In the beginning

Most schools in the south started out as a little church school. Big Creek like the many other black schools in the south was one of them (Mount Lebanon).  Many of the teachers who taught at these little schools had no formal education. The school year was short and only a few students attended because they had to work on the farm and did not have of transportation. There were a few people who taught their children how to read and write at home. They also taught them basic arithmetic. The black community wanted more for their children.

You can not talk about Pickens County Training School without talking about the history of rural schools in the south. There were other people who played a role in forming county training schools. Two of these people who played an important role in southern schools’ relation were Mr. Jackson Davis and Booker T. Washington. Mr. Jackson’s roles in the southern schools’ relation included: southern whites, northern philanthropists and Blacks.

Segregation

The Black communities that created and sustained their schools is the first part of the black education equation. Booker T. Washington was a major player in getting schools for African American. The second part of the black education equation is southern whites who controlled the public school system. Whites excluded Blacks from public schools. The school bureaucracies were all white, as well as the local county superintendents and school trustees. White schools had a longer teaching year than black schools.  White teacher’s salaries were higher, and white facilities were better. 

Educational Denial to Blacks

The third part of the black education came into play in the early 20th century. Northern philanthropy initiated a major intervention in southern black education. Many southern and northern whites were content to think that they provide blacks with education that best suited their limited capacities. Most school officials either did not care or were hostile to the idea of black education. They did not see the need for education beyond training Blacks to respect the law and fitting them for vocation. (The less education Black people received, the more successful white education was).