ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book engages work by recent Marxist theorists, turn of the century educators, and present-day literary theorists who write about the canonization of African-American literature. It traces the contradiction of public schooling for black Americans: the instrument of radical social change, administered by the State. The book argues that modes of teaching and learning align and direct these communities of women, whether it is because school brought the women together or because friendships take on a quality of intimate, mutual mentorship. It sketches a relationship between current philosophies, practices, and discourses of education and those of the 1890s, especially as both genres engage notions of progress or "uplift". The book examines the domain and the mandate of theorizations of education and pedagogy and ultimately suggests ways that this literary history might help to enhance current feminist and anti-racist pedagogies.
