The Negro
of TODAY
Remarkable Growth of
Fifty
BY
ROBERT R. MOTON
Principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
(Reprinted from the London Times)
THE NEGRO
OF TODAY
Remarkable Growth of Fifty
Years
By ROBERT R. MOTON
Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
(Reprinted from The London Times)
Typesetting and Presswork Done by
Students of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
THE NEGRO of TODAY
REMARKABLE GROWTH
of FIFTY YEARS
6
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
elation that, whatever of unrest and dissatisfaction exists among
Negroes today is at bottom the necessary consequence of a long
period of steady progress and development in Negro life which
has been normal in everything but the time element. It has now
been suddenly set in bold relief by the events and opportunities
of the war. What follows here is a brief review of that progress.
The assertion has now become trite that the Negro has made
the most remarkable progress in the last 50 years that history
records of any people in a similar length of time. This state¬
ment does not overrate the Negro's capacity for absorbing the
white man's civilization, nor yet does it ignore the fact that the
race has had the advantage of most intimate contact with
the world's most progressive civilization. What follows, howev¬
er, is an attempt to give a substantial meaning to the statement
by supplying some of the facts and figures upon which it is based
and to give a warrant for the hopes and predictions of his friends
concerning the Negro's future.
II.—RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT
Up to this time the Negro's most notable progress has been
in his religious life. This may be due to the fact that it is in
this field he has had the largest freedom ;i and it is significant
that it is in this phase of life he has been the most independent
of the influence and control of the white man. The vast majority
of Negroes are members of or associated with either the Baptist
Church or the several branches of the Methodist Church, in both
of which bodies they have established their own organizations
and conducted their own affairs with a highly developed ecclesi¬
astical machinery. So strong has been their allegiance to these
two denominations that Dr. Booker T. Washington used to say,
with his characteristic humor, "if ever you discover a Negro
who was not either a Baptist or a Methodist, some white man had
been tampering with his religion."
View that as we may, the fact remains that Negro life is
still largely dominated by the Church, which, especially in the
early years following emancipation, was the the chief organiza¬
tion for social progress within the race. Even before emancipa¬
tion, this phase of the life of the Negro received an attention
THE NEGRO OP TODAY
7
out of all proportion to what was done for the race along other
lines, so that it is a matter of record that there were more than
§£??9P-Q--Negro_ communicants in the white churches of the South,
before the emancipation gave ""them the opportunity to establish
their own churches. Even before this time, churches had al¬
ready been established by free Negroes for their own religious
development.
Generosity to the Church
Accordingly we find that in 1866 there were 700 Negro
churches, with 600,000 communicants and church property val¬
ued at $1,500,000. In the 53 years following we find these fig¬
ures to have increased to 43,000 churches, 4,800,000 communi¬
cants, and church property valued at $86,000,000. But behind
these figures lies the fact that probably no race gives a larger
proportion of its earnings to the support of religion. A recent
survey of the churches of Macon County, Alabama, in Vhich
Tuskegee Institute is situated, revealed the fact that in this
county, which has a rural school equipment scarcely excelled by
any county in the South, to the furnishing of which the colored peo¬
ple themselves have contributed largely—in this county, Negroes
give $29,000 a year to their churches as compared with voluntary
contributions of $9,000 a year toward the public schools.
In the same way, it was a Negro district that was the first
to report its quota to the Centenary Drive of the Methodist Epis¬
copal Church, and that quota was not only over-subscribed, but
also paid in cash. In the Spring Drive of the Inter-Church Wolrd
Movement in 1920, it was, again, a Negro denomination that was
first to subscribe its quota.
These facts reveal, from one angle at least, the extent to
which the Negro has accepted the religion which inspires the
standards of American life. It is obviously wise to make the
largest possible use of its power and influence in the solution of
present problems. Quietly, but effectively, it has proved itself
not only an instrument of progress within the race, but one of
the surest conservators of all that makes for peace and good will
between the races.
