Education has been highly valued in the African American community. Despite the fact that adult education in particular looms large in the history of African American education, little mention is made of it in most standard histories of American or adult education. Part I highlights adult education efforts in antebellum society. L. H. Whiteaker focuses on the education of those slaves trained as skilled craftsmen and those who taught themselves to read and write. Elizabeth L. Ihle describes the efforts of nineteenth-century African Americans to improve their education. The Civil War and...