Teachers spent little time on the study of history, and the time that was spent covered only the history of white Americans. For example, students were taught about the Mayflower, but not about the Middle Passage. During desegregation black history in the public school curriculum virtually disappeared. Even today, unless an individual teacher initiates the integration of black history into the curriculum, students only study it during the month of February (Black History Month).

Blacks in Charleston long displayed an interest in education. During the antebellum period, free blacks established schools, and some even sent their children North to further their education. Urban life provided many informal means for slaves to acquire a basic knowledge of reading and writing, and some managed to attend clandestine schools. As Bernard Powers Jr. states in his book Black Charlestonians: "In general, public opinion and the legal system completely opposed introducing slaves to even the most rudimentary forms of education."

The outcome of the Civil War ended these proscriptions, and Reconstruction brought about the expansion of Charleston’s educational facilities. By the late 1860s, the activities of the Freedman’s Bureau, freedman’s aid societies, and black community leaders resulted in additional private and, for the first time, publicly financed schools for blacks in Charleston.

When Charleston’s schools reopened following the Civil War on March 4, 1865, James Redpath, the superintendent of public schools, convened the Morris Street School, which had a large number of black children in attendance. While administrators made no effort to mix the races in the classroom, the children joined together freely on the playground.

Blacks also received education at several private schools, including Shaw Memorial School, which was founded shortly after the Civil War and Avery Institute, which Francis L. Cardozo organized in 1865.

Black churches also promoted freedmen’s education. In 1865, Reverend Jonathan C. Gibbs organized Wallingford Academy at Zion Presbyterian Church. Black Baptists, the African Methodists, and the Methodist Episcopal Church also maintained freedmen’s schools. These Sabbath schools usually provided instruction in both academic and religious subjects and represented an important source of community pride and educational autonomy.

In 1868, the new South Carolina state constitution declared attendance of children at either public or private schools mandatory. Additionally, all colleges and university’s receiving state monies had to open their doors to all "without regard to race, color, or previous condition."

In Charleston, whites and blacks alike felt that integration would cause more trouble than good. As a result, most black students attended segregated schools. A school’s racial diversity meant little to blacks in comparison to the academic excellence of the school. "Education provided a means to reject a painful past while taking advantage of the new opportunities created by freedom."

Blacks migrated to Mississippi because it offered the opportunity of economic betterment. Jobs in Mississippi paid better than those at home. In Mississippi, employers saw an educated black man not as an asset, but as a ruined worker. An educated African-American could no longer perform well out in the field. He no longer felt satisfied with manual labor. He aspired to greater things. All educational policy in Mississippi became influenced by this economically-driven, racist theory.

The schools in Mississippi proved inadequate from the beginning. Teachers in the Delta region, white and black, often received poor training, as the school board saw no reason to employ certified teachers. Their salaries measured far below state average. Understaffed schools overflowed with students. A common complaint across the Delta concerned the refusal of white officials to open the black schools until the cotton harvest seemed substantially complete. The black students then, due largely to harvest, received significantly less education than their white counterparts.

Few opportunities presented themselves in the Delta to educated blacks. The region could not support multiple professionals. Where an urban community like Charleston, South Carolina could support many black doctors, a small community like Mound Bayou, Mississippi could only support one or two.