In 1920 there were 4,931,905 persons 10 years of age and over in the United States who were illiterate. Of this number 3,089,744 or 62.6 per cent were white and 1,842,161 or 37.3 per cent, were Negroes. By age

Third Grade

Temporary,

otc.

periods there were of the Negro illiterates, 166, 416 or 9.1 per cent, 10 to 15 years of age; 162,758 or 8.8 per cent 16 to 20 years of age and 1,512,987 or 82.1 per cent 21 years of age and over.

Of the Negro urban population 402,170 or 13.4 per cent were illiterates. Of the Negro rural population 1,439,991 or 28.4 per cent were illiterate. By age periods the illiterates in Negro urban population 10 to 15 years of age numbered 9,476 or 2.3 per cent; 16 to 20 years of age, 20,399 or 5.1 per cent and 21 years of age and over, 372,295 or 92.5 per cent.

By age periods the illiterates in the Negro rural population 10 to 15 years of age numbered 156,940 or 11.0 per cent; 16 to 20 years of age, 142,359 or 9.8 per cent and 21 years of age and over, 1,140,692 or 79.2 per cent.

TABLE OF PERCENTAGE OF NEGRO ILLITERATES 1880-1920.

'Colored including Negroes, Indians, Chinese and Japanese.

NUMBER AND PER CENT NEGRO ILLITERATES 10 YEARS OF AGE
AND OVER BY STATES IN 1920.

The term illiteracy as used with reference to soldiers entering the army service during the recent war was not the same as is used when we ordinarily refer to a person being illiterate, that is unable to read or write.

In the examinations carried on in the army by the section of psychology, the recruits were divided into two groups, Alpha and Beta. The former were designated as being literate and the latter as being illiterate. The usual basis of classification as being literate was: "ability to read and understand newspapers and write letters home.' Additional requirements, that the recruits had finished from the third grade to the seventh grade, were made in a number of the camps. The requirements for Negroes were: At Camp Custer, five years at school; at Camp Taylor, finished sixth grade; at Camp Sherman, eight years at school. The requirements for whites at Camp Sherman, were: finished sixth grade.

It would appear that the tendency was to increase the rate of illiteracy for Negroes in two ways. First, the requirements for placing them in Alpha were higher than that for the whites; second, the practice for a time in some camps was to send all Negro recruits to Beta without an examination.

A communication from the office of the Surgeon General said: "Such information as is available refers to the segregation of recruits approximately on the basis of fifth grade literacy. On this basis it has been found that twenty-nine per cent of white recruits were sent to Beta and seventy per cent of Negro re

cruits were sent to Beta. The figures for the Negroes are probable a little too high as indicating fifth grade literacy since for certain periods in some camps it was a practice to send all Negro recruits to Beta."

SECONDARY HIGHER. AND PRIVATE EDUCATION.

According to reports made by heads of schools to the Editor of the Negro Year Book, there are exclusive of public high schools some 500 schools devoted to the secondary and higher training of Negroes. There are: teachers, 5,132; total students 107,807; elementary students, 74,383;' secondary students, 28,000; collegiate students, 3,324 and professional students, 2,100. Of the total number of students, 2.0 per cent are in collegiate courses.

CLASSIFICATION OF STUDENTS IN NEGRO HIGHER, SECONDARY
AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

70.1 Per Cent

Secondary

25.0 Per Cent

Elementary

Collegiate

3.0 Per Cent

Professional

1.9 Per Cent

NEGRO COLLEGE GRADUATES.

The following table, taken from No. 15 of the Atlanta University publications, shows the number of college graduates by decades from 1820-1829 to 1900-1909:

In 1921 according to the Crisis Magazine, 461 Negroes received the Bachelor's Degree in the arts and sciences. The total number of Negro college graduates is now about 7,850. Among the first Negroes to graduate from colleges in the United States were John Brown Russworm, who graduated from Bowdoin College in 1826; Theodore S. Wright from Princeton Theological Seminary, and Edward Jones from Amherst College. About 870 Negroes have graduated from Northern colleges. Oberlin, which admitted Negroes for a number of years before the Civil War, has graduated a larger number of Negroes than any other Northern university or college. In Northern colleges and universities Negroes on the whole have made good records and have carried off many honors. Alain LeRoy Locke, of Philadelphia, Pa., graduated from Harvard University, A. B., magna cum laude, 1907. This same year he won the Rhodes Scholarship from Pennsylvania to Oxford University, England, where he was a student for three years. For two semesters, 1910-11, he was a student at Berlin University. NEGROES WHO HAVE RECEIVED DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy, which is the highest earned degree conferred by educational institutions, has been conferred by American universities upon 25 Negroes as follows: Edward A. Bouchet, Yale University, 1876; J. W. E. Bowen, Boston University, 1877; William L. Bulkley, Syracuse University

