University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XII

EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION AFTER 1886

In 1886 the democrats once more came into control of
the public school system. Mr. Farr was succeeded by Dr.
John L. Buchanan. The General Assembly on February 26,
1886, by joint resolution, provided that the office of county
and city superintendent in all cases should be deemed vacant
on July 1, 1886. But the courts declared the resolution unconstitutional,
and they were secure in office until their terms
ended June 30, 1889.[1]

Doctor Buchanan was followed by Mr. John E. Massey
(1890-1897), who in turn was succeeded by Dr. Joseph W.
Southall (1897-1906), the last superintendent to be appointed
by the legislature.

During the administration of these three men—none of
whom were professional public school men—little material
change took place in the condition of the schools except the
natural increase in the state population and resources. But
among the teachers and administrators there was a marked
improvement in spirit, which showed itself, during these
twenty years—1885 to 1906—in the creation of such great
agencies as the Summer School of Methods, the State Teachers'
Association, the Virginia Journal of Education, and the
Cooperative Educational Association of Virginia. The General
Education Board and the Southern Educational Board
also aided in improving the schools of the State. Back of
these forces were such men of strength and vision as Edward
C. Glass, Joseph D. Eggleston, Bruce R. Payne, S. C. Mitchell,
Willis A. Jenkins, Ormond Stone, R. L. Montague and others.

The first of these agencies mentioned above, the Virginia
Summer School of Methods, was organized in 1889 and was
conducted by Supt. Edward C. Glass of Lynchburg, Virginia,
who has been one of the leading school men of the State from
the very beginning of our public school system to the present.
This school, first conducted in Lynchburg, was a new type of
summer training normal for teachers. The courses were
eminently practical and were chiefly for the primary and
grammar school teachers. Instructors who had national reputations
were introduced. After meeting two years at Lynchburg,
the school was conducted at Bedford on an enlarged
plan, and it was called the Virginia School of Methods. It
changed its place of meeting almost every year until it became
permanently located at the University of Virginia in 1902.
Throughout the whole period Mr. Glass had the able assistance
of Mr. Willis A. Jenkins.

In 1902, there were 1,030 teachers present at the School
of Methods. Only about fifty of these were men. Women
had at last captured the schools. They were attending, in
the fifty-nine classes taught every day, courses in the latest
methods of teaching the common school subjects, classes in
drawing, music, manual training, typewriting and physical
culture. Regular college courses were also provided for those
who wished to broaden their knowledge and vision. In the
South, only the summer school at Knoxville, Tennessee, could
compare with the Virginia School of Methods in size or in
excellence. It was far in advance of the summer school which
Doctor Ruffner attempted to found at the University of
Virginia in 1880, although that school was a most progressive
one for that time in the State.

The School of Methods remained for several years without
official connection with the University. During this period
its enrollment constantly diminished on account of the
competition of other summer schools, until it had fallen
below 300.

Finally, at the suggestion of Supt. Joseph D. Eggleston,

Joseph D. Eggleston

One of the Most Active Superintendents of Public Instruction
—Now President of Hampden-Sidney College

the School of Methods was reorganized by the University,
and became, under the supervision of Prof. Bruce R. Payne,
the Summer School of the University of Virginia. The first
session began in 1907, with an enrollment of 500. Within
three years time, the attendance had increased to 1,350 students.
By 1909 the number of courses had grown from fifty-nine
in 1902 to 101. The special emphasis placed on the training
of high school teachers was a new and most helpful feature.
Since that time, the University Summer School has
continued to increase in numbers and in usefulness.

While the Virginia School of Methods was developing professional
skill, the State Teachers' Association was being
inaugurated to bring about closer fellowship among the
teachers and to give strength to their cause through union.
The first meeting of the present (1923) Virginia State
Teachers' Association took place in connection with the Virginia
Summer School of Methods from June 30 to July 3,
1891, at Bedford City. It was known in its first constitution
as the Educational Association of Virginia. The name that
it now bears was adopted in 1916.

