Historical Profile: Horace Mann


Boston, MA. Horace Mann (May 4, 1796 – August 2, 1859) was born in Franklin, Massachusetts.  Mann was a well-known advocate for education in the United States.  In 1819, Mann graduated from Brown University where he was the school valedictorian.  Mann served as a Massachusetts state representative from 1827 – 1837. 

After serving as a state representative, Mann served as the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education.  He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1848 – 1853. 

Historian Ellwood P. Cubberly said of Horace Mann: “No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.”

Mann was also known as the “Father of the Common School Movement.”

The Antioch College school motto is a quote from Mann which states: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

In 1940, a U.S. postal stamp was issued to commemorate the life and work of Horace Mann. 

Statue of Horace Mann in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

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