African-Americans and their integration in education

Introduction
The education of Black people has always been a reason of concern for American
society and an issue often debated in our days. African Americans place special importance
on acquiring education. For them the formal schooling is the key to social mobility. More
over the gap between the Blacks and Whites always been present but in the recent years it is
norrowing.
This essay will discuss how education of Black people has evolved till today in order
to show if education help them to integrate themselves in US society, society dominated by
White people, and how their past affects their social position today. Further I will discuss
what influences does education have on their unemployment rate.
The questions I intend to answer are:
• What significance did education have for America's free black community?
• How Black people had integrate themselves in education in our days?
• To what extend does education affect Blacks' unemployment rate?
In the first part of the essay I will outline the main aspects of the Blacks' education
history where I will point out the success of their struggles for education right. I will continue
with an overview of the education of Blacks in recent years and to what extent are they
integrated into society through it. I will conclude the essay with a discussion of the influence
of education in bringing the Blacks' unemployment.
Body
African-Americans are today America's greatest minority. According to the Bureau
Census 2005 this minority's population reached in 1998 12,5% of America's population.
The Africans were the first black people who came in America. They first arrived in
1619 in Jamestown, Virginia as slaves. Africans were the greatest minority forced to
immigrate and they were transported in chains and sold as slaves.
Slaves were considered inferior to Whites, they lived in poverty, hunger, bad living
conditions and were forced to work hard. Also were prohibited from rights as liberty,
traveling, vote and especially education.
Slaves lived in a society in which for them literacy was forbidden by law and
symbolized as a skill that contraindicated the status of slaves(16). In the period between 1800
and 1835 most of the southerns state enacted legislation making it a crime to teach enslaved
children to write and read (James Anderson, 1988, pp.1). It had an event to take place for
Blacks as Civil Rights Act to take advantage and take action for their rights be recognized.
First attitude they initiated was Educational Movement (1866).
Seen as a key for a better future for their children, education has become for slaves a
goal and a challenge at the same time. Equality aspirations and the stimulating effects of
freedom became their main motivation. Black schools were early established and supported
largely through the African-Americans' own efforts yet before President Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and before Congress created the Bureau of
Refugees. In 1867 Camdem Blacks, largely through their own individual and collective
efforts, established twenty-two schools in which more than four thousand children were
instructed. Ex-slaves contributed their money and labor to help make this schools possible,
and they organized responsible committees to supervise the schools.(James Anderson, 1988,
pp.8).
On 22 March 1864 Banks established a Board of Education to organize and govern
the spread of black schools. His effort resulted in 60 schools with eight thousand scholars and
more than one hundred teachers. (James Anderson, 1988, pp.12)
The Sabbath schools are the most met schools in southern America. These were
established before free and public schools. These church-sponsored schools operated mainly
in evenings and an weekends, provided basic literacy instruction. These schools were
dominated by Black people and sustained by its' community. In 1869 there were 1,512
Sabbath schools with 6,146 teachers and 107,109 pupils. Sabbath schools continued to grow
in the black community long after Reconstruction. (James Anderson, 1988, pp.12-13).
More fundamentally, the ex-slaves struggle for education was an expression of
freedom. In 1867 the black Equal Rights Association of Macon, Georgia, resolved: “that a
Free school system is a great need of our state, and that we will do all in our power by voice
and by vote to secure adoption of a system.” Ex-slaves did much more than establish a
tradition of educational self-help that supported most of their schools. They also were the first
among native southerners to wage a campaign for universal public education (James
Anderson, 1988, pp. 18). By 1865 14 southern states had established 575 schools and these
schools were employing 1,171 teachers for the 71.779 Negro and white children in regular
attendance. In the entire South in 1870 about one-fourth of the school age ex-slaves attended
public schools.(James Anderson, 1988, pp.19)
A first barrier before Blacks were their masters who were not accepting the idea of
education for Blacks and decided to take action. Although ex-slaves were able somehow to
establish an universal education their owners have become severe with those who tried to
implement the system of schools for Blacks. The Compromise of 1877 is a result of
presidential elections of 1876. It opposed compulsory school attendance laws and blocked the
introduction of a new law which would strengthen the constitutional basis of public
education. The planters, with few exceptions, viewed black education as a distinct threat to
the racially qualified form of labour exploitation upon which their agrarian order depended.
(James Anderson, 1988, pp.23) The planters' heavy use of child labor contributed
significantly to their opposition to black education. During good crop years black school
terms were so short and irregular that children hardly had time to learn to write and read.
Ex-slaves' masters agreed the idea of education only in the new era of
industrialization. They saw in the the black education and technology an opportunity for a
larger workforce.
From the Northern America an example of a central point of Black education is the
African Free Schools.

