Joseph Buckner Killebrew
Encyclopedia
Joseph Buckner Killebrew (1831-1906) was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee
near Clarksville
. When he was four years old, his mother died, and he was raised by a succession of relatives. As a young man he took charge of the family farm. He was opposed to the secession attitudes of his fellow southerners, and he searched for ways to improve the situation of his slaves as well as his farm.
During the American Civil War
, Killebrew knew that if slaves would be able to survive emancipation, they must be trained in business. Killebrew started by paying his slaves wages for their labor, and he began to teach his slaves the skills necessary to function as free men: reading, writing, and math.
Killebrew attended college and was deeply interested in education
, agriculture
, and geology
. In 1851, Killebrew entered Franklin College in middle Tennessee, but soon exhausted his funds. He accepted a position teaching mathematics at the Clarksville school of John D. Tyler. In 1853, a family friend offered to finance his college education at the institution of his choice. Killebrew chose the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, where he graduated second in his class in June 1857.
He was a progressive in the South during Reconstruction, realizing that his fellow Tennesseans needed to possess greater agriculture knowledge and skills if the South was to ever truly rebuild.
Killebrew realized that a new South could only truly arise from the foundation of an education system that sought to offer equal education to all of its citizens. He authored the education reform bill in Tennessee. This innovative law dared to make education available to rich and poor alike.
Montgomery County, Tennessee
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The county seat is Clarksville. The population was 172,331 at the 2010 census. It is one of the four counties included in the Clarksville, TN–KY Metropolitan Statistical Area....
near Clarksville
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
. When he was four years old, his mother died, and he was raised by a succession of relatives. As a young man he took charge of the family farm. He was opposed to the secession attitudes of his fellow southerners, and he searched for ways to improve the situation of his slaves as well as his farm.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Killebrew knew that if slaves would be able to survive emancipation, they must be trained in business. Killebrew started by paying his slaves wages for their labor, and he began to teach his slaves the skills necessary to function as free men: reading, writing, and math.
Killebrew attended college and was deeply interested in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. In 1851, Killebrew entered Franklin College in middle Tennessee, but soon exhausted his funds. He accepted a position teaching mathematics at the Clarksville school of John D. Tyler. In 1853, a family friend offered to finance his college education at the institution of his choice. Killebrew chose the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, where he graduated second in his class in June 1857.
He was a progressive in the South during Reconstruction, realizing that his fellow Tennesseans needed to possess greater agriculture knowledge and skills if the South was to ever truly rebuild.
Killebrew realized that a new South could only truly arise from the foundation of an education system that sought to offer equal education to all of its citizens. He authored the education reform bill in Tennessee. This innovative law dared to make education available to rich and poor alike.