8
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
The Negro Church has not confined its activities to our own
country, but has extended its work into foreign lands. The ag¬
gregate amount of foreign missionary work done by all the
churches is noteworthy. It is reported that Negro churches con¬
tribute $100,000 annually to foreign missionary work. They
are today supporting more than 300 missionaries and 200
churches in these fields. Negro Baptists are carrying on work
in five foreign countries, including Panama and Haiti. The Afri¬
can Methodist Episcopal Church is carrying on work in the Brit¬
ish West Indies and Africa. This denomination is supporting
two Bishops in Africa and has recently elected a Bishop for South
America. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church also
has a Bishop for Africa and has extended its work to South
America, particularly in Brazil. It has also come to light that of
the 100 churches in America giving the (largest contributions
per member for foreign mission work in 1918, the third on the
list was a Negro church in Edwards, Mississippi, which gave,
on the average, $11.32 (£2.5s. S^d.) per member.
III.—PROGRESS IN EDUCATION
The progress which the Negro has made in education is per¬
haps more widely known than any other phase of his develop¬
ment; it may be for the reason that for years there has been a
definite and sustained propaganda on behalf of Negro educa¬
tion, in which both white and colored people in all sections of the
country have co-operated. This progress is best summed up
in the statement that illiteracy among Negroes has been reduced^
from 90 per cent in 1863, to 20 per cent in 1920, according to
the best available reports on the subject.
There are now over 2,000,000 Negro children in the pub¬
lic schools, and over 100,000 in the normal schools and colleges.
The 699 colored teachers of 1867 have increased to more than
40,000, of whom some 5,000 are teachers in industrial schools,
normal schools and colleges.
These figures signify on the one hand a progressive assump¬
tion of the responsibility for Negro education by the State;
they also reflect a large degree of enterprise on the part of the
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
9
Negro himself in the establishment of his own schools, most of
which exist in large degree by virtue of the generous contri¬
butions of white people in all sections of our country. But more
than anything else, they indicate the strong determination upon
the part of the race to secure the advantages of education in
spite of all difficulties, discouragements or opposition.
The figures for advanced education are equally interesting
and informing. There were in 1866 only 15 colleges in the en¬
tire country to which Negroes were admitted. Today there are
500 normal schools and colleges for Negroes with an enrollment/
of more than 100,000 students. Out of this number 17 schools
are devoted to the training of Negro girls and women exclusively.
Beyond this, however, careful observation will disclose the fact
that in most schools for Negroes the girlls outnumber the boys,
and this is especially true in the advanced grades. Passing over
the economic significance of this fact, it carries with it the hope¬
ful prospect of good foundations for the family life of the race in
the training and development of its womanhood. A national au¬
thority on education has observed that the Negro race is the only
race which today is giving more effort to education and training
of its women than to the training of its men.
Self-Help in Education
The progress which the race has made in education is furth¬
er reflected in the increase in the total valuation of Negro school
property. Starting with little or no property—for many of the
early schools were conducted in churches and buildings in use for
other than school purposes—the property now owned by secondary
schools and higher institutions of learning is valued today at
$25,000,000. This represents a large degree of effort on the part
of Negroes toward their own education, together with the ac¬
tivities of the several church boards, and does not include the val¬
ues in public school property. So also has the total expenditure
for operation of these schools increased to the yearly sum of $15,-
000,000. That the Negro has kept alive his early zeal for edu¬
cation is shown in the fact that, whereas, of the $700,000 spent
for the education of Negroes in 1866 Negroes themselves con¬
tributed $80,000, today Negroes are contributing $1,500,000 of
10
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
the $15,000,000 expended annually for their education. This, it
must be remembered, represents wholly voluntary contributions
from a great number of modest contributors, and is over and above
their contribution toward their own education as taxpayers.
Another phase of Negro education which is equally remark¬
able has developed in the last half dozen years under the inspi¬
ration of the Rosenwald Rural Schoolhouse Building Campaign,
a movement inaugurated by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, a wealthy and
distinguished Jewish citizen of Chicago, with the co-operation
of Dr. Booker T. Washington. This is a movement in which white
and colored citizens co-operate in building an up-to-date school-
house for colored children in the local community with the as¬
sistance of the State and of Mr. Rosenwald.