African Free Schools

This school was founded in 1789 and it was one of the oldest African Schools in New
York. It was led by the New York Manumission Society. This school's aim was to serve city's
growing free black population ( John L. Rury, 1983 pp. 187). New York's free black
population increased from ten to sixteen thousand in the period between 1820-1840. Here the
children are learned to write and read, arithmetic and geography but they were learned, too,
skills and attitudes they needed to integrate in society.
In 1827 the first black newspaper, Freedom's Journal, is drawn out 3 and although it
doesn't last more than two years from his editorials and articles we can assume that the
newspaper became a great support for the schools. An editorial is significant of this support:
“if there is an institution in this city which man of color can look upon it with pride or
warrants him the hope, that the future condition of his race, which will be more happy and
prosperous than the present, it is the schools under the care of the Manumission Society. ”(4).
In 1829 Cornish declared: “Blacks had to bend together and act as one solid body,
devoted to education and improvement in order to realize justice and equality”.
African Free School increased significantly and by early 1833 it reached the number of
fourteen hundred enrolled black children. In November the Manumission Society open
another school extending the system to seven locations, each in a different area of
city(NYMS, Papers. Vol. VIII p.83).
 Members of Manumission Society decided that the demands of educating the city's
black population were too great. Their decision to drop its role in public schooling signaled
the end of an era in the education of Blacks in New York (pp.86-87, NYMS, Papers, vol VIII).
All the schools were transferred to Public School Society till 1834. In February 1836, the
Public School Society reported that “the colored schools formerly under the care of the
Manumission Society have greatly diminished in efficiency and usefulness since their transfer
to this Society ” (NYPSS, proceedings, Feb. f11, 1836).
African Free School became fast a focal point of black community aspirations for a
better future because it did more than teach black children their place in society (John L.
Rury, 1983, p.187). It was important for Northern America's Black community because it
was a first step to defend their common interests. Also, it provide the masses of of ex-slaves
with basic literacy skills plus the rudiments of citizenship training for participation in a
democratic society. But the greatest achievement of Black people is intellectual and moral
development of a responsible leadership class that would organize the masses and lead them
to freedom and equality.

Blacks education today.

Education stood high on the list of what African Americans wanted for themselves, and
during this period a small but growing number gained access to education, even to higher
education (Nell I. Painter, 2006, pp.152).
The report released by the National Centre for Education Statistics shows that more
Black students have completed high school and gone on to college, levels of parental
education of Black people have increased, and the number of Black individuals and families
below the poverty level has decreased.
Traditional outcome measures are also presented on income and unemployment rates
by level of education completed. Because income and employment are associated with
educational attainment outcome data for different racial/ethnic groups are broken out by
levels of educational attainment.
Higher education for African Americans was practically unheard of until after the
Civil War. Before the Civil War, only twenty-two African American men had graduated from
college. Over time, their number increased in the period between 1860 and 1909 from 44 to
1613 college graduates. (Nell I. Painter, 2006, pp.156)
The blind faith in education reveals a lack of understanding that blacks habe been rejected and
still are rejected by some whites “primarly because of their racial identity, not because they
did not measure up to certain social and economic conditions.” The drop-out rate of black
high-school students, although recently declining is a matter of grave alarm and serious
consequence for black America. One of central findings from research on stratifications and
occupational mobility is that the number of years of education completed is the primary
determinant of occupational success. (Willy D. Smith nd Eva Chunn, 1993, pp.20).
For minorities to take school seriously means they must overcome their White classmates'
same desire to be cool and not a nerd. (tyson et al.2005).

