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ThePhiladelphiaNegroDuBois1899.pdf
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO A Social Study
W. E. B. DuBOIS
Introduction by E. DIGBY BALTZELL
Together with
A Special Report on Domestic Service
by Isabel Eaton
SCHOCKEN BOOKS NEW YORK
First published in 1899
First SCHOCKEN edition 1967
Introduction by E. Digby Baltzell, Copyright 1967 by Schocken Books Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67-26984
Manufactured in the United States of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION by E. Digby Baltzell
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO.
CHAPTER I. The Scope of This Study ........... 1-4 1. General aim ............. i 2. The methods of inquiry ....... i 3. The credibility of the results ..... 2
CHAPTER II. The Problem ................ 5~9 4. The Negro problems of Philadelphia . 5 5. The plan of presentment ....... 8
CHAPTER III. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820 .... 10-24 6. General survey ............ 10 7. The transplanting of the Negro, 1638-
1760 ................ ii 8. Emancipation, 1760-1780 ....... 15 9. The rise of the freedmen, 1780-1820 . . 17
CHAPTER IV. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896 .... 25-45 10. Fugitives and foreigners, 1820-1840 . . 25 11. The guild of the caterers, 1840-1870 . . 32 12. The influx of the freedmen, 1870-1896 39
CHAPTER V. The Size, Age and Sex of the Negro Popula tion ........... . . ~ * ""."". (. 46-65
13. The city for a century ........ 46 14. The Seventh Ward, 1896 ....... 58
CHAPTER VI. Conjugal Condition ............ 66-72 15. The Seventh Ward .......... 66 16. The city ............... 70
KANSAS CITY (MO.) PUBLIC LIBRARY ^ EXTENSION MAY 15 1969
Contents.
PAGE.
CHAPTER VII. Sources of the Negro Population 73-82
17. The Seventh Ward 73 18. The city 80
CHAPTER VIII. Education and Illiteracy 83-96 19. The history of Negro education ... 83 20. The present condition 89
CHAPTER IX. The Occupation of Negroes 97-146 21. The question of earning a living . . 97 22. Occupations in the Seventh Ward . . 99 23. Occupations in the city in 24. History of the occupations of Negroes 141
CHAPTER X. The Health of Negroes 147-163 25. The interpretation of statistics . ... 147 26. The statistics of the city 149
CHAPTER XI. The Negro Family 164-196 27. The size of the family 164 28. Incomes 168
29. Property 179
30. Family life 192
CHAPTER XII. The Organized Life of Negroes 197-234 31. History of the Negro church in Phila
delphia 197
32. The function of the Negro church . . 201
33. The present condition of the churches 207 34. Secret and beneficial societies and co
operative business 221
35. Institutions 230
36. The experiment of organization . . . 233 CHAPTER XIII. The Negro Criminal 235-268
37. History of Negro crime in the city . . 235
38. Negro crime since the war 240
39. A special study in crime 248 40. Some cases of crime 259
CHAPTER XIV. Pauperism and Alcoholism 269-286 41. Pauperism 269
42. The drink habit 277 43. The causes of crime and poverty . . 282
Contents,
PAGE.
CHAPTER XV. The Environment of the Negro 287-321 44. Houses and rent 287
45. Sections and wards 299
46. Social classes and amusements . . . 309
CHAPTER XVI. The Contact of the Races 322-367 47. Color prejudice 322
48. Benevolence 355
49. The intermarriage of the races . . . 358
CHAPTER XVII. Negro Suffrage 368-384 50. The significance of the experiment . 368
51. The history of Negro suffrage in Penn
sylvania 368
52. City politics 372
53. Some bad results of Negro suffrage 373 54. Some good results of Negro suffrage 382 55. The paradox of reform 383
CHAPTER XVIII. A Final Word 385-39? 56. The meaning of all this 385
57. The duty of the Negroes 389
58. The duty of the whites 393 APPENDIX A. Schedules used in the house-to-house inquiry . . 400-410 APPENDIX B. Legislation, etc., of Pennsylvania in regard to the
Negro 411-418
APPENDIX C. Bibliography 419-421
SPECIAL REPORT ON NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE SEVENTH WARD.
