DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 281 959 UD 025 516

AUTHOR Ihle, Elizabeth L.TITLE Black Women's Academic Education in the South.

History of Black Women's Education in the South,1865-Present. Instructional Modules for Educators,Modules III and IV.

INSTITUTION James Madison Univ.,_Harrisonburg, Va.SPONS AGENCY Women's Educational Equity Act Program (ED),

Washington, DC.PUB DATE 86NOTE 14p.; For modules 1 and 2, see UD 025 514=515.

Photographs will not reproduce clearly.PUB TYPE Guides - Non-Classroom Use (055) -- Historical

Materials (060)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Academic Education; *Black Education; Black History;

Extracurricular Activitiesl Females; *High Schools;*Postsecondary Education; Private Education; RacialBias; Reconstruction Era; Regional Characteristics;*School Segregation; Sex Stereotypes; United StatesHistory; *Womens Education; Womens Studies

IDENTIFIERS *Black Womens Studies; United States (South)

ABSTRACTThis document is the combined third and fourth

modules of a series of four It is designed to help educators learnmore about how the double biases of sex and race have affected thequality of black women's high school and college education insouthern schools since the Civil War. The following topics arediscussed: 11) education of black women before the Civil War; (2) thepurpose of black's academic education; (3) the founding of blackcolleges; (4) founding of private and public high schools for blacks;f51 academic education in high schools* and colleges from 1900 to19501 (6) extracurricular life in high school and college; and (7)black_women in academic education today. Also included are shortarticles on Mary_McLeod Bethune, secondary vocational training, payinequity, and college women of Atlanta University in 1900. Questionsfor discussion and activities for enrichment, and a bibliography areincluded. (PS)

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Black Women's Academic Education in the South.

History of Black Women's Education in the South,

1865-Present. Instructional Modules for Education,

MODULES III and IV

"PERMISSION TO _REPRMUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN _GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

ILS-DEPARTMENTOF EDUCAnOkOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL-RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

This document-has -been reproduced-aseceived from the person or organization

originating it.0 Minor-changes-have been made to improve

reproduction quality.

Points& view or_obinionastatediathiadocu,ment do not necessarily represent officialOERI poeition or policy.

PrefaceThis document is the combined _third and

fourth modules of four designed _to helpeducators learn more abOut the double bias thathas faced black women in Southern schoolssince the_ Civil War. It is hoped _that learningabout this heritage will sensitize them to blackgirls' and women's current educational needsand will help them appreciate black women'spresent successes, efforts to achieve, andachievements.

This document describes the historicaldevelopment of elementaiy, vocational, highschool, and college education for black girls andwomen in the South. Each contains notes; abibliography, questions for distrission, andsuggested attiVitieS. The !nodules may be usedseparately or as a set.

These materials were created by Elizabeth L.Ihle at James Madison University in Harrison-butg, Virginia, with the assistance of a grantfrom the Women's Educational Equity Actpro-Exam. James Madison provided an initial facultyresearch grant to get the_study underway, andthe Rotkefeller ArthiVe Cent& prOVided a grantWhich facilitated the use of its materials. Dr. Ihlewishes to acknowledge the following libraries'and archives' cooperation _In her research:Bennett College, Fisk UniVerSity, Huston-TillOtson College, North Carolina Agriculturaland Technical University, the SchlesingerLibrary of Harvard-Radcliffe, the SouthernHistorical Collection cif the University of NorthCarolina, Spelmin College, the RockefnllerArchive Center, the Lchlesinger Library ofRadcliffe College, Tennessee State University;and Virginia State University.

A number Of individuals contributed expertiseto the project, and a debt of gratitude is owedto them all. Drs. Faustine Jones-Wilson ofHoward University and Beverly Guy-Sheftall ofSpelman College reviewed the manuscriRt andmade many helpful suggestions, though Dr. Ihletakes fuil responsirility for any inadequades stillremairdng. Thair insightful comments, patience,and enthusiasm are deeply appreciated. TheModule was also field-tested by underfgaduatesat fames Madison University. Their assistanceand that oftheir thstructors, rh. Violet A. Allenand Mt. George Joyce, offered the authorValuable student and facultyperspectives on themodule. The grant support staff of the Women'sEducational Equity Act offered linportmtcounsel whenever called upon. Fmally, JohnBlair Reeves, the author's husband, was a sourceof encouragement and the epitome of support.To all of these people; the author expressesappreciation.

Copyright 0 19a6 by Elizabeth L. Ihle_ftoduced under ascent from_the U.S.DSSeimSnt of Educa-

tion, under the auspices of the Women's Educational EttWtyAct. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflectthe position or policy of the grantee, and no official endorse-ment should be inferred.

IntroductioriWhen this grant was proposed, the module

on black women's high school ethitation Wassupposed to be entirely Separate from the oneon college education. However, research resultsdictated otherwise. They demonstrated such aclose interrelationship betwech the tWo leVelsof schooling that Separating them Would havebeen artificial and necessitated unnecessary

repetition of the arguments about blacks'atademit education. For these reasons, modulesthree and four have been combined. =

For those who wish to examine only highschool education or college education, read thefirst two settions as backgrbund and thenexamine the specific sections of interest.

Before the Civil War_ Before the Civil War black women hadbeen admitted to a few prhrate seminariesand to some public schools in the East andMiddle WeSt. Oberlin College in Ohio, forinstance; had admitted them from itsfoundintin 1833, and a few black womenhad graduated from its preparatory schooland from US lidieS seminary before theCivil War; Oberlinalso produced the firstblack Women college graduate in thenation, Maw_ Jane Patterson, who com-pleted the Oberlin college curriculum in1862, nearly thirty _ years after the firstwhite woman had earned a degree.Patterson _had had some advantagesunavailable to mbSt black women.Alth ough born in North Carolina of slaveRarentS, she had been reared aS free blackin Ohio, a state noted for its progressive

higher edittatiOn.1 The gkeat inaferityblack women did not have Patterson'sadvantages, In seekingatademic educationon either_the secondary or collegiate level;most of them had even more obstacles toovercome than did whire women; Inaddition to barriers of sex and race,poverty and geographic location stood:intheir way more ft egitently than they didfor white women. This situation was par-ticularly tharatteriatic of blatk Weiner&living in the South. _

Because slaves had been forbidden bySouthern laws to learn to read and write,it is not stirprising_that feW ex-slaves ofeither sex were prepared to receive secon-daty Or collegiate education diiiing the firtlfew decades after the Civil War. Oppor-tunities for etondary ethic-Atkin gradually

/*unwed on page 2

Kowalipe School (Alabama), 1909. (General Education Board 1054. Alabama 29. Rockefeller Archive Center.Reprinted by permission.)

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The Purpose ofBlacks' AcademicEducation

T ie form of blacks' post-elementaryeducation was publicly debated for nearly

years, from the founding of HamptonInstitute in 1868 to the death of Booker T.Washington in 1915. The philosophy of thefounders of Hampton and Tuskegee wasthat the overwhelming majority of blacksand the South as a whole could profitmainly from industrial and vocationaltraining. (See Module 2 of this series"Black Women's Vocational Education.")The other point of view, that blacks couldprofit from academic post-elementaryeducation just as whites did, was arguedpersuasively by a number of blackeducators, the best known of whom wasblack sociologist and educator W.E.B. DuBois.

Although Du Bois spoke and wroteprimarily about college education forblacks, his points applied to secondaryeducation as well. Educated at Fisk anu.Harvard, he knew the advantages of aliberal education. He argued that blacksneeded to devdop leaders and that couldbe done best by offering them the sametype of liberal studies that were availableto whites. This leadership would comefrom a "Talented Tenth" who could thenwork on uplifting the remainder of therace. Du Bois did not want simply a mirrorof white education; he believed that blacksshould be made aware of the accom-plishments of their race and should betrained to serve others. To do so, blackleaders would need data on the status ofblacks, and so he also supported the ideathat black colleges should be the centersof sociological research on blacks.2

Other supporters of academic educationfor blacks were not always as articulate asDu Bois, but they also argued thatacademic education could best produceleaders for black communities. Conse-quently, mainly academic institutionsstressed their role in preparing people forthe ministry and teaching. If the South

Before_ the Civil Warcontihued from page 1developed in the late nineteenth centurylargely in private schools which frequentlywere founded by missionary societies.Collegiate education was generally atwentieth century development, evolvingfirst from the private institutions just men-tioned and later from state initiative. Asthese educational opportunities appeared,they stirred up considerable debate as towhat was appropriate education for blacksbeyond the elementary level. Blackwomen's education was caught in themiddle of this debate as well as in con-troversies about what was proper academiceducation for women.

were going to remain segregated, theseneeds had to be filled, and thereforeacademic education for at least a few wasneeded.

One white nineteenth century educatorwho supported college education forblacks was Willi:1n Torrey Harris. Knownboth as a philosopher and as superinten-dent of the St. Louis, Missouri, publicschools, Harris decried the movementtoward industrial education for anyonebecause he thought that technology wasgrowing so rapidly that a narrow industrialeducation would make its recipientobsolete. Instead, he advocated a tradi-tional academic curriculum which wouldprovide versatility in adjusting to a rapidlychanging marketplace. Applying theseideas to blacks in the late 1890s made him,in this area, a man "before his time."3

Blacks were willing recipients of tradi-tional academic education. Having_rightlyconnected the educational attainment ofwhites with their socio-econornic position,blacks were understandably eager to getthat education for themselves. Conse-quently, their enthusiasm for the classicalacademic tradition was sometimes greaterthan their readiness to receive it. In somecases they failed to realize the extent of theacademic preparation needed in order totackle Greek, Latin, and other secondarysubjects of the day. Although their schoolsmay have been called "institutes,""seminaries," or "colleges," they mainlyfunctioned in their earliest years as elemen-tary schools because a majority of thepupils had not had an earier opportunityto attend school and still needed to learnthe academic basics. These schools mayhave offered secondary or even collegecourses to a small minority of their studentbodies, but most of their classes were atthe middle elementary level, what mightbe third through sixth grades today.

