The Society's vast collection of printed and manuscript material encompasses the lived and portrayed experiences of individuals from different cultures, communities, and time periods for educational and scholarly purposes. The Society’s collections are historical in nature and reflect the time and place in which they were produced. Consequently, items and their associated catalog records or finding aids may contain language, imagery, beliefs, or stereotypes that are offensive and potentially harmful when describing race, sex and sexuality, gender identity, ability, religion, and other aspects of human experience. All materials in the American Antiquarian Society’s collections have research value and have been preserved in their original state. The American Antiquarian Society does not censor materials in its care but asserts that they do not represent the values of the Society, nor does the Society endorse the views expressed therein. The Society's full statement on Harmful Language and Imagery in the Library Collections and Catalog includes a contact e-mail for reporting harmful language in collection descriptions.
The Freedmen's Teacher Project
Further biographical information for the teachers included in this resource can be found in data gathered by the Freedmen’s Teacher Project (FTP). The FTP was initiated by Ronald E. Butchart in the 1970s to document the people who responded to the demand of formerly enslaved southern African Americans for access to literacy. The FTP seeks to record every identifiable teacher in Black schools from the first weeks of the American Civil War to the end of Reconstruction. Almost twelve thousand individuals have been identified.
- See: Butchart, Ronald E. "The Freedmen’s Teacher Project: Teachers among the Freed People in the U.S. South, 1861-1877." Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 3, no. 1 (2022).
Additional Resources
- Butchart, Ronald E. Schooling the Freed People: Teaching, Learning, and the Struggle for Black Freedom, 1861-1876, 2010. Catalog record
- Butchart, Ronald E. Northern Schools, Southern Blacks, and Reconstruction: Freedmen's Education, 1862-1875, 1980. Catalog record
- Dear Ones at Home: Letters from Contraband Camps, 1866. Catalog record
- New England Freedmen's Aid Society Records at the Massachusetts Historical Society
Funding
This resource has been made possible by a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.