This paper examines the origins of the entrance of black and white Southern women into the teaching profession after the Civil War focusing on their social, familial, and racial origins; marital and childbearing status; educational preparation; and how their lives converged or diverged due to the positions they occupied in their communities as members of a racially divided society. The paper cites two types of data: a random sample of teachers from the federal census of 1860, 1880, 1900, and 1910, and a wide variety of qualitative documents including diaries, letters, reminiscences, school reports, newspapers, and contemporary articles. Section 1 reviews the social, economic, and political changes that occurred between 1860 and 1910. Section 2 discusses Reconstruction and how a native Southern teaching force arose during this period. Section 3 explores whether teaching constituted downward mobility or upward opportunity for white women and describes how some teachers came from the "upper" classes and others from the "middling ranks." Section 4 considers black women and their entrance into teaching after the Civil War noting the presence of a high number of women of mixed racial background, and the importance of black teachers' commitment to racial uplift. Section 5 reflects on the findings' implications for Southern educational history. (Contains 52 references.) (JB)