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of industrial education

for the

Negro.

According to this table, the only groups forming a substantial Importance proportion of all Negro breadwinners are the laborers, farmers, and laundresses. Other than farmers, no skilled or professional group forms even 1 per cent of the total. Under a liberal interpretation of terms, the number in these classes is only about 250,000 or 5 per cent of the total. It is apparent, therefore, that the possibilities of the race in skilled occupations have just begun. In view of the increasing demand of the southern states for skilled workmen, it is vitally important to the colored people that they grasp every opportunity for industrial education..

128. Educational needs of the Negro 1

phase of

the general

There can be no doubt but that a larger share of industrial education Industrial education would prove of great benefit to our colored citizens. But, while only one very important, industrial education is only one phase of the general problem of Negro education. The American Negro must be fitted not only for industrial, but as well for social, intellectual and religious progress. In the following selection, the United States Bureau of Education in the Department of the Interior outlines the general educational needs of the Negro:

problem of Negro edu

cation.

The general poverty of colored schools, the conflicting claims of Educational various types of education, and the public ignorance of the real situa- needs of

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1916, No. 38. "Negro Education." Washington, 1917. Vol. 1, pp. 11-13.

the Negro,

with respect to elementary education,

secondary schools and teacher training,

higher education,

.

tion, all point to the importance of a statement of the educational needs of colored people. The following outline . . is offered as a suggestion to those whose duty it is to determine the educational policies for colored schools:

Elementary schools. - Elementary education is peculiarly the responsibility of the public-school authorities. Though the enrollment of the philanthropic schools is 75 per cent elementary, the pupils comprise only 4 per cent of the Negro children 6 to 14 years of age. The southern states, out of their limited resources, are spending almost $6,000,000 annually for the salaries of teachers in the colored public schools. While this is proportionately not more than a fourth of that spent on teachers in white schools, it is a substantial sum. In comparison with the needs of the elementary school system, however, it is most inadequate. So long as the elementary school facilities are insufficient, every kind of education above the elementary grades is seriously handicapped.

Secondary schools and teacher training. The primary importance of secondary schools for colored people lies in their contribution to the much needed supply of trained teachers for the elementary schools. According to the state records over 50 per cent of the colored teachers in public schools have an education less than the equivalent of six elementary grades. This lamentable condition can be corrected only by a system of public secondary schools with provision for teacher training, theory and practice of gardening, and manual training....

College and professional education. The education of Negroes in America undoubtedly requires institutions that are genuinely of college grade. The first step in the realization of this need is the agreement that all shall combine in an effort to develop a few well-selected institutions. . . . The second requirement of success in this direction is the determination that every college activity shall be adapted to the demands of modern society. Medical education is already centralized in two institutions. It is highly desirable that some coöperative effort shall also be made to improve the standards of schools for colored ministers. No phase of Negro education has been more neglected.

Agricultural and mechanical schools. The importance of the

preparation of colored youth for the industries and for life in rural training in communities is self-evident. In view of the overwhelming proporthe agricultural and tion of Negroes in rural districts, the claims of rural education pre- mechanical cede all others. While opportunities for the highly-technical trades industries, should be open to colored pupils, the primary need is emphatically

for a knowledge of gardening, small farming, and the simple industries.

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ods of

teaching.

Teaching methods. Elaborate facilities are useless if the teaching and methmethods are ineffective. In actual practice teaching is still too generally regarded as talking or lecturing. . . . The teacher should make every effort to understand the pupil and his needs, his mind processes, his ambitions, his means of support, and his health. He should also know the pupil's home, his community, and, if possible, his vocational outlook. With such knowledge as the basis of instruction, the teacher will not be content with mere lectures to his class. From talking about the subject, he will guide his pupils to observe actual conditions. . . . The teacher will exchange views with pupils and all will mingle their ideas and their experiences in the search for truth. From the artificial conditions of the class room, pupils and teacher will finally proceed to the actual conditions of real life and together they will "learn to do by doing."

