Respectable from their intelligence: the education of Louisiana's gens de couleur libres, 1800 to 1860

This study provides a historical analysis of the socioeconomic and cultural conditions that influenced the unprecedented educational attainment of Louisiana’s gens de couleur libres (free people of color) from colonization to the dawn of the American Civil War. Many in this community came to possess notable wealth – to the extent that they have been esteemed as the wealthiest group of free blacks in the nation in the nineteenth century. Moreover, libres were able to attain the highest levels of education: private schools were created, pupils were sent north for schooling, tutors were hired, and many finished their schooling in France. Given that this community, on the whole, achieved substantially higher levels of wealth and education than any of their North American counterparts, this work relies on archival research methods to answer the central question: What enabled an entire community of color to find scholarly success in an overtly racially oppressive society?

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Johnson, Alisha D.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Span, Christopher M.
• Anderson, James D.
• Beadie, Nancy
• Pak, Yoon K.
• Sanders, Katrina

• Black education
• Southern education
• Antebellum education
• Black achievement
• Race
• Class
• Educational opportunity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Alisha Johnson

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97584

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97584