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Part Three of “Separate But Unequal,” a comparison of salaries at black and white schools.

During the 1928-29 school year, the lowest-paid principal among the eight white schools, the Oak Hill principal, made $1,900.

That’s $300 more than the highest-paid principal among the three black schools, the William Penn High School principal.

Not only did teachers and principals at white schools make more than their black counterparts in the late 1920s in High Point, support-staff positions either didn’t exist at the black schools or paid less.

If the black teachers were being shortchanged regarding equal pay, then you can believe black school children were being denied the same learning tools as white children.

Why weren’t French and physical education teachers available at William Penn as they were at the high school?

Why didn’t we have a library or librarian like the white schools in 1926?

Why didn’t our principal have a secretary like the white high and junior high schools?

Why didn’t we have a gymnasium like the white schools, which, in some cases, had one for the boys and one for the girls?

Because we had no say-so as to how school funds would be used!

Also, key school-district positions were held by white employees. They included a superintendent, music supervisor, nurse and building superintendent.

The discrepancy between black and white teacher pay is just one example of how blacks were treated during a time when black folk were shortchanged regarding equality.

What could blacks do against a whole nation of people who believed the propaganda of a small band of racists?

One must realize the price of speaking out at that time was the loss of employment, a roof over your head or even your life.

So, to overcome these obstacles we did what we do best — make the best out of what we have to work with.

We learned from slavery how to survive on foods that the white man wouldn’t eat and live in conditions unfit for human habitation.

Our teachers made less money and got fewer educational tools to work with, but they used their own money and extra time to make sure we overcame America’s policy of separate but unequal.

The struggle for the black man in America has been hard, and we have paid dearly, but we have survived. Because of the lack of meaningful dialog, America still remains a nation unable to come to grips with the terms truth and equality.

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