Schoolhouse, 1840s

Schoolhouse, 1840s. . , Shuler School , The log schoolhouse on this exhibit was built around 1840 and originally stood in Rockingham County, Virginia. Rural families started schools like the Shuler School to provide their children with a basic education. Parents constructed and supported the school and hired the schoolmaster. The students learned fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills., Access to education was limited in Virginia during much of the 19th century. Wealthy white families sent their children to private academies or hired live-in tutors. Most farmers could not afford this expense, unless they joined with their neighbors to build a one-room schoolhouse. Virginia did not have a statewide compulsory school system until 1870., Freedmen's Schools , Most African Americans in the South were deprived of access to formal education before the Civil War. Many slave states, including Virginia, passed anti-literacy laws making it illegal to teach African Americans to read and write. Lawmakers believed such laws prevented slave rebellions. After the Civil War, African-American schools in Virginia were established by a federal agency known as the "Freedmen's Bureau." Children and adults flocked to these schools to receive an education. The formerly enslaved knew the importance of education, since they had been denied educational opportunities., German Language Schools , Many Virginia Germans wanted their children instructed in the German language up through the early decades of the 19th century. German churches taught classes in German to the children of their congregants, and a German-language printer in New Market, Virginia offered primers in English and German., [Captions:] , African American School at Anthoston. Census 27, enrollment 12, attendance 7. Teacher expects 19 to be enrolled after work is over. "Tobacco keeps them out and they are short of hands." Henderson County, KY, 1916. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division., Ambrose Henkel, ABC- und Bilder Buch, Letters G-M. New Market, VA: Henkel's Printing Office, 1817. The Library of Virginia.