SOME CONCLUSIONS
If now we put together here much of what we have learned from the
study of this movement, we perceive first of all that it was a social
phenomenon representing the maladjustment of almost 500,000 Negroes to
their present environment and their escape from this situation by
flight to another locality. This maladaptation was the result of
defeat of the migrants by natural forces operating in the struggle for
existence, and of their failure to overcome the powerful economic and
social adversities due to racial prejudice in the Southern society.
The floods and boll-weevil pests had, in many cases, either destroyed
crops, or rendered the raising of them totally impossible, and in
consequence had practically destroyed the very means of subsistence of
the Negroes. Added to this were numerous economic and social
disadvantages in the form of unjust farming conditions, wretchedly low
wages, lynchings, segregation, injustice in the courts, poor housing,
poor schools, and so on, all of which tended to make life in the home
environment more and more unendurable. While these driving forces were
at work, there suddenly loomed up in the North a most unusually large
demand for labor, and in this the Negroes saw the possibility of
gaining access to an environment where conditions of life seemed much
more favorable than those in the present surroundings. Consequently,
as a means of escaping the pain of maladaptation and of seeking the
pleasure which results from proper adjustment to external conditions,
the Negroes simply chose the line of least resistance; that is, flight
or migration to the North.
In the next place, we see that the migration was merely one of many
such movements which have been in progress for more than fifty years,
and that it differs from these only in volume. Its uniqueness, as we
said,[174] lies in the fact that it alone brought from the South to
the North and West a number of Negroes which exceeds that which
resulted from all the combined movements in this direction during a
period of forty years. While this is the case, it should not be
overlooked, however, that this was due largely to the then existing
extraordinary economic and social conditions. At the time of the
occurrence of this movement conditions causing the Negroes to desire
to leave the South, and opportunities for their employment in Northern
industries, were never so favorable and widespread as then. The forces
of push and pull, both economic and social, were present and were
operating on a scale larger than any hitherto known. It is, therefore,
very evident that without these most unusual and favorable conditions
this migration either never would have occurred when it did, or if it
would have, it would not have acquired such an immense volume.
It has been seen, moreover, that this recent exodus was a sort of
spontaneous movement of the masses of the Negro population and not one
composed of its leading elements. This fact has been marveled at,
because in this migration the rank and file of Negroes, accustomed to
being led, showed some initiative by acting of their own accord, and
thereby abandoned the old policy of seeking and awaiting the advice of
their leaders.[175] While this is true, and is, indeed, a very
commendable performance, yet a careful view of the situation will show
that it is hardly a phenomenon to be considered a marvelous affair. As
we saw in Chapter IV of this dissertation, this movement was largely
precipitated and stimulated by the labor agents who were seeking a
supply of labor to satisfy the demand of northern industries. The
Negroes, then suffering from the pangs of maladaptation, were seeking
an avenue of escape, and this was pointed out to them by these agents.
The latter offered the Negroes free transportation, and promised them
higher wages, better working conditions, better social advantages, and
on the whole better things than the southern environment could afford
them. In many instances, for a time all the Negroes needed to do was
to decide to leave the South, and, thereafter, they had very little to
worry about until they had reached their destination places. In this
whole matter it seems that the Negroes were confronted with what
Professor Sumner calls the first task of life, which is the task of
living, not thinking. Conditions in the environment had brought to
them necessities which had to be satisfied at once. Need then was
their experience and was followed immediately by efforts to satisfy
it. This was the impelling force.[176] Through the efforts of the
northern labor agents the Negroes obtained instruction as to the means
whereby this need might be satisfied. They, therefore, were the actual
leaders of the movement, and thus rendered it unnecessary for the
Negroes to turn to seek and await the counsels of their customary
leaders.
