A Look Inside the
Rural School
Rural schoolhouses, both African American and white, were built of the homeschool idea, the simple log structure, to the limited framed schoolhouse. Rural schools were based on the communities they were found in. Into the 20th century, the typical rural school was built by and for the local community, with little to no official statewide system. This was true for both African American and white communities.
It was all about the resources. Rural schools rarely had necessary resources and when they did, they generally went to the white children first. There were more African Americans living in the country than in urban contexts in need for school and education resources.
In the 1940s Russell Lee took a series of photographs documenting rural schools in various states. Now take a moment and look through the photos and discover the interiors and resources of the students in rural contexts. These photos are from nearly halfway through the 20th century and they are limited, so imagine the conditions before then. There is a mixture of white and African American schools. Do you see a difference between the spaces? What resources does each of the schools have? These photos are from nearly halfway through the 20th century and they are limited, so imagine the conditions before then.
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