A project examined a 25-year period of African Americans in adult education by accessing the archival holdings of these 3 major data centers: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moorland-Spingarn Archives, and Hollis Burke Frissell Library. The study also examined the 1920-45 issues of The Journal of Negro History and The Journal of Negro Education. The socio-political context of the data was analyzed using a Black feminist theoretical framework. These three themes emerged from the data and were considered representative of the major issues found in adult education for African Americans: education for assimilation, education for cultural survival, and education for resistance. Other findings indicated the African American segregated society had an extensive understanding of adult education and viewed it as integral to the existence of their cultural group; most often, curricula were established locally and were context-specific; and participation was robust and adult education programs were popular with participants of all socioeconomic and educational level. (Contains 21 references, 17 endnotes, and 4 tables.) (Author/YLB)