LCV Winter 2012 - (Page 79)

above: In 1919, Jane Ellen McAllister boarded a train at the depot in Vicksburg, Mississippi, appearing at the far left in this postcard as the white-columned building with a prominent cupola. She was bound for Scotlandville, Louisiana, to begin her first teaching job at Southern University. right: McAllister was born and raised in Vicksburg, pictured here ca. 1905. period lived in rural areas of the state. Educational opportunities for black children were scarce. According to one study, no publically supported secondary schools existed for blacks prior to 1917. in 1910, no black teachers in Louisiana held professional certificates, which required a master’s degree, or high school certificates, which required a B.A. it was not until 1915 that the first such certificates were issued to graduates of two-year normal schools. These teacher-training institutions represented the highest level of learning available to most African-Americans in the Jim Crow-era South. To make the plight of black Louisiana schoolchildren worse, the quality of the rural schools was poor. while 283 state-certified high schools served 358,000 white children in Louisiana, only four certified high schools — three public, one private — existed for the 342,000 black children. Miniscule funding was allocated for rural black schools. while $33.71 was spent for every white student in Louisiana, only $7.81 was available per black child. Black teachers earned less than half of their white counterparts. By the mid-1920s, with the help of a number of northern philanthropic organizations, Louisiana was able to build more rural schools and recruit and train teachers. The Jeanes Teacher Program (also known as the negro Rural School fund) was founded in 1906 by philanthropist Anna T. Jeanes, a Quaker from Philadelphia. The Jeanes Teacher Program helped train teachers and staff members at rural schools across the South. organizations such as the IN THE 1910S, WHILE 283 STATE-CERTIFIED HIGH SCHOOLS SERVED 358,000 WHITE CHILDREN IN LOUISIANA, ONLY FOUR CERTIFIED HIGH SCHOOLS—THREE PUBLIC AND ONE PRIVATE—EXISTED FOR THE 342,000 BLACK CHILDREN. Winter 2012-13 • LoUiSiAnA CULTURAL ViSTAS 79 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCV Winter 2012

LCV Winter 2012

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/lcvwinter2012/lcvwinter2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com