Teacher and Students at Whittier Primary School in Hampton, Virginia, ca. 1899

Description 

#2 Occupation: Teacher
By 1900, more and more kids in Iowa were going to school. In rural places, a one room school had many grades learning together with one teacher. In urban places, such as in this photo, a teacher had a class of students who were all in the same grade level. Teachers covered reading, writing and arithmetic and sometimes geography, needlepoint or Bible lessons. In rural areas, kids were not required by law to attend school until 1902, and many kids stayed home to help with work on the farm. This photograph shows African-American children learning about Thanksgiving in their classroom at Whittier Primary School in Hampton, Virginia.