Mary Peake was an American teacher who is best known for her work with the Freedmen's Bureau.  Peake's work was instrumental in helping former slaves gain an education. She believed that education was the key to success for former slaves, and she worked tirelessly to provide them with the tools they needed to succeed in life.

Frances Harper was an American poet, abolitionist, and women's rights activist. She was a teacher in the Freedmen's schools during the Reconstruction era. Harper's work focused on the plight of African Americans, both before and after the Civil War. She wrote poems, essays, and speeches that advocated for civil rights and equality. In her work as a teacher, Harper helped to educate freed slaves and to prepare them for citizenship.

Charlotte Forten was an African-American teacher who taught in the Freedmen's schools in the South during the Reconstruction era. She was a passionate advocate for education and believed that education was the key to improving the lives of African Americans. her work as a teacher and her contributions to the Freedmen's schools left a lasting legacy.

When the Freedmen's Bureau ended in 1872, the schools it had established were turned over to the states. In most cases, the state governments were not interested in providing funding for the schools, and as a result, they fell into disrepair or were closed. In some cases, private organizations took over the schools, but they often lacked the resources to provide a quality education. As a result, the quality of education for African Americans declined in the late 1870s and 1880s.

In the 1890s, a number of southern states passed laws that segregated schools. These laws required that African American children attend separate schools from white children. The quality of education in these schools was often very poor, and they were often underfunded. As a result, African American children received a much lower quality of education than white children.