Education as a tool of socialization: Agnes Scott Institute and Spelman Seminary, 1881-1910.

One of the legacies of the period after the Civil War was the increased access for women to higher education. Antebellum educational opportunities for white southern females were limited both in scope and content. Curricula were characterized by finishing school formats designed to be less intellectually taxing and rigorous than those to which white males were exposed. The reality for antebellum Black southern women was no education at all. Although the post-war period provided increased higher education opportunities for both Black and white southern women, such opportunities were created within predefined parameters. The parameters were set by 19th Century societal views of women and the roles they were expected to fill. Women's education was structured in a way to reinforce and be compatible with those societal views. Education as an instrument of socialization for southern women to their prescribed roles was personified in the creation of Spelman Seminary for Black females in 1881, and Agnes Scott Institute for white females in 1889. An examination of the educational processes of these two institutions up to 1910 reflects a common adherence to the 19th Century axiom that women were responsible for family and moral development. Yet sharp differences based on race are noted in the educational frameworks of the two schools. These frameworks were fashioned by those who created and funded the institutions. The education at Spelman was designed to prepare those who graduated from it to not only assume home responsibilities but also seek wage-earning employment. The graduates of Agnes Scott were being prepared to assume their home responsibilities and were not expected to seek paid employment outside the home. Overt and covert messages were sent to the women at Spelman and Agnes Scott about the roles they were to assume upon leaving the institutions. The messages were conveyed through the curricula, the composition of the staff, faculty, and governing boards, and the views and funding priorities of their benefactors.Ph.D.Black historyEducationEducation historyHigher educationSocial SciencesWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128738/2/9135559.pd