yo £ ‘O A Negro Literacy and Illiteracy [Census of 1900] G. S. DTCKERMAN T7^ ACH Census for the last fifty years has shown a marked gain in JJj the number of Negroes able to read and write. At the begin- ning of the period there can hardly have been more than one in ten of the whole people ; now the number is about half. The enumeration is given by the Census for those over io years of age, with divisions into various classes. Twenty years ago a majori- ty of all the illiterates in the United States were “Colored ”, including under this heading Indians, Chinese and Japanese. In 1900 this is changed and the white illiterates outnumber the colored by 221,423. The increase of white illiterates is due to immigration from foreign lands, mostly in the North. In 1880. the foreign-born white illiterates were 763,620 and in 1900 1,293,171, an increase of 529,551 of which 482,653 were in the North and West, 33,701 in Louisiana and Texas and 13,197 in the sixteen other states of the South Atlantic and South Central Divisions. Quite in contrast, the native born white illiterates in 1880 were 2,255,460 and in 1900 1,913,611, a decrease of 341,849, of which 170,054, or nearly a half, were in the South. The movement among the Negroes in the decade from 1890 to 1900 is of especial interest. In 1890 the number over 10 years of age was 5,328,972 with 3,042,668 illiterates, 57.1 per cent, and in 1900 6,415,581 with 2,853,194 illiterate, 44.5 per cent. That is, the whole number increased 1,086,609, while the illiterates decreased 189,474, and the per cent of illiteracy declined 13.1 which means that the propor- tion of illiterate Negroes at the end of the ten years was only about three quarters of what it was at the beginning. The progress is similar for the youth of the race taken separately. Of those 15 to 19 years of age the per cent of illiterates in 1890 was 42.6 while in 1900 it was 31.8, only about three quarters of what it was at the beginning of the decade. Naturally the per cent of illiteracy is less for the young than those who are older. Of those 10 to 14 years of age the per cent of illiterates is 30.1, and of those 10 to 19 years 30.9, which means that 7 out of every 10 of the Negro young people are now able to read and write. # 2 The proportion of male illiterates is a little less than that of females. For the males over io years of age it is 43.0 per cent, and for the fe- males it is 45.8. The difference in this particular is very nearly the same in the North and South though it varies somewhat in the several states. In Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky the number of illit- erates is greater among the males than among the females, and this is true also in several Northern states having a small Negro population. Great differences in amount of illiteracy appear on comparison of different parts of the country and different communities. In the North Atlantic states the proportion of illiterates among those over 10 years of age is 13.8 per cent, in the North Central 21.7, in the West- ern 13. 1, in the South Atlantic 47.1, and in the South Central 48.8. Among those ic to 19 years of age the proportion in the North and West is 5.1 per cent and in the South 33.2. Most of the Negroes in the North are in cities and large towns where the schools are good and laws of compulsory attendance prevail. This accounts for the small illiteracy of those who have long lived in these places. But there is a large element which has lately moved to these Northern cities, and we have to conclude that these have come from among the better educated people of the South and that the South has lost in this way a great many whose training especially qualified them for usefulness among the less favored multitudes of their race. Six cities, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Chi- cago and St. Louis, now contain in the aggregate over 350,000 Negroes. It takes the largest eleven cities farther south to match this number — New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Richmond, Charleston, Nashville, Savannah, Norfolk, Augusta, Montgomery and Mobile. During the ten years from 1890 to 1900 the six cities increased in their Negro population over 100,000, while the eleven more southerly cities