American education in the 1930s was racially segregated. With few exceptions living patterns and customs led to segregated schools nationwide; in many places, especially in the South, segregation was the law. As African Americans were often the poorest members of communities, their neighborhood schools suffered from their inability to raise funds for teacher salaries and maintenance. African Americans were also unrepresented on most school boards and hence were unable to push for better funding for their schools. The average expenditure per pupil per year was eighty dollars; for African American students the average was fifteen. Nationally, more than 25 percent of all students were black, but they received only 12 percent of all education revenues and only 3 percent of funds budgeted for school transportation. Many white Americans — including many professional educators — embraced an ideology of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority and believed African Americans could not be educated.....
Order our 1930s Article
