TABLE NUMBER XIIHome States of 567 MigrantsTable displaying what states the migrants came from
TABLE NUMBER XII
Home States of 567 Migrants
Table displaying what states the migrants came from
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.
Typical Dwellings of Negro Migrants.
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 owntown, 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 andthirty-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.