This was not the first state educational association. There
had also been many local educational organizations in Virginia,
some of them antedating the War of Secession. They
were more or less permanent and successful. The earliest
State Teachers' Association was called by a joint committee
of the educational associations of Richmond and Petersburg
to meet at Petersburg on Tuesday, December 29, 1863. Forty-four
members answered the roll call of the first meeting at
10 o'clock in the lecture room of the First Baptist Church.
The Educational Association of Virginia was organized, with
President J. M. P. Atkinson, D. D., of Hampden-Sidney College,
as its first president. Fifty-four members signed the
constitution which had been drafted and paid their fees—five
dollars each. The members were, for the most part, teachers
and executive heads of the academies and colleges.

Their purpose was set forth in a resolution, "That in view

of the great responsibilities devolved upon us as teachers,
and for the purpose of securing a more intimate sympathy
among ourselves, and that closer union which is necessary to
enable us to meet these responsibilities, we do now organize
ourselves into a permanent Educational Association of Virginia."
One of the most urgent questions before the association
was the need of securing proper text books for Southern
children. A committee was appointed to consider the
founding of a state journal devoted to the interests of education.

The war in Virginia during the next two years prevented
the regular annual meeting. But in the summer of 1866 it
assembled at the University of Virginia. President Charles
L. Cocke of Hollins Institute was elected president. Among
the questions that occupied much attention were the education
of negroes, better schools for girls and public school education.

In 1869 President John B. Minor called the attention of
the body to the clause in the Underwood Constitution providing
for free schools, and said, "It is our duty to fit ourselves
as thoroughly as possible to bear our parts in the
coming change." Arrangements were also made at this meeting
to publish a monthly journal styled, "The Educational
Journal of Virginia." This journal, first issued in November,
1869, not only served as the organ of the association, but
also became in 1870 the medium for conveying Superintendent
Ruffner's instructions to the teachers and
school officials of the public schools. Among its contributors
were: John B. Minor, J. L. M. Curry, Matthew F. Maury,
William Gordon McCabe, Francis H. Smith, Basil L. Gildersleeve,
and other men of note in the State who were active
members of the Educational Association. Among the many
noble members of this association was President Robert E.
Lee, of Washington College, who had declined more remunerative
offers to devote himself to education. He was a friend of
George Peabody and had served the cause of public education

by his approval of the system and his nomination of Doctor
Ruffner as its first head and organizer.

The pioneer Educational Association of Virginia was a
man's affair. In 1870, at its fifth annual meeting, Col.
Charles S. Venable, of the University of Virginia faculty,
offered the resolution, "That the constitution be so amended
as to admit lady teachers of the State to full membership
and a share in the deliberations of this body." The next

year a less radical resolution was offered providing that
all ladies who were teaching in the State should be invited to
join the organization as associate members "with all the privileges
of membership except a voice on the floor." This resolution
was tabled. It was not until 1874 that the constitution
was amended to allow women to become associate members
without the payment of any fees. It was provided that such
members might be appointed on committees, but might not
"vote, hold office or take part in public discussions." In a
short while men were reading papers written by women who
were bold enough to have their words repeated in public. This
attitude toward women is interesting in view of the fact that
the present head of the Virginia State Teachers' Association
is a woman and the organization is composed largely of
women.

The Educational Association had no regular meeting place.
It considered a variety of subjects, but took no vote on any
question. But these discussions are said to have "exercised
no little influence in shaping the educational policy of the
State." It ceased to exist, however, in 1882.[2]

Eight years later, in 1890, Mr. Willis A. Jenkins, then
superintendent of the Portsmouth city schools, began to
organize a state teachers' association. The first meeting to
discuss the formation of such an association was called by
Mr. Jenkins at the Stuart (Patrick County) Summer Normal.
He then called a meeting at the Lynchburg Summer Normal.
The state superintendent, Mr. John E. Massey, presided.
Mr. E. C. Glass was made president and Mr. Jenkins temporary
secretary. A resolution was adopted inviting the
teachers of the State to meet in July, 1891, to form a permanent
organization. In the meanwhile a campaign was conducted
in the papers and at the various summer institutes
to popularize the movement. The meeting, in Bedford, which
resulted, was most successful both in itself and in the organization
which it perfected. A constitution was adopted and
John E. Massey was chosen as its first president.

