State

Dr. J. Y. Joyner He studied fo be a lawyer, but it didn't take. Anil you may be sur¬ prised to know tlint lie also sold ins ига nee at one time. But it is for his educational work, and work among the* farmers that be is best known. tty R. C. LAWRENCE PK KM IT ine 10 introduce to I lie people «if Carolina Г»г. James Yad¬ kin Joyner — lawyer and insurance agent. You «lid not know the Doctor was a lawyer i Well, wLat about Am¬ bassador Daniels, Bishop Chcfdiire, Captain Samuel A. Ashe, or Elder I*. I>. Dol.lf Lawyers, all of I hem. True, il didn't take, but they were vne- cinnte«l for law just the same. And if any aspirin); young lawyer wishes to become a Justice of the Supreme t ‘oiirt, lie •h«iul«l team up with I)r. Joyner, for all hi* partners became Supreme < '••iirt justices — one of them Chief Justice. Hi» grandfather Joyner was a lay preacher in the Primitive Baptist Churcli hut fell from grace (to use Methodist language) when he sent his -«и to a Missionary Baptist College. Il«' was in the Constitutional Conven¬ tion of I MS.'.. Another grandfather was the *li«tingui-hed Coiiiieil Wooten of l-s'imir County, Counselor of State, «ho owned li,ntMl acres of land and 6th» slaves. Hi- father, John Joyner, «’a* al*o a farmer, not an agrieultur- i-t. bin a pin in dirt fanner. Our Doctor was born in 1 •*‘62. and was graduated from the University when only nineteen — the youngest member of his class. It is я most re¬ markable fact that in his career he should rub shoulders with so many men who have meant so much to public life here iii Carolina. Bear this in mind ns we go along. lie taught and became Superintend¬ ent of Public Instruction in Wayne nil office once filled by Charles B. Ay соек. Then he moved to Winston, wln-rc he assisted in the organization of the first Graded School» of that city. Chairman of his Board of Trus¬ tees was Calvin H. Wiley, the first State Superintendent of Public In¬ struction. Then he read law and was admit¬ ted to the Bar, forming a partnership at Goldsboro with his uncle by mar¬ riage, William T. Faireloth. and Wil¬ liam It. Allen. Mr. Faireloth later be¬ came Mr. Chief Justice Kaircloth of the Supreme Court, and Mr. Allen be¬ came Mr. Justice Allen of the same U'tich. This partnership lasted three years, and then the call of «ducat ion came to him so clearly and so insist¬ ently that he could no longer ignore its cry. Thenceforth education claimed him for her own. His Educational Work lie was elected as superintendent of the (iraded Schools at (ioldshoro, suc¬ ceeding Edwin A, Alderman in that position. It is well known that Dr. Alderman later became President of the I’nivcrsity of North Carolina and also of the I'nivcrsity of Virginia. Four years later »nr Doctor was called to the chair »f English at the North Carolina College for Women at (ireenshoro. also succeeding Dr. Alder¬ man in that capacity. He was again to meet Alderman on other fields. He was Dean of tlint institution until ММ2, and during that time he assisted in holding touchers' institutes in nearly every county in Carolina. In 1902 he was appointed by Gov¬ ernor Aycock as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, succeeding General Thomas F. Toon, who had •lied. This office he filled until his re¬ tirement in 1919. In 1909 he became President of the National Educational Association, the highest honor which can come to an educational office hold¬ er, and it was the first time that a Southerner had ever been »o honored. He also served as trustee of the Uni¬ versity of Meredith, of Teacher’s Col¬ lege, and he had yet many other edu- eational interests. During the Aycock administration four horsemen role the roads of Caro¬ lina: Aycock, Alderman, Melver, and —Joyner. Instead of carrying the red banners of war, famine, death, and pestilence, they carried the pure white banners of public education, state aid for the public schools, longer school ti rms, consolidation of rural schools. These horsemen went into every county in Carolina, and when their day was done, nnd their battle fought, victory perched upon their banner*. Schools in North Carolina When Aycock rose to |«опч-г, the State S]«ent hut fifty cuts per capita on public education; there were more than 5,000 one-teacher schools in Caro¬ lina ; there were but thirty high schools in the entire state, and these were sup¬ ported hv local taxation. There were no school libraries; the school term was hut seventy days; the teacher’s salary hut $24.00 |nt month. There was persistent Democratic opposition to the educational |H>|icv developed under Aycock and Joyner; much talk of "nigger education." Finally a ( Continue// on /-i<7«’ sixteen)