USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 23
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The state appropriation for the school year 1871 was $604,978.50, which was increased about $40,000 by the addition of unpaid appropriations pre- viously made. During this year (1870) teachers' institutes were held in many of the counties of the state, and in July of that year, a state asso- ciation of teachers was organized and well attended, both pleasing in- dications of healthy progress. The statistics of the year are also interesting: the total number of schools taught was, 3,321; the total enroll- ment, 141,312; number of teachers employed, 3,452. The average dura-
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tion of the schools was three and a half months-about one-half the time schools were kept up annually before the war.
In 1872, Hon. Joseph H. Speed succeeded Col. Hodgson in the office of superintendent of public instruction. This was in the "era of reconstruc- tion," when the people of the state were greatly depressed, when "stran- gers ruled over them," and discontent and discouragement generally pre- vailed.
In his first annual report, dated November 10th, 1873, Superintendent Speed starts out with the statement that "the financial depression, ex- perienced by all branches of the state government for the last year, has been specially embarrassing to the school system." only $227,034 of the appropriations for school purposes for 1872 could be drawn, and only $68,313.93 was drawn from the appropriation for 1873. The reason as- signed was the depleted condition of the treasury of the state. The con- stitution fixed the amount of the yearly appropriations, but as the treasury was unable to respond, an indebtedness of $1,260,511.73 had at this time accrued to the public schools. Payments to teachers were at- tempted to be made in state warrants but, as it was very uncertain when these would be paid, they could only be disposed of at a heavy discount, reducing still more the hard earnings of the teachers. The same officer, in his report for 1874, says that the difficulties referred to "have neither been removed or lessened." That school year, like its predecessor, was barren of results and did not even furnish material for statistics.
In the autumn of 1874, a new administration came into power, the state government was restored in part to its own people, hope revived, confi- dence bloomed again, and with it came renewed business energy and com- mercial activity. Hon. John M. McKleray had been chosen superintendent of public instruction, and, in the full vigor of early manhood, with a. laudable ambition to success, and a heart for the work, he entered upon the important duties of his office. His report, for the year ending Sep- tember 30th, 1875. showed a gratifying revival in the public schools, and in the ability of the treasury to meet the demands of his department. Although business had not sufficiently recovered to enable the treasurer to pay arrearages, he did pay the current appropriations, amounting to over $560,000. The statistics of this year gave the following results:
Number of school age. 406,270
Enrollment in public schools. 145,997
Number of schools 3,898
Number of teachers 3,981
Amount paid to teachers $489,491.79
Average duration of schools, four and one half mouths. This is by far the best record made by the public schools since the war, and. except in the average duration of the schools, was better than any made by them before the war. Under the wise legislation of the year 1873. the schools were placed on an improved basis; payments to teachers could be made
13
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
at regular periods. without unnecessary delay, and the "red tape" system before obtaining was very much modified and improved. Teachers were no longer obliged to hawk about their certificates to find purchasers, if at all, at a heavy discount. The board of education had been purged of its self-seeking, incapable and inexperienced members; - trustees were restricted from opening schools before appointments to their respective townships had been officially certified to them; only one school could be established for each one hundred dollars apportioned for each race, unless the fund was supplemented by the patrons, and monthly payments of the teachers were provided for, on reports properly made out and certified by the trustees. When the apportionment was one hundred dollars and upwards, schools had to be kept up not less than twenty weeks; when less than one hundred dollars was apportioned and the amount could not be supplemented sufficiently, schools must not be kept less than twelve weeks. The superintendent reported that, "the fund for white schools has been, to some extent, supplemented by the patrons."
