Report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia for the Year Ended June 30, 1903 Vol. IV (Board of Education)

Reporting on the segregated schools of our nation’s capital in the early 20th century.

“There are only 173 men in the teaching force. The number of women is 1,198. When the excellence of the schools is under consideration, these figures will serve as an aid in distributing the credit due.” [pg. 14].

“I hope the time is not far distant when the experiment can be made of baths in the schools of some of the poorer sections of the city.” [pg. 86]

“Of greater interest than anything else connected with the work of theis department during the past year is the fact that the two manual training schools took possession of their new buildings. For the first time it was possible to realize that they were a definite part of the public school system of the District of Columbia.” [pg. 119]

Between 1862, when the first school for African-American children opened, and 1954, when a pair of Supreme Court decisions overturned the policy nationwide, the public school system in Washington, D.C. were entirely segregated between black and white students. This map of the U.S. capital was lithographed by the Norris-Peters Company and published by the Government Printing Office in 1903 to accompany the Report of the Board of Education of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

The 213-page report, of which several excerpts can be read above, provides a spectacularly detailed overview of the D.C. school system around the turn of the century. Entries include tables of statistics, budgetary data, photographic plates, demographic information, submissions from school administrators, and course summaries. Particular emphasis is given to physical education, construction of new buildings, hygienic standards, and organization of normal schools.

The accompanying map shows the names and locations of schools throughout the District of Columbia. White and Colored Schools are noted in solid red and blue, respectively, with vacant or unoccupied lots identified with empty boxes. The distribution patterns of each are interesting; showing concentrations in particular neighborhoods and far more white schools.

Sources: DC Policy Center; 1915 Map of Segregated Schools;