.^^ A^' .f 0- - "^x V^-^ ^V <^n «:,'^ :''^^^ o -^^ o_ *-^f^-, q'J ^ ^ '^^ ? '.p^- .^ '>V . -. y.:: :■ * ,v-' "<> ,0 ^^^ 0^ o .V <> '^vs to •'*i/-^' > ^ ' . . 5 \ o o -^"^ .0 f o. . ^0 ^ > V V >>>' .^ X^ V , , ^ o -a. ^ 5> ■ :." /% ^^^- /\ •■■■ t- *0-A -r' ,-^' A • xO-7-^ ' -^^o ^^o^ ''C ■" ^ "^^ 'Yliw"" N.-?- -^ ;n -r' * "^^ ' . • s ' . > -^ o " " ^ O O ° " " * O s^£^. 4 O ^. c^ ^^^ ■' •> ^^. V . ,*^ V ~ ' * " - o > ^-. o o .0 V- .<^ ^^, \^ 4 o ^ . ^ S ^ o' .<^- a" V, * « - . , o ^ "■•-.■^"o ^^ ' • • ^ \^ ^^ O > .0^ „*' c s ^ • • ' \,> v^^ 3( • .0 -^ \0 -r, 'V • 4 o A. <> 9 « . Cooperation in Southern Communities Su^g,ested Activities for County and City Inter -racial Committees Edited by T. J. WOOFTER, JR. and ISAAC FISHER Copyrighted by the Commission on Inter -racial Cooperation 417 Palmer Building Atlanta, Ga. .61 .CIS gCl.A630388 NOV 18 1921 -7 'VvC> .^ CONTENTS X PAGE ^ INTRODUCTION— By T. J. Woofter, Jr., and Isaac Fisher 9 SECTION I. EDUCATION. 1. Improving Rural ScHOOLS^Ja?«es H. Dillard, Director Anna T. Jeanes Fund and Slater Fund 21 2. City Schools— r. J. Woofter, Jr 23 3. More Knowledge and Sympathy — D. C. Barrow, Chan- cellor, University of Georgia 24 4. The Press— James Nevin, Editor, The Atlanta Georgian 27 SECTION II. Church Co-operation— 5is/i op R. E. Jones, New Orleans 3q SECTION III. Economic Justice— fi. R. Moton, Principal Tus- kegee Institute 33 SECTION IV. Health and Housing — Hoivard W. Odum, Uni- versity of North Carolina 41 SECTION V. Protection and Legal Aid — Edtvin Mims, Van- derbilt University 45 SECTION VI. Recreation. 1. Rural Recreation— Litdwtgr T. Larsen, Mississippi State Inter-Racial Secretary 50 2. City Recreation — B. T. Harvey, Jr., Morehouse College 54 SECTION VII. Care of Dependents — Burr Blackburn, Secre- tary Georgia Department of Public Welfare 57 SECTION VIII. Care of Delinquents— G. Croft Williams, Di- rector South Carolina State Board of Public Welfare 60 COMMISSION ON INTER-RACIAL COOPERATION LIST OF MEMBERS AS OF OCTOBER 1, 1921. John J. Eagan, Chairman. Will W. Alexander, Director. R. H. King, Associate Director. Mrs. Luke Johnson, Director Woman's Work. E. Darden Borders, Treasurer. ALABAMA Dr. R. H. McCaslin, Pastor First Presbyterian Church Montgomery Hon. John D. Rather, Attorney Tuscumbia Mrs. J. H. Cranford, Member Woman's Continuation Committee Jasper Mr. C. J. Jackson, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Birmingham Dr. R. R. Moton, President Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee ARKANSAS Dr. J. H. Reynolds, President, Hendrix College Conway Mr. John L. Hunter, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Little Rock FLORIDA Dr. J. G. Venable, Pastor, Riverside Presbyterian Church-Jacksonville GEORGIA Mr. John J. Eagan, Manufacturer Atlanta Dr. Plato Durham, Minister and Professor, Emory University, Atlanta Dr. M. Ashby Jones, Pastor, Ponce de Leon Baptist Church.. ..Atlanta Dr. C. B. Wilmer, Rector, St. Luke's Episcopal Church Atlanta Mrs. J. D. Hammond, Director So. Pub. Bureau Islip, N. Y. Dr. Will W. Alexander, Director Commission on Inter-Racial Co-operation Atlanta Mr. R. H. King, International Committee Y. M. C. A., Associate Director Commission on Inter-Racial Co-operation Atlanta Hon. E. Marvin Underwood, Attorney Atlanta Mr. Walter B. Hill, State Dept. of Education Atlanta Mr. B. G. Alexander, International Com. Y. M. C. A., St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Luke Johnson, Director Woman's Work Commission on Inter-racial Co-operation Atlanta Mrs. Archibald Davis, Member Woman's Continuation Committee Atlanta 4 Mrs. Z. I. Fitzpatri:k, Member Woman's Continuation Committee Madison Mr. Marion Jacksn, Attorney Atlanta Mr. Thomas Johnson, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Atlanta Dr. John Hope, President, Morehouse College Atlanta KENTUCKY Dr. Jno. H. Little, Minister and Head Presbyterian Colored Missions Louisville Dr. Henry H. Sweets, Secretary, Committee on Christian Edu- cation and Ministerial Relief Sou. Pres. Church Louisville Mr. P. C. Dix, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Louisville LOUISIANA Dr. George D. Booth, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A New Orleans Bishop R. E. Jones, Bishop Methodist Episcopal Church.. New Orleans MISSISSIPPI The Rt. Reverend Theodore D. Bratton, Bishop of Mississippi, Jackson Blake W. Gadfrey, State Secretary Y. M. C. A Jackson NORTH CAROLINA Dr. Wm. L. Poteat, President, Wake Forest College Wake Forest Mrs. T. W. Bickett, Member Woman's Continuation Com Raleigh Mr. J. Wilson Smith, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Charlotte OKLAHOMA Mr. John R. Boardman, Manufacturer, Chairman, Oklahoma Com- mittee on Inter-Racial Co-operation Oklahoma City Mr. F. M. Deerhake, State Secretary Y. M. C. A., 237-40, 11/2 N. Harvey Street Oklahoma City SOUTH CAROLINA Dr. Henry Nelson Snyder, President, Wofford College Spartanburg Mr. G. Croft Williams, Secretary, Board State Charities Columbia Dr. Josiah Morse, Professor, University of South Carolina.... Columbia Mr. T. B. Lanham, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Columbia TENNESSEE Dr. Edwin Mims, Professor, Vanderbilt University Nashville Mr. Arch Trawick, Manufacturer Nashville Dr. W. D. Weatherford, President, Southern College of Y. M. C. A Nashville Dr. 0. E. Goddard, Secretary, Home Mission Board, M. E. Church ; NasTiville Mrs. W. D. Weatherford, Member Woman's Continuation Committee Nashville Dr. Isaac Fisher, Editor, Fisk University News Nashville TEXAS Mr. L. A. Coulter, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Dallas Mr. R. L. Smith, Banker Waco VIRGINIA Dr. R. E. Blackwell, President, Randolph-Macon College Ashland Dr. J. H. Dillard, President, The John F. Slater Fund....Charlottesville Mr. Jackson Davis, General Field Agent, General Educational Board Richmond Mr. Homer L. Ferguson, Manufacturer Newport News Dr. S. C. Mitchell, Richmond College Richmond Mr. M. W. Lee, State Secretary, Y. M. C. A Richmond Dr. James E. Gregg, Principal, The Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute Hampton Mrs. B. B. Mumford, National Board, Y. W. C. A Richmond Dr. Jno. M. Gandy, President, Petersburg Normal and Industrial Institute Petersburg PREFACE All of the members of the Commission on Inter-Racial Co- operation live in the South, and have been throughout their lives intimately related to Southern institutions and South- era communities. They are leaders in various phases of Southern life — legal, educational, industrial, agricultural, church and civic. The service of these men and women to the commission has been voluntary. They have been actuated solely by a desire to serve in relation to a na- tional problem, recognizing that in the adjustment of race relations in America the South must bear the major re- sponsibility. The Commission believes that race hatred and force will only complicate race relations in America more seriously, and that the only alternative to these is to be found in the counsel and cooperation of men of character, intelligence and good will. To that end, the Commission has sought to bring together in every local community in the South the strongest white and colored men of this type. Wherever this habit of conference between the leaders of the races has been practised racial peace has been found easy to maintain, and many community improvements beneficial to both white and colored have been made. The Commission is convinced that the local community is the place in which permanent improvement in race relations must be made, and that the problem of race relations in its larger aspects is but the sum total of numerous local situa- tions, and that these can be satisfactorily adjusted only by conference and cooperation between the white and colored leaders within the local communities. The work to be undertaken by any local committee must be determined by the committee itself, and can only be ar- rived at after careful study of community conditions and conference between the leaders of the two races. Some things which are usually found to need attention are, the courts, particularly the petty courts, education, living and sanitary conditions in the Negro community and the rela- tionship between the white employer and colored laborer. None of these within themselves are race problems. They are national problems which affect all races, but which are often found in a more aggravated form in communities which are composed of two different races. The Commission on Inter-Racial Cooperation will do what- ever it can to cooperate with the local inter-racial commit- tees. It has encouraged the formation in each of the South- em states of a state inter-racial committee. In the majority of instances these committees have been formed with the approval and upon the advice of the Governor. They are composed of some of the wisest and most influential citizens of the state. These state committees were organized in or- der that the local committees might have the advice and co- operation of the leadership of the state in the solution of their special problems. However, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the success of this effort to secure inter- racial good will and justice depends upon the sincere and in- telligent effort on the part of local inter-racial committee- men. This pamphlet is published to assist local inter-racial com- mittees in finding and working out their programs. Each part has been written with the hope of throwing some light upon conditions found in local communities. An effort has been made to outline these conditions and mention the agen- cies within the communities and those operating from state headquarters which should co-operate in the work. The activities are not new. The paper suggests methods by which persons and agencies already in the communities may be set to work for the welfare of the whole community, and not merely for the white community. KEEP THIS BOOKLET FOR REFERENCE November, 1921. 8 INTRODUCTION INTER-RACIAL WORK AND THE COMMUNITY BY T. J. WOOFTER, JR. Many of the eight hundred county Inter-racial Com- mittees have already begun to show their value in bettering Southern communities. Their activity has not sprung from any outside pressure. It has been planned in the frank, open counsel of local white and colored leaders — the home folks. Different committees have interested themselves in different hnes of work because there are many community problems to claim their attention. Inter-racial problems cross-section the whole community life. The health edu- cation, efficiency, morality, happiness, and respect for the justice of the community, which colored people have, not only govern their own individual conduct, but to a large ex- tent, they also condition the activity of the whole commun- ity. Dealing with Negro problems is therefore dealing with a special side of all Southern problems, i. e., those of re- ligion, labor, law and order, education, health, housing, re- creation and care of the poor and delinquent. The special aspect of these problems as they relate to the Negro, consists mainly in the need for mutual respect and good will between the races and for working out the meth- ods of active co-operation. Under these circumstances there is little wonder that the activities of Inter-racial Commit- tees are varied. Within this wide field of usefulness it has been easy for the local white leaders interested in bettering their town or county to do so by co-operating with colored leaders in im- proving the condition of their people along some of these lines. This has given them the real pleasure which comes with active good citizenship. When the first jobs had been disposed of some committees felt that the work was finished and that thence forward their task consisted in holding themselves in readiness to check race friction or violence. Members of such committees are specially urged to note the great variety of possibilities for constructive work pre- sented in this pamphlet. Not every one of these suggestions is applicable to every community, but it is fairly certain that work should be done in all communities along some of the lines presented in the following papers. Such constructive work is, in the last analysis, the best preventive for race friction, crime, and violence. To do some of this work requires the technical knowledge of a social worker. For this, the members of the committees must rely on the State Inter-racial Secretaries and upon state and local leaders who are specialists. But no amount of supervision from national. State or even county govern- mental agencies can accomplish things until the people of the local communities are ready to form the organizations and carry forward the programs. This is the function of the local committees. They have the means of creating the right sentiment and providing the local support. VALUE OF INTER-RACIAL WORK Aside from its special value to colored people, which is dis- cussed by Prof. Fisher in the following paper, inter-racial work offers one of the best chances in the South for the gen- uine performance of the duties of good citizenship. It adds to the chances of every individual in the community to be healthier in body and morals, more regular and efficient in production, better able to enjoy wholesome recreation and more capable of raising the new generation to still higher standards. The work of these co-operative committees is not work for colored people, but work with colored people for community betterment. It is not an effort to elevate the Negro, involving a special tj^e of activity distinct from the general lines of service. It is merely an effort to build a definite co-operative organization, whose job will be to stimulate community institutions to work for all the people, and to deal justly with the Negro. HOW TO APPROACH THE WORK Since the committees are without authority they must rely for results upon the influence which they may be able to exert upon the various active organizations which are, or should be, concerned with race relations. These fall into three main classes: 10 I. Governmental, such as City or County boards admin- istering health, education, recreation, streets, sewers and lights. II. Private organization, such as churches, associated charities, childcaring agencies. III. General civic agencies, such as the press and public service corporations. Committees will therefore be more effective if men influ- ential in shaping the policies of these agencies are included in the membership, or at least invited to be represented on the sub-committee which deals with the particular line of work in which they are interested. When the community leaders who should be active have been invited to meet, the next step is for some individual or small group to prepare a careful statement of local needs of the colored people, giving the facts in the case and recom- mendations. In case action on the matter involves some technical knowledge, such as is demanded in school work, care of child dependents, or distribution of recreation facil- ities, the facts should be gathered by some one especially