Jackson State University              
   Mississippi's Urban University
   Department of________________________
   History and Philosophy

Giving A Voice to a Shared Past:
Public Education and (De)segregation in Mississippi, 1868-2000
  

  Unit Overview and Lesson Plan
  Articles
  Acknowledgments

Part I - Origins of Public Education in Mississippi: 1870-1900

Prior to the American Civil War, the education of young people was left primarily to private schools and academies.  Funding these schools was done primarily from the proceeds raised from sixteenth section lands, private donations, and student tuition.  In 1821 the first free school in Mississippi, Franklin Academy for Boys, was established in Columbus, Mississippi.  Governor Gerard C. Brandon reported in 1830 that “Schools and academies are rising up in every county and are in flourishing condition.”  Yet it must be noted that these schools and academies were designed primarily to educate the wealthy and privileged.  By 1850 only 13 percent of the state’s white children attended a public school.  Very few children, white or black, had access to a free public education prior to the beginning of Reconstruction.   

Negro education following the Civil War was almost entirely a system of schools established by northern missionary groups.  These schools were funded by northern charities and philanthropists, student tuition, and some aid from the Freedmen’s Bureau.  White southerners  soon realized that the education of the Negro was inevitable and therefore should be conducted by and controlled by native white Mississippians.  In this manner, it was thought that the public schools could be used to control the Negro population and train them for vocations that best suited the agricultural economy.  Likewise, existing social norms and traditions with regard to race relations could be maintained as well.

Education Under the Constitution of 1868

The Mississippi Constitution of 1868 was the first piece of legislation which provided for the free public education of all children regardless of race.  The purpose, procedures, and guidelines for these state supported schools is stated in Article VIII, Sections 1-9.  The Constitution established “a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years….”   Enabling legislation was passed in 1870 which created county school districts under the supervision of an elected State Superintendent of Education and appointed county superintendents.  Towns with a population of at least five thousand were permitted to establish separate school districts and extend the school term to at least seven months. The Constitution provided the following features in its plan to establish a public education system in the state:

    1.  Administration:  An elected State Superintendent of Public Education to provide “general supervision of the common schools and the educational interests of the State.”  A State Board of Education, composed of three members: the State Superintendent of Education, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State.  An elected County Superintendents of Public Education.
    2.  School Term:  The school year would be “at least four months.”  Any county failing to abide by this guideline risked forfeiting its share of the school fund and taxes.
    3.  Funding:  The common schools were to be funded from a combination of revenue sources – revenues earned from sixteenth section lands and other lands owned by the state, an excise tax on alcoholic beverages, military exemption fees, and public and private donations designated for public education.  These monies were then to be invested in United States bonds and the interest on the bonds was then appropriated for the support of the school system.  In addition to this source of funding a poll tax of two dollars per person was levied for the specific use of public education.  The constitution also left open the option of additional taxes to fund public schools with the monies being divided pro rata among the children of school age.

The constitution also made it clear that the public schools or its funds were not to be controlled by any religious sect.  This was not to say that religion did not play an important role in both providing donations and moral guidance, but it was forbidden for any particular religious sect or denomination to convert the public school system into a local parochial school.

One issue that was not addressed by the Constitution of 1868 was the matter of mixed or integrated public schools.  This issue created a great storm on the floor of the constitutional convention.  The convention determined that it was best to leave the issue to each individual school district to decide.  The public school fund was to be apportioned to each school district and each county superintendent was then obligated to divide the funds equally between the white and black schools in the district.  Schools of this period and during much of the early 1900s were predominantly one room school houses with students of all ages being taught by a single teacher.  White schools were normally better constructed than black schools and in most cases, black schools were little more than wooden sheds with rough wooden benches and no stoves to keep students warm during the winter.  The school year normally coincided with the months when the cotton fields were not being planted, cultivated, and harvested.  This accounts for the relatively short four month school term.  This also meant that students attended school during the winter months, and in such harsh conditions, inequities in school facilities between white and black students tended to be exacerbated.

The fraudulent state elections of 1875 removed many black and Republican lawmakers who had supported public school funding.  Conservative white Democrats regained control of state government and gradually began to reduce the taxes that had funded public education.  The Republican governor was forced to resign and the lieutenant governor and the state superintendent of education were impeached and removed from office.  During the early 1870s the education of black children was further endangered as a campaign of intimidation and violence was waged against black schools and their officials.  The Ku Klux Klan made the public schools and their teachers targets for their acts of destruction and mayhem.  By 1885 the state had cut education funding to the point that the effectiveness of the schools was being called into question.

In 1886 State Superintendent J. R. Preston implemented a revised education code that raised educational standards for both teachers and schools.  The new law adjusted teacher salaries to school size and required teachers to take and pass a licensing examination.  With white Democrats firmly in control of the state government, it was only a matter of time before laws pertaining to education would be either changed or nullified by those who opposed the education of the Negro.

Public Education Under the Constitution of 1890

The consolidation of political power in the Democratic Party led to a call for a new state constitution.  The Constitution of 1890 was for the most part very similar to the previous state constitution with regard to education.  There were however two notable differences.  The first difference was found in Article VIII, Section 207 which read, “Separate schools shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races.”  This provision established legal segregation in the common schools.  A similar law passed in 1888 had legalized segregation of public accommodations such as trains and railway stations.  The education of the Negro was considered a necessary evil by white southerners who resented paying taxes to support black schools.  Methods of circumventing the constitutional education provisions soon emerged.  Funds earmarked for black schools were blatantly designated to white schools.  This early misappropriation of education funds contributed to inequalities in black school facilities and in the salaries of black teachers.  One other significant difference between the two constitutions was the provision for the establishment and support of institutions for the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind.  Changes in the school laws came rapidly during this period, but by 1890 most Mississippians had accepted public schools as a cost-effective alternative to expensive private academies. 

With state government once again in control of an all white Democratic Party, the public began to invest in the education of its white children to the neglect of the majority black children.  As white leadership in predominantly black counties shifted funds to build and maintain white schools, black communities worked hard to offset the funding imbalances.  To make up the difference black communities often were “double taxed,” having to pay the state poll tax and then to collect donations within their communities to sustain the education of their own children.  Black schools were also assisted by northern philanthropy through such organizations as the Peabody Fund, the Slater Fund and the Julius Rosenwald Fund. 

Sources

     Guyton, Pearl Vivian. The History of Mississippi: From Indian Times to the Present Day. New York:
            Iroquois Publishing Company, 1935, 294-295.

      McLemore, R.A.  A History of Mississippi.. Vol. 2.  Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1973.

      McMillen, Neil R.  Dark Journey.   Chicago:  University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Back to History Department Home Page