Schooling in the antebellum South : the rise of public and private education in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama / Sarah L. Hyde.

Author
Hyde, Sarah L., 1981- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2016]
Description
xiii, 212 pages ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
ReCAP - Remote StorageLA230.5.S6 H93 2016 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    Summary note
    "In Schooling in the Antebellum South, Sarah L. Hyde analyzes educational development in the Gulf South before the Civil War, not only revealing a thriving private and public education system, but also offering insight into the worldview and aspirations of the people inhabiting the region. While historians have tended to emphasize that much of the antebellum South had no public school system and offered education only to elites in private institutions, Hyde's work suggests a different pattern of development in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, where citizens actually worked to extend schooling across the region. As a result, students learned in a variety of settings--in their own homes with a family member or hired tutor, at private or parochial schools, and in public free schools. Regardless of the venue, Hyde shows that the ubiquity of learning in the region proves how highly southerners valued education. As early as the 1820s and 1830s, legislators in these states sought to increase access to education for less wealthy residents through financial assistance to private schools. Urban governments in the region were the first to acquiesce to voters' demands, establishing public schools in New Orleans, Natchez, and Mobile. The success of these schools led residents in rural areas to lobby their local legislatures for similar opportunities. Despite an economic downturn in the late 1830s that limited legislative appropriations for education, the economic recovery of the 1840s ushered in a new era of educational progress. The return of prosperity, Hyde suggests, coincided with the maturation of Jacksonian democracy--a political philosophy that led southerners to demand access to privileges formerly reserved for the elite, including schooling. Hyde explains that while Jacksonian ideology inspired voters to lobby for schools, the value southerners placed on learning was rooted in republicanism: they believed a representative democracy needed an educated populace to survive. Consequently, by 1860 all three states had established statewide public school systems. Schooling in the Antebellum South successfully challenges the conventional wisdom that an elitist educational system prevailed in the South and adds historical depth to an understanding of the value placed on public schooling in the region." --Dust jacket.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-207) and index.
    Contents
    • Introduction: an exploration of learning in the antebellum Gulf South
    • A schoolroom at the bottom of the stairs: learning inside the home
    • Learning beyond the homestead: private education in the Gulf South
    • Education as a responsibility of the state: early efforts toward public schools
    • The genesis of public education in the South: urban public schools
    • The culmination of antebellum education initiatives: the establishment of statewide public school systems in the Gulf South
    • Within the schoolroom walls: student life in the antebellum Gulf South
    • Conclusion: punctuated progress: the place of education in the antebellum Gulf South.
    ISBN
    • 9780807164204 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    • 0807164208 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    LCCN
    2016009624
    OCLC
    945232053
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information