Don't Fuss ... Let's Discuss
The African-American Community Forum

Part I. 1970-2000: African-Americans 30 years equal education opportunity

but unequal results

My African-American sisters, brothers and friends of Wilkes County, we have studied and learned together about the history of the 13th English Colony settling at Savannah, Georgia, in 1721 under the leadership of British Philanthropist James Oglethorpe. Later in 1763, some English traders sailed up the Savannah River into the Little River Valley and began trading with the Cherokee and Creek Native Indians. They negotiated the 1763 Treaties of August with the Native Indians who were inhabitants of the territory that would later become named Wilkes County. Ten years later in 1773, the Treaties of August were foreclosed against the Cherokee and Creek Indians for failure to pay off the Treaties' trade deficit in the amount of about 50 thousand British pounds (money). The Indians agreed to transfer two million acres of land to colonial Georgia to settle their indebtedness. That transaction became known as the "ceded lands" of 1773.

The Colonial Royal Governor, Sir James Wright, sold land acreage to European settlers who brought with them our enslaved African ancestors to help build the infrastructure of the county and to help create economic wealth for the European settlers in Wilkes County. It became the first county of Georgia in 1777 as authorized by Georgia's first Constitution of 1777. By 1824, Wilkes County European settlers and our enslaved African ancestors had made the county one of the wealthiest counties in Georgia based on the tax payment records, according to the Wilkes County, Georgia, Collection at the University of Michigan Library.

Secondly, we also have learned that our enslaved African ancestors provided the means, methods and physical labor, without compensation, that generated the wealth for the social and economic development of Wilkes County between 1773 and 1865. In addition, some of our enslaved African ancestors participated, fought and died in war battles that took place on the soil of Wilkes County, including the major 1775 Revolutionary War that gave freedom and independence to the European immigrants of the 13 British Colonies that became the United States of America with its creed of liberty and justice for all of its people, including the emancipated African-American citizens by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1868.

Thirdly, we clearly understand that as African-Americans our citizenship, civil rights and access to equal education opportunities have been affirmed by the Constitution of the United States of America and reaffirmed by Supreme Court and Federal Courts rulings. The question: what is stopping us now from progressing toward the achievement of quality education, social, economic and political independence, other than our own short sightedness? What are some of the challenges that we must continue to address as individuals and as a collective African-American community to better ourselves and posterity in Wilkes County, the nation and, indeed, the global market place?

Perhaps it is useful to begin by reflecting on the question of education, a matter of great concern to us since the days when some of our enslaved ancestors were willing to risk their lives just to learn to read and write. Let us think about education in Wilkes County in three distinct periods: (1) when it was unlawful to teach our ancestors to read and write; (2) when the county's separate but equal education provided unequal educational resources and opportunities; and (3) the period since 1970 when education opportunities and resources have been provided through the integrated school system.

The first group of enslaved Africans had no legal schooling between 1773 and 1865 or 92 years of enforced illiteracy. The average decade population of enslaved Africans between 1773 and 1865 was 44.9 percent of the average decade population of 15,625; 44.9 percent of the population of Wilkes County was forced to be illiterate for 92 years. The second group received segregated and unequal education prior to 1970. The third group has had access to equal education opportunities between 1970 and 2000. This is the group that is the focus of our attention this week.

We now need to measure and assess the educational outcomes for African-Americans in Wilkes County since 1970. One of the ways we can do this is to compare the educational attainment levels of the Wilkes County workforce of African Americans and white Americans, age 25 and older, as reported in the 1970 and 2000 U.S. Census reports.

Let's start with an analysis of the separate but equal education group, those citizens who in 1970 were 25 years or older and had completed their education under the system of segregated education. The 1970 U.S. Census for Wilkes County reported the education attainment levels, or years of schooling completed by percent, as follows: (1) eight years or less schooling, AfricanAmericans 70.8 percent and white Americans 37.5 percent; (2) 9-11 years of schooling African-Americans 16.8 percent, and white Americans 30.5 percent; (3) high school diploma, African-Americans 8.2 percent and white Americans 23.6 percent; (4) and college degree or higher, African-Americans 4.2 percent and white Americans 8.4 percent. Meanwhile, the population of Wilkes County in 1970 was 10,184; African-Americans 4,817 or 47.3 percent and white Americans 5,367 or 52.7 percent.

The Wilkes County workforce, 25 years and older, above figures included a workforce population of 2,357 African-Americans and a total of 3,398 white Americans, totaling 5,755 workers in 1970, 25 years and older. In summary, in 1970, (1) 87.6 percent of the African-American population, age 25 and older, for Wilkes County had less than a high school education;(2) 68.0 percent of the White-American population had less than a high school education; (3) high school diploma, AfricanAmericans 8.2 percent and white Americans 23.6 percent;(4) and college degree or higher, AfricanAmericans 4.2 percent and WhiteAmericans 8.2 percent. Let's fast forward to the 2000 U.S. Census.

What about education attainment as reported in the 2000 U.S. Census? The years of school completed for Wilkes County workforce, age 25 and older, African-Americans and white Americans for the year 2000 can be summarized as follows: (1) less than a high school diploma, African-Americans 52.5% and white Americans 22.7 percent; (2) high school diploma, AfricanAmericans 47.5 and white Americans 77.3 percent; (3) and college degree or higher, African-Americans 5.1 percent and white Americans 17.2 percent. For the year 2000 Wilkes County workforce, age 25 and older, African-Americans made up 3,001 or 42.0 percent and white Americans were 4,163 or 58.0 percent. Meanwhile, the population of Wilkes County in 2000 was 10,687; African-Americans 4,603 or 43.1 percent and White-Americans 6,084 or 56.9 percent.

The 2000 U.S. Census report for Wilkes County includes the integrated "1970 New Generation of Students' Access to Equal Education Opportunities" who graduated and/ or did not finish high school by 1983. Those 1983 graduates and/or dropouts are the first primary school students who enrolled in 1970 as the first integrated generation and those who subsequently graduated and/or dropouts up to the 2000 U.S. Census. The age range of 25 to 35 of the "1970 New Generation of Integrated Students" is included in the education attainment level in the 2000 U.S.

Let's compare the changes in the education attainment levels of African Americans to that of white Americans between 1970 and 2000, 30 year span. The percentage of workforce, age 25 and older, not completing high school declined between 1970 and 2000; (1) for African Americans the decline was from 87.6 percent to 52.5 percent or 35.1 percent; (2) White-Americans the decline was from 68.0 percent to 22.7 percent or 45.3 percent; (3) high school diploma, in 1970, only 8.2 percent of African-Americans had earned a high school diploma as the highest educational attainment, but by 2000 47.5 percent, an increase of 39.3 percent; (4) in 1970 white Americans 23.6 percent had a high school diploma as their highest educational attainment, but by 2000 77.3 percent, an increase of 53.7 percent; (5) college degree or higher, in 1970, 4.2 percent of African-American workforce in Wilkes County had college degree or higher, by 2000 it was 5.1 percent or 0.9 percent increase; (6) 1970 white American workforce 8.4 percent, by 2000 it was 17.2 percent or 8.8 percent increase. While there has been a fairly dramatic increase in the percentage of African-Americans who have earned the high school diploma in Wilkes County, the educational gap between where our children are now and where they should be cannot be blamed on "Jim Crow laws" any more nor can the shortfall be blamed on not having access to equal school facilities and highly qualified principals and teachers. So, what is the "real" problem, my African-American sisters and brothers of Wilkes County?