Page "Tensas Parish, Louisiana" Paragraph 10

Toward the end of the war, schools were established for African American children in northeastern Louisiana, including Tensas and Concordia parishes, some through the sponsorship of the American Missionary Association.

According to the historian John D. Winters of Louisiana Tech University, the students " ranged in age from four to forty, were poorly clothed, loved to fight, and were ' extremely filthy, their hair filled with vermin.

' Religious instruction, with readings from the Bible and prayers, was emphasizsed while reading from primers and studying spelling and writing rounded out the course work.

The program stressed ' a maximum of memory and a minimum of reasoning.

' The schools sponsored by the Christians societies were gradually taken over by a board of education and supported by special property and crop taxes.

These schools operated primarily along the Mississippi and few, if any, were established in the interior Louisiana.