When one thinks soberly of what is taking place in this kind
of co-operation, it will take only a little time to reach the conclu¬
sion that so many have reached, that it is one of the most
helpful and effective movements toward real progress for both
white and black that is going on in the South today. What is being
done in connection with this school building effort shows that
the North, as represented by Mr. Rosenwald, and the
South, as represented by white and colored citizens and the
state school authorities, can co-operate in a highly successful ef¬
fort for general community welfare. What tangible results have
been accomplished are best seen in the following table which pre¬
sents the amounts contributed by each of the parties to this
movement up to November, 1919, all for the building of better
schoolhouses for Negro children. There have been 900 schools
erected, to which there was:—
Contributed by the State $491,436
Contributed by Whites 91,107
Contributed by Negroes ... 544,560
Contributed by Rosenwald Fund 324,180
Total (£290,256) $1,451,283
Inadequate Facilities
It should not be understood from what has been said that the
needs of the situation are being met with adequate equipment
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
11
and facilities. Indeed, the equipment is woefully inadequate, as
a visit to Negro schools in almost any section will disclose. The
truth is that not only are the existing facilities inadequate, but
in some states there is still a vast disproportion between the Ne¬
gro's own contribution to the public funds for education as a
taxpayer and the amount he receives from these same funds for
the education of his children.
Although Negroes constitute more than 11 per cent of the
total population of the country, they receive less than 2 per cent
of the billion dollars annually spent for education in this country.
Of the $875,000,000 spent annually on the public schools, only a
little more than 1 per cent is expended for Negroes. In the
South, where they constitute more than 26 per cent of the popu¬
lation, they receive less than 10 per cent of the school funds.
This means not only that there is not room enough to house the
children who are of school age, but also that there are not ac¬
commodations for those who actually attend school. School terms
in most places are still less than six months in length; and where¬
as the pay of school teachers is commonly very poor, the pay
of Negro teachers is in most places poorer still. And it is still
true, as was pointed out by Dr. Washington, that more money
is spent on special schools for the Indian—about $5,000,000—
than is expended for industrial and higher education for Negroes
—about $4,500,000. And it should be remembered that there
are more than 30 times as many Negroes in America as there
are Indians.
Justice calls for larger appropriations for Negro education,
and that, too, without reducing the amounts spent for these other
groups. Nevertheless, while there is still room for improving the
educational facilities for Negroes, as well as for the white race,
there is at the present time a forward movement throughout
the South for better school conditions for both races. Practical¬
ly all the Southern States have passed laws making primary ed¬
ucation compulsory for both races, and each year State Legisla¬
tures are increasing by large sums the appropriations for public
education.
In the midst of all this two facts stand out: the Negroes of
America are most eager for all kinds of education for themselves
12
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
and their children; the other is that a distribution of school
funds on the basis of population alone, not to mention the great¬
er need of the Negro, would multiply the present appropriations
for Negro education from public funds by five times at least.
The record which the Negro race has made in economic ad¬
vancement is most interesting, perhaps for the reason that in
this field it is possible to make comparisons in a variety of di¬
rections that more nearly approach exactness than is true of
data pertaining to other phases of his life. Here we have an
abundance of figures with which to estimate and compare, so
that one is less liable to the errors of individual judgment.
In estimating the Negro's progress on economic lines one
must look for its significance not so much in the aggregate as
in comparison with the resources with which he started and the
progress of other peoples or groups under somewhat similar cir¬
cumstances. As Frederick Douglass used to say, the progress of
the Negro is not to be measured by the heights to whi
gone, but by the depths from which he has come,
pation found the race without capital, land, or credit, 'mere
was the brawn that had been developed in slavery and a mo¬
dicum of skilll acquired in the necessities of the slave regime. The
great bulk of labor was agricultural, with the kind of methods
and knowledge that placed the South on the verge of bank¬
ruptcy when the war broke out in the sixties and left it im¬
poverished until the beginning of the present revolution in ag¬
ricultural methods introduced by the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp.
