DEPENDENTS AND DELINQUENTS
Another way in which the migration affected the Negroes may be seen in
a brief study of their health in the North. To any people moving into
new surroundings health is an extremely important concern, because on
it largely depends their success in adjusting themselves to the new
situations, especially if hard daily toil is their sole means of
subsistence. As regards the health of the Negro migrants in the North
it is reported that from the start they became, to a great extent,
victims of disease. Such a consequence, however, was inevitable
because of the sudden change of the Negroes from the comparatively
mild climate of the South to the severe climate of the North, their
inadequate clothing for the cold weather of this section, the
hardships of the unrelenting toil, and the congested and unsanitary
living conditions, in the Northern cities and industrial centers.
These forces all operated heavily against the bodies of the Negroes
and thus rendered them susceptible to pneumonia, bronchitis,
tuberculosis, and other deadly maladies. The following studies of
health conditions among Negroes in a few Northern cities will
demonstrate the extent to which the newcomers were menaced by disease.
According to accounts given by Mr. Abraham Epstein, the health problem
of the Negro migrants in Pittsburgh was a serious concern. An
investigation into the causes of Negro mortality, based on comparison
between a seven-month period in 1915 and a like period in 1917, showed
that pneumonia cases during the latter year had increased 200 per cent
over those of the former year. The same period in 1917 indicated also
a marked increase in acute bronchitis and meningitis, and almost twice
as many deaths from heart disease. The seven-month period in 1917,
when the migration was in operation, registered, moreover, a total
Negro death rate of 527, whereas the same period in 1915, before the
movement began, showed a death list of only 295. During the first
seven months of 1917, furthermore, the death rate among Negroes in
this city was 48 per cent greater than the birth rate. In other words,
while in the general city population the number of deaths was 30 per
cent less than the number of births, the number of deaths among the
Negroes greatly exceeded the diminished number of births; "thus for
every one hundred persons born in Pittsburgh in 1917, there were 70
deaths, whereas among the Negro population for every one hundred
children born, one hundred and forty-eight died."[156]
The report of the Health Department of Newark stated that during the
month of December, 1917, there were 975 cases of diseases, and that
this number was 287 in excess of the number of cases of sickness
reported during the preceding month. These cases were largely
bronchial pneumonia, and the deaths resulting from this malady
numbered ninety-four. The report attributed the cause of this increase
in pneumonia to the severe weather and to the increasing number of
Negro laborers from the South, who, unaccustomed to the harsh climate
of the North, easily became victims to this disease.[157] In
Philadelphia, in the early spring of 1917, the lack of housing
accommodations for the Negro influx caused women and children to be
stranded in railroad stations overnight; and this soon brought on a
public health problem. As was the case in Newark, in this place, too,
there was an increase in pneumonia cases due to the sudden rush of
Negroes to the North before the cold period was passed.[158]
The health conditions were so serious in Cincinnati that the city
health officer suggested the establishment of a community health
center in order to improve the health of the Negroes. He pointed out
that their general death rate was about double that of the whites,
their pneumonia rates more than three times as high, and their
syphilis rate more than five times as high as the whites. In
proportion to the population, he affirmed also that three times as
many Negro children died before birth as whites, and that three times
as many of the babies born alive died before their first birthday
anniversary; and that the excess in deaths of Negroes from preventable
causes alone was so great that it accounts for more than one point in
the general death rate of the city.[159]
This rush of the Negroes to the North, moreover, was accompanied by
smallpox and venereal diseases. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, for
example, faced a danger of epidemic from the former and were compelled
to undertake wholesale vaccination of laborers in camps and mills. In
one year the city of Cleveland also reported 330 cases of this malady.
As to venereal diseases these became so rife that some industries
adopted the physical examination system as a part of application for
work. One large sugar refinery found after three weeks of this
experiment that three in every ten Negro applicants had to be rejected
because of syphilis or gonorrhea. An examination of 800 Negroes at a
large railroad camp showed that 70 per cent of them were infected with
tuberculosis, syphilis, or gonorrhea, and that nearly 80 per cent of
the total were infected with the latter disease. This, however, was
the case for the most part only among the shiftless, the casuals and
floaters, for the examinations of the better type of Negroes showed
that the percentage of those affected by those diseases was
exceedingly small.
