_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:
───────────────┬───────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────
STATE │ AMOUNT OF TEACHERS’ │ AVERAGE PER CHILD
│ SALARIES │
───────────────┼─────────────┬─────────────┼─────────────┬─────────────
│ WHITE │ COLORED │ WHITE │ COLORED
───────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────
Alabama │ $2,523,550│ $372,177│ $9.41│ $1.78
Arkansas │ 2,587,462│ 455,938│ 12.95│ 4.59
Delaware │ 357,071│ 47,415│ 12.61│ 7.68
Florida │ 1,022,745│ 167,381│ 11.50│ 2.64
Georgia │ 2,884,580│ 483,622│ 9.58│ 1.76
Kentucky │ 3,389,354│ 401,208│ 8.13│ 8.53
Louisiana │ 2,807,103│ 211,376│ 13.73│ 1.31
Maryland │ 2,567,021│ 282,519│ 13.79│ 6.88
Mississippi │ 1,284,910│ 340,459│ 10.60│ 2.26
North Carolina │ 1,715,994│ 340,856│ 5.27│ 2.02
Oklahoma │ 3,232,706│ 283,385│ 14.21│ 9.96
South Carolina │ 1,454,098│ 305,080│ 10.00│ 1.44
Tennessee │ 1,938,487│ 298,772│ 8.27│ 4.83
Texas │ 4,892,836│ 904,335│ 10.08│ 5.74
Virginia │ 2,767,365│ 421,381│ 9.64│ 2.74
───────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────
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: