Segregation in Atlanta Public Schools from 1872 to 1930</head>

The Segregated School System in Atlanta: An Agent of Social Control and Black Oppression
Melvina J. Kemp

During the early days of public education, the question of black education in Atlanta, like in most places in the South, was highly controversial. Many saw the education of African Americans as a threat to the white man’s social status. After slavery blacks embraced the chance to receive an education because they were denied it during slavery. Blacks saw education as the only chance for upward mobility. This mobility whites could not allow. For example, before the creation of public schools in Atlanta, poor white children did not go to school whereas former slaves were receiving schooling from northern philanthropic organizations and the Freedmen’s Bureau.1 Thus the proposal for Atlanta public schools came in 1869 because poor whites were outraged that blacks were being educated and not their children. White people felt that if anyone deserved intellectual development it was their children.

As seen throughout the early history of the Atlanta public school, whites used the segregated education system to control blacks and maintain the existing social order in Atlanta. Whites employed different agents and methods to maintain control and perpetuate white supremacy. Examples can be seen in the founding years of the Atlanta public schools and the 1920’s which historian Philip Racine characterized as “the worst ten years in the Board’s history”2 To demonstrate white control and reinforcement the focus of this paper will be on three main areas political power distribution between whites and blacks, unequal conditions of white and black schools, and the deliberate undermining of black efforts for equality. Segregated education in Atlanta was a method of disfranchising blacks.

The Atlanta Public School System was founded in 1869 and officially opened its doors to students in 1872. Dr. Daniel O’Keefe, an Atlanta physician is credited as being the leader in establishing public education in Atlanta. In September of 1869, the doctor proposed that the city council choose a committee and investigate the matter of public schools. The committee consisted of the mayor, two council members, and seven other Atlanta citizens.3 That November they presented their report to the city council and it was accepted and Dr. O’Keefe’s resolution for the creation of a public school system was passed.4 All the board members and the first President Joseph Brown elected to board were all prominent white men mostly associated with highly respected professional occupations. None of the board members or president was educators.5 Next, the city needed to secure funding for the school system. The council asked the state legislature to amend to the city charter to allow taxes to be used to support public schools. 6 The legislature passed the amendment in 1870 and that year was also an election year and on the ballot was a referendum regarding public schools. But at this time Atlantans were already supporting the water works system. The issue was not whether or not Atlantans wanted the schools but if they could afford both the water works and public school system.7 In the end seven hundred and fifty people voted for the referendum and one hundred and thirty three against.8

By the fall of 1872, when classes had started for first time in Atlanta Public Schools seventy five thousand dollars had been appropriated to the board to use. The board had built three new grammar schools for whites and not one for black students.9 The three building used for black children were rented by the school board or lent to the school board from missionary organizations and were in appalling shape. Black students not only lacked decent facilities but their schools were also poorly supplied and deprived of needed materials. There was no high school for whites until a few years later; but there was no high school for black children. 10 The board felt that secondary education was wasted on African Americans. In general most white people at that time felt that “Negro’s education should be limited to the elementary forms of the three R’s.” A high school education was not required to be a part of Atlanta’s growing manual labor force.11

White ideology and justification for these unjust actions must be placed in historical context. The period in history in which the Atlanta Public School System came into existence is known as Reconstruction (1865-1877). At this time the civil war was over and slavery had ended. White southerners still held on to the paternalistic views of African Americans common during slavery. They believed that blacks were inferior to whites in every capacity imaginable; blacks by nature are dishonest, eternally childlike, must be forced to work because they are lazy, and blacks accept and enjoy being inferior to whites.12 These are just some of the major misconceptions of white ideology that had been passed down from generation to generation and eventually became institutionalized, in the sense they were the basis behind the discriminatory laws and the segregated nature of the South. White southerners, even though slavery had ended, were determined to maintain the social structure of whites on top and blacks on the bottom.

During Reconstruction it also seemed that blacks were on a path to making better lives for themselves and their children. With the aid of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the presence of federal troops, blacks had access to education and were gaining and asserting political power. In Atlanta for instance, William Finch a black Republican was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1871.13 All of these things seemed to prevail in spite of white hostility. Suddenly, rights gained under Reconstruction also seemed to come to an end. In the 1876 Presidential election, Republican presidential candidate Rutherford Hayes made what is known as the Compromise of 1877. Essentially, Hayes in exchange for the electoral votes of the South, made certain promises to southerners. He promised two very important things; one to “to leave the South to its own discretion in regard to polices and practice regarding its Black population” and secondly, remove federal troops and officials from the southern states. Black Atlantans along with other black southerners’ lost political power and protections gained during Reconstruction. After 1877, whites went to various means to curtail black political participation with gr 14 andfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests, all white primaries, and violence. Whites now had complete political control. With little political clout African Americans in Atlanta found it harder to improve education and their schools because it seemed that all power lay in the hands of their oppressors and they could do whatever they wanted.

