The Jeanes Teachers of South Carolina:

The Emergence, Existence, and Significance of Their Work

"The Negro has the right to study law, but success will come to the race sooner if it produces intelligent, thrifty farmers, mechanics, to support the lawyers." -BTW.

The schooling of black South-Carolinians in the period during the Great Migration (late 1800's to early 1900's) was based on educational notions made renown by Booker T. Washington. Washington believed that the black role in reducing social tension was to Îkeep their place." His agenda was peasant conservatism and he preached small property accumulation, education of a practical sort, recognition of the dignity of toil, and doing the common everyday things of life uncommonly without a murmur. His ideologies of education of a practical sort were widespread throughout the South and were most exemplified in South Carolina by the Jeanes Teachers.

A group of Jeanes Supervisors, 1917

A one room rural school

"This Negro has stimulated the interest of the colored people in agricultural and industrial education, as well as in improving sanitary conditions." This statement was made in the South Carolina Superintendent of Education Annual Report (1914, p. 93) and was used to describe the Jeanes teachers. The Jeanes teachers were founded in South Carolina, as well as other southern states and were primarily concerned with encouraging and promoting industrial work in the schools and with improving community living. The early Jeanes teacher was a promoter, administrator, teacher, supervisor, welfare worker, and nurse. The first Jeanes teacher in South Carolina was appointed to work in Sumter County in 1909 (Julia A. Berry), and it could not have been more perfect a time. According to the supervisor of rural schools in 1910, "Practical instruction in agricultural and household arts, in cleanliness and sanitation, with the rudiments of a common school education will mean most to the Negro and most to all of us." At this time in South Carolina both black and white educators agreed that schools for blacks in South Carolina needed more "industrial" education, that is, more agricultural and handicraft training.

The story of the Jeanes teachers, in South Carolina, was one of survival. Duboisian scholars received increasing support in the south during the Economic Depression of the 1930's. During the 1930's, it became blatantly apparent that vocational training was more expensive than teaching the three R's. As a result there was a significant growth in public schools during this period, especially for blacks. Most black schools lacked the minimum equipment required to teach carpentry, agriculture, or even the making of shuck mats. Moreover, vocational training required more time than the school term of three or four months permitted.

The survival of the Jeanes teachers during the South's period of financial hardship can be attributed to their usefulness, and the fact that part of their salaries was paid by the Jeanes Fund. The state and counties, after seeing the efforts made by the Jeanes Program to stay alive decided to assume and share responsibility for supporting the Jeanes teachers. Also, the Jeanes Program was gradually replaced by other service functions. However, the forthright efforts of the Jeanes teachers to promote effective community living and learning in the rural South Carolina was so effective that public educators realized the value of retaining the program in a desegregated society.

"The differences in the kinds of schools where a Jeanes teacher is employed and where there is no Jeanes teacher is very noticeable."

During the 1930's, school attendance for blacks in the South increased to 2.4. million pupils, about one-fourth of the total population. These numbers are not to be confused with the length of the school term for blacks. Black pupils attended school for a shorter term, and left school at an earlier age, than white pupils. The increase in the black school attendance was due to the depression; there was less cotton to be picked, and less reason for picking it. The day had abruptly passed when every white family, down to the lower reaches of the middle class, could afford one or more black domestics. For many black youth there was literally nothing to do except go to school. However, more than one-half of all rural black schools in South Carolina were primitive one-room frame structures, wholly lacking in modern facilities, and many classes met in churches, lodge halls, or abandoned tenant houses.

A progressive teacher and her pupils

The Jeanes teachers soon became instrumental in helping the regular teacher with their work, raising money for the extension of school terms, aiding in the erection of new building and grounds, supplementing of teachers' salaries, and purchasing school materials. As the role of the Jeanes teacher constantly changed, while adapting to the times, so did their titles. In the initial stage, some of these educators were called Jeanes industrial teachers. The title "Jeanes teacher" was also used widely in different systems during the years. Later in the program these workers were known as Jeanes supervising teachers. Later the word "teachers" was dropped as they became the Jeanes Supervisors, finally by the 1950's they became the Jeanes Curriculum Directors.

Home visits by Jeanes Teachers: Charls City County, Virginia, 1913

Despite the industrial concentration of the Jeanes teachers, they had to be highly qualified, and undertook a very careful selection process. They were ultimately selected on the basis of their training, ability to teach, and lead people. A prospective Jeanes teacher had to be unmarried, have a bachelor's degree, own a car, and be willing to work in the rural schools of South Carolina. These qualities were just the start to forming a Jeanes teacher of exemplary character. Even after becoming a Jeanes teacher, they were encouraged to attend summer workshops of four to six weeks in order to develop skills further and to acquire a broader knowledge base of how to work with the community, school, teachers, and students in rural areas of South Carolina.
The Jeanes Supervising Teachers were also employed for summer work in the counties in which they worked during the school year. Their summer work consisted largely of showing black people how to can their vegetables and fruits and how to preserve fruits and make jelly. They also gave a number of sewing lessons and showed the girls and women how to cook and bake, especially how to bake the different kinds of war bread and cakes. They also helped in the campaign to promote the war.

Virginia Randolph County Training School: Jeanes Memorial Dormitory

The Jeanes Teachers in South Carolina proved to be "Jacks of all trades." They presented themselves as necessary in the lives of blacks in the rural South. They even served as liaisons between blacks and whites in an effort to establish "goodwill" between the racial groups - highly exemplary of Booker T. Washington's beliefs. The Jeanes Program is notable for its concentration on the needs of rural schools and communities; its emphasis on school supervision; the pioneer spirit with which the program was undertaken; and its impact of people of different classes and of both races. The Jeanes teachers had to determine the strategies to use to bring the school into the community, and to bring the community into the school. The biggest question to answer was: what type of curriculum would best meet the needs of a group of pupils living in culturally and economically deprived areas. Philanthropic organizations such as the Jeanes Teachers in South Carolina were present to work toward solving such problems. The Jeanes teachers have made a definite and valuable contribution to the advancement of education in South Carolina and the Southern states. Moreover, the Jeanes teachers were pioneers in the education of blacks in South Carolina and other states in the South. In reading and studying the progress and accomplishments of the Jeanes teachers, you have also made a major stride to study the progress of the schooling system of South Carolina, as well as, other Southern states.