THE NEGROES OF NEBRASKA

     (33) In only one phase of their life do the Negroes of Nebraska approach equality with all other races, and that is with regard to their educational status. There is only one system of schools in Nebraska for all people, and all students, regardless of race, color, or creed, are admitted impartially. Negroes attend Nebraska schools, from kindergarten through the graduate colleges of the universities, upon an equal basis with whites.

     There is in general a high level of literacy among the Negroes of Nebraska. In some cities in the State there are no Negroes who are illiterate. Throughout the State less than one per cent of the Negro population is illiterate, a figure which compares favorably with any other racial group in Nebraska. Most of those who are unable to read or write are recent arrivals from Southern rural districts.

     The Negro population of America at the close of the Civil War was almost entirely illiterate. Among the ex-slaves who settled in Nebraska during Territorial and early Statehood days there were very few who could read or write. This condition has been generally true of the Southern Negro emigrant, even, somewhat to the present day, since many of them come from rural districts of the South, where schools are inadequate and where no compulsory educations laws exist.

     Negroes coming to Nebraska, however, were not backward in realizing the advantages of an education, and were quick to grasp the opportunities offered by Nebraska's educational system. As early as 1865 Negroes enrolled in the Public Schools of Omaha. The first Negroes to graduate from Omaha High Schools were Harry Curry and Comfort Baker, in 1880. William A. Wiggington was the first Negro graduate, June 6, 1889, of the Lincoln Public Schools. Since 1865 school attendance and literacy have steadily increased among the Negro group until at the present time the illiterate Negro is a rarity.

     In education, as in every other phase of their life, the economic status of Nebraska Negroes is a vital controlling factor. Many of them, faced with the necessity of earning a living for themselves, are obliged to leave school at an early age and go to work. The average Negro child ceases to attend school at the age of fifteen, so that his average time spent in school is eight years. Consequently, although the school attendance of Negro children through the grades is fairly constant, from then on to the final year of high school there is a sharp decline in the percentage of Negro students. There is a considerable disparity between the number of Negro (34) high school students, about twenty-five per cent of those qualified to enter high school, and the number of high school graduates, less than ten per cent of those who completed the grades. This disparity is still further emphasized to extend the comparison on the same statistical basis, when the number of those who attend college, about one per cent, and of these the number who finally earn degrees, less than one-half of one per cent, is considered.

     Negroes themselves feel that there is no great incentive toward pursuing a higher education. Their race places them at a disadvantage, in competition with whites of equal scholastic attainments, in securing positions commensurate with their training upon completion of university courses. For example, even though a number of Nebraska Negroes have qualified themselves as teachers in grade and high schools, a few even as college instructors, they are obliged to seek positions in some State, usually in the South, other than Nebraska. Only two Negroes until recently have ever taught school in Omaha. Miss Lucy Gambol, (1895-1901) now Mrs. John Albert Williams, and Miss Eula Overall (1898-1903) were teachers in the Omaha Public Schools previous to 1903. There have been no Negro teachers employed since that date, until 1939, when three, Travis Dixon, Mrs. Thelma Hancock, and Mrs. Robbie Turner Davis, were hired in Omaha. Rev. J. S. Williams was also hired to teach music four days each week at one school.

     In other professional fields, however, the outlook for the Negro with specialized training is somewhat better. Several of the Negro physicians, dentists, and attorneys now practicing in Nebraska are graduates of Nebraska colleges. These men, and others, show that the group is beginning to evince greater interest in advantages of higher education. The number of Nebraska Negroes now holding college degrees, well over one hundred, in comparison with only three, in 1907, who had earned degrees, indicates that the group is desirous of bettering its educational status, and is doing so.

     Negroes have attended and earned degrees at almost every college and university in Nebraska. They have attended and graduated from every grade and high school in all of the larger Nebraska cities, in many of the smaller communities, and even in some rural districts. On the whole their scholastic record has been satisfactory. The average grade of the Negro students is about the same as the average grade of the students of all races. There are, of course, individuals who have been unable to satisfy the requirements in some course; on the other hand there have been individuals who have earned marks comparable with those earned by the best students. Miss Lillian Dickinson, to cite one example, was valedictorian of her class at Whittier High School in Lincoln. Miss Estella Craig represented Hastings High School in the District Declamatory Contest, held at Hastings, May 30, 1900.

     There is, in Omaha, one school in which only Negroes are enrolled. This is the school of St. Benedict the Moor, a Catholic institution. At least half of the students, however, are non-Catholic.

     On the whole a non-discriminatory policy toward Negro students is characteristic of all Nebraska educational institutions. In only one phase of collegiate activities is any discrimination to be found. Since 1917 Negroes have been ineligible for inter-collegiate athletic competition at the University of Nebraska. Before that year Negroes were represented on several University of Nebraska Football teams. Five, in fact, have made the squad: namely, George A. Flippin, William N. Johnson, Bud Taylor, John Johnson, and Clint Ross. George A. Flippin, who attended college from 1892 to 1896, was captain-elect of the football team for the following year, but failed to return to school. William N. Johnson, now a (35) Chicago attorney, attended Nebraska University from 1900 to 1904, and was a regular member of the team during all four years.

     In all other University activities Negroes are accorded the same privileges and opportunities as are the students of other races. The social life of the Negro students enrolled at the University of Nebraska finds expression in the two fraternities and one sorority among the colored students.

     Since 1922 there have been 233 Negro students registered at the University of Nebraska, though Negroes attended the University as early as 1890. In this eighteen-year period Negro students have earned fifty-eight degrees, ranging from Bachelor of Arts to Doctor of Philosophy. One of these students, Charles Blooah, was born in Africa, a member of the aboriginal and cannibalistic Nimiah tribe of Liberia. At the age of 14 he fled from his tribe in order to escape becoming its king. By 1936 his advancement in education in this country, beginning as an illiterate savage, had reached such a standing that the University of Nebraska awarded him a fellowship In the department of social science.

     Negro women, as well as men have sought the advantages of a higher education. The first Negro graduate of Omaha University was a woman, Dorothy Williams. In 1929 Zanzie Hill, now deceased, the only Negro woman to graduate from the University of Nebraska College of Law, was admitted to the Nebraska Bar. No other Negro woman has duplicated her achievements in Nebraska.

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