Larger Education-Related Issues Addressed in The Reflector


Thomas Sellers did not limit the The Reflector to coverage of issues and activities associated with Jefferson School (pictured left). During the paper's short history, Sellers covered prevalent national and state issues of import to African-American education. The issue that continued to surface in Seller's columns was that of the discrepancy between resources alloted to support black and white education. Indeed, The Reflector's coverage indicated fewer opportunities and resources available for the education of blacks than that of whites.


Several articles in The Reflector presented cases descriptive of the serious inequality between national and state support allocated to white and black education. According to reports in The Reflector, Southern states spent forty million dollars less per year on black education than they did on white education around the time that The Reflector was published. Black education appeared to Ambrose Caliver, Senior Specialist in the Education of Negroes, to be in a state of "emergency." Proposed cuts in the educational spending on whites and blacks, that likely resulted from economic shortages associated with the Depression, could only further the gap between the quality of education-related services given to whites and the quality of services received by blacks. (Graduating Class of 1935 pictured right)


Thomas Sellers, editor of The Reflector, was clearly concerned with the discrimination blacks experienced within the realm of educational opportunities. In an article entitled "The Foundation of Our Democracy," Sellers noted, "If our Nation is to remain the great Republic that it is now, if democracy is to be our heritage, then America should lose no time in providing all her citizens, regardless of color, with equal educational advantages." The lack of educational opportunities for adults also surfaced in The Reflector. One article in particular discussed the pressing need for an adult night school in Charlottesville. As with many articles in The Reflector, coverage of larger issues preceeded appeals to community action concerning the issue at hand. In the case of local education, The Reflector petitioned the community to support adult night schools, a local library, and a community center for youth.





The Foundation of Our Democracy
This articles presented discrepancies between black and white schools in the South. The article also listed the objectives of the "national conference on fundamental problems in the education of Negroes" in 1934.
The Negro and the Emergency in Education
 What was the state of black education prior to the Depression? Would the Depression affect black schools and white schools equally? View an article that discussed how the conditions of black education constituted an "emergency."
The Governor Speaks
Did blacks and whites in Virginia have equal opportunities to pursue their interests in higher education? View an article that analyzed a statement of the Governor of Virginia, George C. Peery, concerning educational opportunities beyond high school in Virginia.
A Night School for Adults
 This article was a call for action in promoting adult literacy. Sellers noted the deplored state of being illiterate in the modern world, and suggested community service on the part of "professional men and women" to remedy the problem of adult illiteracy.
Typitown's Role in the Moulding of Youth
This article described a "typical" community's action to develop and maintain a youth center. Note Sellers' appeal to the community spirit.




[Back to the Black Education in Charlottesville Home Page]

[Back to the Project Home Page]