While this movement was in operation, furthermore, the opinion of a
few was to the effect that this migration would act as a means of so
distributing the Negro population throughout the country as to bring
on an equalization of the racial problem. This, it was alleged, would
be a good thing, first, because it would remove the fear of race
domination in the Southern States and thus deprive them of many of
their peculiar characteristics which they have developed in the course
of their efforts to keep the Negroes in the background; and, secondly,
because it would be of benefit to Negroes, in that it would mean for
them better education, more wealth, and greater political power.[177]
It is evident that had this movement wrought such results it would
have been a social occurrence of extraordinary importance, because it
would have, perhaps, accomplished much in the way of lessening the
tense friction between the two races; but it produced no such
results. The Census of 1920 shows that the North and West had a very
large increase in its Negro population during the preceding decade,
the number being 472,448, but the Negro population in the Southern
States decreased in only a few and remained almost normal in others
while actually increasing in some of these commonwealths. In fact,
when we consider the effects of past movements upon the distribution
of the Negro population in this country, we are forced to the
conclusion that such a dissemination of this population can hardly be
accomplished through migration. According to the Federal census of
1910, in 1870 the total Negro population of the United States was
4,880,009. Of this number 4,420,811 lived in the South, and 459,198
lived in the North and West.[178] In 1910, forty years later, this
same population was 9,827,763, and of this number 8,749,427 resided in
the South, whereas only 1,078,336 dwelled in the North and West.[179]
Looking at this distribution of population from the standpoint of
percentage estimates, we find that in 1870 90.6 per cent of the Negro
population lived in the South, whereas only 9.4 per cent lived in the
North and West. In 1910, 89 per cent of the total Negro population of
the United States was living in the South, while only 11 per cent was
living in the other two sections.[180] In 1870, moreover, the number
of Negroes born in the South and living in the North and West was
149,100; in 1910 this number had increased to only 440,534.[181] This
number, however, was exclusive of that of the migrants who might have
died or returned to the South or elsewhere before the taking of the
Federal census.
Owing to a number of small and unimportant movements, and this great
movement of 1916-18, the Federal census of 1920 shows, on the one
hand, a decrease in the percentage of the total Negro population
living in some of the Southern States and, on the other, a
considerable increase both in the number of Negroes born in the South
and living in the North and West, and in the percentage of the total
Negro population of the United States residing in these two sections.
The point here, however, is that notwithstanding the numerous
movements of Negroes from the South since their emancipation, in 1910
nearly nine-tenths of the total Negro population of this country was
still living in that section, whereas only a little more than ten per
cent was residing in the North and West. This shows that the Negroes
in proportion to their numbers are leaving the South very slowly, and
that the tendency is for the greater bulk of the Negro population of
the United States to remain in that section. This, therefore, seems to
preclude the notion of a general dissemination of the Negro population
in the United States, unless those conditions which gave rise to the
recent large Negro exodus should repeat themselves in such rapid
successions as to cause numerous similar movements; but the occurrence
of such phenomena, while not altogether impossible, is, to say the
least, very highly improbable.
During this movement also migration was suggested as a weapon which
the Negroes might use against the South. In this regard the opinion
was expressed that since the Negroes cannot defend themselves by the
ballot or armed revolt they have in their possession an effective
weapon in the form of migration, because it can be used quietly,
without open threats, and with telling results. All they need do, when
conditions in the South become intolerable, is to move away, provided,
however, there are economic opportunities for them in the North. By so
doing they will render the South decidedly hard up for labor, and thus
force it to make concessions to them or face economic stagnation.[182]
While there might be a possibility of putting this suggestion into
effect, yet a little inquiry into the nature of migration will show
that its use as an economic weapon is greatly limited. For the
occurrence of a migration, as has been seen, there must always be both
a repellent cause and an attractive cause. These causes, however, do
not always occur simultaneously, for while the repellent or drawing
cause may be existent, the attractive or beckoning cause may be
non-existent and vice versa. Hence, in either case there will be no
migration, because it is the tendency of man to prefer to remain in
the environment to which he has become accustomed, even under most
adverse conditions, or to leave it only when he feels certain that
another environment offers him advantages superior to those afforded
him by his home surroundings.
According to this principle, then, there might occur repeated
instances in which conditions in the South may become very
distressing, but unattended by signs of better things in the North.
This would, no doubt, result in compelling the Negroes, for the most
part, to remain where they are. In a word, a migration, in the true
sense of the word, is not a phenomenon brought about by the mere whims
or fancies of the individuals or groups participating, but is rather
brought into being by a sort of rational response to certain economic
and social laws. A movement engendered otherwise is almost certain to
bring disaster to the migrants, as was the case in the Negro exodus to
Kansas in 1879.[183] The occasion for a Negro migration of sufficient
volume to affect the industries of the South, moreover, as did this
recent one, might require such a long time for its occurrence as to
render the force of the migration as a weapon almost nihil. On account
of the peculiar position in which the Negroes find themselves placed,
therefore, it might be well if they had in their possession some
economic instrument by which they might peaceably force concessions
from the South, and thereby remove many of the obstacles in the way of
their progress; for it is hardly possible that they will accomplish
this through the agency of migration.
