Going Against The Grain pt.3

In this section we learn that most African American parents around this time did not approve of public schooling. Their reasons behind this were to avoid the humility of having to send their children through “the abuse of white southerners” or “to a southern-designed system of ‘black education’…..”  Instead of pressing their children to go to these schools, they preferred to send them off to private schools such as Morris Brown, Morehouse, and Spelman College. African Americans strived to become literate and each one has a story of how this came to be. For instance, let’s examine Clara Howards’ story. Born in Greenville, Georgia, Clara Howard was one of 9 siblings. Her father was a literate skilled worker and business man and refused to allow her to become illiterate. She was a member of the first graduating class of Spelman College and also one of the first graduates to teach as a missionary in Africa. She dedicated her time to help out communities in need due to her strong Christian values and beliefs. During her travels, she faced several dangers which included having to deal with wild animals as well as people. Her services were forced to an end in 1897. She returned to Spelman to become a staff member and an active member of the Atlanta community.  On November 23, 1969 Spelman College dedicated a building to her naming it Howard Harreld.  She has left behind an inspiring legacy that will continually go on.

Selena Sloan butler graduated from Spelman college class of 1888. She was born Thomasville, Georgia on January 4, 1872. Selena was educated by missionaries who encouraged her to go as far as possible in education. She was sponsored at Spelman College by her minister and received a diploma in Spelman’s 2^nd graduating class. For the next five years of her life, she taught English classes in the Atlanta public schools and later at Tallahassee, Florida. She later married a graduate of Lincoln University medical college named Henry Rutherford Butler. Some years after, Butler became a public speaker locally and nationally and as a community activist. She was a delegate representing the Atlanta woman’s club in 1896. In her very own home she organized the first kindergarten for African American children in Atlanta. Butler had many other accomplishments including being the founder and first president of the Georgia Congress of colored parents and teachers in 1920.

In that time opportunities for African American women in literacy was brought about many obstacles. Their opportunities were limited because of their race and sex. African American women were placed at the bottom of the scale and had negative stereotypes placed on them.