The Struggle for Community and Respectability: Black Women School Founders and the Politics of Character Education in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract

The author examines character education within the context of early twentieth-century, Black schooling and discusses how school founders, Mary McLeod Bethune, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Charlotte Hawkins Brown, used the language and practice of character education to help their students confront racism and navigate a segregated society. These educators used a variety of indirect character education strategies to achieve two primary purposes. First, by developing and showcasing the character of their students, they sought to gain respectability and economic security for their graduates. Second, they used character education as a tool to nurture strong and spiritually vibrant Black communities. Their emphasis on community building reflected both African traditions and early twentieth-century conceptions of civic responsibility.