E NEGRO'S PROGRESS N F F 'Y YEARS AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 36TH AND WOODLAND AVENUE PHILADELPHIA 1913 Copyright, 1913, by AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE All rights reserved CONTENTS PART I STATISTICAL NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 1 Thomas Jesse Jones, Ph.D., Specialist Bureau of Education, Depart- ment of the Interior, Washington, D. C. PART II BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND LABOR CONDITIONS PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS 10 Kelly Miller, LL.D., Dean, Howard University, Washington, D. C. THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR 19 R. R. Wright, Jr., Ph.D., Editor, The Christian Recorder, Philadel- phia DEVELOPMENT IN THE TIDEWATER COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA 28 T. C. Walker, Gloucester Courthouse, Va. THE NEGRO AND THE IMMIGRANT IN THE TWO AMERICAS. . 32 James B. Clarke, New York THE TENANT SYSTEM AND SOME CHANGES SINCE EMANCIPA- TION 3X Thomas J. Edwards, Supervisor of Colored Public Schools of Talla- poosa County, Dadeville, Ala. PART III SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS WORK OF THE COMMISSION OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSITIES ON THE RACE QUESTION 47 Charles Hillman Brough, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Soci- ology, University of Arkansas ; Chairman, Commission of Southern Universities on the Race Question FIFTY YEARS OF FREEDOM: CONDITIONS IN THE SEACOAST REGIONS 58 Niels Christensen, Editor and Proprietor, The Beaufort Gazette, Beaufort, S. C. iv CONTENTS THE WHITE MAN'S DEBT TO THE NEGRO 67 L. H. Hammond, Paine College, Augusta, Ga. NEGRO CRIMINALITY IN THE SOUTH 74 Monroe N. Work, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama THE MOVEMENT FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA 81 John T. Emlen, Secretary and Treasurer of the Armstrong Associa- tion of Philadelphia PROBLEMS OF CITIZENSHIP 93 Ray Stannard Baker, Amherst, Mass. CONDITIONS AMONG NEGROES IN THE CITIES 105 George Edmund Haynes, Ph.D., Director, National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes; Professor of Social Science. Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS 120 J. J. Watson, Ph.D., Macon, Ga. NEGRO ORGANIZATIONS 129 B. F. Lee, Jr., Field Secretary, Armstrong Association of Philadel- phia FIFTY YEARS OF NEGRO PUBLIC HEALTH 138 S. B. Jones, M.D., Resident Physician, Agricultural and Mechanical College, Greensboro, N. C. NEGRO HOME LIFE AND STANDARDS OF LIVING 147 Robert E. Park, Wollaston, Mass. RACE RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOUTH 164 W. D. Weatherford, Ph.D., Nashville, Tenn. THE WORK OF THE JEANES AND SLATER FUNDS 173 B. C. Caldwell, The John F. Slater Fund, New York PART IV EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AND NEED NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES 177 J. P. Lichtenberger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Uni- versity of Pennsylvania NEGRO CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF PHILADELPHIA 186 Howard W. Odum, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. CONTENTS v HIGHER EDUCATION OF NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES. . 209 Edward T. Ware, A.B., President, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 219 Booker T. Washington, LL.D., Principal, Tuskegee Institute, Ala. THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART 233 W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, Ph.D., Editor, The Crisis, New York INDEX.. 239 THE PAPERS IN THIS PUBLICATION WERE COLLECTED AND EDITED BY J. P. LlCHTENBERGER, PH.D. ASSOCIATE EDITOR NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES BY THOMAS JESSE JONES, PH.D., Specialist, Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior, Washington. Will the ten million Negroes now in the United States continue to increase at the 100 per cent rate of the last 50 years? How long will they remain 75 per cent rural? Is the cityward tide affecting them equally with the white population? To what extent are they leaving the South and moving into the North? A moment's reflection will show that these are among the most vital questions confronting the serious minded people of our land. Increase of Negro Population According to the United States Census Bureau the increase of the Negro population was 120 per cent in the 50 years between 1860 and 1910. This population in 1860 was four and a half million (4,441,830). In 1910 the number had increased to practically ten million (9,827,763). It is interesting to note by way of comparison that the foreign-born population of the country was about two million in 1860 and thirteen and a third million hi 1910. These two groups form a total of about 23 million people, or a fourth of our total popu- lation. In view of the many serious problems of social adjustment presented by each of these groups, it is quite significant that they should form sush a large proportion of our population. Much interest has been aroused by the fact that the 1910 census showed an increase for the Negro population of only 11.2 per cent as against 18 per cent for 1900. This fact has strengthened the belief of those who have been giving periodic expression to their claim that the Negro is "dying out." Even a casual study of the question, however, shows that such a conclusion is not well founded. In the first place, an increase of 11.2 per cent is about equal to the natural increase of any of the European people. The 1911 census of the English people, for example, reported an increase by excess of births over deaths of 12.4 per cent. This rate for 1910 was only 11.6 per cent. In the second place, the abrupt drop from 18 per cent of the 1 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Negro population in 1900 to 11.2 per cent in 1910 is explained by errors in the censuses prior to 1900 and not by any abnormal changes in the Negro people. An examination of the following rates of in- crease since 1860 throws much light on this subject: Decade Increase Per cent of increase 1900-1910 993,769 1,345,318 907,883 1,700,784 438,179 11.2 18.0 13.8 34.9 9.9 1890-1900 1880-1890 1870-1880 1860-1870 The well known errors of the 1870 enumeration of the South explain the abnormal increase reported for that decade. The sudden increase from 13.8 per cent in 1890 to 18 per cent in 1900 and the drop in the rate of increase to 11.2 in 1910 clearly indicate errors in some of these percentages. The explanation of these irregularities now given by those familiar with these three censuses is that the census of 1890 was an undercount, thus causing the census of 1900 to include not only the regular increase of the decade 1890 to 1900 but also the number of those not counted in 1890. The percentages of increase readjusted to eliminate the errors would be : Decade Per cent of Increase 1900-1910 11.2 1890-1900 14.0 1880-1890 18.0 1870-1880 22.0 1860-1870 21.3 According to this series there has been a gradual decrease in the rate of increase for the Negroes of the United States so that the in- crease in 1910 was about one million persons in ten years, or 11.2 per cent. A comparison of this descending series with that of any normal European people increasing only by the excess of births over deaths makes it quite clear that a decreasing rate of increase ending in a rate of about 11 or 12 per cent is quite normal. While the re- turns of the 1910 census are a fairly accurate measure of the increase of the Negro people in the United States and undoubtedly nearer NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 3 to the truth than the returns of any previous census, there is little doubt that the omissions in the case of the Negro population were greater than in the case of the whites. The most definite evidence of these omissions is the apparent undercount of Negro children under 5 years of age. A study of the following figures from the 1910 census shows the probability of such omissions: Age period Native white of native parentage Negro Under 5 years of age Number 6,546,282 1,263,288 Per cent 13.2 12.9 5 to 9 years of age Number 5,861,015 1,246,553 Per cent 11.8 12.7 The numerical relation of these two age groups under normal conditions is seen in the figures for the whites. It is to be expected that the second group will be less than the first because of the deaths that have occurred during the first period. In the case of the native white of native parents the difference is 1.4 per cent whereas in the Negro groups the difference is only 0.2 per cent. There are three possible causes for this condition, namely, a high infant mortality, a sudden decrease in the birth-rate, and omissions of children by the census. The probability is that the three causes operated more strongly in the case of the Negro children than in that of the white, but the major causes of the abnormal relation of the age groups of the Negro children are undoubtedly the high rate of infant mortality and the failure of the enumerators to count Negro children. Distribution and Proportion While the rate of increase of the Negro population is about equal to that of the average European nation, the proportion which they form of the total population of the United States is steadily decreas- ing. In 1860 the Negro population was 14.1 per cent of the total population. By 1910 this proportion had decreased to 10.7 per cent. Not only is this true of the total population but it applies also to almost all of the Southern States. Only in the Northern States does the Negro population fail to show a decrease in the proportion which 4 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY they form of the total population, this proportion being 1.8 for both 1900 and 1910. Proportion North and South. In view of the increasing discus- sion of the northward movement of the Negroes, it is important to note the census returns on this subject. The following table com- pares the proportion of all Negroes living in the North with that in the South in 1910 and in 1900: 1910 Number 8,749,427 1,078,336 Per cent 89.0 11.0 1900 Number 7,922,969 911,025 Per cent 89.7 10.3 These figures seem to indicate that the Negroes are maintaining their proportion both in the North and in the South. The change toward the northern and western sections is less than one per cent of the total Negro population. The increase of Negroes in the North- ern states was 167,311 persons, or about 18 per cent between 1900 and 1910. In the decade ending in 1900 the increase was 182,926, or about 25 per cent. It would appear from these figures, then, that the northward movement of the Negroes was really less in the last decade than in the one preceding. Interesting information on the movement away from the South during the last 20 or 30 years is given in the census returns on the state of birth of the persons enumerated. According to the census of 1910 there were in the North and West 440,534 Negroes born in the South. Negroes born in the North and West now living in the South were 41,489. The net loss of Negroes of the South to the North and West was, therefore, 399,045. By the same process Southern whites show a net loss of only 46,839. States and Counties. The increase of the Negro population for the last decade is well distributed over the states. The largest gains among the Northern States were those for New York with 35,000 or 35 per cent, Pennsylvania with 37,000 or 23 per cent, and Illinois with 24,000 or 28 per cent. The Negro population of California made the largest gain adding 11,000 people, or 96 per cent in the NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 5 decade ending in 1910. The smallest increase, only 2 per cent, is reported for the seven states immediately west of the Mississippi from Minnesota to Kansas. Closely related to the northward trend discussed above is the rearrangement of the population by states and counties. Among the most striking facts shown by the last two censuses are the decreases and the small increases of the Negro population in the border states. Of the six states in which the Negro population decreased during the last ten years, four of them Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri are border states. The increases for Virginia and Dela- ware were so small that they can be classed with the retarded group. A comparison of the movement of the white and Negro population in counties of the border states brings out some striking contrasts. In the 98 counties of Virginia, for example, the whites gained in 84, while the Negroes lost in 68. Similar contrasts appear in the figures for each of the border states. It is quite clear, then, that the move- ments of the whites and Negroes of the border states are quite differ- ent. The probability is that the Negroes of these states are attracted to the cities of neighboring Northern States by what appears to them superior economic and educational opportunities in these states. The study of the county population of the more southern South, from South Carolina to Louisiana, presents a very different situation, as regards the movement of the white and Negro population, from that of the border states. In the 67 counties of Alabama, for ex- ample, the whites increased hi 51 counties, in the decade 1900 to 1910, and the Negroes increased in 43 counties. Each of the cotton states with their large Negro population shows a stability of popula- tion and a prevalence of gains that contrast quite strikingly with the losses and differences of the border states. The population move- ments of these states seem to be governed by the same forces. At any rate, the two classes of the population apparently move and in- crease together. The two charts which follow help to explain some of the points already made and present a number of other interesting facts as to the distribution of Negro population. The primary purpose of the chart entitled "Total Negro Population" is to facilitate the compari- son of the Negro population of Southern States in 1900 and in 1910. One glance at the chart will show that Delaware has the shortest lines, indicating a Negro population of 30,697 in 1900 and 31,181 in 6 THE ANNAS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 1910, while Georgia has the longest lines with a population of 1,034,813 in 1900 and 1,176,987 in 1910. The "big four" of the Southern States are evidently Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, in the order named. The second point shown on this chart is the change which has taken place in the number of Negroes since 1900. The TOTAL NEGRO POPULATION IOOOCZZD 19101 I DEL. MD. D.C. IB! 97 ei B E3B VA. N.C. S.C. GA. FLA. KY. TENN. ALA. MISS. ARK. LA. OKLA. TEX. tsfta 6SO,722 024.469 782.321 | 1.034 813 n 1 23O.730 1 fEISGCOHHH 284.706 I^HBHH 0.243 | HH33BBBBBBWH 827.3O7 807. 63O ^^^^366.856^^^1 1. esc 804 '55.684 imHIJ 020.722 most striking fact disclosed is the substantial increases of the more Southern States and the decreases or small increases of the border states. The three states decreasing in Negro population are as fol- lows: Maryland, 1.2 per cent; Tennessee, 1.5 per cent; and Kentucky, 8.1 per cent. The probable explanation of these decreases has been given above. The percentages of increase in the remaining states NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 7 shown on the chart are as follows: Delaware, 1.6; District of Colum- bia, 8.9; Virginia, 1.6; West Virginia, 47.5; North Carolina, 11.7; South Carolina, 6.8; Georgia, 13.7; Florida, 33.8; Alabama, 9.8; Mis- sissippi, 11.2; Arkansas, 20.7; Louisiana, 9.7; Oklahoma, 147.1; Texas, 11.2. While the absolute Negro population has increased in all but three of the Southern States, the proportion which they form of the total population has decreased in practically every Southern State. In 1900 the Negroes were 32.3 per cent of the total population of the South. By 1910 this percentage had decreased to 29.8 per cent. Over 50 per cent of the population of Mississippi and South Carolina are Negroes. Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana are over 40 per cent, and Virginia and North Carolina are over 30 per cent Negro. These percentages are shown on the following chart for all of the Southern States. Urban and Rural. In the South the movement of the Negroes into the cities is about the same as that for the white population. The following percentages of urban population show how parallel the movement is for both races in the nine Southern States which the figures represent : 1910 1900 1890 White 18.9 14.0 11.6 Xegro 17.7 14.7 11.8 Up to the last decade the proportion of the Negro population that lived in the cities of the South was practically the same as the proportion of the white population. In 1890 the proportion for each race was about 12 per cent. By 1900 these percentages had in- creased to 14.0 and 14.7, respectively. In the last decade the white people have sent a larger proportion of their number to the cities than the Negroes. These facts are in agreement with the statements made above concerning the southern South. Another fact, easily confused with the statement just made and not often realized, is the statement in a recent publication of the census bureau to the effect that the Negroes form about the same proportion of the urban population of the South as they do of the rural population. In the three Southern groups of states the Negro formed 29.4, 32.3 and 22.3 per cont of the urban population and 35.2, 8 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 31.4 and 22.7 per cent of the rural population. It would appear from these figures that in numerical strength the Negro is as impor- tant a factor of the urban population of the South as he is of the rural districts of that section. PERCENTAGE OF NEGRO POPULATION 19001 1 19101 In the North, the urban and rural distribution of the Negroes reverses the proportion of the South. In New England, for example, 91.8 per cent of the Negroes lived in urban communities; in the middle Atlantic States 81.2; and in the East North Central States includ- ing Illinois and its neighboring states the urban proportion was 76.6. All of these figures support the conclusion of the census bureau that NEGRO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 9 the Negroes who have migrated from the South have to a large extent gone to the cities. The following table is a statement of some important facts con- cerning all the cities which contained at least 10,000 in 1910. NEGRO POPULATION Percent of Increase 1900-1910 r roportlon Negro In total population 1910 1900 Washington, D. C 94,446 91,709 89,262 84,749 84,459 5 ,441 52,305 51,902 46,733* 43,960 44,103 40,522 36,523 33,246 31,056f 29,293 25,623 25,039 23,929 23,566 22,763 21,816 19,639 19,322 18,344t 18,150 17,942 14,539t 13,564 12,107 11,014 11.011 86,702 60,666 77,714 79,258 62,613 49,910 16,575 35,727 32,230 35,516 30,150 39,139 30,044 28,090 31,569 16,236 17,040 20,230 14,608 17,567 17,045 15,931 14,482 17,229 18,487 11,550 13,122 14,694 11,591 10,407 10,751 10.130 8.9 51.2 14.9 6.9 34.9 5.1 215.6 45.3 31.4 23.8 36.3 3.5 21.6 18.3 1.5f 81.0 25.9 23.7 63.1 4.1 33.4 36.9 35.6 12.1 0.7f 57.1 36.8 l.Of 17.0 16.3 2.4 8.7 28.5 1.9 26.3 15.2 5.5 40.0 39.4 33.5 36.6 6.4 2.0 18.1 33.1 51.1 52.8 50.8 4.8 37.1 30.4 9.5 44.2 9.3 5.4 50.7 44.7 44.6 40.2 31.6 2.0 New York, N. Y New Orleans, La Baltimore, Md Philadelphia, Pa Memphis, Tenn Birmingham, Ala Atlanta, Ga Richmond, Va. St. Louis, Mo Chicago, 111 Louisville, Ky Nashville, Tenn Savannah, Ga Charleston, S. C Jacksonville, Fla Pittsburgh, Pa Norfolk, Va Houston, Texas Kansas City, Mo Mobile, Ala Indianapolis, Ind Cincinnati, Ohio Montgomery, Ala Augusta, Ga Macon, Ga Chattanooga, Tenn Little Rock, Ark Boston, Mass.. . . . Wilmington, N. C Petersburg, Va Lexington. Kv... * Includes population of Manchester, t Decrease. PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS BY KELLY MILLER, LL.D., Dean, Howard University, Washington, D. C. The world's workers may be divided into two well-defined classes: (1) those who are concerned in the production and distri- bution of wealth, and (2) those whose function is to regulate the physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social life of the people. The sustaining element includes workers in the field of agriculture, domestic and personal service, trade and transportation, and in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. The governing class com- prises government officials, ministers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, editors, and authors. The great bulk of the population represent- ing the toiling masses is found under the first head, while a com- paratively small number is required for the so-called learned pro- fessions. In the United States, the two elements are divided in the approximate ratio of twenty to one. Traditionally, these two classes have been separated by a wide and deep social gulf. All honor and glory have attached to the higher professional pursuits, while those who recruited the ranks of the toiling world have been ac- corded a distinctively lower order of consideration and esteem. The youth who were most highly gifted by nature or favored by fortune naturally sought careers in the genteel professions, leaving those of lesser gifts and limited opportunity to recruit the ranks of the lower order of service. Present tendency, however, is against this hard and fast demarcation. Distinction is made to depend upon success, and success upon efficiency, regardless of the nature of the pursuit or vocation. Honor and shame no longer attach to stated occupations or callings, but depend upon achievement in work rather than in choice of task. The Negro was introduced into this country for the purpose of performing manual and menial labor. It was thought that, for all time to come, he would be a satisfied and contented hewer of wood, drawer of water and tiller of the soil. He was supposed to represent a lower order of creation, a little more than animal and a little less 10 PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS 11 than human. The dominant dogma of that day denied him capac- ity or aspiration to rise above the lowest level of menial service. He was deemed destined to everlasting servility by divine decree. His place was fixed and his sphere defined in the cosmic scheme of things. There was no more thought that he would or could ever aspire to the ranks of the learned professions than that like ambition would ever actuate the lower animals. Much of this traditional bias is brought forward and reappears in the present day attitude on the race problem. There still lingers a rapidly diminishing remnant of infallible philosophers who assume intimate acquaintance with the decrees of the Almighty and loudly assert that the Negro is God-ordained to everlasting inferiority. But those who assume fore- knowledge with such self-satisfied assurance prudently enough fail to tell us of their secret means of familiarity with the divine plans and purposes. They do not represent the calibre of mind or quality of spirit through which such revelation is usually vouchsafed to man. From this school of opinion, the Negro's aspiration to enter the learned professions is met with ridicule and contempt. The time, money, and effort spent upon the production and preparation of this class have been worse than wasted because they tend to subvert the ordained plan. Higher education is decried; industrial education, or rather the training of the hand, is advised, as the hand is considered the only instrument through which the black man can fulfill his appointed mission. But social forces, like natural laws, pay little heed to the noi- some declaration of preconceived opinion. The inherent capacities of human nature will assert themselves despite the denial of the doctrinaire. The advancement of the Negro during the past fifty years has belied every prediction propounded by this doleful school of philosophy. Affirmed impossibilities have come to pass. The "never" of yesterday has become the actuality of today. In a homogeneous society where there is no racial cleavage, only the select members of the most favored class of society occupy the professional stations. The element representing the social status of the Negro would furnish few members of the coveted callings. The element of race, however, complicates every feature of the social equation. In India, we are told, the population is divided horizontally by caste and vertically by religion. But in America, the race spirit serves as both a horizontal and a vertical separation. 12 The Negro is segregated and shut into himself in all social and semi- social relations of life. This isolation necessitates separate minis- trative agencies from the lowest to the highest rungs of the ladder of service. During the days of slavery, the interest of the master demanded that he should direct the general social and moral life of the slave. The sudden severence of this tie left the Negro wholly without intimate guidance and direction. The ignorant must be enlightened, the sick must be healed, the poor must have the gospel preached to them, the wayward must be directed, the lowly must be uplifted, and the sorrowing must be solaced. The situation and circumstances under which the race found itself demanded that its ministers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, and editors should, for the most part, be men of their own blood and sympathies. The de- mands for a professional class were imperative. The needed service could not be effectively performed by those who assume and assert racial arrogance and hand down their benefactions as the cold crumbs that fall from the master's table. The help that is to be helpful to the lowly and the humble must come from the horizontal hand stretched out in fraternal good will, and not the one that is pointed superciliously downward. The professional class who are to uplift and direct the lowly and humble must not say "So far shalt thou come but no farther," but rather "Where I am there ye shall be also." There is no more pathetic chapter in the history of human struggle than the smothered and suppressed ambition of this race in its daring endeavor to meet the greatest social exigency to supply the professional demand of the masses. There was the suddenness and swiftness of leap as when a quantity in mathematics changes signs in passing through zero or infinity. In an instant, in the twink- ling of an eye, the plow-hand was transformed into the priest, the barber into the bishop, the house-maid into the school-mistress, the porter into the physician, and the day-laborer into the lawyer. These high places of intellectual and moral authority into which they found themselves thrust by stress of social necessity, had to be operated with at least some semblance of conformity with the standards which had been established by the European through the traditions of the ages. The high places in society occupied by the choicest members of the white race after years of preliminary prep- aration had to be assumed by men without personal or formal fitness. PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS 13 The stronger and more aggressive natures pushed themselves into these high callings by sheer force of untutored energy and uncon- trolled ambition. That there would needs be much grotesqueness, mal-adjustment, and failures goes without saying. But after making full allowance for human imperfections, the 50,000 Negroes who now fill the professional places among their race represent a remark- able body of men, and indicate the potency and promise of the race. The federal census of 1900 furnishes the latest available data of the number of Negroes engaged in the several productive and professional pursuits. Allowance, of course, must be made for growth in several depart- ments during the intervening thirteen years. NEGROES ENGAGED IN PRODUCTIVE AND DISTRIBUTIVE PURSUITS, 1900 Agriculture 2,143,154 Domestic and personal service 1.317,859 Trade and transportation 208,989 Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits 275,116 Total 3,945,118 NEGROES ENGAGED IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICE, 1900 Clergymen 15,528 Physicians and surgeons 1,734 Dentists 212 Lawyers 728 Teachers 21,267 Musicians and teachers of music 3,915 Architects, designers, draughtsmen 52 Actors, professional showmen, etc 2,020 Artists and teachers of art 236 Electricians 185 Engineers and surveyors 120 Journalists 210 Literary and scientific persons 99 Government officials 645 Others in professional service 268 Total 47,219 From these tables it will be seen that only 1 Negro worker in 84 is engaged in professional pursuits. Whereas, 1 white person in 20 is found in this class. According to this standard the Negro has less than one-fourth of his professional quota. 