Daniel Alexander Payne: Classroom Lesson

Lesson at a Glance

Grades: Grades 6–12
Time: One class period (20–40 minutes)
Standards: NCSS Themes 2 (Time, Continuity, and Change) and 5 (Individuals, Groups, and Institutions); C3 D2.His.6, D2.His.10
Reading: Daniel Alexander Payne (profile)

Big Idea

Payne believed that freedom required education, and he spent his life building schools — even after South Carolina made keeping them a crime.

Before Class

Students read the profile of Daniel Alexander Payne, including the Key Dates and Sources.

Discussion Questions

South Carolina’s 1834 law forced Payne to close his Charleston school. Why did a slaveholding state fear the education of Black people, enslaved and free?
Why did some AME ministers resist Payne’s call for an educated clergy? What arguments might each side have made?
In 1863 Payne committed the church to buy Wilberforce before it had the money. Was that a reckless decision or a visionary one?
What difference did it make that Wilberforce was owned and operated by African Americans?

Activity

Students read the passages of Payne’s Recollections of Seventy Years on Documenting the American South in which he describes the closing of his Charleston school in 1835. They annotate the text for Payne’s feelings, his reasoning, and the decision he made. Pairs then compare his account with the profile’s summary and discuss how an autobiography written more than fifty years after the events can be both valuable and limited as evidence.

Primary Sources

Cite this page

MLA: “Classroom lesson: Daniel Alexander Payne.” Black-History.com, 30 Sept. 2026, https://black-history.com/classroom/daniel-alexander-payne/.
APA: Black-History.com Editors. (2026, September 30). Classroom lesson: Daniel Alexander Payne. Black-History.com. https://black-history.com/classroom/daniel-alexander-payne/
Chicago: Black-History.com Editors. “Classroom lesson: Daniel Alexander Payne.” Black-History.com. September 30, 2026. https://black-history.com/classroom/daniel-alexander-payne/.

Editorial Note

By the Black-History.com editors. Last reviewed 30 September 2026. To suggest a primary source or a correction, write to editors@black-history.com or use our corrections form.