52 chapters
35 hour read
Selected Chapters
52 chapters
THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO
THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY SHANGHAI CHICAGO RACE RIOT—BEGINNING OF THE RIOT WHITES AND NEGROES LEAVING TWENTY-NINTH STREET BEACH AFTER THE DROWNING OF EUGENE WILLIAMS...
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
There is no domestic problem in America which has given thoughtful men more concern than the problem of the relations between the white and the Negro races. In earlier days the colonization of the Negro, as in Liberia, was put forward as a solution. That idea was abandoned long ago. It is now recognized generally that the two races are here in America to stay. It is also certain that the problem will not be solved by methods of violence. Every race riot, every instance in which men of either rac
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
On Sunday, July 27, 1919, there was a clash of white people and Negroes at a bathing-beach in Chicago, which resulted in the drowning of a Negro boy. This led to a race riot in which thirty-eight lives were lost—twenty-three Negroes and fifteen whites—and 537 persons were injured. After three days of mob violence, affecting several sections of the city, the state militia was called out to assist the police in restoring order. It was not until August 6 that danger of further clashes was regarded
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
The relation of whites and Negroes in the United States is our most grave and perplexing domestic problem. It involves not only a difference of race—which as to many immigrant races has been happily overcome—but wider and more manifest differences in color and physical features. These make an easy and natural basis for distinctions, discriminations, and antipathies arising from the instinct of each race to preserve its type. Many white Americans, while technically recognizing Negroes as citizens
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I THE CHICAGO RIOT July 27-August 2, 1919
CHAPTER I THE CHICAGO RIOT July 27-August 2, 1919
Thirty-eight persons killed, 537 injured, and about 1,000 rendered homeless and destitute was the casualty list of the race riot which broke out in Chicago on July 27, 1919, and swept uncontrolled through parts of the city for four days. By August 2 it had yielded to the forces of law and order, and on August 8 the state militia withdrew. A clash between whites and Negroes on the shore of Lake Michigan at Twenty-ninth Street, which involved much stone-throwing and resulted in the drowning of a N
3 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. Minor Clashes in and near Chicago
I. Minor Clashes in and near Chicago
In July and August, 1917, there were minor outbreaks of trouble between Negroes and naval recruits from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. In some instances recruits and in others Negroes were reported to be the aggressors. When organized gangs took part in clashes the results were more serious. A typical case started in the Kohler saloon at South State and Fifty-first streets on May 27, 1919, two months before the riot. A group of about ten white men entered the saloon together. When a Neg
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. The Springfield Riot August 14-15, 1908
II. The Springfield Riot August 14-15, 1908
The race riot at Springfield, Illinois, in August, 1908, which cost the lives of two Negroes and four white men, is an outstanding example of the racial bitterness and brutality that can be provoked by unsubstantiated rumor or, as in this case, by deliberate falsehood. The two Negro victims were innocent and unoffending. They were lynched under the shadow of the capitol of Lincoln's state, within half a mile of the only home he ever owned, and two miles from the monument which marks the grave of
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. East St. Louis Riots May 28 and July 2, 1917
III. East St. Louis Riots May 28 and July 2, 1917
Following a period of bitter racial feeling, frequently marked by open friction, a clash between whites and Negroes in East St. Louis, Illinois, occurred on May 28, 1917, in which, following rumors that a white man had been killed by Negroes, a number of Negroes were beaten by a mob of white men. This outbreak was the forerunner of a much more serious riot on July 2, in which at least thirty-nine Negroes and eight white people were killed, much property was destroyed by fire, and the local autho
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
II. CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
A series of circumstances acting together in an unusual combination both provoked and made possible the migration of Negroes from the South on a large scale. The causes of the movement fall into definite divisions, even as stated by the migrants themselves. For example, one of the most frequent causes mentioned by southern Negroes for their change of home is the treatment accorded them in the South. Yet this treatment of which they complain has been practiced since their emancipation, and fifty
58 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. ECONOMIC CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
I. ECONOMIC CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
