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 Part 2 of  “Separate but Hardly Equal”

Through the years, I have read or heard civil rights leaders talk about what they did and what they endured as part of the civil rights movement.

This is all fine and dandy and serves to keep America on notice as to what the black man has endured in a country they helped build with their blood, sweat and tears.

But I don’t hear anyone talking about what our early teachers endured to advance the cause of education within the black community.

One doesn’t have to be physically assaulted or locked up to endure pain and suffering. Our early black teachers are excellent examples of how America used a dual system to promote its racist agenda of separate but unequal.

This is what you call monetary assault. 

Sure, those brave teachers in the 1920s could have protested, but what would that have accomplished? They would have been fired, and because there was a shortage of qualified black teachers at that time, black children would have fallen even further behind in their quest for a simple high school diploma.

Had they chosen to sit down or march in protest, their meager livelihoods or even their lives would have been snatched away and school doors that once opened to black children would have been closed.

I have talked with many older black teachers who knew they were making less than their white counterparts. Their voices and facial expressions spoke volumes about the hurt and anger they have lived with through the years.

They knew that America had not lived up to what it preached, “Separate but equal.” 

Let’s take a look at the lack of separate but equal that was dished out when it came to salaries for black and white elementary teachers at Leonard Street, Elm Street, Ray Street, Ada Blair and Ray Street schools.

Here’s a look at principals’ pay at High Point’s white elementary schools during the 1927-28 school year: Elm Street School, $2,400; Ada Blair School, $2,200;  Ray Street School, $2,000; and Emma Blair School, $2,600.

The highest paid Negro principal made less than 70 percent of the pay received by the lowest-paid white elementary principal.

Here’s a look at the pay the Negro elementary schools in 1927-28: Shepherd S. Whitted, Leonard Street School,  $1,350; Ossie Davis, Fairview Street School, $1,250.

The average pay among the 28 teachers at the Negro schools was $754. The lowest-paid received $650; the highest, $990.

Among 77 teachers at the white schools, the average pay was $1,219. The lowest-paid white teachers received $900; the highest, $1,500.

Glenn Chavis researches and writes about High Point’s black history. Contact him at Storytime40@aol.com.