By: Eun Bin and Karen

“The Great Faith Elementary and Secondary School, one of the largest black schools in the county…Consisting of four weather-beaten wooden houses on stilts of brick, 320 students, seven teachers, a principal, a caretaker...the class buildings, with their backs practically against the forest wall, formed a semicircle facing a small one-room church at the opposite edge of the compound.” (14-16).

I. Our QUESTIONS: What We Knew, and What We Wanted to Know

I. Our QUESTIONS: What We Knew, and What We Wanted to Know

“They were headed for the Jefferson David County School, a long white wooden building looming in the distance. Behind the building was a wide sports field around which were scattered rows of tiered gray-looking benches. In front of it were two yellow buses, our own tormentor and one that brought students from the other direction, and loitering students awaiting the knell of the morning bell. In the very center of the expansive front lawn, waving red, white, and blue with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its upper left-hand corner, was the Mississippi flag.” (15).

Our research question is: What are the similarities and differences between

black and white schools in the South?

II. OUR SEARCH PROCESS: The Story of Our Search

School. Irwin Ville, Georgia.Rothstein, Arthur. 1935 Sept.

The old Saint Paul Negro school which will be closed as a result of consolidation into a new school. Near Siloam, Greene County, Georgia.Delano, Jack 1941 June.

The school on the left is a very high school for white children, unlike the Negro school (on the right) it is taken good care of. Beneath the unfinished wood house (on the right) lies a Negro school for children. The white school has a playground area, whereas the Negro school is in a very rural area, with sand. The Negro school has no windows unlike the white school, which has many windows. The government did not give Negro schools as much money as they gave the white schools, because they didn’t want the Negro school to be better than the white school. (Education for African Americans).

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White Plains, Greene County, Georgia. Studying insects in a classroom at the school.Delano, Jack. 1941 Oct.

White Plains, Greene County, Georgia. The three- teacher Negro school.Delano, Jack. 1941 Oct.

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The white school (on the left), has bookshelves, desks, and studying supplies that the children use in school. The Negro school (on the right), only have an old blackboard, and old wooden benches . The Negro school has one teacher between more than 20 students, and the white school has one teacher between 6 students. For Negro schools , they didn’t have as many teachers as the white schools because they could not afford to get many teachers. (Education for African Americans).

Boyd Jones and one of his school mates at the Alexander Community School, Greene County, Georgia.Delano, Jack. 1941 Oct.

School principal and children. Irwin Ville School, Georgia.Vachon, John. 1938 May.

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Boyd Jones and his friend go to the Negro community school. His clothes look like work clothes. The white children at Irwin Ville School have clean, white, proper, fancy school clothes which they wear to school. In chapter 1, Cassie and her brothers wear “Sunday clothes” to school. “I threatened, pulling with exasperation at the collar of the Sunday dress Mama had made me wear for the first day of school…Sunday clothing was asking too much.” (P. 4)

Wife of Pomp Hall, Negro tenant farmer, preparing lunch for her children to take to school. Creek County, Oklahoma. Lee, Russell. 1940 Feb.

Five-cent hot lunches at the Woodville public school. Greene County, Georgia.Delano, Jack. 1941 June.

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In the Woodville public school kids are supplied with hot-lunches at their school. The school has enough money to provide food for the students. For Negro schools, parents have to make lunch for their children to bring to school because the school does not have enough money to provide hot lunches for students. (Education for African Americans).

Schoolchildren and bus. Franklin, Heard County, Georgia.Delano, Jack. 1941 Apr.

Negro children walking home from school near Frogsboro, Caswell County, North Carolina.Wolcott, Marion. 1939 Sept.

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In The book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Cassie Logan and her brothers have to walk to school every morning, whereas the Simms family takes the Jefferson David County school bus. In this picture, the African American students have to walk to school, just like the Logan's, and the white students take their school bus. The area that the African American students are walking in looks like it is near a farm, with sand and grass. It is much easier for the white students to get to school, the African American students have to walk through deserted areas just to get to school.

During the play period at the Alexander Community School in Greene County, Georgia.Delano, Jack. 1941 Nov.

Playground scene, Irwin Ville School, Georgia.Vachon, John.1938 May.

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In both of these pictures the children are having a good time with their friends at play time. Even though the Negro school does not have a great outdoor play-ground facility, the students are having fun with their friends. They are having just as much fun as the white students who have a nicer play-ground.

IV. WHAT THIS MEANS TO US: Our Growth as Researchers

We know how to find good, and useful sources with the correct information that we need to write captions that help describe the photo. We also learn what to type into the photo catalogue (memory.lov.gov) to make sure the pictures are all based in the same area of North America that our question is based on.

We both strengthened in taking information from pictures and changing them into words, to use for captions. Also, choosing important quotes from the book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

With the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, we were able to connect it to the photos in the captions.

The new knowledge that we learnt will help us both in further I-search Essays, or other forms of writing. We think that learning how to write captions really helped us for the future.

III. WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED: Our Findings and Conclusions

From the Mildred Taylor book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, we were interested in seeing the differences between black and white schools. The main characters in the novel all go to a Negro school, this made us even more curious.

Back in the 1930’s, African American children could not go to school with the white children because of segregation, they had to go to a ‘Negro school’. These Negro schools did not have as much space, supplies, or money as the white schools. Negro schools were very limited because white people did not want them to have a great education; they believed they did not deserve to get the education that white students got. Since African Americans were mostly the poorest in the community, Negro schools suffered from their inability to raise money to support the school. Some Negro schools only had one teacher. Unlike white schools, who had plenty of money to provide students with supplies such as bookshelves filled with textbooks. (Education For African Americans).

III. WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED: Our Findings and Conclusions

White schools could also supply hot-lunches for students who paid 5 cents; Negro schools did not have enough money to provide hot-lunches. White schools were built in nice areas with a playground for the students to play in, whereas black schools were built out of unfinished wood in very rural areas with sandy playgrounds not fit for playing in.

A school bus was provided for white students who attended their school; unlike black students who had to walk in sandy field areas to school. This also has to deal with the fact that Negro schools did not have enough money to provide a school bus.

White students had nice proper, clean clothes to wear to school, unlike African American students wore their work clothes to school because they have nothing else to wear. Most African American students came from very poor families.

The only similarities we found were that the students are eager to learn no matter how pretty, or big their school is. Also, the students are having fun with their friends. Even though African American students did not have a big playground, they still had fun and played with their friends. (Education For African Americans) (The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935.”)

V. REFERENCES No, Author. "America from the Great Depression to World War II." The Library

of Congress. 15 Dec. 1998. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html>.

Anderson, James D. “The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935.” Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Web. 7 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.answers.com/topic/african-american-education>

No, Author. "Education for African Americans - 1930's Education." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. No Posting Date. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://www.enotes.com/1930-education-american-decades/education-african-americans>.

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Dial, 1976. Print.

All Images Taken From Google Images.