The recent movement brought to the cities of the North a multitude of
ignorant Negroes mostly from the farms and plantations of the South,
where opportunities for education are almost unknown. To the majority
of them city life was an entirely new thing, and especially strange to
them was the extremely complex life of the large cities of the North.
Theirs, therefore, was an extremely difficult task to adapt themselves
to the mores of these places, and in their efforts to do so, it is
very obvious that they could not avoid committing errors. Furthermore,
there were among these migrants many who, having been freed from the
influence of the strict moral and religious checks of the southern
communities, lost complete control of themselves, and were thus led
into the committing of criminal acts. These circumstances, however, do
not warrant the conclusion that with the coming of the Negroes to the
North there arose a wave of crime of various kinds. This was not at
all the case. The truth of the matter is that there was an increase in
certain cities in both minor and major offenses committed by Negroes,
but in this regard the increase in minor offenses was far greater than
that in major offenses.
What has just been said is well illustrated by the results of an
investigation of Negro crime in Pittsburgh. This was done by comparing
the police court records for a period of seven months during 1916-17
with those for the same period during 1914-15, before the migration
occurred. This comparison showed that the arrests of Negroes for petty
offenses during the former period greatly exceeded those of the
latter. During 1914-15 the total number of arrests was 1,681, whereas
during 1916-17 the total number was 2,998. There was also a
disproportionate increase in arrests for such offenses as suspicious
characters, disorderly conduct, drunkenness, keeping and visiting
disorderly houses, and violations of city ordinances. Increase in
arrests for major offenses was very small. In 1914-15 the number of
Negroes arrested for grave offenses was 93, while the number arrested
for same in 1916-17 was only 94.[160]
The report on Negro crime and delinquency in the city of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, showed that the Negro population had served more than to
double the number of prisoners of color during a period of one year
ending 1917. During the spring and summer of that year more than half
the average number of inmates of the county jail, 200 in all, had
been Negroes, although the Negro population of the county was
estimated to be about 10 per cent of the total population. Most of the
Negroes had been sentenced to serve short terms for stabbing, carrying
deadly weapons, or for fighting.[161] Likewise, in Steelton,
Pennsylvania, there was much disturbance among the Negroes which
manifested itself in the form of fighting and cutting one another.
From the first there had been a general carrying of weapons,
promiscuous shooting, and dangers of trouble with the white
population. Many arrests of Negroes were reported to have been made on
the especial charges of drunkenness, gambling and disorderly
conduct.[162] The Census of 1920 shows, however, that very few Negroes
remained in Harrisburg during this preceding decade as the increase
was only 721 or 15.9 per cent.
In Cleveland, Ohio, it was found that the Negro population of the jail
had increased from 13 per cent of the total jail population in
September, 1916, to 87 per cent in September, 1917. During the month
of August of the latter year the Negro population of the jail was 60
per cent of the total jail population. The superintendent of prisons,
however, expressed the belief that these Negroes were not of the
criminal type, and affirmed that they had been sent to jail for such
minor offenses as loafing on street corners, drunkenness, and as
suspicious characters. He declared, further, that in many instances,
because they were inadequately housed, deprived of opportunities for
decent recreation, poorly clad, and often hatless on the streets,
Negroes were summarily picked up by the police and sent to prison on
the mere charge of suspicion.[163] This accounts for much of the
so-called "Negro crime" in the United States.
