Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/419

 EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH

403

the negro would threaten the permanency of the institution of slavery.

In 1832 the law in Alabama provided that

Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or write shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than $250 and not more than $500.

The law of 1829 in Georgia provided for a punishment of fine, whipping, or imprisonment for teaching a negro to read or write. The states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, and Virginia enacted laws forbidding the teaching of negroes. Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee excluded them from the schools.

While the northern states enacted no laws forbidding the teaching of negroes, there was much hostility to any such move- ment, and mob violence arose against colored schools in Con- necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

In 1865 the Freedman's Bureau took form. This bureau was the most active agent in founding the common-school system of the South.

In providing education for the colored children, it has become the settled policy of the South that equal but separate schools be furnished for the two races. The law of the state of Florida is representative of the laws of the other southern states : " White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school, but impartial provision shall be made for both." 29

How far these equal facilities are provided for the two races is shown by the following statistics :

SCHOOL EXPENDITURE OF SIXTEEN FORMER SLAVE STATES AND THE DISTRICT OP

COLUMBIA.

YKAB

EXPENDITURE FOR EACH RACE

SCHOOL POPULATION FOR EACH RACE

EXPENDITURE PER CAPITA or SCHOOL POPU- LATION

White

Colored

White

Colored

White

Colored

1895-96 1897-98

124,432,222 24,765,544

$5,011,362 6,451,937

5,679.755 5,828,980

2,761,205 2,844,570

4-30 4.25

I.8I 2.27

School Laws, 1897, p. 12.