| Abstract: | ABSTRACTAlthough common schooling began to take off in the northern United States around the 1830s, it did not gain great momentum in the South until the postbellum period. Spanning this lengthy Common School era, this article explores the role white supremacy played in both the development and the impediment of schooling for the masses in the southern United States. Through analysis of archival and other primary and secondary data sources, the ways in which white supremacist ideology and actions shape-shifted throughout this time in history are mapped and expounded upon. This includes the rhetorical strategies and actions carried out by southern school reformers and opponents within their speeches, editorials, sermons, and addresses to maintain or amplify white power. Prominent Common School figures who held residency within the former Confederate States of America such as William Henry Ruffner and J.L.M. Curry, as well as lesser-known educational advocates and opponents of education are highlighted. This article begins with some of the arguments that were made both for and against education of slaves, for or against common schooling of white children, and proceeds into many of the large-scale schooling efforts of the postbellum period, all analyzed through the lens of white supremacy. |
