ABSTRACT
The ultimate fate of most European immigrant communities, of course, is well known. The descendants of the Irish and other such groups eventually came into the American mainstream, and schooling played a role in their assimilation. Historians suggest that gender roles were shifting significantly in the later 19th century. This era witnessed an early women’s rights movement, when leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton became renowned and also controversial. Much attention has focused on this group of women, especially their campaigns for women’s suffrage (voting rights). Education has long been a major theme in African American culture. Dating from the early 19th century, Black leaders emphasized the significance of schools as instruments of social uplift. Even in slavery, when most were denied all forms of formal education, enterprising African Americans made valiant efforts to acquire literacy and other skills. Blacks recognized that lack of education was a mark of inferiority, serving to legitimize their servile status.
