What forms of knowledge are deemed worth possessing in any period and who is allowed access to them are crucial questions for the historian of education. Science, now a core subject of study, has long been seen as "masculine", especially at its highest levels, although the historical reasons for this have been somewhat neglected in education. This…

Explores letters written by free children of color during the nineteenth century in Louisiana (United States) as a means to understand their political education, the reasons and motivations behind their use of their imaginations to envision the Atlantic world, and how they developed an understanding of race, nation, and citizenship. (CMK)