The title was changed in 1916 to the Virginia State Teachers'
Association. It has now (1923) a membership of more
than 11,000. The meetings are held each year at Thanksgiving
time in Richmond, where several thousand teachers gather for
comradeship, united effort, and inspiration. The Cooperative
Education Association, organized in 1904, will be described
further on.

The following statistics show the growth of the public
school system during the first thirty years:[3]

         

Year	Enumeration (Between 5 and 21 years.)	Enrollment	Daily attendance	Percent- age of attendance to enumeration	Percent- age of attendance to enrollment	Months taught	Teachers employed
1871	441,021	131,088	75,722	18.4	57.7	4.66	3,014
1880	555,807	220,730	128,404	23.1	58.1	5.64	4,873
1890	652,045	342,269	198,290	30.4	57.9	5.91	7,523
1900	691,312	370,595	216,464	31.3	58.4	6.00	8,954

The development of public schools during these years can
be even better shown by the growth in expenditures.[4]

           

Year	State funds	County and district funds	Other funds (local)[5]	Teachers' monthly salary		Value of school property owned by districts
				Males	Females
1871	$ 362,000	$330,332		$32.36	$26.33	$ 189,680
1880	596,629	490,039		29.20	24.65	1,177,544
1890	851,467	705,429	$31,245	31.69	26.61	2,235,085
1900	1,015,538	926,993	70,203	32.47	26.18	3,536,293

These figures do not tell the whole story. The public
school system during this period had not only become well
fixed in the State, but had also begun to show signs of that
remarkable revival which began about 1902.

The growth of public education in Virginia through these
three decades was hampered by the fact that 42 per
cent of the population at the end of the war was colored.
They were illiterate and without property. This condition
of affairs hampered schools through race prejudice, unwillingness

on the part of many whites to educate negro children
with taxes collected from the whites,[6] and the added cost of
maintaining two systems of schools in sparsely settled rural
districts.

It will not be out of place, therefore, to give here an account
of the beginning of negro education in Virginia.

The education of the colored people began in negro regiments
in the Federal army under the direction of army chaplains.
Assistant teachers were provided by charitable institutions
in the North. Soldiers built rude structures as schoolhouses,
which were also used as churches. There were many
of these in and near Alexandria, Fortress Monroe, Hampton,
Norfolk, and Portsmouth, where the Federal army was long
established. Then colored churches, deserted houses and
vacated barracks were used as schoolhouses for the colored
children of the neighborhood.

This work was later directed by the Freedmen's Bureau
and was greatly extended. In 1870, when the system was
discontinued, there were 412 teachers and over 18,234 pupils,
with about 10,000 in daily attendance. The teachers were
mostly young women sent down and supported by Northern
associations. During the last two years, this aid was supplemented
by the Peabody Fund. The first of these schools was
established by the American Missionary Association at
Fortress Monroe in September, 1861. Hampton and Norfolk
were the centers of the work during and after the war.
Schools were afterwards established in all parts of the State.
A colored normal school was established at Richmond in 1867,
with temporary success.

In the year 1867-1868, $132,399 was spent on negro education.
Of this amount, the freedmen contributed $10,789 in
the form of small fees, from 10 to 50 cents a month. The
Freedmen's Bureau ceased its educational operations in the
summer of 1870.

Although the system had accomplished much good, it had
been very inadequate. This is evident from the fact that the
number of colored children enrolled in the state public schools
of 1871 was more than double that of the bureau schools of
the previous year.

Doctor Ruffner, who was a stanch supporter of colored
schools from the start, said, "Let men be convinced that some
education is a good thing for laboring people generally, and
they cannot long exclude the negro."[7]

The State Superintendent reported that the whites often
contributed voluntarily to the establishment of negro schools
and made an honest effort to treat them fairly. Great difficulty
was found in securing teachers for these schools.
White teachers were used and, according to Superintendent
Ruffner in 1871, "Many of the teachers of colored schools
during the past year were persons of the highest social standing."

