The courier-index., 1917-07-27
COlored Schools in Arkansas.


Public and private schools for
Negroes in Arkansas are described
in the report on Negro Education
just issued by the U. S. Bureau of
Education, Department of the Inter
Tor, Washington, and in a special abb
stract for the State. For each school
the following information is given:
Location of school; name of principal;
character of work; ownership and
| control; attendance; teachers; finan-
! cial condition. The descriptive sketch
of the more important schools is fol-
lowed by specific recommendations
looking to the future development of
the school. The facts for the indi-
vidual schools were obtained by a
field study of Arkansas and the other
Southern States covering a period of
nearly three years.
Besides listing the private and
! higher schools for Negroes in Arkan-
sas and other Southern States, this
Federal report on colored schools an
alyzes the provision for education by
! the States; discusses means and
methods of education for Negroes;
describes building and equipment for
typical schools; and attempts tot give
specific aid to public and private au-
thorities interested in Negro educa-
ton.
The Arkansas section oft he report
| IL %kaA thnr- n~a naaArdInr m
Census figures, 443. 900 colored peo-
pie in Arkansas, forming % per cent
of the total population. 1t is pointed
out that these 433,O0O colored people
constitute 81 per cent of all persons
engaged in agricultural pursuits in
the State, and that the number OF
farms cultivated by them increased
35 per cent between 1900 and 1910, an
increase exceeded only by Oklahoma
and Georgia. AS farmers renting
and owing land, they have charge of
more than two and one-half million
acres of Arkansas soil, and. if their
work as farm laborers be taken into
account, they undoubtedfully cult
vate a afr larger area.
The problem before the colored
schools of Arkansa is indicated by
the fact that illiterates are still 2f
per cent of the colored people 10
years of age and over, and II pc.
cent of the children 10 to IA years OF
age. Such a degree of i%lliteracy is
declared by the report to be certain
evidence of extensive waste of econ
omic and human energy
Public provision for colored and
white children in Arkansas is com
pared on the basis of the amount ex-
pended for teachers ~aslaries and the
number of children of school age.
"The public school teachers in GO
counties of Arkansas received 3d.
043 ,400 in salries in 1928" says
the report. "Of this sum $2,587. 46z
was for the teachers of 1917 white
children and $445,93s for the teach
ers of 9331O colored children. On g
per capita basis this is $12.95 fol
each white child and $3.50 for each
colored child. Arkansas shows a pei
capita expenditure that is consider
ably higher than States who Negro
population forms a larger per cent
of the total" The inequalities be-
tween the figures for white children
and those for colored children ara
greatest in the counties along the
Mississippi River and the Louisiana
border, where the proportion of Ne
groes in the total population is larg'
est.
Private schools for colored pupils
in Arkansas number &c, according tc
the report. They have a property
valuation of %$376,000, an annual in
come of $62. 900, and an attendance
of 3,1O3 pupils, of whom 2,586 are in