The black female's place in this con-troversy was frequently unclear. Whileeducators debated the academic or voca-tional nature of blacks' post-elementaryeducation and the degree of liberal studiesneeded, few argued over the nature ofwomen's education. A woman's sex washer destiny. Indeed, many of the opinionsexpressed about black women's educationsounded remarkably similar to what wassaid about white women's; althoughteacher training for women was fine, theirmain responsibility was to their husbandsand their children. Virtually no one wasinterested in preparing women forcommunity leadership except as teachersor as appendages to their husbands. LucyC. Laney, black educator and feminist,outlined in 1899 the responsibilities ofeducated black women: to develop theirfamily's hygiene habits, to_teach young,children, to instruct their less fortunateneighbors in_ proper housekeeping; toteach in church schools, and to inspire menand boys to improved ways of living.*

41111M1VM1

unding of theCollegesPrivate Coeducational Colleges

Most of today's private black colleges cantrace their origins to the early post CivilWar decades when missionary groupsfounded numerous schools for theex-slaves. The vast majority of theseschools were coeducational because theyneeded as many students as possible toremain open. The schools which even-tually evolved into colleges were generallyin cities or rural areas where the blackpopulation was sizeable because mostblacks could not afford to travel_ longdistances to pursue their education. Todaymost of the surviving institutions are inurban centers or in rural areas which havemaintained large black populations.

Fisk University in Nashville is one of theoldest and most famous of the privateblack (.olleges. It was founded in 1865 bythe American Missionary Association. Likemany other black colleges, most of itsstudent body in the nineteenth centurywere not in its college program but in itselementary, high school, or normal school.It also prepared young men to enter theministry. Fisk was the first black collegeaccredited by the Southern Association ofColleges and Schools in 1930. In 1917 itreported that 421/2% of its graduates wereteachers, 19% homemakers, 7% werephysicians, dentists, or pharmacists, and3% were ministers. Other occupationsreported included lawyers, businesspeople, and civil servants. The Fisk womenwere largely normal graduates; of thereported 421/2% who were teachers, 34%had completed normal training, and 7%had earned college degrees} The percen-tage of homemakers at that time alsoreflects the more comfortable economicstatus of educated blacks which allowed alarger portion of married women to stayat home; however, compared to thecollege-educated white community wherea married woman working outSide thehome was exceptional, the percentage ofblack homemakers is suite low.

Atlanta was another center of blackhigher education. It contained MorrisBrown College founded in_1881 by_theAfrican MethOdist Episcopal Church, ClarkCollege founded in 1870 by theMethodistEpiscopal Church, Atlanta Universityfounded in 1867 by the American Mis-sionary Association, and two single sexcollegesMorehouse _for men andSpelman for women. In 1929 these collegesmade a union under the guidance of theGeneral Education Board, a philanthropysponsored mainly by the Rockefellerfamilyto improve education in the South.Although each retained its separateidentity, they agreed to cross-list course

Tuskegee institute Chemistry Laboratory. (General Education Board records. 1045. Alabama 12.Rockefeller Archive Center. Reprinted by permission.

offerings and share library facilities. Eachinstitution retained its own identity, andAtlanta University became the graduateschool of the union.

The pnvate black colleges of NewOrleans have a similar history_StraightUniversity was founded in 1869 by theAmerican Missionary Association, andNew Orleans University in 1873 by theMethodists. In 1935 with encouragementand financial support from the GencralEducation Board, these schools merged toform Dillard University. It was coeduca-tional and was affiliated with a hospitalwhich offered medical and nursingeducation.

The largest of the private black collegesis in Washington, D.C. Howard Univer-sity, founded in 1867 by Congrega-tionalists, was first envisioned as a normaland theological institution. However, itsscope quickly expanded. A medical schoolopened in 1868, and a law school wasbegun the following year. Since 1928 it hasreceived annual federal appropriationswhich have enabled it to develop moreambitious academic programs than otherprivate black colleges.

Not all black colleges were in large cities.A number of the remaining 110 blackcolleges are in what used to be rural areasor small towns. Talladega College inTalladega, Alabama, was founded in 1867by the American Missionary Association asa primary schooL Its growth led to its beingthe first college in the state open to blacks.Tougaloo College, located near Jackson,Mississippi, was founded two years laterby_the same group; Among other blackcolleges in rural areas are St. Paul's Collegefounded by James Soloman Russell in 1888in Lawrenceville, Virginia, and RustCollege founded by the MethodistEpiscopal Church in 1866 in Holly Springs,Mississippi.

Private Colleges for WomenMost of the Southemblack colleges were

coeducational; a situation which was nottrue for white schools. While considerablediscussion regarding the propriety ofcoeducatiOn for white women slowed theiradmission into men's private_and publicuniversities throughout the South, thisdebate was nearly absent in the develop-ment of Southern black women's educa-tion. Considering the facts that coeduca-tion's effett upon student morality was themost controversial facet of the debate andthat blacks' morality (andparficularly thatof black women) was frequently ques-tioned, it is paradoxical that few educatorspresumed a need to _educate the sexesapart from each other. The explanation hesin economics and the value system of thetime. Operating one coeducational schoolwas less expensive than two single sexones, and money for black education wasscarce. Furthermore, it could behypothesized that despite their rhetoncfew private charities or the public caredsufficiently about blacks to insist uponsingle sex schools to protect blacks' moralhealth.

There were a few exceptions to thecoeducational status of black schools.Schools for women were frequently calledseminaries, and the earliest for blackwomen was founded on the border of theSouth in Washington, D.C., in 1851 by aNew England white woman, Myrtilla

liner: It was primarily a teacher traininginstitute which became Miner TeachersCollege and is today a part of the coeduca-tior.il University of the District ofColumbia;

Within the South itself the earliestwomans school was Scotia Seminary inNorth Carolina, founded in 1866 by thePresbyterian Board of Missions. Like many

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black schools of its day, it was largely anelementary school for its earliest decades.Having as its purpose to train "womenleaders in ihe education of and socialservice for their race," it is fitting thatScotia's most famous graduate was MaryMcLeod Bethune, who later founded herown college 6 The seminary became ScotiaWoman's College in 1916 ThePresbyterians founded another blackwoman's seminary; the Barber MemorialSeminary of Anniston, Alabama, in 1896.Ittoo eventually became a college, and in1930 the two colleges united to becomeBarber-Scotia College. In 1954 thecombined institution changed its charterand began admitting men;

Tillotson College in Austin, Texas, wasa woman's school briefly; Founded by theAmerican Missionary Association in 1877as the coeducational Tillotson Collegiateand Normal Institute, it became a collegein 1909 and excluded male students from1928 to 1935. It joined Samuel HustonCollege to _become Huston-TillotsonCollege in 1952.

The most famous of the black woman'sschools was what evolved into SpelmanCollegein Atlanta. It began as theAtlantaBaptist Female Seminary, founded in 1881by New England teachers Sophia El:

Packard and Hathet E. Giles, and wasinitially sponsored by the Woman'sAmerican Baptist Mitsionary Association.Designed primarily_to teach religion; it wasonly open to black women over fifteenuntil it established a model school twoyears later for its teacher educationstudents. The year after itsfounding JohnD. Rockefeller Sr. heard Packard speakabout the needs of the school and soonbecame its most generous financial sup-porter. Consequently, the school changedits name to Spelman Seminary m honor ofRockefeller's parents-in-law.

Spelman remained a seminary for nearlyfifty years. However, it began offeringcollege degrees in conjunction with thenearby black men's college Morehouse in1901, but only a few women took advai-tage of the opportunity. By 1923 only 30Spelman graduates had received collegedegrees.7 Spelman today is the betterknown of the two remaining blackwomen's colleges.

Bennett College, the &h.r survivingblack woman's college, in Greensboro,North Carolina, was founded 1873 as acoeducational institution by theMethodists, and it did not become awoman's college until the college wasreorganizal in 1926; M that time theenrollment was largely female, and so theWomen's Home Missionary Society of theMethodist Church decided to make it awoman's college: Bennett has the distinc-tion of being the only black woman's col-lege_ever to have had a wornampresidentDr. Willa B. Player, who served from 1955to 1966;

Pablie CollegesThe establishment of public higher

education for blacks was due largely tothree factors: thz Morrill Acts of 1862 and1890, the need for teachers created by theproliferation of elementary schooling, andthe need to produce community profes-sionals and leaders. In addition, blacksthemselves added pressure for theimprovement of their public higher educa-tional opportunities.

The first impetus for establishing statesupported schools for blacks came largelyfrom the Morrill Acts. Passed in 1862 thefirst Morrill Act pmvided funds thatencouraged the states to establishagricultural and technical education fortheir citizens. After the war a number ofSouthern states founded appropriateinstitutions for whites, but onlyMississippi, South Carolina, and Virginiaused any of their funds for blacks.Mississippi founded in 1871 what is todayknown as Akorn State, and SouthCarolina founded what is today SouthCarolina Stat College; Virginia used someof its funds to support programs atHampton Institute. (See module two"Black Women's Vocational Education"for a discussion of Hampton.)