trained and by actual visit to the school, orphanage, play- ground, etc. It is for this purpose that the State Secretaries are avail- able. Local committees would do well to request the State Secretary to devote a few days to the study of such matters for them. The joint committee should be sure that the colored man's point of view is presented. For this reason it often adds to the clearness and conciseness of the presentation if the colored members meet separately just before the joint meeting in order to divide up the task of presentation. It is ■ also suggested that their reports be filed in writing. When the colored members have made their presentation, the motion for definite action would come with better grace from some white member of the committee. Some of the matters discussed may be disposed of by send- ing a petition or delegation to the proper board or official. Some will require a standing sub-committee to follow up and endeavor to get several agencies in the community to com- bine forces in dealing with the problem. Small committees 11 or delegated individuals who have power to act for the committee and who are expected to report to the committee must be depended upon for definite action. Whenever a definite line of action is detennined it would be well to render to the State Inter-racial Secretary a copy of the motion or resolution authorizing the action. It is im- possible for the State Secretary to attend all local meetings, but with copies of resolutions and motions in hand he may often be of great service by telling the proper state official of the activity of the local committee and securing outside aid and advice for its project. He will also be able to en- courage lagging committees by telling them of the good work. MATTERS FOR THE STATE COMMITTEES This manual is prepared especially for county committees and the activities of the state committees are only indi- rectly discussed. It often kills interest in the local commit- tee when too much time is taken up in discussion of griev- ances which are real, but which involve factors too big for the county committee to handle. These should be referred to the state committees through the State Inter-racial Sec- retary. RELATION TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS It cannot be too plainly emphasized, that the work of the inter-racial committee is done largely through other organ- izations and officials in the community. The general activities of these organizations are treated in this collection of papers. Experts who have had wide experience in the South have discussed their special lines of work. In requesting any definite action the members of the com- mittee should famiUarize themselves with the general work of the organization or city department, county department or private association which might meet their need. They should ascertain before the meeting, if possible, the extent to which the organization works among white people, its willingness to undertake a program for colored people and, whether or not the colored people can be lined up in sup- 12 port of the program. Recommendations should be clearly- worked out in advance of the meeting. Such a report would be the basis of an interesting and intelligent discussion in the general meeting. No discussion should be closed without some motion which should delegate some member of the committee or a sub- committee to be responsible for carrying out the general committee's wishes and reporting back at the next regular meeting. If these individuals or sub-committees are to try to secure action from some official or board they should carry with them a resolution of the inter-racial committee signed by its members. In thus approaching the organizations of the community and asking them to adjust their program so as to work for all the people more adequately it should be borne in mind that nothing is asked that will not make colored people bet- ter citizens of the community. THE VALUE OF INTER-RACIAL WORK TO COLORED PEOPLE BY ISAAC FISHER Editor Fisk University Fear has been voiced by some of the persons who are in- terested in the colored people that the movement for inter- racial understanding and co-operation between the white people and the colored people of the South, in particular, may prove to be harmful, because the good will created may, by giving the impression that all is well between the two races, halt the movement for the securing of certain specific rights for the colored people, under and by law, and for the curing of evils against which they unanimously complain; and that the inter-racial movement is likely to result in an obscuring of issues, and the acceptance by the Negro and by the nation at large of remedies which are expedients only, not going to the heart of the matters at issue. MUTUAL SUSPICION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES But the Negro has no monopoly of suspicion relative to the Inter-Racial Movement. There are white people who are just as distrustful of it as are many colored people, fearing 13 that it may result in concessions to the Negro. The exist- ence of this mutual suspicion is in essence the most power- ful argument that can be made in favor of the Inter-Racial Movement; for if the Negro is afraid to support it for fear that his own representatives have not enough integrity to ask for what the Negro wants, and are likely to concede too much to the viewpoint of the white people ; and if white people are afraid to support the movement for fear their own representatives are men lacking in proper firmness, then, in spite of the abundance of good will on both sides, we must own ourselves unable to take the first steps toward inter-racial peace. There may be some question touching the wisdom of both races entering and supporting the move- ment ; but there is absolutely no question relative to the dan- ger to the Negro, to the white people, and to the nation at large if the two races remain out of such a movement. WHAT THE INTER-RACIAL MOVEMENT REPRESENTS The Inter-Racial Movement represents the most enlight- ened conscience, and the mutual goodwill of the South. It sprang out of the desire, on the part of the most Christian white people here, since the Great War, to meet the demands of social justice. It has been made possible by a small group of colored people who are not too much embittered by the past to give the white people whom we believe to be sincere this latest chance to prove that they desire fair play for the Negro; and these colored people are willing to co-operate with their white neighbors in attempts to find the bases of lasting racial peace. The white people who compose the white membership are sober and thoughtful. They realize that however sensitive its white spokesmen may be to any suggestion that it has not done justly by the Negro — how- ever loyal they may be in springing to its defense in justifi- cation of its race philosophy relative to the Negro, the South is on trial before the world — on trial to test whether the Christianity of the dominant race group here is strong enough to dictate "the unhampered development" of a weaker race group within its midst, and to safeguard to that race a fair day of fullest opportunity. All of the colored people do not have confidence in the movement ; nor do all the white people subscribe to its aims. 14 But it is the most philosophic step that has been taken here to promote justice and goodwill, unless we grant that all of the white people here are unmoved by the teachings of Jesus, and, therefore, are incapable of justice. If we grant this, then there is no remedy that can be put immediately into practice. But whatever the past, there have always lived here the "fifty righteous" whose lives prevent the accept- ance of such a premise. These are and have been the hope of the South — these who are seeking "to walk humbly with God" by striving "to do justly" and "to love mercy." If they fail, the South will fail. If other races or nations have stubbornly refused to accept the principle that justice is of greater binding force than racial and national experiences, the answer is that every such nation of yesterday contain- ing such races, lies in the dust today. FORUMS TO GIVE THE NEGRO "HIS DAY IN COURT" Although it is often vigorously denied that the Negro has any just grounds of complaint against the South, when we discuss his feelings and attitude toward the white people here, we are compelled to consider, not what white people say he should feel, and what he should complain about, but what he actually feels and resents. The general grounds of the Negro's complaints in the South are as follows: (1.) That no Negro's life is safe from the mob, and that in a major number of cases (as statistics prove), under cover of charges which influence the public mind against the colored people, Negroes are lynched for almost any offense; and innocent Negroes are put to death for no crime at aM, simply on suspicion. It is in connection with this complaint that the colored members of the inter-racial group can render valuable serv- ice to the communities in which they live. Wherever there is reason to suspect that a mob is likely to form or is forming, the colored members of the inter-racial committee near or in the neighborhood of the disturbance, should communicate immediately with the white members of the group and bring the matter to their attention. It will generally be found that enough wisdom will present itself in the conference to suggest the proper course to be followed in preventing mob 15 violence, or to be able to fix the blame for failure to see that the peaceful methods of the law are employed. (2.) That frequently equal protection of the laws are de- nied to the Negro, particularly where he and white persons are in controversy with each other. Here again the colored members have a splendid field for service. If the denial of the equal protection of the laws takes the form of threatening the personal safety of any colored person, the procedure would be the same as in the case of threatened mob violence. But if the case is one in which the courts have passed on a controversy between a Negro and a white person, and there seems to be valid ground for the belief that there has been a miscarriage of justice, such belief, with the grounds supporting it, should be laid before the white members of the inter-racial group for such affirmative action as the latter may judge it wise to take. In the case of poor and friendless Negroes whose poverty and friendless condition will not permit them to take advantage of the remedies provided by the law, a joint action by the inter-racial group to provide legal aid for such unfortunates will be productive of good, and is certain to meet with the approval of those upright members of the bench and bar who would not knowingly deny justice to the most unfortunate and friendless. (3.) That frequently laws are made without due refer- ence to the Negro's welfare. Experience has shown that if white people of good stand- ing in a community interest themselves in matters which concern the colored people, good results are usually obtained. In a given case where a law-making body is about to enact a law deemed harmful to the colored people, such law and the objection to it should be brought to the attention of the inter-racial group. It will generally be found that where a delegation of colored people accompanied by white people of the type usually found on the white inter-racial groups ap- pear before committees of law-making bodies, careful hear- ings are usually given them. The sympathetic counsels of the white members will be found to be invaluable in helping the colored people avoid the steps which might prejudice their case. 16 (4.) That frequently the laws are enforced without due reference to the Negro's welfare or his racial pride. In the matter of law enforcement, the colored members should be diligent in the collection of facts to support any charges that the laws are enforced without reference to the welfare or pride of the colored people. These facts should be openly and fairly discussed in the whole inter- racial group. It should be kept constantly in mind that, as a rule, the white members of the group represent the Chris- tian forces of a given community ; and they have the ear of that part of the community which is quick to resent any wrongs done to anybody. It is valuable service done to this part of a community, as well as to the Negro, to see that anything not equitable in the treatment of the colored peo- ple is brought to their attention. The inter-racial commit- tee is the efficient medium for this work. (5.) That the customs of the South relative to the Negro, including various forms of segregation, and the mode and spirit in which the laws are enforced and the customs up- held, are unnecessarily and needlessly humiliating to the colored people. Without passing at all on the probability of changing the customs complained of, one thing is certain, there is no group before which the complaints can more appropriately be laid than the Christian members of a given community ; and it is equally certain that persons will be heard on these delicate questions with the same amount of patience and goodwill as will be true of the colored members of the in- ter-racial group. (6.) That, and this is fundamental, generally deprived of the ballot, colored people are absolutely helpless to protect themselves. Whatever may be said for or against the exercise of the ballot by the colored people, one thing is certain here, also : There can be no better way of threshing out the whole mat- ter in calmness and goodwill than will be afforded by the frank .interchange of views that is had in the inter-racial meetings. The extreme value of these meetings is seen very clearly in the fact that while the inter-racial com- mittee has not set for itself the task of settling all race problems, no subject is deemed one which thoughtful col- 17 ored people and white people may not discuss with each other, however strongly each may feel on the matter at issue. (7.) That the most discouraging phase of race relations in the South is that on all the matters mentioned here and others, the Negro has had no redress, no white people who seemed to understand the feelings of the colored people, or who were willing even to hear him state his case. Without arguing that it is or is not true that there have been no white people to whom the colored people could turn for redress of grievances, it is certain that no such charge can be laid in any community where an active, forward- looking inter-racial committee exists. The fact that no question touching the relations between the races is barred from discussion; and the fact that — and this is of great importance — the white members of the group are, invaria- bly, persons of fine Christian sentiments, take away in part the reproach above. Whatever the grievance, whatever the practice, whatever the friction point, the colored mem- bers of the inter-racial committees can render fine service to their communities by bringing them up for discussion