Citizenship and Gospel

Abstract

The signs pointed to the left for white and to the right for colored. It seems everything in Georgia must be so labeled. Yet here in the Drivers License Bureau were two men, one white, one colored, standing together attempting to fill out the application for a license. The white man was doing the writing, but it was necessary for the Negro to spell each word for him. This was an odd combination indeed. The one with a basic skill, the other, no skill, but it was necessary for the Negro to spell each word for him. This was an odd combination indeed. The one with a basic skill, the other, no skill, but a phenomenal memory and obvious intelligence. This scene might be duplicated in many cities across the South. There are 8?2 million functional illiterates in the United States. Many of these are southern Negroes. This fact is tragic, because there are often persons with a great deal of natural intelligence who have ben deprived of the basic opportunity of public school education. Often in the course of travels through small towns and underprivileged communities, one is astonished to find Ph.D. minds who have had opportunity for only a few years of formal training. Until 1954, there was little attempt to provide adequate education for Negro citizens. The school year was broken up by the cotton crop, the tobacco crop, and any other crop which needed harvest or care. Thanks to the Supreme Court, Negro