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ment of legislation

The period following the Civil War has witnessed the develop- Development of numerous laws defining the position and rights of the Negro. This legislation is of two types: the first type includes laws which affecting restrict the activities of the Negro; the second type includes laws the Negro. which aim to protect him. Among laws grouped under this second type of legislation, the most important statutes have been those which aim to protect the Negro with respect to civil rights, education, and transportation. Something of the nature of protective legislation for the Negro may be illustrated by the following selection by Dr. Franklin Johnson, in which he discusses laws to protect Negroes in the enjoyment of places of public resort:

1 From Franklin Johnson, The Development of State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro. The Arbor Press, New York, 1918; pp. 28-30.

Beginnings of legislation to pro

tect the Negro in the enjoyment

of places of public resort.

Civil rights

statutes in the South.

Further legislation in the North.

The Federal
Civil
Rights Act
of 1875.

[The first act to provide for protection of the colored race in enjoyment of the accommodations of places of public resort] appeared in Massachusetts in a statute of 1865. This provided simply that no distinction or discrimination on account of race should be lawful in any licensed inn, public place of amusement, public conveyance, or public meeting.

During the Reconstruction period of the southern states, a number of such states enacted civil rights laws, which were very full and stringent in their terms. South Carolina was the first state so to provide, being followed by Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Mississippi. The longest and most stringent of these acts was that of Arkansas. All of these southern civil rights statutes were repealed either by special enactment to that effect or by omission from the revised statutes of their states after the end of the Reconstruction period, except such as were found not to be inconsistent with the trend of later legislation, through later interpretation of their precise terms.

There was no further legislation in the northern states upon this subject until 1873, when New York adopted a civil rights act somewhat similar to that of Massachusetts, but in a fuller and more developed form. The next provision was in New York again, in 1881, which substantially reënacted the earlier provision, and prohibited discrimination in the enjoyment of the accommodations of taverns, public conveyances, and places of public resort or amusement, because of race, creed or color.

Between these two laws, however, came the Federal Act of 1875, known as the Civil Rights Act of that year. This followed in general terms the provisions of the Massachusetts and the New York statutes. . . . It then provided that all persons should be entitled to full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land and water, theatres, and other places of public amusement, subject only to conditions applicable alike to citizens of every race. The penalty for violation of this law was both a forfeiture to the person aggrieved and fine or imprisonment for the violator.

This law did not accomplish its purpose, for after its passage Negroes still continued to be excluded from places of public resort.

constitution

ality of the

the attitude Supreme

of the

Court upon Federal legislation, and

This resulted in a number of cases appearing in the courts, finally Testing the culminating in the so-called civil rights cases, which were passed upon by the United States Supreme Court in 1883. These cases statute. arose in Missouri and Tennessee in the South, and New York, Kansas and California in the North, and were brought for denying to Negroes the accommodations of hotels, theatres and railroads. . . . By a divided vote the Supreme Court held that the law of 1875, in so far as it applied to the right of accommodation of the colored race in places of public resort, was unconstitutional and therefore void. . . . This decision rendered it impossible for Congress to pass any Effect of general enactment prohibiting the passage of laws by individual states concerning the separation of Negroes in places of public resort. No further legislation of this nature therefore appeared among the Federal statutes. All further legislation in this portion of the field was thereby thrown into the jurisdiction of the separate states. This did not greatly affect legislation appearing in the southern states, for the reason that separation in places of public resort in lation by most cases already existed and was enforced by the power of custom and the influence of the white race. It was followed, however, by enactments requiring separation in railroad transportation. . . . The effect in the northern states was quite different. These states, and northfinding that the Negro was no longer protected in this portion of the field of his civil rights by Federal legislation, proceeded to enact separate state laws covering the same ground in general. The year following the Supreme Court decision, four states passed such statutes, being followed successively by a large number of others. Civil rights laws have been enacted by the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

130. A new Negro problem: migration1

In the South, emancipation was followed by a more or less serious disruption of numerous Negro communities. One effect of 1 From The United States Bureau of Labor, Division of Negro Economics, Negro Migration in 1916-1917. Washington, 1919; pp. 149, 152-155.

upon legis

southern

ern state legislatures.

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