in the inter-racial meetings, curing many of long stand- ing, and preventing others from becoming acute. No branch of the Inter-Racial Movement has promised that it can or will relieve us of all disabilities; but conse- crated white men within the movement have dedicated themselves to the task of helping to cure and curb these in- justices to the Negro where they can be shown to exist, and of giving to the Negro that which he has never had before, i. e., forums where colored people may in security voice their complaints to white men against inequitable deeds done by white men, with the knowledge that justice and not race is to be the deteraiining factor. This is a step toward taking away the sting of the awful seventh com- plaint above. Negroes have always had their day in court when they had complaints against Negroes; but they have not felt that they always were heard with sympathetic ears when they had grievances against white people. It is because of all this that the Inter-Racial Movement is so valuable to the colored people here. By organizing inter- racial committees all over the South, as it has now done, 18 it has already provided points of contact between the bet- ter classes of the two races in many places ; it has already set sentinels of both races to watch for signs of disorder and causes of friction ; it has already taken the lead, again and again, as our records show, in preventing violence in certain places ; it has repeatedly called the attention of offi- cials to unfair attitudes toward Negroes in several places, and with successful results; without publicity, it is cour- ageously ser\'ing notice on souls here and there, who do not have the vision of goodwill and fair play, that the voices of Christian white people will not be silent any longer where inequitable practices obtain. It has not revolutionized racial conditions here, but it has established the basis of race ad- justment by providing for the co-operation and goodwill which spring out of perfect understanding. There is quite a long distance to go yet; but we are certainly headed in the right direction. A REALM OF GOOD WILL AND JUSTICE OR— FINIS The value of this step is not to be measured. The South administers her own laws; and, as a matter of constitu- tional law, within the undisputed scope of State police powers, as construed by the Supreme Court of the United States, each Southern State has the power, even after it has conformed strictly to the letter of federal laws, to make life for the Negro here unbearable, the only escape from which can be the merciful and Christian sentiments of our Southern white people. Every patriotic citizen must now take the stand that it is the duty of the National Govern- ment by affirmative legislation to seek always to follow its Constitution and strive to "establish justice" so that the nation itself may not perish; and the colored members of the Inter-Racial Movement are in perfect sympathy with any laws. State or Federal, or both, whose intent and effects are to accomplish this result. But there is a realm which no laws can reach, i. e., the realm of neighborly good will and interest. It is in this sphere that the Inter-Racial Movement would work, seek- ing to create so universal a feeling of brotherhood that causes of bitterness and ill-will are ehminated. Many col- ored people deny the possibility of creating such a realm in 19 the Soutli ; and there are many white people here who be- lieve that it will not be to the interest of the white race it- self to create any such sphere of good will. The colored members of the movement believe that it can be set up here without danger to any essential interest ; and they are sup- ported by the teachings of the Master. It is only in such a sphere of good will that constructive work can be done. White friends say to colored members of Inter-Racial Committees, for example, "We will co- operate with you in getting protection, justice in the courts, better schools, better health, better care for the unfortu- nates." Colored members cannot afford to reject these of- fers. Now that the committees have made such a good be- ginning in cultivating the realm of good will, they approach the task of d6ing good work. The kind of good work and methods of doing it are described in this pamphlet. It be- hooves all people in the South to work along these lines. The real spirit of co-operation can come only with co-opera- tive activity. When people work together they actually see that they think and act alike, and this demonstration is far more valuable and lasting than protestations of friend- ship. The opportunity to work together on these construc- tive projects not only presents possibilities of great good to Southern communities, but also furnishes the real basis upon which friendship between the races can be founded. 20 SECTION I. EDUCATION EDITOR'S NOTE :— The greatest feature of the work in hand is education. Prejudice fades before knowledge. In its broadest aspect education includes not only the better- ment of schools, as treated by Dr. James H. Dillard, but also an increase in sympathetic understanding, as treated by Chancellor D. C. Barrow, and the wider spread of facts through the press by Mr. James Nevin. Permanent results will be dependent on the building of a body of favorable public opinion. IMPROVING RURAL SCHOOLS JAMES HARDY DILLARD President Jeanes and Slater Funds So far as I have been able to form an opinion I should say that there has been within ten years, and even more within five years, a decided advance in the readiness and desire of school boards and superintendents to give the col- ored children a square deal in education. There has been an advance both in length of term in colored schools and in the salary paid to colored teachers. There has been an advance in the interest taken by superintendents in the better housing and better supervision of the colored schools. As illustrations in proof of the progressive attitude let me cite three facts. First: Public school officials are ap- propriating this year $425,000 in co-operation with the Rosenwald donations toward building rural school houses for colored children. Second: Up to seven years ago the Jeanes Fund paid practically all the salary for the rural su- pervising teachers that were employed in various counties, little or no appropriations coming for this purpose from public funds. This year the public school officials are pay- ing for these workers $120,000. Third: Eight years ago, 21 through the co-operation of the Slater Fund, four graded county training schools were established, to each of which the pubhc school officials appropriated $750, or $3,000 in all. This year the public school officials are appropriating over $650,000 to 141 of such schools. In order, however, that the public school authorities may be supprted in providing better accommodations, better terms, and better teachers for their colored schools, they must have public sentiment back of them. It is in this that we may see how great good may be done by the local com- mittees of the Inter-Racial Commission. The mere saying of a word in season may count for much. And where the facilities are notably bad, why might not the local commit- tee in a tactful way lay the matter before the school board and suggest improvement? I happen to know that the local committees have already in certain places been serv- iceable in inducing their communities to fulffil the condi- tions necessary for co-operation with the agencies men- tioned above, that is, the Rosenwald Fund, which gives lib- erally for building rural school houses, the Jeanes Fund which pays half or two-thirds of the salary for a rural Su- pervising Teacher in the county, and the Slater Fund which gives $500 annually for establishing a good central school in the county, known as a County Training School. It may be said that the Slater Board also has a fund for aiding town schools on certain conditions. The conditions in all these cases and in other agencies of co-operation, are simple and reasonable and any information on the subject will be gladly given by the State Agent for Negro Schools con- nected in each state with the Department of Public Edu- cation. In many instances it will be found that the local superintendents already have the necessary information. But the question of outside help is incidental. The great need is that the local superintendents and school boards may feel that they have the support of the good people of the community in improving the school facilities for the col- ored children. It seems too late in the day to argue the question that it is better economically, better morally, for all the people that all should have education and training. The facts are all one way. It has never been shown that ignorance is an asset to any sort of progress or a cure for 22 any sort of ill. It is not only fair, but profitable all around, that the colored masses should have better schools. CITY SCHOOLS T. J. WOOFTER, Jr. The activities described by Dr. Dillard in the preceding paper apply almost altogether to rural schools. The im- provement of city schools demands a number of special activ- ities which should be engaged in co-operation with the City School Board. 1. Scrutinize bond issues and see that provisions for buildings are equitably made. 2. Study the system of repair and upkeep of buildings. 3. See if grounds have adequate space and play appar- atus. 4. See if there is a parent-teachers' association; and if not, endeavor to co-operate the principal in organizing one. These associations are especially helpful in stimulating community interest in the schools. 5. Whenever new buildings are planned have an audi- torium or community meeting place provided. The com- mittee might well equip this room with a stereopticon or moving picture machine. 6. Have one room equipped with bookcases and books so that it may serve both as a school and a community library. 7. No community center is complete without music. Provide such musical instruments as can be obtained, and see if a suitable leader for a community orchestra can be found. 8. There should be a standard four-year high school in each town. The State Supervisor of Schools will rate the work now done and advise as to the steps necessary to make it standard. 23 MORE KNOWLEDGE AND SYMPATHY NEEDED D. C. BARROW Chancellor, University of Georgia It is not strange that a want of knowledge should exist on the part of white people as to the Negroes. With abolition of slavery the Negro was turned loose in a large measure to find his own way. The effort was neces- sarily a groping search. Sympathetic understanding be- tween the two races was in a large measure destroyed by the experiences of reconstruction. It is not worth while, however, to thresh over this straw except in so far as to state these things as causes of the misunderstanding. The Negro, in making his independent effort to adjust himself to his new condition, did not always go as wisely as he would have gone if sympathy had been enlisted in his behalf. He did go, however, and he did grow. The changes which came about were more or less care- fully hid from his white associates. He thought this nec- essary. One effect of this was to have the Negro undergoing a change of which his white neighbors were not aware. He, on the contrary had the white man as an open book. The new tenant who takes one of my farms makes it his first business to find out all about me. He asks the older tenants and they give him their opinions. He tries by all means in his reach to find out the kind of man he is dealing with. The landlord in a way tries to do the same, but since it is not his chief business he does not succeed so well as the tenant. This places the landlord in the attitude of dealing with a tenant whose character is not so well known. Often the result is a misunderstanding. In the city, there seems to be the same kind of intelli- gence service among the Negroes, with quite similar results. The first step should be a better acquaintance. It is well worth while. There should be more active sympathy. We had a young Negro working for us a few days ago on the campus. I heard incidentally — as an excuse for tardiness — that 24 his wife had been sick. The next morning I inquired after his wife's health and he said she was better. That afternoon, as I was standing where he was working, he asked me if I did not need a boy on my lot. Those who come in contact with the Negro will find that it is very valuable not only to have knowledge of the race in general but also to know the individuals with whom they are dealing and to deal with them on a basis of individual merit rather than racial characteristics. To present this situation in a more general way, it is bad for any community that there should be two distinct classes of people who are uninformed of the thoughts and purposes of each other. When the separation is marked by differ- ence of race the situation becomes more difficult. It would seem to be the plain duty of the more advanced race to inform itself and lend a hand. As it appears to me, it is not only a matter of personal advantage but also of public duty for the white citizen to inform himself of the life and thought of his Negro neigh- bor. This information should be gained through friendly con- tact and careful study. SUGGESTIONS 1. That lecturers who can treat this subject be secured as often as possible. 2. That colleges and high schools be especially urged to create an intelligent sentiment on race relations. 3. That study groups and reading circles devote part of their programs to this subject. For the use of such groups Negro Life in the South, by W. D. Weatherford, Nashville, Tennessee, is a good simple beginner's book. Other leaf- lets are available from the Commission on Inter-Racial Co-operation. EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 1. The County and City Superintendent of Schools. These men should be persuaded to serve as members of the Inter-Racial Committee wherever this is possible and if they are not members they should be called in when school 25 matters are to be discussed. Often they will have full in- formation regarding other agencies which may be called on to aid in improving schools. 2. State Supervisors of Colored Schools. (Address State Department of Education). These are Southern white men of outstanding ability as school men and can be very helpful in studying the local school situation for the superintendent and for the commit- tee and in making recommendations, also bringing in aid from outside agencies. 3. Rosenwald Rural School Building Fund. (S. L. Smith, Agent, Nashville, Tenn.) Inaugurated to meet the need for more and better build- ings and to help provide better schools for rural colored children. Whenever any buildings are projected in a county it would be well to ascertain whether or not aid from this fund could be secured. This aid is usually dis- bursed through the State Supervisors of colored schools. The headquarters of the Rosenwald fund keeps on hand plans for up-to-date school houses and can render valuable service along these lines. 