Abstract:
This article looks at ordained Congregational minister, Samuel Stanford Ashley of Massachusetts and his positive influence on the educational system of North Carolina during his residence there on behalf of the American Missionary Association (AMA) between 1865 and 1871. While there he established numerous schools and an orphanage and worked to include in the state's new constitution the guarantee of a public school education for blacks, women, and the disabled. He also championed freedmen's rights and the concept of equality before the law.