(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.

label levels:

Founded in 1846 to assist freed slaves, the American Missionary Association sent many Northerners to the South to educate "Freedmen" following the Civil War. This circular is to recruit teachers and describes the qualifications and behavior expected of the applicants. This document provides an important insight into social values among the religious in the Victorian era. Overall, the AMA was looking for hard-working disciplinarians committed to service for God and teaching experience. The group sees the education of former slaves as "great work of Southern REGENERATION." While the AMA recruited both men and women, as was common of the time, this circular reports that men will be paid $100 a year more than women teachers.

top of page