I. Introduction 427~429
II. Enumeration of Negro domestic servants 430-434
Recent reform in domestic service 43
Enumeration 431
III. Sources of the supply and methods of hiring 435-443 Methods of hiring 43^
Personnel of colored domestic service 436
IV. Grades of service and wages 444-455
Work required of various sub-occupations 454
Contents. PA.GB.
V. Savings and expenditure 456-462
Assistance given by domestic servants 459
... 462 Summary
^
VI. Amusements and recreations 4^3-473
VII. Ivength and quality of Negro domestic service 474-489
VIII Conjugal condition, illiteracy and health of Negro do
mestics
Conjugal condition 49
Health statistics for domestic servants 495
IX. Ideals of betterment 500-509 .... 511-520INDEX
MAPS.
I. Map of Seventh Ward, showing streets and political divi-
sions Facing page 60
II. Map of Seventh Ward, showing distribution of Negro in
habitants throughout the ward, and their social condi
tion ' *"** page I
INTRODUCTION TO THE 1967 EDITION
by E. Digby Baltzell
IN AN appendix to his famous study of the American Negro, An American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal discussed the need for further research in the Negro community. "We cannot close this description of what a study of a Negro community should be/' he
wrote, "without calling attention to the study which best meets our requirements, a study which is now all but forgotten. We refer to W. E. B. DuBois' The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899."1 One would hardly expect a greater tribute to this early classic in American sociology. It is no wonder that there has not been a scholarly study of the American Negro in the twentieth
century which has not referred to and utilized the empirical findings, the research methods, and the theoretical point of view of this seminal book.
A classic is sometimes defined as a book that is often referred to but seldom read. The Philadelphia Negro, written by a young scholar who subsequently became one of the three most famous Negro leaders in American history, surely meets this requirement. Though always referred to and frequently quoted by specialists, it is now seldom read by the more general student of sociology. For not only has the book been out of print for almost half a
century; it has been virtually unobtainable, as my own experience of almost twenty years of searching in vain for a copy in second hand bookstores attests. Even at the University of Pennsylvania, under whose sponsorship the research was undertaken and the. book published, although one copy has been preserved in the
archives and one on microfilm, the sole copy listed in the
catalogue and available for students in the library has been
unaccountably missing from the shelves for several years. In
writing this introduction, I am using a copy lent me by my good friend, Professor Ira Reid of Haverford College, a one-time
colleague and friend of the late Professor DuBois at Atlanta
1. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma, p. 1132.
ix
x . Introduction to the 1967 Edition
University. Modern students, then, will certainly benefit from a
readily available paperback edition of this study of the Negro
community in Philadelphia at the turn of the nineteenth century. In order to gain a full understanding of any book, one ought
to know something of the life and intellectual background of its
author, the place of the book in the history of the discipline ( in
this case sociology), as well as the climate of intellectual opinion and the social conditions of the era in which the book was
written. Because The Philadelphia Negrolike all his other
writings was so intimately a part of the life of W. E. B. DuBois, I shall begin this introduction with a brief outline of his career.
DuBois himself wrote in his seventies: "My life had its signifi cance and its only deep significance because it was part of
a problem; but that problem was, as I continue to think, the
central problem of the greatest of the world's democracies and so
the problem of the future world." 2
It is one of the coincidences of American history that in the
year 1895, Frederick Douglass, a crusading abolitionist and the
first great leader of the Negro people, died, and Booker T.
Washington rose to national leadership with his "compromise"
speech at Atlanta, in which he made the famous statement that "in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to human
progress." In that same year, which marked the passing of Negro
leadership from the fiery and moralistic Douglass to the compro mising and pragmatic Washington, a young New Englander, W. E. B. DuBois, obtained the first Ph.D. degree ever awarded a
Negro by Harvard University. William Edward Burghardt DuBois "was born by a golden
river and in the shadow of two great hills," in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1868, the same year "Andrew Johnson passed from the scene and Ulysses Grant became President of the United States."3 He was a mulatto of French Huguenot, Dutch, and Negro ("thank God, no Anglo-Saxon") ancestry. The Burghardt family had lived in this area of the Berkshires ever since his