When the act was renewed in 1890, aprovision ensured that funds would go toboth races, and within a decade otherSouthern states began using Morrill fundsto improve black education either byestablishing a state-supported blackinstitution or by assigning funds to analready established institution. Since theact specffied_agricultural and mechanicaleducatión, blacks frequently receivedjunior high or high school level industrialeducation rather than the advanced collegelevel technical and agricultural trainingthat was offered to whites. The choices ofeach sex for the technical -omponent werepredictable: male stuCcmts learne.4agricultural and mechanical trades whilegirls learned domestic science. At theNorth Carolina Asricultural and TechnicalInstitute, the curriculum was weighted soheavily in favor of "male" subjects thatblack women were excluded from theschool from 1900 to 1926.8

The need for teachers was the secondfactor in the development of black publichigher education. Most of the black Morrillschools had some sort of normal programfor teacher training, though these pro-grams until the 191111 or '20s were likelyto be at the high school level. Normaltraining was especially important to theeducational advancement of black women,who were more likely than men to becometeachers. The normal programs also servedas the highest quality publk education thatthe state offered its black citizens. As lateas 1910 the Colored Normal; Industrial,Agricultural, and Mechanical College ofSouth Carolina; for instance; provided oneof ordy two public high school programs

1964 Spelinah-College sindentieletted to Who's Who. Author Alice Walker is at far right. (Archives ofSpelman College. Reprinted by permission.

for blacks in the entire state; in additionit_ ran a model school which provided aplace in which student teachers could prac-tice and a _good quality elementary schoolfor black children in the surmunding area.9In addition to the advantages to the Morrillschool's students, the normal schooltraining helped its graduates improve theeducation of black children throughout thestate.

The need for black community leadersand professionals was a third impetus inthe establishment of blackpublic collegesin the South, and it also influenced theirgrowth. At education became more impor-tant in the smooth running of an increas-ingly complex economy and socieqr, tI eSouth began to realize the necessity _ofhaving more educated black communityleaders than the private black schoolscould produce. Thus the states began toestablish or add on baccalaureate programsto the Morrill schools. Tennessee, which

had previously assigned its Morrill fundsto Knoxville College, proclaimed in 1909that the purpose of its newly createdAgricultural and State Normal School forNegroes was "to practically train itsstudents that they may better grasp theirgreat economic opportunity in becomingcommunity _leaders, farmers, andteachers."10 Its normal program wasequivalent to two years of college until themid 1920s, when it began a baccalaureateprogram. Virginia switched its Morrillfunds from Hampton Institute to theVirginia State_ Normal and IndustrialInstitute in 1920 and authorized it twoyears laterto begin offering a baccalaureatedegree. Other Southern states did thesame. As the level_ of black public highereducation increased throughout the South,high school courses in the public collegesweresradually abandoned, reflecting thegrowth of black high school education atthe community level.

Founding the High SchoolsOddly enough, the development of the

public high school in America generallycame after the establishment of publichigher eaucation and public elementaryeducation. Most of the country establishedpublic high schools between 1870 andM), but the establishment of high schoolsfor either race in the South was mainly atwentieth century development. Becauseof the region's straitened economic situa-tion and its largely agrarian economywhich perceived little use for more thanbasic literacy, growth in the number ofpublic high schools was slow until the turnof the century. Until then, most familiesthat sought a high school education fortheir children enrolled them in privateacademies. This situation was true ofblacks as well as whites, but because ofblack families lack of funds, education,2nd nearby schools a black child was notas likely to sent to a private academy aswas a white one. In fact, for the first fourdecades after the Civil War, a black personWith just three or four years of formal

schooling was considered educated by thestandards of the day.

Black secondary education gained inpopularity largely through the efforts ofBooker T. Washington and his campaignfor industrial education. Consequently,early black secondary education had a farstronger vocational character than chdwhite high school education of the time,and the role of academics as means offostering critical thinking and developinga well rounded person was seldom con-sidered. (See Module Two, "BlackWomen's Vocational Education.")Alihough black parents and children wereoften displeased with this industrithemphasis, most had little choice andsettled for that type of secondary educa-tion rather than none at all. Manydrcumvented the industrial curriculum bytaking the normal training which wasoffered-in the high schools. It served as aback door" through which blacks got the

academic training they sought. This situa-tion was true both in tl-e private schoolsand later in the public ones.

Private High SchoolsEspecially in their early years private

schools were generally divisions of largerentitieseither the advanced section of anelementary school or the lower section ofa college or junior college. When the firstcase was true, there were often fewstudents enrolled at the high school leveland instruction was poor; in the secondcase, frequently high school students com-prised the majority of the entire institution,and the quality of work may have beengood. At some of the larger black colleges,the secondary division may have served asa model school in which student teacherscotild practice. Schools which receivedfunds from major philanthropies almostalways accompanied their academicinstructk;ri with some degree of industrialwork in keeping with the terms of theirgrant; In large cities which had publiclyfunded programs for industrial work, aprivate high school might exist as anacademic alternative and be strictlyacademic; Avery Institute in Charleston;South Carolina, was an example of this.Founded in the 1860s by the AmericanMissionary Association, Avery offeredonly normal training and collegepreparatory work.11

Typically; the high school program of aprivate school was called the preparatorylevel; implying its_ role in preparingstudents for college. If a Sehool also trained

teachers, it frequently had a normal trackas well. Although the two tracks may haveoverlapped somewhat, the normal trackgenerally assumed no more schoolingafterwards. Paine College in Augusta,Georgia, had in 1925, for example, a juniorhigh, a senior high, a two-year normalcourse, and a college program. The nor-mal program led to teacher certificationwithout additional college work. Thenormal course at Selma University inAlabama was described as "a high schoolcourse with Bible study throughout thefour years and with elementaryPsychology and methods, in the senioryear."12 Since more women than menwent into teaching and more men thanwomen went on to college, girls generallyoutnumbered boys in the normal track andwere the minority in th9 preparatory.

What eventually became one of the mostfamous normal and preparatoryschools forblack women in the South was founded byMary McLeod Bethune in Daytona;Florida, in 1904. All boarding studentswere women, though/nen were admittedas day students. In 1923 the school unitedwith the Cookman Institute for boys.Although initially offering some industrialtraining, the Bethune,Cookman CollegiateInstitute rapidly became a collegepreraratory institution and by 192.5 was

The Character of Mary McLeod BethuneWith Mrs. Betherne, there were just no short cuts, and another part of thecharacter training,

shall I call it, would be through these phrases that slie would use, like "Whatever you do,do it to the best of your ability." Over and over, you would find, "Whatever you do, do:t to the best of your ability," and so this feeling about the thoroughnessto this day, anykind of sloppiness dishubs me greatly. I think another contribution that I waWd say she madeto my Hie. Cheryl, was her attitude toward work. For instance, she would say, "Any workis honest however humble," and "In whatever you do, strive to be an artist." Wasn't thata concept? To have it drilled into you, that whatever you do, strive to be an artist.

Orderliness was another concept that became a part of my life, and even as I grow to bealmost eighty years old, I cannot bear to be disorderly. It may be just a tiny thing, but itdoes become a part of the expression of your living. I can remember many times, as adolescentswill, we'd be tired at night and we'd sort of just drop our clothes anywhere. This is whenI became a boarding student at the school, and she would come around_ and look in our roomsat night, and we had these clothes just strewn all over the place. Gently we were awakened,we had to get up and put those clothes in a neat way in our chairs. I give those little inddentsbecause it does show a facet of this woman and the influence that she had on these students.

This was a woman of strong religious beliefs. We all had to gather once a dayand thiswas a small group of 150 girls,-for her chapel talk7s. And I say here that she wove into thewarp and woof of our personality and character her philosophy of life, her inspiration, herdeep religious fervor; it was all there. And she gave to us a feeling that through God'spowerall things are possible. But it was also a time, and you'll see the relevance of this a little later,Cheryl, but it was also a thne when she _drWed Mto her students our obligation to help theless fortunate of our people. Again one of her constant expressions was, "you are being trainedto serve, go out into our community and be an example of what education training can meanto an individual." We heard this over and over again. Help our fellow man." And to methose admonitions bees. te a part, again, of my character development and in whatevercommunity I have lived, I have always engaged in activities that meant communityimprovement.

_ Excerpt frominterview of_Lucy Miller Mitchell by _Cheryl Glikes, June 17 and24 and July 1, 6, and 25, 1977. Black Women's Oral Hittory Prgect, SchlesingerLibrary; Radcliffe College, Cambridge; Massachusetts. Printed bypermission. Aftergraduating from college, Miller subsequently taught for a year in Bethune's ichool.

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cited as "the best secondary school forNegroes in Florida. "13 Bethune mterruptedher presidency in the 1930s to serve as thehead of the National Youth Administrationprogram under President Franklin D.Roosevelt, a position which broughtreccgnition to both herself and institutionshe had created. (For more informationabout Bethune, see the excerpt from theinterview with Lucy Miller Mitchell.)

A few private black high schools did notevolve into colleges. One of the mostfamous, the Palmer Memorial Institute inNorth Carolina, was founded in 1901 bya black woman, Charlotte Hawkins Brown.It remained as a college preparatoryboarding school for the children of eliteblack families until 1971 when it closed itsdoors as the increasing availability ofquality public education for blacksprecipitated a decline in enroliment.14 Stillfunctioning in Mississippi as a privatecollege preparatory school for blacks is thePiney Woods Country Life School,founded in 1909 by a black graduate of theUniversity of Iowa, Lawrence C. Jones.

