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‹Better GutenbergProgress and Achievements of the Colored PeoplePublic Provision for Negro Education · 161 of 287Contents›

Progress and Achievements of the Colored People

by Kelly Miller

161 of 287 · Contents · Download EPUB

Public Provision for Negro Education

Public Elementary Schools:—The existence of the large number of private schools for colored people is largely explained by the inadequacy of the public schools. The inequality in the public schools for white and colored children is apparent to every one who visits the South. The Report on Negro Education recently published by the Bureau of Education, presents these inequalities in terms of salaries spent. The report shows that in fifteen Southern States and the District of Columbia, $42,510,703 is spent annually in teachers’ salaries. Of this sum $36,649,827 was for teaching 3,552,431 white children and only $5,860,876 for teaching 1,852,181 colored children. In other words the number of white children is less than twice the number of colored children, but the amount of money spent for their education is over six times that spent for the colored children. The average or per capita annual expenditure for the education of the white child is $10.32, while that for the colored child is only $2.89.

In addition to the sums appropriated for the maintenance of the common schools the South in 1912–13 appropriated $6,429,991 for higher schools for white people and only $336,970 for similar schools for colored people.

The amount expended in teachers’ salaries in the Southern States and the average for each child of school age are shown in the following table:

STATEAMOUNT OF TEACHERS’ SALARIESAVERAGE PER CHILD
WHITECOLOREDWHITECOLORED
Alabama$2,523,550$372,177$9.41$1.78
Arkansas2,587,462455,93812.954.59
Delaware357,07147,41512.617.68
Florida1,022,745167,38111.502.64
Georgia2,884,580483,6229.581.76
Kentucky3,389,354401,2088.138.53
Louisiana2,807,103211,37613.731.31
Maryland2,567,021282,51913.796.88
Mississippi1,284,910340,45910.602.26
North Carolina1,715,994340,8565.272.02
Oklahoma3,232,706283,38514.219.96
South Carolina1,454,098305,08010.001.44
Tennessee1,938,487298,7728.274.83
Texas4,892,836904,33510.085.74
Virginia2,767,365421,3819.642.74

These figures explain the efforts of the colored people to enlist the sympathy and support of the North and their willingness to contribute out of their poverty to the establishment of schools.

Public High Schools.—There are only 65 public high schools for negroes in the Southern States. Of these, 47 maintain four-year courses and 18 have three-year courses. In addition, there are about 200 public schools which enroll a few pupils above the elementary grades. Practically all the four-year high schools are in the large cities of the border States. Over half are in Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia; 16 are in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. South Carolina and Florida have only 2 each; North Carolina and Louisiana have no public high schools for negroes. North Carolina, however, provides three well-managed State normal schools offering secondary work. The city high schools of Washington, D. C., and St. Louis, Mo., are unusual in extent of plant, ranging in value from $200,000 to $450,000.

The following table presents the more important facts for the Public High Schools:

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND NORMAL SCHOOLS.
State and Name of School.Location.
City or Town		Years in Course.Attendance.High School Teachers.Value of Plant.
United States, total8,707484$3,172,250
Alabama, total5411921,500
Birmingham Colored High SchoolBirmingham438792,000
Huntsville Colored High SchoolHuntsville43624,500
Owen AcademyMobile386510,000
Tuscambia Colored High SchoolTuscambia33235,000
Arkansas, total25322105,000
Langston High SchoolHot Springs439420,000
Merrill High SchoolPine Bluff425318,000
Helena Colored High SchoolHelena32937,000
Gibbs High SchoolLittle Rock4100840,000
Lincoln Colored High SchoolFort Smith360420,000
Delaware, total601133,800
Howard High SchoolWilmington4601133,800
District of Columbia, total1,37596985,000
Armstrong Manual Training SchoolWashington425933240,000
Dunbar High School„473148500,000
Myrtilla Minor Normal School„1211515245,000
Florida, total786190,000
Stanton High SchoolJacksonville4443175,000
Lincoln High and Graded SchoolTallahassee334315,000
Georgia, total40515,000
Athens High and Industrial SchoolAthens340515,000
Kentucky, total77944209,000
Louisville Colored Normal SchoolLouisville1227210,000
State Street High SchoolBowling Green442410,000
Lincoln High SchoolPaducah439422,000
Central High SchoolLouisville44021641,000
Earlington Colored High SchoolEarlington310115,000
Douglass High SchoolHenderson425340,000
Clinton Street High SchoolFrankfort424315,000
Russell High SchoolLexington493418,000
Western High SchoolOwensboro477423,000
„ „ „Paris440315,000
Maryland, total7814280,000
Baltimore Colored Normal SchoolBaltimore12112815,000
Baltimore High School„46693465,000
Mississippi, total49314,000
Colored High SchoolYazoo349314,000
Missouri, total91049430,500
Sumner High SchoolSt. Louis459534330,500
Lincoln High SchoolKansas City431515100,000
Oklahoma, total36827166,750
Dunbar High SchoolTulsa44056,000
Douglass High SchoolOklahoma City480763,750
Boley City High SchoolBoley425215,000
Manual Training SchoolMuskogee4138870,000
Faver High SchoolGuthrie485512,000
South Carolina, total138615,000
Howard High SchoolColumbia3138615,300
Texas, total1,21263370,300
Anderson High SchoolAustin482528,000
Colored High SchoolFort Worth4133668,000
A. J. Moore High SchoolWaco469514,800
Gibbons High SchoolParis4100327,500
Charlton High SchoolBeaumont3108310,000
Central High SchoolMarshall4142610,000
Anderson High SchoolDennison328214,000
Lincoln High SchoolPalestine46928,000
Dallas Colored High SchoolDallas42431260,000
Douglass High SchoolSan Antonio485949,500
Central High SchoolGalveston489654,000
Temple Colored High SchoolTemple438215,000
Frederick Douglass High SchoolSherman326211,500
Tennessee, total65025117,000
Austin High SchoolKnoxville3116712,000
Kortrecht High SchoolMemphis3232535,000
Howard High SchoolChattanooga480530,000
Rural High SchoolHyde Park326220,000
Pearl High SchoolNashville3196620,000
Virginia, total1,07038163,500
Armstrong High SchoolRichmond44391740,000
Jackson High SchoolLynchburg3110414,000
Peabody High SchoolPetersburg3147430,000
Colored Public High SchoolNorfolk4257841,500
Mount Herman High SchoolPortsmouth457213,000
Danville Colored High SchoolDanville260325,000
West Virginia, total15016265,600
Water Street High SchoolClarksburg420226,750
Douglass High SchoolHuntingdon435462,700
Sumner High SchoolParkersburg428488,000
Lincoln High SchoolWheeling421245,850
Garnett High SchoolCharleston446442,300
Northern States (separate schools), total2531270,000
Sumner High School (Missouri)Kansas City42531270,000

County Training Schools.—The organization of the “county training school,” is a comparatively new but promising movement. There are 27 schools of this type in the various Southern States. These schools have in most cases done work through the ninth grade, and in some cases through the tenth grade, including in the last two years some elementary teacher training. In addition much industrial work has been included in the curriculum, the aim being to make these schools articulate as nearly as possible with the life of the people in the rural communities and the type of work their graduates will be called upon to do.

They are supported partly by private funds and partly by public funds. The State Fund provides about $15,000 a year for these schools, while about $35,000 is provided by the Counties. The following table presents the more important facts for these schools:

COUNTY TRAINING SCHOOLS.
Counties Maintaining Training Schools.City or Town.Attendance.Teachers.Income.Value of Plant.
United States, total5,906139$51,501$145,570
Alabama694196,65020,900
CoosaCottage Grove18941,65011,000
LowndesCharity15051,2504,700
MobilePlateau24162,5001,500
PickensCarrollton11441,2503,700
Arkansas1,2422510,95727,500
ChicotDermott24541,8045,000
HempsteadHope30082,6629,000
LeeMarianna35063,74010,000
OuachitaCamden34772,7513,500
Georgia36593,72510,500
Ben HillQueensland18541,7253,000
WashingtonSandersville18052,0007,500
Kentucky7032,0003,500
BourbonLittle Rock7032,0003,500
Louisiana25473,0308,600
CalcasieuWest Lake11841,6804,600
MorehouseBastrop13631,3504,000
North Carolina995268,69036,650
JohnsonSmithfield30871,6906,500
MartinParmelee15041,5006,500
PamlicoStonewall13551,5805,000
SampsonClinton24251,8704,500
WakeMethod16052,05014,150
South Carolina29161,9985,500
ClarendonManning29161,9985,500
Tennessee1,173206,02514,040
FayetteSomerville27551,3404,540
HaywoodBrownsville42382,4052,500
ShelbyLucy, R. F. D.47572,2807,000
Texas20862,5114,080
TravisManor20862,5114,080
Virginia614185,91514,300
AlbemarleCharlottsville7541,1003,500
CarolineBowling Green21242,0804,300
NottawayBlackstone16661,4553,500
YorkLackey16141,2803,000