Many well intentioned young white women from the North,
as already stated, came to Virginia to teach colored children.
They knew nothing of conditions in the South, and often
offended the white people by their social relations with their
patrons. Sometimes they were not understood by the colored
people themselves. The teachers in turn resented the coldness
of their reception by the whites. They usually became discouraged
and left.

The first permanent institution for training colored teachers
in Virginia was the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute. Its founder was Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a
young Federal officer who had served two and a half years as
lieutenant-colonel and as colonel of negro troops. He was
afterward appointed Freedmen's Bureau officer in charge
of ten counties of Eastern Virginia, with headquarters at
Hampton. His two years in this capacity brought him into
intimate touch with the problem of race relations. Even

before entering the army, he was fitted by previous experience
for the task of educating a backward people. He was
born on one of the Hawaiian Islands of missionary parents.
His father had been appointed Hawaiian minister of public
instruction in 1847. Experience was thus added to a broad,
well educated mind, courage, and a generous heart.

Through Armstrong's efforts, a farm on Hampton Roads
was purchased in June, 1867, and buildings were erected,
with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau, during the following
winter. The school opened under the auspices of the
American Missionary Association; and students were
admitted in April, 1868. It was granted a liberal charter
by the State in 1870. There were then between eighty and
ninety students enrolled. In the three departments—academic,
agricultural and industrial—there were ten teachers,
consisting of seven women and three men. Virginia gave one-third
of her land grant money to the institution in 1872 on
condition that it take 100 students free of tuition from the
county schools. The doors of the school were opened to
Indians in 1878.

General Armstrong went about his great work with a rare
understanding of the difficulties to be overcome. "Ignorance,"
he said, "is not the chief difficulty with an ignorant
people; a few years' teaching will remove that: but only in
generations can the effects of ancestral darkness be done away
with. Book knowledge is a great thing, but it does not necessarily
make a radical change.[8] Our end," he continued, "is
not to develop the mind of the negro by collegiate studies
* * * but rather to build up manhood and character in
our pupils, and through them, among their people." Some
idea of the need of the negroes for just this kind of training
is shown by the statement of Dr. W. H. Ruffner in 1874 that
"the whole negro community furnished probably as complete

an example of a free love commonwealth as ever has been or
ever will be seen within the pale of civilization."[9]

By 1880, Hampton had graduated 353 students, not less
than 90 per cent of whom were teaching their people the
Hampton ideals.

In 1880 the ratio of the white to the colored population
was three to two, while that of schools was three white to
one colored. This comparative deficiency in the schools for
negroes was due only, in a minor degree, according to
Doctor Ruffner, to the fact that some of the school boards
"have not been able to rise to the heights of that impartial
justice which the law requires; but after watching this very
point with peculiar care, I dare not bring this charge against
any school board, still less against the boards generally, whose
members are commonly men of the highest character, and
men who have shown by their works that they are honestly
and patriotically trying to educate the entire population.
There are many circumstances which give the white people
an advantage in procuring schools in a lawful way. There
is first the greater density of the white population in most
parts of the State. There are large areas over which the
colored people are scattered so thinly that schools are impossible.
But the greater pecuniary ability of the white people
in providing schoolhouses, in supplementing the pay of
teachers and in furnishing their children with proper clothing
and transportation, and in dispensing with their labor at
home, give them advantages over the colored people which
cannot be counteracted by school officers without making an
illegal discrimination against the white people."[10]

The Readjuster legislature on March 6, 1882, established
in Petersburg the colored Normal and Industrial Institute.
The act provided that six of the seven members of its board
of visitors should be colored, an arrangement which later
delivered the institution into the hands of scheming politicians,

whose conduct brought discredit upon the school, the
board and the Readjuster superintendent of public instruction.[11] In the fall of 1885, John Mercer Langston, later colored
congressman from the Fourth District, was made its
president.

