A CENTURY OF CHANGE: THE HISTORY OF TWO-YEAR EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF ALABAMA, 1866 - 1963 by DUSTIN P. SMITH STEPHEN G. KATSINAS, COMMITTEE CHAIR KARI A. FREDERICKSON WAYNE J. URBAN NATHANIEL J. BRAY ROBERT P. PEDERSEN A DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2012 Copyright Dustin P. Smith ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Much has been written about two-year education in Alabama during the governorships of George C. Wallace, but little about two-year education prior to his first inauguration in 1963. Yet nearly a third of the forty-three junior, technical, and community college institutions that eventually formed the Alabama Community College System had been established prior to 1963. This study reviews the major types of two-year colleges (historically black private junior college, public trade schools, and public junior colleges) established in Alabama from 1866 to 1963 by drawing upon case studies of institutional founding based upon primary document analysis. Alabama’s first two-year institution was Selma University established in 1878 by the Alabama Colored Baptist Convention. Selma University operated as a private junior college for the newly freed slaves hungry for education. The first public two-year institution was the Alabama School of Trades, founded in Gadsden in 1925, which offered vocational education courses. A second trade school was established using federal vocational aid money in Decatur to produce trained workers to support the World War II war efforts. The first set of public trade schools created in Alabama followed the end of World War II with the passage of the Regional Trade and Vocational School Act of 1947, authored by freshman State Representative George C. Wallace, and endorsed by Governor James "Big Jim" Folsom. A third type of two-year college was established in 1961 when the Alabama Legislature passed a bill authorizing a public junior college in northwest Alabama. The 1901 Constitution was a powerful factor in hindering two-year college development in Alabama. With unstable funding and an inability to raise local funds imposed by the ii Constitution, school districts could not afford to operate public junior colleges. This led to two- year college development being controlled by politicians in Montgomery. The funding restrictions of the 1901 Constitution also meant that an institution legally authorized would be doomed without state funding, because the lack of local funding. It is therefore no accident that a broad two-year public educational system could not develop in Alabama prior to 1963 without a champion in the Governor’s office. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At the beginning of this dissertation process, my major professor, Dr. Stephen Katsinas, told me that the process was much like the story of the tortoise and the hare, and that the tortoise always wins. This is an accurate analogy to describe the process. The slow and steady progress pays off, but to endure, the student must receive support from many different sources, or will stall somewhere in this process. I want to thank my wife, Cilia, for her support both during the coursework and the dissertation. She spent many weekends alone as I was attending class, without complaint, and constantly encouraged me to keep working. My family also played an important role in helping me through this process and has always supported my educational goals. Their belief in my ability to achieve anything I wanted to do has always been a source of strength. I want to single out my grandfather, Willie Smith, for instilling in me a love of history. This led me to select the topic for my dissertation, a subject that held my interest throughout the dissertation process. I want to give special thanks to Dr. Katsinas, who supervised my study. Without his wisdom, guidance, and encouragement, it would not have been completed. While the dissertation process was arduous, he made it as easy and pleasant. I also thank the members of my committee who shared their time and expertise to assist in the writing of this dissertation. Dr. Kari Frederickson and Dr. Wayne Urban added their extensive knowledge of history and research methodology to this study. The contributions of Dr. Robert Pedersen, perhaps our nation's leading junior college historian, were priceless. I also thank Dr. Nathanial Bray for his help with the dissertation process and help in my coursework. iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM OF TWO-YEAR COLLEGE HISTORY IN ALABAMA ...........9 CHAPTER II: THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FREEDOM: SELMA UNIVERSITY .................20 CHAPTER III: A SCHOOL OF THE POOR WHITE BOYS: ALABAMA SCHOOL OF TRADES ............................................................................................................................50 CHAPTER IV: LACK OF PUBLIC JUNIOR COLLEGE ESTABLISHMENT IN ALABAMA ......................................................................................................................70 CHAPTER V: THE WAR-TIME MUNICIPAL TRADE SCHOOL IN DECATUR ..................96 CHAPTER VI: EXPANSION OF TWO-YEAR EDUCATION: REGIONAL TRADE SCHOOLS .......................................................................................................................116 CHAPTER VII: PUBLIC JUNIOR COLLEGES COME TO ALABAMA ................................161 CHAPTER VIII: FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY .........................................................................................................182 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................203 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Establishments and Mergers of Post-Secondary Institutions in Alabama ...................................4 2. Two-Year Institutions in Alabama Prior to 1963 ........................................................................6 3. Percent Distribution of Gainfully Employed Workers in the United States and Alabama, 1890 to 1940 ......................................................................................................................75 4. Percent of 15 to 20 Year-Olds Attending School, 1900 to 1940 ...............................................76 5. Voting Members of the Alabama State Board of Education, 1948 ........................................138 6. Voting Members of the Alabama State Board of Education, 1950 .........................................139 vi INTRODUCTION A comprehensive history of two-year education in Alabama has never been written. Several studies exist, typically doctoral dissertations, which are usually very narrow in scope. For instance, Catherine Randall devoted a chapter of her 2001 dissertation on the unplanned expansion of institutions of higher education to the expansion of two-year colleges during the 1960s.1 In his 1983 dissertation, David Rowland, former president of Walker College in Jasper, studied the decline of private two-year colleges in the state from 1960 to 1980.2 Stephen G. Katsinas extensively reviewed Alabama State Board of Education minutes to examine the role that Governor George C. Wallace played in starting community colleges, and the politics surrounding the 1963 legislation that authorized the system, emphasizing the period of 1963 to 1977.3 Meakins and Van Horn both wrote dissertations, in 1967 and 1971 respectively, focusing on the history of public junior colleges from 1958 to 1970. 4 These writings taken together represent small episodes in the life of two-year institutions in Alabama. Although they address 1 J. Catherine Randall, “A Kudzuing of Colleges: The Proliferation and Balkanization of Higher Education in Alabama” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 2001), 86-131. 2 David A. Rowland, “A Study of the Decline in the Number of Private Junior Colleges in the State of Alabama (1960-1980) with Contributing Factors Leading to the Decline” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 1983). 3 Stephen G. Katsinas, “George C. Wallace and the Founding of Alabama’s Two-Year Colleges,” The Journal of Higher Education 65, no. 4 (1994): 447-472. 4 John R. Meakins, “State Controlled Public Junior Colleges in the State of Alabama” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 1967); James F. Van Horn, “A History of the Alabama Public Junior College (1958-1970)” (PhD diss., University of Alabama, 1971). 1 their respective subjects thoroughly, they do not present an early history of two-year colleges in Alabama. A review of this literature reveals that almost nothing has been written about two-year education in Alabama prior to George Wallace’s first term as governor, which began in January of 1963. There is extensive literature after this, but to put this in proper perspective, a history prior to Wallace is needed. For instance, both Randall and Katsinas examined the way in which the