- Confederate
Textbooks
"History. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools." - -Ambrose Bierce (18421914), U.S. author and printer. The Devil's Dictionaryf it is in print, it must be true.
It is said that the victor writes the history books. The glorious armies become the villains in defeat. Governments and societies have always used the use of textbooks as methods of propaganda and indoctrination. The control of textbook publishing largely controls the future of public opinion. The printer and publisher are drawn into this struggle even today.
The American Civil War forced two opinions on the rights of states and slavery. Textbooks of the pre-war era were mostly published in the industrial North. Abolitionist and union sentiment was being published in the books offensive to some Southern educators. With the outbreak of hostilities, the importation of any books became difficult and the need for new texts had to be met. The thought of republishing these texts was rejected.
In 1862 and 1863, Conventions of Teachers of the Confederate States met to address the textbook problem.
In a major act they resolved to find " . . . the best means for supplying the necessary text-books for schools and colleges, and for uniting their efforts for the advancement of education in the Confederacy . . .." This was no small effort under the war time blockade in a country that imported most of its paper, ink, and type.
One example of the results of this effort was books printed in Raleigh, NC by Branson, Farrar & Co. around 1863. The author of a series of children's books was Marinda Branson Moore. Some of her titles were The Geographical Reader for the Dixie Children, The Dixie Primer, and The First Dixie Reader.- The shortages of war sometimes delayed production.
Homemade ink and poor quality paper were often used.
Engraved plates had to be imported from England and run
the blockade off the Carolina coast. For some newspapers,
wallpaper was used to get the news out. Cotton that had
been damaged by Union troops was sometimes diverted for
papermaking. The roughness of the raw fibers made a very
poor paper.
In the first Dixie Reader Miss Moore wrote. "This little volume is intended . . . to accompany a Speller, which will be brought out as early as circumstances will permit. At no distant period we hope to complete the series of Readers. The author hopes the book will recommend itself to Educators in the Southern Confederacy."
The books appealed to morality, honor, and duty. The text consists largely of a series dogmatic stories regarding creation, justification of slavery, and heavenly rewards. The societal roles of men, women, children and slaves were spelled out by example.
In the Geographical Reader a description of the student's own country and people is given. " The Southern people are noted for being high minded and courteous. A stranger seldom lacks friends in this country. Much of the fieldwork is done by slaves. These are generally well used and often have as much pocket money as their mistresses. They are contented and happy, and many of them are Christians. The sin of the South lies not in holding slaves, but they are sometimes mistreated. Let all the little boys and girls remember that slaves are human, and that God will hold them to account for treating them with injustice. The Southern Confederacy is at present a sad county; but President Davis is a good and wise man, and many of the generals and other officers in the army, are pious. Then there are many good praying people in the land; so we may hope that our cause will prosper."
A description of the enemy, the United States, early in the war, is charitable to an extent. "This country possesses many ships, has fine cities and towns, many railroads, steamboats, canals, manufactures, &c. The people are ingenious, and enterprising, and are noted for their tact in "driving a bargain." They are refined, and intelligent on all subjects but that of Negro slavery, on this they are mad." Books written by Miss Moore later in the war showed less restraint and referred to the United States as "that Hellish Yankee nation." - In a Confederate version of "Dick and Jane" we are
introduced to the slave, Old Aunt Ann. "Here comes old
Aunt Ann. She is quite old. See how she leans on her
stick. When she was young she did good work, but now she
can not work much. But she is not like a poor white
wo-man. Aunt Ann knows that her young Miss, as she calls
her, will take care of her as long as she lives. Ma-ny
poor white folks would be glad to live in her house and
eat what Miss Kate sends out for her din-ner."
Another account tells of Uncle Ned who "loved his master well." Ned was taken by the "Yankee army," but escaped and returned. His explanation of his return, was written in offensive dialect and used unprintable names. Ned appeals to his fellow slaves to stay with their masters. "Ned lib wid you all his life . . . and let dem Yan-kees do der own work." One wonders what objective Miss Moore had in this lesson for teaching little white children.
Miss Moore gives a telling lesson in describing the state of South Carolina. "It is often called the 'Palmetto State.' This was the first to secede. Many persons blamed the South Carolinians for leaving the Union too soon; but it may have been best; it is impossible for us to decide. The war would have come, sooner or later. God usually punishes wicked nations by war. I mean by this that when people become too wicked, he gives them over to a hardness of heart to work out their own punishment and sometimes destruction."
Information for this column came in part from Documenting the American South project and webpage http://metalab.unc.edu/docsouth/ . This site brings printed Southern history and culture to anyone with Web access. Sponsored by the Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it provides digitized and encoded printed works, manuscripts and artifacts on the South from the colonial period through the first decades of the twentieth century. Many documents are in full text with illustrations, covers, and title pages.
Copyright (C) 1999 by Frank Granger
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