Racial disparities in Education

Education for men in Colonial America varied significantly based on region, class, and social status. Formal education was most accessible to boys from wealthy families, especially in New England, where Puritan values placed importance on literacy for religious purposes. Boys typically began their education by attending dame schools or small local schools where they learned basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. As shown above, many of the materials revolved around Christian principles and biblical teachings. In cities such as Philadelphia, a limited number of charity schools funded by religious or higher education organizations offered a formal education for lower-class families.

Around the age of seven, wealthier families studied under private tutors or send their sons to secondary schools (often called academies) to prepare for college, often with the goal of entering the clergy or pursuing careers. Writing, essential for commerce, legal affairs, and correspondence, was a crucial skill taught in these schools, reflecting the broader 18th-century emphasis on practical literacy. However, access to education was not universal. Poorer boys often learned through apprenticeships, which focused on trade-specific skills rather than formal academics. While education for men was seen as a pathway to civic and economic participation, its scope and availability were deeply shaped by social class and geography.

Formal education, as it was understood for white children, was largely inaccessible to enslaved individuals, who were generally prohibited from learning to read and write. While wealthier white families in the colonies hired private tutors or send their children to small local schools, enslaved families had no such opportunities for their children.  At this time education was deeply tied to notions of social hierarchy, and enslaved people were deliberately kept illiterate to prevent rebellion or escape. Efforts to educate enslaved individuals were rare and often met with harsh punishment. In 1740, following the Stono Uprising, South Carolina passed the “The Negro Act,” which explicitly prohibited enslaved people from learning to read, among other restrictions. However, some enslaved people throughout the colonies managed to acquire literacy skills in secret or through new schools of the period, such as the Bray School pictured below. It is important to note that while the Bray School taught its students a variety of skills similar to those of white schools, it also introduced a pro-slavery ideology intended to justify the circumstances of their students.

The colonial system had created some avenues of education for Indigenous people, such as the Harvard Indian School, founded in the 17th century, but were often short-lived. Many of the schools intended for Indigenous children were established in New England and founded by religious leaders, such as Reverend Eleazar Wheelock who established a missionary school in Connecticut as early as 1754. Wheelock’s was to teach the children the necessary skills to be missionaries in their own communities. The “Moor's Indian Charity School” was primarily composed of boys, but accepted a small number of girls who would receive a formal education as well as serve at local households to learn husbandry, sewing, and cleaning. As the students grew older they would then learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew to prepare for careers as educators or ministers. While some students graduated and went on to become teachers and missionaries, reports show that many others struggled with alcohol addiction, illness, and homesickness. As a result, the majority of Indigenous children continued to learn through the traditions of their own communities. As young children their education would be provided by the family unit, and older children would then by taught from skilled story tellers, spiritual leaders, and hunters. For tribes such as the Cherokee and Creek, teaching spiritual rituals also instilled agricultural knowledge since many festivals were closely linked with planting cycles.

During the middle of the century, many colleges attempted to invite Indigenous men to their schools with the goals of assimilation and spreading Christianity. There is record of one Indigenous youth from Delaware who attended the College of New Jersey in 1751. However, many Indigenous communities expressed  concerns over colonial education, as they found the system detrimental to the reintegration of students into their communities. Furthermore, accounts show that many students also died in their time away from home due to exposure to diseases like tuberculosis. Given the limited success of the schools, it became increasingly difficult for the British government to justify funding such programs.

Education for Women

Education for women in Colonial America was limited and highly dependent on social class, region, and race. Girls received scarce formal schooling opportunities, as educational priorities for women centered on domestic skills like sewing, cooking, and household management rather than academic subjects like math, science, or advanced literacy. Girls from wealthier families sometimes received private tutoring at home or attended "dame schools,"  which were informal neighborhood schools run by women, where they learned basic reading, writing, and arithmetic alongside domestic arts. In New England, where literacy was more valued due to Puritan religious ideologies, girls had better access to basic education than in the southern colonies, where formal schooling was less accessible to both boys and girls due to the reliance on plantation labor and agriculture. While boys might prepare for higher education or apprenticeships, girls were expected to prepare for their roles as wives and mothers, with only a select few from elite families receiving a more robust education. Access to education was also stratified by race, as enslaved African American girls were largely denied any form of formal education, while Native American girls faced efforts at assimilation through missionary schools.

Primary sources such as the ones below help historians understand how children learned during this time period. Click on the images to enlarge each artifact.