Viewed in this light, the progress which has been made fairly
deserves the description of "remarkable."
When the Negro obtained his freedom there were in the
whole United States a few farms controlled by a very small
number of previously "free Negroes." Today they operate in the
South some 900,000 farms. Negro farm laborers in the South now
cultivate approximately 100,000,000 acres of land, of which
number 42,000,000 acres are under the control of Negro farmers.
IV.—ECONOMIC PROGRESS
Negroes As Farmers
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
13
The increase in Negro farm owners in the South in the
past 50 years compares favorably with the increase in white
farm owners. In 1860 the great majority of white farmers own¬
ed their farms. The census reports show that in 50 years the
number of farms operated by white farmers increased by
1,529,000. Of this number, 663,300, or 43.4 per cent were
o(wners, and 866,278, or 56.6 peri cent were tenants, where¬
as in this same period 890,141 colored persons lacquired
control of farms, of which number 219,647, or 14.7 per cent,
were owners and 670,494, or 75.3 per cent were tenants.
When one remembers that these holdings were acquired by col¬
ored people in the face of far greater difficulties than those
which confronted their white neighbors, he doubtless will con¬
cede that the showing is entirely creditable to the Negro. Of
the million and a half white farm owners added since 1863 a
large number were children of landowners and inherited farms or
the means with which to purchase them, while Negro ownership
proceeded from an almost entire absence of patrimony of any
sort. Today Negroes in America own more than 20,000,000 acres
of land. This constitutes an area of 31,000 square miles, or an
area larger than the state of South Carolina.
In Trade and Industry
In addition to the progress made in land ownership, there has
been a similar advance along industrial and business lines that
has contributed much to the economic development of the race.
It is often charged that the Negro is idle and shiftless, yet the
census figures for 1910 show that there were in the race 5,192,535
persons over 10 years of age engaged in gainful occupations.
This represents 71 per cent of all those over 10 years of age, and
about 50 per cent of the entire Negro population at that time.
Of this number 2,893,674 were engaged in agriculture; 1,099,715
in domestic and personal service; 425,043 in trades and transpor¬
tation; 704,174 in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits; and
69,929 in the various professions—of this latter class the great¬
er number representing the ministry and teaching. These fig¬
ures correspond in part with the great expansion in these indus-
14
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
tries during the decade indicated; but they also represent the
extent to which the Negro is entering into all phases of the in¬
dustrial life of America. In fact, there is scarcely an avenue of
useful service in which Negroes will not be found, possessed of
varying degrees of skill.
In Business
Succeeding in these lines as an employee, it is but natural
that successful Negroes should branch out into enterprises of
their own. Negroes are accordingly found as owners and opera¬
tors of various businesses to the number of 38,382, not includ¬
ing such lines as barber shops, blacksmith shops, and shoe shops,
which were otherwise classified in the census enumeration. If
these were included the number would easily equal a total of
43,000. As it stands, the figures represent all lines of business,
such as bakeries, meat markets, carriage factories, contracting
and building, dry goods stores, groceries, drug stores, insurance
companies and banks. Perhaps the most important business en¬
terprises of the Negro at the present time are the insurance com¬
panies and the banks, of which there are now in operation 36 of
the larger insurance companies and 72 banks. It was a Negro in¬
surance company, the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company,
with headquarters at Durham, North Carolina, that had a great¬
er expansion of its insurance in force during the last fiscal year
than any other of a hundred insurance companies in its class in
the entire country. Three of the banks among the total men¬
tioned above have over a million dollars in resources.
Increase in Wealth
These figures indicate the extent to which the Negro is being
woven into the industrial fabric of America, becoming more and
more indispensable to its economic life. They show also how he
is passing from an employee to an employer, from a dependent
factor to a contributing factor. Here is evidence of energy, ap¬
plication, thrift, enterprise, business acumen, and executive ca¬
pacity, in all of which he must of necessity measure arms With
some of the shrewdest and most experienced business men in the
world. It were vain to boast that he excels anyone, but it is more
than encouraging to know that he not only survives but makes
progress. This is hopeful for him and reassuring to his friends.
