The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-08-26
ILLITERACY IN NORTH CAROLINA

lLLlIEKACI in NONlE1
Prof. s. H. Hobbs, Jr., of the University,
in The University News Letter, presents
figures on illiteracy in the State, which are
surprising in several particulars. Perhaps
no citizen without the specific information
would guess that the North Carolina coun-
ty with the lowest percentage of illiteracy
is Dare, situated on the coast, and that the
county with the second lowest percentage
of illiteracy is Henderson, mountain
county.
The percentage of illiteracy in Dare IS
Al; 80 for whites and ISL for the ne
groes. In Henderson the percentage of IL
Iiteracy is 4.4;3.5 for whites and 13.1 for
negroes.
In percentage of illiteracy Buncombe
county is in fourth place in the State; Nc
Dowell is seventh, Pennsylvania is in eleV-
enth place, Rutherford is 31st and Polk is
35th. A majority of the mountain counties
make a good showing in this record, due to
the fact that the population is oVerWhelm-
ingly white In the eastern counties with
large negro population the illiteracy tig-
ures run high. The largest percentage OF
illiteracy in the State is in Scotland county,
where 1913 per cent. of the white people
and 81. per cent. of the negroes are litter
ate. This makes Scotlands showing 22.2
illiterates.
Some of the counties have slightly low
err percentage of white illiteracy than Hen
derson. For example, Graham's rate for
the whites is 81; Guilford's rate is 20;
Durham has rating of "a; Mecklenburg
shows 22 per cent, and New Hanover,
leading the State in white literacy, has
only II per cent. of white illiterates.
Comment by Prof. Hobbs on the show
ing made by the State as whole shows
that iIIiteracy is still big problem IN
North Carolina. The common school edu-
cational progress of the past 25 years, If
continued, would in time wipe out litter
acy in North Carolina; but the rate OF
progress in that direction has not so far
been rapid; and any serious slowing down
of the public school program means long
delay in bringing the State into condition
of complete literacy for the white people :;
not to speak of the far worse condition OF
the negroes at the present time.
In his discussion of the subject, Prof.
Hobbs says:
Ten per cent of all the people in North Carolina
ten years of age and over illiterate, according
to the 1880 census. An illiterate is who con-
fesses the inability to read and write. How many
near-ilterates there are in the state knows.
But certainly there are far more people who can
barely read and write than there are who cannot
read and write at al.
All told there are more than 236 thousand peo-
pie ten years of age and over who ilteratc.
There were 241 thousand in 1920. In other words,
the number of iterates declined only slightly The
percent of illteracy has been on the decline for
decades, but there has been little change in the
number for half-certury more.
There are more than SO thousand native white
iliterates in the state. Eighty-three thousand OF
these adults, twenty-one years of age and over
and ten thousand are white children from ten tn
twentyone years of age. During the last ten years
there was decrease of around eleven thousand in
native white illiterates in the state.
There are more than 1877 thousand illterate ne.
groes in the state, or almost exactly one-ffth of
all negroes ten years of age and over. The number
of ilterate negroes in the state increased by near
ly four thousand during the last ,ten-year period
This was due mainly to large migrations of negroes
from Georgia and South Carolina over into the
southern part of the Piedmont country. Illteracy
among negroes, as among native whites, is an adult
problem. Eghty-fve per cent of all illiterate ne
grOes are twenty-One years of age or over. Ninet