Another thing in regard to this movement is that it has undoubtedly
taught the South a few lessons. First of all, it must have brought
home the fact that the Negroes, to a very large extent, are
dissatisfied with conditions in the South; that they resent the
economic and social injustices done to them; that they are not wholly
anchored to this section; and that large numbers are ready to leave
whenever there are signs of favorable opportunities for them in the
North and West. As never before, perhaps, moreover, the South has been
made to realize the economic value of the Negroes. It has been brought
to see the valuable asset it possesses in having at hand this almost
illimitable supply of labor so well adapted to its climate and
industries, and that there are possibilities of its losing it to such
an extent as to endanger very seriously its economic interests. The
migration, moreover, has, on the whole, demonstrated to a large part
of the better elements of the South that the Negro has not been
getting a square deal; that in dealing with him rough methods will not
work; and that if the South would have the Negro remain there, "the
conditions under which he lives must be kindlier, the collective
attitude of the white people toward him friendlier, and that equal
opportunities with the whites for his prosperity, enjoyment of life,
and the education of his children, must be assured him, not
grudgingly, but gladly and abundantly."[184] In a word, the
realization is that in order to allay his discontent with conditions
in the South, the Negro must in every way be given a man's chance.
The migration likewise is not without its lessons to the Negroes
themselves. In the first place, it must be evident to many that moving
from the South to the North is no mere trifling affair, but rather a
matter of serious concern. It causes the migrants to change suddenly
from a mild climate, comparatively easy and slow-moving types of
occupations, and relatively simple living conditions to a climate that
is for the most part severe, to hard, relentless, and pace-set work
of various kinds, and to very complex living conditions. This sudden
shift from the old to the new locality brings many hardships and
misfortunes to the migrants, because it means for them the putting
forth of strenuous efforts for a long period of time in order to make
themselves fit for the new occupations, crowded and unsanitary
conditions of living, grave problems of health, and much delinquency
and crime among them. It brings, also, additional burdens upon the
communities of the North and West, because they are compelled to
expend much energy, time and money in creating and maintaining social
agencies for the purpose of helping the newcomers to adjust themselves
to the new surroundings. It means, again, the increasing of the
friction between the two races which frequently results in horrible
race riots like those of Chicago and East St. Louis.
In the next place, the migration must have made it obvious to the
Negroes that the North's interest in them is predominantly economic.
The North wants the Negro, but to a limited extent only. It is glad to
have him, but only so far as he can be of use to it in its industries.
It is not at all disposed to invite and welcome him within its
confines merely for the sake of enabling him to escape his unfortunate
situation in the South. This is seen, to some extent, in the somewhat
changed attitude on the part of certain employers toward Negro labor.
It is reported that with the signing of the Armistice the barriers of
race were again setup in industry. During the war Negro workers were
used widely in the place of white workers to turn out war supplies,
but with the ending of hostilities, making these products unnecessary,
this policy came to an end. Employers are less willing now to hire
Negroes than before, race riots are making it difficult for Negroes to
get jobs, and firms which never employed Negro workers are loath to
begin the experiment at this time.[185]
This movement perhaps has furthermore indicated very clearly another
factor besides racial prejudice which has been a great obstacle in the
way of the Negroes' admission into northern industries, and that with
its removal there is a possibility of the Negroes becoming greater
participants in them. This is foreign labor. This factor has worked
along with that of racial antipathy, and has been the latter's most
efficient ally in rendering insecure the interests of Negro labor in
the North. As we saw, white workers for the most part have long
objected to working with Negroes, and where this was the case,
employers usually adopted the policy of non-employment of Negro
laborers. With the coming of the hordes of immigrants from southern
and south-eastern Europe this policy assumed a more rigid permanency,
because from these foreign groups the employers could recruit all the
labor they needed, and at the same time that sort of labor to which
little or no objection could be made on the ground of race and color.
Consequently, the Negro was pushed farther and farther back in
industry, his opportunities for obtaining situations in the better
paid occupations were considerably lessened, and he was thus forced
almost wholly into those lines of work which are very menial, often
irregular, and poorly remunerative. Even many of these were invaded by
the foreigners to such an extent as to drive the Negroes almost
completely out of them. This has been especially true of those
occupations in which Negroes exclusively formerly served as cooks,
waiters, butlers, footmen, coachmen, barbers, porters, janitors,
bootblacks, and the like.[186]
When, however, the Great War came and suddenly removed thousands of
the aliens from the industries of the North, employers experienced
such an urgent need that they were only too glad to draw freely from
the Negro population of the South to meet their demands. As the
economic interests here were paramount, racial prejudice was
apparently swept aside, and Negroes by the thousands were admitted
into industries hitherto closed to them. In these they worked beside
white men, and, where they measured up to the efficiency of the
latter, they received the same pay. Hence, it is to a great extent the
foreign labor element that has been a formidable barrier to the Negro
in the industrial field, for it was seen that on its removal from this
place Negro labor was employed in its stead, notwithstanding the force
of racial antipathy. Though this force is capable of accomplishing
much, the probability is that in the face of economic stress it would
have been rendered impotent by the action of employers just as it was
in the recent emergency, and Negroes would have been hired freely
according to the exigencies of industries, if foreigners had not been
available in such large numbers.
