School report for January 1, 1867., second section

This is the second section of a January 1, 1867, report on the schools being run by the Freedmen's Bureau in Virginia under the direction of Ralza Morse Manly, the state's superintendent of education. Manly states that 99 schools out of the existing 192 were graded, from first to tenth grades. Freedmen were eager for education at every age, and, as a group, they paid $618.17 for the month's tuition; in comparison, the Freedmen's Bureau paid $271.05 for the month's educational expenses.

Manly also notes that a number of schools were not fully reported on, including some day and night schools, some industrial schools, and some schools set aside specifically for poor white orphans of Confederate soldiers and "refugee white children." In his longer narrative report, Manly described a school in Richmond that educated these white children—and even young white laborers—who were "mainly from families of industrious mechanics formerly from the north" who remained loyal to the federal government during the war.

Citation: Third Semi-Annual Report on Schools for Freedmen. LC2801 .A2. Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA