in Pittsburgh Page 7
CHAPTER II.--The Negro’s Own Problem Page 28
CHAPTER III.--The Community’s Problem Page 46
(a) Delinquency Study Page 46
(b) Health Study Page 54
(c) Summary Page 64
CHAPTER IV.--Constructive Suggestions Page 68
APPENDIX Page 71
PREFACE.
The main purpose of this study was not merely the attempt at a piece
of research. The writer undertook it originally in the early spring
as a student volunteer with the sole aim of doing his share in the
development of a more virile civic consciousness in Pittsburgh, and
to contribute something toward the orientation and adjustment of the
newcomers in our community. Thanks to the generous co-operation of Mr.
Walter A. May, the writer was enabled to devote all his time since
June 1917 to the completion of this study. An attempt has been made to
interpret the data from the social point of view. The conclusions are
not offered as final but it is hoped they may serve as the basis for a
practical community program and perhaps for further study.
The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Prof. Francis
D. Tyson for his counsel and assistance in planning and organizing
this study. Without his co-operation, the study could not have been
undertaken or completed. The writer also acknowledges his thanks
to Mr. George M. P. Baird of the English Department, University of
Pittsburgh for reading the manuscript and making many suggestions as to
style. Much thanks is also due to Mr. Edmund Feldman for his valuable
assistance in preparing the tables and making the graphs. To the Irene
Kaufmann Settlement and its resident workers, the writer wishes to
express his gratitude and appreciation for their co-operation and
hospitality.
A. E.
Pittsburgh, Pa.,
December 1, 1917.
INTRODUCTION
This little study of the Negro Migration to Pittsburgh was first
suggested as a thesis subject in a university class in Social Economy
in May, 1917. Our great steel city of the North calls many unskilled
workers to its mills. The migration of Negroes to fill the gaps in
the ranks of this labor force, opened up by the cessation of European
immigration following the war has been under way for nearly eighteen
months. Expanding steel production continues to call for more workers.
From the first labor agents of railroads and steel mills as well as
private employment agencies have been at work gathering in the new army
of laborers.
By last spring newspaper reports of housing congestion, and of
suffering from pneumonia and other diseases, and tales of the increase
of crime and vice were being spread. There was spoken comment of the
new situation on every hand. But these reports were inaccurate; they
gave no concrete estimate of the number and character of the newcomers;
and no definite statement of their life here or the problems of
community adjustment created by the influx of strange people.
It is to be hoped that the attempt at an intensive and supervised
investigation represented by these pages will prove of value to those
members of both races who have already seen in the migration new
opportunity for a people whose need has been bitter, as well as a
chance for manifold human service. Perhaps the all-too-faulty product
may justify the painstaking effort of the investigator who toiled
through the hot summer months and the generosity of the public-spirited
citizen whose interest made the study possible.
The report may be of value also in offering suggestions to those
workers in other cities who are dealing with the same many-sided and
baffling problem, so full of pathos and tragedy and so expressive
of the need of community co-operation. At least they may avoid
the pitfalls upon which we have stumbled. For Pittsburgh it may
well be that the material gathered here will be used to assist in
carrying forward a constructive program for adjusting the new workers
permanently to our community life. Industrial production here in a time
of crisis depends in part upon our Negro labor supply, the stability
and efficiency of which can be permanently secured only by successful
experiments in the fields of housing, health, and recreation.
FRANCIS TYSON,
_Professor of Social Economy_.
University of Pittsburgh,
December, 1917.
GENERAL CONDITIONS AMONG NEGRO MIGRANTS IN PITTSBURGH
CHAPTER I.
The Negro population of the Pittsburgh District in Allegheny
County, was 27,753 in the year 1900 and had increased to 34,217 by
the year 1910, according to the latest United States Census figures
available.[1] The increase during this period was 23.3%. Assuming the
continuation of this rate of increase, the total Negro population in
1915 would be about 38,000.
From a canvas of twenty typical industries in the Pittsburgh district,
it was found that there were 2,550 Negroes employed in 1915, and 8,325
in 1917, an increase of 5,775 or 227%. It was impossible to obtain
labor data from more than approximately sixty percent of the Negro
employing concerns, but it is fair to assume that the same ratio of
increase holds true of the remaining forty percent. On this basis
the number of Negroes now employed in the district may be placed at
14,000. This means that there are about 9,750 more Negroes working in
the district today than there were in 1915, an addition due to the
migration from the South.
A schedule study of over five hundred Negro migrants indicates that
thirty percent of the new comers have their families with them,
and that the average family consists of three persons, excluding the
father.[2] Adding to the total number of new workers, (9,750), the
product obtained by multiplying thirty percent by three, (average
family), we find a probable total new Negro population of 18,550 in
1917.
This sudden and abnormal increase in the Negro population within so
short a time, of necessity involves a tremendous change, and creates
a new situation, which merits the attention of the whole community.
Before this great influx of Negroes from the South, the Negro
population which constituted only 3.4% of the total city population,
lived in a half dozen sections of the city. Although not absolutely
segregated, these districts were distinct.
Because of the high cost of materials and labor, incident to the war;
because the taxation system still does not encourage improvements,[3]
and because of investment attractions other than in realty, few houses
have been built and practically no improvements have been made. This
is most strikingly apparent in the poorer sections of the city. In the
Negro sections, for instance, there have been almost no houses added
and few vacated by whites within the last two years. The addition,
therefore, of thousands of Negroes, just arrived from Southern states,
meant not only the creation of new Negro quarters and the dispersion
of Negroes throughout the city, but also the utmost utilization of
every place in the Negro sections capable of being transformed into a
habitation. Attics and cellars, store-rooms and basements, churches,
sheds and warehouses had to be employed for the accommodation of these
newcomers. Whenever a Negro had space which he could possibly spare,
it was converted into a sleeping place; as many beds as possible were
crowded into it, and the maximum number of men per bed were lodged.
Either because their own rents were high, or because they were unable
to withstand the temptation of the sudden, and, for all they knew,
temporary harvest, or, perhaps because of the altruistic desire to
assist their race fellows, a majority of the Negroes in Pittsburgh
converted their homes into lodging houses.
Because rooms were hard to come by, the lodgers were not disposed to
complain about the living conditions or the prices charged. They were
only too glad to secure a place where they could share a half or at
least a part of an unclaimed bed. It was no easy task to find room for
a family, as most boarding houses would accept only single men, and
refused to admit women and children. Many a man, who with his family
occupied only one or two rooms, made place for a friend or former
townsman and his family. In many instances this was done from unselfish
motives and in a humane spirit.
A realization of the need for accurate information concerning the
Negro migration, and the belief that in an intelligent treatment of
the problem lay the welfare of the entire community as well as that
of the local Negro group, prompted the attempt at a scientific study
of the situation. The primary purpose of the study was to learn the
facts, but there was also a hope that the data obtained might lead
to the amelioration of certain existing evils and the prevention of
threatening ones.
In order to ascertain as many of the facts as possible concerning
housing conditions, rooming and boarding houses, three or four family
tenement houses, single family residences, camps, churches and other
lodging places were investigated. A comparative study of health and
crime among Negroes of Allegheny County before and after the period of
the Northern migration was also attempted.
[Illustration: Storerooms in the Hill District Converted into Family
Residences and Rooming Houses.]
A questionnaire concerning kinds of labor in which Negro migrants
engaged, and wages paid them both in Pittsburgh and in their native
South was prepared; and answers to it from over five hundred
individuals were obtained during the months of July and August, 1917.
Information relating to housing, rents, health and social conditions
was elicited in a similar manner. An effort was made to visit and study
every Negro quarter in Pittsburgh. Data was secured from the Negro
sections in the Hill District and upper Wylie and Bedford Avenues;
the Lawrenceville district, about Penn Avenue, between Thirty-fourth
and Twenty-eighth Streets; the Northside Negro quarter around Beaver
Avenue and Fulton Street; the East Liberty section in the vicinity of
Mignonette and Shakespeare Streets, and the new downtown Negro section
on Second Avenue, Ross and Water Streets.
The information thus secured is discussed in the following pages.
_TABLE NUMBER I_
_Time of Residence in Pittsburgh of 505 Negro Migrants Questioned_
SINGLE MARRIED
1 MONTH █████████████████ 86 ███████████ 58
3 MONTHS ██████████ 51 ██████████████ 70
6 MONTHS █████ 28 ███████████████ 74
12 MONTHS ████ 21 ████████████████ 80
OVER 12 ███ 13 █████ 24
TOTAL PERCENT
1 MONTH █████████████████████████████ 144 29
3 MONTHS ████████████████████████ 121 24
6 MONTHS ████████████████████ 102 20
12 MONTHS ████████████████████ 101 20
OVER 12 ███████ 37 7
Table No. I indicates that the migration has been going on for little
longer than one year. Ninety-three percent of those who gave the time
of residence in Pittsburgh had been here less than one year. More
than eighty percent of the single men interviewed had been here less
than six months. In the number who have been here for the longest
periods, married men predominate, showing the tendency of this class to
become permanent residents. This fact is evidently well known to some
industrial concerns which have been bringing men from the South. Many
of them have learned from bitter experience that the mere delivery of a
train load of men from a Southern city, does not guarantee a sufficient
supply of labor. This is evidenced by the fact that the labor agents
of some of these firms, made an effort to secure married men only, and
even to investigate them prior to their coming here. Differences in
recruiting methods may also explain why some employers and labor agents
hold a very optimistic view of the Negro as a worker, while others
despair of him. The reason why Pittsburgh has been unable to secure a
stable labor force is doubtless realized by the local manufacturers.
The married Negro comes to the North to stay. He desires to have his
family with him, and if he is not accompanied North by his wife and
children he plans to have them follow him at the earliest possible
date. Although such a man is glad to receive the better treatment,
enlarged privileges and higher wages, which are accorded him here, he
cannot adjust himself permanently to the Pittsburgh housing situation.
He meets his first insuperable difficulty when he attempts to get a
house in which to live. Back South, he may have been oppressed, but
his home was often in a more comfortable place, where he had light and
space. At least he did not have to live in one room in a congested slum
and pay excessive rents.
While it is true that the foreign immigrant of a few years ago was
probably not accorded any better accommodations in Pittsburgh than
is the Negro at present, it should be remembered that the foreigner
did not know the language. Everything seemed strange and unfamiliar
to him. He was loath to move to an even stranger part of the city and
preferred to stay in his first new world home and to live among his own
people, even under adverse conditions. It is altogether different with
the Negro. He knows the language and the country; he does not fear to
migrate and when he does not feel content in one place, he proceeds to
look for a better one. We might cite dozens of incidents of men who
have either had their families here or intended to bring them, but have
gone to other cities where they hoped to find better accommodations.
This is certain to continue if cities like Cleveland, Detroit and
Philadelphia keep in advance of Pittsburgh in building or providing
houses for these migrants. The Pittsburgh manufacturer will never keep
an efficient labor supply of Negroes until he learns to compete with
the employers of the other cities in a housing programme as well as in
wages.
The actual situation of the Pittsburgh housing problem for the Negro
is shown by the figures obtained in our survey. Almost ninety-eight
percent of the people investigated live either in rooming houses or
in tenements containing more than three families. Thirty-five percent
live in tenement houses, fifty percent in rooming houses, about twelve
percent in camps and churches, and only two and a half percent live in
what may be termed single private family residences.
_TABLE NUMBER II_
_Kinds of Residences of 465 Negro Migrants Questioned_
+----------------------+--------+----------+-------+---------+
| | SINGLE | FAMILIES | TOTAL | PERCENT |
+----------------------+--------+----------+-------+---------+
| Tenement | 30 | 133 | 163 | 35 |
| Rooming and Boarding | 223 | 9 | 232 | 50 |
| One Family House | 6 | 5 | 11 | 2.5|
| Camp | 36 | 0 | 36 | 7.5|
| Mission | 23 | 0 | 23 | 5 |
| | --- | --- | ---| ----|
| | 318 | 147 | 465 | 100 |
+----------------------+--------+----------+-------+---------+
Of the men without families here, only twenty-two out of more than
three hundred had individual bed rooms. Twenty-five percent lived four
in a room, and twenty-five percent lived in rooms used by more than
four people. Again only thirty-seven percent slept in separate beds,
fifty percent slept two in a bed, and thirteen percent sleep three or
more in a bed.
_TABLE NUMBER III_
NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN BED ROOM
ONE ████ 22
TWO ██████████████████████ 111
THREE ████████████ 61
FOUR ███████████████████ 98
FIVE ████ 22
SIX ████ 19
OVER SIX ███████████ 57
The conditions in these rooming houses often beggar description.
Sleeping quarters are provided not only in bedrooms, but also in
attics, basements, dining rooms and kitchens. In many instances, houses
in which these rooms are located are dilapidated dwellings with the
paper torn off, the plaster sagging from the naked lath, the windows
broken, the ceiling low and damp, and the whole room dark, stuffy and
unsanitary. In one or two instances, these rooms, with more than six
people sleeping in them at one time, have practically no openings for
either light or air.
[Illustration: A Typical Boarding House on Lower Wylie Avenue.]
In the more crowded sections, beds are rented on a double shift basis.
Men who work at night sleep during the day in the beds vacated by day
workers. There is no space in these rooms, except for beds and as many
of them are crowded in as can be possibly accommodated.
There is rarely a place in these rooms for even suitcases or trunks.
Under such circumstances the rooms can be kept clean with difficulty,
and there is apparently no disposition to wrestle with the dirt and
litter. Very few of these sleeping rooms have more than two windows
each, and many have only one window. Only a few are provided with bath
rooms, while a great number have the water and toilets in the yards or
other places outside the house. Many of these roomers complain that
often they are not given any soap, and are never given more than one
towel a week.
_TABLE NUMBER IV_
_Rents Paid in Rooming Houses by 305 Roomers_
+-------------------------+------------+
| | Percentage |
+-------------------------+------------+
| 168 paid $1.50 per week | 55 |
| 103 paid $1.75 per week | 34 |
| 13 paid $2.00 per week | 4.25 |
| 14 paid $3.00 per week | 4.25 |
| 7 paid Over $3.00 | 2.5 |
| | ______ |
| | 100 |
+-------------------------+------------+
The rents paid by these roomers are shown in table number IV. They
varied from $1.50 to $3.00 per week, and in a few instances were as
high as $4.00 per week. In a number of cases, the men also board in
the same place in which they room, paying from five to seven or eight
dollars per week for food and shelter.
_TABLE NUMBER V._
ONE WEEK’S COST OF BOARD PER MAN
$2 PER WEEK ██ 4
$3 PER WEEK █████████████████ 34
$4 PER WEEK ███████████████████ 39
$5 PER WEEK █████████████████████████████ 59
$6 PER WEEK ██████████████████████████████████████ 77
$7 PER WEEK ████████████████ 31
$8 PER WEEK ████████████ 24
AND OVER
The situation in the camps is not better than that in rooming houses.
In one railroad camp visited, the men were lodged in box cars,
each of which was equipped with four or eight beds, or they were
quartered in a row of wooden houses two stories high, each room of
which contained from six to eight beds. It is true that the rents
charged in this camp were only the nominal sum of five cents per
night, or $1.50 per month, but the men had to buy their food from the
camp commissary, using company checks, and also had to prepare it
themselves. Practically every man interviewed complained of the high
prices charged, and that this complaint was not altogether groundless
was evident from the scanty purchases being made by these men at the
time of the investigator’s visit. In another railroad camp, located
near Pittsburgh, which was visited in the early spring, about one
hundred men were lodged in one big “bunk-house”, containing about fifty
double-tier beds. Although there were adequate toilet and shower bath
facilities, the beds were unclean. This company also boarded these men,
making a flat weekly charge.
[Illustration: Box Cars in a Railroad Camp in Pittsburgh used as Living
and Sleeping Quarters.]
The rooming houses with one exception are conducted by colored people,
who act either as janitors or as hosts. In only one case, as far as our
investigation extended, did we find a white woman running a rooming
house for colored people. Many of these houses are in reality run by
Whites, who keep a colored janitor or manager in the House. Several
of the big rooming houses on lower Wylie Avenue, for instance, are
conducted for a local white merchant, who keeps a colored janitor
in each of them, and only visits them to check the books and collect
the rents. In many instances however, houses are operated by colored
people, who either run or lease them. Most of these lessees or owners
are Pittsburghers, but a few are newcomers, who, having brought a bit
of capital with them have opened rooming houses as investments. Some of
these people have become the prey of cunning landlords. In one case in
the down town section, a colored migrant rented an old and dilapidated
shack, paying fifty dollars a month, and was unaware that the contract
signed by him specified that he pay for his own repairs. The Negro
claims that as the house is very old and in such bad condition, it
would cost him an additional fifty dollars each month to keep it
habitable.
_TABLE NUMBER VI_
_Number of Rooms Per Family of 157 Negro Families_
PERCENT
ONE ROOM ██████████████████████████████████████ 77 49
TWO ROOMS ████████████████ 33 21
THREE ROOMS █████████ 18 12
FOUR ROOMS ████████ 16 10
OVER FOUR ██████ 13 8
The deplorable housing of migrant families is shown in table number
VI. Of the 157 families investigated, seventy-seven or 49% live in one
room each. Thirty-three or 21% live in two-room apartments, and only
forty-seven families or 30% live in apartments of three or more rooms
each.
Of these forty-seven families, thirty-eight kept roomers or boarders,
totalling one hundred and thirty-one, or an average of 3.5 roomers
per family. Eighty-one of the total of one hundred and thirty-nine
houses inspected, had water inside the house, while fifty-eight houses
secured water from yard or street hydrants or from neighbors. Only
thirty-four of the total were equipped with interior toilet facilities;
the rest had outside toilets. Of the latter, forty-two had no sewerage
connections, and used filthy, unsanitary vaults.
The rents paid for the “residences” described above appear in the
following table:
_TABLE NUMBER VII_
_Rents Paid by 142 Families Investigated_
$10 PER MONTH ████████████████████ 41
$15 PER MONTH ██████████████████████████████ 60
$20 PER MONTH █████████ 18
$25 PER MONTH ██████ 13
OVER $25 █████ 10
The sections formerly designated as Negro quarters, have been long
since congested beyond capacity by the influx of newcomers, and a score
of new colonies have sprung up in hollows and ravines, on hill slopes
and along river banks, by railroad tracks and in mill-yards. In many
instances the dwellings are those which have been abandoned by foreign
white people since the beginning of the present war. In some cases they
are structures once condemned by the City Bureau of Sanitation, but
opened again only to accommodate the influx from the South. Very few
of these houses are equipped with gas. Coal and wood are used both for
cooking and heating. During the hot days of July, the visitor found in
several instances a red hot stove in a room which was being used as
kitchen, dining room, parlor and bedroom. This, however, did not seem
to bother the newcomers, as many of the women, being unaccustomed to
the use of gas, and fearful of it, preferred the more accustomed method
of cooking.
[Illustration: A Row of Houses Unused for Several Years Until the
Present Influx from the South.]
A few of these families were found living in so-called “basements”,
more than three-fourths under ground, a direct violation of a
municipal ordinance.[4] Some rooms had no other opening than a door.
The rents paid for such quarters are often beyond belief. In one of
these rooms in the Hill District, where only the upper halves of the
windows were level with the sidewalk, lived a man, his wife and their
five children, the eldest of whom was sixteen years old. The rental
was six dollars per week. Another family paid twenty-five dollars per
month for three small rooms on the ground floor. The kitchen was so
damp and close that the investigator found it impossible to remain for
long, because it was difficult to breathe. The ceilings in many of the
houses visited were very low, hardly higher than six or seven feet and
the rooms were often piled high with furniture. That the owners of
these houses cared little about improving their houses was indicated in
several cases by the fact that water faucets and toilets had been out
of commission for months, and no effort at repair had been made.
[Illustration: “Basement” Occupied by a Migrant Family. The Only
Opening in this Dwelling Appears in the Picture.]
Because of these bad conditions many peculiar maladjustments exist. A
certain man lived in a rooming house, while his young wife and baby
lived in another place. In addition to his own rent and board, he paid
ten dollars a week for the keep of his wife and baby. In another case,
a family was forced to pay six dollars a month storage on the furniture
which they had brought from the South, because their new quarters were
too cramped to accommodate it.
A goodly number of the migrants have evidently been accustomed to much
better living conditions than are offered them here, and in spite of
almost insurmountable obstacles, still preserve something of their
cleanly habits. Few of these people intend to remain here unless they
can get a better place to stay. All complained, some with tears in
their eyes, of the bad housing accorded them. As one intelligent and
hard working woman who lived in one room expressed it while packing her
trunks to go back to Sylvester, Georgia, “I never lived in such houses
in my life. We had four rooms in my home.” This woman was earning ten
dollars per week and her husband was profitably employed, yet they
choose to relinquish the comparatively large rewards of the North,
rather than do without the decencies of life which they had known in
the South.
_TABLE NUMBER VIII_
_Ages of the 506 Migrants Interviewed_
+----------------+--------+---------+-------+------------+
| | SINGLE | MARRIED | TOTAL | PERCENTAGE |
+----------------+--------+---------+-------+------------+
| Under 18 years | 13 | 1 | 14 | 3 |
| From 18 to 25 | 115 | 39 | 154 | 30 |
| From 25 to 30 | 31 | 63 | 94 | 19 |
| From 30 to 40 | 34 | 101 | 135 | 27 |
| From 40 to 50 | 7 | 66 | 73 | 14 |
| From 50 to 60 | 4 | 28 | 32 | 6 |
| 60 and over | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | 206 | 300 | 506 | 100 |
+----------------+--------+---------+-------+------------+
AGES OF MIGRANTS
UNDER 18 YEARS ███ 14
FROM 18 TO 25 ███████████████████████████████ 154
FROM 25 TO 30 ███████████████████ 94
FROM 30 TO 40 ███████████████████████████ 135
FROM 40 TO 50 ██████████████ 73
FROM 50 TO 60 ██████ 32
60 AND OVER █ 4
Table number VIII is significant because it enables us to shed light
upon one important phase of the migration. It appears that more than
seventy-five percent of the Southern migrants are between the ages of
eighteen and forty. Only ten percent of the 506 people questioned were
under eighteen or past fifty years of age. This fact is significant,
both to the industrial concerns which are in need of a labor supply
and to the community as a whole. For the industrial concerns, it means
that these migrants are the most desirable laborers, men at the height
of their wealth producing capacity. They satisfy the pressing need
which has confronted the local manufacturers since the foreign supply
of labor was cut off by the war. From the standpoint of the community,
it is important to know that the influx lays few immediate burdens upon
the city. There are few minors to be educated and few aged or dependent
ones likely to become a public charge.
The percentage of single people between the ages of eighteen and thirty
is far greater than that of the married ones, which is a natural
expectation. Of the five hundred and thirty persons interviewed, two
hundred and nineteen or forty-one and one-half percent were single;
one hundred sixty-two or thirty and one-half percent were married,
and had already brought their families here, while one hundred and
thirty-nine or twenty-eight percent were married, but were here without
their families. Ninety-eight of the families had children; thirty-nine
of the families had no children here, and seventeen families either
had some or all of the children in the South, while the remaining six
placed their children under the care of relatives or institutions. The
number of children per family of those who had their wives here, varied
from one to ten. Forty families had one child each; twenty-three, two
children each, fifteen had three children each, and twenty had four or
more children each. Nineteen families had one or more children under
twenty helping to support them, but only four had more than one child
assisting in the support of the family. Among the one hundred and
forty-nine persons whose families remained in the South, ninety-six had
children and seventeen had none. Of the remainder a number stated that
they had one or two of their children with them, while others gave no
definite information. Sixty-three of those who had children at home had
no more than two children each, while thirty-three had three or more
children at home. These figures seem to indicate that the migration is
largely that of small families.
The Negro migration from the South into Pittsburgh, while it has
been accentuated and accelerated by the present war, which created a
greater need for labor, is not in reality an altogether new thing for
Pittsburgh. There has been a steady influx of Negroes, though in small
numbers, since the pre Civil War days. Pittsburgh and Allegheny were
important stations of the Underground Railway, and many a Negro came to
Pittsburgh from the near-by slave states, as to a city of refuge. The
Negro population in Allegheny County grew steadily from 3431 in 1850
to 34,217 in 1910. The percentage of Negroes in the total population
of the County has continually increased within the last four decades.
(Two and two-tenths percent in 1880 and three and four-tenths in 1910).
Negroes have always been attracted by the opportunities which this city
with its abundance of work and good wages could offer them in improving
their economic status.
The recent unprecedented influx of Negroes had made the Negro
population in Pittsburgh increase more than twice as fast within the
last two years as during the entire ten years preceding. The percentage
of Negroes in our total population has leaped very suddenly. This fact
is sufficient to warrant our serious study and active efforts toward
the social orientation and adjustment of the new element in our midst.
[Illustration: Wooden Shacks Used as Living and Sleeping Quarters in a
Railroad Camp.]
From the standpoint of Pittsburgh’s industrial and business interests,
however, the migration into this district, has not been at all
satisfactory. Pittsburgh as the steel center of the country, is
naturally playing a more important part than ever in the present
crisis, and has felt a proportionate increase in the need for a labor
supply. The Negro migration in Pittsburgh, it can be safely stated,
has not usurped the place of the white worker. Every man is needed, as
there are more jobs than men to fill them. Pittsburgh’s industrial life
is for the time being dependent upon the Negro labor supply.
In spite of its necessity, Pittsburgh has not received a sufficient
supply of Negroes, and certainly not in the same full proportion as did
many smaller industrial towns. Pittsburgh manufacturers are still in
need of labor, and this in spite of the fact that the railroads and a
few of the industrial concerns of the locality have had labor agents
in the South. These agents, laboring under great difficulties because
of the obstructive tactics adopted in certain southern communities
to prevent the Negro exodus, have nevertheless succeeded in bringing
several thousand colored workers into this district. That they have had
little success in keeping these people here, is acknowledged by all of
them. One company for instance, which imported about a thousand men
within the past year, had only about three hundred of these working at
the time of the investigator’s visit in July, 1917. One railroad, which
is said to have brought about fourteen thousand people to the North
within the last twelve months, has been able to keep an average of only
eighteen hundred at work.
It must be admitted that the labor agents, because of their eagerness
to secure as many men as possible, are not particular as to the
character of those they are bringing here, and there is therefore
a goodly number of idle and shiftless Negroes who are floating and
undependable. On the other hand we must not fail to recognize that most
migrants come through their own volition, pay their own fares, leave
their native states, and break up family connections, because they are
in search of better opportunities, social and economic. As a class they
appear to be industrious, ambitious, pious and temperate, and are eager
to get established with their families.
In the foregoing pages, we have discussed the housing and rooming
situation which confronts the Negro. An examination of the kind and
hours of work and wages received, discloses another reason why many of
these people do not remain here.
_TABLE NUMBER IX_
_Occupations of Migrants in Pittsburgh as Compared with Statements
of Occupations in South_[5]
+--------------------------------+------------+-----+-------+-----+
| OCCUPATIONS | PITTSBURGH | % | SOUTH | % |
+--------------------------------+------------+-----+-------+-----+
| Common Laborer | 468 | 95 | 286 | 54 |
| Skilled or semi-skilled | 20 | 4 | 59 | 11 |
| Farmer | | | 81 | 15 |
| Miner | | | 36 | 7 |
| Saw Mill Workers | | | 9 | 2 |
| Ran own farm or father’s farm | | | 33 | 6 |
| Ran farm on crop sharing basis | | | 22 | 5 |
| Other Occupations | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | --- | --- | --- | |
| | 493 | 100 | 529 | 100 |
+--------------------------------+------------+-----+-------+-----+
From the foregoing table, it is apparent that ninety-five percent of
the migrants who stated their occupations, were doing unskilled labor,
in the steel mills, the building trades, on the railroads, or acting as
servants, porters, janitors, cooks and cleaners. Only twenty or four
percent out of four hundred and ninety-three migrants whose occupations
were ascertained, were doing what may be called semi-skilled or skilled
work, as puddlers, mold-setters, painters and carpenters. On the other
hand, in the South fifty-nine of five hundred and twenty-nine claimed
to have been engaged in skilled labor, while a large number were rural
workers.
_TABLE NUMBER X_
_Comparison Between Hours of Work Per Day in Pittsburgh
and in South_
HOURS OF LABOR
IN PITTSBURGH
UNDER 10 ████████ 16%
10 HOURS ██████████████████████████████ 51%
10 TO 12 ██████████████ 28%
OVER 12 ██ 4%
NOT STATED █ 1%
IN THE SOUTH
UNDER 10 █████████████ 27%
10 HOURS ███████████████████ 38%
10 TO 12 ███████ 14.5%
OVER 12 ███████ 14%
NOT STATED ███ 6.5%
A comparison between work hours of migrants in the South and in
Pittsburgh, reveals another interesting feature. As against the
twenty-seven percent who were working less than ten hours a day at
home, only sixteen percent are working for a like period here. A
greater number work a ten-hour day here than in the South, (fifty-one
percent as against thirty-eight percent), and there seems to be a
greater number working over twelve hours per day before coming North,
than afterward. This is probably due to the fact that a considerable
body of these men were farm laborers.
_TABLE NUMBER XI_
_Comparison of Wages Received Per Day in Pittsburgh and in South_
IN PITTSBURGH
UNDER $2.00 ██ 5%
$2.00 TO $3.00 ███████████████████████████████ 62%
$3.00 TO $3.60 ██████████████ 28%
OVER $3.60 ██ 5%
IN THE SOUTH
UNDER $2.00 ████████████████████████████ 56%
$2.00 TO $3.00 ████████████ 25%
$3.00 TO $3.60 ██ 4%
OVER $3.60 ███████ 15%
As to the comparative wages paid here and in the South, it appears
from table number X, that the great mass of workers get higher wages
here than in the places from which they come, fifty-six percent
received less than two dollars a day in the South, while only five
percent received such wages in Pittsburgh. However the number of
those who said they received high wages in the South is greater than
the number of those receiving them here. Fifteen percent said they
received more than three dollars and sixty cents a day at home, while
only five percent received more than that rate for twelve hours work
here. Sixty-seven percent of the four hundred and fifty-three persons
stating their earnings here, earn less than three dollars per day.
Twenty-eight percent earn from three dollars to three sixty per day,
while only five percent earn more than three dollars and sixty cents
per day. The average working day for both Pittsburgh and the South
is ten and four-tenths hours. The average wage is $2.85 here; in the
South it amounted to $2.15. It may be interesting to point out that
the number of married men who work longer hours and receive more money
is proportionately greater than that of the single men, who have not
“given hostages to fortune.”
It has been stated frequently that the Negro exodus from the South
is in a large measure due to the fact that the Southern states have
adopted prohibition. While it is true that most of the newcomers are
from prohibition states, our figures, however, do not warrant the
conclusion that the Negroes came North to use the saloon. We are
inclined to believe that the answers to this question were sincere. The
classification of “drinkers” includes all persons who imbibe however
infrequently and those who drink beer only. Out of the four hundred
and seventy-seven persons who answered these questions, two hundred
and ten or forty-four percent said that they drank, while two hundred
and sixty-seven or fifty-six percent were total abstainers. It is
interesting to note that among those who have families in Pittsburgh,
the percentage of those who drink is smaller than among those who are
single or have families elsewhere. Thirty percent of the former class
drink, while seventy percent do not drink at all. The percentage of
drinkers of those with their families at home, is even greater than
those of the single people, which may be explained by the fact that
many of the younger people have as yet not acquired the drink habit.
The church going proclivity of the Negro is well known and is borne out
by our study. Of the four hundred and eighty-nine who replied to this
question, three hundred and seventy or almost seventy-six percent are
either church members or attendants, and only one hundred and nineteen
or twenty-four percent do not attend any church.
Proof that these newcomers are not all lazy, shiftless, and immoral
is to be found in the statements of savings, and of remittances to
relatives in the South. Fifteen percent of the families here had
savings. Eighty percent[6] of the married ones with families elsewhere
were sending money home, and nearly one hundred of the two hundred and
nineteen single people interviewed, were contributing sums to parents,
sisters or other relatives. Most of these contributions, (sixty-five
percent) amounted to about five dollars per week. Fifty-two persons
were contributing from five to ten dollars per week, and seven were
sending over ten dollars per week.
From table number XII, it seems that only a few of the Southern states
have borne the brunt of the exodus. Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina
and Virginia taken together, have contributed sixty percent of the
migrants, Alabama and Georgia giving forty-seven percent of the
total number. Alabama was the native state of more than forty-nine
percent of the married men who have families here. This altogether
disproportionate influx from Alabama, as compared with other states,
is probably due to the fact that our state and the former have similar
industries. Birmingham, Alabama, as is well known, is called the
“Pittsburgh of the South”; and it is therefore natural that the labor
agents from this district should make a special effort to secure the
labor which is more or less familiar with the iron and steel business.
Again, it may be presumed that a great many who were working in the
steel industries or in the mines of Alabama have come to Pittsburgh in
order to secure familiar employment. A considerable number, however,
may have come because of the crop failure and the ravages of the
boll-weevil which have made the cultivation of cotton unprofitable
during recent years.
