• Maureen Elgersman-Lee, Hampton University

Individual Presentations

• Tell Them We Are Rising: A Survey of the Black Educational Experience in Virginia from 1861-1870 - Elvatrice Belsches, Public Historian, Richmond, Virginia, Historical Innovations, LLC

• No Second-Hand History: The Harrises of Williamsburg and the Johnsons of Bangor, Maine 1880s – 1930s” - Maureen Elgersman-Lee, Hampton University

• Student Protest and Activism at the Bennett College for Women, 1930-1960 - Deidre Bennett Flowers, Teachers College, Columbia University

Commentator

• ASALH Audience, .