In view of the fact that Negro laborers have now been given a chance
in these industries from which they were formerly barred, and the fact
that the American Federation of Labor has consented to admit them into
the international unions, and is endeavoring to urge these bodies to
carry out this policy, the outlook for Negro labor begins to brighten;
for there is a possibility of its becoming a potent factor in
industrial affairs: but this outcome is conditioned by three things.
These are the volume of post-war immigration from Europe, the extent
to which Negroes are actually given effective membership in the
unions, and the ability of industrial establishments, operating under
normal conditions, to absorb fully the available supply of Negro
labor. Already, immigration has attained such a height as to cause
grave concern in that it threatens, if left unchecked, to surpass its
pre-war records even at a time when an almost unprecedented industrial
depression is in existence. So serious is the situation that Congress
has passed a bill, which has been approved by the President, and thus
will soon become a law, providing for a restriction of the number of
immigrants from Europe, for a period of one year, to less than half a
million. Judging from the past, one can hardly escape taking the view
that, if foreigners should come here in numbers sufficient to meet the
demands for labor as they were doing before the European War, the
Negro's position as a laborer will be greatly endangered, for by this
supply of alien labor it may again be pushed back to its old pre-war
status. On the other hand, on account of racial prejudices, the
international unions are still defying the American Federation of
Labor by being unwilling to change their constitutions in order to
grant the Negroes membership in their unions, and unless the
Federation succeeds in coercing these bodies to execute its will, the
withholding of this right will stand as another barrier in the way of
the Negro workers.
It should be recalled, moreover, that most of the migrants were
attracted North to work for great manufacturing concerns which were
engaged in turning out supplies to carry on the European War. The
ending of this war rendered, on the one hand, many of these
establishments unnecessary because they had been erected for emergency
purposes, and, on the other, it brought about a great curtailment of
production in those plants of a permanent nature. The question now,
therefore, is will production in those industries operating under
peace conditions, barring industrial crises, be of such a magnitude as
to occasion a demand for the full utilization of the very large
available supply of Negro labor?
Here, it might not be amiss to give attention to the question as to
whether or not the migration has, on the whole, been a success; or, in
other words, have the Negroes in general given a good account of
themselves in the new environment? A thoroughly satisfactory answer to
this question at this point would be impossible, because such an
attempt would lead us beyond the intended scope of this essays. A
partially satisfactory reply may be had, however, by taking cognizance
of the results of the efforts of the migrants in the various
occupations in which they were engaged. On the basis of much that has
been said concerning the migrants in this regard, one would at once be
in serious doubt as to the success of this movement; but this
viewpoint would not be altogether correct, because it would be based
on facts which reflect conditions existing at the time when the
Negroes had recently arrived North and were struggling to adjust
themselves to the new life conditions. Under these circumstances it
was almost impossible for them to make a record that could be
considered creditable. Despite the hardships which many of the
migrants have undergone, and those which numbers of them are
undergoing at present because of unemployment, since sufficient time
for adjustment has elapsed, the migrants have so wrought in industrial
affairs as to furnish ground for reason to believe that the migration
has, at least from that standpoint, been a success. This view is
firmly taken by a representative of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. His conclusion in this regard is based
on the discoveries of a recent study of the progress of Negro migrants
in certain industrial centers in the North and West. These localities
are Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and the shipbuilding
plants on the Atlantic Coast. This investigation showed that the
Negroes were rapidly becoming adjusted to the new industrial and
social conditions, that they were still being hired as laborers, that
they were casting off the habits of tardiness, of indolence and of
unreliability, were developing skill and efficiency, and were in every
way giving satisfaction to their employers.[187]
More recently many employers of large numbers of Negroes were
interviewed and the majority of them indicated that they were
satisfied with Negro labor. Several steel mill superintendents said
that they were agreeably surprised by the results of that sort of
labor. The employment manager of a string of large foundries stated
that Negro laborers are making good with him and that they can have
their jobs as long as the foundries are operating. It was found also
that the Pullman shops in Chicago, which hire 15,000 Negroes, were
very well satisfied with Negro labor. A superintendent of one of the
largest automobile plants in Detroit said that he knows that Negroes
are good workers, and that he is trying to make his shop one which
they will be eager to enter. In this same city an inquiry into the
status of the Negroes in various industries showed that 60 per cent of
the manufacturers employing Negro workmen were fully satisfied with
their labor, 20 per cent were neutral, and 20 per cent expressed
themselves as being dissatisfied.[188] A short while past, information
from questionnaires sent out by the United States Department of Labor
to thirty-eight employers of 6,757 Negro employees showed that the
majority of these employers were promoting Negro workmen to the
skilled ranks; that they were giving the Negroes the same opportunity
as the whites to learn semi-skilled or skilled processes; that they
were of the opinion that the Negro workmen show ambition for
advancement; that there was no difference in the conduct and behavior
of Negro and white workers in the plant; that there was no difference
between white and Negro employees in the loss of materials due to
defective workmanship; and that the time required to break in
employees to the work was the same for Negroes as for whites.[189]
Besides, as evidence of their being satisfied with Negro labor, some
employers are manifesting personal interest in the affairs of Negro
workers by adopting plans of aid and conciliation which tend to
encourage laborers and thereby render them more efficient.