1893; W. E. B. Dubois, Harvard University, 1895; Pezavia O'Connell, University of Pennsylvania, 1898; Lewis B. Moore, University of Pennsylvania, 1896; T. Nelson Baker, Yale University, 1903; James R. L. Diggs, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1906; Charles H. Turner, University of Chicago, 1907; Richard R. Wright, Jr., University of Pennsylvania, 1911; George E. Haynes, Columbia University, 1912; C. G. Woodson, Harvard University, 1912; Gilbert H. Jones, Dean of Wilberforce University is a Ph. D., 1909, Jena University, Germany; Julian Lewis, University of Chicago, 1915. Ernest E. Just, University of Chicago, 1916; St. Elmo Brady, University of Illinois, 1916; Edward M. A. Chandler, University of Illinois, 1917; Alain LeRoy Locke, Harvard University, 1918. Thomas I. Brown, Clark University, 1919; Francis C. Sumner, Clark University, 1920; Willis J. King, Boston University, 1920; Eva B. Dykes, Radcliffe College, 1921; Sadie Turner Mossell, University of Pennsylvania, 1921; Georgiana Rosa Simpson, University of Chicago, 1921; Thomas W. Turner, Cornell University, 1921; Harris S. Blackistone, University of Pennsylvania, 1921.

NEGROES WHO HAVE MADE PHI BETA KAPPA

Membership in the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity is conferred in the leading colleges and universities on under-graduates who are among the best scholars and is for scholarship only. There are 47 Negroes who have made this fraternity as follows:

Edward A. Bouchet, Yale University 1874, deceased. Formerly Principal High School, Gallipolis, Ohio.

Anna F. Broadnax, Oberlin College 1908, teacher of Latin, Howard High School, Wilmington, Delaware.

Sterling A. Brown, Williams College, 1921.

Roscoe C. Bruce, Harvard University 1902, formerly Assistant Superintendent of Public Schools, Washington.

John W. Cromwell, Dartmouth 1906, Teacher Dunbar High School, Washington.

James D. Carr, Deceased, Rutgers College 1891, formerly Assistant Corporation Counsel, New York City.

William H. Dinkins, Brown University 1912, Professor, Seima University Selma, Alabama.

Bertram W. Doyle, Ohio Wesleyan, 1921.

Samuel Herman Dreer, Bowdoin College 1910, Teacher of English, Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri.

George S. Ellison, University of Michigan 1910, Teacher of Mathematics and Economics, Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri.

Joseph H. B. Evans, University of Michigan, 1912, Teacher Commercial Branches, Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri.

Jessie R. Fauset, Cornell University, 1905, Literary Editor of The Crisis, New York City.

Rudolph J. C. Fisher, Brown University 1919.

Francis Grant, Radcliffe College, 1917.

Dorothy M. Hendrickson, Hunter College, 1920.

Leslie P. Hill, Harvard University, 1903, Principal Cheyney Training School for Teachers, Cheyney, Pa.

John Hope, Brown University 1919, President Morehouse College. Honorary for achievements since graduation, 25 years after graduation.

Chas. H. Houston, Amherst College 1915, Professor of English, Howard University.

Pery B. Jackson, Western Reserve University, 1919.

William Jefferson, Dickinson College, 1920.

Earnest B. Just, Dartmouth, 1907, Head Department of Physiology, Howard University, Washington, D. C.

Wily Lane, Amherst College, 1879.

David A. Lane, Jr., Bowdoin College, 1917.

J. Mercer Langston, Oberlin College, 1901, Teacher Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri.

Percy Julian, De Pauw University 1920.

Alain LeRoy Locke, Harvard University, 1907, Professor of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, D. C.