Land-Grant Schools:—The third type of schools supported by public funds is the Land-Grant Schools. The purpose for which the land-grant institutions receive Federal appropriations are clearly outlined in the following extracts from the various congressional acts granting public lands and making appropriations for their support:

Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862.—An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.—The leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the State may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

Morrill Act of 1890.—An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. To be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction. Provided, That in any State in which there has been one college established in pursuance of the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and also in which an educational institution of like character has been established, or may be hereafter established, and is now aided by such State from its own revenue, for the education of colored students in agriculture and the mechanic arts, however named or styled, or whether or not it has received money heretofore under the act to which this act is an amendment, the legislature of such State may propose and report to the Secretary of the Interior a just and adequate division of the fund to be received under this act between one college for white students and one institution for colored students established as aforesaid which shall be divided into two parts and paid accordingly, and thereupon such institution for colored students shall be entitled to the benefits of this act and subject to its provisions, as much as it would have been if it had been included under the act of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the fulfillment of the foregoing provisions shall be taken as a compliance with the provision in reference to separate colleges for white and colored students.

Nelson Amendment of 1907.—An act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture.—That said colleges may use a portion of this money for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

Rulings and instructions relative to the acts of Congress of August 30, 1890, and March 4, 1907, in aid of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts.—“To be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction” and “for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts.” It is held that this language authorizes the purchase from this money of apparatus, machinery, text-books, reference books, stock, and material used in instruction, or for the purposes of illustration in connection with any of the branches enumerated, and the payment of salaries of instructors in said branches only; but in case of machinery (such as boilers, engines, pumps, etc.) and farm stock, which are made to serve for both instructional and other purposes, the Federal funds may be charged with only an equitable portion of the cost of said machinery and stock.

The acts prohibit the expenditure of any portion of these funds for the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings under any pretense whatever, and the salaries of purely administrative officers, such as treasurers, presidents, secretaries.

In accordance with these acts, 17 institutions for Negroes in the Southern States are receiving Federal funds. The principal facts for sixteen of these institutions are shown in the table herewith. Hampton Institute is classified with the independent institutions because its financial support is very largely from private sources. The total annual income for the current expenses of the sixteen institutions is $544,520. Of this amount $263,074 is received from State appropriations and $2,598.51 from the Federal acts. Including the Federal grant to Hampton Institute, the total of Federal appropriations is $286,817. The value of property in the sixteen institutions is $2,576,142.

The principal facts concerning these schools, by States, are as follows:

STATEATTENDANCETEACHERSINCOMEVALUE OF PROPERTY
Total4,875400$544,520$2,576,142
Alabama2642729,209182,500
Arkansas1701224,003141,456
Delaware71813,15942,150
Florida3453434,168131,421
Georgia3902125,36968,449
Kentucky2341922,327156,700
Louisiana1602331,38495,250
Maryland1231215,52844,950
Mississippi4842447,774258,500
Missouri2643342,162226,375
North Carolina1502632,518129,700
Oklahoma4082846,400153,827
South Carolina7263344,216397,300
Tennessee3002539,819193,915
Texas5524649,985237,200
West Virginia2342946,499216,449

State Schools:—In addition to the land-grant schools there are eleven State schools. Four of these institutions are in Northern States. The following table gives the important facts concerning this group.

STATEATTENDANCETEACHERSINCOMEVALUE OF PROPERTY
Total2,638188$246,834$1,394,547
Alabama7143121,50070,000
Kansas821415,830131,395
„1062638,148195,300
Maryland5088,05333,500
New Jersey931827,75599,159
North Carolina24986,07445,000
„22775,54438,700
„165105,25851,700
Ohio2312977,000436,893
Virginia5732527,898233,900
West Virginia1481213,77459,000

Federal Schools:—The one institution classed as Federal is Howard University at Washington, D. C. It is the only institution supported by direct annual appropriations from Congress. It is generally considered the best institution for colored people in college and professional training. It has an attendance of 1,401 pupils, 106 teachers, an annual income of $172,257 and property valued at $1,756,920.

Notes

1. Above High School grade.

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