Segregation in American Education: An Overview
| Published date | 01 March 1956 |
| Author | Ambrose Caliver |
| Date | 01 March 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625630400105 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
17
Segregation
in
American
Education:
An
Overview
By
AMBROSE
CALIVER
HE
issue
of
segregation
in
American
Teducation
is
not
new,
nor
is
it
an
isolated
phenomenon.
Therefore
in
order
to
understand
it
today
its
his-
torical
antecedents
must
be
studied
in
their
broad
social,
economic,
and
cul-
tural
context.
Since
these
are
treated
directly
or
by
inference
in
other
parts
of
this
volume
only
sufficient
attention
will
be
given
them
here
to
place
the
subject
in
its
proper
perspective.
BACKGROUND
OF
SCHOOL
SEGREGATION
Segregation
with
respect
to
education
is
perhaps
the
most
complete
and
severe
expression
of
institutionalized
prejudice,
and,
like
slavery,
it
existed
in
all
the
Colonies
in
the
early days.
For
eco-
nomic
reasons
and
under
the influence
of
the
atmosphere
following
the
Ameri-
can
Revolution,
slavery
disappeared
in
the
North.
Abolitionist
sentiment
grew,
and
agitation
against
segregated
schools
increased.
In
the
South,
slavery
and
the
pattern
of
segregation
tightened
their
grip.
Black
laws
were
enacted
making
more
stringent
the
constraints
surrounding
Negroes.
As.
the
&dquo;Great
Debate&dquo;
moved
on
into
tlie
Civil
War
the
South
added
to
the
issues
of
slavery
and
state
rights
that
of
the
preservation
of
its
social
structure
and
way
of
life.
During
the
first
two
years
after
the
close
of
the
war,
the
southern
states
generally
made
every
effort
to
restore
as
far
as
possible
the
Negro-white
relation-
ships
existent
during
slavery.
Laws
re-
sembling
the
ante-bellum
Black
Codes
were
speedily
enacted.
Conditions
be-
came
so
bad
that
Congress
took
a
hand,
and
passed
the
Reconstruction
Act
of
1867.
The
Reconstruction
governments,
which
operated
until
the
late
seventies,
have
been
the
subject
of
much
criticism,
and
undoubtedly
there
was
some
politi-
cal
chaos,
extravagance,
and
corruption.
Nevertheless,
constructive
benefits
re-
sulted,
among
them
the
firm
establish-
ment
of
a
public
school
system
and
the
enactment
of
laws
providing
for
the
edu-
cation of
Negroes
on
an
equal
basis
with
that
of
the
whites.
Public
education
at
that
time
was
not
popular
even for
the
whites.
It
was
a
signal
achievement,
therefore,
that
in
spite
of
poverty,
suffering,
and
disorgan-
ization
schools
were
organized.
What
was
done
came
largely
through
the
lead-
ership
of
the
Freedmen’s
Bureau,
and
as
a
result
of
the
eagerness
of
Negroes
to
learn
and
the
co-operation
of
some
of
the
&dquo;moderate&dquo;
white
southerners
and
large
plantation
owners
who
accepted
the
facts of
the
new
order.
Most
of
the
whites,
of
course,
opposed
the
education
of
Negroes
because
of
its
political
impli-
cations,
their
dislike
of
the
sponsoring
Bureau,
their
disbelief
in
the
educability
of
Negroes,
their
fear
of
loss of
status,
the
poverty
of
the
states,
and
other
at-
titudes
engendered
by
the
slave
system.
Hence,
when
the
conservative
poor
white
southerners
gained
control
after
Recon-
struction,
pro
time
was
lost
in
wiping
out
practically
all
the
gains
made
by
Ne-
groes
after
the
war.
By
the
end
of
Reconstruction
Negroes
had
achieved
a
semblance
of
educational
equality.
There
was
even
considerable
sentiment
for
mixed
schools,
which
ac-
tually
existed
for
a
short
time
in
a
few
places.
Already
the
theory
of
&dquo;separate
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