Public High SchoolsBetween 1900 and 1915 the South

established over 600 four-year public highschools-for whites and nearly 600 three-year ones, but only 64 public ones existedfor blacks, and they were located mainlyin cities.15 Supplementing those werecounty training schools which were begunin rural areas beginning in the 1910s, butthey seldom-included more than tWo yearsof high school work. (See module 2, BlackWomen's Vocational Education."yeonse-quently, black youths' opportunity to geta high school education was highlydepen-dent upon their geographical location andtheir economic circumstances. Urbanyouth had more access to schooling thandid their rural counterparts; if no highschool were available and a family hadmoney to spend on education, a personcould be sent to board at a private blackschool, but most black families had todepend on public facilities.

Another factor in access appeared to besex. A 1923 study of under-age and over-age students in the county training sChoolsindirectly produced results that indicatedtiiat black girls were more likely than blackboys to continue their education. Thesurvey showed that although substan-tially more girls than boys attended thecounty training schools at every level-1through 12the difference grew wider inthe upper Fades. Nearly 10% more girlsattended than boys overall, but in theupper grades alone-9 through 12thedifference grew to 42916 ThiS trendreflected the practice in many Southernblack families of sending the older sons towork after elementary school to help

continued on page 6

6

Piiblic High Schoolsconfirmed from page 5

support the family, while girls andsometimes younger sons remained inSchool. Completing a high school educa-tion improved black girls' chances offinding good positionsmost often inteaching-,and lessened their chances ofbeing molested by white men because ofthe need to be employed i11 their homesor businesses as domestic servants. Theireducation also served as a family'seconomic insurance because the employ-ment of black men was sometimesuncertain and unstable.17 This trend con-tinued in many black colleges; morewomen than men attended. However, atthe more prestigious black institutionswhose students were more likely to comefrom families with greater economicsecurity, more men than women earnedcollege degrees; women typically enrolledin normal programs.

The dewdopment of public black highschools in Nriqinia was perhaps Vpical oftheir development elsewhere in the South;but, since Virginia generally providedbetter public education than did manyother Southern states, its record on blackpublic high schools may have actually beenbetter. Virginia's first public high schoolfor blacks was organized in 1873 inPetersburg, which had a large blackpopulation, and a second in Richmond in1876; two more were established by 1900.Then progress slowed as the popularity ofindustrial education for blacks grew andless attention was paid to academics.Although the number of white highschools in the state grew from 50 to 360between 1905 and 1910; only three morehigh schools were established for blacksbetween 1900 and 1920; Instead; numerousrural areas established county trainingschools for blacks which offered industrialeducation and junior high work. In theearly 1920s eight other Virginia cities begansteps toward creating public black highschools:"

Because of the scarcity of high schoolsand poverty of many black families; therate of high school attendance in the firstthird of the century remained low;Although more high schools were built inthe 192Cs; 26:5% of Southern blacks stilllived in counties in 1932-33 that providedless than four years of public high schoolwork. The percentages varied from highsof 58% in Arkansas and 51% in Miss,issippi to lows of 3% in Korth Carolina and0% and 4% respectively in the border statesof Delaware and Maryland.19 In theSouthern and border states the totalnumber of four-year high Schools forblacks was 807, but only 367 of them wereaccredited by their respective stateaccrediting bodies.r While 33.5% of whitesof high kho& age in the SOuth wereactually enrolled in high school; only lessthan 5% of blacks were.21

As the century wore on, high schoolattendance_and graduation rates slowlyincreased. By 1940 9.8% of the total blackpopulation were high school graduates;and ten years later that_percentage hadincreased to 14.4.22 This increase reflectednational trends towards more education,but it also reflected developments in theSouthern black communities. Even thoughblacks had been effectively denied votingrights since the turn of the century, theyhad become an increasingly noticeableinfluence in local developments. The seriesof lawsuits which integrated Southernpublic graduate schools, the struggle forsalary equalization between black andwhite teachers, and simple pressure fromthe black community had stimulated thedevelopment and expansion of black highschool education. White Southern politi-cians were beginning to reali2e that if they

truly wished to maintain segregated publicschooling, the facilities would honestlyhave to be equal. Although their motivesfor _ improving black high schools werefaulq7, the result was improved educa-tional opportunity.

The 1954 Brown v. Board-cif Education ofTopeka case, which declared thatsegregated schools were inherentlyunequal, dashed the hopes of many whiteSoutherners of maintaining segregatedschools; and the region began a very slowprocess Of integrating its schools. One ofthe most famous incidents in this processwas the integration of Little Rock HighSchool in 1957; and six girls were amongthe nine black Students who tried to enroll.The resulting resistance by Arkansas'sgovernor forced the involvement of thefederal government and then the closingof all the city's public schools for a year.

Secondary Vocational Training

Dr: Faustine C. Jones-Wilson, now aprofessor at Howard University and authorof A Traditional Model of Educational Excellence: Dunbar I-14h School of Little Rcick,Arkanats; recalled her experiences at Dunbar in the 1940s in an interview with theauthor September 27, 1985:

Ell: Did the curriculum of Dunbar offer different courses according to sex,such as home economics for girls and shop for _boys?FTW: Yes. I remember that the guls had a year of Clothing in seventh gradeand a year of Foods in eighth grade. In ninth grade, girls took Laundry.These were required courses in grades 7-9. It is interesting that white girlsdid not have laundryincluded in their curriculum.

As best as I can recall, elective courses in Clothing & Foods were offeredgirls in 10, 11, 12. Trade Clothing was a vocational option for girls. Thischoice could be made singlya vocational onlyor with regidar high schoolrequired courses. The latter option provided the female graduate with aregular high school diploma and a trade certificate that would make heremployable as a tailor or as a "finished" seamstresssay at high-classdepartment store or a women's fashion store.

With respect to Foods , I recall that we had several kitchens with varyingdesrees of equipment and sophistication. There was an "unfinished"kitchen where service techniques were emphasized. We were taught to setthe table properly, and how to serve the family and guests correctly. Therewas a green or blue kitchen (I forget which) with "intermediate" facilities,and a white kitchen with deluxe features. The idea was that girls wouldbe prepared to cook and serve in any kind of kitchen in different typesof homes. 7 am sure that it was assumed that many of us would be domesticservants or laundry workers.

Our laundry course included heavy commercial equipment use; as wellas home-style washers and how to iron on commercial presses as well ashow to use a regular home-type iron; We learned to stretch curtains (afterstarching them heavily) on the pronged stretchers. Most of us hatedLaundry, but liked Clothing and Foods well enough at the 7th and 8th gradelevels. . . .

In the llth grade many of us; girls and boys; took bookkeeping,eventhough we were college,bound. We also took Geometry. We had to beemployable; if need be:

In the 12th grade many girls (including me), took shorthand and typing.Our teachers were strict and always emphasized doing things right. Onlya few boys took shorthand and typing, for males were ridiculed if theyselected this "female" option:

Shaping Academic_EducThe Colleges

As was the case with high schoolattendance, black women were more likelyto attencicollege than men, thus reversingthe trend among whites. However, blackwomen were enrolled more frequentlythan men in normal programs and thenumber of their baccalaureate degrees didnot outnumber men's until 1940.23 Blackwomen's post-secondary education wasdesigned more for practical work in theblack community than as traditionalacademic studies; most women in the earlyand mid-twentieth century becameteachers or homemakers." At PaineCollege in Augusta, Georgia, at the endof the Second World War 70% of graduateswere women, 90% of whom went intoteaching; after the war more women beganmoving into social work and other fields.Women tended to return to rural areaswhile men migrated to large cities,entering teaching, the ministry; and postaland government services.25 This patternwas typical throughout the South;

Overall, blacks' access to highereducation increased _remarkablythroughout the South as the twentiethcentury wore on, but it still did not equalto that of whites. Black higher educationwas underfunded and frequently isolatedfrom the academic mainstream. Blacks didnot have the same access to public highereducation as did whites; in 1930 the ratioof blacks to whitesin public collegesof theSouth averaged 1:16, with a high in NorthCarolina of 1:6 to a low in Texas of 1:39.:-8

The curriculum at black colleges variedsignificantly _from school to school andcertainly evolved as decades passed, buton the whole private black colleges offeredmore college work in the traditional liberalarts mold, while public colleges offeredmore vocationally oriented studies. Thisdivisic i w3s due to the schools' differentheritages. The students at the private blackcolleges, which had most frequently beenfounded by missionary societies, wereinstilled with their early teachers'appreciation of the liberal studies tradition.The largely white Southern state govern-ments which founded the public schoolswere interested in economic improvementwhich they perceived would come mostquickly through direct vocational trainingfor black students; These curricular distiac-tions between private and public blackcolleges were slow to fade in the twentiethcentuw. Even past mid century privatecolleges generally offered a broader; moretraditional curriculum, whilepublic institu-tions offered more vocationally orientedprograms.v

Few black students went into scientificfields, and tWo likely reasons why wereinadequate secondary preparation andinability of financially strapped institutions

19004950

College aass. Huston-Tillotson Collne. (General Education Board records. 1054. 849 Annual Report,1952. Rodkefeller Archive Center. Reprinted by permission.)

to provide adequate laboratories andfacilities. In 1940 a survey reported that23% of black college students chose voca-tional majors (agriculture, industrial arts,home economics), 22.6% chose humani-ties, and 22.3% chose education. Between1940 and 1963 the number of black voca-tional majors declined from 23% to 6.1%;other majors experiencing losses were thehumanities and physical science.Simultaneously the number of blackschoosing business, education, the arts,health, and social sciences increased.28

Men and women were usually notoffered quite the same curriculum in eitherpublic or private black colleges. In somecases their academic opportunities werenot even the same; Paine College and FiskUniversity, for instance, offered freetuition to men who were planning to enterthe ministry but made no similar offer towomen. In nearly every college womenwere frequently required to take one ormore home economics courses in addition

to their other studies regardless of theirvocational preferences.

