The evening current., 1917-06-18
S|TUA-
TON OF NEGROES
Of THE SOUTH

Washington. June ls.--lnYestiga-
tion Of fifty years Of educational of.
fort among negroes in the south, re.
Gently completed by the federa bu
reau Of education and made possible
by the cooperation Of the Phelps.
Stokes fund Of New York, empha sizes
more than anything else the need Of
rural education. particularly the e5d-
cation of negro children IN agricul-
ture and simple trades rather than the
higher learning Of the printed page.
The investigation made by DR.. T..
J. Jones, u specialist in the bureau Of
education, with u corps of assistants
under the direction Of Commissioner
Claxton, reviews fifty years Of effort
by public authorities, northern philan-
thropists and churches, and negroes
themselves to educate the black in the
south.
The report says thrce-fourths Of the
a,5OO,0OO negroes in the south live in
rural communities, and that there are
3,OOO,OOO negroes engaged In agricul.
tural pursuits, cultivating fully l00O,-
10000 acres. As owners and renters
of land, they are cultivating al ,500,-
900 acres. This acreage Is twice that
under cultivation either in Virginia or
in New England, according to the re-
port. Nevertheless, the outh does not
produce enough food to feed itself.
drawing on the rest Of the country
annually for farm products recently
estimated as worth 50.000,000
"Despte the overwhelming proper
ton of negroes living in the rural dis
trcts of the SOUTH" says DR.. Jones,
the elementary public school systems
ignore the teaching of agriculture and
the simple trades needed constantly
IN the farms. Few states provide
higher schools Of agriculture or sup
plemcnt adequately the federal funds
for the joint operation Of
such schools for the negroes. The
schools conducted entirely by the
rolorcd people teach the classics and
modern languages when they might
rather be emphasizing agricultural
and industrial training, AMI the other
private schools as whole teach farm
ing and its supplemental trades only
In Il perfunctory way.
preparation for rural life is tho
educational problem of the
white and colored people Of the south.
The rural education Of the negro .s
estimated, not only to the welfare of
the race. but also to the successful
development of the southern states.
"Of the private schools, Hampton
Institute, Tuskceec Institute, and a
few smaller institutions are making
genuine effort o prepar" pupils tor
rural life. WITH very few exceptions,
how, yer. the ,olofcd schools have fail
ed to develop an interest in rural pro
Ill. ms. The large majority have not
,'s'n tried.
THE explanation of the indifference
Is IN the conviction Of the c,iorrd
people that the way to proSperity AMI
happiness IN tn" StaUy nf literary sub
j"c,s and especially III" clas'lcal ian
guages In this they are folliSng the
white people. who nre only now begin
ming to see the error ~ .hcir bchof.
This conviction is emphasized 10y the
life Of drudycry which the pupipls in
colord schools have always seen to
be- the lot of colorcd farmers. Their
own limited education, also, makes
them loath to lose any opportunity to
master the wonders Of the printed
page.
at is exceedingly unfortunate that
many of the educational leaders Of the
colorcd race do not sufficiently ap.
prcciate the significance OF the re-
narkablc progress Of the negro race