The following statistics for the years 1880 and 1900 give
some idea of the growth of colored schools within those two
decades:

     

Year	Enumeration (ages 5 to 21)	Enrollment	Daily attendance	Percentage of attendance on enumeration	Percentage of attendance on enrollment	Teachers employed	Percentage of whom were colored
1880	240,980	68,600	38,764	16.0	56.3	1,256	62
1900	265,258	119,898	66,549	25.0	55.5	2,335	93

Before the War of Secession, Virginia was fortunate in the
number and excellence of her higher institutions of learning
for men. With the exception of the University of Virginia,
the Virginia Military Institute, and Washington College
(Washington and Lee University), these institutions were
founded and controlled by church organizations. There were
also excellent seminaries for women, which gave broad cultural
training. Some of these schools offered courses very
similar to those of the men's colleges. Two among the most
interesting and important of those which still survive today
bear the names, Hollins College and Mary Baldwin
Seminary.

When war began in 1861, the college halls were deserted
for the camps. No better testimony of the loyalty of the
Southern people to their cause can be had than the story of
the unanimity with which these students volunteered their
services. Before the close of the session of 1860-1861, more

Hampden-Sidney College Building

Completed in 1835

than half of the 630 of the University of Virginia students
had gone home to join the army. By the end of 1861, 550 of
these young men were in military service. Eighty-six of
these gave their lives. Many were youths seventeen to twenty-one
years.[12]

The students of Hampden-Sidney left for the army in a
body commanded by their president, the Rev. (Capt.) J. M. P.
Atkinson, D. D. From the Virginia Military Institute went
three professors, two assistant professors; and 125 of its
alumni were killed in the war; and 300 alumni were maimed.
At the battle of New Market on May 15, 1864, 225 cadets
from sixteen to eighteen years of age stormed a Federal
battery with all the fire of youth and the steady courage
of veterans. Eight were killed and forty-six were wounded.

Hundreds of alumni from the Virginia colleges perished
on the battlefields or in the hospitals. The epitaph engraved
on the tomb of an alumnus of the University of Virginia
characterizes many a noble Virginian who answered the long
roll: "Born a gentleman, bred a scholar, and died a Christian
soldier."[13] No one can estimate the loss to the Commonwealth
in the death of these trained and noble men.

William and Mary and the Virginia Military Institute
were burned by Federal troops. Other institutions suffered
in many ways. During the session ending on June 30, 1865,
there were fifty-five students at the University of Virginia.
Of these fifty-five, nineteen had been disabled in battle, five
were returned soldiers, and one a furloughed soldier.
Twenty paid no fees. The struggle of these institutions
for existence after the war was pathetic. Only through great
sacrifices made by their faculties and executive officers did
they survive.

The improvement in higher education since 1861 can be
traced through the changes in the curricula of the colleges.
The University of Virginia had in that year thirteen chairs,
as follows: Latin; Greek; modern languages; mathematics;
natural philosophy; chemistry; moral philosophy; history and
general literature; medicine; comparative anatomy, physiology,
and surgery; anatomy, materia medica, and botany;
common and statute law; and equity, mercantile, and international
law.

In 1872, Virginia gave one-third of her land-script funds
to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and devoted
the remainder to the establishment of an Agricultural and
Mechanical Institute for white students, at Blacksburg, in
Montgomery County. Dr. W. H. Ruffner was chosen secretary
of the board of visitors and chairman of the committee
to report a plan of organization for the institute. On account
of the lack of funds, the faculty was small. Consequently
each teacher occupied a variety of chairs—not an unusual
thing at that time when the colleges were far below our present
standard of professional spirit and efficiency. The following
list of the faculty and the subjects which they taught
shows a variety for each professor which today would be a
disgrace to an institution, a crime to its students, and the
physical and mental ruin of its instructors: "Charles L. C.
Minor, president; James H. Lane, professor of natural
philosophy and chemistry; Gray Carroll, professor of mathematics;
Charles Martin, professor of English language
and literature. Military tactics was assigned to the chair
of natural philosophy and chemistry; modern languages
to the chair of mathematics; and ancient languages to the
chair of English. The election of a professor of technical
agriculture and mechanics was postponed to a meeting to be
held in Richmond on the 7th of January next; and natural
history assigned to that chair. At this meeting a farm manager
will be appointed."[14]

Bird's-eye View of the University of Virginia

By 1900 the State was officially connected with the University
of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, the State Female Normal School at
Farmville, the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (colored)
at Petersburg, the Virginia School for the Deaf and
Blind at Staunton (established in 1839),[15] the Medical College
of Virginia, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (colored),
and the Miller Manual Labor School.