In 1933 Lucy D. Slowe, dean of womenat Howard University, surveyed forty-fourblack colleges about their offerings forwomen. Noting that it was no longerappropriate to assume that every womanwould spend her entire adult life workmgin the home and that the increasinglycomplex world required better informedcitizens; Slowe argued that collegesneeded to broaden their curricularofferings for women and to give womenmore opportunities for leadership. Shereported that less than 10% of black collegewomen were enrolled in political science,economics;_psychology; or sociology andthat fewer than fiftypercent of thecollegeshad student government associations. Shealto criticized the goal of educating womenonly to be the adjuncts of men and the lackof women in colleges! policy .makingpositions.29 Her article apparently caused

continued on page 8

Pay Inequity: One Woman's ExperienceIn 1921 the Prst three black women ever to receive Ph.D. degrees graduated within

several weeks of each other. One of them, Eva Beatrice Dykes, taught at HowardUniversity for a number of years before assuming a position at Oakwood Collegein Alabama where the following incident occurred.

One of the men teachers here, by the name of Sumpter, said to me, !'0h, MissDykes, did you get your promotion?" And I said, "What promotion?" And hesaid, "Well, you know, all the teachers were promo Led." I said, "Well, I didn'tget any promot" So when I saw President Peterson, I said to him, "Presi,dent Peterson, I understand thatsorne of the teachers got a promotion. And Ididn't get one." And I was just like a child, curious, you know, why I didn't.And he said to me in his inimitable way, with his hands stretched out wideican see him now, standing_on the steps of Moran Hall"Well, you are a woman.That's why you didn't get it." And he was one of my dear friends:A said;''ftesident Peterson, if I go over here to the snore arid want to buy a loaf of bread,do I get a reduction because I am a woman? If I want togo downtown and buyclothes do I g,et a reduction because I am a woman? So that has existed all downthmugh the ages, that discrepancy.

Excerpt_ frominterview of Eva B. Dykes by Merze Tate; November 30,-December1, 1977. Etlatk Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College,Cambridge Massachusetts. Printed by permission.

Shaping Academic Educationcontinued from page 7

no immediate major curricular shifts, anda number of her conclusions were simplyahead of their time. Although the numberof black students studying the socialsciences grew from 11.7% in 1940 to 17%in 1963 and students were gradually givenmore control over campus life, Slowe'sconcern about the purpose of women'seducation and women as college officialsdid not receive widespread attention. Asthe decades wore on, black women'smajors gradually changed. In 1963 theirtop choices of major were elementaryeducation, social science, education,English, and biology."

Nursing also became an increasingpopular major in mid-century as hospitalbased nurse training gave way to collegebased nurse education with attendantbaccalaureate degrees. Black womenheaded up two of the earliest degreegranting nursing programs: Rita Miller atDillard University in New Orleans andMary Elizabeth Lancaster Carnegie atFlorida A & M."

Other careers which became increasinglypopular with women college students inthe mid twentieth century were socialwork and librarianship. Since both of theseoften required advanced degrees andopportunities for blacks to do graduatework in most Southern states were limited,Atlanta University became the center ofpreparation for both of these areas.

Women were represented on the facultyof nearly every black college: They tendedto hold the lower faculty ranks and teachin traditionally women's areas (teachertraining, fine arts, home economics}. Manyserved as matrons in the women'sresidence hall or as deans of women. In anumber of cases they did not have degreescommensurate with male faculqr whichmay have been a factor in their lower pay,but that - ..uation was n )t always true asthe excerpt on pay inequity reveakSpelman, quite possibly because it was awomen's college; had more women on thefaculty than most schools; in fact, it hadall female presidents, albeit white ones,until 1953.

High Siilyol CurriculumMany of the early black high schools

combined academic and industrial pro-grams. The latter were generally favoredby whites and most educators of either racewho thought that industrial education builtcharacter and provided more useful skillsand more rapid assimilation of blacks intothe -work force. The first major nationalreport rn black education, published in1916, decried black resistance to industrialeducation and black's faith in academics.32

Black families, however, often favoredacademic programs because they correctlyperceived that an academic education waslikely to lead to better jobs or an oppor-

tunity for further education. Many familiesactually moved to new communities wherethey thought their children could get betterschooling; in cases where only industrialeducation was provided, they struggled topay tuition to private academic highschools; Sadie Green Oglesby, a wellknown black educator and civic leader inCharleston, South Carolina, was taken outof the nearby public high school in the1910s and placed in Avery School, aprivate academy, because her father didnot approve of the public school'sagricultural curriculum."

VIM

The high school curriculum remainedpredictably stereotyped with girls takinghome economics and boys taking shop.One of the most outstanding black publichigh schools in the South, Dunbar in LittleRock, Arkansas, offered a complete line ofvocational courses along with a full com-plement of academic offerings. (See theinteiview with Dr. Faustine C. Jones-Wilson.) Slowly, however, the demand foracademics first in urban areas and then inrural ones forced the inclusion of increas-ing numbers of academic courses in blackhigh schools.

Extra Curricular LifeHigh School

Extrncurricular life for black secondarystudents was somewhat dependent on thetype of institution offering the instruction.Private black boarding schools, whichfrequently served students from rural areaswhere no public high school was yetavailable, had rules similar to those in blackcolleges with stricter rules for girls thanboys. In the 1940s, for instance, CottonPlant Academy, located in a town of samename in Arkansas, allowed boys to leavethe campus unchaperoned but not thegirls." However, regardless of whether aschool was public or private, good man-ners were stressed more for girls than forboys.

One of the most highly touted publichigh schools for blacks in the South,Dunbar m Little Rock, opened its doors inthe late 1920s and by 1930 offered an arrayof eXtra-curricula* activities. Many_likeStudent Council, Health Club, Thrift Club,CitiZenship Club, Monitor's Club; LibraryClub, Orchestra, Story Tellers Club,Dramatic Club, Science Club were open toboth sexes, but the focus of some of themlike health, thrift, and citizenship appearedto be an echo of the character training soprevalent in earlier black education: Otherclubs served only one sex. The boys couldchoose from Boy Scouts, several athleticclubs, and the Boys' Glee Club, while thegirlS could participate in the Girls'Iteserve,Campfire Girls, one athletic club, and aGirls' Glee Club.35 By the 1940 activitieswere less sex-segregated and more closelyresembled high schools today: most clubswere not restricted by gender, and theGlee Clubs had been combined into achoir. The girls had cheerleading andbasketball."College_ Extracurricular life at virtually allSouthern black colleges in the first half ofthe twentieth century was restrictive andeven Victorian. Although the degree ofrestriction varied from one institution toanother and lessened as the decadesmoved o.i, much of early twentieth cen-

10

tury black college life was enmeshed inregulations and rules that are quite foreigoto college students today: Behind theserules lay subtle racism and sexism. Anumber of colleges justified their closescrutiny of students' lives as a means ofimproving blacks'_ perceived low moralstandards and of educating them in properways of living. Since the moral reputationof black wcithen was even less highlyregarded than that _of men; colleges forcedwomen to live under tighter rules. Moralimprovement was the most frequentreason cited for tight control of students,but there was a more subtleone. Collegetrustees, administrators, and faculty werefearful that _a freer _atmosphere mightprompt- student actions which wouldgenerate unfavorable publicity, jeopardizefuture philanthropic orlegislative support,and diminish relations with the sur-rounding community. Consequently, rulesthat had been abolished in white institu!.tions long ago _persisted in a number ofblack institutions well into the twentiethcentury.= Black women in college were treateddifferently from men because their liferoles were considered distinctive and theirmorality in greater jeopardy, perceptionsthat were slow to change. Evidence ofthese distinctions were common m collegeliterature. From 1894 until early 1930's forinstance, the Fisk University Qtatog carrieda_ statement that it recognized "theabsolute necessity of the right edualtion ofthe girls and young women of the racewhose elevation and advancement it wasfounded to promote. ThP highest interestof every race and community _dependslargely upon the intelligence, frugality,virtue, and noble aspirations of _itswomen."37 A Spelman alumna noted thatthe aim of her alma mater _was to "trainhomemakers teachers and nurses, andthrough religious influences to help elevatethe Negro race as a whole. "38 This specialattitude toward women affected all aspectsof their college lives. In addition to theimpact it made on their curricula; it af-fected their dress habits, and relationswith the other sex. (See excerpt "College

Women of Atlanta University.") Althoughwhite colleges had abandoned uniforms inthe 1800s, a number of black colleges werevery much concerned with dress.Although both sexes were fre-quently warned not to bring fancy clothesto the campus, college women morefrequently than the men were sometimesrequired to wear uniformsusually navyblue skirts and blouses for weekday wearand white dresses for Sundays and specialoccasions. This practice was one of severalwhich eventually caused a student revoltat Fibk. W. E. B. Dubois, a Fisk alumnus,observed in 1924 that "College women areput in uniforms in a day when we reserveuniforms for these who are organized tomurder, for lackeys and for insane asylumsand jails. Not only is the system ofuniforms at Fisk ineffective and wasteful,but its method_ of enforcement ishurniliatingand silly."39

Fisk also had amongather restrictions a"lights out" policy at 10:00p.m., rUles pro-hibiting smoking; prohibitions against menand women students walking together oncampus, compulsory chapel; and censor-ship of the student newspaper. Thib situa-tion finally caused_ a student revolt in1924-25 and the resignation of the presi-dent. Reform was instituted gradually, butthe double standard was retained. Menwere allowed to smokein 1927;_but womenhad to wait until 1935. the "lights out"policy was lifted only in the men'sdorms .49

Social activities were carefully regulated;and many centered around religion. Manyinstitutions had daily chapel programsplus church school and worship onSunday morning. Even as recently as 1950;Paine College advertised its daily chapelprograms to tourists on their way toFlorida:_ "Do you enjoy them [Negrospirituals] as only the Southern Negro cansing them?" queried its brochure.'" Theprograms' purpose was not only to benefitthe participating students but also to attractgifts from visitors; naturally, the emphasison spirituals reinforced traditionalstereotypes.