Unemployment among Black people.

Black income today resembles that of whites more than 10 years ago. Even in the best
of times, national unemployment rate is significantly higher for Blacks than WhitesBlack
income today resembles that of whites more than 10 years ago. Even in the best of times,
national unemployment rate is significantly higher for Blacks than Whites
Due to social inequality, a African American is three times likely to be poor than any
other minority(DeNaves-Walt et al. 2006). The inability of many Blacks to own a home and
develop this asset results not only from lower income but also from discriminatory lending
practices (Shapro 2004)
Higher unemployment rates for Blacks have persisted since the 1940, when statistics
were first documented. Since 1990, the national unemployment rate for Whites has ranged
from 3% to 6% whereas for Blacks it has ranged from 7% to 11% and is still significantly
higher than for Whites (Bureau of the Census 2005a) (David Schwartzman, 1997 pp.10)
It is usually argued that high black unemployment poses the most serious
unemployment problem of all. The black rate is high but the teen-age rate is higher. The big
difference between teenagers and the work force as a whole lies in their skill composition.
(James Hughes and Richard Perlman pp.194).
Related to their inter-racial still differences, some analysts claim that the higher rate
for blacks result from their low level of education(James Hughes and Richard Perlman pp
196). While in 1959, media years of school completed for whites in the labour force was 12,2
years, and for blacks only 9,6 years, by 1980 the gap had narrowed considerably with whites
completing 12,7 years of schooling and blacks 12,4 years (James Hughes and Richard
Perlman pp 196).
The unemployment rate among young men and women 16 to 19 years of age in 1995 was 1
37,1% ( David Schwartzman, 1997 p.2).
The number of skilled blacks has grown enormously since 1950, but the unskilked continue to
1
represent a large portion. The federal government's Bureau of Labour Statistics counts as
unemployed only people who are actively seeking employment. Official unemployment rates
leaves out millions of Americans (Blacks and Whites) who are effectively unemployed
(David Schwartzman, 1997 pp.10).
What is needed to reduce unemployment is an improvement in education and training,
and most of all, more rigorous applications of anti-discrimination laws and practices for all
jobs(James Hughes and Richard Perlman pp 198).

Conclusion
The African Americans are the largest minority from USA. Since they arrive in this country
they were victims of discrimination. The struggle of this minority for her rights as vote,
freedom and education in special help her to surpass her condition in society. Into an end the
Black people succeed in developing a universal education system. But how all the time the
barriers overcome they been stopped sometimes. Today the things are not changed to a large
extent. Blacks have the biggest dropout rate from education which means that they will be
affected in the future when they will search for work. On the other hand the high level of
education is reached increasingly every year by the black people. The gap between Black and
White peoples always was present today is getting narrowed. Their unemployment rate is the
highest from America. This is due to low level of education and the big number of unskilled
teen-agers.
African Americans is included in the category with the greatest rate of poverty. Every day,
they are forced in one way to face the discrimination and indifference from the white people.
They are marginalized and excluded from some social activities but they are victims of
discrimination in the largest measure in schools. Black Americans have faced many problems
in the past and maybe she will continue to have but even if the discrimination still exist they
succeed in improving their way of living compared with their past.
References:
Anderson James The education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 1988
Chunn, Eva and Smith, Willy Black education. A quest for equity and excellence, 1993
Hughes, James and Perlman, Richard The economics of unemployment
Rury, John The New York African Free School. Conflict over community, 1983
Schwartzman, David Black unemployment. Part of unskilled unemployment, 1997