The appropriation for the school year was reduced, under the exigencies of the times, nearly one-half-but even this amount was not made available. The reason was that the newly adopted constitution, which was ratified in November, 1875, was made to take effect on the proclamation by the governor. This constitution revoked the provision in the constitution of 1868, setting apart one-fifth of the annual income of the state as a school fund and provided, in lieu : thereof, that the general assembly should appropriate annually, not less than the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The attorney-general decided that this provision took immediate effect on the promulgation of the constitution, and thus were left only $75,713.43, plus the amount which might be collected for poll taxes, as the entire school fund for the year-an amount too small, when dis- tributed over the state, to be of any practical benefit. Thus a year of scarcity followed a year of plenty. The general assembly, however, at its first session under the new constitution, made haste to rectify, as far as practicable, the oversight mentioned, by providing a fund for the year, which, including the poll taxes, amounted to $557,496.64. Notwithstanding the serious interruption mentioned, there were three thousand and eighty- eight schools maintained an average of eighty days, with an enrollment of 104,414 pupils. The new constitution wisely abrogated the board of education, returning to the general assembly all legislation concerning the public schools. It also made the school age "seven to twenty years."
Hon. John M. McKleray having declined a re-election, Hon. LeRoy P. Box was elected to succeed him. The first year of Mr. Box's superin- tendency was fruitful of good results, although the fund for the year was much reduced in amount. The number of schools taught was 4,796, number of teachers, 4,800, enrollment, 160,713; average duration of schools, 84 1-2 days. An act of the legislature approved February 7, 1879, marked an important advance in school legislation in the state.
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PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.
For the first time in Alabama, it was required that teachers should be thoroughly examined and found qualified to teach, and be of good moral character, to entitle them to employment in any of the public schools. The results of this requirement have been in a high degree beneficial, eliminating from the teacher's profession numbers of incompetent and worthless persons, placing upon school officers greater responsibility in electing and recommending teachers, and thus elevating the standard of both schools and teachers.
The appropriation for schools for the year ending September 30, 1880, was $397,465.33, which was supplemented by the poll tax receipts, which are now by law made payable in each county to its superintendent of schools. Four thousand five hundred and ninety-seven schools were taught during the year, with a total enrollment of 179,400, and an average attendance of 117,778. In 1880, Mr. Box, now Judge Box, retired from office, and Hon. H. Clay Armstrong was elected to succeed him. The appropriation that year was $397,479.04, supplemented by the poll tax, which reached the sum of $128,212.33. The enumeration was 388,003; the enrollment. 176,289; average daily attendance, 115,316; number of schools taught, 4,572, and the number of teachers employed was 4.698. The average duration of the schools was eighty days. The fund for the next school year, 1881-2, was a little less than that of the preceding year. The enumeration of this year gave white children of school age, 224,644; colored children, 176,588-making a total of 401,232, an increase of about 13,000 over the preceding year. The enrollment reached 177, 428, the average attendance, 114,527. The number of schools taught was 4,624 The returns of the county superintendents showed that in twenty counties the school fund was supplemented by the patrons of the schools to the extent of $66,960, and it was estimated that in the entire state the addi- tional aid amounted to $175,000, equal to one-third of the state appropri- ation.
During the school year of 1882, one hundred and twenty-two "insti- tutes" for the special instruction of teachers were held and the state super- intendent, impressed with their usefulness, recommended to the general assembly that teachers' institutes be made a part of the educational sys- tem of the state, that all the necessary expenses for conducting them be paid from the school fund apportioned to the several counties, and that at- tendance thereon be made compulsory. He also recommended that the school law be changed so that counties, cities and separate school dis- tricts might, by vote of the people thereof, collect a special tax for the erection of school-houses and to supplement the appropriation from the state for the payment of teachers. This recommendation was a wise one, but unfortunately could not be carried into effect on account of a pro- vision of the state constitution which forbade such delegation of authority.
