Surveying the Destruction of African American Schoolhouses in the South, 1864–1876

This essay surveys the destruction of 631 African American schools during the Reconstruction era. Drawing from newspaper reports, congressional testimony, and the archives of the Freedmen’s Bureau, it provides the most comprehensive account to date of violence against African American education in the postwar South. However, acknowledging that the total number of schools destroyed was probably far higher, the article also explores the forces that obscured evidence of attacks and precluded a more accurate count, particularly a lack of systematic attention to the issue in Freedmen’s Bureau reports and the political machinations of congressional Democrats.