Pedagogie

1867 Freedmen’s Bureau Receipt for $1000 to Build a School on Land Owned by Freedmen in Morganton North Carolina

1867 · List3419 — Morganton North Carolina 1867. Manuscript document measuring 5 ¼ x 8 inches. Near Fine. An 1867 document confirming the receipt of $1000 for building a school for freed African Americans in Morganton North Carolina. The document reads:<br /> <br /> “$1000<br /> Morganton N.C.<br /> Dec’r 16th 1867<br /> Received of Major Hannibal D. Norton Sub-ass’t Com’r Bureau R.F. A.L. One Thousand dollars in full for erecting a School-building on land purchased by Freedmen in Morganton N.C. as per contract dated August 31 1867.<br /> Check No. 1135 on Raleigh Nat B’k<br /> for $1000.00 signed by Bt Lt Col J. A. Claywell / Jesse Strabo Nelson<br /> T. P. Johnson C.Q.M. D.O. S.N.C.â€<br /> <br /> Brevet Lt. Col. Thomas P. Johnson appears in other North Carolinian Freedmen’s Bureau documents; the abbreviation after his name likely stands for Chief Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer State of North Carolina. The two witnesses Claywell likely James Addison and Nelson were both active in the Methodist church; Claywell was superintendent of the Morganton Methodist Sunday School and Nelson a Methodist reverend. Neither man’s obituary mentions any involvement with the Freedmen’s Bureau.<br /> <br /> The school is not identified by any name but is mentioned in a March 1868 report by Hannibal Norton the Freedmen’s Bureau agent. The building was located at Union and Water now Bouchelle Streets and hosted three schools day night and Sabbath; had one teacher an African American man named Joseph Nicholas; and was paid for by the students’ parents. The report describes difficulty in raising money to pay for more buildings teachers and books and notes that “The public sentiment is adverse to the education of Freedmen and Poor Whites.â€1 Given the area’s poverty indicated by Norton’s report the fundraising by formerly enslaved people to buy land for the school must have taken remarkable effort and sacrifice—education was a critical cause for African Americans and significant progress was made during Reconstruction in spite of poverty and violent backlash.<br /> <br /> 1 “North Carolina United States records†images FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TC-6PJVview=explore image 104 of 567; United States National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 007675751. unknown