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UNITED STATES BUREAU Of EDUCATION. BULLETIN, 1915, NO. 12 , WHOLE NUMBER 637 HISTORY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ALABAMA I By STEPHEN B. WEEKS OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1915 ADDITIONAL COPIES THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM T11 SUPERINTENDENT Or DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 20 CENTS 1'E11 COPY In The same series: Bulletin 1912, No. 27. History of Public School EduostIon in Arkansas. In preparation: History of Public School Education In Tennessee. '2,90 9 ^ , (e, ktAN 11 19i5 1915 CONTENTS. 12 -23 tags. Letter of transmittal 5 ('hapter I.- Evolution of the State 7 Growth.of population of Alabama, 1800-1910 9 First centers of American settlement 11 The lines of travel and the influence of roads on settlement 12 The distribution of incoming settlers 14 Chapter 11.-Private schools before the CivilViiar 16 Schools supported from private sources- 17 Schools supported in part out of public funds 23 Chapter 111.-Administration of the sixteenth sections, 1819-1914 26 The laws of the thirties and the failure of the State bank 27 Judge Porter's bill in 1847-48 30 Proposed comnlidation, 1852-53 33 Transfer of trumagement to State superintendent, 1854 35 Auditor Reynolds's strictures, 1869 36 The law of 1881 lays foundation of a State fund 4 38 The act of 1899 and the case of Alabama r. Schmidt 39 Principal of the sixteenth sectidls fund, 1851 and 1912. 41 Chapter 1V.-The rise of public schools in Mobile.,1826-1865 42 Public schools reorganized, 1852.. 44 Development, 1853-1865 45 ('hapter V.-The experimental period in the organization ofa State system. 1819-1854 48 The laws of 1839-40 49f Messages of Gov. Chapman and Gov. Collier in 1849 -t 51 'It. The house report of 1851-52 53 Gen. Perry's reminiscences 56 Chapter VI.- O.ganization of the public-school system, 1854-4856 58 Meek's report on education 59 The act of February 15, 1854 60 W. F'. Perry chosen firstsState superintendent 63 . The course of study and textbooks 65 The amended act of February 14, 1856 67 Chapter VII.-The work of the public schools, 1836 -1865 69 The condition of schodlliouses r-20 Indifference of the people and weakness of the law a \ 71 Equalization and distribution of the sixteenth-section fund 74 The Alabama educational association and the educationalpress 76 Gabriel B. Duval becomes the second superintendent 77 The Civil War and after 80 Chapter VIII-Reconstruction in the public schools, 1865-1876 84 ' I. The intermediate period, 1865-1868 84 II. The old regime and the new, 1868-1876 87 The State board of education 88 Reorganization and new legislation 89 The contest for supremacy in Mobile 90 Income, misappropriations and investigations 93 Conservatives in power, 1870; economy and reform 96 . 3' ----4----- uurrrzarria. Chapter VIII.Recoustruction in the public schools, 1865-4876--Continued. Page. III-. School legislation in 1872, 1873, and 1875 e -101 - Law of December 14, 1872, practically suspends schools for 1873 101 i Tho appeal of the State board of education; arrears a 103 Act ef March 8. 1875, and .constitntioa of 1875 reduce school fund 110 The general situation in 1874 -1876 , -I 111 CAapter IX.Reorganization and advance. 1876-1898 114 I. The constitution of 1875. 1 -14 II. The school tmdes pf 1877 and 1879 116 The admipistration.of Laroy F. Box, 1876-1880 118 111. Progrosl4n the eighties 119 W The administration of Henry Clay Arnistrong,.1880- ISS-I 119 The administration of Solomon Palmer, J681-1890 120 , Rise of the special school district 122 Local taxation and the rise of city systems T 123 IV. The Handley amendment anti after , The administration of John Gideon 'Parris. 1S90-189-1 4.*i 127 127 The administration of John Orman Turner, 1894-1898 , 131 'Chapter X.The awakening, 1898-1914. .115 I. The beginning of a new era 135 The administration of John W. Abercrombie. 1898-1902..:...... ° 136 II. The constitution of 1901 ' 140 III..Contemporaneous conditions and Ili'ogress . .., 142 The administration of Isaac W. Hill, 1902-1906 .. 