2. W. E. B. DuBois, Dusk of Dawn (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1940), p. vii.
3. In writing of DuBois* life, I have tried to quote him directly where
possible. I have profited greatly from the following biographical studies:
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xi
mother s great-grandfather had been set free after having served for a brief period in the Revolution. (In 1908, DuBois was
accepted by the Massachusetts branch of the Sons of the American Revolution but was eventually suspended from mem bership by the national office because of his Negro ancestry.) DuBois grew up in a community of some five thousand souls which included between twenty-five and fifty Negroes. Social
position in the small town was more a matter of class than of color. The rich people in town, mostly farmers, manufacturers, and merchants, were "not very rich nor many in number." Like the wealthier white children whom he "annexed as his natural companions/' young Will DuBois judged men on their merits and
accomplishments and felt, as was natural in that day, that the rich
and successful deserved their position in life, as did the "lazy and
thriftless" poor. He "cordially despised" the immigrant mill- workers and looked upon them as a "ragged, ignorant, drunken
proletariat, grist for the dirty woolen mills and the poorhouse."
As his father, apparently a charming but irresponsible almost-
white mulatto, died when he was very young, DuBois was
brought up by his mother. Though always very poor, she did her best to pass on to her only son her own pride of ancestry and old- established position in the local Negro community. Fortunately,
young Will was a precocious and brilliant boy, possessed of an
infinite cap ity for work and an abiding passion to excel. His
stern New i igland upbringing was reflected in the following description of Ms values as a senior at Fisk: "I believed too little in Christian dogma to become a minister," he wrote many years later, "I was not without faith: I never stole material or spiritual things; I not only never lied, but blurted out my conception of the truth on many untoward occasions; I drank no alcohol and knew nothing of women, physically or psychically, to the incredulous amusement of most of my more experienced fellows: I above all believed in work systematic and tireless."
4
Francis L. Broderick, W. E. B. DuBois: Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis, and Elliott Morton Rudwick, "W. E. B. DuBois: A Study in Minority Group Leadership" (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1956).
4. W. E. B. DuBois, "My Evolving Program for Negro Freedom," in
Rayford W. Logan, ed., What the Negro Wants, p. 38.
xii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
From an early age, DuBois planned to go to college and was
fortunately encouraged to do so by his friends and teachers. "A
wife of one of the cotton mill owners, whose only son was a pal of mine," he wrote more than half a century later, "offered to see
that I got lexicons and texts to take up the study of Greek in
high school, without which college doors in that day would not
open. I accepted the offer as only normal and right; only after
many years did I realize how critical this gift was for my career." 5
Among the Negroes of Great Harrington, young Will DuBois soon came to have a very special place. He was the only Negro in his high-school class of twelve and one of the two or three boys in the whole class who went on to college. After school and on weekends he worked at all sorts of jobs. Through his friendship with the local newsdealer, he obtained, for a brief period, a posi tion as local correspondent for the Springfield Republican.
He also contributed local news to two Negro newspapers, one in
Boston and the other in New York. With a few harsh exceptions as he reached adolescence, he was accepted on his merits by his
peers. Though not particularly good at sports, he was highly re
spected intellectually. At fifteen, he began annotating his col
lected papers, a practice he scrupulously followed until his
death, in Ghana, at the age of ninety-five. DuBois was, of course, aware of the color line as he grew up,
but he had his first experience with a large Negro community at
the age of fifteen, when he went to visit his grandfather in New Bedford. "I went to the East to visit my fathers father in New Bedford," he later wrote, "and on that trip saw well-to-do, well-
mannered colored people; and once, at Rocky Point, Rhode
Island, I viewed with astonishment 10,000 Negroes of every hue
and bearing. I was transported with amazement and dreams; I
apparently noted nothing of poverty and degradation, but only
extraordinary beauty of skin color and utter equality of mien, with absence so far as I could see of even the shadow of the line of race."6