It should be noted that the lack of political control did not stop the black community from trying to change things. In the mid 1870’s African Americans made requests for black schools to have black teachers. The Board was reluctant at first but two things convinced them that black teachers could be useful. One reason was the implementation of black teachers in other schools in other localities had gone well and the second reason, the Board could get away with paying black teachers less. The first black teachers were initially all women because the board felt that women could be coerced easily. Black teachers were expected by the board to stick to the prescribed curriculum and do their job. When it came to black teachers the board preferred to hire native blacks than blacks from the North for fear that they would teach students that they deserved more 15 .By 1881 all black schools had black teachers; it would almost be the turn of the century before black schools would have black principals.

Although white Democrats held the power in Atlanta after Reconstruction, African Americans votes were decisive in close elections.16 One such example was the Mayoral Election of 1888.School Board President Hoke Smith, on behalf of the mayoral candidate John Glenn, met with black leaders and struck a deal for black votes in the Mayoral election in return black school the school board would build a new black school This was the final compromise after the proposal by blacks to have seats on the board was rejected. 17 Another opportunity came again in the municipal election of 1891 where blacks were able to trade votes for new schools.18 White Democrats unhappy about the fact that the black vote could be influential, pushed for the institution of white primaries in 1892 which eliminated the need for black votes in primaries. The white primaries only allowed white voters to participate in selecting candidates in municipal elections. 19 The white primary was a move to reinforce social order. Whites knew that if they deprived blacks of political power that blacks would not be able to accomplish much change and hopefully would just accept their place. For the next thirty years black education in Atlanta suffered tremendously without the power to trade votes.

The 1920’s were a time of change in the Atlanta Public School system even though; black education was still very unequal to that of white children. In June of 1921 Willis A. Sutton was elected as the Superintendent. One of his first tasks was to update the school buildings in the system and come up with a plan to improve the quality of education received by students. He turned to two experts George D. Strayer and N.C. Engelhardt from Columbia University’s Teacher College to perform a comprehensive survey of the city’s school and make recommendations for improvements.20 White and black schools were surveyed by multiple surveyors who utilized the Strayer-Engelhardt score card which was developed by Strayer and Engelhardt the Director and Assistant Director at the Columbia University Teacher College, respectively.21 The card broke the survey of a school into five areas or items. Each item had a certain number of allotted points and was scored by three judges. The median number of all the judges’ scores were taken for each item and added up to come up with a cumulative score. The maximum score possible was one thousand. Item one was “site” which refers to location, environment, and appearance the maximum number points attainable for this item was one hundred twenty five. Item number two was “Building/ Building Structure” under this item the material which the building was composed of and fire hazards were also focused on under this Item. The maximum possible number of points was one hundred sixty five. Third, item was “service system” this included things like pluming and school upkeep; maximum number points achievable two hundred eighty. Item four was “classrooms” which considered factors like class size, size of class rooms, air and square feet space for students, and the number of class rooms in the schools building; maximum number of points two hundred ninety. The final item was “special rooms” rooms used for other purposes than classroom instruction (i.e. libraries, principal offices, etc); maximum attainable points were one hundred forty.22

The survey was conducted in December 1921. All sixty-three school buildings in Atlanta were surveyed. At that time Atlanta had forty-four white elementary schools, 4 white high schools, and fifteen black elementary schools and no black high schools. The surveyors noted that both white and black schools suffered due to lack of sufficient planning for Atlanta’s increased population and scarce funds. However, the white schools were better equipped and taken care of than blacks’ schools. For example, the highest score received by a white school was 666 and the highest score received by a black school was 504. The lowest score received by a white school was one 159 and the lowest score received by a black school consequently by any school in the school system was 47.23 Of the forty-four white schools only three scored below two hundred points and of the fifteen black schools nine scored under two hundred points. To score under two hundreds points as Strayer and Engelhardt pointed out means: “Any building which scores at 200 points or less has simply been given credit for existence of certain elements, such as walls, doors, a roof…no child should be required at any time to attend school in such a structure.24 ”

In white schools the most common problems the surveyors noted was overcrowded school buildings, and the age of some school building. A second major concern for white schools was fire safety. Some buildings did not have adequate fire escapes and/or panic bolts.25 These as the surveyors pointed could be remedied by adding more schools to alleviate the overpopulation and remodeling the schools to bring them up to satisfactory rating. On the other hand, the state of Black schools was just deplorable. Black schools were placed in unattractive locations for example; one elementary was next to cow yards and pig pens.26 Also, black schools were farther away from the children’s home. It was not uncommon for the closet black school to be one or two miles away. In all black schools the main source of heat were the wood burning stoves, no black school had indoor pluming, and only one black school had a wash bowl for student and faculty use. Water fountains were placed in undesirable locations like in the basements and even by outhouses. Black schools were neglected because the board wanted to send the message to black students that they were inferior and there was no hope in pursing an education if you’re black.

