This is a retrospective on education in the country taken from the cauldron of emancipation. The words of history are allowed to flow in unadulterated fashion. I intend in a follow-up piece to offer some reflection on the challenges and difficulties that history has presented us in education.
First, I focus here on Foreign Secretary George Canningâs speech in the British parliament in 1824, on the churchâs role in amelioration of slavery in our country, and next, on Joseph Latrobeâs 1839 report on the state of education in the country at emancipation.
On March 16, 1824, the House of Commons in the British parliament convened to discuss âAmelioration of the condition of the slave population in the West Indiesâ. Emancipation was in the air, and âameliorationâ had to do with preparing the slave population for freedom.