The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-05-07
THE 'AFRO-AMERlCAN AND THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

TO the AfO-AmerICan IN the SOutn.
The problem of providing proper
school facilities for our children is OF
gravest Importance to us as a race.
The thinking people Of New York and
of Massachusetts feel that ten
months school session is necessary to
fit their children for life, and gener-
GUS public school system answers this
demand How much less can we at
ford to give our children? The object
of this appeal is to force from Afro
American fathers and mothers, from
Afro-American men and women who
feel and think, a prompt and effective
answer to this vital question.
The great majority of our people
must depend upon the public schools
for all the education they will receive.
Not more than one per cent OF the
American children of school age
will enter private or an endowed
school, and upon the public school
rests the burden of educating the re-
naming ninety-nine per cent, if indeed
they receive any education. It is evil
dent that our progress in the indus
tries. in business, in college and indus
trial schools, as. in morality and relig-
ion, will be based upon the foundation
work done in the public schools.
: To fail here, then, to neglect our
youth in the most formative period of
their lives, is to do them an IRENE
dial harm. To speak more definitely,
I find that after careful investigation
the Afro-American children in the ex-
slave states are in school on an aver
age of 107 days in the year, and that
only one-third of the children of school
age are in school; that in North Car
DINA, for example, the average school
term is only 60 days, and that only
225 per cent of the :Afro-American
children attend school at all. L find
that in thirteen of the former slave
states 80 per cent of the Afro-Amer
lean children of school age did not
attend any school for as much as six
months during the year 1900, taking
that year as an example: = x
It requires no argument, then, to
prove that if these conditions control.
we shall continue to be classed as an
ignorant, illiterate people. r
With these facts before us, the main
question:: then, is, What shall be done?
The first answer is that we pay our
taxes, and thereby aid the state in
supporting the public schools. Be-
cause of their poverty, and perhaps,
in some cases, their Indifference, the
states are not supporting an effective
school system for our people, espe-
cially in the smaller towns and rural
districts. The. system is but little
better for white children outside of
the large Cities Mere fault-fnding
with public officials will not educate
our children. i. In the present condition
of the public schools; I would urge
with. all the earnestness can summon
that our ministers, teachers, business
men, leaders, parents and newspapers
insist that our people shall
1. Go before the public school au
thorities and ask for better school ia
cilities. -. # *, IN - IL IF 55lJaa
2. See that all taxes, especially the
poll taxes, which go directly in most
states into the. school fund. are
promptly paid. . .5 i
3. Cooperate in every way possible
with the public school officials, and
raise money by private taxation, or
other methods, to supplement the pres
ent school funds until the school terms
are extended to at least eight months.
Unless the child is not kept in school
for at least seven or eight months in
the year, we cannot expect him to be.
educated. three months school !
means practically no school.
: 4. In connection with the school
term of proper length, erect q good,
comfortable school house and properly
furnish it. Some of the schools to be
found in the rural districts are not fit
for any child to spend day in.
In conclusion sc would repeat that in
the present important period in our
growth as a people, Immediate atten-
ton to the public schools is fundamen-
tai. If each community will do its full /
duty, the whole race will be lifted and
and a general quicken
ing will be evident everywhere.
Booker s.T. Washington.
Tuskegee, Ala April Is, 1904.