Many social activities were designedonly for one sex. Black colleges, like manywhite ones of the time; had a number ofliterary societies which met to discussissues or literature and provide fellowship.The Tennessee Agricultural and IndustrialInstitute had two such societies in 1926;one for each sex, an4 considered theseorganizations_ so important for thestUdents' development that membershipwas compu1sory.42 At a number of_collegesthese societies met on Saturday njghts andprovided weekend entertainment.

AS the century progressed, the literarysocieties gradually give_ way to socialclubs. At Tennessee Agricultinal andIndustrial Institute where more womenthan men enrolled, there were seven Sacialclubs for women and five for_men in1926.43 Beginning in the early 1900s these

clubs began to be transformed intosororities and fraternities. The two earliestblack sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha andDelta Sigma Theta, were founded atHoward University in 1908 and 1913respectively. In the early 1920s two moreblack sororities were founded: Zeta PhiBeta in 1920 and Sigma Gamma Rho in1922. All four sororities quickly expandedbeyond social activities into service to theblack communities.

Since the majority of black institutionsdid not allow their students as muchfreedom as did Howard, students oftenwere not allowed to form a Greekorganization on campus. Consequently,the sororities were frequently founded inthe surrounding community; even aftermost black colleges invited the sororitiesto organize on campus, the tradition ofstrong lifetime alumnae involvementremained.

An important aspect of many blackwomen's extracurricular life was collegeemployment. A 1930 surveymdicated thattwenty-eight percent of black womenworked while they attended college, whileonly 0.64% of white women attendingprivate women's colleges and 7% in publiccoeducational ones did so." Blackwomen's high rate of employmentreflected not only the smaller financialresources of many black families but alsothe expectation that black women as wellas men needed to be prepared to earn aliving since work for black men was notalways available or steady. Althoughinstitutions for blacks and for whitesshared the aim of developing cultured,well-mannered citizens, black collegesgenerally had a stronger emphasis on pro-ducing citizens of both sexes who wereprepared to work outside the home.

Social activism became an increasinglyprominent dimension to black women'sextracurricular life as the twentieth centurywore on: In the 1930s a number of blackcolleges ran workshops and clinics to

9

improve black health and home life, andwomen often initiated their organization.Women demonstrated a more publicactivism in the 1950s and 1960s as theyparticipated in civil right§ activities. In 1956Autherine Lucy, the daughter of asharecropper, became the firSt black to beadmitted to the University of Alabama.Although she was expelled three days afterher admission because of violence directedagainst her, her courageous stand set anexamp:c for others. In 1963 VivianMalonebecarr. ...ne first black to graduate from theuniversity. Spelman students participatedin many civil rights activities taking placein Atlanta, and one Spelman graduate,Marian Wright Edelman, was involved inthe founding of the Student Non-ViolentCoordinating Committee. She subse-quently became the first became the firstblack woman to pass the bar in Missi-sippi. Later she founded and led theChildren's Defense Fund, a nonprofitchildren's advocacy group in Washington,D. C. In 1980 she became the secondwoman and the first black to chairSpelman's Board of Trustees.45

In 1972 the passage of the amendmentsto the HigherEducation Act brought a newdimension of equity into the education ofall women. The portion of the act knownas Title IX said that:

No person in the United States shall, onthe basis of sex, be excluded fromparticipation in, be denied the benefitsof, or be subjected to discriminationunder any education program or activityreceiving federal financial assistance.

By the time the government developedregulations interpreting Title IX, educatorswere already braced for some changes.Although Title IX's biggest impact hascome in the area of equity in athletics, itstimulated other changes too. In the realmof education, Title DC was for women whatTitle VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act wasto blacks. Title IX was followed two years

continued on page 10

College Women of Atlanta University: 1900GFB: Why didn't they let boarding students, why didn't they let them go off campus?BEU: Well, they_went off campus only by permission and with a matron, with somebodywho took them. The girls wouldgo to town on Saturday afternoon. Other afternoons, I guesssome other afternoons, but there was a woman who came and chaperoned the girls. Boyswere allowed to go off campus certWn hours after school, _but the girls were not. The girlsstayed on the campus Unless they had special permission and were accompanied by somebodywho was in charge.GFB: Right. Because I know that happened at Spelman, the young ladies used to have towear their dresses and gloves when they went downtown. Was that required of A. U. girls?BEU: No.CFB: NO?

BEU: No, they didn't have to do that. They expected them to look presentable, of course.All I know is I just wore whatever I had. It was vet), presentable because I came from thecountry, and my mother nmde gl of my clothes; they were very simple dresses and I was small.

EXcerpt from interview of Bazoline Usher by Gay Francine Banks, March 22, 1977.Black Womens Oral History Project; Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College,Cambridge, Massachusetts. Printed by permission.

11

10

Blaek Mmen inAcademic EducationToday

It is difficult to know what is happeningto blacks in academic education todaybecause recent data are often promptlypublished and are not often broken downby race and sex. Some observers claim thatresearch about minorities in higher educa-tion insufficent and that recent cutbacksand delays have even made the situationworse. The main government report abouthigher education, the Higher EducationGeneral Information Survey, has beenrunningso far behind in recent years thatits data are less useful that they could be."Howard Universiqr's Institute for theStudy of Educational Policy, which waseStablished in 1974 as a research center onissues affecting equal opportunity forminorities in higher education, hasrecently been dismantled as eresUlt ofbudget cuts. Added to this probWm is thefact that few studies which have been donehave examined minority groups by sex. Itis likely that many disseminators of datasimply assume that all blacks have thesame educational experience regardless ofsex and that all women have the sameexperience regardless of race, assumptionswhich unwittingly display racist and sexistattitudes. Because of this lack ofsufficiently specific data, it is difficult toassess accurately what is happening toblack women. The data that are availableindicate both increasing achievement andpersistent problems.

Secondary Schools TodayBlack women of high school age have lost

igound in thepast decade due in Nrt tothe related problems of poverty insufficienteducation, teenage pregnan, and the lackof available jobs. More fourteen and fifteenyear-old black women dropped out ofschool in 1981 (3%) than ten years earlier(1%); although the figures for black males

Extra Curricular Lifecontinued from page 9later by the passage of Women's Educa-tional Equity Act (VVEEA) which has a goalof promoting educational equity for girlsand women. It provides grants for thedevelopment of programs and materials tohelp achieve this goal in educationalsettings from preschool tlirough highereducation, social services agencies, andother educational settings:" The WEEAprogram was especially important tominority women because it was the firstsignificant program in the nation to solicitproposals that especially sought to benefitpopulation groups who were victims ofboth sexism and racism:

1976 Spelman College graduation. (Archives ofspelman College. Reprinted with permission.)

of the same age also climbed during thatperiod-, the rise in male dropouts went onlyfrom 2.3% to 2.7%. For sixteen and seven-teen year olds the news was better as thedropout rate decreased over the sameperiod, but the decrease was not so sharpfor females (9.2% to &7%) as for males(9.4% to 7.2%)." These figures may reflectthe Rroblems of the high pregnancy rateamong teenage blacks. Although the actualrate of teenage pregnancy is now decliningamong blacks (but still increasing forwhites), black girls currently account forhalf of all teenage births." The need forchild care may be only one disincentive toremaining in school. The fact that each yearof . school does not currently increaseemployment for blacks may be another:"These factors are prime contributors tosingle black women heading the poorestfamilies in the country with a medianincome of $7510 in 1981.51 Given these data,it is not surprising that between 1970 and1982 households headed by black femalesincreased from 28 to 41% compared to a 9%to 12% increase for whites." These data onthe dropout rate, job availability, and pover-ty combine to predict a depressing andworsening cycle of deprivation:

For black women who remain in highschool, the news is better They outperformtheir male counterparts but are stillseriously deficient in academic achieve-ment. Thirty-eight percent of black females,ages 14 to 17, are not performing _at gradelevel as compared to 43% of males,according to the National Black ChildDevelopment Institute." A study ofmathematics education by_ the NationalASsessment of Educational Progress notedthat blacks of all ages gained more thanwhites in mathematical knowledgebetween 1977 and 1931, but the study didnot break down the data bY sex." Anotherstudy of black female participation inmathematics courses, however, indicates aneed for counseling; student-teacherinteraction, and administrative leadershipfor making a substantial_ difference inmathematics achievement"

Overall; blacks of either sex and womenof any race are less likelyto enroll in anacademic high school curriculum and aremore likely to be in a vocational programthan white males or other races." This

12

limits the numbers of black women whocan continue their education.

