As slavery ended, Black Georgians developed unique solutions to the many problems they faced in attaining literacy and other educational goals. In terms of some of their earlier efforts, we describe a pattern in which local Black communities in Georgia sought to create and fund their own schools at primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. In certain cases, Black Georgians even managed to maintain autonomy from Northern and Southern Whites as they developed schools and trained Black teachers. Further, we contend that the end of Reconstruction derailed many of these efforts to create independent, Black-controlled spaces in the sphere of education. Indeed, despite the successes of these earlier efforts, the model of community-controlled and autonomous schools has been eclipsed in favor of efforts to integrate and include Blacks into mainstream American society. Finally, we conclude that the educational model and praxis developed by Black Georgians during Reconstruction described here has implications for possible solutions to present day problems.