History of education in Missouri

Genevieve, Florissant, Cape Girardeau, Franklin, Potosi, Jackson, and Herculaneum, and in rural areas in both Cooper and Howard counties.

[4] Before the Civil War, Missouri followed the southern pattern that downplayed public schooling, as well-to-do families patronized local private academies.

Their 1865 Constitution, and numerous state laws, called for a large network of public schools, including ones for black children.

Families that could afford to have children attend school rather than hold a paying job patronized 45 academies in 1870, most of which were attached to the 37 small private colleges.

[8] In 1863, Anna Brackett, educated in Massachusetts, was appointed principal of the St. Louis Normal School (now Harris–Stowe State University).

During her tenure, Brackett worked to ensure female students had access to higher education and liberal studies as preparation for professional teaching.

[9] Education for enslaved people was practically nonexistent in Missouri, the small free black population in St. Louis provided small-scale schooling.

During and after the Civil War, a private religious group, the American Missionary Association, based in New England, worked to advance black education in Missouri.

[10] During the war, the 62nd Colored Infantry regiment of the U.S. Army, largely recruited in Missouri, set up educational program for its soldiers.

At the end of the war it raised $6300 To set up a black school, to be headed by a white abolitionist officer, Richard Foster (1826–1901).

Reformers set up educational trains across the state around 1902, bringing displays of scientific advances regarding farm techniques and new technology, with an appeal to farmers of all ages.

[14] In the early 1950s, legal challenges led to the admission of black students to the University of Missouri, which had heretofore been a white-only institution.

[16] By 1970 the Kansas City school district had experienced massive white and middle-class black flight that left it with a smaller tax base and a severe money shortage.

Ultimately, the desegregation that was accomplished in Kansas City was far too little and came far too late, after the district had lost most of its white students to the suburbs, says historian Peter Moran.