4. Anna T. Jeanes Foundation. (James H. Dillard, President, Charlottes\alle, Va.) Maintains colored supervising teachers who work under county superintendents. The business of these traveling teachers is to introduce in small country schools simple home industries, with lessons in sanitation, personal clean- liness, etc., inaugurating improvements in school houses and school grounds and organizing clubs for betterment of school and neighborhood. Every county should have one of these supervisors. Details of the arrangement may be had from the State Supervisors of Colored Schools. 5. John F. Slater Fund. (James H. Dillard, President, Charlottesville, Va.) Makes appropriations towards payment of salaries of in- dustrial trades teachers and towards the maintenance of County Training Schools. If there is no county training school in a county this fund should be consulted. If there is a private school whose industrial department is worthy of aid the Slater fund might also be requested to co-operate with the inter-racial committee. 26 AGENCIES OF GENERAL RESEARCH ADVICE AND INFORMATION Carnegie Foundation, 276 5th Ave., New York City. General Education Board, 61 Broadway, New York City. Phelps-Stokes Fund, 297 4th Ave. at 23rd St., New York City. THE PRESS BY JAMES NEVIN Editor Atlanta Georgian To effect public opinion through the secular and religious press is fully as important a part of education on race rela- tions as the work which is done in schools. Here also the county inter-racial committees can render a valuable serv- ice. In approaching this work it is well to remember that there are two distinct phases of activity for inter-racial commit- tees. The first consists in spreading the doctrine of consulta- tion and cooperation between the white and colored lead- ers, rather than controversy and independent action in com- munity affairs. Statements praising this principle of deal- ing with race relations and condemning acts which violate this principle are matters for the editorial columns of the newspapers. For this reason the committeemen should see to it that the local editors understand thoroughly what the objects of the committee are and see that they are willing to work for the principle of cooperation through their edi- torial columns. The second task of local committees is that of putting into practice these doctrines of cooperation by working to ac- complish things which are beneficial to the community. That is to say, to accomplish some of the things which are suggested in this manual, such as improving schools, churches, administration of laws, health institutions, recre- ation and systems of caring for unfortunate members of the community. It is emphasized throughout this pamphlet that progress along these lines means progress for the whole 27 community rather than merely for the Negro citizens. Edi- tors should be told this, and they should help through their columns to make the citizens of the community see that this is true. Progress in this respect can be no more rapid than the development of an enlightened public opinion on the subject. Whenever the committee has made any progress in bet- tering some of the community institutions, that is news, and the editors should be glad to treat it as such in the news columns of their papers. It would be well, however, to have some member of the committee delegated to keep in touch with the newspapers and to give them brief accounts of each meeting in which some constructive work is done. This should include the names of members present, the time and place of meeting, the details of the plan which was adopted and a few words as to the importance of this plan in the life of the town and county. In addition to trying to see that newspapers include edi- torials and news items which will be helpful in race rela- tions, committees should interest themselves in persuading editors to adopt a policy of handling Negro news which will not agitate the sensational features of race relations. One defect which is easily remedied and which is not realized by many editors until it is called to their attention, is the damage done by flaring headlines. General Wood, in taking charge of the situation in Omaha, indicated that it was his belief that the sensational policy of one newspaper had been very influential in making the Omaha riot possible. The same accusation was lodged against another newspaper as a factor in the East St. Louis riot. It is certain that if the news concerning Negro crime is constantly paraded before the public and emphasized by flaring headlines containing the word, "Negro" a very unhealthy state of mind is brought about. Almost every editor who has been approached on this subject by inter-racial committees has gladly set about correcting this condition on his paper. It is a matter, how- ever, which has to be constantly watched, because the change in headline writers will often cause a reappearance of the undesirable symptom. The colored members of committees should be especially interested in bringing about a more co-operative frame of 28 mind in many of the colored newspapers. A recent book entitled, "The Voice of the Negro" by Dr. R. T. Kerlin, indi- cates that many of the newspapers are in the hands of a non-cooperative group of men, impractical in that they do not realize or at least do not make allowance for the diffi- culties which confront any group, white or colored, when they attempt to accomplish something constructive. In many instances this constant controversy and unbridled vituperation make enemies of those who should be friends, and thereby postpone rather than expedite accomplishment of a desired result. This does not mean that the colored members of the com- mittee should endeavor in any way to muzzle their press, or to persuade colored editors to take stands in which they do not thorughly believe, but it does mean that they should endeavor to persuade them to show more wisdom as to when and where to take these stands and more accuracy and temperance in their method of expressing themselves, for no case in court was ever won by quarrelling with the jury. These three things, namely, the formation of a constructive news and editorial policy in the white press, and the abandonment of a sensational policy in news and headlines, both in the white and Negro press, are important enough to warrant the inclusion of editors as members of the local in- ter-racial committees wherever they can be prevailed upon to serve. In many places they are important enough to de- mand that a sub-committee, or at least one committee mem- ber be delegated the responsibility of keeping in touch with the press and endeavoring to see that this powerful weapon for changing public opinion is used wisely and well. 29 SECTION 11. CO-OPERATION BETWEEN WHITE AND COLORED CHURCHES BISHOP R. E. JONES If the churches cannot function in the inter-racial pro- gram v/e cannot hope for the movement to succeed. Every- thing in the church life is conducive to inter-racial co-oper- ation. Within the church there should be a minimum of suspicion and mistrust and a maximum of good will and mutual helpfulness, and if white and black alike regard Jesus Christ as the active leader of the church, and His teachings the basis of our Christian hfe, then we shall have little or no difficulty in inter-racial co-operation, for in Christ is neither Greek nor Jew nor Gentile nor bond nor free. There are recognized at once the great difficulties that face us in inter-racial co-operation, even with so logical and so sympathetical an approach as that of the Christian church. The church is a divine institution but its agencies on earth are human and it is only fair to admit that with humanity as it is, that we must not expect the Church to do everything at once. There are a great many things it can do and unless it does these things, it is recreant of its trust and disloyal to the great head of the church. Wherein may the white and colored churches co-operate? First — White and colored preachers in every community in the South should meet at least once a month for the dis- cussion of community, educational and religious activities. Some will think this is impossible but it is quite practical and has been in vogue in a number of communities ; notably in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the chairman of the preach- ers' meeting, composed of both races, is a white man and the secretary a colored man. These preachers meet without the slightest embarrassment to themselves, to their mem- 30 bers or to the community. On the other hand, their meet- ing together in this way promotes confidence, trust and good will. Second — Each local inter-racial committee ought to have a sub-committee on inter-racial co-operation between the churches. The members of this committee ought to be out- standing men of both races not less than three and per- haps not more than five, but they should be the best men; wise, discreet, tactful, but courageous. Third — For the present, white ministers should fill the pulpits of Negro churches as often as possible and they should preach a pure gospel without seeking to give the Negroes patronizing advice. Nothing is more objectionable to Negroes than to have some white preacher fill a pulpit and build his entire sermon on the "black mammy" romance. However sympathetic this may be it always puts the Negro audience in bad humor. This is not the intention of the white preacher but the fact remains as stated. It is not practical, except in very rare cases, for an exchange of pul- pits between white and negro preachers in the South, al- though Negro ministers have been known to fill white pul- pits in the South with great acceptability. If it is possible, this should be done and where the message is of a high order, and in the right spirit, it will go a long way toward the promotion of inter-racial co-operation. But for the present, this pulpit exchange will be one-sided. But as a compensation : Fourth — Negro choirs and quartettes and soloists could be asked to sing in the white chuches of the South. This may seem a little radical at first but when it is thought over, it would not be at all strange. Where this has been tried it has proved very popular. The Fisk University quar- tette sang in the first Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and in the Jewish Synagogue, and instead of striking a dis- cordant note, it was a great hit. It never fails to work, especially when the Negro folklore songs are sung with the beauty and pathos characteristic of Negro choirs and quar- tettes : 31 Fifth — Community Sunday Schools should be developed in the needy sections of the city and in the rural sections for that matter, and consecrated white men and women in- vited to teach in these Sunday Schools. Here is a need that we have neglected and it has all the prestige that one wants when it is known that Stonewall Jackson taught a Negro Sunday School. Sixth — In Lake Charles recently, I learned of an out- standing Southern woman in that community, the wife of a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who was the leader of a Negro Woman's Community Club, devel- oping play-ground and other social activities. Here is another field for inter-racial co-operation between the churches. 32 SECTION III. ECONOMIC JUSTICE DR. ROBERT R. MOTON Principal Tuskegee Institute It is not too much to say that if the Negro could in every case receive economic justice, a large part of what we call the race problem, would be solved. In many cases, he would be in a position to solve his own problems. In other cases, it is certain that he would receive greater consideration at the hands of many who at present hold him in slight es- teem. This plea for economic justice is made by many other groups in America, so that the Negro is not the only one to be heard in this matter. Economic justice for Negroes in the South has, to a very large degree to do with the matter of farming. Fully 80 per cent, of the Negro population of the South will be found in the rural districts engaged in the different phases of agriculture. Whatever measures therefore, may be taken to place the Negro farmer in a fair way to getting the proper returns from the soil, will be a real contribution toward the welfare and progress of the race. To this end, there are certain measures which might be adopted on a wide scale that would make for the general improvement of conditions. RURAL PROBLEMS Demonstration Agents: The first of these lies in the activities of Farm Demonstration Agents, and Home Dem- onstration Agents. The extension service of the United States Department of Agriculture now employs more than 1700 men and women who give themselves wholly to in- structing farmers and their wives throughout the South in the best methods of farm and household management, with a view to increasing crop production, the raising of live stock, the diversification of crops, the general improvement 33 of farm methods and the introduction of economy, comfort and convenience in household conditions. One or more such agents are to be found in nearly every county in the South. Of the total number of these agents, 240 are Ne- groes, whose activities are almost wholly confined to work among Negro farmers. When one takes into account the fact that there are about one thousand counties in the South and that there are in round numbers about 900,000 Negro farmers in this section, it becomes apparent that there must be thousands of these farmers who are still conducting their operations by methods that not only do not yield an adequate return, but that are in hundreds of cases, posi- tively discouraging. It is natural that white demonstration agents will be found giving their time for the most part to white farmers, though in many cases, they do not confine their activities to this group. What is needed most, there- fore, is that there should be found at least one Negro Farm Demonstration Agent and one Home Demonstration Agent in each county in the South where there is any considerable number of Negro farmers. At the present time, only a few counties have such an agent, and in some! sections, there is not one. South Carolina, with 109,000 Negro farmers, has only 7 Negro agents. The largest number is to be found in Alabama, which has 37 Negro demonstration agents work- ing among 95,203 Negro farmers. Inter-racial Committees, as a first measure of economic justice in counties with a large colored population, can do great good by encouraging the effort to secure a Negro Farm Demonstration Agent and a Home Demonstration Agent who shall give their time and attention to assisting Negro farmers and their wives toward improving their methods in agriculture. The results of such a measure will not only be an economic advantage to Negro farmers themselves but will prove equally advantageous to white planters and land- lords. Tenancy: Negro farmers in many places in the South can be helped considerably by securing for them just and equitable treatment in the conditions of farm tenancy. Negro tenant farmers suffer most from the disadvantages of lax methods of