Toward New Beginnings: A Review of Native, White, and Black American Education Through the 19th Century

Histories of 19th-century U.S. education center White experiences, while formal education policy and practice pertaining to Black and Native Americans are treated as marginal phenomena that had little impact on schooling at a national level. Furthermore, current historical framings overwhelmingly analyze Native, White, and Black American education as separate entities, which conceals the political economic character of race as a relational phenomenon. To explore connections between race, school, and nation building, this review presents a relational analysis of scholarship on Native, White, and Black American education through the 19th century. In doing so, it outlines how formal U.S. education expressed, created, and adjusted racial hierarchies through the 19th century; and more importantly, it highlights how America’s education system developed in a context where Native, White, and Black American experiences were deeply interrelated. The review ends by identifying paths for new research on the racial dimensions of U.S. education during its foundational years and beyond.