Accordingly, in a number of plants there exist industrial relations or
"mutual interest" departments. The lines of activity of these
departments vary from plant to plant. Some establishments merely offer
bonus and insurance schemes, emphasize safety, and take steps that
lead to the cultivation of cordial group relationship between labor
and the management as a substitute for the old cordial individual
relationship between the laborer and the boss. Others go beyond this.
They see to it that absentee employees are visited, and when the
latter are ill they have them provided with medical treatment and free
nursing. They also supply their workers with better housing, lectures,
clubrooms, playgrounds and cheap homes. In this welfare work an Ohio
steel mill has gone to the extent of erecting a $75,000 school
building and presenting it to the city for the purpose of educating
Negro children. Few employers, moreover, have given Negro labor a
voice in determining some of the policies of management through a shop
council. Many plants, furthermore, have men of color on the staff of
their employment office to see that these various programs adopted by
the industrial relations departments be made effective among the Negro
workers.[190]
Thus the foregoing examples of favorable opinions of employers
regarding Negro labor and their acts of good will toward it are
indications that the Negro migrants are giving a good account of
themselves in the various occupations in which they are engaged. They
are signs, too, that Northern employers are beginning to give more
recognition to Negro labor and that they are learning that this labor
is capable of becoming as profitable as any other labor when it is
given a fair chance to demonstrate this. These instances also show
that the Negro laborers themselves are awaking to the fact that
indolence, irregularity, unreliability, and slothfulness will yield
them nothing, and that if they would be successful in the great
economic struggle they must make of themselves industrious, prompt,
reliable, skilful and alert workers. In short, they are being made to
see that they must be efficient. Finally, these favorable expressions
and acts of employers in regard to Negro labor point to the fact that
the Negroes are gradually approaching their due place in industry, and
that they are likely in time to obtain it, provided they do not
perpetually encounter effective obstruction by the prejudice of labor
unions, by the force of foreign labor and by the failure of peace-time
industry to utilize his labor to its fullest extent.
HENDERSON H. DONALD
FOOTNOTES:
[174] See Chapter III of this Essay.
[175] _Survey_, 38: 227, June 2, 1917; and 38: 428, Aug. 11, 1917.
[176] _Folkways_, p. 2.
[177] Woodson, C. G., _A Century of Negro Migration_, pp. 183-84; _New
Rep._, 7: 214, July 1, 1916.
[178] _Negro Population in the U. S._, 1790-1915, p. 33.
[179] _Ibid._
[180] _Ibid._
[181] _Ibid._
[182] _New Republic_, 7: 214, July 1, 1916.
[183] See Chapter III of this Essay.
[184] _New York Times_, Jan. 21, 1918, 10: 4.
[185] _Survey_, 42: 900, Sept. 27, 1919.
[186] Warne, F. J., _The Immigrant Invasion_, p. 174.
[187] White, W. F., "The Success of Negro Migration," _The Crisis_,
19: 112-15, Jan., 1920.
[188] Woofter, T. J., Jr., "The Negro and Industrial Peace," _Survey_,
45: 420, Dec. 18, '20.
[189] _The Negro at Work During The World War and During
Reconstruction_, Rep. U. S. Dept. Lab., pp. 50-51.
[190] Woofter, T. J., Jr., "The Negro and Industrial Peace," _Survey_,
45: 420, Dec. 18, '20.
BOOK REVIEWS
_The Life of Charles T. Walker._ By SILAS XAVIER FLOYD. National
Baptist Publishing Board, Nashville, Tennessee, 1902. Pp. 193.
This is a brief biography of a distinguished Negro churchman who for
more than forty years rendered valuable service in the church in the
United States. It begins with the usual account of the parentage,
birth, and early childhood of the man and his preparation for his
task, as is customary in biographical treatment. This part of the book
brings out nothing particularly striking, except an appreciation of
the valuable experiences of the subject of the sketch in his struggles
to acquire an education and to establish himself in his chosen field.