Without further investigation, and relying solely on the facts
already presented concerning conditions among the migrants in the
North, one would, no doubt, at once suppose that a great many Negroes
at first failed in the struggle, fell by the wayside, and finally
became public charges. Strange as it may seem to relate, however, the
contrary was rather the case. Few, indeed, were those among the
migrants who became so overwhelmed by poverty as to necessitate their
calling for public aid. The only account of Negroes appealing for help
is that given by the Society for Organizing Charity in the city of
Philadelphia. In this statement we are informed that during one year,
ending early in 1917, this society received twenty-eight applications
from Negro families who had recently come from the South. This same
report states also that the Juvenile Court had received relatively few
applications; that the Children's Bureau had not removed any children
from newly arrived families; and that the House of Detention had
handled only twenty-eight children arrested on one charge or
another.[164]
This surprisingly small number of Negroes who became public charges
must not, however, convey the impression that the migrants were
altogether self-supporting. Numerous instances could be cited in which
it would be shown that many of the older Negro residents of the North
came to the rescue of stranded migrants from the South. Churches and
missions did much to help the newcomers to settle themselves in the
new environment. When the Negroes began to come in very large numbers,
moreover, and when the public realized the many obstacles which were
in the way of their adjustment, numerous uplift organizations or
counter-selective agencies sprang up, having as their specific
function the assisting of the migrants to adapt themselves to the new
conditions. Foremost among these was the National League on Urban
Conditions among Negroes. This organization, however, had been in
existence for several years, and had been making itself interested in
the welfare of Negro migrants who were flocking to the cities of the
North and West before the recent Negro movement. When this exodus was
in full operation, this organization greatly expanded its work by
establishing branches in most of the cities where the migrants were
located. In order to perform its work more effectively it adopted a
program which was executed in most of these cities. The program was
(1) the establishment of an employment bureau to secure jobs for all
newcomers who had no promise of any before their arrival; (2) the
opening of a bureau to locate suitable houses at reasonable rates for
the migrants; (3) the organization of a department to provide various
kinds of wholesome recreation for the newcomers; (4) the maintenance
of a department to aid in suppressing and preventing delinquency and
crime among the Negro migrants; and (5) the putting forth of
systematic efforts to help the Negroes to become industrially
efficient. Thus, it can readily be seen that this organization and the
smaller uplift agencies played a large part in the adjustment of the
Negroes to the Northern environment; and it is no doubt due largely to
their efforts that so very few of the migrants became objects of
public charity.
Very recent inquiries, however, show that in certain centers large
numbers of the Negro migrants are in distress and are, therefore,
compelled to seek public relief. These are single men and in many
cases men with families who have been deprived of work because of the
great industrial depression now in existence for nearly a year. They
are moving from the industrial centers where they were formerly
employed into the larger cities either in search of work or on their
way back to their homes in the South. Usually, in these places they
become stranded and are thus forced to seek aid. Conditions due to the
influx of Negro families into the city of Pittsburgh are described by
Mr. Charles C. Cooper, head of the Kingsley House, as follows: "The
great number of idle colored men and women in any part of the great
cities is difficult to estimate; there is no method of computing
those who have come into the city after being laid off in surrounding
territory. During some twelve days in January, 1921, 2,100 colored
men, who had come from surrounding districts, and none of whom had
been working in Pittsburgh, applied at the little Providence Rescue
Mission in Pittsburgh for assistance and work. In one week 1,027
applied to the Urban League of this City for work, and 8 received it."
He states, further, that the usual uplift or philanthropic agencies
were overburdened in their efforts to help these unfortunates. Two
prominent Negro churches volunteered their services and rendered
valuable assistance to the regular relief organizations in the matter
of feeding and housing these migrants. The situation, moreover, was
all the more aggravated because of the attitude of the police
department toward these newcomers and the acute housing conditions.
With its usual lack of understanding, it permitted the police officers
to arrest hundreds of these Negroes, many of whom were sent to the
workhouse. On account of the scarcity of dwelling places rents were
very high, and even where money was available for the purpose, the
purchasing of houses was an impossibility. When a large group of these
distressed men were asked if they were going to return to the South on
account of their misfortunes they firmly replied: "Like Hell we
are!"[165]
A small movement of some unemployed Negroes endeavoring to reach their
original homes in the South, however, greatly augmented the number of
homeless Negroes in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, during December,
1920. As this city has never made provision to care for homeless men,
these wanderers at first received a very cold reception. The workhouse
became the lodging-place of a large number of them, because they were
arbitrarily arrested by the police, and on the charge of vagrancy were
sentenced by the court to this institution for a period of ninety
days. Efforts of the State Employment Bureau and the local branch of
the Urban League to find jobs for these men were of no avail.
