1870 Missouri State Colored People's Educational Convention facts for kids

The Missouri State Colored People's Educational Convention was an important meeting held in Jefferson City, Missouri from January 19 to 22. It took place in the city's Baptist church. This convention was organized because of the hard work of Colonel F. A. Seely and J. Milton Turner. For two years, they had studied the conditions of public schools for black children in Missouri.

J. Milton Turner, who was the president of the convention, started it because there were so few public schools and normal schools (schools that train teachers) for black people. They also met to talk about how local school boards were not supporting black public and normal schools.

During the convention, committees were formed. Their job was to present the convention's ideas for equal education to black people in Missouri and to state officials. Most of their points were about how state money for schools was being used.

On the last days, the convention suggested a bill for the Missouri legislature. This bill explained the need for a state normal school to train black teachers. It also promised money for the school. The bill required the school's leaders to make sure there were good grounds and resources. The state board of education would watch over this.

The women who provided food for the meetings and a women's choir who sang after a prayer were thanked. These actions were the only ways these women could take part in politics. Women were not allowed to vote or join the convention itself.

Why Schools Were Unfair

From 1868 to 1869, Colonel F. A. Seely and J. Milton Turner were asked to investigate schools. The American Missionary Association (AMA) asked them to do this. The AMA was an organization that helped improve education for black people after the Civil War.

The AMA worked with the Missouri office of the Freedmen's Bureau. This bureau helped former enslaved people. Both F. A. Seely and J. Milton Turner worked for the Freedmen's Bureau.

Their investigation found many problems. Often, there were no schools for black children in many towns. This was because the number of black children was counted incorrectly. State law said a town needed 15 children to start a school. In many towns, the school board would report a wrong number.

In other cases, school board members would take money meant for black schools. Sometimes, black schools were held in churches instead of proper school buildings. Also, there were not enough normal schools to train black teachers. Some school boards even refused to hire black teachers.

How the State Should Help Schools

During this convention, a bigger discussion happened in the Missouri legislature. This was about how much the state should be involved in education. Missouri State Senator Spaunhorst and other lawmakers argued that parents were responsible for education. They believed the state's job was only to provide money for schools.

This argument came up when the Missouri State House was considering a bill. This bill suggested that the state should decide what every Missouri school would teach. This bill would decide how much the state would be involved in starting schools and helping students learn.

This bill would have started to give black and white students a similar education. It would also have allowed federal laws about all U.S. schools to be passed. However, later, this bill would clash with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. That decision made the quality of education for black and white students even more different.