The more interesting part of the work is found in chapter V devoted to
a discussion of his call to the Central Baptist Church of Augusta,
Georgia. Here we read of a busy life devoted to the settlement of
church troubles, the raising of funds for a new edifice, and the
expansion of the work under more favorable conditions. Some of the
most interesting efforts mentioned here are the management of the
_Augusta Sentinel_ and the establishment of the Walker Baptist
Institute. His work was immediately productive of great good and his
influence became a force throughout the State.
The author shows how Dr. Walker, emerging as a more useful man, served
as a chaplain of the United States volunteers during the
Spanish-American War. He is then presented as an important figure
cooperating with the National Baptist Convention and the International
Sunday School Convention. As an evangelist, he showed unusual power
with an influence so great that he was asked to accept the pastorate
of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in New York City, where he served
five years in spite of the persistent efforts of his former church in
Augusta to have him return to that field. In New York, as in Augusta,
according to this account, he was interested in all matters pertaining
to the social uplift of Negroes and, therefore, started the movement
to establish for young men of his own race a branch of the Young Men's
Christian Association, a plan which was finally adopted and supported
by the city management.
Called back to Augusta so urgently, at the expiration of five years'
service in New York, he resumed his work in that city, preaching with
more power than ever. The press gave him favorable comment and persons
of distinction like John D. Rockefeller, William Howard Taft, Lyman B.
Goff, and General Rush C. Hawkins came to hear him expound the gospel,
so great was his power of analysis and his ability to impress the
thought of his discourses upon the minds of his hearers. The book,
therefore, as whole, is a eulogistic treatment; but, on the other
hand, it is an interesting account of the career of a man both useful
and popular, a worker who connected with so many social forces in our
life and engaged in so many different enterprises for the advancement
of humanity that every one having an intelligent interest in the Negro
may profitably read this volume.
* * * * *
_A Short History of the American Labor Movement._ By MARY BEARD.
Harcourt, Brace and Howe, New York, 1920. Pp. 174.
This book is intended as a brief and simple story of the labor
movement in the United States in a single comprehensive volume of
moderate size for the busy citizen. It undertakes to emphasize the
nature and significance of the labor movement and the rise of trade
unions. There follows a discussion of the old tactics of labor, its
first political experience, and its final return to direct industrial
action. Some attention is given to the industrial panics, political
utopias, trade unionism, politics, schemes, and plans, which have
engaged the attention of the labor element during and since the Civil
War.
Discussing the situation during the Civil War, the author brings out
valuable information bearing on the history of the Negro in the United
States. According to the author, labor was forced to take a stand
against slavery because of the advanced opposition taken by the South.
Up to that time there had been no uniformity but a necessity for such
thereafter existed. This was especially true of the mill workers in
Massachusetts, among whom there were many abolitionists, while the
molders of Kentucky and Pennsylvania struggled for a compromise to
avoid bloodshed between the two sections by limiting slavery to the
area it then occupied. When manifesting opposition to the extension of
slavery into new territory however, the labor leaders were generally
opposed to the aggressive policy of the anti-slavery groups. They,
therefore, endeavored to take the question out of Congress. The war
finally became inevitable; but some of the labor leaders refused even
then to grow excited about slavery, believing that many of the bondmen
were better off than the starving wage workers of the free States.
Thus, indirectly they supported the institution in that they were
advancing the argument set forth by slaveholders during that great
crisis. The slave had his food, clothing, and shelter provided by his
master who took care of him in his old age, while under the factory
system workers earned hardly enough sometimes to eke out an existence.
In the end, however, organized labor abandoned its opposition or
neutral position and gave its support to save the Union.
* * * * *
_The United States and Latin America._ By JOHN HOLLADAY LATANÉ,
Ph.D., Professor of American History and Dean of the College
Faculty in the Johns Hopkins University. Doubleday, Page and
Company, New York, 1920. Pp. 346.
This book is a study in modern diplomacy based upon the former work of
the author entitled _The Diplomatic Relations of the United States and
Spanish America_. In response to the demand for this work which is out
of print, the author has herein set forth the same facts in a revised
and an enlarged volume. There is added to this work much new matter
relating to the events of the last twenty years.
The book begins with a discussion of the revolt of the
Spanish-American colonies, followed by an account of the recognition
of the Spanish-American republics by the leading nations of the world.
