In 1835 the first American Board missionaries arrived in South Africa and a mission station was built at Amanzimtoti. Adams College, then known as Amanzimtoti Institute was established in 1853 by the American Board with the expressed ingestion of opening up a school on the mission station originally founded by Dr Newton Adams. Adams College consisted of a number of institutions; a high school, a teacher training college and an industrial school. It was one of the first African schools to introduce co-education, to teach mathematics and science to Africans, to provide matriculation and post-matriculation courses, and to give responsible posts to Africans. This thesis examines the goals, beliefs and strategies of early missionaries and the founders of Adams College in the nineteenth century. It goes on to illustrate the.influence of segregation and incorporationist ideals of those involved in missionary education in the early 1900s. Mission schools such as Adams College aimed at promoting a type of education based on European curriculum and models. Edgar Brookes and Jack Grant, prominant principals at Adams College, were well-intentioned and aimed at offering the students opportunity for advancement. In 1956 Adams College was closed by the government, as a consequence of the Bantu Education Act. This study interprets the transition from missionary to Bantu Education in light of the difficulties faced by Mission schools in the late 1940s. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1990.

This thesis examines the work of the American Zulu Mission in Natal from 1835 to 1910. Of the institutions controlled by this mission, the most famous was that known in the 20th Century as Adams College, named after one of the founders of the Natal work, Dr Newton Adams. Although other research work has been done on this institution and this mission in general, this thesis attempts to examine the work in the light of the mission's own view of its educational purpose and the expectations of the Colonial Government of what could be expected of missionary education. To meet this purpose particular stress was laid first on the actual development of the mission's educational institutions, especially when reports and letters assessed the aims of the developments and the ways in which these aims were being met. Secondly, the aims of missionary education were explained through five capital Colonial Government Commissions, which looked, in a number of different ways, at the current position and future of the Zulu peoples of Natal. These Commissions reported in 1846, 1852-1853, 1881-1882, 1892 and 1902. Two major findings emerge from the investigation. The first was lack of clarity, not only on the part of what the mission was trying to do, but also on what the Colonial Government expected it to do. To this absence of clarity must be added the continuous shortage of finance, the reluctance of the Zulu themselves to accept the combination of education (which they wanted) and conversion (of which they were often suspicious). In these circumstances, their slow progress of the 75 years from 1835 to 1910 becomes understandable. Had these years been the total extent of the mission' s contribution to Natal, there would be little justification for any extended investigation, or any reason behind the high prestige which the mission enjoyed. It is shown, however, that from 1902 onwards a new, more incisive and directional policy, especially on the question of education, came from the mission. This emerged particularly under the leadership of Le Roy, Principal from 1903 to 1925. The last part of this thesis assesses this new direction. The detailed investigation comes to an end at 1910 when with the creation of Union, an entirely new organisation and dispensation came into being. In the last years of Le Roy's principalship the promise of the period of 1902 to 1920 came to fruition and in the final chapter a brief summary of these developments are given