Way Back Wednesday in Calhoun County---July 25-31

With school starting back in a few weeks, this week’s blog is going to be education centered. There has been a significant change in education since the early days of Benton (later Calhoun) County. The major difference is children were separated by gender. While there were advocates for “the education of females,” the curriculum at the female academies was vastly differently from the male academy curriculum. This was true of education throughout the United States well into the 20th Century.

The early settlers of Benton County saw the need to establish a female academy shortly after the county was established in 1832. The Ladies School of Jacksonville held its first meeting in May 1837. The Alabama State Legislature incorporated the Jacksonville Female Academy in June 1837. The original trustees were William Arnold, Charles Lewis, William B. Martin, C. A. Green, Jacob Forney, E. L. Woodward, John Pope, and Benjamin Hollingworth. The first teacher was Miss Thompson and by Fall 1838 term she was joined by the Fosters. Thompson and the Fosters developed a three-level curriculum with each level increasing in price. The first level consisted of English, “Mental Arithmetic,” and writing. The second-level curriculum included grammar, arithmetic, reading, writing, geography, history, and map reading. The final level of curriculum was geared to higher-level skills in the subjects of Ancient Geography, Poetic History, Algebra, Astronomy, Logic, Rhetoric/Elocution, Philosophy, and Composition. There were extra charges for classes in music, sewing, and other skills a proper young lady should know.

The Jacksonville Female Academy continued to operate with a variety of teachers through the years. The school lasted until around 1883 when the Normal School began operation. The Jacksonville Female Academy was sanctioned by the state legislature but that did not mean all “Female Academies” during the early years were state-approved.

In 1843, the town of Alexandria announced the local Male and Female Academy would begin in January 1844 with boarding options in close proximity but not on school grounds. Mrs. E. L. Dickerson announced she planned to open a school for female education north of Jacksonville at the former home of Ben Hollingsworth in 1849. Mrs. Dickerson’s curriculum leaned heavily toward the arts: Piano Forte, Spanish Guitar, painting, needlework, wax work, and French. The school, unlike many other education establishments of the day, planned to board students on-site. These two academies were mention one in the local newspaper so it is not known if the education ventures were successful.

The City of Oxford opened a Female Academy in 1850 with Miss Jane Brooks as the administrator. The classes included piano and needlework. By 1858, the curriculum had expanded to include many of the same intellectual courses that the Jacksonville Female Academy offered. Reading, writing, philosophy, botany, geology, history, and various languages were subjects that were considered appropriate for women in the 19th Century.

Once Anniston opened to the public in 1883, several women’s institutes appeared; however, most were short-lived. The Noble Institute for Girls opened in 1886 under the direction of the Episcopal Church. The school, adjacent to Grace Church, was a boarding school that offered educational opportunities to young women from grammar school through college. The boarding school closed in 1914 and the day school in 1922. Barber Memorial Seminary, a private school for African-American women, opened in 1896 with a curriculum consisting of religion, domestic art, and household science. Declining enrollment forced the school to close in 1942. The Anniston Inn closed in the 1890s but found new life as a home to several short-lived schools for young women until 1906 when the last boarding school operating there closed.

The young women in the 19th and early 20th Century faced a much different education world than their modern counterparts. The female school curriculum was vastly different than what young men in the time were studying. What did the male academies curriculum offer….that is for another time.

To learn more about the history of Calhoun County pick up a copy of Images of America: Calhoun County (ISBN 978-0738589985), Anniston (ISBN 978-0738506012), or Anniston Revisited (ISBN 978-1467114752) by Kimberly O’Dell.