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MAIN CURRENTS IN THE EDUCATIONAL CRISIS AFFECTING AFRO-AMERICANS 

HORACE MANN BOND

CERTAIN NECESSITIES essential to an understanding of the education of the population called, in this article, "Afro-Americans," are frequently neglected when a historical interpretation is attempted. It should be remembered that at no time during the long history of this people on this continent has there been unanimity of self designation among them. Up until about 1831, the favorite choice by the people was to call them "Africans." In Philadelphia, for example, these people called themselves "Africans," and there they first organized the "African Society," out of which grew the first "African Methodist Episcopal Church," and, later, an "African Presbyterian Church," and an "African Baptist Church." Their first schools in Philadelphia, in New York, and in Baltimore, were "African" schools. The first fraternal societies-Masonic-were "African" Lodges in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia. There was even the pioneer "African Theatre" established in New York in 1819. 
  In 1831, the wealthy Philadelphia sail-maker, James Forten, called the first National Convention of Colored men held in the United States. This designation marked the beginning of a rejection of the African designation. A variety of reasons was responsible. Thousands of refugees from the disorders accompanying the Haitian revolutions had fled to the United States; these were principally mulattoes, who at home had been among the privileged "hommes et femmes du couleur," and under Rigaud and Petion, had even fought in organized armies against the revolting black slaves led by Christophe. The American Colonization Society, aiming at the transportation of 
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Dr. Horace Mann Bond, the "Dean" among Afro-American educators, is now with the Bureau of Educational and Social Research, Atlanta University. 

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