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
16
It is furthermore true that in all of this success he has generally
had the support and encouragement of white people in the com¬
munity by which he is surrounded. All this industry and ac¬
tivity has meant a rapid increase in the wealth of the Negro.
According to the best available information, the total estimated
wealth of the race now approximates one billion dollars
(£200,000,000).
Along with this increase in individual holdings, the race is
now entering upon a period of rapidly increasing accumulations
of capital in the form of banks, stock companies, and insurance
companies of various kinds. These holdings offer prospect of
larger and even more rapid increase in wealth in the next few
years, a fact which makes the prospect of general race develop¬
ment even more hopeful than heretofore.
A Comparison with Russia
At the fiftieth anniversary of the emancipation of the Ne¬
gro, celebrated by the race in 1913, a comparison was made of
their progress and the progress of the Russian serfs in a similar
period. The statement on the matter said:
The serfs were emancipated in 1861. Fifty years after it
was found that 14,000,000 of them had accumulated about $500,-
000,000 wbrth of property, or about $35 per capita—about $200
per family. After this same lapse of time only about 30 per cent
of the Russian peasants were able to read and write. After fifty
years of freedom the 10,000,000 Negroes in the United States have
accumulated over $700,000,000 worth of property, or about $70
per capita and $350 per family, while 70 per cent of them have
some education in books.
This record means much for the Negro, not only with
respect to his past, but also for the future. In spite of much
that is said to the contrary, it is an index of toil, diligence, and
thrift; traits that still inhere in the race and promise further
development under the stimulus of increasing freedom. It also
means much for the white South. In the past, the foundations
of industrial and commercial development in the South have been
built most largely on Negro labor. The marvelous recovery of the
16
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
South from the devastation of the Civil War is inseparably as¬
sociated with these achievements of the Negro for himself. For
it is not too much to say that under the industrial system of the
South, the Negro, in whatever gains he has made for himself,
has gained at least an equal amount for his white employer. And
there are yet greater possibilities both for the white man and
the black man in Negro economic development. Both as a labor¬
er and as a buyer, as well as an investor, his possibilities are yet
to be developed. Those who have taken the first steps to en¬
courage such development on a just and considerate basis have
found that it pays large dividends both in immediate cash returns
and permanent economic stability.
V.—SOCIAL PROGRESS
The facts set forth thus far are of a kind that can be meas¬
ured, at least approximately, in figures, but there are other phases
of Negro life whose story is to be learned best by direct observa¬
tion. It is this part of the Negro's development that is known
by very few people outside of the race. This part is the social
progress of the Negro. By this is meant the evolution of a well-
regulated and harmonious social structure within the race itself
that provides for the more intimate personal needs of its mem¬
bers, and ministers largely to a rapidity- growing race-conscious¬
ness. ■
Its natural source of development is in home life. Perhaps
in no phase of his life did the Negro have so far to come in
his journey from bondage to freedom as in the most sacred in¬
stitution of civilization—the home. Nowhere, perhaps, did slav¬
ery work a greater hardship to the race than in this matter of
home life. Even as a heathen, family relations were both real
and sacred to the black man—more sacred perhaps than is true
in many quarters of more modern civilization. But slavery
destroyed nearly all of this for the Negro, so that on eman¬
cipation he had to build his home life from the bottom up.
The struggle from the one-room log cabin—the heritage from
slavery by way of "the quarters"—to the home of respected
privacy, of pure morals, of high ideals, ennobling friendships
and lofty aspirations, has been both long and hard—how
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
17
hard is known only to a few outside of the race; but within the
race it is a story full of pain and ofttimes of bitterness. But
the race has arrived in this as in other things. It is impossible
to tell this story by the printed page; but no man can say that
he knows the race until he has been within the confines of such
a home among this people and breathed its atmosphere and felt
its impulses. Here it is that the Negro has learned to be proud
of himself and of his race; here his friends m,ust see him before
they can understand him. I sometim'es feel that if those who
discredit the race could only behold this picture of the Negro,
their fears and alarms, as well as prejudice and unfriendliness,
would instantly disappear.
