only
two were situated in counties in which the southern element
predominated. Thus we see that the attitude toward public schools in
general was reflected upon the Negro schools.

The school laws themselves, which seem to have been adequate to
provide equal school rights for all the children in the State, were
easily evaded when the officials of a community were hostile to them.
In his first annual report,[20] State Superintendent Parker called
attention to the following facts: No remedy was provided in case the
township board refused to comply with the statutes. There was no
remedy in case the local board of directors refused to hire teachers
for the school when the requisite number of pupils were in the
district. In this manner, he reported, the Negro children in many
districts were deprived of an opportunity to attend school. Even where
there was no apparent hostility to the statutes and to the education
of the Negroes there was a failure to make the requisite enumeration
of the Negro children in many townships and consequently many children
were by the very law itself deprived of the benefits of the State
school fund. He pointed out that in the year 1867 many would thus be
deprived, since the law regulating the apportionment of the State
school fund, compelled the apportionment to be made on the basis of
the enumeration which had already been made, and which in many cases
did not include the Negro children. The law concerning the
establishment of Negro schools was abused here and there throughout
the entire period. As late as 1876 the State Superintendent
complained[21] that in many cases through ignorance of the law and in
other cases through willful disobedience of the law, schools for the
Negroes had not been established. In the first case, he reported that
merely explaining the law had the desired effect and in the other case
it was necessary to call the assistance of county clerks and of grand
juries.

During this period there was a growing sentiment in favor of public
schools. This is shown by the reports which came from the various
counties to the State Superintendent's office, and also by the
increase in the number of children enumerated and by the increasing
number of schools. In 1870,[22] the county superintendents reported a
great deal of opposition and indifference to the schools especially on
the part of the tax-payers. In 1872 a majority of the county
superintendents were able to report[23] a grow