BLACK AMERICA.
[Illustration: THE “BLACK BELT.”]
BLACK AMERICA:
_A STUDY OF THE EX-SLAVE AND HIS LATE MASTER_.
BY
W. LAIRD CLOWES.
_REPRINTED, WITH LARGE ADDITIONS, FROM “THE TIMES.”_
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
_LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_.
1891.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
[Illustration: Circular decorative emblem showing a woman in fur
clothing holding a staff, surrounded by stylized foliage and the text
‘La Belle Sauvage.’]
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION vii
THE BLACK BELT 1
THE EX-SLAVE AS MASTER 19
THE EX-SLAVE AS HE IS 67
THE POSITION OF THE SOUTHERN WHITE 127
SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 151
THE IDEAL SOLUTION 181
APPENDIX:—
A. THE POPULATION OF THE SOUTH 216
B. COLOUR CASTE 217
C. SLAVERY IN THE NORTH 224
D. THE GROWTH OF THE COLOURED RACE 232
INDEX 233
INTRODUCTION.
In the autumn of 1890 I was commissioned by _The Times_ to go to the
southern part of the United States in order to study upon the spot the
conditions of the very extraordinary social problem which has gradually
arisen there during the past two hundred years, and which has assumed
new and peculiar importance since the manumission of the negroes and
“coloured” people, and the nominal extension to them of all the
privileges of American citizenship. For this study I was in some degree
prepared, not only by a long-indulged fondness for the subject, but also
by a previous residence in the United States. The result of my inquiries
took the form of a series of ten letters, which appeared in _The Times_
in November and December, 1890, and in January of the present year.
These letters, with considerable additions, and with such corrections as
fuller knowledge and the kind assistance of numerous correspondents have
suggested, are now reprinted. They embrace, I think, a fair and
comprehensive view of the problem in all its most significant aspects. I
have conversed, without prejudice, with whites and with blacks, with
Republicans and with Democrats, with men who are in office, and with men
who are anxious to find themselves there; and I have not consciously
closed my ears to any argument from any quarter. This volume, therefore,
may, I trust, be accepted as containing a true account of a state of
affairs which is without parallel in the history of modern civilisation,
and which is, no doubt, destined to exercise a momentous, and possibly a
terrible, influence upon the future of America.
Briefly summarised, the situation in the South is as follows. The
inhabitants, black and white, have all been given equal rights by the
amended Constitution of the Union. Each man of full age is as much a
citizen as his fellow. That is the view of the law, from Maine to
California. But in the South there are several millions of people whose
veins contain more or less negro blood. A generation ago these people,
or their parents, were, almost without exception, slaves in the hands of
the Southern whites. A great revolution was effected. The black suddenly
ceased to be a slave; and, within a few years, he was presented not only
with his freedom, but also, in theory at least, with all the privileges
that were previously the sole possession of the white. This raising of
the black from the depths of slavery to the heights of citizenship was
the work of outside forces. It was not done by the Southern white, nor,
save as regards mere manumission, was it done with his approval or
consent. He was not in a position to resist the will of the victorious
North. Indeed, the North imperiously forced its will upon him, and even
used as its agents the very blacks who had but just been liberated from
bondage. This policy created bad blood between whites and blacks. From
the moment of its full enforcement harmonious working between blacks and
whites in the field of politics, and in most other spheres, became
impossible. The Southern white assumed a sullenly rebellious attitude.
He determined that he would render a dead letter the grant of
citizenship to the black; and to a very large extent he has done so.
But, in the meantime, the black, in certain districts, has been
increasing more rapidly than the white; and to-day, in some of those
districts, he actually outnumbers him, while in others he equals him,
and will outnumber him in the early future. Still, nevertheless—even
where he is in a conclusive minority—the Southern white persists in his
dogged resolution not to allow the black to meddle with the machinery of
government, not to permit him for an instant to wear the full robe of
citizenship that has been presented to him by the North. This is the
bare kernel of the situation. Hitherto the black has, upon the whole,
meekly submitted to this illegal deprivation of his rights. Can he be
expected to submit for ever? Or will he some day attempt by force to
seize that to which he is by law entitled? Should he ever do this,
either alone or backed by all the resources of the North, there will be
a scene of horror such as the South never witnessed in the darkest days
of the Civil War. So much is absolutely certain.
