⁶ The schoolroom DuBois describes is similar in size and design to the country schoolhouses of the period in rural areas around the U.S., but the deplorable state of the building and the furniture indicates a level of poverty I have not come across in descriptions of schools serving white children.
   DuBois' reference to "a New England vision of neat little desks and chairs" most likely springs from his own childhood experiences attending school in Massachusetts.