During the late 1800s, education for African American children was practically nonexistent in the south.After the withdrawal of federal troops in 1876 from the region, life for African Americans returned to pre-civil status.Jim Crow laws were instituted;the Ku Klux Klan emerged as the violent enforcer of oppression;African American children were indentured to their former slave owners.Education became a distant dream. Explore in this book how African Americans created a system to educate their children.Learn about the forces that converged to create a network of private rural educational social settlements.Read about the controversy between Booker T. Washington and DuBois. This is a heart wrenching journey traveled by two women, Principals in the rural areas of Alabama.Learn about the shadow role of northern industrialists, the "robber barons" in molding and financing educational systems to suit their needs. Read about little known efforts by sharecroppers to improve their lives.If you are a social worker, sociologist, historian, history buff, policy analyst, policy wonk or interested in the history of the women's movement, you will want to read this book.