142 The administration of Harry C. Gunnels, 1906-1910; of Henry J. Wil-, lingham, 1910-1913; and of William F. Feagin, 1913 to date 146 .Chapter ILMiscellaneous and supplementary agencies 155 I. Normal schools and other nobnal agencies 1'6,5' II. City schools IIIVI.. NReugrraol sscchhoooollhso.uses; rural tolpervision and school im"p..rovement 116628 .. ciationa t 11M30- 172 V. Rural school libraries and library organization 177 Ji District agricultural school4 178 f VII. Industrial education 182 -"VIII: The county high schools 189 . Chapter X11. Looking from the past and into the future . 18? Puddle school statistics, 1855-1914 197 I. School population, teachers, property, and school year 197 II. Enrollment and attendance - 198 III. School revenues 199 IV. School expenditures 200 V. Tax valuation 202 Addindum Bibliography. .. SO2 . 203 INDEX .. '"07 tk. torER 01' TRANSMITTAL. , DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BtREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington; February 19, 1915. SIR: I submit heltewith for publicationas a bulletin of the Bureau of Education a brief account of thetirogress of education in the State of Alabama. This is the second in the series of brief histories of edu- cation insome of the States of the Union which this bureau is having prepared by and under the direction of Dr. Stephen B. Weeks, of this bureau, for the purpose of providing accurate information for the future historian, and the still more important purpose of helping those who are now working for.the improvement of education in the I States, Its set forth in my letter transmitting the manuscript of Bulletin, 191,2, No. 27. Respectfully submitted. Commissioner. The SECRETARY INTERIOR. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The compiler wishes toacknowledge with thanks many courtesies which he has received from citizens of Alabama during the prepara- tion of this bulletin. Supt. John H. Phillips, of Biimingham; Mr. Henry J. Willingham, now president of the State Normal School at Florence; and Mr. William F.Feagin, the present Statesuperintend- ent, courteously answered numerous questions; Hon. John W. Aber- crombie. and Mr. Isaac W. Hill, former State superintendents, read parts of the paper and offbred suggestions, while Mr. Thomas M. Owen, LL.D., director of the State department of archives and history, .put the historical material in his office, including many pamphlets in the Curry Collection and the original manuscript letter books of the State superintendents.down to 1873, at the service of the writer. Dr. Owen also read the manuscript and freelygave the benefits of his very wide knowledgeof the subject. 6 HISTORY. OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ALABAMA. Chapter I. EVOLUTION OF THE STATE. The territory included within the present State of Alabama lies between 30° 13' and 35° north latitude and between 84° 51' and 88° 31' west longitude. It has a total land and water area of 51,998 square miles, and was first visited by De Narvaez and later explored by De Soto (1540); but the Spaniards madeno attempi at settlement and for more than a hundred years there was no other visit to the ter- ritory by white men. Then came La Salle, with his idea of a French empire extending through the heart of North America, the Mississippi to be the main artery of commerce, and a chain of forts to connect Canada and Louisiana (1682). Under the impetus of this ideacame the settlenient at Biloxi in 1699 and that at Twenty-seven Milo Bluff, on Mobile River in 1702. In ,1711 this latter settlement was moved to the present site of Mobile. This removal marks the real beginning of European settlement in that section of the United States, and Mobile was for years the center of French'opposit.ion to the westward thrust of the English-speaking peoples from Georgia and the Carolinas. It should be noted that the Spaniards never formally surrendered their claims to the countrynow represented by the State of Alabama, but included it within the ill-defined boundaries of Florida, and that the English made a similar claith to it as a part of their province of.Carolana, "the east of Carolana joining to the west of Carolini" according to Coxe, who wa's the leading exponent of the Eng1M contentioA; but the French remained in actual possession of the soil till the peace of 1"aris in 1763, by the_ terms of whichCanada and all of that pall of Louis.