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 progressfor 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 theNegroes 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 SouthernStates 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 economicweapon 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 indicatedvery 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 theyworked 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 forlabor 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 bebased 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 plantsin 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 whenthe 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.
[174]See Chapter III of this Essay.
[174]See Chapter III of this Essay.
[175]Survey, 38: 227, June 2, 1917; and 38: 428, Aug. 11, 1917.
[175]Survey, 38: 227, June 2, 1917; and 38: 428, Aug. 11, 1917.
[176]Folkways, p. 2.
[176]Folkways, p. 2.
[177]Woodson, C. G.,A Century of Negro Migration, pp. 183-84;New Rep., 7: 214, July 1, 1916.
[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.
[178]Negro Population in the U. S., 1790-1915, p. 33.
[179]Ibid.
[179]Ibid.
[180]Ibid.
[180]Ibid.
[181]Ibid.
[181]Ibid.
[182]New Republic, 7: 214, July 1, 1916.
[182]New Republic, 7: 214, July 1, 1916.
[183]See Chapter III of this Essay.
[183]See Chapter III of this Essay.
[184]New York Times, Jan. 21, 1918, 10: 4.
[184]New York Times, Jan. 21, 1918, 10: 4.
[185]Survey, 42: 900, Sept. 27, 1919.
[185]Survey, 42: 900, Sept. 27, 1919.
[186]Warne, F. J.,The Immigrant Invasion, p. 174.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[190]Woofter, T. J., Jr., "The Negro and Industrial Peace,"Survey, 45: 420, Dec. 18, '20.
The Life of Charles T. Walker.BySilas 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 theAugusta Sentineland 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.ByMary 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, endeavoredto 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.ByJohn 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 entitledThe 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.ByGrace 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 entitledNew Orleans, the Place and People(pages 346 to 349). Referring therein to thisgens 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.
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 theJournal 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 theMonthly Labor Reviewcontains 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 wasmade 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.