Low wages. —Wages of Negroes in the South varied from 75 cents a day on the farms to $1.75 a day in certain city jobs, in the period just preceding 1914. The rise in living costs which followed the outbreak of the war outstripped the rise in wages. In Alabama the price paid for day labor in the twenty-one "black belt" counties averaged 50 and 60 cents a day. It ranged from 40 cents, as a minimum, to 75 cents, and, in a few instances, $1.00 was a maximum for able-bodied male farm hands. [14] A Ne
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. SENTIMENTAL CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
II. SENTIMENTAL CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION
The causes classed as sentimental include those which have reference to the feelings of Negroes concerning their surroundings in the South and their reactions to the social systems and practices of certain sections of the South. Frequently these causes were given as the source of an old discontent among Negroes concerning the South. Frequently they took prominence over economic causes, and they were held for the most part by a fairly high class of Negroes. These causes are in part as follows: La
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. BEGINNING AND SPREAD OF MIGRATION
III. BEGINNING AND SPREAD OF MIGRATION
The enormous proportions to which the exodus grew obscure its beginning. Several experiments had been tried with southern labor in the Northeast, particularly in the Connecticut tobacco fields and in Pennsylvania. In Connecticut, Negro students from the southern schools had been employed during summers with great success. Early in 1916, industries in Pennsylvania imported many Negroes from Georgia and Florida. During July one railroad company stated that it had brought to Pennsylvania more than
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. THE ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO
IV. THE ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO
At the time of the migration the great majority of Negroes in Chicago lived in a limited area on the South Side, principally between Twenty-second and Thirty-ninth streets, Wentworth Avenue and State Street, and in scattered groups to Cottage Grove Avenue on the east. State Street was the main thoroughfare. Prior to the influx of southern Negroes, many houses stood vacant in the section west of State Street, from which Negroes had moved when better houses became available east of State Street. I
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO CHICAGO LIFE
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO CHICAGO LIFE
Meeting actual conditions of life in Chicago brought its exaltations and disillusionments to the migrants. These were reflected in the schools, public amusement places, industry, and the street cars. The Chicago Urban League, Negro churches, and Negro newspapers assumed the task of making the migrants into "city folk." The increase in church membership indicates prompt efforts to re-engage in community life and establish agreeable and helpful associations. It also reflects the persistence of rel
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO
VI. MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO
Migrants have been visited in their homes, and met in industry, in the schools, and in contacts on street cars and in parks. Efforts have been made to learn why they came to Chicago and with what success they were adjusting themselves to their new surroundings. Some of the replies to questions asked are given: Question : Why did you come to Chicago? Answers : 1. Looking for better wages. 2. So I could support my family. 3. Tired of being a flunky. 4. I just happened to drift here. 5. Some of my
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. EFFORTS TO CHECK MIGRATION
VII. EFFORTS TO CHECK MIGRATION
The withdrawal of great numbers of Negroes, both because of the migration and because of military service, left large gaps in the industries of the South dependent upon Negro labor. Thousands of acres of rice and sugar cane went to waste. The turpentine industry of the Carolinas and the milling interests of Tennessee were hard pressed for labor. Cotton-growing was much affected, especially in the delta region of Mississippi. The situation became critical, presenting a real economic problem. Orga
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY
A. DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY
By far the largest number of Negroes in 1910 and 1920 lived in what may be termed the old "South Side," which includes the original "Black Belt" embracing the area from Twelfth to Thirty-first streets and from Wentworth to Wabash avenues. This and other areas of Negro residence in various parts of the city, with their approximate boundaries in 1910 and 1920 and their Negro population for both years, are listed here under designations which are arbitrarily given for convenient reference; they do
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. NEIGHBORHOODS OF NEGRO RESIDENCE
B. NEIGHBORHOODS OF NEGRO RESIDENCE