&na east of the Mississippi River, with the excep- tion of the island of Orleans, was ceded to England,and the city of New Orleans with all of Louisiana west of the river to Spain. By these cessions France was ,forced out of the Continent of North America, and the visions of. La Salle's American empire vanished. 7 8 MIMIC _SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ALADAMA. By a treaty of 1762 East and West. Florida had been ceded by Spain to England in exchange for Havana, and the English flag then waved over all the territory of _North America east of the Mississippi except the city of New Orleans. In reorganizing the territory of West Florida the English in 1767 extended its boundary northward to the line of 32° 28', about the latitude of the present city. of Montgomery. The' territory north of 32° 28' was included'in the English province of Illinois. During the American Revoltition, Bernardo Galvez, Spanish governor of Louis- iana, captured both Pensacola and Mobile, and by the treaty of Versailles in 1783 the Flor;das were retroceded to Spain by.England, which at the same/hue acknowledged the southern boundary of the United States to run awn to 31°, thus ignoring her own boundary of West Florida and bequeathing a bone\ of contention to the United States and Spain. This territory remained a subject. of dispute till 1795, when under the Jay treaty Spain acknowledged the American contention for 31°, -although it was not till 1798 that the Spanish colonial cfliciala were forced to yield recognition of the treaty. By the Federal act of April 7; 1798, a ttvritoriat government was elltab- lished for the MissiSSippi Territory then embraced between 31' and 32° 28', of like charactei in all respects to that over the Northwest. Territory,'save as to the last ordinance (slavery). A commission was provi<ted* the act for settling the contention between the United States and the State of Georgia over all lands lying north of 310 and south of the South Carolina cession of 1787 which Georgia claimed as a Tottrt of her territory under the original charter of Oglethorpe, In 1802 Georgia ceded to the United States all her claims to this terri- tory; and in-1804 the territory between 32° 2S' and 35°, including the strip of land 12 miles wide known as the South Carolina cession, was annexed to the 'Mississippi Territory. In 1812 Congress added to that Territory what was known as the district of Mobile, being the lands between the Pearl and the Perdido Rivers, recently taken from Spain and extending from tho Gulf northward to Ellicott's line in 31°. By aot of March 3, the Territory of Alabama was estab- lished by Congress,' with boundaries corresponding to those of the present. State. This Territory was admitted as a State of the Union by the act of Congress. of March 2 and resolution of Deeethber 14, 1819. tVOLUTTON OF TRW STATE. The growth-in population has been as follows: Statistical view of yroto th of .ilubanta population, 1000-1910. Prat, White. Colored. I Total. Ptiiennrce r(e*W alaisltes otf PPo"ipnui lea.t'ion COMM 115541201 . I 19,. 0r1s6'l 1.15 25,00u 1520 ..... - 55.4'4 ,' 42.450 127,961 2.19 0530 190 4491 119,121 309.527 162.542 6.03 11835(140........ 343256,,155154 I, 233452 .517019 577910..672316 9360.. 6826 1161..0552 1500.. . 530.271 ' 437,170 964,24n 24.98 13.50 1570 5.11 . 384 475.510 696,092 210 19. 44 15.50 . 662.155 000,103 1,262,505 26.63 14.62 1890 8.0, 715 674,459 1,513,401 19.87 29. SI 1900. 1.ti11. 152 .527,307 1, 6:14, 691 21 83 13.66 1910 . 