Issue link: https://fredparent.uberflip.com/i/1515733
10 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • February 2024 Freedmen's school on a former plantation in North Carolina, 1868, courtesy National Museum of African American Hisatory and Culture. During the period of segre- gation, schools for African American children were some of the most important and influential centers of commu- nity. Here in the Fredericksburg area, Black education efforts began in the nineteenth cen- tury, with clandestine schools held in the homes of local free Black families, enslaved parents secretly teaching their children the basics of reading after long days of forced labor, and free Black people petitioning the Virginia General Assembly to start a school for free Black children in 1838 (which was ultimately rejected, leading to many families choosing to leave Fredericksburg and start new lives in the North and West). Following the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau was tasked with providing assistance to formerly enslaved people in various forms, including issuing food and clothing, operating hospitals and camps, and supervis- ing labor contracts between planters and freedpeople. The Bureau is perhaps best known for the strides it made in early Black education, establishing thousands of schools across the country, and helping to found essential Black institutions of higher learning, including Howard University in Washington DC, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Howard is named after Oliver Howard, a Union General who served as the head of the Freedmen's Bureau from 1865 until 1874. WRITTEN BY DR. GAILA SIMS JOIN US FEBRUARY 3 This February, the City of Fredericksburg will open a new Wayside Panel honoring the original Walker-Grant School. On February 3 rd at 1:30 p.m., the Fredericksburg Area Museum will host a recep- tion celebrating the installation of the new panel, along with four others showcas- ing diverse histories across the city. Visit famva.com/famevents to learn more. Joseph Walker, courtesy Fredericksburg Area Museum. Joseph Walker, courtesy Jason C. Grant, courtesy Fredericksburg Area Museum. A Brief History of African American Education Efforts in Fredericksburg ...Black education efforts began in the nineteenth century, with clandestine schools held in the homes of local free Black families...