In using the autobiographies of African-Americans as a heuristic, educators are provided with a context to view African-American educational history. The autobiographies of African-Americans tell stories of triumph over adversity as also revealed in Melba Beals' autobiography, "Warriors Don't Cry," a recount of the struggle to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1950s. African-American autobiography's appeal is found in "their political awareness, their empathy for suffering, their ability to break down the division of "I" and "you", their knowledge of oppression and discovery of ways to cope with that experience, and their sense of shared life, shared triumph, and communal responsibility" (Butterfield 1974, 3). The potential and power for educational success lies within the culture of the family. Education is one way that African-Americans sustain their historical and contemporary values, beliefs and traditions. In this article, the author discusses the use of autobiography as a means to study the cultural foundations of twentieth century African-American education. The author stresses that a critical examination of the African-American autobiographies reveals a central issue, that is, to determine the extent to which the narratives render a common portrayal of the cultural foundations of African-American education.