Sea-island School for Newly Freed African Americans, No. 1,--St. Helena Island.

Established in April 1862.

The Struggle for Public Schools

O

f all the ideas advanced by pre-Civil War reformers, none was more radical than the principle that all American children, regardless of social class, should be educated to their fullest capacity at public expense. Educational reformers left our nation with a lasting legacy: a faith that schools provide the best solution to our nation’s problems.