What follows aspires to be an impartial review not only of the present
aspects but also of the past history of the complex problem which has
thus been created. It includes, also, a humble suggestion for the
permanent solution of that problem. I have attempted to show, firstly,
where the problem exists in its most pressing and dangerous form;
secondly, the reasons which impel the South to refuse to
constitutionally solve the problem by allowing the majority to rule;
thirdly, the intolerable position of the Southern black; and, fourthly,
the intolerable position of the Southern white. The position of all
parties concerned naturally demands that some way out of the difficulty
should be invented. I have, therefore, gone on to show, fifthly, what
solutions have been advocated, and why they must all be ineffective;
and, sixthly, what appears to me to be the best, the most just, and the
only radical solution.
This solution is one which, I admit, I almost despair of seeing carried
out. The peaceable removal of the negroes from the United States, and
their establishment across the ocean in a country and in circumstances
that would be propitious not only to their own development but also to
the development of their barbarous kindred, are measures which would
involve very great expense. But it is not, I believe, on the score of
expense that the average American is likely to reject the scheme. His
great inheritance provides him with wealth more than sufficient to
enable him to pay all his debts, including those huge ones which he owes
to the black. He is much more likely to adopt a characteristic attitude
such as he has adopted in the past towards many other threatening
questions. One of the most distinguished of living American statesmen
said to me in November last: “If my country should ever come to
frightful disaster, it will be, I am convinced, because it is the
incurable habit of my countrymen to cherish the belief that they are so
much the special care of Providence that it would be superfluous, on
their part, to take even simple and ordinary precautions for their own
protection.”
BLACK AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
THE BLACK BELT.
The total population of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and of
the Indian Territory, was, according to the official returns of the
Tenth Census, 50,155,783. This Census was taken as long ago as 1880; but
it is, and will for some time continue to be, the latest enumeration
concerning which full statistical details are in possession of the
world. An Eleventh Census was taken in June, 1890. This, so far as has
as yet been ascertained, fixes the population of the great Republic at
62,622,250.[1] The details of it are, however, still unknown. We are
altogether in the dark as to how many of the people are males and how
many females, how many white and how many coloured; and months, if not
years, may be expected to elapse before the hard-working Census Bureau
at Washington shall find itself in a position to enlighten us upon these
and other particular points of interest. But there is no reason to
suppose that the full details of the Eleventh Census will, when they are
published, greatly surprise the statistical experts who have made a
special study of the increase of American population in the past and of
its probable increase in the future; nor are there any signs that the
results of the Eleventh Census will, upon one point of special
significance, be much more reassuring than were those of the Tenth. That
point of special significance is the rate of increase of the coloured
people in certain extensive sections of the old slave-holding States of
the South. This rate of increase has hitherto been vastly superior to
that of the white people in the same districts, and is a thing of no new
growth. The four States, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia, were numbered for the first time in 1790. Their white and
coloured populations in that year and in the year 1880, and the rates of
increase per cent. during the ninety intermediate years, are shown in
the following tables:—
Footnote 1:
NOTE.—See Appendix.
WHITE POPULATION.
──────────────┬────────┬────────┬────────
│ 1790. │ 1880. │Increase
│ │ │ per
│ │ │ Cent.
──────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────
Virginia │ 442,117│ 880,858│ 99·2
North Carolina│ 288,204│ 867,242│ 200·9
South Carolina│ 140,178│ 391,105│ 179·0
Georgia │ 52,886│ 816,906│ 1,442·9
──────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────
COLOURED POPULATION.
