1865: Plans To Educate The Freedmen
By late 1865, the American Civil War was over (which ended slavery in the former Confederate states) and slavery in the United States had officially ended in the Northern and border states as well with the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, known as freedmen, millions of former African American slaves were without employable job skills, opportunities, and even literacy itself, (e.g., in Virginia, since the bloody Nat Turner Rebellion in 1831, it had been unlawful to teach a slave to read).
Some realized that these newly freed people were still in a battle against ignorance and neglect. Members of the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) proposed a "National Theological Institute" (NTI) which would educate those wishing to enter into the Baptist ministry. Soon, the proposed mission was expanded to offer courses and programs at college, high school and even preparatory levels, to both men and women.
Read more about this topic: Wayland Seminary
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