Higher Education TodaySince the percentage of black high school

graduates attending college has dropped11% between 1975 and 1981; the currentoverall pattern of blacks' collegeenrollment is not encouraging." Whereasapproximately 32% of whites go on tocollege, only 27.8% of blacks do:58 Blacksand women are both underrepresented inacademic education: Blacks; who form11.7% of the population, only account for9;9% of academic postsecondary educa-tion. Likewise, women disproportionatelychoose vocational postsecondary educa-tion." In spite of these statistics, blackwomen appear to have made modest gainsin college attendance in recent decades.Black women formed 55% of the blackcollege student population in 1%2:63, 52%in 1973; and 58% in 1982;0 Although thesegains_ are not dramatic, they seemimpressive as a countertrend to blacks'overall drop in college attendance.

Remaining incollege can be a challenge;Although the dropout rate for minoritiesis similar to that of whites after controllingfor socioeconomic factors, 48% of blackcollege-bound seniors in 1981 came fromfamilies with incomes of less than$12;000:81 Exacerbating the situation is thatboth blacks and women are likely toreceive less financial aid than white men;In 1983 blacks received 4.7% less financialaid than they did in 1978; and women onthe average receive less financial aid thanmen:82 In 1981-82 a womm's average grantwas $1,216 as compared to a man's of$1;373; low-income women received fewerGuaranteed Student Loans than did low-income _men; and women are currently notallowed to count child-care expenses incomputing their need:" The result of thelikelihood of less financial ald -is thatminority women will attend less expensiveinstitutions and for shorter peri6ds of time,thus decreasing their earning power;opportunities for career advancement, andchances for earning graduate degrees.

Since 1970 and the beginning of court-ordered desegregation of public institu-tions, blacks of both sexes have becomeincreasingly dispersed_ _throughout theeducational system: in 1976 18% of blackstudents attended traditionally blackinstitutions; in 1982 the percentage wasdown to 16.1%." The number of blackwomen's colleges has remained at tWeiwith Bennett in Greensboro, NorthCarolina, enrolling nearly 600 for the1985-86 academic year and Spelman inAtlanta with a record enrollithent of nearly1700. Although college_ graduation ratesamong black students overall havedecreased from 65% in the 1930s to 45-60%in 1978, black women are graduating inever higher numbers." In 1976 they corn,prised 56% of black graduating seniors and59% in 1981."

What happens to black women in collegehas attracted little research. The _mostrecent and best known study of blackcollege women was part of alarger studyconducted by Jacqueline Fleming. Insurveying black college students in bothblack and white colleges ta determinewhich kind of college served blackstudents better, she found that femalestudents of either race became lessassertive when they were educated withmen. She learned that black womensometimes feel that they are lesscompetent than men but that facts of theirperformance prove otherwise. In blackcolleges black women lose social asser-tiveness skills but not in predominantlywhite colleges where few black men areavailable. Nevertheless black women inwhite colleges suffer "from emotionalpain, social isolation, or aroused fearsabout their competence"67. For blackwomen, both predominantly white andpredominantly black schools have theirstrengths and weaknesses for intellectualand personal growth.

Data on postgraduate education indicatethat this level of education remains asource of critical concern. Although blackenrollment in first-professional degree pro-grams has increased significantly in recentyears, blacks comprise only 5% of the totalprofessional enrollment. Black women,however, represent 46% of total blackenrollment in U.S. medical achools as com-pared to white women's 31% of total whiteenrollment.68 Blacks like whites appear tobe moving away from graduate school infavor of professional studies, and theirenrollment in graduate study has declined.Between 1974 and 1980 black graduateenrollment dropped 8%.69 This decline willseriously affect the availability of the blackfaculty in higher education who serve asrole models to students of all races.

ConclusionThe assessment above black women's

academic education indicates that educa-tional equity between the races or betweenthe sexes has not arrived. Poverty andinaccessibility of educational facilitiesdeprived generations of black women ofeducational opportunity and continue todo so today. Sexist and racist stereotypingstill mold available academic education,although less so today than in decadespast: Little research has focused on theeducational experiences of black women.

Where should black women's academiceducation go from here? Research needsto focus on black girl's and women'seducational experiences to assessdifferences of sex and race and to makeeducation mare effective. On the highschool level educators should_ increaseefforts to encourage girli' carefill thinkingabout their futures and to provide morerole models of successful black women.

IN,w initiatives are needed to encourageyoung black women to seek collegepreparatory programs and widenedvocational opportunity. Although thesemeasures can also be useful on the collegelevel, colleges need to examine their effec-tiveness in assisting black women developaffectively as well as cognitively. Fleming'sstudy deserves careful scrutiny.

Despite the serious problems remainingin black women's academic education,black women have made outstandingprogress since attaining their freedom justa hundred and twenty years ago. Theymaximized their previously limited optionsto achieve greater educational achievementthan black men at the secondary, college,and postgraduate levels. As sexualattitudes changed, black women havetaken advantage of a widened array ofinstitutional and curncular choices. Blackwomen's academic education has come along way and should continue to developto meet the ever-widening challenges ofthe future.

Questions for Discussion1. How did the purpose of black women'satademic education evolve over the years?What is it today? To what degree, if at all,should race and/or sex be variables indetermining a person's education?2. Supporters of women's colleges arguethat an all-female environment producesgraduates who are more likely to achievethan are female graduates of coeducationalinstitutions. Recent research demonstrates,for instance, that a higher percentage ofgraduates of women's colleges areaccepted into medical school thangraduates of coeducational ones. Whatwere the factors in developing coeduca-tional or single-sex institutions for blacksin the South? Do you think that the rigidrules of black coeducational colleges of theearly 1900's produced an enhancedenvironment for their women students?Why or why not?3. Even today, the choice of students'college majors is significantly affected bytheir sex; This study illustrated thathistorically race has also been a factor.How has choice of major affectedindividuals' subsequent lives? To whatdegree should effort be made to steerpeople into or away from particular majorstoday?4. What are some of the historical reasonsthat black women tend to pursue moreeducation than black nwn? Do thosereasons still hold true today? What kindof implication does their larger attendancehold for their future?

Activities1. Investigate one of the historically blacksororities. Information could be obtainedfrom a chapter on a nearby campus or froma gronp's national office. The addresses are

1 3

11

Alpha Kappa Alpha/5211 S. GreenwoodAve./Chirago, IL 60615; Delta SigmaTheta/1707 New Hampshire Ave.N.W./Washington, D.C. 20009; SigmaGamma Rho/840 East 87th St./Chicago, IL60619; Zeta Phi Beta/1734 New HampshireAve. N.W./Washington, D.C. 20009.2. Examine some old high school year-books or annuals. Consider tracing theevolution of high school activities at a tradi-tionally black high School through anumber of years or compare activities withthose in a traditionally white high schoolof the same year. What conclusions canyou draw from your examination?3. Interview a black graduate of a particularkind of school (women's or coeducational,segregated or integregrated, public orprivate) and compare the interviewee'smemories to the generalizations of thismodule.4. If there was an historically black highschool or college in your area, learn aboutits current situation. How did efforts tointegrate and to provide equal educationalopportunity affect the institution? Develophypotheses about the reasons for itscurrent status.

Notes'Jeanne L. Noble, The Negro Woman's College

Education (New York: Teachers College Bureauof Publications, 1956), p. 19._21bymondWolters, The NewNegro on Ompus:Black College ReEellions of the 1920s (Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 18-28.

3Edward A. Kru& The Shaping of the AmericanHigh School 1880-1920, L(MaWson, WI:_TheUniversity of Wisconsin Press, 1969), p. 209.

°Cynthia Neverdon-Morton, "Self-HelR Pro-grams As Educative Activities of Black Womentn the South, 1895,1925:_ Focus on Fom _KeyAreas," Journal of Negro Education, 51, 3 (1982),209.

3Fisk University News, 7, 12 Oanuaiy, 1917), pp.25 And 27._

°Hugh Victor Brown, A History of the Educa-tion of Negroes in North Carolina (rpt. 1960; AnnArbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1971), p. 81.

'Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Jo Moore Stewart,Spelman: A Centennial Celebration, 1881-1921(Atlanta: Spelman College, 1981), p. 44.

°Brown, p. 95.°John F. Potts, Sr. A History of South Carolina

Slate Colkge,_(Columbia, S.C.: The R.L. BryanCompany, 1978), p. 30.

"Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial Bulletin,1918, p. 2.

"Interview of Sadie Green Oglesby,Charleston, South Carolina, by Elizabeth L. Ihle,October 4, 1985.

nLetter to Wallace _Buttrick_frorn David E.Cloyd, April 5, 1903, General Education Boardrecords. Series 1.1. Wox 2, Folder 12. RockefellerArchive Center._13Jackson_ Davis, "Memo about Daytona-Cookman Collegiate Institute," January 14,1925, General Education lloard records. Series1.1. Box 33, Folder 304. Rockefeller ArchiveCehter.

