The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-03-31
WHITE nL1rERAcY IN NORTH CAROLINA.

naroentage of illiteracy in North Carolina anu
the South. we are apt to lay the tatterlng LII
ton to our souls that it is the abnormal proper
ton of negro illiterates that raises the genera
percentage so high, and that but for the blacks
we shouldn't make a very bad comparison with
other sections after all. But such is not the
case. end we should not deceive ourselves longer
by believing it.
Statistics recently compiled by the Southern
Education Board show that there are in all the
United States only 217 counties in which one
fifth or more of the native white males OF voting
are illiterate-212 of these counties being IN
Southern States and 43 of them in North Caro-
lima. Our Commonwealth has the unenvlable
distinction as being named as cone of the two
States in which nearly half the counties are IN
this class"
The forty-three North Carolina counties in
which more than 90 per cent of the native white
voters are iIIiterate-negroes and foreigners be-
ing entirely left out of consideration-are as
follows:
Hartford, pol; Rockingham, POP; Macon,
2O.6; OnslOw, POS; Lenoir, 20.9; Montgomery,
81; Dare, PIP; Harnett, PIP; Ashe, 213; Davie,
21.4; Martin, 21.4; Davidson, 21,5; Pitt, 21.5;
Watauga, 21.5; Caldwell, 21.8; Stanly, 21.8;
Camden, %; Cleveland, 22.1; Tyrrell, 22.1;
Burke. 22.5; Graham, 22.8; Nash, 22.9; Duplin,
23.1; Wilson, 23.1; Yadkin, 233; Sampson, 23.5;
Polk, 236; Clay. 23.7; Cherokee, 23.8; Johnston,
"a; Franklin, 24.3; Haywood, PA; Gates, 247;
Swain, 25.4; Greene, 25.6; Jackson, 25.8; Madi-
son, 2G.4: Mitchell, 274; Person, 28.2; Surry,
28.2; Yancey, 3O.8; Wilkes, 300; Stokes, 1929.
In this connection, the following extract from
Superintendent JOyner's recently issued biennial
report will be read with interest:
UTbo TTr;+oJ S+o+og NorC,c RooOr+ for 1OOO
shows that 28.7 per cent of the total population
of the State, 1875 per cent of the white popula-
ton, and 47.6 per cent of the negro population
are iIiterate, /. e., can neither read nor write.
North Carolina stands in il1iteracy of white
population, second; of total population, tenth; of
negro population, sixth. The census report also
shows, however, that since 1890, the iIliteracy of
total population in this State has been decreased
from 35.7 per cent, white illiteracy from 23.1 per
cent, and negro illiteracy from COL per cent.
"Of the total population of the United States,
10.7 is illiterate, of the total white population,
60 per cent, and of the total negro population,
44.5 per cent.
I'm total illiteracy, in white illiteracy, and in
negro iuiteracy, North Carolina is considerably
above the average of the United States. The
per cent of white i~lIiteracy in North Carolina
is more than three times as great as the average
per cent of white illiteracy for the United
States"
All this goes to show that there remaineth
very much land to be possessed before the friends
of education in North Carolina can afford to rest
on their laurels. Meanwhile, 1908 draws on
apace, and its black shadow of prospective dis
reimbursement grows larger and more ominous
with every passing day.
Lecturer Gates has organized three more sub
Alliances IN Franklin County since the formation