It becomes more interesting in that portion dealing with the diplomacy
of the United States in regard to Cuba, although the author does not
frankly state the case from an impartial point of view. He does not
bluntly express the truth that the diplomacy centering around the
relations between Cuba and the United States resulted from a
systematic effort at the expansion of slavery on the part of the
slaveholding class controlling this country from 1800 to 1860. The
discussion of the history of the Panama Canal is interesting in view
of its subsequent development as is also the chapters on French
intervention in Mexico. The two Venezuelan episodes, the difficulties
of the United States in the Caribbean, tendencies toward
Pan-Americanism and the Monroe Doctrine are extensively treated.
The work as a whole, moreover, does not give important facts with
regard to Cuba and Haiti. There is no effort on the part of the author
to show the imperialistic tendencies of the United States in extending
its authority over weak republics at the time that it is professing to
be laboring in the interest of the self-determination of smaller
nations. The inside cover of the foreign policy of the United States
toward Cuba, therefore, cannot be seen in reading this book. There
does not appear in this work sufficient treatment of our relations
with the Spanish American Republics to show that because of serious
tilts in our diplomacy, the relations between the United States and
Latin America have become strained.
No better example of the shortcomings of this book can be cited than
the very meager reference to the Haitian Republic, which, contrary to
international law and the principles of government which we profess to
foster in the United States, has been occupied by United States
marines, who according to official reports have instituted a regime of
murder supported by the Wilson and Harding administrations. Professor
Latané should have treated this phase of the question with the same
detail with which he treated other aspects of it and his failure to do
so identifies his book with that of many others written in the
interest of a special class or to promote a special cause.
* * * * *
_Creole Families of New Orleans._ By GRACE KING. Macmillan
Company, New York, 1921. Pp. 465.
This book, according to the author, "comes in response to a long-felt
wish of an humble student of Louisiana history to know more about the
early actors in it, to go back of the printed names in the pages of
Gayarré and Martin, and peep, if possible, into the personality of the
men who followed Bienville to found a city upon the Mississippi, and
who, remaining on the spot, continued their good work by founding
families that have carried on their work and their good names." The
families chosen are such as Marigny de Mandeville, the Dreux family,
De Pontalba, Rouer De Villeray, De la Chaise, Lafrénière, Labedoyère,
Huchet de Kernion and a score or more of others. The work is well
illustrated with scenes bearing on the life of the pioneer aristocracy
of that commonwealth. The aim of the author evidently is to publish
those records bearing witness to their good blood, their "maintenances
de noblesse," which they considered as much a family necessity as a
house and furniture. From the records of their baptisms, marriages and
deaths, from bits of old furniture, jewelry, glass, old miniatures,
portraits, scraps of silk and brocade, flimsy fragments and the like,
the author has made an interesting story and well illustrated it.
There is a regret that some of these achievements of the past are so
deeply hidden for the lack of records to throw light thereupon that a
definitive account of some of these families cannot be obtained.
There is evidence, however, that certain records of families equally
as noble and aristocratic as some of those recorded in this work were
not mentioned therein for the reason that they had mingled too freely
with the blacks during the early period and had, therefore, been
classed as persons of color. One does not find, therefore, in this
work so much about these distinguished families of color as may be
discovered in the author's earlier work entitled _New Orleans, the
Place and People_ (pages 346 to 349). Referring therein to this _gens
de couleur_, she mentions in the former work a number of musicians,
merchants, money and real estate brokers, as the ambitious element of
this class, which monopolized the trade of shoemakers, barbers,
tailors, carpenters, and upholsterers. Some of these in the course of
time attained positions of distinction in the commercial world,
acquiring large fortunes in the form of shares of stock in business
enterprises and large landed estates like the plantations of
Louisiana. One of these families, we know, had a large plantation of
about 4,000 acres and owned hundreds of slaves. The head of the family
lived in luxurious style in keeping with that of the planters of the
South.
In other cases in which the color of the quadroon or octoroon did not
brand him as far removed from the white race, the social distinctions
existing between whites and such Negroes were not observed. If they
were enforced against some of these aristocratic persons of color
fortunate in having sufficient of the world's goods to secure the
comforts of this life in spite of their social position, they usually
sent their children to northern institutions and even to Paris where
they were well educated. Thousands of these on their return to this
country easily passed to the other race and mingled their blood with
some of the most aristocratic families mentioned in this recent
treatise of Grace King.
NOTES
On the first of October Mr. Victor R. Daly, who has recently been the
Industrial Secretary of the New York Urban League, became the Business
Manager of the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY. For some time his work will
be largely in the field in an effort to extend the circulation of this
publication and to find friends for this cause. It is earnestly hoped
that the public will receive him as a coworker and give him the most
hearty support.