The Miller Manual School was founded by Samuel Miller,
who, when a poor boy living in the Ragged Mountains of
Albemarle County, had determined to make a fortune and
devote it to the education of children in his own county whose
parents could not afford to send them to school. The school
was opened for boys on October 15, 1878, and girls were
admitted in 1884. In 1901, courses were being offered in
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, physics for
two years, chemistry for two years also, biology for one year,
German for three, Latin for four, and English for four also.
Chief emphasis was placed on industrial courses, which
included drawing—free-hand and mechanical—instruction in
woodwork, in forging, in foundry and machine work, designing
and making machines, electrical and mechanical engineering,
horticulture, arboriculture, floriculture, millinery, dressmaking,
and cooking. The students were given experience in
milking, caring for stock, fruits and vegetables, and attending
to electric plants and motors, and steam and water plants
and pipes.

The endowment at that time amounted to about $1,500,000.
Two hundred and fifty students—150 boys and 100 girls—were
receiving the training which Samuel Miller had longed for as
a little boy in the neighborhood and which he had left to them
as an enduring monument to his courage, industry, and greatness
of mind and heart.

A rapid survey of the institutions of higher learning in
Virginia in the dark years which followed the war of 1861-65
may be had from the following table for 1872:[16]

COLLEGES

                         

Name	Location	Denomination	Date of organization	Number of instruc- tors	Students
					Total number	From Virginia	From other states
University of Virginia	Charlottesville		1825	19	365	165	200
Washington and Lee University	Lexington		1782	21	300	81	219
Virginia Military Institute	Lexington		1839	28	312	139	173
Randolph-Macon College	Ashland	Meth.	1831	9	167	118	49
Emory and Henry College	Washington County	Meth.	1838	5	183	36	147
Roanoke College	Salem	Luth.	1853	11	140	106	34
Richmond College	Richmond	Baptist	1844	11	158	150	8
Hampden-Sidney College	Prince Edward County	Pres.	1776	5	77	54	23
College of William and Mary	Williamsburg	Epis.	1693	6	76	72	4
St. John's College
(Theological department attached)	Norfolk	Roman Catholic	1869	9	35

TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

                         

Name	Location	Date of organization	No. of instruc- tors	No. of students
Union Theological Seminary	Prince Edward County	1824	4	62
Protestant Episcopal Theological Sem inary	Fairfax County	1823	5	43
Virginia School for Deaf and Blind	Staunton	1839	11	125
Virginia Medical College	Richmond	1851	13	39
Polytechnic School	New Market (Shenandoah Co.)	1870	3	71
Commercial College	Richmond	1866	5	75
Telegraph School	Richmond	1871	2	25
White Normal School	Richmond	1867	3	40
Colored Normal School (Baptist)	Richmond	1867	5	110
Hampton Institute	Hampton	1868	10	133
Colored Institute (Baptist)	Richmond	1866	4	70
Old Dominion Business College	Richmond	1868	1	60

On the eve of the educational revival which transformed
both the public schools and the colleges after 1900, the institutions
of higher learning were suffering from low standards
which resulted from poverty. At that time Virginia had ten
degree-conferring institutions for men and fifteen for women,
not including agricultural, military, and professional institutions.
Of the fifteen degree-conferring institutions for
women, only one was placed in the first rank by the United
States Commissioner of Education. The same unfortunate
condition prevailed throughout the South. James Bryce
stated in his American Commonwealth that, of the 114 institutions
of higher learning in the South which conferred
degrees to men, only the University of Virginia could then
be placed in the first rank. The State contained, however,
schools with fine traditions upon which to build as the people
regained their prosperity. There also arose as leaders in
school work men of a younger generation, more hopeful of
the future and also free from many of the burdens which
had oppressed their fathers and mothers as they toiled and
sacrificed to rebuild the Commonwealth.