Before the Civil War, black education was illegal in every slave state, including Missouri. Enslaved people were most often prohibited from education by their enslavers, and in 1847 the state formally passed a law prohibiting all African Americans from leaning to read or write, forcing them into generations of illiteracy. Fines and jail time were used as a deterrent for African Americans seeking an education––including anyone who taught them. In spite of this, many African Americans still found ways to learn. Some found legal loopholes, like John Berry Meachum, who operated a black school called the Floating Freedom School on a Mississippi River boat to avoid St. Louis laws banning black education within the city limits. Others began to gain literacy skills during the Civil War, including many black soldiers who learned to read during their training.
Emancipation and the 14th Amendment did not explicitly grant black citizens the right to an education, but the federal government began opening black schools in former Confederate states. Reconstruction brought about a demand for black education from African Americans hoping to find employment and self-sufficiency. Missouri’s 1865 constitution made it legal for African Americans to receive an education but stipulated that all schools were to be segregated, creating a need for black institutions.
Dozens of black schools opened in Missouri by 1870. The Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City was founded a year after the Civil War ended, becoming the first black university in Missouri. The school was founded by soldiers from the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantry wanting to provide African Americans with the means of creating independent lives for themselves. The soldiers had only learned to read and write after enlisting in the Union Army and recognized the freedom it provided them with. The Lincoln Institute taught students literacy alongside industrial training that would prepare them for employment.
One African American Missourian who received an education before the Civil War was James Milton Turner. Turner was born into slavery in St. Louis before his father bought their family’s freedom. Turner briefly attended Oberlin College in Ohio, which was one of the first colleges open to any race or gender in the country. When he returned to St. Louis, he finished his education at John Berry Meachum’s Floating Freedom School. During the Reconstruction era Turner was appointed assistant superintendent of schools in Missouri. He helped establish thirty-two black schools, including the Lincoln Institute. In 1868, Turner became principal of the Lincoln School in Kansas City, which still operates today as Lincoln College Preparatory Academy.