──────────────┬────────┬────────┬────────
Virginia │ 305,493│ 631,616│ 106·7
North Carolina│ 105,547│ 531,277│ 402·4
South Carolina│ 108,895│ 604,332│ 454·9
Georgia │ 29,662│ 725,133│ 2,344·6
──────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────
While, therefore, in the ninety years the white population of the four
States has grown from 923,385 to only 2,956,111, the coloured population
has grown from 549,597 to 2,492,358. In other words, while the whites
have increased only 220·1 per cent., the blacks have increased 353·4 per
cent., and the latter have been continuing to increase with superior
speed in face of the facts that now for more than a generation black
immigration has practically ceased, and that the black race is
considerably shorter-lived than the white. It is remarkable, too, that
in each of the four States the rate of increase has been greater among
the blacks than among the whites.
In only the above-mentioned four of the eight old Slave States of the
South was there a Census in 1790. The first census of Mississippi was
taken in 1800, of Louisiana in 1810, of Alabama in 1820, and of Florida
in 1830. The first enumerations of the eight States showed a total white
population of 1,066,711; the Census of 1880 showed the white population
to be 4,695,253, an increase of 340·2 per cent. On the other hand, the
first enumerations of the eight States showed a coloured population of
but 654,308, while the Census of 1880 showed a coloured population of no
less than 4,353,097, or an increase of 563·7 per cent. Whereas,
therefore, at the earliest enumerations the blacks formed only about 38
per cent. of the population, they formed in 1880 about 48 per cent. In
short, in these States, and in the period under review, the blacks
steadily drew ever nearer and nearer to the attainment of a numerical
majority. In 1860 they were still nearly half a million behind the
whites. To-day, in the eight old Slave States of the South the whites
and the blacks are practically equal in numbers, and in several
individual States the blacks have a formidable and growing majority.
It is in these last States most particularly that what is known as the
Negro Problem constitutes the most serious and complex social question
of the hour. For most of the other States of the Union the problem
possesses as yet only a secondary interest. The total number of negroes
and coloured people in the whole of the United States in 1880 was
6,580,793. Of these, 4,353,097 lived, as has been seen, in the eight old
Slave States of the South, and there formed practically one-half of the
population; 1,660,674 lived in the seven border States, Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee, with
7,132,457 white fellow-citizens around them; and the remaining 567,022
were all but lost among the 31,575,260 whites—not to mention the Chinese
and Indians—in the rest of the Union. So sparse, indeed, is the negro
population, save in the fifteen States that have been named, that it
need not be considered as a factor of any weight whatever; but in those
fifteen States it is an ever-present force that demands recognition by
all political parties. The fifteen States may be thus grouped:—
─┬──────────────┬───────────────────┬──────────
│ │ Population, 1880. │Percentage
│ │ │ of
│ │ │Coloured.
─┼──────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼──────────
„│ „ │ White. │Coloured.│ „
─┼──────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────
A│Missouri │2,022,826│ 145,350│ 6·7
„│Kentucky │1,377,179│ 271,451│ 16·4
„│Delaware │ 120,160│ 26,442│ 18·1
„│Maryland │ 724,693│ 210,230│ 22·4
„│Texas │1,197,237│ 393,384│ 24·7
„│Tennessee │1,138,831│ 403,151│ 26·1
„│Arkansas │ 591,531│ 210,666│ 26·2
─┼──────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────
B│North Carolina│ 867,242│ 531,277│ 37·9
„│Virginia │ 880,858│ 631,616│ 41·7
„│Georgia │ 816,906│ 725,133│ 47·0
„│Florida │ 142,605│ 126,690│ 47·1
„│Alabama │ 662,185│ 600,103│ 47·5
─┼──────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────
C│Louisiana │ 454,954│ 483,655│ 51·4
„│Mississippi │ 479,398│ 650,291│ 57·5
„│South Carolina│ 391,105│ 604,332│ 60·6
─┴──────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────
In the States grouped under A, or, at least, in portions of them, the
negro question occasionally assumes importance, though it is normally
dormant. That it is not more often to the fore appears to result mainly
from the political apathy or stupidity of the coloured population, which
is frequently in a position, acting with organisation and method, to
affect the balance of parties. In the States grouped under B the power
of the negro is, theoretically, considerably greater. He has a vote in
