Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: Undergraduate 300 Level, The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, course: African American literature, language: English, abstract: If history has taught us one lesson, it is that knowledge is a powerful tool. Leaders have successfully guided countries into genocide by censoring educational materials. The power of knowledge has also been used in many positive ways, such as catalyzing the progress of the African American Civil Rights Movement. This essay uses African American prose to prove that education played an integral role in the struggle for racial equality.