Segregated Education in Oklahoma, Children’s Book on Booker T. Washington's Pedagogy, First Edition 1938

Emma E. Akin

First Edition

[African American Education][Segregation] Akin, Emma E. A Booker T. Washington School. 1938. Children’s educational narrative describing the founding and development of a Black rural school in Oklahoma modeled on the educational philosophy of Booker T. Washington. Written by a white elementary school teacher working in Drumright, Oklahoma, the book documents the educational conditions of segregated African American schools in the early twentieth century and addresses the lack of positive biographical and institutional narratives available to Black children in segregated classrooms. Akin wrote the work after being assigned to teach an all-Black class for the first time and encountering limited instructional materials presenting African American historical figures or models of achievement. The narrative centers on the creation and growth of a community school organized around Washington’s program of industrial education, moral discipline, and civic development, reflecting the continuing influence of Tuskegee-style educational ideals in Black schooling decades after Washington’s death in 1915.

Akin, Emma E. A Booker T. Washington School. Oklahoma City: Harlow Publishing Corporation, 1938. First edition. Yellow cloth boards with black illustrations and lettering. The text follows the efforts of teachers and students in a rural Oklahoma community to establish and sustain a school inspired by Washington’s educational philosophy, emphasizing discipline, work, and collective improvement. Black and white photographs throughout depict African American students, classrooms, and school grounds, providing visual documentation of segregated schooling environments in Oklahoma during the late 1930s. The work was intended for young readers and presents the school as a place where education, vocational skill building, and community participation combine to foster personal advancement.

Booker T. Washington’s model of industrial and practical education exerted lasting influence across the segregated school systems of the American South and border states during the early twentieth century. Institutions modeled on Tuskegee frequently emphasized agricultural work, manual training, and moral discipline as pathways to economic stability and social advancement within a racially segregated society. Publications directed toward young readers that presented African American educational achievement or institutional development were comparatively limited in this period, particularly within regional school systems where instructional materials often excluded Black historical subjects. Akin’s narrative situates a rural Oklahoma school within this broader educational tradition while documenting the persistence of segregated schooling prior to the mid-twentieth-century civil rights movement. 219 pages. Illustrated with black and white photographs. 8vo. Yellow cloth binding. No dust jacket. Binding somewhat fragile with wear to covers; original owner pencil inscription on front pastedown and front free endpaper along with a library ex-libris mark. Pages clean and textblock tight. Overall very good condition. A documented literary example of early twentieth century educational literature engaging with Booker T. Washington’s influence on Black schooling in the segregated United States.

Item #21277

Price: $1,250.00