North Carolina if he be an actual citizen and not a convict; in Virginia
if he be an actual citizen and not a lunatic, idiot, convict, duellist,
or soldier; in Georgia if he be an actual taxpaying citizen and not a
lunatic, idiot, or criminal; in Florida if he be a United States
citizen, or have declared an intention of becoming one, and if he be not
a lunatic, idiot, criminal, duellist, or bettor on elections; and in
Alabama if he be a citizen, or have declared an intention of becoming
one, and if he be not an idiot, an Indian, or a person convicted of
crime. In none of these States is it definitely required that the negro
voter shall be able to read or write; in only one is it required that he
shall be even a taxpayer. The general requisites are merely manhood, a
certain length of residence, and registration. Finally, in the States
grouped under C, the negro is, if only he cared, and were permitted, to
exercise his franchise, all-powerful. In Louisiana the qualification for
the suffrage at present excludes no male citizen who, being of age, is
not an idiot, lunatic, or criminal. In Mississippi the law is equally
generous. In South Carolina the male citizen who is of age may vote
unless he be a lunatic, an inmate of an asylum, almshouse, or prison, a
duellist, or a soldier. There is no property or taxpaying qualification.
The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States
declares that “the right of the citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on
account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude;” and the
spirit of that amendment is, in theory, most fully honoured by all the
Commonwealths. So completely is this the case that in 1880 the voting
populations of the three States (C) were officially returned as:—
──────────────┬─────────┬─────────
│ White. │Coloured.
──────────────┼─────────┼─────────
Louisiana │ 108,810│ 107,977
Mississippi │ 108,254│ 130,278
South Carolina│ 86,900│ 118,889
──────────────┴─────────┴─────────
The slight coloured voting inferiority in Louisiana in 1880 is
attributable to the high rate of infant and child mortality among the
negroes as compared with the whites. It probably exists no longer. There
is now, almost beyond question, a very considerable coloured voting
majority in all these States, and probably a slight one in Alabama as
well. The American Constitution recognises the right of the majority to
rule. The impartial observer, therefore, might expect to find the
government of Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and possibly
also of Alabama, almost, if not entirely, in the hands of the negro and
coloured majority; but upon his arrival in the South he finds no trace
of anything of the kind. He finds, on the contrary, that the white man
rules as supremely as he did in the days of slavery. The black man is
permitted to have little or nothing to say upon the point; he is simply
thrust on one side. At every political crisis the cry of the minority
is, “This is a white man’s question,” and the cry is generally uttered
in such a tone as to effectually warn off the black man from meddling
with the matter.
I purpose later to show by what methods the white man attains his object
when the usual cry fails to produce the whole of the expected result. I
purpose also to show some of the reasons that are advanced by the
Southern white man for his consistent refusal to countenance any negro
interference in the affairs of State. For the present I confine myself
to indicating the situation as it is and as it will be, and to
suggesting that the existing white supremacy, whether it be for good or
for evil, cannot continue indefinitely, and must eventually give place,
either by free concession or as a tribute to brute force, to a new order
of things.
Not only in Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, as wholes, is
there a negro majority among the population, a similar majority exists
in nearly all the low-lying portions of the Southern States, from the
Chesapeake to Florida and from Florida to the borders of Mexico, and
especially in those low-lying districts that are removed from the great
towns.[2] The face of the country consists, speaking broadly, of
hill-tracts, and of cities, where the whites are in a majority, and of
lowlands, where the blacks are numerically supreme; and there are
obvious natural reasons at the bottom of this division of the races.
Heat is irksome to the Anglo-Saxon and correspondingly grateful to the
negro. Trade, mining, and manufactures attract the white man;
agriculture and tillage are preferred by the black. In the undrained
lowlands the negro constitution defies fevers and other ills that often
weaken if they do not actually prove fatal to the white man’s health.
