The Jim Crow Laws and Racism in United States History by David K. Fremon

Author:David K. Fremon [Fremon, David K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780766060944
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2014-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

THE KEY TO INDEPENDENCE

African Americans knew that education was important. An educated person could make his or her own decisions. An educated farmer could total his accounts at the end of the planting season without relying on the white foremen. Education was the key to independence, and an independent black population was the last thing Southern whites wanted.

Education

Black education was virtually nonexistent in the South before the Civil War. Most African Americans were slaves. White masters felt slaves needed to know only how to do their jobs. Blacks learned survival skills: how to act humble, how to hide their real feelings when insulted, how to soothe the egos of white people.

Access to free public education was unknown until after the war. At that time, the Freedmen’s Bureau opened schools for blacks. More than four thousand such public schools appeared. Even after the bureau disbanded in 1872, many schools survived.

Blacks got their education wherever they could. Any available building might serve as a black school. Most schools lacked supplies such as books, pencils, blackboards, and maps. Schools were frequently overcrowded. Black teachers earned a fraction of what their white colleagues received. States often used funds aimed for black education in white schools. Thus, blacks were being taxed to educate whites.

Black children had shorter school years than white kids. Blacks usually did not start classes until the end of the cotton harvesting season. This could be any time from November to January. Classes ended in early spring, at the start of the planting season.

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