accounting and irregular terms of settle- ment with their landlords. Many of these farmers are ig- 34 norant and unable to keep their own accounts; while their landlords do not always take the time and trouble to keep systematic accounts themselves. The result is that the dis- advantage of doubt in such cases inevitably falls on the Negro farmer. It is this fact which has in some instances given rise to very serious dissatisfaction and sometimes open collision between Negroes and whites in certain sec- tions of the South. It will be only fair to these farmers if landlords could in every instance be convinced of the equity as well as economic advantage, to themselves of keeping fair and accurate accounts with their Negro tenants and of making a regular and just settlement at the close of the harv^esting season. A simple but very effective way to avoid all controversy would be to have the landlord provide each tenant with an inexpensive account book in which the landlord would himself record each item of goods or sum of money advanced. This book the tenant would keep in his own possession and the settlement at the end of the season would be made on the basis of this record. Such a system would give encouragement to many Negro farmers, offer- ing a prospect of advancement for themselves and a sure encouragement toward greater industry and permanent res- idence on the land. Much of the habit of moving and change among Negro tenants is due to their inability to make the desired progress under conditions such as described above. Housing: Housing conditions for Negro tenants on many farms are often deplorably bad. Many planters still pro- vide their tenants with nothing better than a one-room log cabin, or box house, which is conducive neither to comfort, vital energy nor morality. At this late date, one need hardly expect to be able to secure and hold reliable, pro- gressive, honest and self-respecting tenants who must live under such primitive conditions as are to be found in these one-room cabins. In this matter also, the provision of bet- ter accommodations makes for permanency of residence, and a larger measure of contentment among tenant farm- ers. At a time when it is necessary to secure increased production and to introduce improved methods in farming, such measures as these are necessary to secure the type of labor that will respond to progressive ideas. 35 Gardens: Along with the house, the planter or land- lord will do well to provide each tenant with a plot of ground for garden purposes. It is a short-sighted policy that is based on the idea that the planter gains when he makes it necessary for his tenants to come to him for all of their food supplies. Most, if not all of what the tenant will raise, will constitute a supplement to the staple articles which' he buys at the store, rather than take their place ; and even in those cases where the tenant is able to maintain himself with eggs, poultry, meat and vegetables of his own raising the net result from the improved food supply will be a more energetic and contented worker; better in body, in mind and in spirit, and probably in morals also. His whole out- look on life will be greatly improved by the improved con- ditions thus wrought in his diet and in his home life. It would be a distinct economic gain to encourage and assist every tenant to have a garden, both in winter and in sum- mer, some pigs, some chickens and a good cow. Land Ownership: For some years now through confer- ences, agricultural agents and otherwise, Negro farmers have been encouraged to become land owners. They have had pointed out to them the advantages of owning the land which they till; and in these years, land ownership among Negro farmers has increased in a way most gratifying to all who have had the best interests of the race at heart. In some places, however, it is counted undesirable to permit Negro farmers to become land owners. In some places in the South, it is still impossible for Negroes to buy land from white landholders, at any price. The effect of this policy in large measure is just the reverse of what is com- monly supposed to be the result. Without the responsi- bility that attaches to land ownership, the Negro farmer, like many other farmers, tends to become restless, indif- ferent, unreliable and unaspiring. There is a pride in own- ership that is stimulating, besides which the owner acquires a deeper sense of responsibility to those that are round about him. Those farmers who are most ready to move, who have the least interest in the methods of farming that make for permanent improvement of the soil, who are least interested in the general improvement of the conditions 36 under which they live, are those fanners who own no land and have no interest in its development, beyond that which attaches to each season's crop. In spite of arguments to the contrary, actual experience has shown that economic conditions tend to go backward where it is not possible for small farmers to own their own land; that the prosperity that attaches to large land holdings is not of a permanent duration; that under such conditions, sooner or later, the soil itself is worn out by reckless, unscientific farm meth- ods, and the landholder himself is at last impoverished by the very extent of his holdings. Inter-Racial Committees can do much to help the move- ment toward land ov^Tiership, by making it possible for Ne- gro farmers, with little or no ready cash, to secure land on such terms as will put a premium upon their own energy and thrift in making the necessary payments. Prison Labor: The revelations of the past few months of conditions that obtained on certain plantations in cer- tain sections of the South emphasize more strongly than ever before the injury to both planter and wage hands of the system of farming with such labor as the planter may obtain from prisons and through the courts by the payment of fines and fees for the offender. The very circumstance under which such labor is secured makes it almost certain that it will be unreliable and untrustworthy. The condi- tions must of necessity be irksome and unsatisfactory to the laborer, and the planter himself begins operations with a want of confidence in and often without a sense of obli- gation to the laborer, discounting at the outset the con- siderations of justice which should normally obtain between the employer and the laborer. In many cases, it were bet- ter all round for the guilty victim to suffer the normal penalty of the law than that his crime be exploited for economic advantage. The system of working out fines that have been paid by another has a tendency to make certain elements of the population think lightly of crime and the violation of the law, and affords also a temptation toward making arrests for trivial offenses or the condoning of more serious offenses in which the ends of justice cannot be at all adequately served by the payment of a fine. 37 URBAN PROBLEMS But not all effort for economic justice is to be confined to the rural districts. The towns and cities present their prob- lems as well. Inter-Racial Committees may serve the ends of economic justice in larger centers of population by inter- esting themselves in conditions under which labor must be performed that are often unsafe and unsanitary, both phys- ically and morally. Domestic Service: Negro women and girls engaged in domestic service in many, many instances are without ade- quate provision for their physical well being and comfort, and without proper moral safeguards during the hours of their rest and recreation. The Women's Conference, under the auspices of the Inter-racial Commission, held at Mem- phis, Tennessee, last October, urged: ''That domestic serv- ice be regarded as a vocation and that all necessary steps be taken to insure the health and cleanliness of those who engage therein and to provide adequate safeguards for the moral protection of the girls and women who make their homes on the premises of their employers." Wages : It is the generally accepted practice in the South that Negroes are paid a lower wage for their services than is paid the white employee for the same kind and character of service. This is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the compensation of Negro school teachers, where we have the official records by which to make comparisons. Yet Negroes must meet living costs which have in no way been reduced for them because of their race and color. It is a mistake to assume that Negroes do not maintain or must not maintain the same standards of living as the parallel grades of white workers. An investigation of Negro homes would probably reveal the fact that Negroes very generally maintain standards of home life that are comparable with the standards of home life among white workers whose rate of pay is even very much higher. It is not commonly real- ized that those classes of Negroes who have come into touch with the best classes of whites and those who have re- ceived the advantages of education are particularly aspir- ing in the matter of their homes and the conditions under 38 which their families must be reared. They read newspapers and magazines; they visit the stores and the shops, from which they receive the same impulses toward higher stand- ards of living that come to their white neighbors; but be- cause of their race they must accept a lower compensation for their services than is granted to others. In this con- nection, it should also be remembered that out of their pay, Negroes are often required to provide for themselves those facilities for recreation, for education and for public wel- fare that other members of the community receive from the public treasury, to which both black and white contribute as taxpayers. That a lower standard of wages should be maintained for Negroes becomes thus a double injustice. It is too much to expect that the Negro shall in all things measure up to the standards of the white man's civilization with less than the white man's pay. CONCLUSION It is not to be expected that these conditions may be rapidly changed or changed at all without painstaking ef- fort and persistence, but it should not be forgotten that one of the factors that led to the recent "exodus" of Negroes from the South — which continues in spite of wide-spread unemployment — was the fact that the Negro saw before him the opportunity to secure a just and adequate reward for his labor. A great many will probably stay where they can continue to receive it, and it is not unlikely that others will follow. It is well to remember that the plea for forty- cent cotton was based on the claim that it is impossible for the Southern fanner to meet the prevailing high cost of living with a lower return for his labor than is indicated in that price for cotton. The Negro worker faces the same conditions that face every other worker in America, with less of the advantages in many things that are enjoyed by others. Equal pay will not constitute a superior advantage. After all, economic prosperity is essential to progress. Economic justice is a primary condition to peace and con- tentment. Men in every period have borne oppressions and abuses with patience and fortitude as long as life itself, in physical well being and creature contentment, was reason- ably satisfactory. The Negro in America can hardly be charged with being over-ambitious in these matters. He shows a surprising degree of cheerfulness under adverse circumstances. He responds to justice, kindness and gen- erosity; he makes surprising head-way with his limited resources. A larger measure of economic justice for the race will add to the peace and prosperity of the South. The Negro members of the local Inter-Racial Committees can give all the needed information of the difficulties, disadvan- tages and inequalities in such matters. They will, I am sure, be wise, patient and sympathetic in all efforts to secure adjustment 40 SECTION IV. HEALTH AND HOUSING HOWARD W. ODUM Director School of Public Welfare, University of North Carolina Problems of Progress : Without good health and adequate housing, neither the individual nor the race will go forward as is becoming this day and generation. Progress as the important aspect of individual and community life will scarcely be achieved over the barriers of disease, poor health, wrong living conditions, death. The question is, therefore, whether progress shall be made or not; whether the com- munity of individuals and the community of races wish to set themselves to such forward-looking tasks of health and housing as will bring about happiness and welfare. It is largely a question of whether communities are in earnest or not. Health and Happiness: For long years men everywhere have talked of health and happiness as being in large meas- use interdependent. Health, good health, has always been a reasonable goal for successful endeavor. This is true of young and old. It is true of rich and poor. It is true in America and Europe. It is true of white and Negro alike. It is true of individuals and it is true of groups and races. Good health is a necessity. And likewise, without good health, there is almost limitless range for unhappiness and misery. Health and Work: In like manner work is necessary to happiness and success. But work is often conditioned largely by health. There can be no full measure of work and success without its basis of fresh energies and abilities found in sound bodies and clean surroundings. The measure of an individual's or a race's output is often determined by the measure of good health. Likewise thousands and hun- 41 dreds of thousands of hours and dollars and wasted hopes are lost because of a poor basis in health. This is true of individuals and of groups and of races. The economic foundations may be easily undermined by the lack of health and health-giving conditions. Houses and Homes: Good homes are likewise necessary to happiness and success. But good homes are also con- ditioned by good housing conditions, which in turn condi- tion health and happiness and work. Sanitation and pre- ventive measures are the basis of the new health program. Sanitation is inseparable from liousing and the home in the community. Good homes for the whites and good homes for the Negroes are closely related; bad housing for the Negroes and health conditions for white and colored alike are inseparably connected. The measure of individual and race success in happiness and work and progress must cer- tainly be conditioned largely by housing and homes. Community Problems: Of course there is agreement as to the importance of health and housing. But too long we have considered them problems of the individual. They are problems of the community as well.. They are primarily community problems and cannot be isolated. There is no family or house in any community that can be isolated from the other inhabitants of the community. There is no known way by which a community can evade its responsibility for good health and housing conditions for all of its members. This is true of all groups alike. It is particularly true where health and housing conditions have been allowed by both races to become bad. A Problem for Both Races: In the considerable number of studies of health and housing that have been made they have always been found to be problems, not of one, but of two races. There is divided responsibility, it is true; but there is also joint responsibility. It will take the best efforts of both races in the promotion of more knowledge, more care and conscience, more plans and better programs, and more fidelity in standing by and working out the common problems of the public good. It is not becoming for one race to say to the other, in substance: "Here this is ybur 42 job ; attend to this housing question." "Here, this is your problem ; you must give us better health." Rather, it is for all the people working together to make better conditions. What is Needed : Many things are needed, many condi- tions must be met, not all of which can be listed here, but there are certain minimum essentials to begin with : Community recognition of the problems at hand. More instruction and information. More definite planning and more definite legislation. More facilities for the prevention and cure of disease; that is, more clinics and hospitals. More money. More town planning. Helping Factors : What are the practical means of bring- ing about better health and housing conditions? Upon whom shall we call? What agencies and organizations stand ready to help? The citizen ; the every-day matter of fact occupant of the house and community. Health officials and the doctors themselves. Health nurses and clinics. Health centers. State and local laboratories. Teachers and educational leaders. Social workers. (Red Cross and Anti-Tuberculosis.) Ministers and workers in the church. Campaigns for better* conditions. Health and housing demonstrations. Social hygiene efforts. Chambers of Commerce and community clubs. Industrial housing and health programs. Community plans for home financing. What to Do: What are the simple but immediate and practical projects to be undertaken in a community here and now? What is the conclusion of the whole matter? What 43 does it all amount to ? What are the probabilities of big and practical results, gradually but surely achieved? First, of all, let the committee "size up" the situation. Make estimates of conditions and remedies. Have committees meet frequently together and go over the situation. Consult public health officials. Introduce medical inspection of schools and school children. Call on the state department of health to co-operate. Call on the Red Cross and other helping agencies to co-operate. Establish clinics wherever practicable and advisable. Introduce campaigns of promotion, education, and publicity. Encourage the training of Negro physicians and nurses. Promote the building of standard houses. Co-operate with "clean up" campaigns and days. Work out a community plan for health and housing services. Spread knowledge, and more knowledge, broadcast in the community. Take stock every month of the number of the above efforts that the community has undertaken. Provide for proper instruction of midwives, under the su- pervision of the county health officer. Provide community nurses. Provide hospital facilities for treatment of colored patients, practice of colored physicians and training of colored nurses. 44 SECTION V. PROTECTION AND LEGAL AID BY PROFESSOR EDWIN MIMS There is no more important work for local inter-racial committees than to take every precaution against the pos- sibility of mob violence in their respective communities. In some sections the danger is always imminent, in others probable, and in all possible. The average man does not think so, and may scoff at the idea that a lynching may take place in his community; and yet experience shows that in places where the danger seems least imminent such out- breaks have occurred. Whether we think of the larger cities, of the villages and hamlets, or of remote country districts, we may find illustrations in all of them of the out- breaking of the primitive passions of men in riots or in lynchings. Whatever else may be done to bring about a better relationship between the races and whatever con- structive measures or plans may be considered, it is a fun- damental necessity that violence or lawlessness of any kind should be prevented if possible. This is not simply a ques- tion that involves the Negro race but the entire structure of human society and civilization. THE MOB It is apparent that when conditions arise which may lead to lynchings or to riots the members of the inter-racial com- mittee ought to be the first to awaken to the seriousness of the situaton. All that is needed sometimes is for the re- sponsible and representative citizens to let the officers of the law know what is expected of them and to bring such in- fluence to bear upon the mob as to cool their passions. Sometimes an opportune speech or, better still, a conference of the leaders of both races can avert the catastrophe. If local authorities and officers do not act with speed or with 45 courage, the Committee should immediately get in touch with the State authorities. If a mob accomplishes its purpose before the Committee has had time to act, then it is their duty to take aggressive steps to bring the guilty leaders of the mob to trial. They ought to make a complete study of all the facts leading up to and concurrent with the actual lynching and not only pro- vide against a possible recurrence of such incidents but by backing up the legal authorities and even by employing special counsel they ought to do all in their power to apply the full penalty to the guilty. Committees in many com- munities have as a result of such a deporable calamity awakened a community to the evil of certain conditions that have produced crime in the one race and led to violence in the other. It is a dear price to pay, but the lesson well learned may prove in the long run of inestimable service. But it is not well for a local community to wait till vio- lence is threatened. A lynching often occurs when all the best people of the community are unaware of the danger. It is then that the press expresses its condemnation, the pulpit thunders, and the best citizens all exclaim that such lawlessness does not represent the better sentiment of the community. Then the conviction grows upon them that something ought to have been done long ago to make im- possible such an occurrence. PREVENTIVE ACTION How then, may mob violence be anticipated? The Com- mittee ought quietly and tactfully to put squarely up to the mayor, the chief of police and the sheriff their duty if such a situation should arise; they ought to let them know that the best sentiment of the community demands the protection of life at any cost. But they ought to go further and de- mand that specific measures be taken that would meet any emergency. It is well, for instance, that jails should be pro- vided with adequate water hose, which has been found to be a very effective first step in the dispersal of a mob ; that in some cases a machine gun should be at the disposal of the ofl^cers ; that special reserve oflScers should be available ; and 46 that as a last resort appeal should be promptly made to the Governor of the State for the proper defense of prisoners. There need not be in all of this any sort of alarm or panic or publicity at all; it is simply a common-sense way of providing against danger. All of these suggestions have been proved to be practical in many Southern towns. One reason why the lawless are so powerful is that they know their own mind, and that the forces of law are overwhelmed because of the lack of ordinary precaution. Whatever ad- ditional cost might result from such measures would be but as a drop in the bucket compared to the financial effect on any community in which acts of lawlessness are committed. But even these measures of precaution are not sufficient. There should be every effort made by the Committees to build up a strong public sentiment of opposition to mob violence in any form or under any condition. The question is always up in the minds of the people because not many days pass without the news from somewhere of deplorable and atrocious lynchings. Anyone who has talked with a great variety of Southern people knows that apologists for lynching are found in every community and they are very loud in their expressions of sympathy. These shallow and dangerous statements ought to be counter-acted. It is especially important that in our churches, schools and busi- ness men's meetings every opportunity should be taken to create a healthy public sentiment that will condemn lynch- ing under any and all circumstances. A local committee that is alive to its responsibility will be prompt to take ad- vantage of every occasion in which this subject may be presented. A timely sermon has often awakened an entire congregation to the seriousness of the problem. An effective talk before a high school or college student body, bringing out the facts with regard to lynchings in the United States during the past quarter of a century and explaining the dangers that are involved in this increasing lawlessness, might well be an event in the civic life of the community. Talks before business men's clubs by men who have con- viction have often changed thoughtless and indifferent cit- izens into men with a determined purpose to oppose any out- 47 break of lawless passion. It need hardly be said that the newspapers in a town and county should be instructed and led into right ways of thinking, if their editors are not already awake to the danger. Only by constant education over a long period of time will there be developed a healthy public sentiment that will gradually make lynchings impossible. The responsibility for such development of right opinion must rest largely upon committees that have constantly in mind all phases of this important question. INJUSTICE IN THE COURTS So far I have spoken only of the most aggravated form of lawlessness and injustice. A committee that is constantly on the job and especially when in conference with repre- sentative Negroes will find many instances of injustice that are perpetrated upon ignorant and helpless Negroes in the courts. Let any body of lawyers talk freely and frankly and there will be general assent to the proposition that the Negroes, especially in the lower courts, are often treated unjustly. Especially is this true in courts where the fee system is in vogue. The "loan shark" system is another grave form of injus- tice. To meet this situation in the larger cities it has been found necessary to employ a special attorney to give legal aid to the poor and oppressed of both races. Such conditions as have been recently created in at least one Southern state should cause all inter-racial committees to be on the alert as to economic injustice that results from the laxity of officers of the law and of courts. The oppres- sion of the Negro by farmers and merchants is a matter that ought to be constantly brought to the attention of those responsible for the organization of law. There is still another duty that rests upon these commit- tees. That is to prevent the intimidation and cruelties of groups which seek to deal with the Negro anonymously, outside of court and under cover of the night. The wide-spread condemnation of these organizations by the Southern press and by Southern leaders has been whole- 48 some and calls for quick and intelligent action by thoughtful citizens. There is no need for any such secret conclaves; they can only lead to the very evils which they profess to cure. Once organized they lend themselves to oppressive measures. Never did General Lee's insistence upon the "allayment of passion, the dissipation of prejudice and the restoration of reason" seem so wise as at this moment in the life of the country. SUGGESTIONS (1) Visit and observe the petty courts making sure that the Negro is not imposed upon by the fee system. (2) Keep in touch with arresting officers making sure that they do not make needless arrests. (3) Make sure that cruelty in arrest is discontinued. (4) Provide some form of free legal aid to the poor, either along the lines followed in Nashville, or by a voluntary association of the lawyers. 49 SECTION VI. RURAL RECREATION LUDWIG T. LARSEN Mississippi State Inter-Racial Secretary The instinct for recreation and play is natural in all races alike. And alike for all, its wholesome gratification makes for better health, better morals, better efficiency and greater contentment. Supervised recreation is now of such proven value that increasingly large provision is made for white children and adults. The need is even greater for Negroes both adults and children. The tendency of present economic movements is to give people more leisure. It is important that this time shall be used in such wise as to contribute to the welfare rather than the harm of the adults. The schools will hereafter need to train children for leisure as well as for work. Right play habits are as necessary as right habits of industry. Then there are the employed boys and girls whose recre- ational needs must be met after working hours, most com- monly at night. Unless provided with opportunities for wholesome activities these will attend dance halls and ques- tionable movies, or commercialized amusements of doubtful value, if not positively harmful. This apphes more partic- ularly to cities. Furthermore, there is the great need of physical training revealed by war experience. And for some time to come the only system of physical education available for general use will be the play activities afforded by the school play- ground, with such instruction and supervision as the teach- ers may be able to give. To be of real value physically such activities must be organized and supervised. HOME LIFE Another aspect of the need is suggested by the following extract from a letter received from a prominent Negro 50 leader in one section of Mississippi. He expresses his appre- ciation and gratitude for the efforts being made for the good of his race, and then continues: "The agencies that are trying to help my people are really working in many instances in the dark. They are not doing enougn to improve the HOME LIFE of my people. My peo- ple can never be made useful through the schools unless we link the homes with the schools more than we do." This statement suggests a field larger than the mere pro- vision of play for school children. Recreational facihties for adults constitute one agency for this linking up of home and school wherever the school house can be made a com- munity center, as will be shown in a later paragraph. PROMOTION In some localities these recreational needs have been rec- ognized to the degree that provision is being made for parks and community playgrounds. School houses are be- ing developed into community centers. Such provision will become more general as people awake to the great economic and moral value as well as the gain in the physical life of the colored people. Facilities for recreational life make far more for prevention of wrong than penitentiaries make for cure — and they cost less. Inter-racial Committees will find here one phase of a constructive program that will richly repay all efforts. De- tails and methods must depend upon local conditions and possibilities, but the following are a few of the more general suggestions : COMMUNITY CENTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES The conviction has been growing among the white people that the investment in school building and grounds should yield larger returns than the mere use for the few hours of actual school session. Increasingly the school buildings are becoming social centers. At the present time no new building is considered complete unless it includes facilities for community gatherings : an auditorium with opera chairs, a stage, and sometimes a stereopticon or a moving picture machine, or both. Some schools have shower baths, and even swimming pools. 51 The same principle should obtain in the case of the Negro schools and would yield correspondingly great results. This suggestion to use the school as a community center was made to the writer of the letter above quoted. He is a member of the County Inter-Racial Committee, and apparently is receiving most cordial cooi>eration from the white people. He is to have a new school building shortly which will include an auditorium and facilities for community center work. The white ladies of the town have raised a fund of $100 for the beginnings of a library in this school. Members of Inter-Racial Committees can render a great service by encouraging such uses of the school buildings, however meager in equipment, and by creating public sen- timent to include better facilities in all new buildings. The following will suggest a few uses to which the school building can be put with little or no expense. Open Forum: Encourage regular meetings of the people to discuss their local problems and possibilities for improved efficiency. Such have been held with fine results, often with white leaders to share in the discussions and to judge the exhibits. Lectures and Demonstrations: By county agents, health officers, etc. Perhaps in some communities a Chautauqua of some kind can be arranged. Amateur Theatricals : These have an educational as well as a recreational value for both participants and audiences. Literary Societies: Debating clubs, etc. Concert and Musical Entertainments: By local or im- ported talent. The formation of choruses, orchestra, banjo club, etc. Stereopticon Lectures, Moving Pictures: These of course can be conducted only where facilities have been provided, or where portable apparatus can be secured. There is also some expense attached in securing films and slides, though many educational sets are becoming available with expense only for transportation. Library and Reading Room: Wherever there are public libraries it can often be arranged to have a branch library established in the school building. Other forms of community activity will suggest them- selves. Where overhead expenses need to be met, a nominal 52 entrance fee may be charged, but for best results every care should be taken to prevent the injection of the mercenary spirit or commercialized ideal. The value of such community activities for the general welfare is apparent. Another objective should be to pre- empt the field before the entrance of commercialized amuse- ments. UNSUPERVISED AND UNCENSORED COM- MERCIAL RECREATION MAY BECOME A SERIOUS MENACE. PLAY GROUND ACTIVITIES A service of far-reaching consequence can be rendered by the Inter-Racial Committee in encouraging the provision of an adequate playground for every school building. The patrons may be encouraged to provide simple playground equipment or the children themselves may raise the funds by entertainments, etc. Sometimes some of the equipment may be constructed in the manual training department of the school . But even with no equipment and meager space, much may be done by promoting mass play and games. Children are imitative and learn readily from demonstration, but need continued supenision until the rules and habits of play are established. Otherwise there may be undesirable modifi- cations of the games and a tendency to revert to rude "horseplay." Active participation of the teachers is essen- tial that there may be proper supervision and continued demonstration. The mass games are of special value in that, unlike the customary baseball and football, they permit the participa- tion of all the pupils regardless of differences of age and size. DIFFICULTIES AND HOW TO MEET THEM Few difficulties are met with in the introduction of mass play and only such as are easily met. 1. Opposition of Parents : This is met with occasionally where the mistaken idea has been gained that play and amusements are irreligious. A tactful approach by a mem- ber of the Inter-Racial Committee or by the teacher or a Y. M. C. A. representative will usually dispose of this difficulty. 53 2. Competent Demonstration: Often there is no one to be found locally who can introduce these games. The near- est Y. M. C. A. Secretary will be glad to respond to the invi- tation to make a demonstration. After this initial demon- stration, the teachers can usually continue the work from printed instructions. Another method used is the encouragement of the Hi-Y boys to make it one of their service tasks to visit the nearby Negro schools and teach playground games. This has been carried out with gratifying results. 3. Printed Instructions: Where such assistance is de- sired, it is suggested that a copy be secured of the "Army and Navy Physical Work," published by A. G. Spalding Bros., at a cost of only ten cents. Send to the nearest agency or to 130 Carondelet St., New Orleans, La. 4. Ignorance of the Games on the Part of the Teachers: Their active participation at the time of the demonstra- tion and the assistance of the printed instructions above mentioned will enable the teachers to continue satisfactory instruction and supervision of the games. Another solution more fundamental for this difficulty is this : Provide for definite instruction in playground activi- ties as a part of the required course at Normals, County Institutes, etc. In Mississippi such instruction is being furnished without charge by members of he staff of the State Y. M. C. A. at the State and County Summer Normals. 5. Handling Large Numbers: These games are usually taught the entire school at one demonstration. Usually a few of the older pupils are selected for the demonstration and the rest look on. Then the older pupils with the aid of the teachers instruct the other children. CITY RECREATION B. T. HARVEY, JR. Morehouse College "Important as it is to organize and direct the industry of the world" says Geo. Elliott, "It is more important to orga- nize and direct the leisure of the world." "What use will humanity make of this leisure?" adds Maeterlink, "On its 54 employment may be said to depend the whole destiny of man." Already a growing number of large industrial corporations in this country have realized the value of supervised and organized recreation as an aid to the economic efficiency of their employees. The community at large must recognize and appreciate recreation as a thoroughly efficient means of decreasing juvenile delinquency, substituting ideals wanting because of lack of home life and control; as a stimulus for a cleaner physical life, and as an antidote for degrading motion pictures, vulgar vaudeville, questionable dance halls, dives, bootblack stands, camouflaged soft drink stands and the ambition-deadening influences of the public pool room. Those who employ help should not forget that 90% of the contagious and syphillitic diseases are contracted as a re- sult of misguided and unintelligent recreation. With this short word of explanation I wish to offer sug- gestions concerning supervision, organization and equipment for doing community recreation work in cities either in pub- lic parks, school playgrounds, or privately supported com- munity centers. SUPERVISION One recreational secretary should be available who can give his entire time to the work. Associated with him should be a number of volunteer district leaders picked for their personality, enthusiasm, physical, mental and moral fitness. Finally the district leader may divide his constit- uents into groups with group leaders. Working in coopera- tion with these district leaders may also be chairmen of auxiliary activities, such as committees on: Sanitation, Housing, Day Nurseries, Employment, etc. ORGANIZATION The city should be divided into districts of from 25 to 100 square blocks depending upon the density of population and taking cognizance of any natural sociological divisions. Each one of these districts become a working unit, with a place of meeting and such private equipment as possible. ' Inter-district contests of various kinds should be encouraged as: Athletic, singing, debating, drilling, domestic science 55 contests. The district itself should be further divided into clubs, such as: men's clubs, mother's clubs, working boys' and working girls' clubs, boy scouts, camp-fire girls, literary, etc. EQUIPMENT Each district should avail itself of a vacant lot from 25 by 50 to 300 by 300 feet, and if possible on this lot should be erected a one-story building with the following general floor plan: Reading room and office or equipment room on the front, behind these a large room suitable for gatherings for motion pictures, speeches, demonstrations, etc. This large assembly room should be equipped with folding chairs and be available for use as a gymnasium on rainy days or during cold weather, although we should bear in mind that play out-of-doors is possible for at least ten months of the year and in the extreme Southern parts an all-year possibility. Behind this room if possible a locker room with showers, and if a basement is under the building, it should by all means contain a swimming pool. The rest of the lot large or small may be used for recreation out of doors. In addition use the street directly in front by getting a permit for making it, during certain hours of the day, a closed street to traffic. Such buildings as this with moderate equipment scattered over a city, I am sure will fill the widest possible radius of needs for the community. This building may be equipped with such of the following material as practicable and some of the more costly items, such as a portable motion picture machine, may serve for the whole city : Indoor baseball and bat, volley ball and net, basket-ball and baskets, medicine ball, boxing gloves, chest weights, dumb-bells, piano or graphophone, portable motion picture machine, etc. In conclusion let me add that it is not expected that all this equipment shall be put in at one time. Always be on the lookout for new material. And again all of this will not be suited for certain kinds of communities. The one motive which should guide in the selection is interest coupled with results of a beneficial character. Wherever possible the ideal solution is a public playground and park with gymnasium and swimming pool, municipally given and supported. 56 SECTION VII. THE CARE OF DEPENDENTS BURR BLACKBURN Secretary Georgia Department of Public Welfare The time honored attitude toward the destitute Negro is calculated to press him further into pauperism. "Hand outs" of money, food and clothing, without constructive service, do not help the Negro to help himself. The first responsibility of the Inter-Racial Committee should be to make the local official and private agencies avail- able to the service of the Negroes. This can best be accom- plished by organizing groups of Negro leaders as suppleman- tar>' divisions of the existing agencies ; e. g. a committee of the family service agency, Associated Charities, County Commissioners, Almshouse and Poor Relief Committees, Red Cross, etc., a committee on relief to look into the family conditions of Negroes confined in the jails, or those dis- charged, or juveniles in the care of the Juvenile court, a committee of a Parent Teachers* Association to look into the condition of the homes of the school children. These groups should be tied up to the similar white groups on the same basis that the Inter-Racial Committee is formed. In this manner the relief available through county poor funds, and private charity agencies may be reached and the Negro leaders have a share in the direction. Legal aid, public health and recreation activities all bear a close rela- tion to the problem of dependency and should be related through the same method of organization already mentioned. All this should eventually lead to the employment of a Negro social worker with qualifications necessary to guide the groups of the Negro workers in services of charity and neighborliness. The problem of employment needs special attention in any community. Standards of wages for men and women should 57 be carefully studied. A method of connecting the man with the job should be put on a business basis. What happens to the dependent Negro children of the county when their families break up? Are they passed around from family to family ? Are they placed in the poor- house together with the feeble-minded degenerates and old people ? Or are good homes found for them ? Are children being cruelly treated by their parents or guardians? How are the children of the mothers in service cared for during the day? Is there a day nursery under good direction? What are the conditions in the county almshouse? Are the old people left without attention, recreation, or decent liv- ing conditions? How many Negro families are being ex- ploited by members of their own race or the white race with schemes of various sorts, support of mythical institutions, worthless insurance, etc.? Are tenants on farm land, or Negroes who are under some obligation to their employers, being imposed upon, refused their wages or share in the crop? These are questions for the county Inter-Racial Committee to consider. Most of the States have a Department of Pub- lic Welfare, or similar official organization, at the State Capitol, which is ready to consult, advise, and assist com- munities in meeting these responsibilities toward the help- less and dependent. Invite them to send representatives to meet with groups and help perfect the organization necessary to safeguard the dependents and combat the germs of des- titution and pauperism among the Negroes. SUGGESTIONS Confer at once with the leaders of organizations and home mission societies which give aid to the unfortunate families, the county officials in charge of Poor Relief and Pubhc Welfare, and judges of courts and probation officers. Learn of their work and plans, offer to cooperate and bring others to co-operate. Arrange for the education of a promising colored young man or woman as a social worker and community leader. Make a study of all cases of dependency and poverty in the community — in the county — at the present time. Study the public treatment of the aged and infirm within 58 the last two years and plan for their comfort and recreation. Make a study of the Negroes on the County poor list, and initiate plans for their proper care and rehabilitation. Provide the courts with the necessary facts concerning the families and past history of Negro prisoners before their trial. Arrange care for the families of prisoners who are con- fined. Provide legal aid for families in civil matters, securing industrial compensation, drawing legal papers, etc. Study wages and employment and arrange a plan of em- ployment service. Organize to give attention to the needs of the homes of children whose difficulties may be discovered through the schools.- Study the condition of children who are living in homes other than those of their own parents. Survey conditions surrounding children during the day while their mothers are in service and provide for them. Make a study of the cases of child misfortune and irreg- ularity now in the community or county. Survey the total efforts for child welfare and family re- habilitation in the community. Become acquainted with the state and county institutions for helping unfortunates. Visit the county almshouse. Study the organization and resources of the state's public institutions for public relief. Direct effective interest and support to some one or more of the institutions for colored in the State. See that every feeble-minded, blind, deaf or physically disabled person in the county gets full advantage of the state's institutions and agencies. 59 SECTION VII. CARE OF DELINQUENTS G. CROFT WILLIAMS Secretary South Carolina State Board of Public Welfare Delinquency arises primarily from the inabilty of a person to adjust himself to his social surroundings. As our polit- ical and social order is extremely complex and requires a large amount of moral and mental stability, unless a person is normal in his desires and temperament or unless he is surrounded by strong family or class protection he is likely to become an offender. Many deeds that would go unnoticed in a primitive society are considered in a modern state as offenses against the public good. Mal-adjustment rather than any deep-set mean motive is largely the cause of crime. The Negro inmates of our Southern penal institutions are not professional criminals nor are they of an especially degraded type or character. Most of them are cheerful and kindly, being brought to their present condition by a fit of anger or a sudden childish desire to obtain clothes, food or trinkets by some other method than that of labor. There seems to be three main causes of delinquency among the Negroes. Other causes there are, but these are secondary and may be traced to the three primary causes. These primary causes are : First: The Negro's traditional background. Second : The removal of the Negro population from country to town. Third: Bad housing and living conditions. For countless ages the Negroes lived under a different social system in Africa, then they were snatched away and transplanted in the United States. They came with physical constitutions and emotions fitted to their tribal Hfe. It has been difficult for them to adjust themselves to the Western 60 social and political systems. Added to this was their life as slaves. On the plantations the Negroes had few oppor- tunities for wrong doing, little attention was paid to small purloinings, unless the master was of an austere type then the culprit paid quick penalty. When freedom came the Negro started out on the treacherous sea of the 19th century American life with but little education or practice in self- restraint. After the Civil War there was a great influx of Negroes from the country to the city. In the city they found easily accessible centers of vice and they were further- more crowded into unsanitary quarters, with low moral at- mosphere. It is easily seen therefore that great obstacles lay across the Negro's path of advancement. Added to all these causes of real delinquency is the fact that unsympa- thetic and unscrupulous arresting officers too often arrest for petty offenses and exploit the Negro for fees which they receive on the basis of arrests and fines. TREATMENT OF DELINQUENTS Jail : The jail is the delinquent's wicket gate to our penal institutions. Here if he cannot give bond the prisoner re- mains in idleness for weeks or months, awaiting trial. A few jails are properly constructed and well equipped, but these are exceptions. Most of them are built for places of punishment, and, as such they are efficient. In two Southern States, South Carolina and Alabama, jails are only for tem- porary detention ; in other words, for persons that are yet innocent in the eyes of the law. And in other States many jail inmates are only detained for trial. So these institu- tions should at least be comfortable and sanitary and pro- vided with some means for amusement and improvement. Here is a need for activity on the part of Inter-Racial Committees. The average jail is not an exhibition of the citizenry's cruelty, but of their callous neglect. All pro- fessions of humanitarianism and of the sincere desire to make a better and happier world will echo back in hollow mockery so long as our present jails stand as their sounding boards. The jail should be visited by members of the com- mittee and if not in good sanitary condition reported to the proper authorities. Industrial Schools: In recent years juvenile offenders 61 have not been treated as criminals, but have been con- sidered as children needing better training than that to which they have been accustomed. Boys and girls that go wrong usually do so because of ignorance and the lack of proper home surroundings. Many of our States have there- fore set up industrial schools for these wayward youths. These should have facilities for academic, industrial and moral training. Oft-times the boys and girls that go to them are weakened physically, lacking nourishment, or ac- tually diseased. Such children should be given the proper physical care. Most of the Southern States have some kind of a school or reformatory for Negro boys, but outside of Virginia and Kentucky the writer knows of no state insitu- tion of this kind for Negro girls. Inter-racial organizations have here a good opportunity for pressing a measure that would contribute to the betterment of the whole social or- der.* Penitentaries: After the conviction prisoners are sen- tenced to the penitentiary or to some other place of servi- tude. Nearly all of our penitentiaries are devoid of anything but hard work and iron discipline. Books and papers are rarely supplied, academic instruction is seldom given, and the amusements are only those that the prisoners can devise. Sunday services are conducted by a chaplain who usually has the viewpoint of punishment for crime that is possessed by the prison officials. Yet it is not so much the details of the average penitentiary management that strike us as inadequate for purposes of reformation as does the whole grim and drab atmosphere saturated with hopelessness and the promise of failure. In most of the South, State peni- tentiaries are under no other special supervision than that of their trustees. This gives free reign to an unlimited autocracy, which is oft-times without either mercy or a knowledge of criminology. Every State should have a Board of Charities and Corrections or of Prisons or of Public Wel- fare to supervise its penitentiary. * Footnote: Since this was written Tennessee has appropriated money for building such an institution. The white women aided in securing this appropriation. In South Carolina Inter-Racial Commit- tees have raised $20,000 for this purpose. 62 Prison Farm: Several Southern States have prison farms. Here the convicts work in the open air and have more healthful surroundings than at the penitentiary. There is no reason why this system should not be adopted and improved by all of our States. Florida has made a no- table beginning in this form of convict management. It has no penitentiary but sends its offenders to a central re- ceiving farm, where they are retained for farm work or are sent out to labor on the public highways. This Prison Farm at Raiford is a model of its kind. Recently the writer vis- ited it and found 490 inmates, many of them being criminals of the worst type. There are no guns, guards, or walls about this place. At the time of this visit there were only seven employees, including the superintendent of the farm. The more intelligent convicts act as overseers and leaders of the squads of workmen. The honor system obtains here and there is an espirit de corps that holds the prisoners to the farm more securely than iron chains could. As we might expect, a bright and hopeful spirit, bom of industry and trust, inspires the institution. Other Systems of Punishment: Besides the systems de- scribed in the preceding paragraphs, there are convict camps for road work and also gangs of prisoners that are leased to private interprises. The utilization of prisoners on the pub- lic highways is beneficial to the State and to the prisoners themselves, if the living conditions of the prisoners are properly attended to. There are county chain gangs in South Carolina that do not use shackles, and these chain gangs are the most efficient in the State. Experience shows that men can do more work when their limbs are free than when they are confined. Besides chains and other hard- ships the convicts endure on the road forces they are often under brutal guards of a low mental and moral type. Be- cause of the small pay given to foremen and guards, often the only men that can be obtained are those that have failed at other occupations. The leasing-out system is indefensible, for contractors are merely interested in the men for what they can get out of them. It is true that many States that lease convicts re- tain their management, yet with the type of overseer 63 and guards that these States employ the zealous defense of their wards cannot be expected. In the outside world men are able to protect themselves from the oppression of their employers, but a convict has no such liberty. SUGGESTIONS: The demands of modem treatment of prisoners call for a lessening of the attempt to punish and an increase in efforts to reform. There are four general needs in line with this modern practice : 1. That jails and penitentiaries cease to be merely places of confinement and become more and more places where special work and instruction are given. This does not in any way mean that criminals should be coddled. 2. Crime prevention begins with family case work in disorganized homes — hence one of the main prevenitives to be employed is the building up of Negro homes along the lines suggested in Sections on Health and Housing. 3. The value of education as a means of preventing crime needs no elaboration at this point. 4. There is need of much stronger sentiment of respect for the law. If we are going to live together in a civilized state it is necessary to have certain rules that all must re- spect and keep. When a man commits a crime he places his personal desires above the law, his own will above the good of the community. There is a nation-wide need for in- creased use of every possible means of cultivating a greater respect for the law. Inter-Racial Committees should support legislation and organization which are effective in promoting any of these four general methods of crime prevention and reformation of criminals. The more specific suggestions for the activity of com- mittees are: (1) Have sub-committees visit the jail at regular inter- vals and report its condition to the proper authorities. 64 |»D 1.^^-4 (2) Study the system of making bonds and paying fines by employers. (3) Study the care of prisoners on probation or parole. (4) Find out if there is a functioning juvenile court in the county, or whether the law is violated by placing young boys in jail with hardened criminals. If no such court ex- ists, take the matter up immediately with the County Judge, or Circuit Judge. (5) Find out if there is a juvenile probation officer, and if not endeavor to have one employed. (6) If the number of colored cases is sufficient to warrant it, endeavor to secure the employment of a trained colored probation officer. Experience has shown that they are more effective in investigating and reaching the home conditions which invariably surround juvenile delinquency. (7) Investigate the institutions to which the courts commit boys and girls from your county. ORGANIZATION HINTS I. Nothing kills interest in the committee as quickly as failure of efforts to get a meeting. For this reason, each committee should have a vice-chairman who can hold the meetings in case the chairman is ill or out of town. II. Definiteness of responsibility and action are much to be desired. For this reason: (1) Simple by-laws governing membership, meetings, and sub-committees should be adopted. (2) In case the committee decides on something to be done they should always designate a sub-commit- tee or individual to do it ; or should give the chair- man power to act. The discharge of all such du- ties should be reported to the next successive meeting. t 1: '■' '- -65 (3) From time to time, it might be desirable to add new members to the committee. For this pur- pose a membership nominating sub-committee is suggested. (4) When several matters are to come up at the same meeting, a program sub-committee might determine their order of discussion and the man- ner of presenting each. Such a committee could have charge of securing occasional outside speakers. (5) The influence of the committee should be as nearly as possible county-wide. The county chairman should give this careful thought and bring it before the general committee. One se- rious riot has occurred which might have been averted if the committee had realized that its field embraced the whole county rather than only the principal town. Individuals and sub-commit- tees should be apprised of the Inter-Racial pro- gram, and be asked to report needs and happen- ings in their community to the central county committee. In this way, the committee can meet the needs of the whole county and line the whole county up behind any county-wide project. III. Regularity of meetings assures activity. Some committees meet quarterly, some monthly. It is desirable that meetings be held at least quarterly in order to maintain friendly contact if for no other reason. There are always so many community needs well worth meeting that each meeting should attempt to start some constructive move even if it be merely to have the jail purchase a hose, to have the school repaired or a play-ground equipped. 66 „H q. .0 >PU 4 O ■^■ <^ . •1 o ^°-^*. ^-..^•^ ^ c .^^' G nOv- 4.;i^;ic^^: o^^ .0- -^^ o ^•^^^ \^ "^f/h^-, ^. .s * _ . • .1) ^J -t- .^' \^ \ -^^0^ .^' o "^ ""-n. /-rV"' ^ . VJ v-y '..5 ^r -C^ ' O , k . o ,0 '>b/ ;>^^^ -^0^ :^i^ •>bv^ ;;^^ "^o^ : . U (J> '^ o N o -(^ L-^ '^^. <> " o « ' \i' '■U ^ ^ w/ /^. -r^^ ST. AUGUSTINE '- %^^>*^,^ .* ^ *X^.^ .V ^^^ %^%^^^ ^ .^ ^ 32084 -. -„ y '''^''^\ % C° ,..W-^,...-, °0 ,^* .VV'-'* ^ ^^^ "^-^C^ F LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ' I mil I