A state association of white teachers was re-organized during the year and has since become a large and influential body. An association for
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
colored teachers was also formed, with a membership of one hundred and twenty-five teachers, and this has also grown and prospered. An addi- tion of $100,000 was this year made to the general school fund, to take effect in the next fiscal year-1883 -- 4. The public school fund for the year 1884, including $22,016.21 received from local sources in Mobile county, and $1, 170 local fund of Faunsdale district, reached the respectable sum of $529,585.33 from which $487,780.77 was paid directly to teachers. The enumeration this year was 419,764; the enrollment, 215,778; number of schools taught, 5,218; average attendance, 134,410; average duration of schools, 83 days. In November, 1884, Mr. Armstrong retired from the office of superintendent and Hon. Soloman Palmer was chosen his suc- cessor. Mr. Palmer held the office three terms (six years) in succession, retiring in November, 1890. During his administration the school system was further improved-separate grade schools were established in the principal towns and cities of the state, and the school fund was increased so that by 1890, the amount expended in Alabama for public schools, gen- eral and local, was nearly, if not quite, one million of dollars. Major John G. Harris succeeded Mr. Palmer in the office of superintendent of instruction on December 1st, 1890, and has devoted himself with intelli- gence, zeal and success to his important work. His report for the school year ending October 1st, 1891, contains much valuable information. He reports an increased interest in ""teachers' institutes" throughout the state, fourteen of which he attended and assisted to conduct. He regards them as "the key-note to our public schools." He also commends highly the county superintendents, whom he characterizes as "an excellent and faithful corps, punctual in the discharge of their official duties and ready and willing to carry out the letter and spirit of the law."
The statistics of the year show a gratifying increase in all directions, partly due to the increased population and prosperity of the state gener- ally, partly to the increased efficiency in the management and the grow- ing popularity of the schools themselves. The enumeration shows: white children, 309,628; colored children, 241,093, total, 550,721; an in- crease in two years of 26,823. The administrators of the Peabody fund appropriated $3,500 in aid of the "teachers' institutes" in Alabama, for the year 1891. Superintendent Harris regards the educational outlook in Alabama as very bright and encouraging. "Better schools," he says, "and better teachers is the watch-word of the people." Certainly the increased interest manifested in the state teachers' association, where the venerable and learned professors of the college and university freely commingle with the humble teachers of the wayside schools, the growing popularity and practical instruction of the "teachers' institutes," with the other manifold incentives for elevating the character, stimulating the energies and enlarging the acquirements of teachers of public schools, furnish good ground for the hope of continued and substantial progress. But there is still a serious difficulty to be overcome. The state is de-
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PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.
ficient in school buildings and many of the so-called school-houses are poorly adapted to the uses to which they are applied. The state cannot be expected to supply suitable schocl buildings throughout her borders by taxation or from the general school fund; the cost would be too great. All the money the state can afford to bestow must go for the payment of teachers and the necessary supervision of the schools. Each county or township should be empowered to provide its own school buildings from local taxation, but unfortunately for Alabama, the constitution prohibits the general assembly from granting any power of local taxation for any purpose to any locality not named in that instrument. An effort will, doubtless, soon be made to amend the constitution in this regard, and when that is accomplished and the desired authority is given, guided by an en- lightened, and progressive public sentiment, the public schools of Ala- bama will develop a rapid and healthy growth and be worthy of compar- ison with the most approved systems of her sister states. In the language of the monograph on "Education in Alabama" published by the U. S. bureau of education : "With her unexampled development in material wealth; with new industries multiplying within her borders: and with the sunlight of the world's progress, attracted by her wonderful mineral resources, beaming upon her with increasing effulgence, Alabama will not long be content to see her system of public schools lag behind, in any desirable respect, the most advanced and improved system of any sister state."
NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Strictly speaking there are no purely normal schools in Alabama- that is, schools devoted exclusively to instructing students already well advanced in scholarship in the art of teaching as a profession-but there are several schools of high character which have normal depart- ments and which are doing a good work. The first practical attempt to establish normal schools or classes in Alabama was made by the "board of education" under the provisional government. This board decreed, by an act approved February 6, 1869, that four normal schools should be established in the state, each to comprise two departments, one for white, the other for colored, students. These schools were to be located respectively at Huntsville, Talladega, Marion and Mobile. Normal classes were authorized at Mountain Home, Elyton, Prattville and at Evergreen. Twelve thousand dollars were appropriated for these schools for the year 1869 and $25,000 for the year 1870. At the next session, the board of education repealed the act creating the schools named above and passed a "bill" establishing thirteen new ones, seven for white and six for colored teachers. This "bill" was vetoed by Governor Lindsay- doubtless at the suggestion of Superintendent Hodgson, who considered that two schools for white and one for colored teachers would be ample for the state. The veto, however, must have put a quietus on the nor-
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
mal school question, as no further reference to the subject appears until 1873 and that in the statistical table accompanying the report of Super- intendent Speed-apportioning $9,750 for that purpose. In 1874, $10,000 was appropriated and distributed among three schools-one white and two colored. The white school was located at Florence, the colored schools-one at Marion, the other at Huuntsville.
The school at Florence had ninety-seven students the first year, of whom nineteen were to be teachers. The number increased the second year to 126, of whom 50 were entered as normal students. This was the beginning of a prosperous and useful institution, gradually approaching nearer and nearer to a high class normal college. Until 1879, it received an annual appropriation from the state of $5,000. The first graduates were in 1879, when five students graduated, two in the normal and three in the literary department. The next year its teaching force was in- creased by adding a chair of natural science and employing two female assistants in the literary department. This year also its doors were opened to female pupils. Tuition fees were charged in the literary department. In the year 1882, the trustees of the Peabody fund established sixteen scholarships in the school for which they paid $2,000, which was a valuable assistance to the institution. This school has continued to progress and prosper. It is under the supervision of a board of trustees and has a capable and faithful faculty. A "model training school" is carried on in connection with the college proper, where normal students are permitted to exhibit their aptitude for the teacher's profession by teaching the junior classes. The faculty, in 1890-91 was composed as follows: James K. Powers, president and mathematics; M. C. Wilson, natural science; N. W. Bates, languages; C. B. Van Wie, pedagogics; Miss I. C. De Voe, critic; Miss Mary P. Jones, common school branches; Miss Jennie Purves, drawing, calisthenics and vocal music; Miss M. Clayton, instrumental music; Miss Sallie L. Penick, assistant in the training school. The total salaries paid was $9,302. The course in peda- gogics covers a period of three years. The senior pupils have a year of actual observation and teachng under competent critics. The college is well supplied with microscopes, charts, models, etc., for illustrating the natural sciences. The enrollment for the year 1890-91 was as follows: In "model training school"-males, 31; females, 14. Total, 45. In col- lege proper, males, 101; females, 117. Total, 218; grand total, 263. Students were matriculated from twenty-five different counties in Alabama and from eleven additional states. There were seventeen graduates in the class of 1891. The high repute of this institution is shown by the fact that the demand for teachers from among its graduates exceeds the supply, and that, when employed, they give general satisfaction.