Negro Teachers
For the maintenance of these homtes there has grown up a
body of school teachers—more than 40,000 in number—whose
efforts in behalf of their young charges with limited equipment
are sometimes pathetic. But it is positively inspiring to look
upon a group of these teachers assembled at one of the many
summer schools that they eagerly attend with a view to their
own improvement for their work. There is with them a deep
consciousness of the meaning of their labors for their race; and
not the least of their virtues is the devotion which they show,
in spite of the fact that school systems almost everywhere in
the South provide them with salaries very much lower than are
paid their white colleagues of the same grades, for the same
work, under obviously more favorable conditions. Yet they are
enthusiastic, resourceful, and in most cases uncomplaining. They
are in many ways the race's most hopeful asset; they stand, both
for the Negro and the white man, between the South and all
the menace and danger from ignorance, incapacity, and shift-
lessness.
In the Professions
Along with teachers, but necessarily fewer in number,
there have developed physicians, dentists, lawyers, musicians,
authors, and journalists, with others who minister in one way
and another to the growing demands of a developing race. There
18
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
are still many, many white people who do not know that there is
such thing as a Negro doctor. Nevertheless, they go on with their
work; and their service to the race is inestimable. A single
meeting—the recent session of the National Medical Association
in Atlanta, Georgia—brought together more than 500 Negro phy¬
sicians, dentists, and pharmacists, in greater part from the South.
All these professions serve the race with a skill that requires
no apology, and their work has added irrimeasurablty to the
confidence which the race has in its own capacities and pos¬
sibilities.
We chance to have at Tuskegee Institute an agriculturist,
Dr. George W. Carver, who is known throughout the South as
one of the foremost agricultural scientists in the entire section.
He is consulted daily, both by letter and in person, by scores of
people of both races for help with the problems of farm, field,
and factory. There are hundreds like him in other lines who
prove daily the value and helpfulness of their training and work
to the South.
Negro Womanhood
Another phase of progress among Negroes is to be seen in
Negro womanhood. Here, again, Negro life is not only misun¬
derstood but oftentimes grievously misrepresented. There is
scarcely a single phase of life among Negroes in which women do
not play a I&rge and active part. The census of 1910 brought to
light the fact that out of more than 5,000,000 persons in the race
following gainful occupations 2,031,981 were women. A great
part of these were in domestic service; many spend only a
fractional part of their time as wage earners; and in the South
a large number will be found laboring on their farms at cer¬
tain times of the year. In the last few years, larger numbers
are finding employment in factories, especially with tobacco and
cotton. In the North they are also finding factory employment
as garment-makers and as metal workers. Others are serving
as clerks. One large mail order house in Chicago alone employs
more than 1,000 Negro women in a variety of positions rang¬
ing from stock girls to responsible clerical positions. Another
firm in the same city employs as many as 500.
Negro women are also to be found in the professions. As
school teachers their number is legion, as is true in other races.
THE NEGEO OF TODAY
19
But there are also physicians among them, a goodly number of
pharmacists, and a few have taken up law. Many of them con¬
duct business establishments of their own, as undertakers, hair¬
dressers, milliners and restauranters. The Press not very long
ago chronicled the death of one Negro woman whose business
alone gives employment to several thousand of her own people,
and gave her an income of more than $50,000 (£10,000) annual¬
ly. At her death, her estate was estimated to have a value of a
little more than one million dollars. The race is also proud of
having the first and possibly the only woman bank president in
America. Her home is in Richmond, Virginia, where her business
ability is held in high esteem by the business men of both races.
Beyond the lines of individual effort in business, Negro women
have developed and now direct the activities of n^any agencies
for the general welfare of their race, to which they give much
time and effort, almost wholly without compensation of any sort,
these activities being most largely maintained through the gifts
of the women themselves. Almost every community has a Wom¬
an's Club of some kind.
