Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The Robeson County branch of the NAACP has studied the county’s school system and determined that it does not employ enough black principles, teachers, and others. From 1989-1996, 5.9% of full time workers hired were black, compared to 27.9% white and 66.27% Indian. County school superindentent Purnell Swett responded to the report by saying that the system has tried to reflect the county’s racial balance in hiring but has often found the number of minorities in the hiring pool small. The NAACP will continue its investigation because, after waiting 17 months for information, it still does not have data on annual salaries and on employee firings for the five-year period.  According to the Rev. Frank Bowden, the report shows that “32 of Robeson County’s 40 public schools are segregated by race and 29 have segregated staffs.”