Unlike today, any student of the Atlanta schools in the 1920’s did not enjoy free textbooks; all students were required to pay a textbook fee to get issued textbooks. Most black students could not afford the fee for textbooks and did not have textbooks and the ones who had some or a textbook usually had old used textbooks that been “donated” to black schools from white schools.27 Some might argue that the textbook fee hurt working class white children as well as African American children. However, the fact is textbook fee disproportionately affected African American children preventing them from excelling and receiving a quality education because they did not own the essential materials to succeed. By 1914 black schools were the only schools doing double rotations. In 1923 only 203 black students were getting a full day of schooling out of the 11,469 black children enrolled in Atlanta’s schools. 28 Even though black and white schools were over crowded, black schools were more congested. Of the fifteen elementary schools in 1921 only two had more than twelve classrooms. And class size in black schools was greater than the forty five student limit the Board placed on white schools in 1914.29 Limiting instruction time and the quality of instruction because of overcrowded classrooms left many black students with only one option in regards to pursing education; that it was unattainable. The reality of the 1920’s is that most black children that started out in the Atlanta schools in the first grade did not make it to the eighth grade.

Since 1878, when the first black teachers were hired in Atlanta black teachers have always been paid less than white teachers. Even if a black and white teacher were equally qualified in training, the black teacher could expect less pay. In 1921 the median salary for white teachers was $1,274 and the median salary for a white principal was bout $900 dollars more (2,174). Whereas, the median salary for black teachers was $993; despite the fact that black teachers had bigger class loads. The median salary for black principals was about $270 more (1,263). The median teacher training for white teachers was 5.78 years and the median training for black teachers was 5.22 years.30

While most black teachers in the Atlanta Public School system were qualified there were a few who were granted normal school diplomas (teacher certification) with less than six years experience beyond the eighth grade. Not only in Atlanta but throughout the South school boards have been known to select black teachers that were less competent, as historian Howard Beale commented on the hiring of black teachers:“A white man frequently picks “a white mans nigger” instead of a well trained teacher. A teacher is too often selected because her mother or aunt is a good cook or laundress.”31 The desire to not pick the most competent teachers for black students is further indication that the white controlled board really did not care if black children received an education or not.

Although, the institution of the white primary in 1892 prevented blacks from voting in the primaries, African Americans never lost the right to vote in general elections and at least twice during the 1920’s voted for bond referendums that helped to make marginal improvements in schools. African American were able to do this because the NAACP chapter of Atlanta discovered that for a bond to pass the city council was required to have two-third of the registered voters affirm the bond, not two-third of the votes cast.32 In 1921 when the city wanted to pass a four million bond referendum, black support was essential. Mayor James L. Key promised the black community in return for their support a black high school would be built and black schools would get “fair share of the bond money.”33 A new high school Booker T. Washington came three years later in 1924 and black schools received less than one third of the total four million dollars allocated.34 Broken promises discouraged some blacks from registering and participating in special elections.

Still others pressed on no matter how marginal the victories were. Again in 1926 black votes were needed to pass a referendum which included money for improvement for schools and money for a new city hall. Atlanta’s African American leaders urged black citizens to support the bond issue on the premises that the board would build a new black junior high school and several black new grammar schools. These promises were not carried out and the board only allocated $350,000 for existing black schools while giving white schools over $2,500,000.35 This is evidence that while blacks were resourceful in their political tactics in the 1920’s, control was still in the hands of white leaders. Whites board members who saw them as inferior and did everything to enforce that doctrine and preserve the social order and undermine black efforts for improvement.

The board not only unequally appropriated money but also diverted funds intended for black schools to white schools. For example, in 1928 the actual amount proposed to spend on black schools from the 1926 allocation was $219,000 and the board wanted to lower that figure by $25,000.36 This problem of funds diversion was not just limited to Atlanta but to other southern states and localities. “Officials regularly took funds that belonged to black schools and added theses to the allocations for whites.” 37 Justification of such activity was often that white schools needed it more or that the funds would be wasted on blacks. Unfortunately black petitions concerning these injustices were ignored and there were not any other options accessible for African Americans to take the complaints and get a remedy for them. There was no use going through the Court system. The courts still held that “separate but equal” doctrine from Plessey v. Ferguson was constitutional. The twenties ended in Atlanta with one new black high school for African American students that soon became overcrowded. No junior high or new grammar schools for blacks were built. Real change for black schools did not occur until the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education which declared segregation unconstitutional.38

The dual education system of Atlanta served the interest of the white community, and oppressed blacks. The white community, by depriving the children in the black community of a quality education, prevented blacks from prospering and elevating their social and economic status. Whites were able to limit the potential of blacks by controlling the political offices such as city council and the school board which had power over the education system and restricting black participation in political affairs. When blacks complained or tried to assert power as seen in the 1920’s bond referendums whites found ways to weaken their collective efforts. One way was just ignoring and neglecting the needs of the black children and other ways employed robbery of the little resources given to black schools. Principally, the difference in white and black schools was this: white schools were for the education, development, and advancement of white children. Black schools’ purpose was to implant in black children inferiority and that it was their place at the bottom of society.