Women's Clubs
A recent meeting of the National Federation of Colored
Women's Clubs at Tuskegee Institute brought together more than
800 of these strong and helpful women from as far away as the
states of California and Washington in the West and Massachu¬
setts in the East. These women concern themselves actively with
the interests and problems affecting Negro women and girls, as
well as children. Alabama and Virginia both maintain reform
schools for Negro boys and girls which were established by col¬
ored women's clubs. In these institutions many of these girls and
boys are provided with better opportunities for wholesome
growth than they have ever known elsewhere. Most of them,
in truth, have never had any opportunities for proper develop¬
ment, which accounts in large part for their presence in such
institutions. The Y. W. C. A. is rapidly extending its organiza¬
tion among Negro girls and women. The paid secretaries of
these organizations conduct their work with the support of the
women of their race in the effort to provide the best possible
social conditions for the development of Negro womanhood.
20
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
It is a regrettable fact that Negro women in many places in
America are without adequate protection both within and with¬
out the law. They need, therefore, every agency within the race
that can provide such protection. They are themselves deeply
conscious of their disadvantages in this direction, and are bend¬
ing every effort to do for themselves and their own what the force
of public opinion has not yet achieved for them. It is a happy
omen of the times that white and colored women are coming
to know each other and each to understand the problems of the
other; and that in their work for their race the colored womfen
of many places have both the encouragement and help of true
and staunch white friends.
VI.—PROGRESS IN CITIZENSHIP
But the most recent proofs of the progress of the race are
in the sphere of citizenship, as revealed in the most striking man¬
ner by the war. Here the Negro manifested in full measure all
the traits that go to make a worthy citizen. In the draft he
furnished not only his full quota, but in the five Southern states,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, he
furnished a majority of the men drafted into the service. In the
end it was revealed that of those examined for the draft 75.60 per
cent of the Negroes were accepted on the basis of physical fit¬
ness against 69.71 per cent of the whites. The race is justly
proud of the record of these men both at home and abroad.
The first soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces to
be decorated for bravery were two Negroes, Henry Johnson and
Needham Roberts, members of the 369th Infantry, formerly the
15th New York National Guard. Four entire Negro regi¬
ments, the 369th, the 370th, the 371st, the 372nd, and the
1st battalion of another Negro regiment, the 376th, were award¬
ed the Croix de Guerre by the French military authorities for
heroism in action. In addition there were altogether some 400
individual Negro American soldiers who were given medals of
honor for bravery in action. In the face of such conduct, it is
nothing short of a libel upon the race to say that American in-
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
21
stitutions are in danger if the Negro is accorded the rights and
privileges of American citizenship to which his constant loyalty
entitles him.
Work in the War
In civil life the Negro made as splendid a record during the
war as he did in camp and overseas. In labor and financial con¬
tributions Negroes gave unstinted support to the Government.
Much of war industry was kept alive by Negro labor, which took
the place of the foreign labor which left for Europe at the begin¬
ning of the war. Crop production in the South made its great ad¬
vance at this time with Negro labor, which produced more food
than the South ever produced before. Perhaps Negroes did not
save a great deal of food in the aggregate, for the ration of the
Negro has never been too liberal. What saving was done was
accomplished perhaps, in largest measure by skillful manip¬
ulation in the homes of their employers. But Negroes, like oth¬
er American citizens, had an unrestricted chance to show their
loyalty in the various war measures that called for financial sup¬
port from all classes. Out of their limited means Negroes con¬
tributed in the several Liberty Loans, War Savings Stamp Cam¬
paigns, the Red Cross, and the United War Work Campaigns,
more than $225,000,000 (£45,000,000). These contributions
came from people in all walks of life—day laborers, cooks, boot¬
blacks, professional men and women, and even from convicts in
mines and prisons, likewise from Negro banks, insurance com¬
panies, and fraternal organizations.
