Western Sentinel in Winston, North Carolina

Illiterate South and Education Aid Debate

A 19th century letter argues for federal aid to education, focusing on illiteracy in the South after the Civil War. It contends that national funds should supplement state efforts, not replace them, and warns that universal suffrage requires an educated electorate. The piece emphasizes the South’s poverty, war devastation, and need for funds to improve school systems for both races, urging the nation to respond.