The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 400
539 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and six night schools-with 1,041 pupils, many of them adults, and ten
teachers. Thirty new teachers had been procured and would arrive in
the state very soon. The curriculum consisted of alphabet, simple and
advanced reading, geography, simple arithmetic and "higher" mathe-
matics, and writing. Classes usually began between eight and nine A.M.
and ended at various hours beginning at noon. At least one day of each
week was devoted to rhetorical exercises, singing, and Bible study. New
schools were to be organized as soon as books were available. Wheelock
called the schools "self-sustaining."s
The first comprehensive statistics issued relating to Freedmen's Bu-
reau schools covered the period from their beginning late in 1865 to
July 1, 1866. The report showed Texas leading in the number of Bu-
reau schools with ninety, although almost half of these were Sunday
schools and night schools. The number of students was, however, far
from impressive, for of an estimated Negro school-age population of
74,oo0, only 4,590 were reported in school in 1866. Yet these figures
compared favorably with other southern states: Arkansas-with a
school-age population of 44,418-had only thirty schools and 1,584 pu-
pils, and Louisiana had just seventy-three schools with 3,389 pupils,
even though she had a Negro school-age population of more than
185,000. Virginia and North and South Carolina with their massive
Negro populations led in the number of blacks in school.9
During their first year of operation the Texas schools remained large-
ly self-sustaining. Many of the freedmen were still working on the old
plantations, making relatively good wages, and were able to contribute
substantially to the support of the schools. The institutions did, how-
ever, receive some assistance from the North, especially in obtaining
teachers. Superintendent Alvord reported that the Negroes of Texas
were exhibiting high interest in the schools, as was shown by their
financial support for them, and praised the management of Wheelock.
The state had gained a number of experienced teachers from Louisiana,
where the schools were broken up for a short time during this period.
8 U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, First Semi-Annual Report
on Schools for Freedmen, January i, 1866 (Washington, 1867), 11; ibid., Seventh Semi-
Annual Report on Schools for Freedmen, January I, 1869 (Washington, 1869), 37; Elliott
"The Freedmen's Bureau in Texas," 7-8. Hereafter all references to the Freedmen reports,
after the first reference, will be cited as Freedmen's Bureau, --- Semi-Annual Report on
Schools.
9 U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Second Semi-Annual Re-
port on Schools for Freedmen, July I, r866 (Washington, 1867), 3; Elliott, "The Freed-
men's Bureau in Texas," 8-io.4o00
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973, periodical, 1973; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101202/m1/456/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.