Division of Cooperation in Education and Race Relations

New Additions to African American Education Digital Collection, part 2
[This post was written by Anna Spencer, summer intern at the Digital Access Branch.]

The correspondence of the Director of the Division of Cooperation in Education and Race Relations is a 4-box series housed under the Division of Negro Education. Nathan Carter Newbold served as the director during the division’s existence. The division worked to spread positive information about the lives and history of African Americans. Materials include letters, reports, speeches and meeting minutes about improving race relations and increasing educational opportunities for African Americans. The division arranged conferences and guest speakers to provide information about race relations and African American history to white colleges and universities. Newbold also laid out the plans for the Division of Negro Education and served as the Director of the Division until his retirement. Of special note is the project between the State Department of Public Instruction, The University of North Carolina, and Duke University. These organizations worked together to create a book of biographies about influential and important African American North Carolinians. Although the book is not part of the series, plans and interviews are included in some letters.

The Files of the State Supervisor of Elementary Education is an 8-box series housed under the Division of Negro Education. The State Supervisor of Elementary Education travelled the state evaluating African American elementary schools, holding teaching clinics, conducting meetings, and evaluating curriculum. The State Supervisor of Elementary Education was also responsible for making recommendations for school accreditation. The series includes letters, reports, maps, statistics, meeting minutes, and speeches. Of special note is the information provided about the Jeanes program in North Carolina. The Jeanes Fund started as an endowment by Anna T. Jeanes, a Philadelphia Quaker, in 1907 to increase educational opportunities for African Americans. Over the following decades the mission of the Jeanes teachers shifted from providing job training to students to acting as supervisors at African American schools. The series contains documents about the National Jeanes Association, reports from Jeanes supervisors, and conference information

Source:https://ncarchives.wordpress.com/…/new-additions-to-africa…/