Z 1865.000
STEVENSON (ANNA M. KEEN) PAPERS
1868 - 1869
Biography/History:
Prior to 1870 there was no statewide public education system in Mississippi.
However, there were a number of places in the state where black children
were taught in one-room schoolhouses. Many of these children were educated
by white missionaries or teachers from the North, because few freedmen
were qualified to teach and even fewer whites from the South were willing
to teach freedmen. Anna M. Keen was a white woman from the North who taught
at a school for black children in Brookhaven, Mississippi, prior to August
of 1868. Keen worked with Frank Strong, a former Union soldier, who also
taught at the same school. One of Keen's former students, Olive Woodard,
taught some of Keen's classes after she moved to Fulton, Wisconsin. Keen
later married John Ogilvie Stevenson, a teacher whom she met while living
in Brookhaven.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains two letters received by teacher Anna M. Keen of
Fulton, Wisconsin. The first letter, dated August 10, 1868, was written
by teacher Frank Strong of Brookhaven. In Strong's letter
he recounted his career as a Union soldier; expressed his gratitude for
Keen's sympathy for the plight of soldiers; revealed his disappointment
that Keen would not be returning to Brookhaven; and described the new schoolhouse
where he was now working. He also included a pen-and-ink sketch of a young,
black student named Patsey. The second letter, dated September 10, 1869,
was written by former student Olive Woodard of Brookhaven.
In Woodard's letter she mentioned that she was currently unable to afford
to have a photograph made of herself to send to Keen; reflected on the
day Keen left the school to return to the North; and described such daily
activities as teaching, homework, bible-reading, knitting, and sewing.
Also included in the collection is a lock of Woodard's hair sent to Keen
as a keepsake.
