Article 3: Is Ruth Harris’ Third Principle, Communities as Learning Laboratories, Situated in Funds of Knowledge?

After the great fire of 1849 that destroyed over four hundred buildings along the riverfront in St. Louis, citizens rebounded with an approved 10 percent tax to support the nascent St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS). Property-owning free African Americans’ taxes contributed to the funding of the schools; yet, two years prior to the tax, the Missouri General Assembly’s ban on the education of African Americans prevented their children from receiving an education from the school district that benefitted from their taxes (Gersman 1972). In 1865, the Missouri General Assembly mandated schools educate all children. However, the proviso that districts segregate schools put the fate of the education of African Americans in the hands of all-white school board members. SLPS had no interest in integrating schools nor making African American schools comparable to those of white children. In response to the district’s neglect, the African American community engaged in school reform from within and outside of the educational system. Though all children in the United States should receive a free and appropriate public education, historically underserved communities of color, out of necessity, used their networks and ingenuity to ensure their children were beneficiaries of this policy.