* * * * *
The Association for the Study of Negro life and History will hold its
next annual meeting at Lynchburg, Virginia, on the 14th and 15th of
November. The morning sessions will be held at the Virginia
Theological Seminary and College and the evening sessions at the
Eighth street Baptist Church and at the Court street Baptist Church.
Men of national prominence will address this meeting. President R. C.
Woods, of Virginia Theological Seminary and College, will deliver the
welcome address, to which Professor John R. Hawkins will respond.
Other addresses will be made by Dr. I. E. McDougle, Dr. W. H. Stokes,
Professor Bernard W. Tyrrell, Professor Charles H. Wesley, and Dr. C.
G. Woodson.
* * * * *
The April number of the _Monthly Labor Review_ contains a discussion
of various features of the labor situation of interest to all students
of social sciences. It embraces among other things the treatment of
the trend of child labor in the United States from 1913 to 1920, the
average union scale of wage rates during the same period, Federal
labor legislation, and Negro labor during and after the war. The
treatment of the last topic centers around the work of Dr. George E.
Haynes, who during the World War and for some time thereafter was the
head of the Bureau of Negro Economics in the Department of Labor.
The article briefly discusses the formation of the division of Negro
economics, showing the difficulties of finding a person competent to
do the work and the handicap preventing the Department from carrying
out its chief objective, that of bringing the two races together. The
article shows, moreover, how the beginning was made in North Carolina
among citizens of both, races, how they directed their attention
seriously to the economic problems, and how many of the obstacles
which at first were encountered were finally removed by hearty
cooperation. There is a discussion of the industrial employment of
Negroes during the scarcity of labor and the depression which followed
after the war. In this case valuable statistics are given to set forth
the writer's point of view. The article finally closes with a
discussion of Negro women in industry. Here are given valuable facts
as to how these workers were employed, the problems which they faced,
and what this Department did to meet the exigencies of the situation.
This short but valuable article may be read with interest and profit.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies. The transcriber made the following changes to the
text to correct obvious errors:
1. p. 30, persons or persons --> person or persons
2. p. 30, herefter --> hereafter
3. p. 89, 26. --> 20.
4. p. 96, maunmission --> manumission
5. p. 99, indefiite --> indefinite
6. p. 104, perfer --> prefer
7. p. 107, bcome --> become
8. p. 111, atending --> attending
9. p. 115, Carcia --> Garcia
10. p. 129, non-partisian --> non-partisan
11. p. 155, doucments --> documents
12. p. 171, Binghan --> Bingham
13. p. 181, wthin --> within
14. p. 191, No footnote marker for footnote #5.
15. p. 199, neigbors --> neighbors
16. p. 200, deleted duplicate phrase "and of the enslaved"
17. p. 202, No footnote marker for footnote #1.
18. p. 207, pusuing --> pursuing
19. p. 211, thoroughout --> throughout
20. p. 216, carrying-ing --> carrying
21. p. 217, kipnapping --> kidnapping
22. p. 218, discouragments --> discouragements
23. p. 218, apointment --> appointment
24. p. 219, prepetrators --> perpetrators
25. p. 220, portentious --> portentous
26. p. 223, communciation --> communication
27. p. 225, cirumstances --> circumstances
28. p. 226, beseeech --> beseech
29. p. 231, sperations --> separations
30. p. 249, beautful --> beautiful
31. p. 259, ben --> been
32. p. 270, There were two references to footnote #15. The second has
been duplicated and labelled #15a.
33. p. 284, There were two references to footnote #37. The second has
been duplicated and labelled #37a.
34. p. 315, ineficient --> inefficient
35. p. 316, perserving --> persevering
36. p. 316, society --> society, (added comma)
37. p. 319, There was no section VII in the original.
38. p. 325, trival --> trivial
39. p. 329, Contiment --> Continent
40. p. 331, if proportionably --> is proportionably
41. p. 335, penalities --> penalties
42. p. 336, exisiting --> existing
43. p. 333, now shall --> nor shall
44. p. 344, If has since --> It has since
45. p. 351, so satisfactory result --> no satisfactory result
46. p. 366, artifical --> artificial
47. p. 385, No footnote marker for footnote #2.
48. p. 405, No footnote marker for footnotes #38, #39, #40.
49. p. 426, No footnote marker for footnote #82.
50. p. 450, No footnote marker for footnotes #136, #137.
51. p. 452, Footnote #143 renumbered to #142
52. p. 453, Footnote #142 renumbered to #143
53. p. 468, No footnote marker for footnote #169.
54. p. 487, futhermore --> furthermore
55. p. 489, litttle --> little
Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain
as published.
End of Transcriber's Notes]