Literacy In Reconstruction

While overwhelming anti-black sentiment contributed to a smaller African American representation in government at the beginning of Reconstruction, it would be remiss to ignore the effects of lack of education on free blacks during this time as well. Until Reconstruction efforts to establish a taxpayer funded public school system, blacks (especially slaves) were typically illiterate- though a marked exception to this rule was those enlisted in the army. Indeed, by the end of the Civil War, an estimated 180,000 adult black males had served in the Union Army, where they were taught by teachers and literary societies to read and write, and many were taking classes during the winter (Foner 864).
Literacy had a profound and unmistakable effect on