Final answer:
High illiteracy rates among African Americans at the end of the Civil War were due to deliberate suppression of literacy during slavery, limited educational opportunities, socioeconomic factors, and institutional racism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Factors Contributing to High Illiteracy Rates Among African Americans Post-Civil War
At the end of the Civil War in 1865, high illiteracy rates among African Americans were largely due to systemic barriers. During slavery, literacy was suppressed deliberately as a means of control, with reading and writing often being acts of defiance. Even after the war, formal education opportunities were limited for African Americans due to socioeconomic factors and institutional racism, such as the implementation of Jim Crow laws.
Additionally, poor health among African Americans affected by diseases post-war compounded the difficulty of accessing education, thereby hindering literacy development. The few efforts to tackle illiteracy, such as schools run by churches and benevolent societies, were overwhelmed by the widespread need for education across a mostly agrarian and rural Southern society, with the majority of former slaves working as sharecroppers under oppressive conditions.
Religion played a complex role in the education of enslaved people before the war, sometimes being used by slave owners to both encourage limited scripture reading for obedience while broadly prohibiting literacy. Post-war, the African American pursuit of literacy was also a quest for emancipation and citizenship. However, significant socioeconomic barriers remained, and these were compounded by health issues and legal strategies, like the grandfather clause, designed to maintain white supremacy and marginalize African Americans.
For African Americans post-Civil War, literacy was synonymous with freedom, self-determination, and the necessary tool for integration into American society. Yet, the harsh realities of institutional racism and the socioeconomic challenges following emancipation significantly impeded progress towards a literate and empowered African American community.