And so, apart from questions of births and deaths, some parts of the
Southern States tend to every year become blacker, while others as
steadily become whiter.
Footnote 2:
NOTE.—See Map.
And the process which is initiated by geographical and climatic
considerations is regularly aided by economical ones. The white man
cannot compete as a labourer, or even as an artisan, upon equal terms
with the black. He needs higher pay and better food. In black centres,
therefore, the poor white man finds himself daily becoming more and more
out of his element. Ordinary petty village trades, such as cobbling,
tailoring, smithery, and carpentry, are thus, throughout the South,
falling very much into the hands of the negroes; while the poor white
men, who once had a monopoly of such humble pursuits, are going
elsewhere in search of employment. They go, not to the uplands and
cities of the South, but to the North, and, above all, to the new West,
where every working man with strong arms, a good head, and an honest
heart, has to-day the most brilliant of prospects.
The blacks, on the other hand, move about very little. They appreciate
such little comforts as they have been able to gather around them since
their manumission, and neither the cold North nor the half-settled West
has any charms for them. They have at present no strong ambitions and
very few wants. In the estimation of ninety-nine out of a hundred of
them a cabin in sunny South Carolina is a much more desirable thing than
a five-storeyed house in New York or Chicago, and immeasurably
preferable to a store in Nebraska or a hut in Wyoming. Moreover, the
black likes to be among his black kinsmen. A white man may occasionally
persuade himself to regard a negro as his brother, in theory at least.
The black man cares little for theory, and bluntly recognises the white
man as a person of alien and, upon the whole, objectionable character
from surface to core. And even the most sympathetic white man prefers,
in practice, to be surrounded by a white majority rather than by a
black, especially when he is at home in the bosom of his family.
These considerations, almost as much as the superior fecundity and fewer
wants of the negro, are leading the Black Belt of the South to become
blacker than ever. White immigration has almost ceased; white emigration
is growing. In 1880, as has been shown, there were 391,105 whites and
604,332 blacks in South Carolina. Of these only 7,686, or ·7 per cent.,
were of foreign birth. Twenty years before, the number of foreign-born
people in the State had been 9,986, and in 1870 it had been 8,074. In
the eight old Slave States of the South (B and C) there were, in 1860,
148,662 foreign-born residents, in 1870 but 123,931, and in 1880 only
119,686; while of persons born out of the States, but within the United
States, there were 1,813 less in 1880 than in 1870. These are facts
which, even if taken alone, are of deep significance. Still more
striking, however, are some estimates which have been drawn up for me by
a distinguished statistical expert at Washington, and which show the
probable numerical aspect of the race question in the eight old Slave
States in the near future. Several years ago Professor E. W. Gilliam
published a forecast of the developments of the present situation. His
estimate of the rate of increase of the Southern whites and negroes was
somewhat more alarmist than that which I am now able to give. The new
estimate is based upon the general, though not upon the detailed,
results of the Census of 1890; and as it also makes allowance for the
often alleged imperfections of the Census of 1870, I think that it may
be accepted as, upon the whole, a better one than that of Mr. Gilliam,
or, indeed, than any that has yet been attempted. I feel bound to
mention Mr. Gilliam’s name in connection with this matter, for his
tables have been very widely quoted, and have been made the foundation
of much discussion and speculation. I only reject them because I have
others which are the results of fuller and later knowledge. Mr.
Gilliam’s views on some unfortunately less changeable aspects of the
race question remain to-day as true and as valuable as when they were
committed to paper seven years ago, and I hope to quote them when, after
having completed the dry statistical survey of the whole subject, I
proceed to deal with the difficulties and dangers of the Southern
problem. Here, in the meantime, is my informant’s estimate of the white
and coloured populations of the Black Belt States in the years 1900 and
1910 respectively:—
──────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────
│ 1900. │ 1910.
──────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────
„ │ White. │Coloured.│ White. │Coloured.
