ABSTRACT
This chapter provides examples of Romantic pedagogies and shows how some of the works of the prolific author and antislavery activist Lydia Maria Child can be understood as reinforcing Romantic educational ideals, and discusses the vexed relationship between race and Romantic pedagogies in Child's works. It focuses particularly on the arc of her career from her early role as editor and contributor to the Juvenile Miscellany and what could be considered the culmination of these labors, The Freedmen's Book, an educational primer for newly liberated slaves and their brethren. The chapter explores the comparison that reveals the extent to which Child's book is informed by Romantic conceptions of childhood and pedagogy, notions that are radically at odds with the American Tract Society (ATS) series. Unlike the ATS's emphasis on commandments as a foundation for obedience, Child's essay on education of children in The Freedmen's Book is rooted in Romantic pedagogies that teach obedience through affective bonds and practice of empathy.
