Education was essential for African Americans to define their own culture after emancipation from slavery according to Foner's thesis. Education united former slaves and free black men while also establishing courageous community leaders to aid the progress towards total equal rights. Taking initiative to acquire wisdom through education with the aid of organizations and community despite opposition was central to achieving freedom and unity between North and South. The rapid educational progress of African Americans in the years after the Civil War represented "a century in a year."

1. EDUCATION
DARBY AND CAMERON

2. FONER’S THESIS
As argued by Foner in The Meaning of
Freedom, the actual meaning of freedom was not just
the emancipation from slavery, to African Americans
in 1865 it meant defining their own culture in the
social, economic, and political aspects of their lives.

3. EDUCATION THESIS
Education was essential to defining African
American culture by uniting the free and the freed
men, establishing courageous community leaders and
aiding the progress for total equal rights.

4. EDUCATION IS CENTRAL TO FREEDOM

5. TAKING INITIATIVE TO ACQUIRE WISDOM

6. AID FROM ORGANIZATIONS AND
COMMUNITY

7. COURAGE IN FACE OF OPPOSITION

8. UNITY; FREE, FREED; NORTH, SOUTH

9. “PROGRESS… CENTURY IN A YEAR”

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Students at Hampton Institute. 1870. Photograph. Hampton University Archives, Hampton
Institute. America's Reconstruction. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_14b.html
• Freedpeople Reading. 1865. Photograph. Library of Congress. America's Reconstruction. 2011.
Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_11.html>.
• Howard University Students on Campus. 1870. Photograph. Howard University Archives, Howard
University. America's Reconstruction. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_15.html>.
• Waud, A.R. Classroom of Zion School for Colored Children, Charleston, South Carolina. 1866.
Photograph. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Charleston, SC. Digital
Schomburg Images of 19th Century African Americans. 1999. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
<http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/aa19c_info.cfm?>.
• Colored School, Object Teaching. 1870. Photograph. Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture. Digital Schomburg Images of 19th Century African Americans. 1999. Web. 03
Jan. 2012. <http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/aa19c_info.cfm?>.
• Building the Black Community: The School. Photograph. America's Reconstruction. Web. 03 Jan.
2012. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_school.html>.
• Eric Foner, “The Meaning of Freedom,” Allen F. Davis, Harold D. Woodman, eds. Conflict and
consensus in American History, Volume 2. 9th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1997, pp. 207-220