While the principal colony of Chicago's Negro population is situated in a central part of the South Side, Negroes are to be found in several other parts of the city in proportions to total population ranging from less than 1 per cent to more than 95 per cent. In some of these neighborhoods whites and Negroes have become adjusted to one another; in others they have not. There are numerous degrees of variation between the two extremes. In this study the term "adjusted neighborhood" indicates one i
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
C. THE NEGRO COMMUNITY
C. THE NEGRO COMMUNITY
Negroes have been living in Chicago since it was founded. In fact, Jean Baptiste Point de Saible, a San Domingan Negro, was the first settler and in 1790 built the first house, a rude hut on the north bank of the Chicago River near what is now the Michigan Boulevard Bridge. There are records of Negroes owning property in Chicago as early as 1837, the year of its incorporation as a city. In 1844 there were at least five Negro property owners and in 1847 at least ten. Their property was in the ori
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. A STUDY OF NEGRO FAMILIES
A. A STUDY OF NEGRO FAMILIES
Under the heading of "Housing Conditions" such notations as these are often found: No gas, bath, or toilet. Plumbing very bad; toilet leaks; bowl broken; leak in kitchen sink; water stands in kitchen; leak in bath makes ceiling soggy and wet all the time. Plastering off in front room. General appearance very bad inside and out. Had to get city behind owner to put in windows, clean, and repair plumbing. Heat poor; house damp. Plumbing bad; leaks. Hot-water heater out of order. Needs repairing don
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING
B. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING
The purpose of this section of the report is to describe by a selection of types the physical condition of houses occupied as residences by Negroes. This description includes the structure, age, repair, upkeep, and other factors directly affecting the appearance, sanitation, and comfort of dwellings available for Negro use. In 1909 the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy included Negro housing in a series of general housing studies. This study was confined to the two largest areas of Negro
58 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
C. NEGROES AND PROPERTY DEPRECIATION
C. NEGROES AND PROPERTY DEPRECIATION
No single factor has complicated the relations of Negroes and whites in Chicago more than the widespread feeling of white people that the presence of Negroes in a neighborhood is a cause of serious depreciation of property values. To the extent that people feel that their financial interests are affected, antagonisms are accentuated. When a Negro family moves into a block in which all other families are white, the neighbors object. This objection may express itself in studied aloofness, in taunt
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
D. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING
D. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING
An important factor in the housing problem is the low security rating given by real estate loan concerns to property tenanted by Negroes. Because of this Negroes are charged more than white people for loans, find it more difficult to secure them, and thus are greatly handicapped in efforts to buy or improve property. The general opinion that condemns such property makes the risk poor, even for Negroes. A Chicago Trust Company representative said: A Negro called to buy a mortgage. Our first thoug
49 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. LEGAL STATUS OF NEGROES IN ILLINOIS
A. LEGAL STATUS OF NEGROES IN ILLINOIS
There are two lines of decisions in Illinois relating to discriminations on account of color. One line of cases prohibits discrimination in certain public places and the other prohibits discrimination against school children. All but two of these cases were tried since the passage of the School Act and the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting such discrimination, enacted in 1874 and 1885, respectively. The civil-rights cases [28] are briefly reviewed below by a consideration of the school cases. The Ci
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. CONTACTS IN CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
B. CONTACTS IN CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The public schools furnish one of the most important points of contact between the white and Negro races, because of the actual number of contacts in the daily school life of thousands of Negro and white children, and also because the reactions of young children should indicate whether or not there is instinctive race prejudice. The Chicago Board of Education makes no distinction between Negro and white children. There are no separate schools for Negroes. None of the records of any teacher or pr
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
C. CONTACTS IN RECREATION
C. CONTACTS IN RECREATION
In studying contacts between the races at places of recreation a survey was made of the various recreational facilities maintained by the Municipal Bureau of Parks, Playgrounds, and Bathing Beaches, the South Park Commission, the West Chicago Park Commission, and the Lincoln Park Commission. Recreational facilities maintained by twelve park boards which control smaller areas in outlying parts of the city were not included in the survey unless they were in or near Negro areas. Visits were made by
