The effective education of the Negroes of the United States is essential to the welfare of the entire Nation, and especially of the Southern States. In view of this fact, the information contained in this bulletin has immediate and practical value of a very high degree. Noteworthy elements in the preparation of this report on Negro education are: (1) Collection of the facts through personal visitation to the institutions described; (2) Cooperation of public and private authorities; and (3) The constructive purpose involved in the study and in the presentation of the information. Every school reported upon was visited by one of more of the Bureau's agents, and the larger schools were studied by specialists in different types of education. This report on Negro education is published in two volumes. This, the first volume, is a discussion of the various phases of Negro education. The first chapter provides a summary of Negro education in the United States. Each subsequent chapter seeks, first, to present conditions as they are, and then to outline "means and methods" for the increase of educational facilities and the betterment of the particular type of educational activity under construction. An index is included, and tables presenting "Statistics of Negro schools" is appended. Individual sections contain footnotes. (Contains 8 table, 3 maps, and 40 plates.) [Prepared in cooperation with the Phelps-Stokes Fund under the direction of Thomas Jesse Jones, Specialist in the Education of Racial Groups, Bureau of Education. For "Negro Education: A Study of the Private and Higher Schools for Colored People in the United States, Volume II," see ED542635. Best copy available has been provided.]