DuBois graduated with high honors from high school in the
5. Ibid., p. 34.
6. Ibid,, p. 35.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xiii
spring of 1884. His mother died soon after graduation day. Too
poor and also thought to be too young to go to college, he
finally took a job as timekeeper for a contractor who was building a fabulous "cottage" for the widow of Mark Hopkins, whose father-in-law had made a fortune in railroads and founded one of the first families in San Francisco. He learned a great deal about the ways of men on this responsible job, and was also able to save a little money. In the fall of 1885, he obtained some scholarship aid and entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a
sophomore. He would have preferred Harvard, but Fisk in many ways proved to be a very valuable experience. Here for the first time he lived among, and learned about, his fellow Negroes. Though he did learn about a certain segment of the Southern
Negro community at Fisk and in Nashville, he was, nevertheless, determined to see it whole. "Somewhat to the consternation of both teachers and fellow students," he obtained a job teaching school in the summer months in West Tennessee. "Needless to
say, the experience was invaluable," he wrote. "I traveled not only in space but in time. I touched the very shadow of slavery. I lived and taught school in log cabins built before the Civil War. My school was the second held in the district since emancipation. I touched intimately the lives of the commonest of mankind-
people who ranged from barefooted dwellers on dirt floors, with
patched rags for clothes, to rough, hard-working farmers, with
plain, clean plenty. I saw and talked with white people, noted now their unease, now their truculence and again their friendli ness. I nearly fell from my horse when the first school commis sioner whom I interviewed invited me to stay to dinner. After wards I realized that he meant me to eat at the second, but quite as well-served table."7
His years at Fisk, in contrast to his youth in New England, left DuBois with a strong and bitter sense of the "absolute division of the universe into black and white." Yet it was
probably a good thing that he went there before finally realizing his boyhood dream of going to Harvard, which he entered on a
scholarship, as a junior, in the fall of 1888, "I was happy at
7. Ibid., pp. 37-38.
xiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Harvard, but for unusual reasons," he wrote much later. "One of these unusual circumstances was my acceptance of racial segre gation. Had I gone from Great Banington high school directly to Harvard I would have sought companionship with my white fellows and been disappointed and embittered by a discovery of social limitations to which I had not been used/'8
On the whole, his days at Cambridge were very lonely. He made friends with only a very few of his classmates and reserved his social life for the stimulating Negro community in and around Boston: "I asked nothing of Harvard but the tutel' ge of teachers and the freedom of the library. I was quite volurnarily and will
ingly outside of its social life." 9
Fortunately, the members of the faculty were far more friendly than the students:
The Harvard of 1888 was an extraordinary aggregation of great men. Not often since that day have so many distinguished teachers been together in one place and at one time in America. ... By good fortune, I was thrown into direct contact with many of these men. I was repeatedly a guest in the house of William James; he was my friend and guide to clear thinking; I was a member of the Philosophical Club and talked with Royce and Palmer; I sat in an upper room and read Kant's Critique with Santayana; Shaler invited a Southerner, who objected to sitting by me, out of his class; I became one of Hart's favorite pupils and was afterwards guided by him through my graduate course and started on my work in Germany. It was a great opportunity for a young man and a young American Negro, and I realized it. 10
Apparently, even the haughty Anglophile and defender of Anglo-Saxon traditions Barrett Wendell knew a good man when he saw one. And DuBois never forgot the following experience:
I have before me a theme which I wrote October 3, 1890, for Barrett Wendell, then the great pundit of Harvard English. I said: "Spurred by my circumstances, I have always been given to systematically planning my future, not indeed without many 8. Dusk of Dawn, p. 34. 9. Ibid., p. 35.
10. Ibid., p. 37.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xv
mistakes and frequent alterations, but always with what I now conceive to have been a strangely early and deep appreciation of the fact that to live is a serious thing. I determined while in school to go to college partly because other men went, partly because I foresaw that such discipline would best fit me for life. ... I believe foolishly perhaps, but sincerely, that I have
something to say to the world, and I have taken English 12 in order to say it well." Barrett Wendell rather liked that last sentence. He read it out to the class. 11
W. E. B. DuBois did indeed have something to say to the world and he soon went on to write and speak more eloquently in behalf of his race than any other man of his generation. But first he finished his work at Harvard, obtaining an A.B. in 1890, an M.A. in 1891, and completing most of the requirements for the Ph.D. before going abroad for two years on a scholarship. DuBois set sail for Europe on a Dutch boat in the summer of 1892, a
year, as he put it, which marked "the high tide of lynching in the United States, when 235 persons were publicly murdered." He studied at the University of Berlin, where he listened to Max Weber and was accepted into "two exclusive seminars run by leaders of the developing social sciences." During the vacations, he traveled all over Europe where he was pleased to find far less racial discrimination than in the United States. He later summed up his experiences in Europe as follows:
From this unhampered social intermingling with Europeans of education and manners, I emerged from the extremes of my racial provincialism. I became more human; learned the place in life of 'Wine, Women, and Song;" I ceased to hate or
suspect people simply because they belonged to one race or
color; and above all I began to understand the real meaning of scientific research and the dim outline of methods of employing its technique and its results in the new social sciences for the settlement of the Negro problems in America.