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
D. CONTACTS IN TRANSPORTATION
D. CONTACTS IN TRANSPORTATION
Volume of traffic. —The number of passengers carried in 1916 in a twenty-four-hour day by the Chicago surface lines was 3,500,000 and by the elevated railway lines 560,000, according to a tabulation made by the Chicago Traction and Subway Commission in 1916. With the city's growth in population the traffic in 1920 doubtless showed an even larger volume. This traffic is distributed over approximately 1,050 miles of surface and 142 miles of elevated track. It is most congested in the "Loop" area o
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
E. CONTACTS IN OTHER RELATIONS
E. CONTACTS IN OTHER RELATIONS
Here are included: I. Contacts in public places, such as restaurants, department stores, theaters, and personal-service places. II. "Black and tan" resorts, which present a much-criticized association because of the vicious elements of whites and Negroes in contact there. III. Cultural contacts which indicate associations on a purely intellectual basis. IV. Contacts in co-operative efforts for race betterment, which includes most of the social organizations working among Negroes. On the street,
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. GENERAL CRIME SITUATION
I. GENERAL CRIME SITUATION
London in 1916, with a population of seven and a quarter million, had nine premeditated murders. Chicago, one-third the size of London, in the same period had 105, nearly twelve times London's total . In 1916 Chicago with its 2,500,000 people had twenty more murders than the whole of England and Wales with their 38,000,000. The Chicago murders during the year totalled one more than London during the five-year period, 1910-14 inclusive. In 1917 Chicago had ten more murders than the whole of Engla
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. PREVALENT IMPRESSIONS REGARDING NEGRO CRIME
II. PREVALENT IMPRESSIONS REGARDING NEGRO CRIME
In its inquiry the Commission met the following current beliefs among whites in regard to the Negro criminal: That the Negro is more prone than the white to commit sex crimes, particularly rape; that he commits a disproportionate number of crimes involving felonious cuttings and slashings; that the recent migrant from the South is more likely to offend than the Negro who has resided longer in the North; and that Negroes willingly tolerate vice and vicious conditions in the midst of their residen
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. CRIMINAL STATISTICS
III. CRIMINAL STATISTICS
In its effort to secure information regarding Negro crime the Commission sought the only available records kept of all crimes—the police records, especially the annual report of the Department of Police. On examination these records were found to be of questionable value for any accurate presentation of Negro crime, or, in fact, of general crime. In 1913 the City Council Committee on Crime made a study of crimes in Chicago and encountered the same difficulty. Says the report of this Committee: "
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. THE NEGRO IN THE COURTS
IV. THE NEGRO IN THE COURTS
During the Commission's inquiry an effort was made to ascertain conditions in some of the various courts into which Negroes are brought; to learn the comparative attitudes of judges, prosecutors, and policemen toward Negro and white offenders, and to learn some of the pertinent facts in the social history of Negroes brought into these courts. In all, 703 cases were studied, 538 white and 165 Negro. The social histories showed a conspicuous lack of schooling in the Negroes arrested, more than hal
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. NEGRO CRIME AND ENVIRONMENT
V. NEGRO CRIME AND ENVIRONMENT
Housing. —Housing must be considered as an important element in the environmental causes of crime. Elsewhere this report presents a more detailed study of housing and it will suffice here to call attention to the prevalence of taking lodgers which is economically necessary in many Negro homes, and the consequent danger to the integrity of the family; to the laxity of law enforcement in certain sections; to the condition of streets and alleys; and to frequent instances of defective housing which
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. VIEWS OF AUTHORITIES ON CRIME AMONG NEGROES
VI. VIEWS OF AUTHORITIES ON CRIME AMONG NEGROES
Much information was secured from conferences with numerous authorities on crime: judges of the juvenile, municipal, circuit, superior and criminal courts; the general superintendent of police and police captains, former high police officials; heads of correctional and penal institutions; the state's attorney; experts on probation and parole, representatives from the sheriff's office; and social workers having intimate knowledge of crime conditions. The views of those authorities are an importan
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND CONDITIONS
A. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND CONDITIONS
