Edwin Washington Project

• An undated petition (EWP 2.5B) from the patrons of the Arlington school noted that a large number of the children were without means, and thus forced to bus to another location, where they would be seriously embarrassed. (See White Petition Box).
• Philomont, (EWP 2.5B) Unknown date.  Request not to close school.  One rationale is that children were poor, so sending them to a different school with children of more fortunate circumstances would disadvantage them.  White Petition Box.
• 1932.  EWP 4.2 White Teacher’s institute dealt with aid for needy children.

Loudoun also placed Wards of the State from Washington, DC into country schools.  This was done in cooperation with the District of Columbia Welfare Board.  We don’t know at this time if African-American children were placed.[1]

See also references to the Literary Fund throughout, in EWP 2.9 and in Dirt Don’t Burn.  The Literary Fund was the first state source of school funding and was initially aimed at indigent children before 1870; though it was also used to fund schools throughout the study period, 1865-1968.   There are many references as well in the Circuit Court School Boxes.  We discovered that Literary Fund Trustees before the Civil War and School Board decisions during the great depression.  The Trustees realized that some children could not go to school in harsh weather due to the condition of their clothes and were frustrated by the fact that rules of the Literary Fund prevented them from buying clothes.  During the Depression, the School Board, recognizing that some children went to school in patched clothing, recommended that better-off parents patch their kid’s pants so that the poorer kids would not feel so bad!