Finally, through the instrumentality of the Community Council of this
city a meeting of representatives of a number of organizations devised
a plan of action for the purpose of aiding these homeless men. To
supply them with sleeping quarters the Young Men's Christian
Association furnished the use of its basement wherein thirty beds with
bedding, loaned by the Associated Charities, were placed. Blankets
were provided by the Salvation Army Industrial Home. Funds to defray
the expenses of a night man and for breakfasts for the men were
pledged by the Urban League and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. The Director of the Board of Public
Safety promised the cooperation of the police by requesting the latter
to refer homeless men to the Young Men's Christian Association instead
of arresting them with the view of having them sent to the workhouse.
The Associated Charities agreed to see to it that every man who
actually could be taken care of in another community would be given
the necessary transportation, and the city promised to assist in
meeting this item of expense. In the meantime the State Employment
Bureau and the Urban League gave assurance that they would renew their
efforts to secure jobs for those in need of work.[166]
The extent to which these conditions exist is not yet definitely
known; but owing to unemployment there are many more cases of Negroes
undergoing hardships such as those to which reference has just been
made. Mr. E. K. Jones, the Executive Secretary of the National Urban
League, states that in the city of Detroit a very large number of
Negroes are unemployed and in consequence have had to appeal to the
city for relief. He is of the opinion that proportionally the Negroes
are receiving more aid than any other group, for while they constitute
a small percentage of the population of the city, they receive 37 per
cent of the total relief given. In Chicago and its vicinity, owing to
decreased production, not long ago, 70,000 Negro laborers agreed to
accept a cut in wages rather than lose their jobs. The agreement was
that they would accept a 10 per cent reduction in wages for unskilled
laborers and a 15 per cent reduction for skilled workers. Mr. Parker,
President of the American Unity Labor Union, declared then that there
were 100,000 unemployed men in Chicago and its environs.[167] Thus
here too a large number of Negroes are undoubtedly undergoing some
hardships or are being placed in positions where these will certainly
overtake them.
The fact that so many Negroes are out of work and on this account have
fallen into poverty raises the question as to whether their
unemployment is due to a general policy of employers to deprive
Negroes of work simply because of their color. It is known that during
this industrial depression production is exceedingly small and that
correspondingly there is an infinitely small demand for the very large
available supply of labor. The result is that there is an almost
universal state of unemployment which presumably affects all groups
alike. However, Mr. Charles C. Cooper, head of the Kingsley House in
Pittsburgh, does not think that this is the case, for he is of the
opinion that discrimination has been made against Negro workers. He
holds that unskilled Negroes, the latest to be employed in industrial
plants, have been among the first to be discharged and that only in
exceptional instances is this untrue. These exceptions exist where the
percentage of Negroes discharged is no larger than that of white
workers because of the efforts of Negro social workers who were
employed to act as spokesmen for the Negro laborers.[168] Opposed to
this is the view of the Executive Secretary of the National Urban
League. He does not believe that the percentage of Negroes discharged
from work is larger than that of whites. In many plants, where Negroes
have made good, when the necessity of cutting down the labor force
arose, the proportion of Negroes who were dropped was no greater than
that of any other group. In fact, in a few cases, employers have
actually retained, proportionally, more Negro than white laborers. Be
that as it may, the fact, nevertheless, is that unemployment is
largely responsible for the distressed conditions of many of the Negro
migrants; and the hope is that when this industrial crisis is passed
and they are again given the opportunity to work, they will lift
themselves once more to the level of self-help and independence.