The labor shortage became acute soon after the United States entered the war in 1917, and enlistments withdrew hundreds of thousands of men from northern industries. An unprecedented demand for Negro workers was the result. The migration from the South was mainly a response to the call of larger opportunity and higher wages in the North. For the United States as a whole in 1910 the industrial condition of the gainfully occupied Negro population is shown in Table XVIII: In 1910, more than three-f
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. ORGANIZED LABOR AND THE NEGRO WORKER
B. ORGANIZED LABOR AND THE NEGRO WORKER
Industry involves the continuous contact of more whites and Negroes than any other field. It therefore affords wide opportunity for the operation of racial misunderstanding and friction. It is also a field in which the lines of economic interest are so tightly drawn and so closely watched that any misunderstanding or friction is thereby greatly accentuated. Irritation and clashes of interest have been conspicuous in the relations between labor unions and Negro workers. This friction has extended
59 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. OPINIONS OF WHITES AND NEGROES
A. OPINIONS OF WHITES AND NEGROES
Literature concerning Negroes has been written chiefly by southern students facing the problem in its most intense form and usually meeting the most backward of Negroes. Negro habits have been objectively explained and standards of judgment upon the entire group have usually been deduced therefrom. This constitutes the bulk of serious literature on the subject of the Negro; it is generally used in research into the problem. In the North as in the South the assumptions regarding the Negro have th
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. THE PRESS
I. THE PRESS
Said the Survey magazine, May 15, 1920: "The custom of newspapers to ridicule the efforts of colored people is a gratuitous insult that they have to meet on every hand." The New Republic observes editorially: "Race riots within a week of one another occurred in Washington and Chicago.... The press made a race question of individual crime, and the mob, led by marines and soldiers, took up the issue which the press had presented to them." Negroes are loud in their condemnation of the press through
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. RUMOR
II. RUMOR
Rumors which significantly affect race relations consist largely of unfounded tales, incorrectly deduced conclusions, or partial statements of fact with significant content added by the narrator, all of which are given easy and irresponsible circulation by a credulous public during the excitement of a clash. Examples of this type of irritating untruth were found in the Chicago riot. The number of Negroes killed during the riot (twenty-three Negroes and fifteen whites) has been magnified in popul
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. MYTHS
III. MYTHS
There arise among groups of people various stories with little or no basis in fact, which, through repetition and unvaried association with the same persons or incidents, come to be regarded as true. These stories, when they persist through years and even through generations, are myths. They are usually the response to a prejudice or a desire. In general they have some plausible and apparent justification. In turn they lend stability not only to the beliefs out of which they were born, but to th
56 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. PROPAGANDA
IV. PROPAGANDA
Both whites and Negroes have recognized the value of propaganda as an instrument of opinion-making. Both employ it, sometimes openly, sometimes insidiously. Its effects may be unmistakably observed in much of the literature about the Negro. It is the purpose here to give attention to certain forms of propaganda now in circulation, with a view to defining roughly their place in the manufacture of sentiment on the race question in Chicago. In spite of similarity it would be obviously unfair to lum
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. CONCLUSIONS
V. CONCLUSIONS
The inquiries of this Commission into racial sentiments which characterize the opinions and behavior of white persons toward Negroes lead us to the following conclusions: That in seeking advice and information about Negroes, white persons almost without exception fail to select for their informants Negroes who are representative and can provide dependable information. That Negroes as a group are often judged by the manners, conduct, and opinions of servants in families, or other Negroes whose ge
54 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SUMMARY I. The Chicago Riot
THE SUMMARY I. The Chicago Riot
After the killing of Harris and Robinson notices were conspicuously posted on the South Side that an effort would be made to "get all the niggers on July 4th." The notices called for help from sympathizers. Negroes in turn whispered around the warning to prepare for a riot; and they did prepare. Since the riot in East St. Louis, July 4, 1917, there had been others in different parts of the country which evidenced a widespread lack of restraint in mutual antipathies and suggested further resorts
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. The Migration of Negroes from the South
II. The Migration of Negroes from the South