14 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY The Negro ministry was the first professional body to assume full control and direction of the moral and spiritual life of the masses. As soon as the black worshipper gained a conscious sense of self- respect, which the Christian religion is sure to impart, he became dissatisfied with the assigned seats in the synagogue. The back pews and upper galleries did not seem compatible with the dignity of those who had been baptized into the fellowship and communion of the saints. With the encouragement of the whites, the Negro worshippers soon set up their own separate houses of worship. There arose a priesthood, after the manner of Melchizedek, without antecedent or preparation. But, notwithstanding all their disabili- ties, these comparatively ignorant and untrained men have suc- ceeded in organizing the entire Negro race into definite religious bodies and denominational affiliations. The Baptist and Methodist denominations, which operate on the basis of ecclesisatical indepen- dence, have practically brought the entire race under their spiritual dominion. This is the one conspicuous achievement placed to the credit of the race by way of handling large interests. Passing over the inevitable imperfections in the development of the religious life of the race, the great outstanding fact remains that this vast reli- gious estate, comprising 30,000 church organizations, with a member- ship of over 3,500,000 communicants, upon a property basis of $56,000,000, has been organized and handed down to the rising gen- eration as its most priceless inheritance. The Negro church is not merely a religious institution, but comprises all the complex features of the life of the people. It furnishes the only field in which the Negro has shown initiative and executive energy on a large scale. There is no other way to reach the masses of the race with any beneficent min- istrations except through the organizations that these churches have established. The statesmanship and philanthropy of the nation would do well to recognize this fact. Indeed, it is seriously to be ques- tioned if any belated people, in the present status of the Negro, can be wisely governed without the element of priestcraft. Broadly speaking, the Negro is hardly governed at all by the state, but merely coerced and beaten into obedience. He is not encouraged to have any comprehensive understanding of or participating hand in the beneficent aims and objects of government. The sheriff and the trial judge are the only government officials with whom he is familiar; and he meets with these only when his life or his property PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS 15 is in jeopardy. If it were not for the church, the great mass of the Negro race would be wholly shut off from any organized influence touching them with sympathetic intent. As imperfect as the Negro church must be in many of its features, it is the most potential uplifting agency at work among the people. Eliminate the church, and the masses of the people would speedily lapse into a state of moral and social degeneration worse than that from which they are slowly evolving. The great problem in the uplift of the race must be approached through the pulpit. The Negro preacher is the spokes- man and leader of the people. He derives his support from them and speaks, or ought to speak, with the power and authority of the masses. He will be the daysman and peacemaker between the races, and in his hands is the keeping of the key of the destiny of the race. If these 30,000 pulpits could be filled in this generation by the best intelligence, character, and consecration within the race, all of its complex problems would be on a fair way towards solution. The ignorance of the ministry of the passing generation was the kind of ignorance that God utilizes and winks at; but He will not excuse or wink at its continuance. It is a sad day for any race when the "best they breed" do not aspire to the highest and holiest as well as the most influential callings; but it will be sadder still for a retarded race, if its ministry remains in the hands of those who are illy prepared to exercise its high functions. The rise of the colored teacher is due to the outcome of the Civil War. The South soon hit upon the plan of the scholastic separation of the races and assigned colored teachers to colored schools as the best means of carrying out this policy. There were at first a great many white teachers mainly from the North, but in time, the task of enlightening the millions of Negro children has devolved upon teachers of their own race. It was inevitable that many of the teachers for whom there was such a sudden demand should be poorly prepared for their work. It was and still is a travesty upon terms to speak of such work as many of them are able to render as professional service. Among the white race, the teacher has not yet gained the ful- ness of stature as a member of the learned professions. They do not constitute a self -directing body; both are controlled as a col- lateral branch of the state or city government, of which they con- stitute a. subordinate part. The ranks are recruited mainly from 16 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY the female sex. In case of the Negro teacher, these limitations are severely emphasized. The orders and directions come from the white superintendent, but there is some latitude of judgment and discretion in a wise and sensible adaptation. The great function of the Negro teacher is found in the fact that she has committed to her the training of the mind, manners, and method of the young who are soon to take their place in the ranks of the citizenship of the nation. While there is wanting the independent scope which the preacher exercises in the domain of moral and spiritual control, nevertheless the teacher exercises a most important function in the immediate matters committed to her. The Negro teacher has the hardest and heaviest burden of any other element of the teaching profession. Education means more to the Negro than it does to the white child who from inheritance and environment gains a cer- tain coefficiency of power aside from the technical acquisition of the school room. The teacher of the Negro child, on the other hand, must impart not only the letter, but also the fundamental meaning of the ways and methods of civilized life. She should have a preparation for work and the fixed consecration to duty commen- surate to the imposed task. The colored doctor has more recently entered the arena. At first, the Negro patient refused to put confidence in the physicians of his own race, notwithstanding the closer intimacy of social con- tact. It was only after he had demonstrated his competency to treat disease as skillfully as the white practitioner that he was able to win recognition among his own people. The colored physician is still in open competition with the white physician, who never refuses to treat the Negro patient if allowed to assume the disdain- ful attitude of racial superiority. If the Negro doctor did not secure practically as good results in treating disease as the white practi- tioner, he would soon find himself without patients. He must be subject to the same preliminary test of fitness for the profession, and must maintain the same standard of efficiency and success. The Negro physicians represent the only body of colored men, who, in adequate numbers, measure up to the full scientific requirements of a learned profession. By reason of the stratum which the Negro occupies in our social scheme, the race is an easy prey to diseases that affect the health of the whole nation. The germs of, 'disease have no race PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED OCCUPATIONS 17 prejudice. They do not even draw the line at social equality. The germ that afflicts the Negro today will attack the white man to- morrow. One touch of disease makes the whole world kin, and also kind. The Negro physician comes into immediate contact with the masses of the race. He is a sanitary missionary. His minis- tration is not only to his own race, but to the community and to the nation as a whole. The dreaded white plague which the nation desires to stamp out by concerted action seems to prefer the black victim. The Negro physician is one of the most efficient agencies in helping to stamp out this dread enemy of mankind. His success has been little less than marvelous. In all parts of the country he is rendering efficient service and is achieving both professional and financial success. Educated Negro men are crowding into this pro- fession and will of course continue to do so until the demand has been fully supplied. The race can easily support twice the number of physicians now qualified to practice. The Negro lawyer has not generally been so fortunate as his medical confrere. The relation between attorney and client is not necessarily close and confidential as that of physician and patient, but is more business-like and formal. The client's interests are also dependent upon the judge and jury with whom the white attorney is sometimes supposed to have greater weight and influence. For such reasons, there are fewer Negroes in the profession of law than in the other so-called learned professions. The Negro lawyer is rapidly winning his way over the prejudice of both races, just as the doctor has had to do. There are to be found in every com- munity examples of the Negro lawyer who has won recognition from both races and who maintains a high standard of personal and professional success. A colored lawyer was appointed by President Taft as assistant attorney-general of the United States, and by universal testimony conducted the affairs of his office with the requi- site efficiency and dignity. As Negro enterprises multiply and de- velop, such as banks, building associations, and insurance companies, and the general prosperity of the people increases, the Negro lawyer will find an increasing sphere of usefulness and influence. Negroes are also found in all the other professional pursuits and furnish a small quota of editors, engineers, electricians, authors, and artists. Merchants, bankers, and business men are rapidly increasing in all parts of the country. Apprehension is sometimes 18 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY felt that colored men will rush to the learned professions to the neglect of the humbler lines of service. The facts show that the race at present has not more than a fourth of its quota in the pro- fessional pursuits. The demand will always regulate the supply. When the demand has been supplied in any profession, the overflow, will seek outlet in unoccupied fields. The uplift and quickening of the life of the race depends upon the professional classes. The early philanthropist in the Southern field acted wisely in developing leaders among the people. Philan- thropy at best can only furnish the first aid and qualify leaders. The leaders must then do the rest. Any race is hopeless unless it develops its own leadership and direction. It is impossible to apply philanthropy to the masses except through the professional classes. The higher education of the Negro is justified by the require- ments of the leaders of the people. It is a grave mistake to sup- pose that, because the Negro is relatively backward as compared to the white man, his leaders need not have the broadest and best education that our civilization affords. The more backward and ignorant the Jed, the more skilled and sagacious should the leader be. It requires more skill to lead the helpless than to guide those who need no direction. If the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch. The professional class constitutes the light of the race. The Negro needs headlight to guide him safely and wisely amid the dangers and vicissitudes of an environing civilization. The Negro teacher meets with every form of ignorance and pedagogical obtuseness that befalls the white teacher; the Negro preacher has to do with every conceivable form of original and acquired sin; the doctor meets with all the variety of disease that the human flesh is heir to; the lawyer's sphere covers the whole gamut involving the rights of property and person. The problems involved in the contact, attrition, and adjustment of the races involve issues which are as intricate as any that have ever taxed human wisdom for solution. If, then, the white man who stands in the high place of authority and leadership among his race, fortified as he is by a superior social environment, needs to qualify for his high call- ing by thorough and sound educational training, surely the Negro needs a no less thorough general education to qualify him to serve as philosopher, guide, and friend of ten million unfortunate human beings. THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR BY R. R. WRIGHT, Jr., Ph.D., Editor, The Christian Recorder, Philadelphia. By the term "unskilled labor," as used in this paper, is meant that class of labor which requires the least training of mind and the least skill- of hand : that class of labor in which the novice can turn out as large a product as the man of long experience, in which the wage earned the first year is but little different from that earned after many years of service. Fifty years ago, most of the Negro workers were unskilled laborers on the farms and in the homes of the South. Of the 4,000,000 slaves who were emancipated by Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, there were, approximately, 3,000,000 ten years of age and over, and most of these were engaged in unskilled labor as agri- cultural workers and domestic servants, general helpers, etc. Very nearly 2,000,000 were workers on the farms of the South, and most of the others were workers in the households of the South. Those were unskilled laborers. There were, indeed, a few Negroes in the South who were engaged in mechanical pursuits, such as carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths, etc., but these constituted only a small percentage. And judged by the standards of today, I am inclined to think that the degree of their skill was far short of that required for successful competition with present day artisans. For example, most of the carpenters of the time could not read and write and built "by guess," rather than from written plans. One has only to examine specimens of their work to become convinced that they, at the very best, rarely reached the average of skill required of mechanics today. In the North, the 250,000 Negroes were practically all unskilled laborers, with notable exceptions here and there. A census of Negroes in Philadelphia in 1856 disclosed a few hundred who had skilled trades, but the investigator added that "less than two-thirds of those who have trades, follow them. A few of the remainder pursue other avocations from choice, but the greater number are compelled to 19 20 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY abandon their trades on account of the unrelenting prejudice against their color." The figures for occupations for the census of 1910 have not yet been published. We have therefore to content ourselves with those given out for 1900. In 1900 the census returned Negroes in the follow- ing occupations: NUMBER OP NEGROES, TEN YEARS OP AGE AND OVER, IN THE FIVE MAIN CLASSES OP OCCUPATION Number Percentage Agricultural pursuits. ... 2,143,176 53 7 Professional service 47,324 1 2 Domestic and personal service 1.324,160 33.0 Trade and transportation 209,154 5.2 Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits . 275,149 6.9 I There were 53.7 per cent of the Negroes in agriculture, 33 per cent in domestic and personal service, 6.9 per cent in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, 5.2 per cent in trade and transportation, and 1.2 per cent in professional service. Unskilled labor among Negroes is chiefly in agricultural pur- suits, domestic and personal service, and trade and transportation. Of the 2,143,176 Negroes in agricultural pursuits, in 1900, 1,344,139 were agricultural laborers, while 757,828 were farmers. The agricultural laborers, representing the unskilled workers, had, however, decreased from 1,362,713 in 1890, to 1,344,139 in 1900; while the farmers, representing the skilled group, increased from 590,666 in 1890 to 757,828 in 1900. Other unskilled workers returned in 1900 are chiefly noted under the following: lumbermen and rafts- men, 6,222; turpentine farmers and laborers, 20,744; wood choppers, 9,703. It is to be noted that although the Negro population has increased nearly 150 per cent, during the past 50 years, the agricultural labor- ers have remained almost the same in number, while the more skilled workers are constantly increasing. Next to agriculture, comes domestic and personal service which furnished 1,324,160 persons. As in agriculture, so in domestic service, much of the labor is skilled and semi-skilled, though it may be classed as unskilled. There were 11,536 janitors and sextons; 545,980 THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR 21 laborers; 220,105 launderers and laundresses; 465,787 servants and waiters; 9,681 soldiers, sailors and marines; 2,994 watchmen, police- men and firemen, and 6,070 in other branches of domestic and per- sonal service. In trade and transportation, of the 209,154 Negroes engaged, the following may be said to be unskilled occupations: draymen, hackmen, teamsters, etc., 67,727; hostlers, 14,499; hucksters and peddlers, 3,270; porters and helpers in stores, 28,978; messengers and office boys, 5,077. In all of these classes of unskilled occupations, the Negroes constitute a much greater percentage than their percentage of the population. In the fifteen unskilled occupations named, there are 2,756,442 Negroes, or nearly 70 per cent of all the Negroes engaged in general occupations. The number of unskilled workers in the race must be at least 75 per cent, or about 3,000,000, about the same num- ber as estimated fifty years ago. During the past fifty years, however, there have been significant changes in unskilled labor among Negroes, some of which are here enumerated : 1. The race, then largely unskilled, has developed more than a million semi-skilled and skilled workers, business and professional men and women. 2. The standard of the unskilled worker, himself, has been raised. 3. The unskilled worker has adapted himself to a system of wages, as against the system of slavery. 4. The average of intelligence of unskilled labor has been greatly increased. 5. Unskilled labor has become more reliable. 6. Negro labor has survived the competition of the immigrant. 7. The unskilled Negro laborer has migrated largely to the large cities. 8. Unskilled labor, has to a large extent, been the foundation on which Negro businesses, the Negro church, the Negro secret society have grown up. Out of 3,000,000 unskilled Negro workers who were freed in 1863, and the few thousand unskilled and semi-skilled, who already had their freedom there have developed the various occupations of Negroes we have today. The most notable development is in the emergence of Xegro professional men and women, a group of 60,000 or more persons 22 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY who follow vocations almost entirely unknown to the Negro race fifty years ago, and to whom is largely entrusted the moral and intellectual, as well as the economic leadership of the group. Next to that comes the development of Negroes in business and in skilled trades, in which the race has built with fair success upon the foundation laid in slavery. Unskilled labor represents the great mass of Negroes at the close of the war, and in one sense, may be taken to indicate, today, the great mass of Negroes who appear to have stood still in the march of the race's progress. In a truer sense, however, this group of unskilled workers has shared something of the progress of the group. The kind of "unskilled labor" given by the Negro fifty years ago is quite different from that given today. Even as the standard in skilled trades has increased, so has the standard in unskilled labor increased. The Negro domestic servant of today has shown much im- provement over the old house servant, and one servant now often does the work of two or three of the older generation. The same is true in the case of labor in various other fields. Indeed, this increase in the efficiency standard has done much to raise the degree of respect given much unskilled work among Negroes, as in the case of waiters in hotels, janitors of large buildings, butlers, stewards and many kinds of "day labor." But one of the greatest changes has been the adapting of itself to the wages system. Much of the skilled and semi-skilled labor of the South had received wages before the Civil War, but very little of the unskilled labor. Working for regular wages required knowledge of the use of money, planning for expending the same, estimating the value of work and its relation to wages. Today, practically all city Negroes work for wages and the wages system is more and more in vogue upon the farms, to such an extent, at least that we are justified in saying that Negro labor has, during these fifty years, practically changed from a system of slavery to a system of wages. In fifty years, the Negro worker has decreased in illiteracy from 90 per cent in 1860 to 30.4 in 1910, The preponderance of numbers, then on the side of illiteracy, is now on the side of literacy. Today there are more than 5,000,000 Negroes over 10 years of age who can read and write against 250,000 in 1863. Though there are still 2,200,- 000 Negroes over 10 years of age who cannot read and write, and who comprise a large part of the unskilled labor of the race, the learning THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR 23 to read and write has made possible not only better efficiency in kinds of labor which Negroes already had, but also the entrance of new avenues of labor unknown to them before. Not only in intelligence has there been made progress, but also adaptation to a new condition. In all races, the unskilled laborer is the greatest sufferer, and the hardest to adapt himself. In 1863 the Negro unskilled laborer was freed. Many of the farm laborers have entered the ranks of farm owners who now number more than 250,000, while the unskilled group has gradually become more reliable. In the first years of the period under consideration, there was great alarm with regard to the regularity of work. The newly found free- dom meant to many Negroes opportunity for idleness and profligacy. When they did work, it was frequently for a few days in the week, and after pay day many were missing until their money was all or nearly all spent and they were under necessity to work. Vagrancy laws, check systems, credit systems, convict labor, peonage, etc., have not done as much to remedy this as have education and the awakening in these Negroes of new desires and opportunities for enjoyment. While there is a great deal still to be desired, there are now hundreds of thousands of Negroes who receive pay on Saturday night and return to work regularly on Monday morning, working six days in the week. The Negro has furnished, under a wage system, the bulk of the unskilled labor for the farmers of the South. For the past fifty years, by far the greater portion of the South's greatest product, cotton, has been made by the Negro laborer, while its railroads and streets, its sewers and waterworks have been largely constructed by Negroes. The writer was in his twenty-first year before he had ever seen as many as a dozen white men at one time working on the streets, dig- ging sewers or laying railroads. Born and reared in the black belt of the South, he had only seen Negroes do this work and had come to believe it was their work until a visit to Chicago introduced him to his first large group of white sewer diggers. At the time the Negro was freed, there came another source of unskilled labor to the country, the foreign immigrant. For nearly fifty years, however, these immigrants made but little impression upon the Negro unskilled laborer of the South. The Negro has invaded the North, not only as a farm laborer and a domestic servant, but also as a laborer in public works, and hundreds 24 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY of miles of sewerage and of streets in our great cities are largely the labor of Negroes. The movement of the city has been led chiefly by the unskilled Negro from the farm as the Negro farm owner and operator had no need to go to the city. The growth of the modern city, by its need for unskilled labor, urged Negroes to crowd within its borders. It allured, for here was work, more steady wages, pay- able every week or fortnight, better protection of person and property, better schools, more excitement and enjoyment. Unskilled Negro labor has invaded the Northern cities within the past fifty years, and while it has been with extreme difficulty that the skilled laborer has found a place, the Negro unskilled laborer has been a welcome guest. In nearly every large city, special employment agencies have been opened in order to induce Negro workers from the South to come North, where there is abundant public work to be done, on the streets, sewers, filter plants, subways, railroads, etc. Negro hodcarriers have almost driven whites out of business in some cities, while as teamsters, firemen and street cleaners, they are more and more in demand. In the hotel business, the Negro is in demand in the large cities, as waiter, bellman, etc., while the Negro women are more and more in demand as domestic servants. The cities having the largest Negro population in 1910 were Washington, New York, New Orleans, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Their Negro population in 1860 and 1890 and 1910 is shown below: I860 1890 1910 Washington 10,985 75,572 94,446 New York 12,472 23,601 91,709 New Orleans 24,074 64,491 89,262 Baltimore 27,898 67,104 87,749 Philadelphia 22,185 39,371 84,459 Chicago 955 14,271 44,103 New York has made a greater increase in its Negro population during the past twenty years than any large city and Philadelphia is next. This has been due to the urgency of its call for unskilled labor. In Philadelphia, of 21,128 males of gainful occupations, in 1900, 13,726 were hi domestic and personal service or nearly two-thirds of the whole; more than 7,500 of them were returned as "laborers not speci- THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR 25 fied." Of the 14,095 female workers, 12,920 or more than 90 per cent were returned as domestic and personal servants; 10,522 being "ser- vants and waitresses." In New York, in 1990, out of 20,395 Negro males, 11,843 were in domestic service and out of the 16,114 females, 14,586 were in domestic service. In Chicago, 8,381 of the 13,005 Negro males in gainful occupations were in domestic service, and 3,998 of the 4,921 females were similarly employed. These three cities are typical of the Negro at work in the large cities of the North. Next to domestic and personal service, which is chiefly, though not entirely unskilled labor, the Negro of the cities is employed in the unskilled occupations of trade and transportation. Taking Phila- delphia, as an example, .we find the chief occupations of Negro males, who are employed in trade and transportation, as follows : Draymen, hackmen and teamsters, 1,957; porters and helpers, 921; messengers, errand and office boys, 346; hostlers, 270. These four trades represent more than 70 per cent of the Negroes in trade and transportation, while they represent only 2.7 per cent of the total men of the city in trade and transportation. It has been the Negro unskilled laborer who has given the heartiest support to the organization which has given an opportunity for the expression of the genius for organization and business within the race. The Negro church is the only Protestant church in America which has kept hold of the common laborer, and it is the largest and strongest organization among Negroes. The Negro secret societies, now strong and powerful, are the result of the cooperation of the Negro laborer. These societies are composed of Negro laborers who have given their heartiest support to all forms of Negro business, and have furnished by their patronage, the foundation upon which the Negro physicians and other professional men have risen. Women and children make up a large proportion of the unskilled workers among the Negroes. Of the 5,329,292 females reported by the census of 1900 as engaged in gainful occupations, 1,316,872 were Negro women. Negro females represented 34.8 per cent of the female wage earners of the United States, while they were only 11.4 per cent of the total female population. These Negro females were engaged chiefly in domestic service and agriculture. There were 509,687 Negro female agricultural laborers out of a total of 665,791 female agricultural laborers in the country. The Negro women constituted 76 per cent of all female agricultural laborers in the 26 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY country. There were 1,285,031 female servants and waitresses in 1900 of whom 345,386 or 27 per cent were Negroes. Negro females numbered 218,228 or 65 per cent of the 335,711 laundresses; 82,443 or 66 per cent of the 124,157 "laborers not specified." More than 40 per cent of all the Negro females of the country over 10 years of age were at work, as against 16 per cent of all the white females. Of the Negro women at work 376,114 were married or 26 per cent of all the Negro married women, while only 3 per cent of the white married women of the country were at work. Of the married women at work, nearly 90 per cent were engaged as agricultural laborers, servants and waitresses, laundresses, and laborers not speci- fied, the four divisions of the census which comprise most Negro female workers. Between the ages of 10 and 15 years inclusive, there were 516,276 Negro children at work, 319,057 boys and 197,219 girls, chiefly at unskilled occupations, the chief ones being as follows: 404,255 agri- cultural laborers, 45,436 "laborers not specified," 43,239 were ser- vants and waiters, a total of 492,930 or 95.5 per cent From 10 to 15 years of age inclusive, 49.3 per cent of all the Negro boys of the country, and 30.6 per cent of the Negro girls were engaged in gain- ful occupations, chiefly unskilled, as against 22.5 per cent and 7 per cent for white boys and girls respectively. The last named item, showing that nearly half of the Negro boys and nearly a third of the Negro girls from 10 to 15 years of age are workers in unskilled occupations, should be compared with the following report from the same census: There were 548,661 Negro boys of the ages of 10 to 14 inclusive. Only 277,846 of these were in school. Of the 1,092,020 Negro children 10 years to 14 years inclusive, only 587,583 or 54 per cent were in school, while 504,437 or 46 per cent were out of school; and only 255,730, or 20 per cent of the total Negro boys of this age period, received six months of schooling. The remaining 866,290 Negro boys and girls 10 to 14 years, 86 per cent of the total of that age period, who got less than six months of schooling, and certainly the 504,437 who got no schooling at all during the census year, make up the great mass of the Negro unskilled laborers whose families in the future must be supported by the work of father, mother and child to the physical, moral and economic detriment of our country. THE NEGRO IN UNSKILLED LABOR 27 On the other hand, it has been chiefly the school which is gradu- ally raising the Negro from unskilled to skilled labor, and making even his unskilled service more productive, by enlarging his desires for consumption, increasing his foresight, and in general strengthen- ing his character. DEVELOPMENT IN THE TIDEWATER COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA BY T. C. WALKER, Gloucester Courthouse, Va. About fifty years ago occurred the emancipation of four million slaves. Prior to the general emancipation there were in each state, and perhaps in each county of the Southern States, a few who were called free Negroes. The only difference in the two classes of Negroes was that one was without task-masters, though subject to all the hardships of slavery save the task-master. A few of these free Negroes in each county owned a small acreage. At the close of the Civil War, as far as our records disclose, the free Negroes owned 537 acres of land in Gloucester County. This information is not claimed to be thoroughly accurate because of the destruction of the records during the Civil War. Even the United States Government, prior to 1880, as far as my information goes, had not seen fit to tabulate Negro ownership of land. In every clerk's office, if not destroyed, will be found copies of the United States census report for the year 1880. While these reports do not tabulate Negro ownership of land, they do with the aid of old citizens give such information as enables us to come to some definite conclusion as to land ownership by Negroes. This census report shows that in Gloucester County there were 195 Negroes who owned about 2300 acres of land. There were others who had begun to buy but whose titles were not perfected. The legislature of 1890-1891 provided for the separate enlistment of property by the two races. Since that time we have been able to give some definite idea of the ownership of land in Virginia. Each year there has been a general increase in the ownership of land in all the Tidewater counties. The auditor's report of 1912 shows that there are 132,897 acres of land in Gloucester County. Of this amount the Negro holding has increased from 2,300 acres in 1880 to 19,772 acres in 1912, valued at $139,619 with improvements valued at $122,444. Prior to 1880 there were no buildings and improvements worth counting on the land owned 28 TIDEWATER COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA 29 by Negroes. The great bulk of them lived in one room log cabins. I have designated for convenience sake the following counties as "Tidewater" counties, viz., Accomac, Caroline, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Essex, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Nansemond, New Kent, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, Richmond, Princess Anne, Southampton, Warwick, Westmoreland and York. At the close of the war it is fair to estimate in the absence of any definite record that the Negroes in these twenty-four counties owned less than 5,000 acres of land. Their holdings have increased during this period of fifty years from about 5,000 acres, whose estimated value with improvements was less than $70,000, to 421,465 acres, whose value with improvements according to the auditor, is $4,282,- 947. According to the auditor of Virginia for 1912 the Negroes own in the whole state 1,629,626 acres valued at $8,664,625, and the total value of Negro farm lands in Virginia with improvements thereon is $14,156,757. These farm lands are increasing in value year by year due to the increased knowledge of agriculture by the great bulk of Negroes. The census reports for 1900 show that there were 44,834 Negro farmers in the state. Of this number 26,566 owned their lands while 17,030 were renters. The census of 1910 tells us there were 48,114 Negro farmers in the state. Of this number 32,228 owned their farms while 15,706 rented. Of these 32,228 farms, 26,200 are free of mortgage or debt, leaving but 5,609 mortgaged. There may be some discrepancy in the value as estimated by the census bureau and that by the auditor of public accounts. The auditor fixes his value for taxation and the Negro holdings are put upon the same footing with white holdings to evade taxation, while the census bureau fixes its basis of valuation by the actual observation of the enumerators as they go upon those farms. The period from 1900 to 1910, according to the census bureau, shows that the increase of Negro farm owners is 21.3 per cent. It is also shown that 67 per cent of the Negro farmers of Virginia own their farms while the census of 1900 shows 59.3 per cent. Gloucester County, for the size of its acreage and Negro population has perhaps the largest number of Negro land owners of any one county in the state. We have shown that in 1880 there were 195 while today there are 1895 Negro land owners. 30 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY The greatest agency employed in the development of the Tide- water counties, in fact of the state of Virginia, in educational and mate- rial conditions, is the Hampton Normal School located at Hampton, Va. For forty or more years this school has been sending out its graduates until every county in the Tidewater section, and many other counties in the state, have Hampton graduates with the Hampton spirit. They go forth to make peace and cultivate the most friendly feeling between the races. Another branch of this agency now employed in the development of the soil is Hampton's direct agents and graduates who live among the people, and the cooperative demonstration farm work as carried on in cooperation with the Hampton School and the United States Department of Agriculture. Mr. J. B. Pierce, a Hampton graduate, is the director of the demonstration work in Virginia. Nothing could show progress more than the increased output of farm products, the accumulation of improved farm implements and improved stock. The outgrowth of this development is the great number of bank deposits in the banks of Tidewater, especially those located in the rural districts. I am informed that the Negroes of Gloucester County have on savings deposits in the bank at Glouces- ter Court House more than $20,000, not to say anything about the running accounts in the two banks in the county. In 1880 there was not a Negro in Gloucester depositing in any bank and few in all Tidewater, Va. The increase in the accumulation of town and city property has followed close in the wake of the rural sec- tions. In 1880 they owned few town or city lots. Today the town lots with improvements are valued at $3,134,008, while the city lots are valued at $3,164,272, with improvements valued at $5,140,- 335. At the close of the war it is fair to presume, in the absence of records, that the entire Negro population of Virginia did not pay taxes on $1,000,000 worth of property; today, according to the auditor, they pay taxes on real property valued at $25,595,402. I have referred to the possible discrepancy as estimated by the state and census bureaus. The census bureau for 1910 puts the value of all farms owned by Negroes in Virginia at $28,059,538, while the auditor, as just stated, collects from the Negroes taxes on realty valued at $25,595,402. For the comforts of life and as a mark of increased civilization the personal property owned by any race is a fair test. Fifty years TIDEWATER COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA 31 ago the Negroes of these Tidewater counties owned but little per- sonal property. Their furniture consisted of old chests, boxes and roughly made bureaus, bedsteads and the like. Today such prop- erty as they then had, save, perhaps, one feather bed and two pil- lows usually held by each family, would not be assessed at any value. The character of personal property, such as house furniture, cooking utensils and the like, now possessed by them, is such as is produced in some of the best factories of the country. Many oHhese homes have in them up-to-date musical instruments. Pleas- ure carriages and buggies are among the advanced acquisitions. It is well-nigh impossible to give accurately the value of the personal property year by year. I have taken the auditor's report for 1904 as the first basis of improvement in the acquisition of personal property. By this report it will be seen that the Negroes of these twenty-four counties pay taxes on personal property valued at tr. Blease, and others likeminded, who would give to the Negro only what he pays, are fight- ing a losing battle. The whole South has become convinced that the Negro must have a chance and in this we are really reaching a sense of democracy which we have never before known. 2. This leads me to a second indication of a growing sense of friendliness on the part of the Southern white man a new appreci- ation of the value of naked humanity. Not interest in a man because he is cultured, or wealthy, or influential, but because he is human. This is the basis of all democracy, and incidentally one might remark it is a higher democracy than Thomas Jefferson ever dreamed of. This is coming not only in the South but also slowly, all over the world. It is more than the square deal economically of which we have heard it is respecting and appreciating and having a friendly attitude toward all humanity. This feeling finds expression in the new hatred of lynch- ing which is growing in the South. We are coming to see that we can- not lynch Negroes and continue to hold our sense of respect for hu- manity as humanity. In spite of a few demogogues and hot heads who get their names in the associated press as advocates of summary dealings with certain types of Negroes, the determination is growing in the hearts of thousands of the best Southern whites that the lynch- ing of Negroes must stop. 3. There is also a decided movement on the part of the lawyers, business men and others to see that more justice is done to the Negroes RACE RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOUTH 169 in the courts. All of these things are the outcome of this new respect for the humanity of the Negro. 4. A still further result of this appreciation of the sacredness of all persons lies in the newer forms of social service which are being promoted among Negroes. Never before has there been so much talk about the condition of sanitation in the midst of which Negroes livo. Never has the health of the Negro elicited so much attention as now. Never has the housing question had so much careful, painstaking study as has been undertaken within the last five years. The Southern Sociological Congress, which met in its second annual session in At- lanta, Georgia, last April studied six great questions in its section meetings. One of these questions was the Negro life. There were six hundred delegates including perhaps more than a hundred Negroes who were regular members of the Congress, and at least four hundred of the six hundred delegates were regularly in attendance at the Race Problem section while the remaining two hundred attended the other five sections. For three days we four hundred white and black discussed in a perfect spirit of harmony and helpfulness the big prob- lems of our relation to each other and our basis of cooperation! We discussed health, housing, sanitation, education, religious life, eco- nomic progress all in the spirit of constructive cooperation between the races. Both Negroes and white men entered into the discussion, and the feeling of cordial helpfulness was the most remarkable evi- dence of a new fellowship and appreciation. One could enlarge at length, not only on the importance of the study of these problems, but also on what is more significant the cooperative study which the two races are undertaking together. It marks a new era. It is the return of the old confidence of the first era of slavery without the handicaps and evils that burdened that period. 2 5. One must pass quickly to another indication of the better relationship between the races, found in the eager attention given by Southern white college men to this whole topic. Some have felt that this is by far the most hopeful sign of the times, and indeed it is most significant. Some four years ago the leaders of the Student Young Men's Christian Associations in the South felt that something must be done to bring the white college men to know the Negro 2 For full proceedings of the Congress, write J. E. McCulloch, Nashville, Tenn. Price, $2. 170 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY as he is today, and through that knowledge to bring to the college a spirit of helpfulness. It was felt that the college men were the most open-minded and responsive section of our Southern life, and would most readily accept the suggestion of a thorough study of the whole problem. A volume 3 was, therefore, prepared with this group of men in mind, and was launched through the voluntary organization of the Student Christian Association. The fondest hope of those who were promoting the scheme did not expect that more than one or two thou- sand college men could be secured to make this study during the first year. What was our surprise and great delight to find that four thousand men enrolled and followed the course with great enthu- siasm. To our greater surprise nearly six thousand students enrolled the second year, and a demand came for more detailed information as to progress in the race itself. A second volume has, therefore, been prepared 4 and large numbers of both college men and women have been enrolled in the study of these two books during the past year. Many of the churches are now taking up the study, and in not a few schools these volumes have been introduced into the curriculum study of economics and sociology, as parallel reading. Under the leadership of Dr. James H. Dillard of the Jeanes and Slater Funds, a commission of state university professors has also been organized, which is making a first hand investigation of the whole subject of the uplift of the Negro. The members of this commission are appointed officially by the faculties of these state universities, and hence their findings will have much weight and influence. 6. The outcome of this study on the part of so many of our choicest young men and women in the South, has been not a little first hand social investigation, and even more of social service. In some university centers the white college men organized the Negro men of the city in a study of civil problems, such as health, housing, sanita- tion, the relation of illiteracy to economic efficiency, the relation of the whiskey traffic to the life of the Negro, and other kindred themes. Seventy-five Negro men were members of this study club, and out of it has grown a Negro city charities organization. In dozens of other college centers Negro boys' clubs have been organized, night schools established, Sunday schools started, lectures on civic conditions given, 3 Negro Life in the South. Association Press, New York. Price, 50 cents. 4 Present Forces in Negro Progress. Association Press, New York. Price, 50 cents. RACE RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOUTH 171 etc. The Southern white college men are coming to realize this respon- sibility to help the Negro not as a Negro, but as a man who has had less chance than themselves, and to whom they should pass on some of their larger life. 7. This leads me to add a sentence about the dedication of Southern life to the problem. It was said earlier that the Methodist Church in the South had 327 white missionaries at work for the Negro at the opening of the Civil War. At that time many of the slave holders prided themselves on the instruction both mental and moral which they could personally impart to their slaves. Davis, Lee, and Jackson, were all conspicuous examples of this. But after the war the Southern white people left this to the Northern missionary and the Negro himself. Now and then an outstanding man like Rev. John Little in Louisville, Kentucky, would dedicate his life to the uplift of the Negro, but their number was small. Now, however, that more study is being done and that a new spirit is dawning, a goodly company of our choicest white college men and women are offering their lives to the uplift of the Negro race. Perhaps no one will ever be able to measure the tremendous contribution of such men as Mr. Jackson Davis, of Virginia, Mr. J. L. Sibley of Alabama, and Dr. James H. Dillard of New Orleans and others who are giving them- selves to the building up of the rural Negro schools. They are men out of the heart of the old South, men with high traditions of family, of splendid training, and their work marks an entirely new attitude toward the whole race problem throughout the South. During the last three years quite a number of undergraduate students in our white colleges have deliberately dedicated their lives to the uplift of the Negro race. Hundreds of these young men are definitely planning to have their part of this race uplift, as laymen serving on boards of trustees for schools, members of committees on social service, etc. This is by all means the most hopeful sign of a better day of race understanding in the South. 8. One of the most significant outreaches of the new interest on the part of Southern white men is to be seen in the growth of race pride and race consciousness on the part of the Negro. No race can ever expect to elicit respect and confidence from others so long as it does not believe hi itself. If the Negro in the South wants to win the favor and the sympathetic cooperation of the white man there is no surer way of doing this than through the development of his own race 172 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY consciousness and race pride. The white people of the South are doing much to develop this spirit. Through a better type of school which makes the Negro more efficient and self respecting; through farm demonstration work which makes the farmer economically inde- pendent; through working with the Negro rather than for the Negro in social uplift; and in many other ways the Negro is being helped into self-respecting citizenship. When the Negro has become economi- cally efficient, intellectually more advanced, racially self conscious, there will be far less friction, for he will then feel as the white man feels that racial integrity and social separation are best for both races. Indeed most of the best trained Southern Negroes I know at present feel as the white man does about this matter that each race can make its largest contribution to humanity if it develops its own race life and race consciousness. It has been the fear on the part of the Southern white man that development of the Negro intellectually and economically would mean race amalgamation. But as this race consciousness grows stronger and stronger in the Negro race this feeling will be allayed and the two races will dwell side by side in a spirit of increasing brotherhood. As a Southern man, trained in a Southern University, living daily in the midst of these vexatious problems, and working every day to bring about better relations, I feel decidedly that the outlook is brighter than it has ever been in our history. The careful scientific study being made by college students and professors, the new spirit of social service cooperation, the better type of farming methods passed on by the white men to their colored neighbors, the more efficient Negro schools carried on under the direction of our choicest white educators, the growth of race pride on the part of the Negro himself, and the growing respect for person- ality as such all these are signs of the dawning of a new and brighter day both for white and black in the South. BY B. C. CALDWELL, The John F. Slater Fund, New York. These organizations have the same purpose, the training of Negro youth in the Southern States; they have the same director, the president of the Jeanes Fund being also director of the Slater fund; and they have the same offices in New Orleans and New York. They have separate though overlapping boards of trustees. The Jeanes work is confined to rural schools, and is almost entirely industrial. Most of the Slater revenue is spent for sec- ondary and higher education, mainly academic, partly vocational and industrial. The Jeanes work, now in its fifth year, entered a new field. From the start it aimed to reach the school in the background the remote country school for Negro children, out of sight in the backwoods, down the bayou, on the sea marsh, up in the piney woods, or out in the gullied wilderness of abandoned plantations. Nearly all these schools are held in shabby buildings, mostly old churches, some in cabins and country stores, a few in deserted dwellings. I have seen one in Alabama held in a saw-mill shed, one in Missis- sippi in a barn, one hi Georgia in a peach-packing shed, one hi Ar- kansas in a drj^-kiln, one in Louisiana in a stranded flatboat, and one in Texas in a sheepfold. For the most part these schools are taught by untrained teachers without any sort of supervision. The equipment is generally meagre, the pay small and the term short. The Jeanes Fund undertook to send trained industrial teachers into this field to help the people to improve the physical conditions and the teachers to better the instruction given the children. The teachers employed in this work are trained in some kind of industrial work, domestic or vocational. Most of them teach sewing. Next in number are those who teach cooking. Some are graduate nurses, some laundresses, some basket-makers, some farm- ers and dairymen; and truck-gardening, blacksmithing, carpentry, mattress-making, baking, and shoemaking are among the industries taught by these teachers. 173 174 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY For the current year there are 120 Jeanes teachers at work, in 120 counties of 11 Southern States, Maryland to Texas. Each teacher visits a number of the country schools, gives a lesson in some industry, plans with the regular teacher to give succeeding lessons in her absence, organizes parents' clubs and starts a move- merit for better school equipment or longer term, counsels the local teacher about her daily teaching, and stirs the community to united effort to better the school. Although paid by the Jeanes Fund, all these teachers are selected by the county superintendent, do their work under his direction and are members of his teaching corps just like the other teachers of the county. In many counties this spring the industrial teacher gathered specimens of sewing, baking, pastry, basketry, chair-caning, mat- tresses, shuck mats, garden truck, carpentry and furniture from all the schools of the county and put them on exhibition at the court- house, at the superintendent's office or other central point. These exhibits were visited by numbers of school patrons, teachers, children and the white school officials and citizens. In some cases prizes were offered by banks, merchants, railroads and planters for the best work in the various crafts. The industrial teachers are graduates of Hampton, Pratt Insti- tute, Tuskegee, Petersburg, Cheney, Fisk, Atlanta and kindred insti- tutions. All of them are Negroes. Their salaries range from $40 to $75 a month, and their terms from six to twelve months a year. At the outset the entire expense of this industrial work was borne by the Jeanes Fund. After a year or two the county school boards began contributing, sometimes paying the traveling expenses of the industrial teacher, sometimes buying sewing machines, cook stoves and washtubs for the schools, sometimes renting plots of ground for farm and garden work. Last year one or two counties took over the entire expense of| the work, and fifteen or twenty undertook to pay half or part of the teacher's salary. The Slater Fund from the beginning has devoted most of its means to the higher education of Negro youth, mainly with the purpose of training teachers for the primary schools. But almost from the start it has contributed to public school work in town and city with the same general end in view, devoting its entire contribu- tion to these public schools to the establishment and maintenance of industrial and vocational training. At this time more than three- WORK OF THE JEANES AND SLATER FUNDS 175 fourths of the Slater money is still applied to higher school work, mainly urban and academic. But for the past year or two the Slater trust has been experimenting with some new and promising work in the country. Several years ago a parish superintendent in Louisiana applied to the Slater Fund for assistance in establishing a country high school for Negro children. Almost at the same time a county super- intendent in Virginia, another hi Arkansas, and one in Mississippi proposed substantially the same thing. In each case the main pur- pose was to train teachers for the country schools of the county. Trained teachers cannot be had for the pitiful salary paid to country Negro teachers. And each of these superintendents hoped to get a regular and fairly good supply of teachers definitely trained to do the work needed in his county. The parish of Tangipahoa, La., was the first to undertake the establishment of such a school. Superintendent Lewis named it the Parish Training School for Colored Children, and located it at Kent- wood, a village in the piney woods part of the parish. The parish school board supplied the teachers and equipment, the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company furnished material for the house and ten acres of land, and the Slater Fund gives $500 a year for industrial teach- ing. The school is now in its second year and promises to render valuable service to the parish. Three similar schools have been established since; one in New- ton County, Miss., to which the county, the town of Newton and an organization of colored people contributed; another in Hempstead County, Ark., where a town school supported by state and local funds was converted into a central training school (not county, because there is no county school body in Arkansas), and the funds were raised by the town of Hope, the local cotton men, and the white and colored citizens individually; and a third in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, where a large community school, seven miles in the country, was made the parish training school, supported by the Sabine school board, with contributions of the timber syndicates owning most of the land around the school. In each of these cases the Slater Fund contributes $500 a year for three years, the con- tributions to be continued if the results justify the expenditure. There are no precedents to follow in this kind of work. Each of the counties is working out its problem in the way that seems best to 176 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY the superintendent and school board. They vary greatly in local conditions, and each will have to feel its way toward the end in view. But all of them are making the training school distinctly agricultural and industrial all the way through the course offered, and some of them are already giving class work and handcraft of real worth. Every county in the South has felt the need of fairly well trained teachers for its Negro country schools. But so far as I know this is the first time that superintendents have actually gone to work to get such teachers by training them at home. It will take several years to work out the plan; and local school authorities will give their individual stamp to it in each county. But thus far it looks promising; and the end in view goes to the very heart of the whole matter of Negro education. I need not speak of the well known schools, Hampton, Tuskegee, Atlanta, Fisk, Spellman and the rest, to which the greater part of the Slater income is devoted. But in two of these and in several colored state normal schools the Slater Fund contributes to the maintenance of summer normal schools for teachers, offering good academic and industrial training for country teachers. Both the Jeanes Fund and the Slater Fund do a little in the way of helping to build school houses. In several counties of Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama the Jeanes Fund is assisting in the building of one good Negro school house as a sample. In each case the community raises a fund for the house, the county school board gives an equal or larger sum, and the Jeanes Fund gives about one- third of the cost of the house. The Slater Fund contributes to the same kind of work in a limited way, and gives more largely to the equipment of town and city schools for vocational work. The mag- nificent new building for Negro children above the fifth grade erected by the city of Charleston was furnished with superior equipment for all kinds of hand and power work by the Slater Fund. NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES BY J. P. LlCHTENBERGER, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania. The study of illiteracy among the Negroes of the United States constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the story of their achievements in fifty years of freedom. In most of the slave states, before 1861, it was a criminal offense to teach any Negro, slave or free, to read or write; so that illiteracy in the South among the Negroes at the time of the emancipation was nearly 100 per cent. While conditions were somewhat different in the North, and edu- cational opportunities were not wholly denied, the number of Negroes who could avail themselves of these opportunities was so small as to affect only slightly the rate of illiteracy for the country as a whole. Conservative estimates place the illiteracy of the race at between 95 and 97 per cent at the beginning of freedom. It is clear that this condition in no way indicates either the capacity or inclination of the race for acquiring education. It indicates merely the status of a people reared in barbarism, transplanted into the midst of civiliza- tion, but bearing none of its burdens and responsibilities, and partici- pating in no way in its social or cultural activities. The position of the Negro in the United States as a ward of civilization makes it practi- cally impossible to compare either his situation or his achievements with that of any other race or people in modern times. Whatever progress he has made since the beginning of political freedom cannot be attributed solely to his own desire for knowledge, nor to his inher- ent capacity, but must be regarded in the light of his imitative ability and the opportunities afforded for his advancement by the white population in the midst of which he has lived. Under the regime of slavery there was not only this general con- dition, due to the attitude of the masters enforced by legal enactments, but there was likewise the absence on the part of the Negro of any motive for the acquiring of even the smallest elements of education. At the beginning of the period of freedom, the presence of this un- tutored race in the midst of American civilization formed an irresist- 177 178 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ible appeal to philanthropic spirited citizens for the education of this new class of freedmen. Had the Negro been left to himself, it would be difficult to predict what his present status would be. Not- withstanding the mistakes in the earlier period of the reconstruction in educational methods provided by the white population, and not- withstanding the inadequacy, not to say neglect, of Negro educational facilities up to the present time, the Negro has benefited greatly by such opportunities as are afforded by American educational institu- tions in general. In order to understand 'the present problem of illiteracy of the Negro race, a survey of the statistics collected by the census bureau over a period of years needs careful study and analysis. In the follow- ing table, several decades are presented for the purpose of a compara- TABLE I Class of population Percentage of Illiterates In the population 10 years of age and over 1010 1900 1890 1880 Tolal 7.7 5.0 3.0 3.7 1.1 12.7 30.4 45.3 15.8 9.2 39.9 10.7 6.2 4.6 5.7 1.6 12.9 44.5 56.2] 29. o[ 18. 2j 13.3 7.7 6.2 7.5 2.2 13.1 57. ll 45. 2 J 17.0 9.4 8.7 White Native Native parentage Foreign or mixed parentage Foreign born 12.0 70.0 Negro Indian Chinese Japanese All others Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 239. tive study. This table shows not only the amount and distribution of illiteracy among the various portions of the population, but as well the decline in illiteracy which has taken place in the period from 1880 to 1910, in the various elements of the populations. Taking up these two principal aspects of the subjects in the order indicated, we find that illiteracy in the Negro group is 6 times that of the white group; or, if we eliminate the persons of foreign birth or extraction, 10 times as great; there being 3 illiterate persons in every ICO native white persons and 30.4 illiterate persons in every 100 NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES 179 Negroes. This comparison is wholly misleading and unfair in view of the distribution of the races. Two main phases of this distribution must be considered. First, the geographic situation and second, the urban and rural conditions. The following table is presented in order to show the relative statistics of illiteracy of persons 10 years of age and over in the differ- ent sections of the country for 1910. Here we discover that Negro illiteracy in the North is not greatly in excess of white illiteracy in the South, the figures being re- spectively 10.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent, while in two of the southern TABLE II All classes Native white of native parentage Negro United States 7.7 3.7 30.4 New England 5 3 7 7 8 Middle Atlantic .... 5 7 1.2 7.9 East North Central 3.4 1.7 11.0 West North Central. . . 2 9 1.7 14 9 South Atlantic 16.0 8.0 32.5 East South Central 17.4 9.6 34.8 West South Central 13.2 5.6 33.1 Mountain 6.9 3.6 8.0 Pacific 3 0.4 6.3 North 4.3 1.4 10.5 South . . 15.6 7.7 33.3 West 4 4 1.7 7.0 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 243. divisions it is 8.0 per cent and 9.6 per cent for the white, actually approximating that of the Negroes in New England. The higher rate of illiteracy in the South for both the white and colored portions of the population is attributed to the lack of facilities for securing an education. This at least is given as an explanation for the disparity in the rate of illiteracy in the white population in the two sections of the country. To those who have studied the school conditions, par- ticularly in the South, it seems clear that inadequate as are facilities for white children, those afforded the colored children are much more inadequate. If facilities in the South were equal for black and white children, and as ample as in the North, it is safe to assume that the 180 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY rate of illiteracy among Negroes in the South would much more nearly approximate that in the North. This of course would be true of both groups. In further explanation of the disparity in the rate of illiteracy for the Negro race as a whole as compared with that of the white, it should be remembered that whereas 60.6 per cent of the white popu- lation in 1910 was located in the North and 32 per cent in the South, but 10.5 per cent of the Negroes was found in the North and 89.5 per cent in the South. Thus 89.5 per cent of the colored population in the United States shares the inadequate school facilities of the 32 per cent of the white population. Since the illiteracy among the Negroes in the North is only 10.5 per cent while that of the illiteracy of the white population of the South is 7.7 per cent, it is clear that if there was an equal distribution either of population or of educational opportunities, much of the difference in the rates between the races would disappear. In other words, viewing the rate as a whole, it is impossible to show that the difference is fundamentally racial. A further comparison must be made in regard to the distribution of illiterates between city and country. The following table gives the distribution of illiteracy of persons 10 years of age and over in 1910 in the urban and rural population. Of the total native white population of native parentage 10 years of age and over in continental United States in 1910, 37.7 per cent resided in cities of 2,500 or more inhabitants, and 62.3 per cent in rural districts and towns of less than 2,500 inhabitants. The illiteracy among the urban native born whites of native parentage was 0.9 per cent. In the rural districts it was 5.4 per cent. This difference in the main is conceded to be due, not to differences in the population under rural and urban conditions, but to the superior facilities for education afforded in urban communites. For example, the small amount of illiteracy among persons of native birth but of foreign or mixed parentage amounting to only 1.1 per cent is explained not upon the basis of race differences between the persons of native and foreign ancestry, but is attributed largely to the fact that persons of foreign born or mixed parentage are for the most part city dwellers, and they have for that reason the superior advantage afforded for education in the cities. Turning now to the Negro population, we discover that of those 10 years of age and over, 17.7 per cent are urban and 82.3 per cent NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES 181 are rural. Comparing the percentages of urban and rural conditions, we discover that 17.7 per cent of Negroes share, however unfairly because of racial discriminations, the advantages for education of the TABLE III Division and class of community All classes United States Urban 5.1 Rural 10.1 New England Urban 5.6 Rural 3.8 Middle Atlantic Urban 5.8 Rural 5.2 East North Central Urban 3.5 Rural 3.2 West North Central Urban 2.7 Rural 3.0 South Atlantic Urban 8.5 Rural 18.9 East South Central Urban 9.6 Rural 19.4 West South Central Urban Rural 15.2 Mountain Urban 3.1 Rural 9.1 Pacific Urban 2.0 Rural.. 4.3 Native white of native parentage 0.9 5.4 0.5 1.2 0.6 1.9 0.9 2.2 0.8 2.1 2.2 9.8 2.4 11.1 1.4 6.8 0.9 5.1 0.3 0.6 Negroes 17.6 36.1 7.1 16.9 7.0 12.2 9.7 15.8 12.3 21.0 36.1 23.8 37.8 20.3 37.2 10.6 5.3 11.4 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 249. 37.7 per cent of the white population, and 82.3 per cent of the Negroes share the rural educational opportunities of the 62.3 per cent of the whites. Much of the illiteracy among Negroes in the United States as a whole is therefore to be attributed to the fact that they are to 182 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY such a large degree a rural people, handicapped by the inadequacy of rural educational conditions. It is safe to assume, therefore, that if the distribution of Negroes in regard to urban and rural conditions approximated that of the whole population, or of the native whites of native parentage, that the difference in illiteracy would be considerably diminished. This generalization finds further proof in comparisons between various sections of the country, North and South, rural and urban. In New England, where the colored population is 83.2 per cent urban and 16.8 per cent rural, the rate of Negro illiteracy is 7.1 per cent in cities, or somewhat less than the illiteracy of the entire population, while 16.9 per cent of the Negroes in the rural districts is illiterate. In the east south central divison of states, where the native white population of native parentage is 4.2 per cent urban and 95.8 per cent rural, the rate of illiteracy among the whites is 2.4 per cent for the urban, and 11.1 per cent for the rural population. While Negro illiteracy is far in excess of that of the white population in every portion of the United States, nevertheless it is less in urban New England and the middle Atlantic divisions than that of the rural white population in the south Atlantic and east south central divisions. These facts make it clear that however great the disparity may be in sections where conditions are similar, that, taking the country as a whole, the Negro race being so largely a southern rural people, the comparison between the actual rates of illiteracy for the white and colored populations does not reveal the true state of affairs in regard to the Negro's progress. Notwithstanding the results revealed by sectional geographic comparisons, it still remains true that Negro illiteracy is higher than that of the white population in each section as well as for the country as a whole, just as it is higher for both whites and Negroes in rural districts, as compared with urban districts, and higher in the South than in the North. The purpose in presenting this comparison has been not to mini- mize the importance or amount of Negro illiteracy, but merely to show that when due allowance has been made for differences of dis- tribution, much of the supposed evidence of race difference disappears. It seems clear that if equal advantages were afforded in school equip- ment hi urban and rural districts, and if the Negroes were distributed in an equal ratio with the native whites of native parentage in both North and South, the total rate of illiteracy in general, now ten times as great among the Negroes as among the whites, would fall to probably three or four times the amount instead of ten. NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES 183 Turning now to the decline in Negro illiteracy, it will be observed from the figures in table I that while the illiteracy for the total population declined during the period from 1880 to 1910 from 17.0 per cent to 7.7 per cent, and that of the native whites of native parent- age from 8.7 to 3 per cent, that of Negro has been reduced from approximately 70 per cent to 30.4 per cent. The decline of illiteracy among the Negroes shows the same tendency toward diminution as among all the other groups barring the foreign born, except that it has been more rapid. In view of the facts of distribution presented in the previous paragraphs, this decrease has been little less than phenomenal. At the rate of decrease for the period 1880-1910, it will require only a few decades more to bring the rate down to the level of that for the country as a whole at the present time and below that of the foreign born. The real significance of the decline among the Negroes is best observed by a comparison of age groups. TABLE IV. PERCENTAGE OF ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1910 Age period All classes Native white of native parentage Negroes 10 years and over 7.7 3 30 4 10 years to 14 years 4.1 1 7 18 9 15 years to 19 years 4.9 1 9 20 3 20 years to 24 years &.9 2 3 23 9 25 years to 34 years 7.3 2 4 24 6 35 years to 44 years . . . . 8 1 3 32 3 45 years to 64 years 10.7 5 52.7 65 years and over 14 5 7 3 74.5 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 240. It is interesting to note here that illiteracy among Negro children 10 to 14 years of age is but 18.9 per cent and that the rate does not rise to that of the group as a whole until the age of 35 years or over, and that beyond the age of 45 it is from 50 to 75 per cent. The present generation of Negro children is therefore enjoying greatly improved conditions and is taking advantage of them. Without further im- provement, the next generation will show a reduction of illiteracy to approximately 20 per cent. The present status of Negro illiteracy in the group 10 to 14 years of age, however, when compared with the same age group among the 184 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY whites is again unfair, in view of the facts revealed by the figures of school attendance, so far as these figures may be taken as an index of school facilities afforded. The percentage of school attendance of native white children of native parentage in the United States between the ages of 6 to 20 is 65.9 per cent in urban communities, and 67.3 per cent in rural districts. The same respective figures for colored children are 51.7 per cent and 46.1 per cent. In the south Atlantic division, which is typical of the South in general, the corresponding figures for white are: urban, 59.1 per cent; rural, 63.7 per cent; for colored, urban 48.9, rural 46.6. If, therefore, the colored children had an equal opportunity with the white the difference in illiteracy would be still further reduced. At the present time and with conditions as they are, the illiteracy of Negro children between 10 and 14 years of age is little more than that for the country as a whole for that portion of the population above 65 years of age, and only a little more than double that of the native whites of native parentage above that age. If statistics were available, they would doubtless show Negro illiteracy among the early age groups in the urban North to be somewhat below that of the older age groups in the native white population in the rural South. Summarizing, a few generalizations may be made : 1. Negro illiteracy throughout the United States and in every geographic division is greatly hi excess of that in the white portion of population. 2. When due allowance is made for differences of distribution in which the vast majority of Negroes share the inadequate facilities for education of the minority of the whites, the disparity in the amount of illiteracy is partially explained without reference to racial qualities or ability. 3. The rapid reduction of Negro illiteracy from something above 95 per cent to 30.4 per cent in fifty years of freedom, and constituting the largest element in the diminution of illiteracy for the United States as a whole, is a phenomenal race achievement. 4. Continuous and rapid reduction in Negro illiteracy is likely to continue through improvement of facilities. To the extent to which an equality of opportunity North and South, urban and rural, is secured will the rate of Negro illiteracy decline until it tends to approximate that of the white. NEGRO ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES 185 5. If achievement is measured, not in terms of actual accomplish- ment, but in the amount of progress made from the point of departure, then there may be little ground for complaint or discouragement, but rather a just feeling of satisfaction and of optimism in the degree of attainment toward ability to read and write accomplished by the Negro race in the United States in its fifty years of freedom. NEGRO CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF PHILADELPHIA 1 BY HOWARD W. ODUM, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. That the problem of educating Negro children is not limited in its application to any community, or to the North or South, is now a well recognized fact. That it is of special importance in the study of American education; is closely related to many problems of public policy; and bears directly upon the theory and practice of efficiency in national life, as well as upon race improvement, is not always so well recognized. At the invitation and with the cooperation of Dr. Martin G. Brurribaugh, superintendent of the city public schools, this study was undertaken by the Philadelphia Bureau of Municipal Research with a view to assisting in the solution of a difficult problem of school admin- istration and efficiency. The inquiry was pursued on the assumption that little could be done unless the subject was approached strictly from the objective viewpoint and prosecuted with as much thorough- ness as possible. At the same time it is a practical study and the time and facilities for making exhaustive experiments and anthropo- metric measurement were very limited. It is urged, therefore, that all facts and conclusions herein presented shall be interpreted; accord- ingly, and that all statements concerning Negro children be inter- preted as applying to Negro children as they are today, the product of inheritance and environment. This paper is, further, a summary of a large body of information. In order to employ summaries with exactness it is necessary to inter- pret totals, averages, and central tendencies in their relation to the frequencies upon which they are based. It is possible, for instance, to have two groups of a thousand children each, conforming alike to average measurements, and at the same time differing so radically in their conformation to normal distribution as to be almost wholly 'Summary from a special study of Negro children in the public schools of Philadelphia made for the Philadelphia Bureau of Municipal Research. 186 NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 187 unlike. Such a series of variations not infrequently occurs in exactly those traits, a knowledge of which is essential to an understanding of the groups. In attempting to form conclusions from a general sum- mary, therefore, it is most important to keep these facts in mind. And while it is possible to summarize to a large extent the principal facts brought out in this study of Negro children in the schools, it is also easy to neglect fundamental minor facts that may be shown only in the detailed units of scope and method. With these quali- fications the following summary ought to be of value. The scope of this inquiry included all the elementary schools of the Philadelphia public school system as organized during the months from September, 1910, to January, 1911, the information concerning enrollment and attendance being obtained at that time, and the experiments being made during that period and subsequently. The total number of pupils enrolled in the elementary schools was 154,125, of which 8,192 or 5.3 per cent were Negro children. This enrollment was made from a total number of enumerable children of 241,623, of whom 9,758 were Negroes; and they were enrolled in the 238 ele- mentary schools with their several annexes. The larger study thus includes this total number and the larger comparisons are made between total children and Negro children. The larger group is again variously divided. There were two principal groups of Negro children, those who attend mixed schools for whites and Negroes, and those who attend schools in which only Negro children are enrolled. Again, smaller groups are made the basis of special experiments and minute study, the effort being to approximate in all cases, so far as possible, similar conditions for both white and Negro children, with experiments made uniformly by the same person. Of the total Negro pupils enrolled in the public elementary schools approximately one-fourth (23.7 per cent) were enrolled in nine sepa- rate Negro schools, the remaining three-fourths (76.3 per cent) being enrolled largely in 15 per cent of the total schools of the city. Thirty- one per cent of the schools of the city have no Negro pupils enrolled, 23 per cent have less than 1 per cent, and 20 per cent have between 1 and 5 per cent. The problem of the Negro child is thus seen to rest chiefly upon a relatively small proportion of the schools, and its intensity varies widely in the various schools. Again, the problem varies in the several school districts, being largest in the 4th district where 12 per cent of the pupils enrolled are Negroes, comprising 188 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 20 per cent of the total Negro school population, although the dis- trict has less than one-tenth of the whole school population. And similarly for other districts. Negro children constitute 5.3 per cent of all children enrolled in the city, but constitute only 4 per cent of all children enumerated in the city, thus showing a higher rate of enrollment than white children. The Negroes have a larger propor- tion of females in schools than the whites, the former showing only 50.4 per cent girls while the Negroes show 52.8 per cent. The increase of Negro children hi the proportion of total population for the last five years was 0.5 per cent and the distribution of these children in the different wards shows a larger scope of the race school problem. The shifting from ward to ward in the school population was a little more than twice as large for the Negroes as for the whites. The proportion of the enumerated whites and Negroes enrolled is about the same but more Negro children remain in schools from fourteen to sixteen years of age. The Negro children show 72.4 per cent of all Negro children from fourteen to sixteen years of age enrolled, and the whites only 59.7 per cent. Ninety-five per cent of Negro children are enrolled in public schools and only 74 per cent of white children. The Negro children constitute, therefore, preeminently a public problem. Further study of distribution shows that a much larger propor- tion of Negro pupils are enrolled in the primary grades than are white pupils. Of the Negro pupils enrolled 77.8 per cent, and of the white pupils 67.8 per cent are enrolled in primary grades. Again, 4 per cent of the white children reach the eighth grade as opposed to 2.3 per cent of the Negro children. Of the white girls enrolled 33.1 per cent, and of the white boys 31 per cent are enrolled in grammar grades. Compare this with 25.9 per cent of Negro girls and 17.4 per cent of Negro boys enrolled in grammar grades. Negro girls thus remain in school considerably longer than Negro boys. The separate Negro schools enroll pupils chiefly in the primary grades, only 9 per cent being enrolled in the grammar grades. The Negro pupils in the higher grades are thus distributed throughout the mixed schools. While a smaller number of Negro pupils reach the higher grades than the whites, a larger number remain in school to a later age. Only 2.6 per cent of the total pupils of the city remain in school above fourteen years of age, the normal age for the completion of the eighth grade, while 8.6 per cent of the Negroes enrolled are over fourteen years of age. Thus, a large part of the white children finish under age and a NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 189 large part of Negro children remain in school beyond the normal age. The Negro girls in school are older than the Negro boys. Among both white and Negro pupils the largest number is enrolled at the age of ten years. But the proportion of Negro children at the ages of five, six and seven is much smaller; and at the ages of fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen much larger than among the whites. The ages of Negro pupils in separate Negro schools approximate those of the white children. The total Negro children extend in appreciable num- bers from six to eighteen years and the whites from six to sixteen. The average age for all children in the schools is 9.3 years and for all Negro children is 10.6 years. That is, the Negroes average a year and a third older than the white children. The differences between the average ages of white and Negro pupils is larger than this in the ma- jority of grades. The following table shows the average age for each grade and the difference between white and Negro pupils. AVERAGE AGE OP PUPILS BY GRADES Grade White children Negro children Difference First 6.7 7.6 0.9 Second. 8 2 9.4 1.2 Third 9 5 10.9 1.4 Fourth 10.7 12.1 1.4 Fifth .. 11 6 13.1 1.6 Sixth 12.4 13.9 1.5 Seventh 13.2 14.6 1.4 Eighth 13 9 15.5 1.6 The average of Negro pupils in each grade is again compared with the normal age. "NORMAL" AGE AND AVERAGE AGE OP NEGRO CHILDREN Grade Normal age Average age of Negro pupils Amount retarded First 7 7.6 0.6 Second 8 9.4 1.4 Third 9 10.9 1.9 Fourth 10 12.1 2.1 Fifth . 11 13.1 2.1 Sixth 1'J 13.9 1.9 Seventh 13 14.6 1.6 Eighth.. 14 15.5 1.5 190 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Whereas the Negro pupils in the eight grade are a year and half over age, the white pupils finish a little under the normal age. Again, in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades the Negro pupils average two years older than the normal age, and except in the first grade they average a year and a half or more above the normal age. The average for the Negro children in the sixth grade is exactly the same as that for the white children in the eighth grade. The Negro children also show a larger average deviation than the white. The following table gives the further comparison between white and Negro children. i VHITE PUPIL i i fEGBO PUPIL B Number of pupils Average age Average deviation Number of pupils Average age Average deviation First 29,220 6.7 0.8 1,855 7.6 1.1 Second 25,378 8 2 9 1,648 9 4 1 2 Third 24,153 9 5 1 1,475 10 9 1 3 Fourth 21,685 10 7 1 1 1,095 12 1 1 2 Fifth 18,438 11 6 1 749 13 1 1 1 Sixth 13,516 12.4 0.9 500 13.9 1.0 Seventh 9,196 13.2 0.9 308 14.6 1.0 Eighth 6,869 13.9 0.9 186 15.5 1.0 From the study of these ages of white and Negro children in the grades it will be seen that there is a high percentage of retardation among Negro children. A summary of the detailed figures of age and grade classifications shows the following facts. With both white and Negro children the highest percentage of pupils above normal age is in the fifth grade. With both white and Negro children the largest percentage below normal age is in the first grade. With white children the highest percentage of normal age children is in the seventh grade while with the Negro children it is in the first grade. The total Negro pupils show 71.9 per cent retardation, and the white children 38.9 per cent according to the accepted standard which allows one year normal age for each grade. According to a more accurate standard, allowing three years range for each grade, the Negroes show 48.6 per cent retardation and the whites 18.6 per cent. Again, the Negro pupils have 23.2 per cent retarded one year, 21.9 per cent retarded two years, 14.6 per cent retarded three years, 7.9 per cent retarded four years, 3.6 per cent retarded five years, 1.4 NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 191 per cent retarded six years and 0.2 per cent retarded seven years. The white pupils show 20.2 per cent retarded one year, 11.2 per cent retarded two years, 4.8 per cent retarded three years, 1.7 per cent four years, and 0.5 per cent five years. With both white and Negro children the boys show slightly more retardation than the girls. Negro pupils in separate Negro schools have only 66.7 per cent retardation as opposed to 73.7 per cent among Negro children in mixed schools. The total pupils of all schools show 30.6 per cent below normal age and 30.5 per cent normal, while Negro children show only 8.2 per cent below normal age and 19.9 per cent normal. The 72 per cent retarded Negro pupils of Philadelphia may be com- pared with the Negro pupils of Memphis, 75.8 per cent, and with 3,670 Philadelphia pupils with defective vision having 75 per cent retardation. In high schools Negro boys are retarded 60 per cent and Negro girls 74.6 per cent; white boys are retarded 27.4 per cent and white girls 24.1 per cent. The number of Negro pupils in the high school, however, is small. Among the whites there are in the high school about sixty pupils to every 1,000 enrolled in elementary schools, while for the Negroes there are only twenty-one or about 2 per cent. Again, for each 1,000 Negro boys there are ten in the high school and for Negro girls thirty, while for white boys there are sixty-one, and for white girls fifty-seven to each 1,000 in the elementary schools. Ayres shows that attendance is an important factor hi retarda- tion. Having shown the high percentage of retardation among Negro children, it is necessary to inquire into their attendance and promo- tion. The average attendance for five years among the total pupils of the city was 87.7 per cent and for Negro pupils in the Negro schools 78.8 per cent, a difference amounting to 10 per cent of the total average attendance. The irregularity of the Negro pupils' attendance is made up of lateness, days missed, and late entrance or early leaving school. The white children show only 0.7 per cent of lateness and the Negro pupils show 3.1 per cent or more than four tunes that of the white children. In no case do Negro schools have as high record of attend- ance as the average whites. In no case do the white schools show as low percentage of attendance as the average Negro schools. Likewise, in no case do the Negro schools approximate so low a percentage of lateness as the average whites, and in no case do the white schools show so high a percentage of lateness as the average Negro schools. Among 192 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY the total pupils of the city 3.3 per cent were reported as remaining in their grades more than twenty months and 0.8 per cent more than thirty months. Among Negro pupils in Negro schools 9.5 per cent remained in their grades more than twenty months and 1.2 per cent more than thirty months. Among Negro pupils in mixed schools 9.2 per cent remained in grades more than twenty months, and 1.1 per cent more than thirty months. That is, three tunes as many Negro pupils as whites remain in grades more than twenty months, and six times as many more than thirty months. Of Negro pupils in mixed schools 19 per cent remained in grades fifteen months or more and some 25 per cent repeated grades to some extent. Ayres points out the fact that bad effects of low percentages of promotion increase with astonishing rapidity as each successive de- crease of the percentage promoted is made. Thus a difference of 10 per cent in the percentage of promotions is much more than twice as much as 5 per cent. He shows that a difference of seven points in the per- centage of promotions, for instance, may cause a difference in the number of pupils with clear records, in each 1,000 pupils, of 220. That is, with a special average of 90 per cent promotions in a case where no pupils die or drop out of school, 480 pupils out of every 1,000 reach the eighth grade without failing, while with an average of 83 per cent only 260 reach the eighth grade without failing. According to this standard of reckoning among the total pupils of the Philadelphia schools 240 pupils of every 1,000 will reach the eighth grade without failure, and among the Negro pupils only about 50 would reach the eighth grade without failure. That is, the percentage of promotions among the total pupils of the schools is 81.8 and among Negro pupils in Negro schools 70.6 and among Negroes in mixed schools 71 per cent. There is, thus, a large difference between the reports of white and Negro children, but little difference between the two groups of Negroes. The largest difference between promotions by grades be- tween white and Negro children are in the first, fifth and seventh grades. Among Negro pupils there is little variation in the different ages of percentages of promotions, and little variation between boys and girls. The average markings by teachers reported for Negro children were 70; 69 for boys and 71 for girls. However, the range was wide, there being some 5 per cent with grades of ninety, and 25 per cent with grades of eighty. Of the pupils having grades of ninety, the NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 193 earlier grades have a slightly larger proportion than the later grades and the girls excel the boys by a small margin. Again, 4.9 per cent of Negro pupils in mixed schools were reported at the head of their class, 20.9 per cent were in the upper quarter, 39.6 per cent were hi the middle half, and 34.3 per cent were in the lower quarter. In the numerical rating pupils below the age of thirteen furnish the largest proportion of grades above seventy and likewise higher averages, and the older pupils show a consequent smaller proportion of higher grades, and lower averages. The largest proportion of nineties is found at eight and nine years and the largest proportion of eighties at eleven years. The highest average grade, seventy-two, is found at eleven years, and the averages vary from seventy at seven years of age to sixty-two at seventeen. The girls show a slightly better record in both averages and the number having grades of eighty and ninety. According to the teachers, Negro children find most difficulty in arithmetic and studies that require compound concentration and pro- longed application. Seventy per cent of Negro pupils reported show their poorest work hi arithmetic, as compared with 52 per cent of white children. Language, after arithmetic, furnishes the greatest difficulty. Reading and spelling offer comparatively the least diffi- culties to Negro pupils. Among Negro pupils hi mixed schools 32.7 per cent are reported unsatisfactory hi deportment and among white pupils 22.9 per cent. Of the Negro children having a grade of ninety or being at the head of their classes, only 14.3 per cent were reported unsatisfactory while more than 40 per cent had excellent deportment. Likewise the deportment of all Negro children having better marks and standing hi the upper quarter of class work was consistently better. Again, Negro children coming from better and average homes have better deportment than those coming from the poorest homes. Likewise the poorest class of Negro homes furnish only a small pro- portion of pupils having the highest grades. Negro girls have slightly better deportment than Negro boys. There is thus a decided positive correlation between deportment and good work. The offenses charged to Negro pupils are many and the correction and the effective train- ing of colored pupils offer a large field for constructive work. Before forming conclusions from the above facts it is necessary to inquire into their causes and meaning. It should be remembered, too, that there are many exceptions to the totals and averages there reported. That is, in every phase of school life the Negro children 194 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY show a tendency to reach or excel the median of the white children, and the range from lowest to highest among Negro children tends to become wider than among the whites. Before inquiring into the specific race differences, as reflected hi Negro children and white children, it will be necessary to analyze as many as possible of the environmental influences that tend to change the records made in school. The correlation of the home and social environment, together with present racial influences, with school records will indicate the source of many difficulties which the Negro children have to face. When these influences have been estimated it will be possible to seek remedies for defects which exist under the present conditions and to estimate the extent to which permanent changes are necessary and upon what basis they may be advocated. The grade distribution, retardation and promotion of pupils are so inter-related that their causes may be considered together. The prevailing practice among children in all public schools tends to cause them to drop out of the elementary schools at fourteen years of age. There are two main causes for this. Fourteen years is the normal age for the completion of the eighth grade, whence children either drop out of school altogether or enter the high school. But if they have not finished at that age the compulsory education requirements permit them to drop out of school at that tune. Among the total children of the public schools only 2.6 per cent remain to a later age than four- teen years. Among Negro children 8.6 per cent are above fourteen years of age. Now it has been seen that the average age for total children in the eighth grade was exactly the same as for Negro children in the sixth grade. This age is 13.9 years. The Negro pupil must either drop out at the sixth grade or remain hi school to an aver- age age of 15.6 years. This partly explains the smaller number who reach the eighth grade among Negro children and likewise the reasons for remaining hi school longer than the whites. That is, if the Negro children dropped out at the age of fourteen as do the whites, there would be no seventh and eighth grade pupils. Now the Negro pupils do tend to drop out, but not all, hence the few who remain to the eighth grade. Again, there is often less incentive offered Negro chil- dren to drop out than white children, owing to the limited field of work open to Negro boys and girls at that age. Of course, the question of the aptitude of Negro pupils to do the work of higher grades is an important factor as will be seen, but all should not be ascribed to NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 195 this. It is a common fallacy to assume that because Negro pupils are not enrolled in the higher grades, they therefore cannot do the work given in those grades. In addition to the causes which make them retarded and thus cause the elimination by age, there are other factors than those suggested. The separate schools for Negro chil- dren offer chiefly work in the primary grades, while the grammar grade Negro pupils attend the mixed schools entirely. It has been shown in some specific instances that Negro pupils attending crowded classes hi the upper grades and competing with white children, with what they feel to be unequal odds, owing to their higher age, and dis- crimination on the part of teachers and pupils, have preferred to leave school rather than attend under these circumstances. And unless there are home influences or age requirements to keep them in school the elimination is easy. This element enters to some extent in all mixed schools and it is not possible to analyze influences to fix the exact amount. But assuming, first, that the age elimination is largest, it is neces- sary to inquire into the causes of retardation. This in turn will have a direct relation to the promotion of Negro pupils and hence will throw light on the question of their aptitude to do the work of higher grades. It was shown that the Negro pupils approximate twice as much retardation as the white pupils according to the accepted stand- ard of normal age and that according to a more refined standard they approximate three times as much. Further it was shown that in the majority of grades the Negro pupils are consistently two years behind the white children. Is this retardation due to lack of progress, as is commonly assumed? Or is the slow progress due entirely to lack of aptitude for school work? It was shown in the inquiry that more than one-third of the pupils in the schools were born outside of Phila- delphia and largely in the Southern States, especially Virginia and Maryland. Those who thus enter begin late, first because they are accustomed to less schooling in their home communities, and secondly, because the change of residence causes uniform loss of attendance in every school. The retardation begun is accelerated in the adaptation to new conditions and the result is disastrous to progress and deportment. Again, the small number of Negro children in school at the ages of six and seven shows that the Negro pupils uniformly enter school later than white children. In addition to the causes already men- tioned, there are various other influences, home conditions and shift- 196 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ing of population, which tend to contribute towards the result. Thus the element of population is large in the process of elimination. Again, the death rate for Negro children is higher than for white children, and consequently the elimination due to this is larger. While this would seem to be overbalanced by the influx of new children, it has been shown that these children only add to the amount of retar- dation which accelerates elimination. It has been shown that the Negro children move from ward to ward and hence change schools more frequently than do white chil- dren. In the intervals time is lost and work is hindered. To poor attendance is ascribed a large part of the failure of Negro children. Poor attendance has a number of contributing causes. A review of the facts as reported by the trained nurses shows that the Negro children are often left to do as they wish. More than 60 per cent of the mothers work away from home. The children oversleep, or choose their own procedure. They are not infrequently required to run errands, and assist at home before going to school, or for parts of the day. They are hindered by neglect and carelessness, by interference, and by physical results of environment. The extent to which this is true has been pointed out. Poor attendance and a high percentage of lateness affect the quality of work seriously. But home conditions affect not only attendance and lateness but also the actual work in school. The quantity and quality of food and the manner of eating have been shown to be irregular and improper. The Negro children sleep irregularly and insufficiently. They use intoxicants to an unusual extent. They are affected to an unusually large extent with minor bodily afflictions, especially colds, head and throat troubles. Their conditions of bodily hygiene are bad. In some instances they are poorly clad. Thus the very physical basis of attention is undermined. Again in school, partly as a result of the facts mentioned, partly because of innate traits, and partly because of home and race influ- ences, the Negro children do not apply themselves to their work. Lack of study is often responsible for unsatisfactory work instead of inability to succeed in their studies. Especially is this true of their home study. There are few incentives to study at home, little favor- able influence to promote it, and practically no facilities in the way of reading. Again Negro parents are unable to assist their children in most cases and are not always disposed to do so. The mothers and fathers working out, the promiscuous mingling and visiting, NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 197 moral and other irregularities noted previously all these contribute towards the difficulties in the way of Negro children. In this way many other factors might be correlated with the poor resulting conditions of Negro children in the schools already enumer- ated. Under existing environment the retardation, attendance, pro- motions, quality of work and deportment are natural products. In- quiry was made into the home conditions of Negro pupils whose records were high. This inquiry reported only those pupils about whom there was no doubt in their classification. The results showed that the poorest homes furnished only a small per cent and that the best and average homes furnished about equal proportions. There was no verification of the assumption that all bright Negro children are mulattoes. Some of the causes affecting the present status of Negro chil- dren in the schools have been suggested thus at length. Others may be studied from the context. So far as the results of this study up to this point are concerned, there is no evidence to show that Negro children differ from white children because of race. There is much evidence to show that they differ largely whether because of envi- ronment or only in the midst of environment cannot be discussed here. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to report an exhaustive and scientific study of more exact measurements before any conclusions can be reached in regard to race differences. But for the present, neither the causes nor the processes serve to change the condition. Whatever they are it has been shown that Negro pupils constitute a separate problem of education in the schools and it is necessary to interpret the meaning of facts, regardless of their causes. Then when the more exact causes have been determined it will be possible to know the more exact significance of the facts reported. It will be seen that the problem of the Negro child has two distinct larger meanings. The first is the effect of the present conditions upon the successful application of the present school system to Negro children. Rated according to the usual standards, it has been shown that the schools are not successful in teaching Negro children. These children are not receiving education approximating their needs either for liberal training or industrial work. It is scarcely possible to place the blame entirely upon the Negro children. The second meaning of the facts has to do with the effect which this slow rate of progress 198 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY and over-age has upon the white children, involving the working efficiency of the whole school system. If the eight thousand Negro pupils in the schools, of whom more than 5,590 are retarded, were all grouped together, the problem would involve only about that number of retarded pupils. But these Negro children are enrolled in many schools involving primarily more than 60,000 children. Because of the dull Negro pupils hi each class, the teachers claim that the entire class must lose much tune and thus the rate of progress and the degree of efficiency are lowered. This repetition of time on the part of the teachers varies from almost 40 per cent in the more difficult subjects to a much smaller amount in easier studies. If this repeated teaching is not given, the Negro pupils suffer and thus add to the already high percentage of retardation. Unfortunately, there is no way of measuring this loss and subtracting the degree of similar losses in the same classes because of dull white pupils, in order to ascertain the median generic loss caused by the retarded Negro pupils in each subject and grade. It is possible, however, to estimate the number of years lost by Negro pupils in the aggregate. That is, the number of years repre- sented in the total over-age pupils is a measure of ultimate loss which the Negro pupils sustain through elimination and retardation. This loss is not always a loss in expense to the city by any means, for, as has been shown, late entrance accounts for much of the Negro pupils' retardation. It does in every case, however, show the relation be- tween the over-age pupil and the normal pupil, and some inference may be drawn as to the extent to which normal pupils are hindered and loss of time incurred. If the aggregate years of pupils over-age be calculated for the white children, there would be 87,242 such years or approximately six months for each child reported. If the same aggregate for Negro children be calculated there would be 13,842 such years or approxi- mately twenty-one months for each Negro enrolled. That is, of the total years above normal age for all children, 101,084, Negro children have more than 12 per cent. These years of retardation may not cost a large amount of money, but tax the efficiency of the schools. This cost to efficiency, caused by the retarded pupils, is further intensified by the prejudice existing in the minds of white pupils and teachers. This difficulty may be understood when it is remembered that the white teachers are teaching day after day a group of children in NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 199 whom the majority can see few strong points. The full meaning of the present situation cannot be discussed adequately until the studies of exact measurements, comparisons of Negro children in mixed and separate schools according to uniform school tests, and comparison of teaching efficiency in the white and Negro schools have been reported. Meantime it is well to proceed with the second division of this inquiry. Tests of General Intelligence and Mental Processes It is perhaps an accepted theory that the influence of environ- ment is much more powerful in the displacement of an individual or group downward than upward. That is, unfavorable environment may easily retard or warp growth, and take away from their highest possibilities the energies that make a high mental or physical develop- ment possible. While favorable environment, likewise, has its strong influence in developing mental and physical energies to their natural consummation, it can rarely raise them beyond their natural abilities. Suppose a group of individuals of median abilities be divided into two parts, the one placed under favorable environment, the other under unfavorable environment. The part living under unfavorable envi- ronment will furnish a larger proportion of the exceptionally inferior, than will the other group of exceptionally superior; or to consider the individual, a person of only the median ability cannot be raised to the rank of the most exceptional superiority by any environment, whereas, the individual of median ability may often be reduced by environment to the most exceptionally inferior. 2 Now this fact is of special significance in the study of Negro children. On the one hand it lends support to the conclusion that the failure and defects of Negro children may be due only to environment which is unfavorable to their highest development. There is, thus far, no evidence to contra- dict such a conclusion, while there is much evidence to show that the environment under which Negro children have grown is unfavorable to the development of the mental abilities commonly accepted as superior. But on the other hand, it may lend evidence to the conclu- sion that no environment, however good and however much of favor- able training and positive impetus it might offer, can raise individuals of only moderate efficiency and intelligence to a station of superiority. 2 See Thorndike's Educational Psychology, p. 210. 200 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Now it has been shown that Negro children show a large proportion of inferior inefficiency in certain accepted fields according to certain accepted methods of rating. They also show a certain proportion of apparently exceptional superiority in certain processes and activities. Here again the results indicate, on the one hand, that Negro children conform to the conditions in which environment is the chief factor in determining the results; and likewise, owing to admixture of white blood, and owing to the inaccuracy of measurements, there is no evi- dence to show that they do not appear to furnish only mediocre native abilities at the best. With only this knowledge at hand, it is absolutely impossible to say bow much and of what sort are the innate differences between white and Negro children. So far the inferiority of Negro children in school efficiency has been reported only in terms of very general estimates and the study and correlation of even imme- diate environment showed sufficient influence to bring about present conditions. But no tests of efficiency in specific processes have been made and no relative standard of intelligence established. It is necessary, therefore, to measure with methods of scientific precision the mental and physical traits of the median group of Negro children and to report the results in terms of objective units. These must then be compared with similar exact measurements of the median white children. Next the exceptionally inferior and the exceptionally superior children must be studied and the nature of the basis of their inferior and superior qualities be ascertained so far as is possible. These measurements must include both mental and physical processes and their combinations and so far as possible the total intelligence of the children. When this has been done it will be possible to rate any differences that may be of long standing, inherent, if not inher- ited, and upon this base a knowledge of the fundamental needs and perhaps possiblities of the children may be built. Upon this basis, too, may be begun studies of actual racial psychology and important aspects of American education. First, it is necessary to study mental processes. The list of im- portant aspects of total mentality which might be tested, is almost unlimited. However, certain generally accepted fundamental proc- esses may be tested and their quickness, breadth, intensity and strength ascertained. The physical basis and motor processes may then be studied and correlated. But as a preparation for such inquiry let the total intelligence of the children be measured according to NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 201 some accepted and approximately accurate standard. Such a stand- ard should be apart from knowledge gained primarily in the school room, and should test only general intelligence. Such a test is found in the Binet measuring scale of intelligence which furnishes a simple but accurate test for each year up to fourteen years of age. The test for the fourteenth year was entirely impractical but the other tests were used with every precaution for accuracy. The method was the same as that used by Goddard and the tests for Negro children accordingly compared with those made upon whites by Dr. Goddard. 3 The number of white children tested by Dr. Goddard was 1,547 and the number of Negro children tested in this study was 300, the num- ber being unavoidably limited, but the selection a fair chance selection. Of these numbers the white children showed 21 per cent testing one year above age and 20 per cent testing one year below age, while the Negro children show only 5 per cent one year above age and 26 per cent one year below age. Negro children show 6.3 per cent feeble- minded as compared with 3.9 per cent white children. The figures for the white children conform closely to a normal curve while the upper half of the curve for Negro children is almost entirely wanting. The median for the white children falls within the "at age" period while with Negro children it falls decidedly at "one year below age." Taking three years, one above age, at age, and one below age, as "normal" and plotting the curves the result is almost identical to the similar curve plotted for normal, below and above normal age as indicated in the grade distribution already described, indicating that the school grading and the Binet tests coincide so far as the classifi- cation of Negro children is concerned. The total averages, however, do not represent the tests accu- rately in the case of Negro children. The Negro children at five, six and seven years test about normal, while the older children test far below normal. Those at five years test 5.1 years, while the fifteen year old children tested only 11.3 years. The average thus goes from 0.1 year above to 3.7 years below age. The following table gives the average intelligence for each year and the number tested. Here again it will be necessary to have a larger number of tests, and also to make other tests in order to ascertain the accuracy of the tests for the older children. 3 See The Training School, January, 1910, and 1911. 202 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Further detailed study of the tests for each year reveals other important considerations. The tests for the sixth year were answered by a larger per cent of Negro children of that age than of white chil- dren. In the seventh year Negro children were approximately as good as the white, and thence they decrease to the thirteenth year regularly until at that age no Negro children thirteen years of age passed the test. In only the sixth and seventh years could more than 50 per cent of the Negro children pass the test for their ages so that the question is raised as to whether the tests are not misplaced in this instance and whether it is quite fair to use the same standards with Negro children as with white children. A second general test was given to supplement the Binet tests with better results. The completion method of Ebbinghaus was used AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE OF NEGRO CHILDREN Age Number of pupils Average age by Binet tests Average amount backward (years) 5 10 5.1 0.1 (above) 6 33 5.6 0.4 7 42 6.7 0.3 8 45 7.3 0.7 9 36 7.2 1.8 10 37 8.6 1.4 11 33 9.5 1.5 12 20 10.5 1.5 13 23 10.4 2.6 14 13 10.7 3.3 15 8 11.3 3.7 with a view to testing children on their ability "to combine fragments or isolated sections into a meaningful whole." 4 The test was given to white and Negro children from eleven to fourteen years of age. The text contained 93 elisions. The average number correct for the white children was 56.4 and for the Negro children 47.5. Ten per cent of the white children returned incoherent completions and 35 per cent of the Negro children. Thirty-five per cent of Negro chil- dren made completion by phrase only as opposed to 10.8 per cent of white children. The mode for white children ranged from fifty to seventy and for Negro children from forty to fifty. * The test is given in Whipple's Manual of Menial and Physical Tests. NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 203 Next cajne the tests for "single traits," the first of which was Thorndike's "A" test for simple perception, the results being graded according to the number of "A's" marked regardless of the number omitted. Three hundred and ten white children and 275 Negro children were tested with the result that Negro children showed a higher average of performance and a wider range of variability, the Negro children marking an average of 21.9 and the white children 19.3 while the average deviation for the Negroes was 6.9 and for the whites 4.2. The curve for the white children tends to conform to a normal curve of distribution while that for the Negro children is flat and irregular. The next test given was Thorndike's "A-t" test for association of ideas, thus taking one step more. The same number of children were tested with the result that white and Negro children are approx- imately equal in average performance but Negro children again show larger deviations. The average performance of white children was 16.9 and for Negro children 16.6 and the deviations being 3.7 and 4.2 respectively. Here again the curve for white children conforms more closely to the normal distribution, the whites excelling in the mode and average and the Negroes in variability and range. The next test added to association of ideas and perception, controlled association as suggested in Thorndike's "opposites" test. Here the difference between the two groups was much larger, the average for the whites being 13.2 and for the Negroes 10.5, and still the deviation for the Negroes was 4.4 as opposed to 3.6 for the whites. The curve for white children tends again to normal while that for Negro children is multimodal and very irregular, being exactly the opposite of the whites for whom the test was a little too easy, it being a little too difficult for completion by the Negro children. The next test combines association of ideas and controlled asso- ciation with some knowledge and facility in spelling as outlined by Thorndike's misspelled word test. In grading according to efficiency in marking misspelled words the difference was found to be greater than in other tests. The white children have 10.6 per cent who mark from 90 to 100 while the Negro children have only 1.5 per cent. The white children showed only 1.3 per cent who marked under 20 while the Negro children showed 10.8 per cent. The mode for the white children was at 80 and for the Negro children at 30. The average for 204 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY white children was 69.6 and for Negro children 50.6 while the deviation for Negro children was again larger than for white children, and the curves are similar to those of other tests. In grading the same test according to the number omitted the same results were noted, a lower efficiency and larger deviation. Thus in these tests ranging from the simplest to more complex the Negro children tend to decrease in efficiency as the complexity of the process increases, as compared with white children. In the first they excel slightly; in the second they almost equal the perform- ance of the whites; in the third they fall eonsiderably below and in the fourth very much below. In all cases the deviation is considerably larger for the Negro children, thus raising very important considerations. Conclusion Further tests and measurements of white and Negro children might have been carried to an almost indefinite extent with profit. But the limit of this study, bounded by the facilities at hand, had been reached, and sufficient data obtained to permit brief summaries, conclusions and discussions of the relative differences between white and Negro children in their school environment. In considering the data given it must be remembered that they apply to Negro children as they are found today, the product of inher- itance and environment, and that the question of inherent race traits, in the strictly anthropological meaning, is entirely apart from the pres- ent discussion. It is hoped that researches into race differences will be aided by the facts reported in this study, but that is not the main object of this inquiry. If the cumulative influence of immediate and remote ancestry on the one hand, and immediate and remote environ- ment on the other, has been such as to bring about present conditions, it is essential to analyze these conditions and undertake to determine what further influences will bring the best results from continuing inheritance and environment. There can be no doubt as to the prob- lem from the practical viewpoint of efficiency in education or from the viewpoint of accepted principles of education, psychology, and anthropology. It may be 'repeated that in a problem of such long-developed standing and complexity, both in itself and in its relation to environ- ment, final conclusions cannot be reached at once. Dogmatic asser- tions and hasty recommendations should be avoided and the full force NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 205 of study and recommendation be directed toward further research and the application of knowledge and means now available. With these qualifications in mind, conclusions may be reached which will be of value in attempting to solve the pedagogical and administrative problems involved and in placing the entire question on a scientific basis. The study has shown conclusively that there are distinct differences between white and Negro children in all three of the aspects studied, namely, environment, school conditions and progress, and in mental and physical manifestations. The study of home environment shows that Negro children are at a disadvantage, in social and moral influences and in actual physical conditions, comprising food, drink, sleeping accommodations, and general hygi- enic conditions. In addition to the general social influences of crowded conditions and lower standards, the children are handicapped by poor air, water, food and irregular exercise and rest. Finally they receive little intelligent supervision and cooperation at home in maintaining a continuous connection with school and mental effort, and when leav- ing school face restricted opportunities for obtaining a livelihood. The differences in school attendance and progress are equally large. Negro children show much greater retardation measured by both age and progress; a much lower percentage of attendance and higher percentage of irregularity; a lower percentage of promotion and a lower average of class standing. Great as these differences are, the influence of environment alone seems to be sufficient to account for the majority of the results. It appears, therefore, that injustice would be done to Negro children if harsh judgment be passed upon them because they do not maintain the standard of the white children. The fact that the records of a limited number of Negro children equal the records of the best white children gives indication of larger possibilities. But the differences between the two groups do not end with envi- ronment and school progress. The exhaustive study of conditions of school progress indicated that there were differences in kind as well as in amount. The results of the tests, applied uniformly to white and Negro children, show that in their manifestation of general intelligence, Negro children, after the age of eight years, are behind the white children; that in single traits and processes these older children differ from the white children materially; that in comparison with white children the efficiency of Negro children varies inversely 206 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY as the complexity of the process; but that in practically all instances the deviations for Negro children are larger than for the white chil- dren; and in many cases the individuals among the Negro children range as high as those among the white children. The white children tend always to conform to a normal curve of distribution, and the Negro children tend toward a flat, irregular, and not infrequently, multimodal curve. These facts apply to both normal and backward children. As far as the data presented show, the differences in physical measurement of height, weight, neck and chest measurements, and temperature, respiration, and pulse, are much less and show less con- sistency in variation, and appear more traceable to the influence of immediate environment than do other differences. That these facts are significant there can be little doubt. That they present certain complex problems is entirely consistent with the inevitable results of a long and varied race inheritance combined with an equally varying environment. If, as Professor Boas concludes, "Even granting the greatest possible amount of influence to environ- ment, it is readily seen that all the essential traits of men are due primarily to heredity" 5 and if further "we must conclude that the fundamental traits of the mind .... are the more subject [than physical traits] to far-reaching changes" 6 and "we are neces- sarily led to grant also a great plasticity of the mental make-up of human types," 7 it would clearly be impossible for the Negro chil- dren to show the same manifestations of mental traits as white children, after having been under the influence of entirely different environments for many generations. This conclusion also brings with it a great responsibility. The fact that such important differences exist between the white and Negro children and that they have arisen naturally through long periods of growth in different environment, brings with it an obligation to deter- mine the exact nature of the differences, their specific causes, and the means by which a new environment and method may overcome such weaknesses as are found. The fact that the Negro children show great variability in all activities combined with the accepted theory of the plasticity of human types, gives indications of great possibilities in 1 The Mind of Primitive Man, p. 76. Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants. NEGRO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 207 the development of the Negro. But it also characterizes all efforts to deny the existence of fundamental differences between the white and Negro children as inconsistent and harmful to the development of the Negro race, on the one hand, and to the permanent adjustment of conditions on the other. The importance of these considerations may be emphasized further by referring to certain specific results of the study. For in- stance, the results of the Binet tests indicated that after the eighth year the median Negro child was unable to perform the intellectual processes commonly ascribed to a normal white child of that age. Apparently the Negro children found it very difficult to go beyond their inheritance of simple mental processes and physical growth. But they exercise to a high degree of efficiency the simple processes which, if coordinated, would lead to a higher degree of general intellectuality. Favorable environment can add nothing; it can only develop the qual- ities already possessed. If, then, it is possible to know the exact defects in development, and the nature of the traits possessed, it will be possible to develop the inherent energies and qualities in the right channels provided the method of training shall involve sufficient detail and extend over sufficient time. Herein lies the great value of defin- ing the exact differences between the several groups of children in- volved; for in this way only can efficient training for the development of native energies be provided. This is the basis of the great advance in modern intellectual methods and is entirely in accord with accepted anthropological knowledge. Responsibility does not end, however, with the effort to provide education which will ultimately develop the children into their high- est capabilities. The present and immediate future must be provided for. The great majority of Negro children not only do not enter the high school but also fail to complete the elementary grades. Less than 2 per cent of the Negro children of school age reach the eighth grade. Furthermore, their training to the period of dropping out of school fits them neither for any special work in life nor for competing with the more fortunate and better fitted in society at large. The opportunities for employment of Negro children thus equipped are limited, and they are forced to continue the struggle under even more unfavorable conditions. Add to all the inequalities already mentioned the fact that the standard of excellence, toward which white and Negro children unconsciously strive, is often entirely different. An indi- 208 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY vidual among the whites and an individual among the Negroes may each measure up to the maximum ideal of his habitual social and mental horizon and each deserve 100 per cent credit, and yet the objective measure of final achievement may be larger in the one case than in the other. What then, can the school and society expect of children to whom they give neither special training for life nor equal opportunity in the struggle? Here again the basis of improvement is found in the exact definition of conditions as they are and a recognition of their significance. It follows that from the community standpoint an effort should be made not only to provide proper education and vocational training and guidance, but the present unfavorable conditions should be so remedied as to influence the smallest possible number of children and schools. If the lack of adaptation of children to the curricula is costing the community thousands of dollars annually and is at the same time a hindrance to school efficiency and progress, and if even at this great cost the desired objects are not obtained, can there be doubt concerning the need for a more definite program? HIGHER EDUCATION OF NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES BY EDWARD T. WARE, A.B., President, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. Since 1823 there have been graduated from American colleges about 5,000 Negroes, 1,000 from Northern colleges and 4,000 from colleges established especially for Negroes in the South. Probably as many as 900 of these college graduates have been women. Only 34 Negroes were graduated before emancipation and over two-thirds of these from Oberlin College. The first three American Negro col- lege graduates were from Bowdoin, Middlebury and Ohio. The only Negro institution to establish a college department before the edict of freedom was Wilberforce University in Ohio. The department was established here in 1856, and during its first twenty years eleven students were graduated. There was no opportunity for higher education of Negroes in the South fifty years ago, and little or no incentive to such educa- tion anywhere in the nation. In the South the opportunity and incentive came speedily in the wake of emancipation and the con- sequent campaign of education. This campaign enlisted many earn- est and capable young men and women from the North, who devoted themselves to the work with a fine missionary zeal. They entered the field under the auspices of the American Missionary Association, and other missionary societies. By act of Congress of March 3, 1865, the Freedman's Bureau was created. The commissioner was authorized to "cooperate with private benevolent associations in aid of the freedman." Through this agency great assistance was given to the missionar}^ societies in their work. Under the recon- struction governments public school systems for the education of the children regardless of race were organized. Whatever the mis- takes and shortcomings of the reconstruction governments may have been, in the organizing of the public school system at least they built wisely and well. Through these three agencies the missionary societies, the fed- eral government with its Freedman's Bureau and the state govern- 209 210 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ments with their public school systems the work of educating the freed Negroes progressed rapidly. Further to aid the work there were established two great funds. In 1867 George Peabody gave $2,000,000 "for the promotion and encouragement of intellectual, moral, or industrial education among the young of the more destitute portions of the Southwestern States of our Union." This gift was for the benefit of both races. It aided greatly in the development and improvement of the state school systems by which the Negro children benefited as well as the white children. The other fund referred to is the John F. Slater Fund which, when established in 1882, amounted to $1,000,000. It was placed by Mr. Slater in the hands of a board of trust with large discretionary powers, the speci- fied object being, "the uplifting of the lately emancipated popula- tion of the Southern States, and their posterity, by conferring on them the blessings of Christian education." The income is distributed annually among the Negro institutions whose work commends itself to the trustees of the fund, chiefly to pay the salaries of teachers of man- ual arts, and partly to pay the salaries of normal instructors. In his letter of gift Mr. Slater suggests as methods of operation "the training of teachers from among the people requiring to be taught, if, in the opinion of the corporation, by such limited selection the purposes of the trust can be best accomplished; and the encouragement of such institutions as are most effectually useful in promoting this training of teachers." In providing for the ultimate distribution of the fund he says, "I authorize the corporation to apply the capital of the fund to the establishment of foundations subsidiary to then already existing institutions of higher education, in such wise as to make the educational advantages of such institutions more freely acces- ible to poor students of the colored race." These quotations clearly show the interest of Mr. Slater in the higher education of the Negroes. The need for "the training of teachers from among the people re- quiring to be taught" was one of the great motives which prompted the establishing of normal schools and colleges for the Negroes in the South The other great motive which prompted the missionary socie- ties to establish colleges for Negroes was simple faith in their possi- bilities, and belief that to them as to the white people should be open opportunities for the highest human development. Their motive was in no sense utilitarian. It was simply Christian. They looked HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES 211 upon the Negroes as essentially like white people; what differences there were between the two they considered accidental rather than vital, the result of circumstance rather than the result of race. Only the future could tell what would be the outcome of their venture; still they went forward founding institutions "for the Christian edu- cation of youth without regard to race, sex or color," and chartered to do not only college but university work. This was an expres- sion of great faith in the possibilities of the recently emancipated slaves. It was truly democratic and truly Christian. These insti- tutions were at the beginning, because of the unpreparedness of their pupils, devoted largely to work of elementary and secondary nature. Their purpose was, however, distinctly for higher educa- tion. The names by which they go and the provisions of their charters testify to this. As stated above, the college department of Wilberforce Univer- sity in Ohio was established in 1856. This is the only institution especially for Negroes to establish a college department before emancipation. In Lincoln University, Pa., the college department was established in 1864. Other institutions established these depart- ments as soon as what seemed a sufficient number of their pupils were prepared to take up college studies; Howard University, Wash- ington, D. C., in 1868; Straight University, New Orleans, La., in 1869; Leland University, New Orleans, La., in 1870; Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., in 1870; Fisk University, Nashville, Term., in 1871; Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., in 1872. Before 1880 eleven such institutions had established college departments. The next twenty years were characterized by the rapid multi- plication of Southern institutions for the higher education of the Negroes. During this time there developed two other classes of institutions contributing in some measure to higher education: first, those organized, officered and supported by the Negroes; secondly, those generally known as the state agricultural and mechanical col- leges. With the growth of the American Negroes in independence and with their practical exclusion from the Southern white churches there developed strong Negro churches and independent Negro denominations. These churches established schools for their own people, under the control of their several denominations. The schools often aspired, sometimes with reasonable success, to be institutions of higher education. 212 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY The agricultural and mechanical colleges for the Negroes are institutions supported by the Southern States with that portion of their federal land grant funds which they choose to assign to their Negro citizens. As the name implies these institutions devote their chief energies to industrial and agricultural training. There are also courses for training teachers. The Georgia State Industrial College for Negro youth is of this type. On June 10 eleven pupils were graduated from the academic course and thirty-four from the indus- trial departments. The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Col- lege gives the degree of B.S. for those who satisfactorily meet the requirements. Some of the Southern States take genuine pride in the state institutions for Negroes and make generous appropriations for their maintenance. In 1912 the Alabama State Normal School received $17,000 and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College $12,000 from state appropriations. The presidents and teachers of the state schools are Negroes and the salaries paid are frequently better than those paid hi the institutions supported by Northern philanthropy. The number of educational enterprises for Southern Negroes which are doing at least some work of college grade is so great as to be bewildering; and calls for some attempt wisely to discriminate among them and to determine the value of the work they are doing. Three years ago such an attempt was made by the sociological department of Atlanta University hi connection with the fifteenth annual Atlanta conference for the study of Negro problems. The report of this study is published under the title "The College-Bred Negro American." More recently, hi November and December, 1912, Mr. W. T. B. Williams, field agent of the John F. Slater Fund, made a comparative study of the Negro universities in the South. This was published by the Slater Fund as number 13 of their Occa- sional Papers. From these sources may be gained valuable infor- mation regarding Southern institutions for the higher education of the Negroes. The Atlanta study hi discussing the Negro colleges makes a classification based upon high school work required for admission and the number of students enrolled in 1909-1910 in classes of college grade, whether in the normal or college departments. There were twenty-three institutions which required fourteen units of high school work for admission to college classes, the amount of work laid down by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES 213 of Teaching as necessary to prepare adequately for college entrance. Of the twenty-three, eleven had more than twenty students of col- lege rank. Nine others were doing work of college grade. The following conclusion was reached: As has been shown, there are about thirty-two colored institutions doing college work; but the leading colleges according to the Carnegie Foundation units, which have a reasonable number of students are: Howard University, Fisk University, Atlanta University, Wiley University, Leland University, Virginia Union University, Clark University, Knoxville College, Spelman Seminary, Claflin University, Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse Col- lege), Lincoln University, Talladega College. Mr. Williams concludes his study of twenty-two Negro uni- versities in the South with the following statements: A few of these universities or other colleges doing similar work might be taken and so developed as to meet practically all the needs of Negro youth for many years. All things considered, the best six of these colored univer- sities are Howard, Fisk, Virginia Union, Atlanta, Shaw and Wiley. These schools have already been of exceptional service in the higher development of the colored people. Each one has built up for itself a good following. And they are all fairly well located as educational centers for the ampler training of the brighter Negro youth of the South. It must not, however, be forgotten that, as a study of the facilities for the higher education of the Negro in the South, this consideration of the Negro universities alone is arbitrarily narrow and incomplete. There are at least five other institutions with less pretentious titles doing as advanced and as effective work as seven-eighths of these universities. They are: Talla- dega College, Talladega, Ala. ; Atlanta Baptist College (Morehouse College) Atlanta, Ga. ; Knoxville College, Knoxville, Tenn. ; Benedict College, Colum- bia, S. C.; Bishop College, Marshall, Texas. And there are at least a dozen other colleges whose work will not suffer in comparison with that of more than half the universities. It should be noted that Mr. Williams' study is confined to Southern universities and therefore does not include Wilberforce and Lincoln. Judging solely from the number of institutions offering college courses one might conclude that higher education for the Negroes was being overdone; but as a matter of fact only a small proportion of the students enrolled in the institutions in question are engaged in college work. Practically all of the colleges have also high school departments. This is made necessary by the failure of the South 214 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY to provide in the public schools for the high school education of the Negroes. Most of the institutions also have classes in the grades. Tables compiled by the Atlanta University study show in the thirty- two institutions the following enrollment: Number of students in college classes 1,131 Number of students in high school classes 3,896 Number in grades 6,845 Professional 1,602 Total 13,474 Of all students of college grade and below only about 9.5 per cent were enrolled in college classes. A similar study of twenty-two universities by Mr. Williams shows only about 11 per cent enrolled in college classes. Most of the institutions founded by the church societies offer theological courses though none of them has made the academic requirements very rigid. Mr. Williams reports that "Shaw, Virginia Union and Howard are perhaps doing more than the others to raise the grade of their regular work to that of well recognized theologi- cal schools." The Meharry Medical School of Walden University in Nashville enrolled 523 students this year. Two other universities offer graduate courses in law and medicine which qualify graduates to pass state examinations and practice successfully. Their enroll- ment reported for 1913 is as follows: PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS Theological Law Medical Shaw University, Raleigh Howard University, Wash- ington. . . 19 97 8 121 156 341 In the four institutions named above there are 1,295 students enrolled in the professional schools, representing the best work of this type done by the Southern Negro universities. Many of the brightest students of the Southern colleges have later graduated in professional studies in Northern universities. The value of the higher education of the Negroes can be best determined by the record of the college graduates. In making the Atlanta University study, a questionnaire was sent out from which HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES 215 answers were received from eight hundred Negro college graduates, a number which was estimated as covering about one-fourth of the entire number of living graduates and therefore considered typical of the whole group. Of the number reporting 53.8 per cent were engaged in teach- ing, 20 per cent in preaching, 7 per cent in medicine and 3.8 per cent in law; the others were engaged in various occupations. It appears that the largest group is engaged in the work for which the first colleges were founded; they have become "teachers for those requiring to be taught." The three professions claiming the next largest numbers without question demand for the best service the most liberal education possible. The whole system of public education in the South from the grammar school to the state college provides for the separate edu- cation of the two races; and almost without exception the Negro schools are presided over and taught by people of their own race. Most of the private schools of the industrial type and those doing work of secondary grade are also taught by Negroes. It may be said without question that such measure of success as these insti- tutions have attained has been largely due to the teacher training of the institutions of higher education. From information recently obtained from fifteen of the South- ern state normal and agricultural schools it appears that 142 of their 347 teachers, all of them colored, are graduates of colleges. That is, 41 per cent, or about two-fifths of the teachers in the state schools for Negroes are college graduates. Of the 186 teachers and instructors at Tuskegee Institute 45, or 24 per cent, are college grad- uates. On the other hand there may always be found in the better Negro colleges graduates of the industrial schools who have proved themselves capable of further study. There are now several Tuske- gee graduates studying at Atlanta University and several Atlanta graduates teaching at Tuskegee. This suggests that the two types of education are but branches of the same great work, the work of educating a race. The question of the relative importance of industrial and higher education for the Negroes has led to much fruitless discussion. The truth is that both types of training are indispensable for the proper education of the people; and neither can fulfil its mission without cooperation with the other. The advantage of such industrial train- ing as that offered by Hampton Institute is established beyond the 216 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY shadow of a doubt. One of the surest evidences of this is that it is no longer urged as a peculiar method of dealing with Negro youth, but that it has influenced and modified our opinions regarding the whole question of public school training for the children of America, tending to emphasize the organic, vital relationship between edu- cation and the problems of every day life. Hampton has been a pioneer in the campaign for vocational training not of the Negroes alone but of all Americans. As a special type of training adapted to the Negroes, it may have had opponents, but as a type of train- ing making for efficient citizenship and specially adapted to the needs of a multitude of American citizens it has acquired a position where its friends and advocates need fear no opposition. There may be those who would allow vocational training to crowd aca- demic instruction to the wall but the true followers of General Arm- strong are not among them. And who would argue that because industrial education of this sort is good for white youth the colleges of New England should be turned into industrial or technical schools? The higher education of the Negroes is quite a different ques- tion today from what it was fifty years ago. Like any question involving so large a number of citizens and containing so many human elements, it is a matter of national rather than sectional concern; still it must affect the Negroes and the South more directly than any other part of the nation. There are elements to deal with today which either did not exist or were practically ignored fifty years ago. At that time we did not ask the Negro if he wanted higher education and we did not consult his former master to know whether it was advisable. Northern philanthropy took the Negro by the hand and said, "I know that you have the ability to learn," and then opened before him the door of opportunity. There were many who ridiculed the effort, saying that it was foredoomed to failure, and among them were people of the South who thought they understood the Negro race and knew its limita- tions. Today we must work with the Negro rather than for him. How shall we know what is best for the race without taking into our counsels the thousands of its college graduates? Another element which must not be ignored in any educational effort for the Negroes is that growing class of Southern white people who appreciate the educational needs of the colored people as Amer- ican citizens and who sympathize with their best aspirations. Dr. W. D. Weatherford, a Southerner and secretary of the Young Men's HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES 217 Christian Association has organized in Southern white colleges classes for the study of the Negro problem. In 1912 there were enrolled in these classes 6,000 college men. This study has done much to quicken the interest and sympathy of white college students in the welfare of Southern Negroes. At the second session of the Southern Sociological Congress held in Atlanta last April there was a section devoted to the dis- cussion of the Negro problems. Dr. James H. Dillard presided and Dr. Weatherford acted as secretary. Addresses were made by white and colored delegates and both entered into the open discussions. Some of the addresses most sympathetic to the Negroes and most courageous in their condemnation of the evils of race prejudice were delivered by young professors in Southern white colleges. At the last general gathering of the congress a significant remark was made by a young colored teacher in Morehouse College. He said, in substance, "I have been greatly encouraged by the attitude of sympathy and fairness taken by young men of the white race to- ward the Negroes in this congress. Nothing can better make for progress than the mutual understanding and cooperation of the young college men of both races." This is certainly true, and the college education of both should help make possible wise cooperation. And what is the attitude of these two elements the educated Negroes and the educated Southern white people toward the higher education of the Negroes? One question asked of the Negro college graduates in the Atlanta University investigation was, "How shall you educate your children?" The report says, "By far the greater number of those making reply are planning to give their children the advantages of a college education, hoping thereby to properly equip them for life's work, whether in the trades or in the profes- sions." Typical answers are, "I believe in educating the child to make the best citizen; a college education to those who will take it," and, "It is my intention to give them the very best education that they can assimilate." In answer to the question, "What is your present practical philosophy in regard to the Negro race in America?" there were many interesting answers upon which the following comment is made : A careful reading of the above quotations from the replies of the Negro college graduates discloses on the whole a hopeful and encouraging attitude on the part of these educated men and women. Though hampered by preju- dice and its accompanying discriminations as well as by lack of opportunity 218 THE ANNALS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY these men and women are for the most part hopeful of the future of the Negro race in America. Of this we may be certain, every Negro who receives a modern college education worthy of the name will be fully aware of the dis- criminations and injustices that fall to his lot because he is a Negro and lives in America. And it is a question how long he will endure with patience the disabilities under which he lives at present on this account. The answers to the questionnaire make repeated claim to equality before the law, full citizenship rights and privileges, the right to vote and unrestricted educational opportunities. What edu- cated American citizen would demand less? We cannot expect that all Southern white people, even those who have received the benefits of higher education, will sympathize with the educated Negroes or applaud their sentiments of inde- pendence. But there is a growing number who will. In 1909 the Rev. Quincy Ewing of Napoleonville, La., addressed to Dr. Horace Bumstead a letter from which I shall quote in con- cluding; for here we have an expression of a Southern white man regarding the higher education of the Negro which will remind us strongly of the noble motives prompting the establishment of colleges for the Negroes fifty years ago. You are very right to feel that the efforts you and others are making in behalf of Atlanta University have not only my approval but also my applause. I could not feel otherwise except on one of two grounds, viz., that the higher education is not good for a human being; or that the Negro is not really a human being. If he is a human being, he has as much right as I to everything that is humanly uplifting, to everything that makes for a complete and exalted humanness. A denial of the Negro's essential humanness is involved in every argument I have ever heard against his higher education: a denial equivalent to the affirmation, that the Negro should not be what he wants to be, not what he is capable of being, but what other people, his superiors, find it agreeable to themselves for him to be. The untrammeled education of any subordinate race so easily segregated as the Negroes, must be painfully uphill work, until the spirit of true democ- racy becomes dominant among us; or until the mark of true aristocracy shall be among us, scorn of the idea that one man is born to serve another of a different kind, and love of the idea that every man is born to serve every other of every kind. If there were only some way to get the majority of us educated by the spirit of what is really democracy, or by the spirit of what is really aristocracy only some way of solving this fundamental problem, all our other educational problems would be the simplest things with which we have to deal! INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, LL.D., Principal, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. Fifty years ago the Negro people of the United States started out empty handed, without property, without education and with very little knowledge or experience, on a great adventure. Abraham Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation had given them their free- dom, and the two war amendments to the constitution had made them citizens of the United States and given them the ballot. With these they started out in the new world so to speak to seek their fortunes which freedom had opened to them. Although slavery and the Negro had been the real issue between the North and the South in the Civil War, when the war was over the Negro was not without friends in both sections of the country. There were numbers of people both in the South and in the North, who wished the Negro well, and were glad to advise him and help him to make his way under the new conditions in which he found himself. The difficulty was that the two sections of the country held diametrically opposite notions as to the best way to proceed. In the long controversy which followed, the bewildered freedman was like a ball that is batted from one side to another by rival players in a game. The result was that the Negro got most of the knocks and, in the end, was thrown pretty much on his own resources and compelled to make his own way as best he could. As was to be expected under the circumstances, the Negro, for a number of years, groped his way along and often strayed from the direct path, but in spite of all he made progress great progress, in fact when all the circumstances are considered. It is my purpose, in the article which follows, to tell something of the progress which the Negro has made during these years in the matter of education, and to indicate, so far as I am able, the direc- tion in which further progress may be expected in the future. Let me say, to begin with, that one of the first and most impor- tant things which emancipation did for the Negro and the South 219 220 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY was to bring into existence a public school system. Previous to the Civil War there had been no public school system worthy of the name, in the slave states, so that, whatever anyone may say in regard to the wisdom or lack of wisdom in giving the Negro the ballot, it should not be forgotten that it was the Negro vote which gave the white man the public school. Negro education began in the South, however, several years before there were any Negro votes or any public school system. A little army of Yankee school ma'ms followed in the wake of the Northern armies and, wherever the federal forces succeeded in estab- lishing themselves on Southern soil, schools for the education of the freedmen were started. It was in September, 1861, that the first school for freedmen was started in the South. This school, established by the American Missionary Association, was located at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and it laid the foundation for the Hampton Institute, the first distinc- tively industrial school, so far as I know, to be established in the United States for either race. After emancipation schools for the freedmen multiplied through- out the South, under the direction of the freedmen's bureau, which had charge of the education of the freedmen from 1865 to 1870, when its work was discontinued. Either under its direction, or in cooperation with it, there were established during this short period 2,677 schools with 3,300 teachers and 149,587 pupils. Statistics give but a poor conception of the character of these early freedmen's schools. Most of them were located in abandoned buildings of some kind or other. Some of them were established in old army barracks; others were started in churches, and still others were held out in the open, under the shade of a convenient tree. Children and old men sat side by side upon the rude benches. Those who were not able to go to school in the daytime went to school at night, and those who could not find time to go to school during the other days in the week crowded into the Sabbath schools on Sunday. Old blue back spellers were dug up out of odd corners into which they had been hidden away during slavery times and, with these and such other books as they could find, the whole race set out to master the mystery of letters. The most pathetic figures, in all the eager and excited throng which crowded into the school INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 221 rooms, were the old men and women who hoped before they died to be able to learn to read the one book of which they had any knowl- edge, namely, the Bible. The first report of the United States commissioner was pub- lished in 1870. From the scattered and fragmentary figures and statements which it offers, one is able to gain some notion of the condition of the Negro schools at that time. In Alabama the report of the general superintendent of the freedmen's bureau, which the commissioner quotes, indicated that there were 155 schools, with 168 teachers and 11,531 pupils. At this time, also, Alabama had 49 Negro Sabbath schools, with 244 teachers and 8,744 pupils. The number of pupils paying tuition in the day schools was 633 and the amount of money collected from these pupils was $1,248.95. By 1872 conditions had much improved. At this time there were en- rolled in the colored schools of Alabama 54,334 pupils, with an average attendance of 41,308. This was an increase of 25,000 over the previous year. In 1881, the year in which the Tuskegee Institute was started in Macon County, Ala., the condition of the schools throughout the state was not much better than it had been nine years before. There were 68,951 pupils enrolled, with an average attendance of 48,476. The average length of the school year in the public schools was seventy-eight days. Only about one-third of the Negro children of school age were enrolled in the schools and not more than 28 per cent were in actual attendance. In South Carolina the Negro public schools in 1870 were not as far advanced, so far as one can judge from the reports, than they were in Alabama at the same period. The failure of the general assembly to pass a school bill had left the public schools without funds, and the report states that "the children of the state are growing up in ignorance." Reports from the counties showed that "the chief obstacles to an efficient school system are the want of funds, the indifference resulting from ignorance, and a deep-rooted prejudice on the part of both races to mixed schools/' The super- intendent of the freedmen's schools furnished information of the existence of eight schools for Negroes with an enrollment of 3,500. One of these was a freedmen's pay school supported entirely by colored people. Directly after the war conditions in some of the Northern 222 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY States were not much better than they were in the South. In Illinois, for example, Negro children were almost wholly ignored in the common school legislation, except that a provision was made that the money paid by Negroes in the form of taxes should be applied to Negro education. In practice, however, this was not done. Still in some of the towns of the state adequate provision was made for the colored children. In Indiana Negro education was not much better provided for than in Illinois. The law pro- vided that Negro children should be educated apart and, in accord- ance with this law, the city of Indianapolis set aside two school buildings for the use of the colored children, "although," the report adds, "they have been for several years out of use because of their unfitness." On the other hand, the city of Baltimore, Md., had at this time 63 schools for colored children and in addition to this an efficient normal school with 5 teachers and 210 pupils. In other parts of the state, however, the colored public schools, so far as any indi- cations given in the reports show, did not exist. The law provided that the money paid in taxes by colored people should be used for the education of the colored children. The records show that the sum of $951.27, collected from Negro tax-payers in six counties, had been charged as paid out to colored schools, but there was no report of any such schools existing. The vague and indefinite character of these reports suggests the condition and the character of the early Negro schools. This was to be expected. The Civil War had brought financial ruin to the Southern States; there was neither money nor means to build school houses and maintain schools. In some respects, in spite of their poverty and their ignorance, the freedmen were in a better situation than their former masters. They had, at least, the physical strength and training for rough work of the fields and it was this kind of labor that was necessary to make a beginning. Besides all else the country was torn and distracted with politi- cal controversies, and public sentiment was indifferent when it was not hostile to Negro education. All of these facts should be con- sidered when an attempt is made to estimate the progress of Negro education during these early years and since. Notwithstanding these difficulties Negro education has made progress from the first. In 1877, when the first general summary INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 223 of the statistics of education in the Southern States was made, it appeared that there were 571,506 colored children and 1,827,139 white children enrolled in the public schools of the sixteen former slave states and the District of Columbia. By 1909 the number of children enrolled in the colored schools had increased to 1,712,137. This was, however, but 56.34 per cent of the total colored school population. Meanwhile the illiteracy of the Negro in the Southern States has been reduced from something like 95 per cent of the whole population, at the beginning of freedom, to 33.3 per cent in 1910. In the United States as a whole the number of Negroes who could neither read nor write was at this tune 30.4 per cent of the whole Negro population. A further evidence of the progress which Negro education had made in forty-seven years is the number of high schools maintained for Negroes in different parts of the country. Not all of these, however, were located in the Southern States. Of the 141 colored high schools supported by states and municipalities, reported by the commissioner of education in 1910, there were 4 in Alabama, 6 in Arkansas, 1 in Delaware, 1 in the District of Columbia, 6 in Florida, 11 in Georgia, 7 in Kentucky, 8 in Mississippi, 1 in Mary- land, 21 in Missouri, 3 in Oklahoma, 4 in South Carolina, 7 in Tennessee, 36 in Texas, 5 in Virginia, 5 in West Virginia. Besides these there were high schools for Negroes in other states: Illinois 4, Indiana 6, Kansas 1, Ohio 2, Pennsylvania 1. Although the statistics indicate that Negro illiteracy has been steadily reduced until at the present time more than two-thirds of the whole Negro population is able both to read and write, this much could not have been accomplished unless the work of the public schools had been supplemented by that of other schools main- tained by private philanthropy. It is safe to say that, of the 34,000 Negro teachers now carry- ing on the work of the public schools in the South, the majority, if not all, of these who have obtained anything like an adequate training for their work, have been educated in schools that have been maintained, in whole or in part, by private philanthropy. The number of these schools has grown steadily with the growth of the public schools and especially in recent years there have sprung up a multitude of smaller academies and so-called colleges, supported 224 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY to a very large extent by the colored people themselves, which have supplemented and to some extent extended the work of the public schools. As near as I am able to determine there are not fewer than 600 schools of various kinds, colleges, academies, industrial and pro- fessional schools, supported for the most part by private philanthropy in different Southern and Northern States. About 400 of these, I should say, are small schools which are doing the work of the public schools in the primary grades. Of these smaller schools there are at present no statistics avail- able to indicate the character and extent of the work they are doing. Of the 189 larger and more advanced schools of which there is record, the statistics show that they have 2,941 teachers and 57,915 pupils. Of the pupils in these schools, which include practically all of the institutions doing secondary college work, 19,654 are in the second- ary grades; 3,214 are collegiate students, and 32,967 are in the elementary grades. In addition to these 2,080 are pursuing profes- sional studies and 29,954 are getting industrial training of some sort or other. Although the number of schools calling themselves colleges is relatively large the vast majority of their students are in the ele- mentary or secondary grades. For example, in the 189 schools referred to in the foregoing paragraph, nearly 60 per cent are in the elementary grades and only 5.5 per cent are pursuing collegiate studies. In fact, up to 1910 a careful study of the Negro college graduates indicates that altogether, from 1820 to 1909, the number of Negroes who had completed a course of study in a college or a University was not more than 3,856 and of this number about 700 had graduated from Northern schools. It has been estimated that since 1870 the sixteen former slave states have contributed about $1,200,000,000 to the support of their public schools. Of this amount $160,000,000 went to the support of the Negro schools. I have not been able to determine with any accuracy the amount which has been contributed since emancipation to Negro education by religious and philanthropic agencies. As near as can be esti- mated it has amounted to about $50,000,000. To this should be added about $20,000,000 more which has been contributed by Negroes through their churches and other organizations. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 225 The progress of Negro education has undoubtedly been more rapid during the past ten years than during any previous similar period. Not only have several Southern cities built and equipped first class high schools for the benefit of their colored populations, but there has also been a marked advance, particularly in recent years, in the character of the colored rural schools in many parts of the country. This has been due to the work of the Anna T. Jeanes Fund in cooperation with the county superintendents, the rural industrial schools and the colored people themselves, in the communities in which these schools are located. A number of cities in the South, notably Louisville, Ky., have done much to put Negro education on a sound basis by the estab- lishment of branch libraries for the use of their colored populations. Until very recently there have been few places in the South where Negroes have had access to any large collection of books. Even the Negro colleges have been able to provide few if any modern books for the use of their students. Recently several of the larger schools, through the generosity of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, erected handsome and commodious library buildings and are now gradually accumulating the books necessary for serviceable working and reference libraries. The total annual expenditures for Negro education at the pres- ent time indicate to some extent the efficiency of Negro education, although Rural School Supervisor Tate, of South Carolina, says that, after a careful study of the conditions of the rural schools he has reached the conclusion that a large part of the money expended by South Carolina is wasted. He says in his report for 1911 and 1912: "During the year I have visited many schools in which three hours of demonstration work and practical suggestion would double the efficiency of an earnest but inexperienced teacher. The education of the Negro in South Carolina," he adds, "is in the hands of the white race. The white trustees apportion the funds, select the teachers and receive the reports. The county superintendent has the supervision of these schools in his hands. We have expended this year $349,834.60 in the support of the Negro schools. I have never visited one of these schools without feeling that we were wasting a large part of this money and neglecting a great opportunity." The total expenditures for Negro schools in the United States 226 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY in 1911 and 1912 amounted to $13,061,700. Of this amount the sum of $8,645,846 was contributed to the support of the public schools by the sixteen former slave states, the District of Columbia and Oklahoma. The total amount expended by states and munici- palities for secondary and higher education was $758,972. To this sum should be added $299,267, contributed by the federal govern- ment and $3,359,615 from other sources, making the total expendi- tures for the secondary and higher education of the Negro in the United States as a whole, $4,415,854. Negroes represent 11 per cent of the population and receive about 2 per cent of the school funds for their education. I have tried, in what I have written thus far, to indicate, so far as it is possible to do so by means of statistics and formal state- ments, the progress which the Negro has made in education during the fifty years of freedom. There have, however, been so much change and progress in Negro education that no statistics, which merely show for schools or the proportion of children in the schools, can give any adequate account. If I were asked what I believe to be the greatest advance which Negro education has made since emancipation I should say that it had been in two directions: first, the change which has taken place, among the masses of the Negro people, as to what education really is and, second, the change that has taken place, among the masses of the white people, in the South, toward Negro education itself. I can perhaps make clear what I mean by a little explanation. The Negro learned in slavery to work but he did not learn to respect labor. On the contrary, the Negro was constantly taught, directly and indirectly during slavery times, that labor was a curse. It was the curse of Canaan, he was told, that condemned the black man to be for all time the slave and servant of the white man. It was the curse of Canaan that made him for all time "a hewer of wood and drawer of water." The consequence of this teaching was that, when emancipation came, the Negro thought freedom must, in some way, mean freedom from labor. The Negro had also gained in slavery some general notions in regard to education. He observed that the people who had educa- tion for the most part belonged to the aristocracy, to the master class, while the people who had little or no education were usually of the class known as "poor whites." In this way education became INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 227 associated, in his mind, with leisure, with luxury, and freedom from the drudgery of work with the hands. Another thing that the Negro learned in slavery about educa- tion was that it was something that was denied to the man who was a slave. Naturally, as soon as freedom came, he was in a great hurry to get education as soon as possible. He wanted education more than he wanted land or property or anything else, except, perhaps, public office. Although the Negro had no very definite notion in regard to education, he was pretty sure that, whatever else it might be, it had nothing to do with work, especially work with the hands. In order to make it possible to put Negro education on a sound and rational basis, it has been necessary to change the opinion of the masses of the Negro people hi regard to education and labor. It has been necessary to make them see that education which did not, directly or indirectly, connect itself with the practical daily interests of daily life could hardly be called education. It has been necessary to make the masses of the Negroes see and realize the necessity and importance of applying what they learned in school to the common and ordinary things of life; to see that education, far from being a means of escaping labor, is a means of raising up and dignifying labor and thus, indirectly a means of raising up and dignifying the common and ordinary man. It has been necessary to teach the masses of the people that the way to build up a race is to begin at the bottom and not at the top, to lift the man furthest down, and thus raise the whole structure of society above him. On the other hand, it has been necessary to demonstrate to the white man in the South that education does not "spoil" the Negro, as it had been so often predicted that it would. It was necessary to make him actually see that education makes the Negro not an idler or spendthrift, but a more industrious thrifty, law- abiding and useful citizen than he otherwise would be. As there never was any hope of educating the great mass of the Negroes in the South outside of the public schools, so there was no hope of a thoroughly efficient school system until the Southern white man was convinced that Negro education was of some real value, not only to the Negro himself, but also to the community. The task of changing the popular opinion of both races in the South in regard to the value and meaning of Negro education, has 228 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY fallen very largely to the industrial schools. The first great task of these schools has been to teach the masses of the Negro people that every form of labor is honorable and that every form of idleness is disgraceful. The second great task has been to prove to the masses of the Southern people, by actual living examples, that money invested in Negro education pays, when that education is real and not a sham. As far as the masses of the Negro people are concerned, this task is pretty nearly completed. There was a time at Tuskegee when parents objected to their children doing work with the hands in connection with their school work. They said they wanted their children to study books, and the more books and the bigger the books, the better they were satisfied. At the present time at Tuske- gee, the work in the shops and on the farm is just as interesting, just as much sought after by pupils, as work in the class room. So great has been the change in the attitude of the masses of the people in this regard that a school which does not advertise some sort of industrial training finds it difficult to get students. At the present time almost every Negro school teaches some sort of industry and the number of schools which advertise themselves as industrial insti- tutes is constantly increasing. There are, for example, not fewer than four hundred little schools in the South today which call them- selves industrial schools, although, in many instances, these schools are doing little, if anything more, in the direction of industrial training than the public schools. But if there has been a change in the opinion of the masses of the colored people in regard to education, there has been an equally great change in the attitude of the Southern white people in regard to the education of the Negro. There never was a time when the thoughtful, sober people in the South did not perceive the necessity of educating the Negro, not merely for the sake of the Negro himself, but for the sake of the South. Some of the strongest and wisest friends of Negro edu- cation have been men who were born or lived in the South. The Hon. William H. Rufner, who inaugurated the first public school system in Virginia and was state superintendent of education in that state from 1870 to 1882, made a strong and statesmanlike plea for the education of all the people, black and white, in his first annual report. From that day to this there have always been wise INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 229 and courageous men in the South who were ready at all times to go out of their way to urge the necessity of giving the Negro equal opportunities with the white man, not only for education but also for advancement in every other direction. On the other hand it can not be denied that the mass of Southern white people have been until recent years, either positively hostile or else indifferent toward Negro education. No one who studied the trend of opinion in the South can fail to realize that there has been a great change in the attitude of the white people of the South in regard to the education of the Negro within, say, the last five years. There is every evidence, at the present time, that the Southern people have determined to take up in a serious way the education of the Negro, and the black man is to have better opportunities, not only in the matter of education, but also in every other direction. One indication of this changed attitude is the fact that all through the South state and county superintendents are beginning to take a more real and active interest in the progress of the Negro schools. Five Southern States have already appointed assistant state superintendents of schools whose sole duty will be to look after the interest of the Negro schools. In many instances Negro supervisors have been appointed to assist the county superintendents in the work of improving the Negro schools. Usually these Negro super- visors have been supported, in whole or in part, by funds furnished by the Anna T. Jeanes Fund for the improvement of the colored rural schools. As an indication of the interest which this work among the colored rural schools has aroused, I can not do better than quote from a recent letter written by County Superintendent Oliver, of Tallapoosa County, Ala., and published in the Alabama Progressive School Journal, at Birmingham, Ala. Superintendent Oliver says: Perhaps no one thing has claimed the attention of our educators of late that means more for our rural schools than efficient school supervision. If anything more was needed to convince me of its supreme importance I have but to call to mind what it has done for our colored schools in Tallapoosa County during the present scholastic year. Learning that Dr. J. H. Dillard, of New Orleans, was president of the Negro Rural School Fund, founded by Anna T. Jeanes, I opened correspondence with him, resulting in securing Prof. Thomas J. Edwards for this purpose, hia expenses being; defrayed by this Fund. 230 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY On November 1, 1911, Edwards reported to me for work. After mapping out his line of work, Edwards commenced visiting the colored schools in the country, making weekly reports to me, and getting further directions for each ensuing week. He commenced at once to organize in each colored school visited a school improvement association, cooperative corn and cotton clubs, where school children and patrons cultivate the grounds, taking lessons in agriculture at the same time, and agreeing that the proceeds arising there- from should enure to the benefit of the school in equipping the same and extending the school term, introducing manual training, both for boys and girls. Edwards kept me fully posted as to his work, and it is simply wonderful how much has been accomplished in a short time. I have visited several of his schools in person and the improvement is most striking. The school yards have been cleared and planted in trees and flowers; corn clubs have been organized and work done on the little farms, and manual art and domestic science introduced into most of these schools, where wood work, raffia and straw basket making and sewing are being learned by the children, who seem cheerful, industrious and making progress, while this work does not seem to decrease their interest in their books. About two months ago an exhibition of work done in these schools was given in the colored Baptist church in Dadeville, and it was a revelation and a surprise to all attending. The several schools vied with each other. In the exhibits could be seen axe handles, shuck foot-mats, etc., executed by the boys, who told of what they were doing on the school farms; while girls showed baskets and hats of all sizes and shapes wrought from raffia, straw and shucks, as well as all kinds of needle work, from the coarsest fabrics to the finest hand work in center pieces. This general interest brought about by social contact and community cooperation has resulted in lengthening school terms from two to three months and the organization and establishment of the Tallapoosa County Colored Fair, to be held in New Adka community, in this county, on November 14-15, 1912. An extensive premium list has already been printed and circulated, offering premiums to successful contestants where the purpose is to encourage th manual arts in schools and increase agricultural production by colored farmers. I have quoted this letter of Superintendent Oliver at some length for two reasons: first because it gives a succinct description of the manner in which industrial education is now being introduced through the agency of the Jeanes Fund, into colored schools in many parts of the South and, second, because it illustrates, better than any words that I am able to write, the sort of interest and enthusiasm which the effort to improve the public schools in modern and practical ways has created among the members of both races in the South. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 231 I ought to add that Mr. T. J. Edwards, the supervising teacher mentioned in this letter, is a graduate of Hampton Institute and was employed for several years at Tuskegee Institute, where he did a similar work in the county immediately around that school. What makes this letter interesting from another point of view is that it is written by a man who is dealing at first hand with Negro education in the county of which he is superintendent. The inter- est which Mr. Oliver has expressed in the work of the Negro schools is, for that reason, representative of the sentiment of the average intelligent citizen of the county and illustrates the new interest of the average intelligent and public spirited white man in the South on the subject of Negro education. I mention this fact because it is the opinion of the average white man that is going to determine, in the long run, the extent to which the Negro school is going to secure the consideration and support of the state and the commu- nity in the work which it is trying to do. What, you may ask, has brought about this change of senti- ment of the average white man toward the colored school? One thing that has done as much as anything else to bring about the change has been the demonstration farming movement. Demonstration farming has taught the average farmer the impor- tance of applying science and skill to the work of the farm and he has argued that, what this sort of education has done for the white farmer it will also do for the colored farmer. He has foreseen, also, that the education which makes the Negro a better farmer will make the South a richer community. That is one reason that the average Southern white man has come to take an interest in Negro education. Another thing that has helped to bring about this change is that the Southern white man has seen for himself the effects of Negro education upon the Negro. There is no way in which industrial schools, like Hampton and Tuskegee, have done more to change the sentiment of both races in regard to education and so prepare the way for the building up of a real and efficient system of Negro education in the South than in the character of the graduates that have gone out from these schools and from others, to work in the rural communities as teachers and leaders, and to illustrate in their own lives the practical value of the education they have obtained. 232 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY In referring in this way to the manner in which the industrial schools have helped to change sentiment and create sympathy for Negro education among the masses of the white people in the South I do not intend to say that the graduates of other institutions, with different aims, have not done their part. I merely intend to empha- size the fact that the industrial schools have made it part of their pro- gram to connect the work in the schools with the practical interests of the people about them, and that they have everywhere sought to emphasize the fact that the function of the school is not merely to teach a certain number of class room studies to a certain number of students, but to use the school as a means for building up and improving the moral and material life of the communities in which these schools are located. In conclusion let me add that, although much has been accom- plished in the past, much still remains to be done. We have not yet obtained in the South anything like the results we can and should obtain under a thoroughly efficient system of public schools. Not since the Christian missionaries set out from Rome to Christianize and civilize the people of western Europe, I am almost tempted to say, has there ever been a social experiment undertaken on so large a scale as that which was begun fifty years ago with the founding of the first Negro school in the South. As yet that experiment is but half completed. No one can yet say what Negro education can accomplish for the Negro and the South because Negro education has never been thoroughly tried. At last, however, it seems as if the time had come when white people and colored people, North and South, might come together in order to take up really and seriously the work which was begun with the emancipation of the slaves. If this is true, then, this fact indicates better than any statistics can possibly do, the progress which Negro education has made in fifty years. THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART W. E. BURGHARDT DuBois, Ph.D., Editor, The Crisis, New York The Negro is primarily an artist. The usual way of putting this is to speak disdainfully of his sensuous nature. This means that the only race which has held at bay the life destroying forces of the tropics, has gained therefrom in some slight compensation a sense of beauty, particularly for sound and color, which character- izes the race. The Negro blood which flowed in the veins of many of the mightiest of the Pharaohs accounts for much of Egyptian art, and indeed, Egyptian civilization owes much in its origins to the development of the large strain of Negro blood which manifested itself in every grade of Egyptian society. Semitic civilization also had its Negroid influences, and these continually turn toward art as in the case of Nosseyeb, one of the five great poets of Damascus under the Ommiades. It was there- fore not to be wondered at that in modern days one of the greatest of modern literatures, the Russian, should have been founded by Pushkin, the grandson of a full blooded Negro, and that among the painters of Spain was the mulatto slave, Gomez. Back of all this development by way of contact, comes the artistic sense of the in- digeneous Negro as shown in the stone figures of Sherbro, the bronzes of Benin, the marvelous handwork in iron and other metals which has characterized the Negro race so long that archeologists today, with less and less hesitation, are ascribing the discovery of the weld- ing of iron to the Negro race. To America, the Negro could bring only his music, but that was quite enough. The only real American music is that of the Negro American, except the meagre contribution of the Indian. Negro music divides itself into many parts: the older African wails and chants, the distinctively Afro-American folk song set to religious words and Calvinistic symbolism, and the newer music which the slaves adapted from surrounding themes. To this may be added the American music built on Negro themes such as "Suwanee River," 233 234 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY "John Brown's Body," "Old Black Joe," etc. In our day Negro artists like Johnson and Will Marian Cook have taken up this music and begun a newer and most important development, using the syn- copated measure popularly known as "rag time," but destined in the minds of musical students to a great career in the future. The expression in words of the tragic experiences of the Negro race is to be found in various places. First, of course, there are those, like Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote from without the race. Then there are black men like Es-Sadi who wrote the Epic of the Sudan, in Arabic, that great history of the fall of the greatest of Negro empires, the Songhay. In America the literary expression of Negroes has had a regular development. As early as the eighteenth century, and even before the Revolutionary War the first voices of Negro authors were heard in the United States. Phyllis Wheatley, the black poetess, was easily the pioneer, her first poems appearing in 1773, and other editions in 1774 and 1793. Her earliest poem was in memory of George Whitefield. She was followed by the Negro, Olaudah Equiano known by his English name of Gustavus Vassa whose autobiography of 350 pages, published in 1787, was the beginning of that long series of personal appeals of which Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery is the latest. Ben- jamin Banneker's almanacs represented the first scientific work of American Negroes, and began to be issued in 1792. Coming now to the first decades of the nineteenth century we find some essays on freedom by the African Society of Boston, and an apology for the new Negro church formed in Philadelphia. Paul Cuffe, disgusted with America, wrote an early account of Sierra Leone, while the celebrated Lemuel Haynes, ignoring the race question, dipped deeply into the New England theological controversy about 1815. In 1829 came the first full-voiced, almost hysterical, protest against slavery and the color line in David Walker's Appeal which aroused Southern legislatures to action. This was followed by the earliest Negro conventions which issued interesting minutes, and a strong appeal against disfranchisement in Pennsylvania. In 1840 some strong writers began to appear. Henry Highland Garnet and J. W. C. Pennington preached powerful sermons and gave some attention to Negro history in their pamphlets; R. B. Lewis made a more elaborate attempt at Negro historj'. Whitfield's poems appeared in 1846, and William Wells Brown began a career of writ- LITERATURE AND ART 235 ing which lasted from 1847 until after the war. In 1845 Douglass' autobiography made its first appearance, destined to run through endless editions up until the last in 1893. Moreover it was in 1841 that the first Negro magazine appeared in America, edited by George Hogarth and published by the A. M. E. Church. In the fifties William Wells Brown published his Three Years in Europe; James Whitfield published further poems, and a new poet arose in the person of Frances E. W. Harper, a woman of no little ability who died lately; Martin R. Delaney and William Nell wrote further of Negro history, Nell especially making valuable contribu- tions to the history of the Negro soldiers. Three interesting biog- raphies were added to this decade to the growing number: Josiah Henson, Samuel G. Ward and Samual Northrop; while Catto, leaving general history, came down to the better known history of the Negro church. In the sixties slave narratives multiplied, like that of Linda Brent, while two studies of Africa based on actual visits were made by Robert Campbell and Dr. Alexander Crummell; William Douglass and Bishop Daniel Payne continued the history of the Negro church, while William Wells Brown carried forward his work in general Negro history. In this decade, too, Bishop Tanner began his work in Negro theology. Most of the Negro talent in the seventies was taken up in pol- itics; the older men like Bishop Wayman wrote of their experiences; William Wells Brown wrote the Rising Sun, and Sojourner Truth added her story to the slave narratives. A new poet arose in the person of A. A. Whitman, while James M. Trotter was the first to take literary note of the musical ability of his race. Indeed this section might have been begun by some reference to the music and folklore of the Negro race; the music contained much primitive poetry and the folklore was one of the great contributions to American civilization. In the eighties there are signs of unrest and different conflicting streams of thought. On the one hand the rapid growth of the Negro church is shown by the writers on church subjects like Moore and Wayman. The historical spirit was especially strong. Still wrote of the Underground Railroad; Simmons issued his interesting bio- graphical dictionary, and the greatest historian of the race appeared when George W. Williams issued his two-volume history of the 236 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Negro Race in America. The political turmoil was reflected in Lang- ston's Freedom and Citizenship, Fortune's Black and White, and Straker's New South, and found its bitterest arraignment in Turner's pamphlets; but with all this went other new thought; a black man published his First Greek Lessons, Bishop Payne issued his Treatise on Domestic Education, and Stewart studied Liberia. In the nineties came histories, essays, novels and poems, together with biographies and social studies. The history was represented by Payne's History of the A. M. E. Church, Hood's History of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Anderson's sketch of Negro Presbyterianism and Hagood's Colored Man in the M. E. Church; general history of the older type by R. L. Perry's Cushite and the newer type in Johnson's history, while one of the secret societies found their historian in Brooks; Crogman's essays appeared and Archibald Grimke's biographies. The race question was discussed in Frank Grimke's published sermons, while social studies were made by Penn, Wright, Mossell, Crummell, Majors and others. Most notable, how- ever, was the rise of the Negro novelist and poet with national rec- ognition; Frances Harper was still writing and Griggs began his racial novels, but both of these spoke primarily to the Negro race; on the other hand, Chestnut's six novels and Dunbar's inimitable works spoke to the whole nation. Since 1900 the stream of Negro writing has continued. Dunbar has found a worthy successor in the less-known but more carefully cultured Braithwaite; Booker T. Washington has given us his bio- graphy and Story of the Negro; Kelly Miller's trenchant essays have appeared in book form; Sinclair's Aftermath of Slavery has attracted attention, as have the studies made by Atlanta University. The forward movement in Negro music is represented by J. W. and F. J. Work in one direction and Rosamond Johnson, Harry Burleigh and Will Marion Cook in another. On the whole, the literary output of the American Negro has been both large and creditable, although, of course, comparatively little known; few great names have appeared and only here and there work that could be called first class, but this is not a peculiarity of Negro literature. The time has not yet come for the great development of Amer- ican Negro literature. The economic stress is too great and the racial persecution too bitter to allow the leisure and the poise for which LITERATURE AND ART 237 literature calls. On the other hand, never in the world has a richer mass of material been accumulated by a people than that which the Negroes possess today and are becoming conscious of. Slowly but surely they are developing artists of technic who will be able to use this material. The nation does not notice this for everything touching the Negro is banned by magazines and publishers unless it takes the form of caricature or bitter attack, or is so thoroughly in- nocuous as to have no literary flavor. Outside of literature the American Negro has distinguished him- self in other lines of art. One need only mention Henry 0. Tanner whose pictures hang in the great galleries of the world, including the Luxembourg. There are a score of other less known colored painters of ability including Bannister, Harper, Scott and Brown. To these may be added the actors headed by Ira Aldridge, who played in Covent Garden, was decorated by the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia, and made a member of learned societies. There have been many colored composers of music. Popular songs like Grandfather's Clock, Listen to the Mocking Bird, Carry Me Back to Old Virginia, etc., were composed by colored men. There were a half dozen composers of ability among New Orleans freed- men and Harry Burleigh, Cook and Johnson are well known today. There have been sculptors like Edmonia Lewis, and singers like Flora Batson, whose color alone kept her from the grand opera stage. To appraise rightly this body of art one must remember that it represents the work of those artists only whom accident set free; if the artist had a white face his Negro blood did not militate against him in the fight for recognition; if his Negro blood was visible white relatives may have helped him; in a few cases ability was united to in- domitable will. But the shrinking, modest, black artist without special encouragement had little or no chance in a world determined to make him a menial. So this sum of accomplishment is but an imperfect indication of what the Negro race is capable of in America and in the world. INDEX Agricultural and Mechanical College of Greensboro, N. C., the, 142. Agriculture, negroes in, 20, 54. Alabama, movement of white and col- ored population in, 5. State Normal School, the, 212. American Association of Educators of Colored Youth, the, 132. Federation of Labor, admission of negroes to, 114. Negro Academy, the, 134. Negro Historical Society, the, 134. Arkansas, negro children in schools of, 52; negro farmers in, 55. Armstrong Association, work of the, 90. BAKER, RAY STANNARD. Problems of Citizenship, 93-104. Ballot, attitude of the negro toward, 100. Baltimore, negro population of, 24, 81 ; negro schools in, 222. Banks, negro, in the United States, 158. Baptist church, negro followers of, 61. Beaufort county, negro population of, 59; negro school attendance in, 61. BETTERMENT OF THE NEGRO IN PHIL- ADELPHIA, THE MOVEMENT FOR THE. John T. Emlen, 81-92. BROUQH, CHARLES HILLMAN. Work of the Commission of Southern Uni- versities on the Race Question, 47- 57. Budgets, typical negro, 151, 157, 162. CALDWELL, B. C. The Work of the Jeanes and Slater Funds, 173-176. CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF PHILADELPHIA, NEGRO. Howard W. Odum, 186-208. CHRISTENSEN, NIELS. Fifty Years of Freedom: Conditions in the Sea Coast Regions, 58-66. Church, activities of the, for negro bet- terment, 71; as independent negro institution, 120; influence of, upon negroes, 50, 165; negro betterment, and the, 86; rise and importance of negro, 14; work of the negro, 25. CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS CONDI- TIONS. J. J. Watson, Jr., 120-128. Churches, in Beaufort County, 61. CITIES, CONDITIONS AMONG NEGROES IN THE. George Edmund Haynes, 105-119. CITIZENSHIP, PROBLEMS OF. Ray Stannard Baker, 93-104. Citizenship, status of negro in, 93. CLARKE, JAMES B. The Negro and the Immigrant in the Two Americas, 32-37. Colored Graduate Nurses National Association, the, 135. Commission on Southern Race Ques- tions, membership and purpose of, 47. Convict lease system, attitude of National Association of Colored Women toward, 134; introduction of, in the South, 77. Cotton crop, in Beaufort district, 62. Country Farm Association, the, 136. Courts, justice toward negro in the, 168. Crime, negro, prior to Civil War, 74. Criminality, decrease in negro, 75; factors of negro, in the South, 79. CRIMINALITY IN THE SOUTH, NEGRO. Monroe N. Work, 74-80. 239 240 INDEX DILLARD, JAMBS H., 47, 170, 217. Doctor, importance of colored, 141; professional standing of the negro, 16. Domestic service, negroes in, 20. DuBois, W. E. BUROHARDT. The Negro in Literature and Art, 233- 237; see also 136. East North Central States, urban proportion of negroes in, 8. Education, amount expended on negro, in the South, 52; attitude of both races toward higher negro, 217; changed attitude toward negro, 226; factors facilitating negro, 209, 210; importance of negro, 186; necessity of negro, 166; need of free, 101 ; need of higher, 18; progress of negro, 117, 222, 225; Slater fund and higher, 174; Southern institutions for higher, 211 ; Southern system of public, 215. EDWARDS, THOMAS J. The Tenant System and Some Changes Since Emancipation, 38-46. EMLEN, JOHN T. The Movement for the Betterment of the Negro in Philadelphia, 81-92. Enfranchisement, attitude of South toward negro, 55. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, the, 212. Four-day plan of cropping, failure of, 39. Freedman's Bureau, creation of, 209. FREEDOM, FIFTY YEARS OP. CONDI- TIONS IN THE SEA COAST REGIONS. Niels Christensen, 58-66. Georgia, negro criminals in, 74. State Industrial College, the, 212. HAMMOND, L. H. The White Man's Debt to the Negro, 67-73. Hampton Normal School, the, 30, 176, 215, 220. HAYNES, GEORGE EDMUND. Condi- tions Among Negroes in the Cities, 105-119. High schools, negroes in, 191. HIGHER EDUCATION OP NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES. Edward T. Ware, 209-218. Hoffman, Frederick L., on negro death rate, 115. HOME LIFE AND STANDARDS OF LIV- ING, NEGRO. Robert E. Park, 147- 163. Hookworm disease among negroes, 54, 143. Housing, need for experiment station in negro, 73; the negro problem and, 53. Housing conditions, effect of, on ne- groes, 69; need for improvement of, 72; results of poor, 111; tuberculosis and poor, 143. Illiteracy, among negro children, 183; among slaves, 177; decline of negro, 22, 51, 183, 223; distribution of, in urban and rural population, 180; negro, in the North, 179; present problem of negro, 178 ; relative sta- tistics of, 179. ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES, NEGRO. J. P. Lichtenberger, 177- 185. Immigrant, attitude of, toward the negro, 35. IMMIGRANT, THE NEGRO AND THE, IN THE Two AMERICAS. James B. Clarke, 32-37. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND THE PUB- LIC SCHOOLS. Booker T. Washing- ton, 219-232. Industrial education, necessity of negro, 55. Industrial schools, achievements of, 228, 232. Infant mortality, education and, 143. Insurance companies, growth of negro beneficial, 137. INDEX 241 JBANES AND SLATER FUNDS, THE WORK OK THE. B. C. Caldwell, 173-176. Jeanes fund, rural schools, and the, 225; work under the, 173. JONES, S. B. Fifty Years of Negro Public Health, 138-146. JONES, THOMAS JESSE. Negro Popu- lation in the United States, 1-9. Kentucky, decrease of negro popula- tion in, 6. Labor system, change in, upon plan- tations, 38. Labor unions, admission of negroes to, 36; attitude of, toward negroes, 155. Land, total value of negro farm, in Virginia, 29. Land owners, negroes as, 28, 58, 64, 153, 167. Latin America, racial attitude in, 33. Lawyer, future possibilities of the negro, 17. LEE, B. F. Negro Organizations, 129-137. Libraries, establishment of, for ne- groes, 225. LICHTENBERGER, J. P. Negro Illiter- acy in the United States, 177-185. Literature, achievements of negroes in, 234, 235. LITERATURE AND ART, THE NEGRO IN. W. E. Burghardt DuBois, 233-237. Louisville, establishment of negro libraries in, 225. Lynchings, attitude toward, in the South, 168; number of, 75. Maryland, decrease of negro popula- tion in, 6. Methodist church, negro followers of, 61. Middle Atlantic States, urban pro- portion of negroes in, 8. MILLER, KELLY. Professional and Skilled Occupations, 10-18. Miners, wages of negro, 157. Ministry, character of negro, 51; op- portunities for negroes in the, 123. Mortality rate, among negroes, 53, 115. National Association for the Advance- ment of the Negro, the, 136. Association of Colored Women, the, 133. Business League, the, 134. Federation of Colored Men, first meeting of, 133. Negro children, at work, 26; average and normal age of, 189; comparison between, and white children, 190; effect of environment upon, 199, 205; intelligence of, 202; markings for, 192; progress of, in various subjects, 193; retardation among, 190, 195; school attendance of, 191. Negro National Educational Con- gress, the, 136. Negro problem, study of, by univer- sity students, 48, 70, 170. Negroes, advancement of, 11; artistic tendencies of, 233; as factor of Southern urban population, 8; as land owners, 28; as wealth pro- ducers, 168; attitude of labor unions toward, 155; changes in un- skilled labor among, 21; classes of, before Civil War, 147; criminal rec- ords of, 59; decrease in illiteracy among, 22, 51; development of race consciousness among, 171; dying out of, in the United States, 138; economic opportunities for, 88; edu- cational needs of, 72; forces retard- ing economic development of, 55; growth of middle class among, 148; home life among, 163; hospitality of, 160, 161; improvement in living conditions of, 152; improvement in personal appearance of, 65; in busi- ness, 159; in church administration, 124; in productive pursuits, 13; in 242 INDEX professional service, 13; in skilled trades, 155; influence of church upon, 164; introduction of, 10; literary efforts of, 234; musical ten- dencies of, 233; need for vocational training of, 89; present attitude toward, 11; religious temperament of, 120; school distribution of, in Philadelphia, 187; segregation of, 12, 109; situation of, at close of Civil War, 219 ; status of, as citizens, 93; urban and rural distribution of, in the North, 8; urban migration of, 105; wages system among, 22. New England, negroes in urban com- munities of, 8. New Orleans, negro population of, 24, 81. New York, negro population in, 24, 81 . North, negro illiteracy in, 179; negro population in, 3, 106; negro un- skilled labor in, 24; urban and rural distribution of negroes in, 8. Occupations, field of, for negroes, 113, 147; negroes in five main classes of, 20 ; negroes in productive, 13 ; whites and negroes in gainful, 107. OCCUPATIONS, PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLED. Kelly Miller, 10-18. ODUM, HOWARD W. Negro Children in the Public Schools of Philadel- phia, 186-208. Oliver, Superintendent, on rural schools, 229. Organization, efforts toward, among freedmen, 129. ORGANIZATIONS, NEGRO. B. F. Lee, 129-137. Organizations, negro, following Civil War, 131. PARK, ROBERT E. Negro Home Life and Standards of Living, 147-163. Part-standing-wage system, contract under, 39. Peabody, George, gift of, 210. Philadelphia, negro population in, 24, 81; negro unskilled labor in, 25. PHILADELPHIA, NEGRO CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP. Howard W. Odum, 186-208. PHILADELPHIA, THE MOVEMENT FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE NEGRO IN. John T. Emlen, 81-92. Playgrounds, available to negroes in Philadelphia, 85. Population, distribution of negro, 4; increase of negro, 1, 2; negro, in leading cities, 9, 108; negro, in Southern cities, 106; proportion of negro to total, 3; segregation of negro, 109; state distribution of negro, 4, 6; urban and rural distri- bution of negro, 180; ward distribu- tion of negro, in Philadelphia, 82, 83, 84. POPULATION, NEGRO, IN THE UNITED STATES. Thomas Jesse Jones, 1-9. Press convention, first meeting of colored, 132. Prison systems, changes in Southern, 77. Prisoners, number of negro, in North and South, 75. Professional service, negroes in, 13. Public health, agencies for promoting, 145. PUBLIC HEALTH, FIFTY YEARS OF NEGRO. S. B. Jones, 138-146. RACE QUESTION, WORK OF THE COM- MISSION OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSI- TIES ON THE. Charles Hillman Brough, 47-57. Race relationship, during reconstruc- tion, 165. RACE RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOUTH. W. D. Weatherford, 164-172. Railroad construction, negro labor in, 36. Relief agencies open to negroes, 87. Renter, present negro, 44. INDEX 243 Rural school, as factor in negro edu- cation, 53 ; Jeanes fund and the, 173 ; Superintendent Oliver on the, 229. Sanford, William H., on negro jus- tice, 79. School system, institution of public, 220. Schools, amount expended on negro, 167, 224; as factor in uplift of ne- groes, 27 ; interest in progress of, 229 ; negro children in Philadelphia, 187; negro, in Arkansas, 52; success of, in negro teaching, 197; total expen- ditures for negro, 225, 226. Sea islands, negro life on, 149. Share-cropping system, the, 38, 40. Skilled trades, negroes in, 155 Slater fund, higher education and the, 174, 210; work under the, 174. Slaves, as unskilled laborers, 19; health of, 139. Social evil among negroes, 144. Social service among negroes, 169. South, attitude of races in, 164; atti- tude of, toward negro enfranchise- ment, 55; changes in prison systems of, 77 ; industrial standing of negroes in, 35; money expended on negro education in, 52; movement of ne- groes to cities of, 7; need of trained teachers in, 176; negro as factor in agricultural development of, 54; negro farms in, 68; negro illiteracy in the, 179; negro population in the, 3; negro unskilled labor in, 23; posi- tion of the negro in agriculture of, 36. SOUTH, NEGRO CRIMINALITY IN THE Monroe N. Work, 74-80. SOUTH, RACE RELATIONSHIP IN THE. W. D. Weatherford, 164-172. South Carolina, negro public schools in, 221. Southern Sociological Congress, work of the, 169. STANDARDS OF LIVING, NEGRO HOME LIFE AND. Robert E. Park, 147- 163. Suffrage, attitude toward negro, 97; educational and property qualifica- tions for, 98; restricted, in United States, 95. Taxes paid by negroes in Virginia, 30. Teachers, functions of negro, 15. Tenant system and development of negro, 55. TENANT SYSTEM AND SOME CHANGES SINCE EMANCIPATION, THE. Thos. J. Edwards, 38-46. Tennessee, decrease of negro popula- tion in, 6. Thomas, Judge W. H., on negro trials, 78. Tuberculosis, among negroes, 53, 139. Tuskegee Conference, first annual meeting of, 133. Tuskegee Institute, the, 176, 215, 221, 228. United States, negro farmers in, 55. Unskilled labor, changes, in, among negroes, 21. UNSKILLED LABOR, THE NEGRO IN. R. R. Wright, Jr., 19-27. Virginia, decrease of negro population in, 5; negro farmers in, 149. VIRGINIA, DEVELOPMENT IN THE TIDE- WATER COUNTIES OF. T. C. Walker, 28-31. Vocational training, need for negro, 89. Wages system among negroes, 22. WALKER, T. C. Development in the Tidewater Counties of Virginia, 28-31. WARE, EDWARD T. Higher Educa- tion of Negroes in the United States, 209-218. 244 INDEX WASHINGTON, BOOKER T. Indus- trial Education and the Public Schools, 219-232; see also 132, 133, 134, 166, 234, 236. Washington, D. C., negro population of, 24, 81. WATSON, J. J., Jr. Churches and Re- ligious Conditions, 120-128. WEATHEKFORD, W. D. Race Rela- tionship in the South, 163-172; see also 216. WHITE MAN'S DEBT TO THE NEGRO, THE. L. H. Hammond, 67-73. Wilberforce University, college de- partment in, 209. Women, as negro unskilled workers, 25. WORK, MONROE N. Negro Crimi- nality in the South, 74-80. WRIGHT, R. R., Jr. The Negro in Unskilled Labor, 19-27. Young Men's Christian Association, first colored, 131 ; work of, for negro betterment, 170. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES This book is due on the last date stamped below. : MAY R 1%6 Book Slip Series 4280 A 000127022 2