12
DuBois returned from Europe in 1894 with an almost blind
faith in science and a determination to engage in a career of
research, writing, and teaching. He had originally wanted to be a
11. Ibid., pp. 38-39. 12. Logan, op. tit., p. 42.
xvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
philosopher but "it was James with his pragmatism and Albert Bushnell Hart with his research method, that turned me back from the lovely but sterile land of philosophic speculation, to the
social sciences as the field for gathering and interpreting that
body of fact which would apply to my program for the Negro." 13
After spending a year teaching the classics at Wilberforce, where he was frankly horrified at the low standards and
especially the overly emotional religious atmosphere (as con trasted to his own rearing in the Congregational Church in Great Barrington), he was called to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was given an opportunity to carry out his program of
applying the methods of science to the Negro problem. In the
meantime, he received his Ph,D. from Harvard and had his thesis, The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States
of America, 1638-1870, published as the first volume in the Harvard Historical Series, in 1896, the year he began his research on the Philadelphia Negro.
W. E. B. DuBois was brought to Philadelphia largely on the initiative of Susan P. Wharton, a member of one of the city's oldest and most prominent Quaker families. She had long been interested in the problems of Negroes and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia College Settlement, which had been founded in 1892. It is important to see that The
Philadelphia Negro was a product of the New Social Science and Settlement House movements, both of which grew up in this country and in England during the closing decades of the nineteenth century.
"The best account of this new period/' writes Nathan Glazer, "and indeed the most important book, to my mind, for an under standing of the rise of the contemporary social scientific ap proach, is Beatrice Webb's My Apprenticeship. Beatrice Webb describes the rise of her interest in social problems, and the unique vantage point afforded to her by the Potter family (she was Beatrice Potter) and its connections to further his interest. Although the most distinguished visitor to her home was Herbert Spencer, two other distinguished Victorians who played a central
13. Ibid., p. 39.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xvii
role in the development of social science were often there. One was Francis Galton, whose discoveries in correlation were to be
largely responsible for moving social statistics from the level of
simple enumeration to that of a scientific tool of great precision and value. The other was Charles Booth, who, with his own fortune acquired from industry, was to conduct, beginning in the
1880's, the first great empirical social scientific study, an investiga tion into the conditions of life among all the people of London."
14
It was in 1883, the year Karl Marx died, that young Beatrice Potter deserted the social life of fashionable Mayfair and went to the East End of London to work on her friend Charles Booth's famous and seminal study of the life and living conditions of the London poor. The next year, a group of Protestant clergymen, followers of Charles Kingsley and Frederick Dennison Maurice and their Christian Socialism, along with some young college men from Oxford and Cambridge, founded Toynbee Hall, which was an important landmark in the Settlement House and Social
Gospel movements in England and also in this country. At the same time, Jane Addams, who had just graduated from college and was traveling abroad, made her first visit to the slums of London's East End. She was so horrified by what she saw there, and so impressed with the work being done at Toynbee Hall and with her newly acquired friend Beatrice Potter, that she came back and founded Hull House, in 1889, in the heart of the
Chicago slums. Other settlement houses soon sprang up in most of the major cities along the Eastern seaboard. In the meantime, the famous Hull House Papers and Maps were published in 1895, based directly on Charles Booth's methods of research; even the
colors on the maps, which indicated different degrees of poverty, were the same.
While the more famous founders of sociology, such as Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, and Herbert Spencer, were predominantly armchair theorists in their approach to understanding the causes
and consequences of the industrial and urban revolutions, the rise of capitalism and the problems of labor, it was the more
empirical and pragmatic tradition of Charles Booth in England 14. Nathan Glazer, "The Rise of Social Science Research in Europe," in
Daniel Lerner, ed., The Human Meaning of the Social Sciences (New York: Meridian, 1959), pp. 58-59.
xviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
and the Hull House work in this country, as the following
paragraph suggests, that inspired young DuBois when he came to
Philadelphia.
Herbert Spencer finished his ten volumes of Synthetic Phil
osophy in 1896. The biological analogy, the vast generali zations, were striking, but actual scientific accomplishment
lagged. For me an opportunity seemed to present itself. ... I determined to put science into sociology through a study of the
condition and problems of my own group. I was going to study the facts, any and all facts, concerning the American Negro and his plight, and by measurement and comparison and
research, work up to any valid generalization which I could. 15
It was in this same spirit that Susan P. Wharton went out to the Wharton School, which a member of her family had founded at the University of Pennsylvania, and prevailed on the Provost, Charles C. Harrison, to undertake a study of the Negro problem in the city's Seventh Ward (where, incidentally, Provost Har rison, Miss Wharton, and many of Philadelphia's more fashion able families lived at that time). Provost Harrison, heir to one of the great sugar fortunes in America, had turned away from business in his later years to devote himself to education and social reform. He was immediately receptive to her plans. (The project was outlined at a meeting at the Wharton residence, 910 Clinton Street, situated only a few blocks from the heart of the
Negro ghetto and the College Settlement House at Seventh and South Streets [see map].) It was indeed fortunate for the
University, Miss Wharton, and the city as a whole, that a young scholar of DuBois' ability, background, education, and scientific
point of view was obtained for the job by a member of the Sociology Department of the Wharton School, Samuel McCune Lindsay. DuBois came to the city in August, 1896, and, except for a brief period of two months during the summer of 1897, when he studied rural Negroes in Virginia because so many of them had recently migrated to Philadelphia at the time of the study, he remained in the city until January, 1898. Many years later, DuBois described his call to Philadelphia and his stay there:
15. Dusk of Dawn, p. 51.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xix
In the fall of 1896, I went to the University of Pennsylvania as "Assistant Instructor" in Sociology. It all happened this way: Philadelphia, then and still one of the worst governed of Amer ica's badly governed cities, was having one of its periodic spasms of reform. A thorough study of causes was called for. Not but what the underlying cause was evident to most white Philadel-
phians: the corrupt, semi-criminal vote of the Negro Seventh Ward, Everyone agreed that here lay the cancer; but would it not be well to elucidate the known causes by a scientific
investigation, with the imprimatur of the University? It certainly would, answered Samuel McCune Lindsay of the Department of Sociology. And he put his finger on me for the task.
There must have been some opposition, for the invitation was not particularly cordial. I was offered a salary of $800 for a limited period of one year. I was given no real academic
standing, no office at the University, no official recognition of
any kind; my name was even eventually omitted from the catalogue; I had no contact with students, and very little with members of the faculty, even in my department. With my bride of three months, I settled in one room over a cafeteria run by a
College Settlement, in the worst part of the Seventh Ward. We lived there a year, in the midst of an atomosphere of dirt, drunkenness, poverty and crime. Murder sat on our doorsteps, police were our government, and philanthropy dropped in with
periodic advice. 16
These are bitter words. And apparently DuBois was not quite true to the facts of the case. There was no evidence in the minutes of the University's Board of Trustees of any "opposition" to the appointment. On a request for information on the case from a DuBois biographer, the late Professor Lindsay replied that DuBois was "quite mistaken about the attitude of the Sociology Department. It was quite friendly, I am sure, and as far as I know that was true of the entire Wharton School faculty."
17 I
have quoted this passage from DuBois' writings, nevertheless, because it suggests his own bitterness in 1944, when he wrote the
passage, at the general neglect in this country of the Negro
problem in the four decades following his publication of The
16. Logan, op. cit., p. 44. 17. Rudwick, op. cit., p. 32.
xx Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Philadelphia Negro. More important, I think, it may very well reflect the spirit if not the letter of the thoughtless rather
than
malicious attitudes of whites of that era toward an educated and
fastidious Negro like DuBois. For DuBois was very sensitive to
the climate of opinion at that time which, by and large, assumed the inferiority of all Negroes, whether educated or not.
