The primary classification of occupations made by the Census recognized
five great groups, as follows: 1. Professions; 2. Agriculture; 3. Trade
and transportation; 4. Manufactures; 5. Personal Service. These titles
are self-explanatory, with the possible exception of the last class,
which is mainly composed of domestic servants.
[Illustration:
Proportion of the Population and its elements, which were engaged in
gainful occupations in 1890.
Diagram No. 1.
]
[Illustration:
Classification of the Wage-earners by Race and Nativity and by
Occupations.
Diagram No. 2.
]
The following table shows the proportion of the negro wage-earners
engaged in each of these groups of occupations. In juxtaposition, for
comparison, are placed similar figures for the native whites and the
foreign born.
_Native White._ _Foreign Born._ _Negro._
_Per Cent._ _Per Cent._ _Per Cent._
Professions 5.5 2.2 1.1
Agriculture 41.0 25.5 57.2
Trade and transportation 17.0 14.0 4.7
Manufactures 22.9 31.3 5.6
Personal service 13.6 27.0 31.4
————— ————— —————
100.0 100.0 100.0
Similar facts are shown by diagram No. 2. In this the total area of the
square represents the number of persons in the country pursuing gainful
occupations. This is divided into rectangles by horizontal lines, the
rectangles being proportioned respectively to the numbers of the native
whites, the foreign born, and the negroes. The sub-division of these
rectangles by vertical lines indicates the proportion in each group of
wage-earners.
The most striking facts brought out by this table and diagram are that
only a trifling proportion of the negroes were in the professions, that
much more than one-half were farmers, and nearly one-third were engaged
in personal (mainly domestic) service. Indeed, over seven-eighths of
them were either farmers or servants. The proportions engaged in trade
and transportation and in manufactures were very small. In respect to
the farming class, they contrasted sharply with the foreign born. In
trade and transportation and in manufactures the contrast was even
greater, in the contrary direction. The foreign born contained a much
larger proportion of professional men.
Comparing the negroes with the native whites, equally interesting
contrasts appear. Professional men were much more numerous among whites
than among negroes. The proportion of the farming class, although much
smaller, was nearer that of the negroes than was the same class among
the foreign born. In trade and transportation and in manufactures the
native whites had much greater proportions, while in personal service
the proportion was much less than that of the negroes.