The 1930s Education: Chronology

1930:      Schools and colleges celebrate the two-thousandth anniversary of the birth of the Roman poet, Virgil.

1930:     February 3 The first CBS American School of the Air broadcast is heard by more than 1.5 million schoolchildren.

1931:     January The William H. Spencer High School opens in Columbus, Georgia. An all-black school, Spencer High becomes the model for "industrial schools," training students for jobs in factories.

1931:     December President Herbert Hoover's National Advisory Committee on Education produces a report on American schools, finding them in good condition.

1932:      The Educational Equality League is founded in Philadelphia. It aims to desegregate public schools, hire more black teachers, and put at least one African American on the Philadelphia school board.

1932:     February 18 George S. Counts launches the "social reconstructionist" movement with his speech "Dare Progressive Education Be Progressive?"

1933:     March 1 Philosopher John Dewey attacks the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for making cuts in education.

1933:     April 17 The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) opens its first course. Although this New Deal agency is focused on environmental work, it also plays a key role in educating young people from poor backgrounds.

1933:     April 24 Five thousand teachers march on Chicago city hall to demand ten months' back pay.

1933:     December 14 A school bus is hit by a freight train in Crescent City, Florida. Ten children are killed and thirty are injured.

1934:      The Progressive Education Association begins an eight-year study to prove that colleges need to be modernized.

1934:      Public schools buy one-third fewer textbooks than they did in 1930.

1934:      Boycotts of segregated schools in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, lead to desegregation.

1934:     April 1 Twenty thousand schools, mainly in rural areas, have closed for lack of money.

1935:      Nineteen states pass laws to make teachers swear loyalty oaths.

1935:     February 13 In Arkansas, an investigation into communism at Commonwealth College is authorized by the state's House of Representatives.

1935:     June 10 The Tennessee House of Representatives passes a statute to prevent the teaching of evolution.

1935:     June 26 The National Youth Administration (NYA) is set up to provide education and work for 16- to 25-year-olds.

1936:      The U.S. Supreme Court hears the case of Murray v. Maryland. It rules that Maryland Law School should admit African American student Donald Murray or build a segregated law school. The law school admits Murray.

1937:     February 9 Senators Pat Harrison of Mississippi and Hugo Black of Alabama introduce a bill offering $100 million in federal aid to schools. The bill fails.

1937:     May 28 President Franklin D. Roosevelt repeals the infamous "red rider" to a Washington, D.C., appropriation bill. The rider had made teachers in the capital sign a loyalty oath.

1937:     November 21 Brookwood Labor College closes because of financial difficulties and internal disputes.

1938:      The George-Deen Act is passed, appropriating $14.5 million for vocational education.

1938:     December 12 The U.S. Supreme Court orders the state of Missouri to provide equal education for African American law students.

1939:      George S. Counts begins his campaign against communists in the American Federation of Teachers.

1939:      Although 23.5 percent of college instructors are women, they make up only four percent of professors at state universities.