The Omaha guide., 1934-11-24
STUDENTS
HELPED BY
NEW DEAL
$337,I45 IN FERA AID
FOR STUDENTS AT
NEGRO UNIVERSITIES
Especial To The Omaha Guide)
BY EDGAR G. BROWN

A bright spot in the Southern
school situation as it pertains to edu
cationaI opportunity for Negroes dur
ing the past year has been the great
financial support by the FERA Of
which Harry l.. Hopkins, is Admin
istrater. according to Edwin Embree,
director of the Rosenwald Fund, long
a pioneer in the field of elementary
and secondary education for what ne
choose to call 'every tenth child"
Hope anew is born in the hearts
OF all lovers of a free and highly
Eterate America with the announce
nisnt this week that the Federal
Emergency Relief Administrators
Educational Comznittee, appointed by
Administrator Hopkins, consisting Of
Assistant Administrator Aubrey VIII
liams, DR.. Lewis R. Alderman. DR..
c.. F. Klinefelter. DR.. Ambrose Cali
ven aud James A. Atkins, will spend
$S37.145 during the present school
year TO keep $3.50 colored students
in Negro universities.
at is estimated a like number OF
Negroes pursuing courses of higher
education will be benefited by the
use of similar funds granted to all
She universities throughout the coun-
try, where thousands of young color
ed men and women are likewise in
attendance.
Since the days when Booker 7.
Washington, founder Of Tuskegee in
terested the late Julius Rosenwald
In Negro education. this great bene-
factor Of the race has constructed
nearly 5000 school houses in a joint
effort with local school boards. Ne
gro churches and citizens. All this
was about to be lost, however, in the
wake of the depression and the GEN.
eral wiping out OF the educational
fund in most Of the Southern States.
FERA funds came to the rescue.
They kept the schools open last year
and paid $4,000 teachers salaries, an
extra two to four months. In addition,
the Federal Emergency Relief Admin
istration's CWA and work-relief pro-
ject erected new and additional
buildings, built Fairgrounds, sanitary
outhouses, and put new roofs and
fresh coats of paint on thousands Of
these Rosenwald schools, ct cetera.
1t goes almost without saying that
one of the most vital and Ions recog-
nized as equally disgraceful and pitt
able conditions in America was the
poorly trained and oftimes illiterate
teachers in many Of these Southern
Negro schools.
The $337,145 FERA grant to Ne
gro universities in order to give
$3.50 eolored young men and women
a college education should go a long
way to correct this deficiency.
This is a New Deal hardly expect
ed by the most sanguine optimism of
yesterday.
Texas, the largest State in the
Union has 321 Negro college students
senefitting from this years FERA
educational grant of S49,140 in the
twelve colored universities of that
State.
1t is interesting to note that North
Carolina has 283 on FERA scholar
ships. only two more Negro students
than Georgia with 281. Tennessee is
next with 235 colored collegians who
have tage n~advantage Of the Cav
ernment's aid in its eight Institutions
Of higher learning for Negroes.
. Virginia has 228 students at five
universities. Howard university gets
the largest individual share Of the
FERA scholarships amounting to
$A7,6s5 for 131 students.
Fuskegee will receive sr3,0e5 for
81 students. Hampton inatitute $1l,'