What stance did white southerners take on philanthropic associations' funding of black schools in the late nineteenth century?

a. They ignored it because they had no interest in the issue of black education.

b. They were embarrassed by the need for philanthropic funding and worked hard to lift black schools up to the level of white ones.

c. They welcomed it because it gave them an excuse not to fund black schools as well as they funded white ones.

d. They opposed it out of fear that the associations would encourage dangerous ideas of racial equality.