North Carolina Textbooks in the 19th Century: 'To Interest and Instruct the Boys and Girls of North Carolina'

This historical study analyzes 19th century North Carolina history books. It focuses on continuity in North Carolina public school history textbooks from 1851, when the first textbook was published, to 1889, when the last known North Carolina history book of the century was published. In determining how much continuity exists among these books, this study considers controversies or cultural shifts textbook authors may have addressed in their books. Textbook content often reflects the political, cultural, or societal norms of leaders and authors, whether in historical or contemporary times. Textbooks are essentially society's letter to their young about what knowledge and values are most important. In North Carolina, textbooks were also evidence of a growing public education movement. By the mid-19 th century, North Carolina was situated near the top among Southern states' education programs. This placement was partly due to the fact that leaders simultaneously encouraged the growth of free, universal education for all white students in the state while depending upon educators to teach these students North Carolina's social norms and status quos. Leaders viewed education both as a major component of progress and as an institution that could maintain tradition and morality in a changing society. In this context, educators and textbook authors attempted to teach future generations socially accepted historical knowledge of and love for their state.;Analysis of North Carolina history textbooks reveals the positive portrayals of North Carolina's history and society that writers hoped to impart to readers. Political or social upheavals such as the Civil War or Reconstruction were a context for textbook authors to offer students historical interpretations of these events that justified or even glorified North Carolina's actions in history. While textbook authors varied in the degrees to which they attempted to instill patriotism in their readers or by the amount of detail they included about a given topic, the basic interpretation of North Carolina's history as inspiriting and working toward positive completion remained unchanged from 1851 to 1889. Authors shared similar purposes for writing textbooks that aimed to provide students with positive views of their state provided by North Carolina natives. They also presented similar themes highlighting North Carolina's historical love and defense of freedom and her position of moderation in social or political matters. While authors did not always interpret specific historical events the same, they highlighted similar themes about the state's history. Changes in textbooks were usually inspired more by new historical events than by a desire to retreat from a basic summation of North Carolina history that emphasized the state's proud historical origins, contributions to United States history, and desirableness as a place to live.