The amounts contributed ranged from 15c. (7^d. ), the en¬
tire worldly wealth of Gilbert Denham, an 87 year-old Negro of
Greenville, Alabama, to the purchase of $100,000 (£20,000) worth
of Liberty bonds by a Negro farmer, David H. Raines, of Louis¬
iana. In one town of North Carolina, the quota for that section
was subscribed entirely by colored people, so that it was necessary
to increase the quota to give the whites a chance. In all of this
there was a spontaneity and loyalty that put not a few groups
of other American citizens to shame. In short, American Ne¬
groes in spite of injustice and discrimination, were 100 per cent
loyal throughout the war, which is all the more remarkable when
22
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
we consider that many of those who thought they knew him best
expected him to be not only backward and hesitating, but posi¬
tively disloyal.
Nor does his record stop with the war. Since the war no
group of people has given less trouble, no group has created less
friction in American life than have the 12,000,000 Negroes scat¬
tered in all parts of the country. Where there has been trouble,
where there has been friction, unbiased investigation has proved
that it was not started by Negroes, but Negroes were found to
be quick and ready to defend themselves wherever attacked. In
spite of the predictions to the contrary the returned Negro sol¬
dier has been found to make as good a citizen as he did a sol¬
dier; in fact, it is generally agreed that the Army improved the
vast majority of those who went through its training and dis¬
cipline.
VII.—CONCLUSION
Present Outlook
This condensed review of Negro progress since emancipation
does not, of course, tell the full story of his achievements. Many
things both interesting and important have been left out. But
enough has been given to lay a foundation for two conclusions:
first, that the Negro has made good use of the freedom which
came to him in the sixties and the limited opportunities which
came with it, and this has not only been without prejudice to
the best interests of the South, but has been most positive in its
contribution to the welfare of the South, and the nation as a
whole. In the second place, the conclusion may safely be drawn
that, in this period of readjustment for all groups comprised in
American national life, the nation as well as the South will not
be backward in according the Negro ample protection in his
home, unrestricted opportunity for his labor, impartial adminis¬
tration of the law, equitable disposition of public funds in all that
pertains to civil life, and an ungrudging participation in all those
interests that command the support and loyalty of worthy Amer¬
ican citizens.
There is ample evidence today that the American conscience
has had an awakening to the justice of these claims. Magazines
THE NEGRO OF TODAY
23
and newspapers are giving more space to the discussion of Negro
life and activity. There is a greater freedom of utterance
on the subject, with less of bitterness and intemperance. This is
particularly true of the South, and since the war white men and
black men in the South have met with a surprising frequency and
cordiality for the discussion of those things that affect their com¬
mon interests.
The Inter-Racial Commission
Out of this atmosphere has grown a body known as the Inter-
Racial Commission, whose specific purpose is the organizing of
committees of white men and colored men who shall work for the
equitable and peaceful adjustment of such difficulties between the
races as may arise from time to time in their local communities,
and for the prevention, wherever possible, of such friction as may
lead to rioting and mob violence, and to secure a proper consider¬
ation of the needs and claims of Negro citizens in all matters af¬
fecting the common welfare. Such committees have been organiz¬
ed in nearly every county in the South, and their work, though
quiet and unobtrusive, is producing results that even the most san¬
guine had not dared to expect at the outset.
The prospect has never been brighter for carrying forward
a sane, equitable, and constructive program of Negro advance¬
ment. Not the least significant in this direction has been the re¬
cent proposal of President Harding in his Message at the opening
of Congress, calling for the appointment of a National Inter-Racial
Commission for the study of the problem and the recommenda¬
tion of appropriate legislation. This Commission, as proposed, is
to work in harmony with other agencies and Commissions al¬
ready established for the protection and advancement of the in¬
terests of the Negro citizens of America. With such a body, hav¬
ing behind it the weight of the authority of the National Govern¬
ment, and having the support and co-operation of public officials
of the several states, there is every reason to hope that the fu¬
ture of the Negro in America will continue to be, as it has been
in the past, more promising than that of any similar group of
Negroes anywhere else in the world.