The colored "normal school" at Huntsville was organized in 1875, but for two or three years little was heard concerning its operations. It received an appropriation of $1,000 a year from the state, had two teach-
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1
ers and from fifty to sixty pupils. In 1878, Mr. W. H. Council was the principal teacher and was assisted by C. R. Donegar. In 1879, the appropriation was doubled and also the teaching force. In 1881, the number of pupils increased to 133 with an average attendance of ninety- four. Of these, eighty-six were in geography, twenty-one grammar, thirty- eight in history, seven in algebra and six in bookkeeping. The next year the enrollment reached 200. The school received, in addition to the aid from the state, $500 from the Peabody fund and the trustees purchased a lot with a two-story brick building which, with some altera- tions and additions, was converted into convenient school and class rooms. A library was started, and, in connection with it, a reading room was established to which the leading publishers at the north, the government departments at Washington and several benevolent citizens freely con- tributed. The trustees, in their annual report, paid a high compliment to the principal, W. H. Council for the skill and ability with which he conducted the school. "It is to his indefatigable energy, self-denial and devotion to the educational interests of his people," they say "that we owe, in a great measure, the success which has crowned our efforts." In the year 1883, the school was very prosperous. The enrollment reached 268, but from the fact that many of the pupils, who entered the primary and intermediate departments, were afterward transferred to the city public schools, the average attendance was only 142. An industrial department was inaugurated the succeeding year, 1884, which has since developed into a valuable adjunct to the literary department. Girls are taught, first to sew in the ordinary method, and afterward on the sewing machine. The boys are taught to make various articles of furniture and other articles for use in the schools as well as the usual instruction in carpentry. The report for 1888 furnishes the following gratifying sta- tistics: enrollment, 308; students taking the normal course, 135; officers and teachers, 11; students employed as teachers in the model school, 51; graduates for the year, 6. By 1891, the teaching force had increased to 16; the enrollment, males, 140; females, 186. Total, 326; the gradu- ates to 16 and the library, including pamphlets, to 2,000 volumes. The income of the school for the year 1890-91, was made up as follows:
From state appropriations $8,000.00
From Peabody fund. 700.00
From Morrill fund. 13,454.00
Fees and contributions from northern friends 3,559.00
Making a total from all sources of. 25,713.00
The disbursements for same period were, $9,923.61, of which $7,590.65 was paid to teachers and about $5,000 for lands, buildings and apparatus. The statement shows a balance of $5,789.61, with which to begin the session of 1891-92. This school having been made the beneficiary of the portion of the congressional grant of August 30, 1890, for "the more complete endowment and support of the colleges, for the benefit of agri-
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
culture and the mechanic arts-allotted to the colored people of Ala- bama," obtained authority from the general assembly, to change its loca- tion to one more suitable for instruction in agriculture. The trustees purchased an eligible tract of 182 acres on the "Meridianville Pike," about three miles from Huntsville. The school buildings are situated on an elevation about 300 feet above Huntsville. A large dwelling house with commodious barn and outhouses was on the place at the time of purchase and two new and handsome structures, called "Palmer ball" and "Seay hall," one for boys, the other for girls, have since been erected and furnished. The following departments are now maintained at this school: Mechanic arts, including carpentry, printing, mattress making and stove making; agriculture, including farming and horticul- ture. fruit, dairy and live stock; English language and literature, mathe- matical science, physical science, natural science, economic science-in- cluding laundrying, cooking, sewing, etc. The farm crop gathered in 1891 was, corn, 1,500 to 2,000 bushels; fodder, two tons; clover, twelve tons; millet, four tons; potatoes, 500 bushels; cotton, four bales; be- sides a large supply of fruit and vegetables. This makes a very respect- able crop to be grown on about 150 acres, and cultivated mostly by students. Many well prepared teachers have gone forth from this insti- tution to find, readily, good situations in different portions of the state, where they are aiding to elevate and instruct their own race to the mate- rial advantage of the colored people and to the benefit of the state.
The colored normal school originally located at Marion, was the third, . in the order of time, established in the state. It was then called the "Lincoln school " and was subsequently dignified with the title of "uni- versity." It was opened for pupils in 1874, with one teacher (Professor Carl), and from thirty to forty. pupils attended during the first year. In 1875, this school was placed under the care of a board of directors, of whom Hon. John Moore was president. By the year 1878, the school increased to seventy-nine and its general condition was considered satisfac- tory. At the close of the session, Mr. Carl resigned and Professor W. H. Patterson was elected to succeed him. The growth of the school the next year-1879-was almost phenomenal; the enrollment reached 211, an increase of about 100 per cent. The number was further increased in 1880, to 220, of whoin thirty-one were reported, studying algebra; thirty-one, geometry; twenty-two, physics; thirty-one, Latin; six, Greek; nine, chemistry, and three, French. Of their general conduct the presi- dent says, that "no case of disorderly or immoral conduct has come to our notice; so quiet and orderly have they been that few of our citizens were aware that so many were in attendance here."
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