Schooling for Some: Child Labor and School Enrollment of Black and White Children in the Early Twentieth-Century South

Abstract

Data from North Carolina and South Carolina in 1910 indicate that racially segregated labor markets and racially unequal school systems affected school enrollment of black children and white children. The textile industry relied heavily on employment of white children, whereas the wood industry relied heavily on black adults, but employedfew children of either race. Local governments provided inferior schooling opportunities for blacks. Results indicate that (1) school enrollment of white children was depressed by employment in the textile industry; (2) school enrollment rates for both races were unaffected by employment in the wood industry, probably because of the industry's low reliance on child labor; and (3) school enrollment rates for black children were depressed by inadequate educational opportunities. Findings suggest that industrial employment depressed school enrollment among those children who were potential industrial laborers. We question the assumption that school enrollment expansion in the United States was never constrained by a limited availability of educational opportunities.