According to a recent article in the Journal of the Civil War Era, there were “631 attacks on African American schools between 1864 and 1876.” In Surveying the Destruction of African American Schoolhouses in the South, 1864-1876 historian Campbell F. Scribner writes in The Journal of Civil War Era Vol. 10, Issue 4 that one in twenty Black schoolhouses were attacked, with many being destroyed. According to Scribner:
Most of the damage resulted from clandestine arson attacks, but there were mob actions in broad daylight as well, in which Southerners raucously defaced ” colored school houses with a composition of tar, paint, or lamp-black,” and ransacked the furnishings. In Paris, Texas, a group of white girls broke down the door of a freedmen’s school, defecated on the desks, and left a cruel note. There were also many instances in which passersby took potshots at school buildings or the students inside.
Schools were particular targets because they promoted Black literacy and civic involvement, and because they were seen as meeting places for African Americans trying to unite politically. The devastating impact of a school burning on a Black community is reflected in the words of Emma Caughey, principal of the Emerson Institute:
“Emerson Institute is lying in ruins. For the second time in her history she is smoldering in ashes, and we are mourning for the destruction of our little church, made dear by so many sacred and hallowed associations, and our beautiful school building in which so many happy hours of toil have been spent and labors of love performed…. The enemy approaches again and applies the torch–this time with marvelous success.”
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