1,125, 532 St*, 252 2.118,09i 56.9.5 41.67 I In 1910 land area 5-1 .279 square mile. In W Williston 'aunty, Ala only. Pickett. issiadp pi Territory. Excludes a few nil lams, Chinese, and Japsnese. The sources of this population, as far as it concerns the older States, lire shown for different decades in the following table, wlah includes every State which has in any decade contributed as much as 1,000 to the - Stat'e's population. Statistical ring of the sources of Alabama's population. Slat, 15: A) i 1410 I 1870 1660 1890 1900 I 'GSeoourthg iaCarotin,' J 5455../999..17 5453.,155557 9423,.907218 S25W, 796724 9246,, 837355 9198,,496241 Tennes5ee 22, Al 19,139 19,197 23.669 25,186 31,023 North Carolina 28.321 M,504 30.290 21,2011 13,491 12,102 %)F(LloAcr:rciiddisaa:1,1 (nadnd W......t Virginia! a, 1021,,, 305563720II 741,,.655494485 21920,,,671361549 21443,,,300324196 11653,,,200306299 03,,29Z53IO64 OKNeehnwito.u .Y.c..ko...yr..k... .......... 21,,462497674 I1,.592466586 21., 56'.535.920 211,,,864267487 323,,,790688436 424,,,201020709 LOU Isiana 625I 1,149 1,753 1,753 2,38e 2,730 peunsyl v anis 575 659 727 1,199 3,313 2,533 Maryland 757 653 2, 209 1, KV 1.457 1,121 Texas 55 275 . 640 1,251 1,812 3,230 IInllidnioainsa I 1t1i4l 211546 :247689 878056 11,,734714 22,,167715 A11rk1a,snosuaris I 119014 319413 651560 . .656132 1,089614 21,,036033 AssuMing these figures to he correct, t nd a proper foundation on which to base generalizations, it is evident that in the development of Alabama immigration _has, eome primItrily from the Stares imme- diately adjoining; that it has been in direct proportioh to distance; that it has been in this case, as in most others, in the main along lines of latitude; that the population coming into Alabama in the early days was distinctively southern, and that it was not till 1890. that an increatie in the northern and western elements began to command atten tion. The States that seem to:. have contributed most to the population of-Alai , in ths order of importance: Georgia, South Carolina, 10 PUBLIC SCIT001. EDUCATION IN ALABAMA. Tennessee, North Carolina, inidl:irginia; these States In the four censuses between 1850 anttl 880, stand with three exceptions in the above ordei. Two of them, Georgia and Tennessee, represent a migration frOm the neighboring older States, Virginia and the Caro- linas. It is probable that an overwhelming per cent of the Alabama - population of the ante bellum period. traced its origin directly or' indirectly to Virginia and the Carolinas, as is shown hy the following tables: Total population Alabama, 18,50 425, 779 Born in the State 236,332 Born out of Stale, but in United State 183, 913 Born in 'foreign countries 7, 509 Birthplace unknowti 1,1125 428,779 Born ottaide of State, but in United Struve . 183 913 Boin in deorgia 58, 997 South Carolina 48, 663 North Carolina. 28, 521 Tennessee,. 22, 54 1 Virginia 10, :SS; _ 169,.132 Born in foreign countries 7, Soy , Born in 941 1 Ireland 3.639 .Seotland.. 584 Wales., 67 -- Germany rod aria 1, 112 France ... . ..... 503 Austria .. . 33 Switzerland 113 Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 74 British America ... 49 7, 116 It is t evident that the States which in the decade between 1840 1850 made the largest contribution to Alabama's population furnished no new ethnic elements; and that tile, foreign contribution was neither sufficient' in size, nor sufficiently different in character;. to produce variation in type. 'There was in geteral large racial homogerfeity. .It may be interesting to inquire at this point how and along what linen df travel, and over what roads, these immigrants got into Ala- bama. If the lines of travel and the location of earliest settlement are known, theie facts will help explain why certain sections. were in advance of others in the organization of schools. After the province of Louisiana came into the hands of the English as a result of the Treaty of Paris in 1763; they began to encourage immigration, and the first -immigrants found homes not in what is

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History of Public School EduostIon in Arkansas. In preparation: The Alabama educational association and the educationalpress. 76. Gabriel B.
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