They promoted a “practical” education to teach skills like farming, carpentry, and housekeeping. During this period, many social reformers believed that education was the best way to help improve poorer peoples’ lives. The early 20th century in America, a period characterized by nationwide social reform, is often referred to as the Progressive Era. 2 The same inequalities could be found in other states with segregated education. Many Black students attended school in churches, private homes, and fields because they were excluded from existing public schools. None of those services were provided for black schools. North Carolina’s Edgecombe County paid for janitors, electricity, water, and transportation at white schools. In 1909, in Lowndes County, Alabama, white schools received $20 per student while Black schools only received $0.67 per student. 1Īccess to public education was poor across the South, and African American communities bore the brunt of the lack of schools and funding. Black students, on average, had fewer school buildings, books, and teachers. Of the little funding for education that existed, most money went to white schools. They began racially segregating public spaces, including schools. At the end of Reconstruction, white supremacist politicians returned to positions of power in the government. Black and white students attended public schools together. Southern public schools were available to both races. They knew that these skills were important to economic freedom, exercising citizenship, and getting a job.ĭuring Reconstruction (roughly 1865-1877), many Southern states began to give some money for public education. After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people wanted to take advantage of the opportunities to learn skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic. In the southern states, many white Americans were afraid that education would lead to rebellion. Before emancipation, it was illegal for most enslaved people in much of the United States to learn how to read or to go to school.
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