We learn that, in mid-1930s Atlanta, there was a staggering student-to-teacher ratio inequality in the school system, wherein, on average, a black teacher was responsible for the molding of a whopping 82 minds, while a white teacher was responsible for just 35, providing the latter twice as much time and opportunity to cater to each student’s specific needs. When hit with complaints about the overflow, however, this school’s all white board simply erected three additional wooden shacks that lacked both insulation and electricity. Carol Anderson begins chapter three of her book White Rage by reminding us that, in the early 1900’s, there was essentially no aspect of a black person’s life left untainted, in some way, by the rule of Jim Crow, which instituted “racially distinct facilities from telephone booths to cemeteries.” Southern states seemed to seize upon the “separate” part of the ruling, but often neglected the “equal.” Black schools, for instance, were especially shoddy, with one school in Prince Edward County, North Carolina, packed tight with twice the amount of students it was built to hold.
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