Faithful, Firm and True

In Faithful, Firm, and True: African-American Education in the South, Titus Brown traces the dual roles of the northern American Missionary Association (AMA) and the African American community of Macon, Georgia in their joint effort to provide education to blacks in central Georgia. These education pioneers faced many formidable obstacles, including poverty, disease, white hostility, low funds, and a paucity of qualified teachers. Nevertheless, they were able to establish the Ballard Normal School which served the African-American community for almost 100 years, emphasizing such moral virtues as religion, patriotism, morality, and industriousness. These qualities mirrored those advocated by Booker T. Washington in his campaign for industrial education for blacks, but Ballard did not follow Washington's overall plan. Brown places this history of African-American education in Macon in the context of the national debate over what kind of education best served the black community, and what role blacks should play in the nation's social, political, and economic life. In doing so, Brown addresses the heated ideological conflict between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. Faithful, Firm, and True: African-American Education in the South provides a thorough analysis of the important contributions made by early champions of black education in central Georgia and the central role played by Ballard Normal School. It is essential reading for scholars of African-American history, education, and Georgia history.