_TABLE NUMBER XII_
_Home States of 567 Migrants_
ALABAMA ███████████████████████████████████ 177
GEORGIA █████████████ 66
NO. CAROLINA ████████ 38
VIRGINIA ███████ 33
FLORIDA █████ 26
MISSOURI ████ 20
TENNESSEE ████ 20
SO. CAROLINA ███ 15
W. VIRGINIA ███ 15
KENTUCKY ███ 15
PENNSYLVANIA ███ 14
OHIO ██ 13
MISSISSIPPI ██ 10
LOUISIANA ██ 10
ILLINOIS ██ 10
MARYLAND ██ 9
DIST. OF COL. ██ 8
TEXAS █ 4
INDIANA █ 2
Undoubtedly many Negroes have come to the North in response to the
seductive arts of labor agents, who worked on a per capita commission
basis. These emissaries, both in the North and in the South, made
glowing promises of high wages, social equality, and better living
conditions above the Mason-Dixon Line. But these inducements were
probably not the underlying factor of the migration. They merely gave
opportunity for the expression of a growing discontent engendered
by many years of oppression. Segregation, lynchings, economic
exploitation, and the denial of educational freedom, justice and
constitutional right, had filled the Negro’s cup of bitterness to
overflowing. The South was to his mind still a place of bondage for
him and in the North he saw that long dreamed Land of Promise where he
might live more freely.
[Illustration: Typical Dwellings of Negro Migrants.]
Three hundred and ninety-five of the four hundred and seventy-four
when questioned as to who paid their transportation North replied that
they paid their own fare, while only seventy-nine admitted they were
brought here at the expense of railroads and other industrial concerns.
Numerous stories of persecutions by the White South on trumped up
charges of all sorts are told by these migrants. Many of them say they
had to leave their homes in secrecy and at night, and to walk to some
station where they were not known, before they could board a train for
the North. Many reported that they were unable to secure tickets at
home, and had to secure them from the North. If tickets were discovered
in the possession of a Negro, they were confiscated and destroyed by
the police. At times when three or more Negroes were found together,
they were suspected of “conspiring to go North”; some mythical
charge was brought against them, and they were arrested. Threats and
intimidation of all kinds were used against these migrants, both at
home and on the train. One very intelligent Negro of about forty who
owned property in Alabama related some of the persecutions which he
had borne while at home. He told of taking the train at night several
miles away from his own town, and of being accosted on board by a
white Southerner who pointed to the next car which contained several
coffins and said, “Yo Niggahs goin’ to Pittsburgh, eh? We all are jes
shippin’ five of yo back from thah. They froze to death in Pittsburgh.”
It may be interesting to remark that this occurred in June, 1917, when
Pittsburgh was sweltering in the heat of early summer.
Of the more than four hundred men who stated their reasons for coming
North, three hundred and twenty-five said that the higher wages and
economic opportunities here had attracted them. Two hundred and
eighty-eight of these also included better treatment as one of the
factors in their migration. As one of them expressed it, “If I were
half as well treated home as here, I would rather stay there, as I had
my family there and had a better home and better health.” Eighty-five
had no special reason for their coming, and were “jes travelin’ to see
the country”, or the like. Twenty-five were either tired of their work
or wanted to change it. This was the case particularly with the miners
from West Virginia and Alabama. Twenty-seven had either lost their
jobs, were out of work, or had various other reasons for coming. These
figures seem to indicate that the prime causes of the migration are
rather fundamental, and not merely temporary.
The Negro migration is similar to the previous European immigration
because, while dominantly economic, it is also due to social and
political maladjustments; but it is more largely a family migration.
For the number of Negroes who brought women and children with them
is greater in proportion to the total than was the case with the
foreigners. The European usually came alone and sent for his family
after a considerable lapse of time. The Negro either brings his
family with him or sends for it within the first three or four months
following his arrival. The complication of our housing problem is
obvious under these circumstances, for Pittsburgh until the present
time has attempted to meet the housing requirements of only single men
workers of the new labor group.
The short-sightedness of our failure to provide decent homes in the
city, in order to retain the labor which is so essential for the
expansion of Pittsburgh and the growth of its industries, is again
exposed by the figures in our study. Of the three hundred and thirty
single men, or men without families here, answering the question as
to whether they will remain here, return South or move elsewhere,
only ninety-two or twenty-eight percent said they would remain here.
A hundred and thirty-seven or forty-two percent were going back or
somewhere else, while one hundred and one or thirty percent were still
undecided.
As for the reasons why these men would not remain in the city,
seventy-nine or fifty-seven percent were leaving because they could not
get a better room because the rents paid by them were too excessive for
the wages received; thirty-seven or twenty-seven percent, gave family
connections as their reason, and the remaining sixteen percent either
had no reasons or were leaving because of ill health, bad climate or
other unfavorable conditions. The difficulty of securing an adequate
labor supply for Pittsburgh is thus, in part, explained by the very
nature of the economic problems involved.
[1] 13th U. S. Census, Penna. Bulletin, Table I, page 12; 1910.
[2] This average was obtained by dividing the total number of women and
children of the families investigated, by the number of families.
[3] The Pittsburgh Graded Tax Law has, apparently, not been in
operation long enough to produce the results desired by its sponsors.
[4] Pittsburgh Sanitary Code of 1913, Sections 132, 133 and 134, pages
75, 76 and 77.
[5] The differences in the totals in this table as well as in a few
others, are due to the fact that many have given answers to one
question and not to the other.
[6] The cause for many of these migrants not contributing to the
support of their families may be explained by the fact that they have
not been here long enough to get established.