Abstract
As the Civil War came to a close and Reconstrution began, a small army of teachers arrived in Florida. Under the auspices of northern aid societies and educational associations, they proposed to teach emancipated slaves. Most did not have a problem motivating their students: many blacks recognized the symbolic and practical significance of literacy. Still, the teachers faced other challenges. Most had been fierce abolitionists. Their idealism had set them apart even from the mainstream of northern society and, combined with their collective identity as "Yankees," immediately put than at odds with Florida's white population. Consequently, violent resistance arose to these northern teachers and their efforts to transform freedmen and women into full citizens.1
Recommended Citation
Wakefield, Laura Wallis
(2002)
""Set a Light in a Dark Place": Teachers of Freedmen in Florida, 1864-1874,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 81:
No.
4, Article 3.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol81/iss4/3