In any migration of peoples in modern times there are usually those
who either intend to remain in the new locality temporarily or who,
because of the least dissatisfaction with conditions, are willing to
return home at the earliest possible time. This gives rise to an
outflow as well as an inflow of migrants. Perhaps the immigration from
Europe to this country may illustrate this. For several years previous
to the Great War, while thousands of immigrants arrived in this
country, on the one hand, on the other, thousands departed for their
respective native lands.[170] To some extent this principle likewise
applies to this intra-State movement of the Negro population. From our
study of conditions among the migrants in the North it is obvious that
many of them found conditions very different from what they had been
represented to be by labor agents and others. This undoubtedly brought
on much dissatisfaction and disappointment, and thus caused many to
seek their way back to the South. The number of those acting thus is
very uncertain, because no accurate study in this regard has been
made. Nevertheless, some have estimated that only about 10 per cent of
the total number of those who left the South returned there; others
have estimated it as high as 30 per cent.[171] Both of these
percentages, however, are mere guesses, with the likelihood perhaps of
the former being approximately nearer the truth. The only attempt
which has been made to investigate this phase of the movement was that
on the part of the Chicago branch of the National League on Urban
Conditions among Negroes shortly after the Washington and Chicago
riots in July, 1919. This study was made mainly to verify the reports
to the effect that because of these outbreaks the Negroes had become
terrified and were on the move back to the South. This investigation
was very limited in that it took cognizance of conditions as they
pertained to Chicago only. The method of procedure was the study of
Negro arrivals and departures during the week following the riot in
that city. The interesting result was that during that period 261
Negroes arrived in the city while 219 departed. Of those leaving 83
gave some southern State as their destination. They were for the most
part persons returning from vacations, visiting the South, going on
business, or returning to join their families. Only 14 gave the riot
as a cause for their leaving the city.[172]
It is reported, moreover, that the South, still feeling the effects of
migration in the form of a serious labor shortage in its main
industries, has been trying to induce the Negroes to return. As a
means of accomplishing this it resorted to a scheme of using certain
newspapers in the North to make persuasive appeals to the Negroes. In
these the South's needs were made known, its kind treatment of Negroes
was extolled, its opportunities were enumerated, and its growing
change of heart on the question of race relations was affirmed. After
rumor went broadcast that after the Washington and Chicago riots the
Negroes, in terror, were leaving the North, moreover, more positive
efforts were made, especially on the part of two Southern States, to
obtain Negro laborers. These took the form of sending agents to the
North to solicit labor and of empowering them to offer the Negroes
free transportation and to make them promises of increased wages and
better living conditions. These inducements, however, were ineffective
because the Negroes doubted the sincerity of the Southern agents.
Indeed, they were inclined all the more to be skeptical, for in the
meantime news had reached them from various parts of the South to the
effect that, except school conditions, things have not at all changed
for the better; that, in many instances on the contrary, since the
Great War living conditions of Negroes have become worse and that from
a few places a small stream of Negroes was still moving
northward.[173] The Federal census of 1920 justifies us, furthermore,
in saying that for the most part the Negro migrants are satisfied with
conditions in the North and are inclined to remain there; and that the
number of those returning or who have returned to the South is, in
comparison to the great number of those who came North, infinitely
small.
FOOTNOTES:
[156] Epstein, A., _The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_, pp. 56-59.
[157] Pendleton, H. B., _Survey_, 37: 571, Feb. 17, 1917.
[158] _Survey_, 38: 28, April 7, 1917.
[159] _Survey_, 42: 579, July 19, 1917.
[160] Epstein, A., _The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_, pp. 47-48.
[161] Tyson, F. D., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept.
Lab., p. 141.
[162] _Ibid._, p. 142.
[163] _Ibid._, p. 141.
[164] Bell, J. B., _Proc. Nat. Conf. Soc. Work._, pp. 502-03, June,
1917.
[165] _Survey_, 45: 752, Feb. 26, 1021, "A New Negro Migration."
[166] Hoyer, R. A., "Migration of Colored Workers," _Survey_, 45: 930,
March 26, 1921.
[167] _New York Times_, Dec. 12, 1920, 14: 1.
[168] _Survey_, 45: 752, Feb. 26, 1921.
[169] Washington, F. B., _Survey_, 38: 333-35, July 14, 1917.
[170] Fairchild, H. P., _Immigration_, pp. 348-52.
[171] Dillard, J. H., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept.
Lab., p. 11.
[172] Hill, T. A., _Survey_, 43: 183-85, Nov. 29, 1919.
[173] Hill, T. A., _Survey_, 43: 183-85, Nov. 29, 1919.