During the period 1916-18 approximately 500,000 Negroes moved from southern to northern states. Some cities of the North received increases in Negro population of 10 per cent to 300 per cent. The Negro population of Gary, Indiana, increased from 383 in 1910 to 5,299 in 1920, an increase of 1,283 per cent. Chicago was in direct line for migrants from the South, especially along the Mississippi Valley, and received approximately 65,000, who constituted a large proportion of the increase of 148.5 p
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. The Negro Population of Chicago
III. The Negro Population of Chicago
The Negro population of Chicago, as reported by the Federal Bureau of the Census, was 44,103 in 1910, and 109,594 in 1920. The increase during the decade was, therefore, 65,491, or 148.5 per cent. Negroes constituted 2 per cent of the city's total population in 1910 and 4.1 per cent in 1920. The increase in the white population during the decade was 450,047, or 21 per cent, bringing the number up to 2,589,104 in 1920. Counting 3,007 Chinese, Japanese, and Indians of whom there were 2,123 in 1910
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. Racial Contacts
IV. Racial Contacts
The problems arising out of various occasions, both voluntary and enforced, for race association in Chicago, have, for convenience, been included in this report under the general classification of "racial contacts." Attention is given to contacts in the public schools, in public recreation places, on transportation lines, and in other relations exclusive of industry and housing which require special treatment. Negroes in Illinois are legally entitled to all the rights and privileges of other cit
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. The Negro in Chicago Industries
V. The Negro in Chicago Industries
Out of Chicago's Negro population of approximately 110,000 in 1920, it is estimated that 70,000 were gainfully employed. The opportunity for engaging in industry in large numbers came to Negroes following the outbreak of the world-war. With the enormous demand from the belligerent countries for American goods, existing establishments were enlarged and new ones created. As an example of the increased demand for workers, one of the packing-plants in the Chicago Stock Yards increased its force duri
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. Public Opinion in Race Relations
VI. Public Opinion in Race Relations
The "Negro problem" is deeper and wider than the difficulties which center about the more specialized problems of Negro housing, Negro crime, and industrial relations involving Negroes. All such special studies conducted by the Commission left a baffling residuum of causes of racial discord, deep rooted in the psychology of the white and Negro groups in contact. The beliefs and attitudes, firmly fixed and accepted prejudices of the one race as to the other, grouped under the term "public opinion
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION
THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION
Many of our citizens who were appalled by the rioting and murders of 1919, feeling the need of a solution of the problem dealt with in this investigation, have hoped that this Commission might suggest some ready remedy, some quick means of assuring harmony between the races. Careful consideration of the facts set forth in this report shows that no such suggestion is possible. No one, white or Negro, is wholly free from an inheritance of prejudice in feeling and in thinking as to these questions.
51 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
A. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
William Scott Bond , Real Estate Dealer. Born, Chicago, Illinois; graduate, University of Chicago; graduate, Kent College of Law; member, real estate firm William A. Bond & Company; trustee, University of Chicago. Edward Osgood Brown , Lawyer. Born, Salem, Massachusetts; graduate, Brown University; graduate, Harvard Law School; for ten years judge of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District; for some years president, Chicago Branch of National Association for the Advancement of Color
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. THE STAFF OF THE COMMISSION
B. THE STAFF OF THE COMMISSION
In selecting the staff to assist in carrying through the investigation and the preparation of the report careful effort was made to find persons well qualified by educational background and practical experience in social work. The staff averaged fifteen in number during the eighteen months of its existence. In all, thirty-seven people, twenty-two white and fifteen Negro, were engaged, some of whom served throughout the entire period and others for varying briefer periods. The personnel was as fo
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
C. EPITOME OF FACTS IN RIOT DEATHS
C. EPITOME OF FACTS IN RIOT DEATHS
Quarrel arose on beach between Negroes and whites in regard to the use of the beach. Many stones were thrown on both sides. Williams, in the water, was prevented from landing because of stone-throwing and drowned as consequence. Mob of 300 or 400 white people, all ages, attacked east-bound Forty-seventh Street car, pulled the trolley from the wire, stopped the car. White passengers alighted, Negro passengers hid under seats. From twenty-five to fifty white men boarded car and beat the Negroes wi
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter