Progress and Achievements of the Colored People: Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success
John Stuart Mill · en
_Negro church boards._—Meanwhile, as these people became better
educated, their churches grew in numbers and strength, and the
conviction began to find expression that they ought to have schools
under their own management. The African Methodist Church had already had
Wilberforce in Ohio, founded in 1817, and Western in Kansas, founded in
1864; but they felt that the time had come for other institutions, which
should be planted at important centers of power in the South. So, in
1880, this church secured ground in Columbia, S. C., began to build as
soon as they were able, and in 1881 opened Allen University; then steps
were taken to establish another school in Atlanta, and in 1885 Morris
Brown was opened to students; now they have schools at Waco, Tex.;
Jackson, Miss.; Selma, Ala., and elsewhere. At about the same time the
Zion Methodist Church moved for the establishment of Livingstone
College, which was incorporated in 1879, and began work on its present
site at Salisbury in 1882; this church now has other smaller schools
also. The Colored Methodist Church which is closely affiliated with the
Southern Methodist Church, projected Lane College, at Jackson,
Tennessee, in 1878 and in 1882, a building was erected and the school
opened; this body now has other schools at Birmingham, Ala.; Holly
Springs, Miss.; and Tyler, Tex. The Colored Baptists have shown similar
enterprise, often in cooperation with the Home Mission Society of the
Northern Baptists, but particularly through their own conventions.
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: