Culturally+Diverse

While access to formal education improved dramatically for most of the population of the United States during this time. Native and African Americans were not allowed access to most public schools and institutions of higher learning. Following the Civil War, African-Americans were at least allowed to learn how to read and write. However, segregation laws, whereby the African-American population was not allowed to share facilities that were used by the Caucasian population, were used to frustrate the development and growth of learning for this group. African-Americans were not given adequate funds to staff or build their schools and as a result were relegated to sub-standard and overcrowded facilities. Even in the northern United States, segregation was still the rule rather than the exception. Most institutions of higher learning did not accept African-Americans. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was one of the first African-Americans to attend an institution of higher learning in the United States. He had to endure incredible hardships to complete his education and vowed to make the acquisition of such easier for the next generation. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in rural Alabama that was a technical and vocational school for African Americans. Washington believed education was the means to which the races the races could learn to live together in harmony.
 * Educating the Culturally Diverse **
 * //Hear me, four quarters of the world - a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.// -Black Elk (1863-1950), Oglala Sioux holy man ||