Port Royal Experiment facts for kids

The Port Royal Experiment was a special program that started during the American Civil War. It helped formerly enslaved people work on land that their previous owners had left behind. In 1861, the Union army captured the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina, including the main harbor of Port Royal.

When the white residents fled, they left behind about 10,000 enslaved Black people. Many private groups from the North stepped in to help these people become independent. This experiment showed how Reconstruction could have worked. The African Americans proved they could farm well and live without white control. They set their own daily tasks for growing cotton. They also used their extra time to grow their own food, fish, and hunt. By selling their extra crops, they even started to buy small pieces of land.

Among the teachers who came from the North were Mary Lambert Allen and her husband William Francis Allen. He wrote diaries describing their daily life. His writings showed how much he admired the hard work of the formerly enslaved people. He also wrote about their urgent need for basic education, which they had been denied. Allen also wrote down the language, songs, and music he heard. In 1862, General Ormsby M. Mitchel helped African Americans create the town of Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island. However, in 1865, President Andrew Johnson ended the experiment. He returned the land to its former white owners.

In February 1862, a report was sent to the Treasury Department. It showed how much land was part of the Port Royal Experiment. Many islands were protected by the United States forces. For example, Port Royal had 65 plantations, and St. Helena had 50. In total, about 200 plantations were part of the experiment. This report helped plan how to manage the area.

In the summer of 1862, Union soldiers protecting these coastal areas had to leave. They went to help General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign. This was a series of battles between March and July. Because of this, many of the settlements were combined. For instance, people from Edisto Island moved to St. Helena Island.

Learning and Education

A special education group was created by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. E. L. Pierce was the government agent in charge of the experiment. This group looked for teachers who would not only educate the formerly enslaved people. They also helped them learn how to live independently in society. Teachers were also responsible for teaching about thinking, good behavior, and religion.

The Boston Educational Commission for Freedmen was started after E.L. Pierce asked for help. It was a charity group. Around the same time, the Port Royal Relief Committee of Philadelphia was formed. A New York group joined with the Boston groups to help and educate the formerly enslaved people. Many more relief groups were started across the country. Hundreds of teachers were sent to different parts of the South.

Around March 14, 1862, more than 150 people applied for special positions with the education commission. Thirty-five candidates were chosen at first. One of them was a well-known educator from Ohio, John Celivergos Zachos. Salmon P. Chase knew Zachos from his time as a senator and governor of Ohio.

Zachos wrote a book called The Phonic Primer and Reader. This book was made to teach the newly freed enslaved people. Zachos and Susan Walker traveled to Port Royal from Ohio. The Boston and New York Education Commissions sent Zachos to show that formerly enslaved people could be educated. On March 13, 1862, Zachos was on Parris Island. He was in charge of 400 freed people on a plantation. He stayed on Parris Island for 16 months. During that time, he worked as an army surgeon, teacher, and storekeeper. He also managed a military fort under General Rufus Saxton.

Zachos tried to teach the formerly enslaved people and studied how well they learned. He found that older people had a harder time learning. This was because of the years of mental abuse and harsh treatment they had suffered. Zachos noticed it was easier to teach the younger people. Near the end of 1863, Zachos went back to Boston. In early 1864, he gathered a group of uneducated Irish and German immigrants. These people, both men and women, did not speak or read English.

Zachos created a teaching plan based on what the formerly enslaved people needed and how they learned. At first, he didn't have a book. So, he used charts and a chalkboard. The students had to wait until March 1864 to get their first book. It had a very long title: The Phonic Primer and Reader, A National Method of teaching Reading by the Sounds of the Letters without altering the Orthography. Designed Chiefly for the Use of Night-Schools Where Adults are Taught, and for the Myriads of Freed Men and Women, Whose First Rush from the Prison-House of Slavery is to the Gates of the Temple of Knowledge.

The experiment showed that the teaching method Zachos created at Port Royal worked well for adults. It was a simple way to teach English reading using the sounds of letters. This research was shared with the Boston and New York Education Commissions. It was also published in the Journal of The Massachusetts Teachers Association. That same year, an official book was published to teach formerly enslaved adults. This book was called Phonic Primer and Reader. This is how the name "Port Royal Experiment" became well-known. After his work, Salmon P. Chase gave Zachos a very strong recommendation.

The Port Royal Experiment led to a huge demand for education for freed enslaved people. Many organizations were created and continued to teach these people. On March 3, 1865, about two months before the Civil War ended, the Freedmen's Bureau was established. In the next five years, it opened 4,239 schools. It hired 9,307 teachers and taught 247,333 students. The bureau was also in charge of higher education for African Americans. In some places, white people in the South were against this education. In one state, this opposition was very organized. However, many former slave owners reportedly helped set up schools for the formerly enslaved people and became their teachers.

On May 16, 1866, a meeting was held in Cleveland, Ohio. There, the American Freedman's Union Commission was formed. The Boston Educational Commission became the New England Branch. The New York National Freedmen's Relief Association became the New York Branch. Many other charity groups also joined different branches of this commission. Their goal was to spread education for African Americans.

Images for kids

• 

  Map of early African American involvement in the Civil War, including the Port Royal Experiment