The Southern states were spending twice as much to educate white children as they were black children and four times as much for school facilities; white teacher salaries were 30 percent higher; and there was virtually no transportation for black children to and from school. The disparity was even greater at the college level, where the Southern states spent $86 million on white colleges and $5 million on black colleges. A study by Ralph Bunche showed that the poll tax was highly effective in keeping blacks out of the political process; only 2.5 percent of the black population voted in the
...more