──────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────
North Carolina│1,010,000│ 865,000│1,100,000│1,020,000
Virginia │ 985,000│ 835,000│1,050,000│ 965,000
Georgia │1,060,000│1,090,000│1,190,000│1,310,000
Florida │ 295,000│ 245,000│ 380,000│ 340,000
Alabama │ 870,000│ 935,000│1,000,000│1,125,000
Louisiana │ 582,000│ 755,000│ 655,000│ 915,000
Mississippi │ 645,000│ 840,000│ 750,000│ 965,000
South Carolina│ 465,000│ 875,000│ 510,000│1,055,000
──────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────
│5,912,000│6,440,000│6,635,000│7,695,000
──────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴─────────
│ 12,352,000 │ 14,330,000
──────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────
As illustrating the moderation of this estimate, it is worth while
adding that Professor Gilliam, writing in 1883, was of opinion that,
from 1880 onwards, the whites in the South might be expected to increase
at the rate of 2 per cent. per annum, and to double their numbers in
thirty-five years, and that the blacks in the South might be expected to
increase at the rate of 3½ per cent. per annum and to double their
numbers in twenty years. These formulæ would give to the eight old Slave
States about 9,390,000 whites in 1915, and about 17,400,000 blacks in
1920. The actual rate of increase is, however, a comparatively
unimportant matter. The significant fact of the situation is that in
three or four of the eight States the coloured population already
outnumbers the white, and that in every one of the remaining four or
five States the existing white majority has been for years growing
smaller and smaller, and bids fair within a very short period to
disappear entirely, and to make place for an overwhelming and
ever-growing black majority.
At present, even in South Carolina, which is the “blackest” State in the
Union, the white, and the white alone, rules. He seized power, in
self-defence it is true, by fraud and violence, and he retains it by
deception and intimidation; yet, strange to say, even the most respected
and (in ordinary dealings) upright white people of the South excuse and
defend this course of procedure; and, stranger still, very many
honourable citizens of the North, Republicans as well as Democrats, do
not hesitate to declare, “If I were a Southern white man I should act as
the Southern white men do.” The cardinal principle of the political
creed of 99 per cent. of the Southern whites is that the white man must
rule at all costs and at all hazards. In comparison with this principle
every other article of political faith dwindles into ridiculous
insignificance. White domination is a living question that dwarfs tariff
reform, protection, free trade, and the very pales of party. The white
who does not believe in it above all else is regarded as a traitor and
an outcast. The race question is, in the South, the sole question of
burning interest. If you be sound on that question you are one of the
elect; if you be unsound, you take rank as a pariah or as a lunatic.
After the War of Secession the North complacently folded its hands and
announced that the race problem had been for ever disposed of. It soon
learned that such had not been precisely the case. Then, after making an
ill-advised and spasmodic effort at settlement, it declared that the
race problem was no longer its affair, and that it might be left to
solve itself. But since then years have elapsed, and the question still
remains unsettled, paralysing the South, menacing the whole Union, and
liable at any moment to involve hundreds of thousands of miles of
territory and millions of human lives in a catastrophe scarcely inferior
to that of the great Civil War. Is it not time, then, for something to
be done towards freeing the South from the incubus of the situation, and
the North from the danger that lurks still along the line which, less
than a generation ago, saw Federal and Confederate striving in vain to
settle this very question?
It may be asked: Why cannot the South submit itself to the operation of
those principles by which the North is governed? Why not allow the
majority—no matter what may be its hue—to rule?
The answer is that the experiment has been to some extent tried, and has
utterly failed. The history of the attempt and of the failure is given
in the following chapter. The outlines of that history must be studied
by every one who aspires to understand the nature and difficulties of
the Southern problem as it exists to-day. I do not, therefore, apologise
for setting forth at some length the gloomy narrative of one of the most
extraordinary episodes in the modern history of any civilised country.
If I needed further excuse, I might find it in the fact that my story,
though it deals with events of comparatively recent occurrence and of a
very terrible character, is unknown to the majority of Englishmen. Even
in the North it is now well-nigh forgotten; and only in the
long-suffering South are the hideous lessons of it still fully
remembered.