HAPTER 16.

THE NEGRO AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE SOUTH.

Too much praise cannot be given to the General Education Board, Dr.
Dillard and Mr. Rosenwald, and others for what they have done and are
doing to improve Negro public schools of the South, for in the last
analysis it is there where the great masses of Negro children must be
educated.

We have in the South, as every one knows, a dual system of public
schools, one for the whites and one for the Negroes. This accounts in
part for our poor schools for both white and colored. Such a system is
expensive and, of course, the Negro gets the worst of the bargain. This
is not surprising to him; he expects it in all such cases. He has been
taught to expect only a half loaf where others get a whole one, but in
some cases he gets practically nothing from the State for education. For
an instance, I know four or five Negro public schools in the Black Belt
that get $37.00 for the school term of four months. It would be hard to
figure out how a teacher can live in these days on $9.25 per month. But,
as I have said, the agencies that I have mentioned above have done much
and are doing more to improve these conditions.

[Illustration: TEACHERS OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE]

They endeavor to work with or through the State and county officials
wherever it can be done. This I think is perfectly right and proper
because the State must in the end direct the education of its subjects.
But where this cannot be done, I think provision should be made for the
thousands who are now being neglected.

Ever since I succeeded in getting the late Miss Anna T. Jeanes of
Philadelphia to give so largely towards the Negro public schools of the
South, I have been thinking how this work could be carried on in harmony
with the State and county officials. The General Education Board, Dr.
Dillard and Mr. Rosenwald have gone a long way towards solving this
problem.

At the present time every Southern State has a Superintendent of
Education and a County Superintendent. These officers are elected by the
people (white people, of course). Recently, however, there have been two
other offices created, State Supervisor of Education for the Negro and
County Supervisor. These officers are selected and not elected. I think
the offices came about as a result of the efforts of the General
Education Board and Dr. Dillard, and I think that the State Supervisors
of Education are selected largely through them.