14Sandra N. Smith and Earle H. West,"Charlotte Hawkins Brown," Journal of NegroEducation, 51, 3 (1982), 192.

continued on page 12

Notescontinued from page 11

"Thomas Jesse Jones, Negro Education: A Studyof the Private and Higher Schools for Colored Peoplein the Wilted States, I (rpt. 1916; New York: ArnoPress and the New York Times, 1969), p. 37.

"Leo Mortimer Favrot, "A Study of CountyTraining Schools for Negroes in the South," 23(Charlottesville, VA: Occasional PapersPublished by the Trustees of the John F. SlaterFund, 1923), p. 80._ 171 am grateful to my consultant Dr.EaustineC. jones-Wilson for providing much of theinformation in this parawaph.

"John /vI. Gandy, "Public High Schools forVirginia Negroes," &uthern Worknutn, 53, July,1924, 311647.

""Public Secondary Schools for Negroes inthe Southern States of the United States," no.29 (Washington,_ D.C.: Occasional _PapersPublished by the Trustees of the John F. SlaterFund: November 29, 1935), p. 72.

"Edward E. Redcay, County Training Schoolsand Public Secon&ry Education for Negros(Washington: John F. Slater Fund, 1935), p. 52.

"Chas. H. Thompson, "Introduction: TheProblem of Negro Higher. Education," journalof Negro Education,- 2, 3 (1933),259.

22Hénry Allen Bullock, A History of NegroEducation in the South: From 1619 to the Present(New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), pp.174-75.

"Noble, Table 2."Betty Collier-Thomas. "The Impact of Black

Women in Education: An Historical Overview,"The Journal Of Negro Education; 51, 3 (Snm-rner,1982), 177.

25Interview of Robert D. Calkins with E. C.Peters, October 14, 1947, General EducationBoard _records. Series_ 1.1. Box 58. Folder 518;RUckefeller Archive Center.

26Thompson, "Introduction", 264."Earl J. McGrath, The Predominantly Negro

Colleges and Universitilsin Transitkni (New York:Teachers College, 1965), p. 72.

"McGrath, p. 81.Lucy D. Slowe, "Higher Education of Negro

Women,!'_rournizt of Negro Education, 2, July,1933, 35358.

"McGrath, p. 80 and 81."Darlene aark Hine, "From Hospital to

College: Black Nurse Leaders and the Wise ofCollegiate Nursing Schools," rouriial of NegroEducation, 51, 3 (1982), 227-232.

32Jones, I, 43."Interview with_Sadle_Green Oglesby."Interview with Betty Bryant, Gary, Indiana,

by Faustine Cjones-Wilson, October 15, 1985."Faustine Childress Jones, A Traditional Model

of Edwational Excellence: Dunbar High School ofLittk Rack, Arkansas (Washington, D.C.: HowardUniversity Press, 1981), p. 35.

36Interview with Faustine C. Jones-Wilson,Washington, D.C., by Elizabeth L. Ihle,September 27, 1985.

"Fisk University Ilandlidok, 1921P29,_p. 13.36"Mandy Lou Tells About Spelman

Graduates,"_General Education Board records.Series 1.1. Box 41. Folder 368. RockefellerArchive Center.

"W.E.B. Dubois, -Diuturni Silenti," TheEducation of Black People: Ten Critiques-, 1906-1960,ed. Herbert Aptheker_(Arithera; The Univer-siqr of Massachusetts Press, 1973), p. 47.

"Joe M. Richardson, A History of Fisk Univer-sity; 1865-1946 a.lniversity, ALA: The Univer-sity of Alabama Press, 1980) pp; 106-07._

""Negro Spirituals," brOchure from Paine

College, Augusta, GA, c. 1950. General Educa-tion Board records. Series 1.1. Box 58. Folder518. Rockefeller Archive Center.

42 Tennessee A & I Bulletin 1926, p. 20."Tennessee A & I Bulletin 1926, p. 20."Chas._H. Thompson, "TheSocio-Economics

Status of Negro College Students," journal ofNqro Education, 2,1 (1933), 30-31.

"Guy-Sheftall and Stewart, p. 100.*The materials yonare currently reading were

produced with a WEEA grant.""Tracking the Situation: 'We Jost Don't

Have Adequate Data," " Education Week, April17, 1985, p. 14.

"EqualiN and Excelknce: The Educational Statusof Black Americans(New York: College EntranceExamination Board, 1985), p. 12.

""Traditional FamiliesA Dying Breed?"Education Week, May 14, 1986, p. 22.

50Equality and Excellence, pp. 7-8."Equality and Excellence, p. 6.524alily and &cellence, p. 5.33"Black Children, in 'Crisis,' Said Getting

Little Help," Education Week, October 30, 1985,P. 8.

314uality and Excellente, p. 27."Cora Bagley Marrett and Harold Gates,

"Male-Female Enrollment Across MathematicsTracks in Predominantly Black High Schools,"fournYtt for Reeearch in Aathemaics Education,1983,Vol. 14, No. 2, 118.

"Equality and Excellence, p. 34._32"Hard Won Enrollment Gains Are QuietlyDeteriorating," Education Week, April 17, 1985,p. 13.

"Minorities In Hlter Education, AmericanCouncil on Education, 1985, p. 12.

"Minorities, p. 7."McGrath, p. 85; The Black American Reference

Book, ed. Mabel M. Smythe, Table IX, p. 441;Minorities, p. 11.

&wilily and &celtence, p. 2.62"Hard=Won Gains," pp. 12-13; "Women &

Student Financial Aid, American Associationof University Women, June 1985, p. 3.

63"Women and Aid," p.3."Minorities, Table 6, p. 12."Minorities, p. 12."Equality and ExcellencG p. 17."Jacqueline Fleming, BWs in _College (San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984), p. 246."Minorities, ACE, p. 11 and Table 12, p. 15."Minorities, ACE, Table 8, p. 13.

Bibliography"Black Women's Education," Premiere issue of

Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women.Atlanta: SWET, Inc, 1984.

BUI1Oek, Henry Allen. A History of Negro Educa-tion in the South: 1619 to the Preeent.1967; rpt.New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970. Anaward-winning history of black education.

Elson, Ruth _Miller. ZwirdMns of Tradition:American Sehoollidoks of the Nineteenth Cen-tu. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,1964. This perceptive text discusses both

_ race and sex in schoolbooks. _Fleming, Jacqueline. Bkicks in College: -A Com-

parative Study of Students' Success in Bkck andin White Institutions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers; 1984. An excellent surveyof seletted instittitions With keen analysisof the impact of the college experience onblack women.

Forten, Charlotte. The journal of Charlotte Fatten:A Free Negro in the Skive Era. lUy Allen BM-

ington, _ed. 1953; rpt. New_York; Althoughmuch of this diary records Forten's pre-CiVilWar life, her experiences as a missionteacher in South Carolir. are described.

Goodenow, Ronald K. and Arthur 0. White,eds. Education and the Rise of the New South.Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1981. Threeessays in this collection deal with blackeducation in the South; a fourth examineswomen's education.

Guy-Sheftall, Beverly and Jo Moore Stewart.Spelman: A Centennial Celebration, 1881-1921.Atlanta: Spelman College, 1981. This historyof Spelman offers many illustrations to Ovethe reader a visual sense of the developr. ,rttof this college.

"The Impact of Black Women in Education,"The journal of Negro Education, YeatbookNo.51 (Vol. 51, No. 3 [Summer, 1982]). ThiSissue, devoted exclusively to articles aboutblack women's education, contains severalarticles of interest. The guest editorial_raisessome important questions which need to kieaddressed by scholars.

Jones, Faustine Childress. A Traditional Model ofEducational Excellence: Dunbar High SchoolofLittle Rock, Arkansas. Washingtnn, D.C.:Howard Universibr Press, 1981.

Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Lave, Labor of Sorrow:Black Women, Work, and the Family_ fromSlavery to the Present. New York: Basic Books1985. This well-researched study willgivethe reader a greater appreciation for blackwomen's long tradifton of work outside thehome.

Jones, Thomas Jesse, ed. Negro Education: AStudy of the Private and Higher Schools forColored People in the United States. 1917; rpt.New York: Arno Press and The New YorkTimes, 1969. This comprehensive survey isthe first of two surveys of the black highereducation which are indispensable toresearchers of black higher education.

Morris, Robert C. Reading, 'Riting, andReconstruction: The Education of Freedmen inthe Soutk Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1981. There are several books whichexamine Northern teachers in the Southduring Reconstruction. This is the mostrecent.

Neverdon-Morton, Cynthia. "Self-Help Pro-grams as Educative Activities of BlackWomen in the South,1895-1925: Focus onFour Key Areas." journalof Negro Education,VOI. 51, NO. 3 (1982), 207-21. This article isone of several on black women's educationin this special issue of the journal.

Noble, Jeanne L., The Negro Woman's CollegeEducation. _New York: Teachers CollegeBureau of Publications, 1956. This book isone of the first published studies of black

Iwomen's education. Although it is mainlya sociologieM study, it contains a chapter onthe history of black women's education.

Survey of Nwo Colleges and Universities. Depart-ment of the Interior, Bureau of Education,Bulletin, 1928,_No. 7._ Rpt.: New York: NegroUniversities Press, 1969. This is the secondof two voluminous surveys conducted onblack higher education in the early twentiethcentury; it is an essential reference forresearch in the field.

Wolter, Raymond. The New Negro on Campus:Black College Rebellions4 the 1920s. Princeton,NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975. Thisthoughtful eminhiation of campus rebellionsat Fisk, Howard, Frampton, and elsewhereis important reading in the study of thehistory of black higher education.