The life and thought of every age, one would suppose, is
always marked, like the life of every individual, by ambivalence,
paradox, and contradictions. In other words, just when many men and women like Beatrice Webb, Jane Addams, or Miss Wharton were dedicating their lives trying to understand and alleviate the
horrible conditions that surrounded the lives of the downtrodden at the turn of the century, the dominant values of the com fortable and complacent middle classes were crudely ma terialistic, smugly racist, and somewhat self-righteous, to say the
least. In short, the 1890's were indeed marked by materialism at the top and misery at the bottom of both the class and racial scales. Thus DuBois, for instance, noted that the year 1892
marked the high tide of lynchings in the United States; it was also the year of the bitter and cruel Homestead Strike. In 1894,
Coxey's Army marched on Washington. In 1895, South Carolina, following the lead of Mississippi, and under the leadership of the
extreme racist Ben Tillman, disfranchised its Negroes; in the same year, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, sanctioned the "separate but equal" standard
that Booker T. Washington compromised with in his Atlanta
speech; and between 1895 and 1909, the Negro was systema tically disfranchised throughout the South. It is no wonder that
many Americans responded to Bryan's plea, in the campaign of 1896, that Wall Street should not "crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." Perhaps Kelly Miller, the son of former slaves who rose to become a professor of sociology at Howard University, caught the
spirit of the "Gay Nineties/' as seen from the Negro point of
view, in the following summary of the distinction between Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington: The two men are in part products of their times, but also natural antipodes. Douglass lived in the day of moral giants; Washington lived in the era of merchant princes. The con
temporaries of Douglass emphasized the rights of man; those of
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxi
Washington, his productive capacity. The age of Douglass acknowledged the sanction of the Golden Rule; that of
Washington worships the Rule of Gold, The equality of men was constantly dinned into Douglass' ears; Washington hears
nothing but the inferiority of the Negro and the dominance of the Saxon. 18
The Anglo-Saxon complex Kelly Miller was referring to was, of course, a reflection of the inevitable racial implications in Social
Darwinism, which was the overwhelmingly dominant ideology in America at that time. In an age when men thought of themselves as having evolved from the ape rather than having been created in the image of angels, the Negro, it was almost universally agreed among even the most educated people, was definitely an inferior breed and situated at the very base of the evolutionary tree. "Now as to the Negroes," Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his friend Owen Wister, "I entirely agree with you that as a race and in the mass they are altogether inferior to the whites." And Roosevelt never repeated his "mistake," as he called it, of asking Booker T. Washington or any other Negro to the White House. For he was very sensitive to the opinions of an age in which, as the historian Rayford W. Logan has written, "both newspapers and magazines stereotyped, caricatured and ridiculed Negroes in atrocious dialect that shocks the incredulous reader today. Few newspapers in the Deep South today portray the Negro in such outlandish fashion as did the spokesmen for the 'Genteel Tra dition in the North/"19 Nor must we forget that very distin guished and objective social scientists, almost without exception, agreed with the "Genteel Tradition" and Roosevelt's point of view. With calipers and rulers and all sorts of statistical devices, they were busy building up elaborate classifications of the "inborn" mental and psychological traits of Nordics, Aryans, Semites, Teutons, Hottentots, Japs, Turks, Slavs, and Anglo- Saxons with Negroes of course at the very bottom of this bio
logical hierarchy.
18. Quoted in E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro in the United States, p. 545.
19. Rayford W. Logan, The Negro in the United States; A Brief History, p. 54.
xxii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Finally, it is important to place this dominant American
ideology in a larger frame, For it was between the publication of
Darwin's Origin of Species by Natural Selection, or The Preser
vation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, in 1859, and the
Boer War in 1902, that white Western men conquered, explored, fought over, and partitioned among themselves the continent of black Africa below the Sierra. The year of 1896, when DuBois went to Philadelphia, also witnessed Queen Victoria's Diamond
Jubilee celebration, a symbol of the high tide of "white su
premacy" throughout the world.
