Education to subordinate - education to liberate: An historical study of the dual role of education for African Americans, 1865--1968

This research is an historical study of African Americans' experience acquiring education in North Carolina. In particular, I examine the ideological and institutional factors that shaped public education for African Americans following the Emancipation Act in 1865. Primary data includes an oral history of the experiences of teachers and students at Williston High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. Oral history serves as the principal vehicle for understanding Williston High School as a segregated learning institution along with document analysis of personal and public records.;Williston High School was the sole secondary school for African American students in Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1919 until 1968. Founded in 1866, Williston was the first free school for African American students in the southern part of Wilmington. Local African American citizens raised their own funds to start the school. Desegregation forced the school to close in 1968.;A brief history of African Americans in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the Reconstruction era contributes to understanding the local African American community's efforts to maintain and enhance its only high school despite blatant acts of racism.