A crucial, critical work on "Louisiana's most pressing and persistent problem."

Louisiana without question has one of the most interesting and colorful histories of any American state. It boasts a rich mix of cultures, a unique cuisine, music of astonishing vibrancy and originality, and a lush if much-threatened environment. However, like its politics, Louisiana education, while interesting and not without accomplishments, is not a happy topic. A recent National Education Association publication underscored the continuing problems of Louisiana education, notably the extraordinarily high percentage (33%) of uncertified teachers, the high dropout rates, and non-competitive scores on standardized tests. It might also have added low teacher salaries and morale, substandard working conditions, counterproductive local politics, vacuous teacher education courses, and widespread public prejudice against things even remotely intellectual as some of the root causes of the problems.

As this volume's component essays clearly indicate, these problems are firmly rooted in Louisiana's past. And Louisiana's educational problems are invariably as complex as the state itself.

The complexity and severity of Louisiana's educational problems do not obscure the achievements of individual educators, whose accomplishments are rightly famous. T. H. Harris and Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones are important figures in the nation's educational development, while the stories of less well-known individuals remind us of the power of teachers to influence individual lives.

While not comprehensive, this volume constitutes the most thorough existing examination of Louisiana's educational history. Most of the articles focus on the two great problems in the Pelican State's educational development: a continuing quest for educational quality and racial justice. Articles are organized into chronological sections entitled Colonial Louisiana, Antebellum Louisiana, Early Years of Public Education, Jim Crow Schools, and Louisiana Education Since the Brown Decision.

Wade's volume is essential reading for anyone interested in Louisiana's most pressing and persistent problem. Order your copy today.

Volume XVIII of the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series in Louisiana History

CONTENTS

About the Editor

Acknowledgements.

About the Series

Introduction to Volume

PART I COLONIAL LOUISIANA

History of Education in Colonial Louisiana.
by Adam Otis Hebert, Jr.

PART II ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA

Governor Claibome and the Public School System of the Territorial Government of Louisiana
by Stuart Grayson Noble

Chronicle of a Failure: Public Education in Antebellum Louisiana
by Raleigh A. Suarez

The Academy Movement in Louisiana
by James William Mobley

Launching the System
by Donald E. DeVore and Joseph Logsdon

St. Patrick's Parochial Schools
by Samuel Wilson, Jr.

The Early History of the Louisiana State University
by J. Fair Hardin

PART III EARLY YEARS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

Historical Background of Public Education in Louisiana
by C. W. Hilton, Donald E. Shipp and J. Berton Gremillion

Nurseries of Treason: Schools in Occupied New Orleans
by Elisabeth Joan Doyle

New Orleans and Country Parish Schools, 1868-1877
by Roger A. Fischer

The American Missionary Association and Black
Education in Louisiana, 1862-1878
by Joe M. Richardson

The Freedmen's Bureau and Education
by John Cornelius Engelsman

Early Colleges and Schools of Louisiana
by Rodney Cline

Acadian Education: From Cultural Isolation to Mainstream America
by Carl A. Brasseaux

PART IV JIM CROW SCHOOLS

The State Department of Education
by C. A. Ives

Development of the High School Program
by Minns Sledge Robertson

The General Education Board Helps
by T. H. Harris

Conditions Governing the Attitude of White Men Toward Negro Education in Louisiana
by Leo M. Favrot

The Negro Division: Public Education Policy for Black Louisiana, 1916-1941
by Ken Chujo

Black Catholic Schools: The Josephite Parishes of New Orleans During the
Jim Crow Era
by John Bernard Alberts

Rosenwald Schools in Louisiana: History and Administration
by Patti Elizabeth Smith

The WPA and Louisiana Education
by Jerry W. Valentine

Farm Dorm Boys: The Origins of the NYA Resident
raining Program, 1935-1941
by Michael G. Wade

First Black Students at Loyola University: A Strategy to Obtain Teacher
Certification
by Joseph H. Fichter

Sarah Towles Reed: Teacher and Activist
by Edith R. Ambrose

Toward A Civil Rights Agenda: Charles S. Johnson's Forgotten Study
of Black Schools in Louisiana
by Phillip Johnson

Equalizing Teachers' Pay in Louisiana
by Raphael Cassimere, Jr.

Senator Randall Lee Gibson and the Establishment ofTulane University
by Mary G. McBride

Charles P. Adams and Grambling State University:
The Formative Years, 1901-1928
by Doris D. Carter

Ralph Waldo Emerson "Prez" Jones: "The Country Doctor of Higher Education in Louisiana," 1926-1977
by Morgan Peoples

PART V LOUISIANA EDUCATION SINCE THE BROWN DECISION

Desegregation in Louisiana�One Year After
by Joseph T. Taylor

Desegregation in Louisiana�1956
by Joseph T. Taylor

One Who Stayed: Margaret Conner and the New Orleans School Crisis
by Alan Wieder

The New Orleans School Crisis of 1960: Causes and Consequences
by Alan Wieder

Black Educators in Louisiana�A Question of Survival
by Johnny S. Butler

Crisis of Public Higher Education in Louisiana
by Raphael Cassimere, Jr.

Plessy Revisited
by Raphael Cassimere, Jr.

Appeal Judges Throw Out Controversial Plan to Desegregate Public
Colleges in Louisiana
by Scott Jaschik

Louisiana Proposes 10-year Plan to Desegregate Its Public Colleges
by Patrick Healy

African American Students in East Baton Rouge Parish: How Have They
Fared in Desegregated Schools?
by Richard Fossey

Index

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