show an increase of less than 65,000. The six northern cities have 255,000 Ne- groes over 1 o years of age who can read and write, while the eleven cities have only 190,000. But the illiteracy in the most backward cities is small compared with that of the rural portions of the South in those states where the Negroes are most numerous. This is shown in the following table which gives side by side the figures for a number of states and for the cities having a population of over 25,000 in each state. Colored Population io years of age and over In the whole state In cities of 25,000 inhabitants Total Illiterate Per Cent. Total Illiterate Per Cent Connecticut 1 3 > 7 20 i ,572 1 1.8 5,866 59 1 IO.I Massachusetts 32, 021 3,722 12.4 21,965 2,561 11.7 New York 95>978 12,327 12.8 66,083 6,500 9.8 Pennsylvania i 3 2 > 43 8 20.298 15-3 84,475 1 1 , 1 93 13.2 New Jersey 59,°33 10.320 * 7-5 24,411 3,574 14.6 Ohio 79,663 14,231 17-9 33,986 5 , 30 i 15.6 Illinois 72,748 13,253 18.2 35,279 3 , 78 i 10.7 Indiana 47*355 10,680 22.6 21,655 4,681 21.6 District of Columbia 72,414 17,548 24.2 72,414 17,548 24.2 Missouri 130,161 36,495 28.0 52,112 10,466 20.8 West Virginia 34 * 37 i 11,094 32-3 945 192 20.3 Maryland . 179*909 63,253 35-2 66,102 17,037 25.8 Delaware 23,587 8,983 38.1 8,083 2 , 39 i 29.6 Texas 438,883 167,53! 38.2 36,202 9,286 25.7 Florida 168,980 65,101 38.5 13,038 3,054 234 Kentucky 219,843 88,186 40.1 44,42 7 14,086 3 1 -7 Tennessee #4,980 147,844 41.6 81,912 27,058 33-3 Arkansas 263,923 H 3,495 43 -o 12,088. 3 , 3 r 4 27.4 Virginia 479*464 213,960 44.6 43,343 14,987 34-6 North Carolina 441,756 210,344 47.6 No large cities Mississippi 640,424 3 1 4 , 6 1 7 49.1 u (< « Georgia 724,305 379 , 156 52.3 66,825 23,785 35-6 South Carolina 537*542 283,940 52.8 25,110 7,462 29.7 Alabama 589,820 338,707 57-4 4 1 - 5 1 8 18,035 434 Louisiana 465,61 1 284,594 61. 1 63,010 22,758 36.1 A glance at these figures shows how largely the Negro popula- tion of the North is a city population; how the illiteracy in northern cities is much less than in the South and how the illiteracy in the cities generally is less than in rural districts. The figures of the Census are only for large cities. If they were given for smaller cities and for all towns of over 1000 inhabitants the same lessons would be emphasized probably with greater force. We should certainly see in a stronger light the deplorable ignorance prevailing in the regions re ? from the centers. In the four states, Georgia, South Caroling Alabama and Louisiana more than half of the Negroes of the whole state are il- literate. If we could separate the centers from the rest it would be found in many regions that the intelligence is hardly greater than fifty years ago. There is a culture which disqualifies a person to live in the woods and among uncultivated people. Its natural home is in a city. The per- son who leaves a rural cabin and spends a few years in gaining this cul- ture becomes disinclined to return to his old surroundings and ac- quires a love of things that are not to be found there. He becomes habituated to exciting pleasures, to social pursuits, to luxuries of many kinds. This is so of the poor as well as the rich, of the class from which menials come as truly as that from which captains of in- 4 dustry and statesmen arise. Indeed it would seem to be more true of the inferior class, because they have so few personal resources. They shrink from rough fare and hard work which men of finer mould would go to without a murmur. There is wanted an education that will keep people in the country, that will show them the dignity and beauty of country pur- suits and fill them with ardor to achieve the splendid results which are possible only where nature and man toil together hand in hand. The miserable life of a pariah in some great city is a sad ending to school- day ambitions. The manly independence of a vigorous, respected yeoman in whatever wild woods or broad fields is a worthy result of education. Who will teach us this higher learning ? Ability to read and write is only a single feature of the true education. A training is required that will make the man a man and the woman a woman of the best type resolute for any task and competent for all required duties.