Print
Word
PDF|
This section contains 270 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
|
The Great Depression also ended the self-help program of building elementary schools in most southern communities. Black income, never high to begin with, declined precipitously. In 1934 in some sharecropping areas of the South the monthly percapita income fell to $1.75. Malnutrition became a serious problem, and less was spent on schools. White school boards were more reluctant than ever to fund black schools. Nonetheless, donations of labor continued to maintain some black schools. In 1933 it was estimated that the total value of labor that rural blacks in Louisiana donated to their schools equaled $2,947.33. Yet books, supplies, and transportation could rarely be donated. Teacher salaries could not be raised. Some black schools in North Carolina could not pay for heating fuel or electricity. A 1934 letter one North Carolina teacher wrote to a white philanthropist expressed the sense of desperation plaguing black educators during the Depression:
Mr. Embree...
|
This section contains 270 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
|
