The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1917-08-03
GOVERNMENT REPORT ON COL
ORED SCHOOLS.

Washington d. c. July 80, special to
the Globe:
With national unity and solidarity
the problem of the hour, special inter-
est attaches to the comprehensive re-
port on Negro Education, just issued
by the Department of the Interior
through the Bureau of Education. In
this report the economic and eduCa-
tional problem of the ten million Ne
groes in the United States are pre-
sented as a background for detailed
study Of more than seven hundred
colored schools, and the problem of
Education for the Negroes is shown
as affecting the entire country, North
and South.
The report on Negro Education was
prepared after four years Of first
hand study, made by DR.. Thomas Jesse
Jones, and crops of assistants in
various fields of education, working
under the direction of DR.. P. p. ClaX-
ton, I. S. Commissioner of Education.
The study was made possible through
the cooperation of the Phelps-Stokes
Fund, of New York, with the Bureau of
Education
The first volume Of the report dis
cusses features of general educational
progress, with special reference to the
Negro, and includes such topics as !:
Public facilities for Negro education;
industrial educatiOn agricultural and
rural education; secondary education;
for Negroes; college and professional
education; buildings and grounds;
| finances; history of Negro education.
Volume II comprises descriptions of
more than zoo schools visited by
the Bureaus agents, arranged by
States and counties. 1t is believed
that the specific facts given in connec-
ton with each of these schools will
be of genuine assistance to the large
! number of individuals and Organi2a.
tons that contribute money for Negro
schools, making it possible to discrim
mate between worthy and unworthy
schools.
In his report DR.. Jones says:
mo racial group in the United
States offers so many problems OF
economic and social adjustment as the
100000 Negroes. Negroes from al
most a third of the total population OF
the Southern States. In Mississippi
and South Carolina, they constitute
over half the population; and in the
black belt countries, the proportion
ranges from so to 80 per cent. The
significance of such a concentration
is difficult to explain to those not fami
liar with communities composed o
people who differ widely not only il
economic and educational status bu
also in ethnic type.
an the so, years since freedom wa
decreed, Negro illiteracy has decreased
from over 80 per cent to 80 per cent
nearly 100000 colored men are nov
farmers of varying degrees of indie
pendence; a quarter of a million owl
their own farms and the total acreag
of land owned by Negroes aggregate
2O,0O0,OO0 acres of fertile soil. Thes
= facts are indiputable evidence not onl
that the cOlored people are capable o
progress but also that their whit
neighbors have looked with favor upol
their struggles and in many instance
have actually given substantial aid t
their endeavoTs.
AS the Negroes are the primary ele
ment that give rise to the problem
so are they becoming more and NOR
an important factor in its solution
Their contribution includes both an In
creasing financial support and al
ever larger proportion of the teach
ing force. They contribute not only
goodly share of the taxes for their pull
. lie schools, but also a considerable sur
| toward the private schools. Further
more, the colored people give consider
:, able sums to extend the terms of tn
public schools. 1t is probable tina
their total gifts aggregate 100000 al
ually over and above their share G
the public taxes.
" Next to the Negroes, the grou
most concered in this problem areath
2O,5O0,OOO white people of the" Soutl
No plan for the improvement of tn
colored group is we'll considered thu
3 does not contemplate the cooperate
!, of the white group.
Though the Northern States al