536 



A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



all the other States were iDrospering, while South Carolina was financially 

 bankrupt. 



COLORED ILLITERACY. 



A comparative statement of colored illiteracy in five leading States, 

 before the war, may be of interest. 



Colored Illiteracy, 1850 and 1860. 



This table shows that prior to the abolition agitation, free j^ersons of 

 color received almost equal advantages in South Carolina and New Eng- 

 land, while they were comparatively neglected in Pennsylvania and In- 

 diana. In consequence of the agitation illiteracy appears to have in- 

 creased in South Carolina, remained almost stationary in Pennsylvania, 

 and decreased in the other States. (It may be added that the table does 

 not show any large immigration of colored people North, prior to 1860, 

 Colored artizans fared better in the South than they did elsewhere. "Free 

 persons of color " in the South were not always advocates of emancipa- 

 tion.) 



Reverting to the statistics of South Carolina, it is found that there 

 were 



In 1800, white illiterate males, twenty years and over, 5,811. Total white 



population, 291,300. 

 In 1870, white illiterate males, twenty-one years and over, 12,940. Total 



white population, 289,667. 

 In 1880, white illiterate males, twenty-one years and over, 13,924. Total 



white 2^opulation 391,005. 



This tells the story. Those who were twenty-one years old in 1870, 

 were eleven years old in 1860. The finger of war is evidently here. It 

 is gratifying to see that the increase of adult illiterates during the past 

 decade is small. 



