UNITED STATES BUREAU Of EDUCATION. BULLETIN, 1915, NO. 12 , WHOLE NUMBER 637 HISTORY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ALABAMA I By STEPHEN B. WEEKS OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1915 ADDITIONAL COPIES THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM T11 SUPERINTENDENT Or DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 20 CENTS 1'E11 COPY In The same series: Bulletin 1912, No. 27.History of Public School EduostIon in Arkansas. In preparation: History of Public School Education In Tennessee. , '2,90 9 (e, ktAN 11 19i5 ^ 1915 CONTENTS. 12 -23 tags. Letter of transmittal 5 ('hapter I.- Evolution of the State 7 Growth.of population of Alabama, 1800-1910 9 First centers of American settlement 11 The lines of travel and the influence of roads on settlement 12 The distribution of incoming settlers 14 Chapter 11.-Private schools before the CivilViiar 16 Schools supported from private sources- 17 Schools supported in part out of public funds 23 Chapter 111.-Administration of the sixteenth sections, 1819-1914 26 The laws of the thirties and the failure of the State bank 27 Judge Porter's bill in 1847-48 30 Proposed comnlidation, 1852-53 33 Transfer of trumagement to State superintendent, 1854 35 Auditor Reynolds's strictures, 1869 36 The law of 1881 lays foundation of a State fund 4 38 The act of 1899 and the case of Alabama r. Schmidt 39 Principal of the sixteenth sectidls fund, 1851 and 1912. 41 Chapter 1V.-The rise of public schools in Mobile.,1826-1865 42 Public schools reorganized, 1852.. 44 Development, 1853-1865 45 ('hapter V.-The experimental period in the organization ofa State system. 1819-1854 48 The laws of 1839-40 49f Messages of Gov. Chapman and Gov. Collier in 1849 -t 51 'It. The house report of 1851-52 53 Gen. Perry's reminiscences 56 Chapter VI.- O.ganization of the public-school system, 1854-4856 58 Meek's report on education 59 The act of February 15, 1854 60 W. F'. Perry chosen firstsState superintendent 63 . The course of study and textbooks 65 The amended act of February 14, 1856 67 Chapter VII.-The work of the public schools, 1836 -1865 69 The condition of schodlliouses r-20 Indifference of the people and weakness of the law a \ 71 Equalization and distribution of the sixteenth-section fund 74 The Alabama educational association and the educationalpress 76 Gabriel B. Duval becomes the second superintendent 77 The Civil War and after 80 Chapter VIII-Reconstruction in the public schools, 1865-1876 84 ' I. The intermediate period, 1865-1868 84 II. The old regime and the new, 1868-1876 87 The State board of education 88 Reorganization and new legislation 89 The contest for supremacy in Mobile 90 Income, misappropriations and investigations 93 Conservatives in power, 1870; economy and reform 96 . 3' ----4----- uurrrzarria. Chapter VIII.Recoustruction in the public schools,1865-4876--Continued. Page. III-. School legislation in 1872, 1873, and 1875 e -101 - Law of December 14, 1872, practically suspends schools for 1873 101 i a Tho appeal of the State board of education;arrears 103 Act ef March 8. 1875, and .constitntioa of 1875 reduce school fund 110 -I The general situation in 1874 -1876 , 111 CAapter IX.Reorganization and advance. 1876-1898 114 I. The constitution of 1875. 1 -14 II. The school tmdes pf 1877 and 1879 116 The admipistration.of Laroy F. Box, 1876-1880 118 111. Progrosl4n the eighties 119 W The administration of Henry Clay Arnistrong,.1880- ISS-I 119 The administration of Solomon Palmer, J681-1890 120 , Rise of the special school district 122 T Local taxation and the rise of city systems 123 IV. The Handley amendment anti after , 127 The administration of John Gideon 'Parris. 1S90-189-1 4.* i 127 The administration of John Orman Turner, 1894-1898 , 131 'Chapter X.The awakening, 1898-1914. .115 I. The beginning of a new era 135 The administration of John W. Abercrombie. 1898-1902..:...... °136 II. The constitution of 1901 '140 III..Contemporaneous conditions and Ili'ogress ...,142 The administration of Isaac W. Hill, 1902-1906 .. 142 The administration of Harry C. Gunnels, 1906-1910; of HenryJ. Wil-, lingham, 1910-1913; and of William F. Feagin, 1913 to date 146 .Chapter ILMiscellaneous and supplementary agencies 155 I. Normal schools and other nobnal agencies 1'6,5' II. City schools ".. 162 III. Negro schools. 168 .. IV. Ruralschoolhouses;rural tolpervision and school improvement t 11M30- ciationa 172 V. Rural school libraries and library organization 177 Ji District agricultural school4 178 f VII. Industrial education 182 -"VIII: The county high schools 189. Chapter X11. Looking from the past and into the future . 18? Puddle school statistics, 1855-1914 197 I. School population, teachers, property, and schoolyear 197 II. Enrollment and attendance - 198 III. School revenues 199 IV. School expenditures 200 V. Tax valuation 202 Addindum SO2 Bibliography. .. 203 INDEX .. '"07 tk. , torER 01' TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BtREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington; February 19, 1915. SIR: I submit heltewith for publicationas a bulletin of the Bureau of Education a brief account of thetirogress of education in the State of Alabama.This is the second in the series of brief histories of edu- cation insome of the States of the Union which this bureau is having prepared by and under the direction of Dr. Stephen B. Weeks, of this bureau, for the purpose of providing accurate information for the future historian, and the still more important purpose of helping those who are now working for.the improvement of education in theI States, Its set forth in my letter transmitting the manuscript of Bulletin, 191,2, No. 27. Respectfully submitted. Commissioner. The SECRETARY INTERIOR. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The compiler wishes toacknowledge with thanksmany courtesies which he has received from citizens of Alabama duringthe prepara- tion of this bulletin.Supt. John H. Phillips, of Biimingham; Henry J. Willingham, Mr. now president of the State NormalSchool at Florence; and Mr. William F.Feagin, the present Statesuperintend- ent, courteously answerednumerous questions; Hon. John W. Aber- crombie. and Mr. Isaac W.Hill, former State superintendents, parts of the paper and offbred read suggestions, while Mr. ThomasM. Owen, LL.D., director of theState department of archives history, .put the historical and material in his office, includingmany pamphlets in the Curry Collectionand the original manuscriptletter books of the Statesuperintendents.down to 1873, the writer. at the service of Dr. Owen also read themanuscript and freelygave the benefits of his very wide knowledgeof the subject. 6 HISTORY. OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATIONIN ALABAMA. Chapter I. EVOLUTION OF THE STATE. The territory included within thepresent State of Alabama lies between 30° 13' and 35° north latitude andbetween 84° 51' and 88° 31' west longitude.It has a total land and waterarea of 51,998 square miles, and was first visited by De Narvaezand later explored by De Soto (1540); but the Spaniards madeno attempi at settlement and for more than a hundredyears there was no other visit to the ter- ritory by white men.Then came La Salle, with his idea ofa French empire extending through the heart of NorthAmerica, the Mississippi to be the main artery of commerce, anda chain of forts to connect Canada and Louisiana (1682).Under the impetus of this ideacame the settlenient at Biloxi in 1699 and thatat Twenty-seven Milo Bluff, on Mobile River in 1702.In ,1711 this latter settlementwas moved to the present site of Mobile.This removal marks the real beginning of European settlement in thatsection of the United States, and Mobile was foryears the center of French'opposit.ion to the westward thrust of the English-speakingpeoples from Georgia and the Carolinas. It should be noted that the Spaniardsnever formally surrendered their claims to the countrynow represented by the State of Alabama, but included it within the ill-defined boundariesof Florida, and that the English made a similar claith to itas a part of their province of.Carolana, "the east of Carolana joiningto the west of Carolini" according to Coxe, who wa's the leadingexponent of the Eng1M contentioA; but the French remainedin actual possession of the soil till the peace of 1"aris in 1763, by the_ terms of whichCanada and all of that pall of Louis.&na east of the MississippiRiver, with the excep- tion of the island of Orleans, was ceded to England,and the city of New Orleans with all of Louisiana west of theriver to Spain. By these cessions France was ,forced out of theContinent of North America, and the visions of. La Salle's Americanempire vanished. 7 8 MIMIC _SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ALADAMA. By a treaty of 1762 East and West. Florida had been ceded by Spain to England in exchange for Havana, and the English flag then waved over all the territory of _North America east of the Mississippi except the city of New Orleans. In reorganizing the territory of West Florida the English in 1767 extended its boundary northward to the line of 32° 28', about the latitude of the present city. of Montgomery.The' territory north of 32° 28' was included'in the English province of Illinois.During the American Revoltition, Bernardo Galvez, Spanishgovernor of Louis- iana, captured both Pensacola and Mobile, and by thetreaty of Versailles in 1783 the Flor;das were retroceded to Spain by.England, which at the same/hue acknowledged the southern boundary of the United States to run awn to 31°, thus ignoring herown boundary of West Florida and bequeathing a bone\ of contention to the United States and Spain.This territory remained a subject. of dispute till 1795, when under the Jay treaty Spain acknowledged the American contention for 31°, -although it was not till 1798 that the Spanish colonial cfliciala were forced to yield recognition of the treaty.By the Federal act of April 7; 1798, a ttvritoriat governmentwas elltab- lished for the MissiSSippi Territory then embraced between 31' and 32° 28', of like charactei in all respects to thatover the Northwest.