It was, then, in the most discouraging and deplorable period in the history of the American Negro since the Civil War that
young DuBois came to Philadelphia and set about doing a
thorough and objective study of the Negro community. That the
book, when finally published in 1899, succeeded in being ob
jective, most modern readers, I think, will recognize. But even
at the time of its publication, its reviewers were equally
impressed with the author's critical and thorough methods of
research. In the Yale Review, a reviewer found the book to be "a
credit to American scholarship . . . the sort of book of which we have too few. . . . Here is an inquiry, covering a specific field and a considerable period of time, and persecuted with candor,
thoroughness and critical judgment." 20 The reviewer in The
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
(a Southerner) found the book to be "exceptional and scholar
ly. ... It is a critical, discriminating statement of the conditions
and results of Negro life in a large, northern seaboard city a little more than thirty years after the Civil War . . . and its perma nent national value to the scholar and the statesman is pre dicted."21 The reviewer in The Nation was especially im
pressed with the historical material included in the book and
only criticized the author for taking "too gloomy a view of the situation/'22 The Outlook review was long, detailed, and filled with praise: the historical background alone, thought tibe re-
20. Yale Review, IX (May, 1900), 110-11. 21. The Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science,
XV (January-May, 1900), 101. 22. The Nation, LXIX (1899), 310.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxiii
viewer, "would of itself give this volume exceptional value." 23
And he went on to praise DuBois' objectivity: "In no respect does Dr. DuBois attempt to bend the facts so as to plead for his race ... he is less apologetic than a generous-minded white writer might be. ... Professor DuBois' aim is always to keep well with in the field where his generalizations cannot be disputed."
24
Thus the reviews at the time of publication invariably praised the book and remarked on the objectivity of the author. In fact, between the lines one has the impression that most of the white reviewers were rather surprised that a Negro author could have been capable of a work of such careful scholarship and objec tivity. In spite of this, one is amazed to find that the reviewers did not come out openly and criticize DuBois' definitely en vironmental, rather than racial, approach to the problems of the
Philadelphia Negroes. There was only a hint of this in the American Historical Review, in which the reviewer praised the book but questioned the author's optimism in regarding the
Negro problem as soluble, in the long run, in terms of status and environmental improvement. The reviewer also, incidentally, appeared to be worried about "race pollution/ The tone of the review is suggested by the following lines:
The book is not merely a census-like volume of many tables and diagrams of the colored people of Philadelphia. The author seeks to interpret the meaning of statistics in the light of social movements and the characteristics of the times, as, for instance, the growth of the city by foreign immigration. ... He is perfectly frank, laying all necessary stress on the weaknesses of his people. ... He shows a remarkable spirit of fairness. If any conclusions are faulty, the fault lies in the overweight given to some of his beliefs and hopes.
25
After praising DuBois' fairness and outlining some of his
findings, the reviewer criticizes DuBois' hopes:
This state of things is due chiefly, in Dr. DuBois 7
judgment, to a color prejudice, and this he believes can be done away with in time, just as the class prejudices of earlier centuries in
23. Outkok, LXIII (1899), 647-48 24. Ibid.
25. American Historical Review, VI (1900-1901), 163.
xxiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Europe are being wiped out gradually , . . but we need, what Dr. DuBois does not give, more knowledge of the effects of the
mixing of blood of very different races, and the possibilities of
absorption of inferior into superior groups of mankind. He speaks of the "natural repugnance to close intermingling with
unfortunate ex-slaves," but we believe that the separation is due to differences of race more than of status.26
The hereditarian or racial as against the environmental or cultural approaches to .the causes of the differences between
Negroes and whites, both in America and in other parts of the
world, divide men to this day. Perhaps the ultimate truth lies in a "both/ and" rather than an "either/or" approach. Nevertheless and especially in an age such as our own which tends to assume, often dogmatically, the greater importance of environment and cultureone must look back on The Philadelphia Negro as a
pioneering attempt to objectively advance this modern approach in an era when most men deeply and sincerely felt that fixed
hereditary aptitudes differentiated the races of men and con sequently precluded any possibility of eventual integration on a
plane of social, cultural, and political equality, Thus, in answer to his hereditarian opponents such as the reviewer in the American Historical Review, DuBois fell back on his own broad historical perspective by reminding his readers in the closing pages how many once-held hereditarian dogmas had already been eroded by the passage of time and the changing social situation:
We rather hasten to forget that once the courtiers of English kings looked upon the ancestors of most Americans with far
greater contempt than these Americans look upon Negroes and perhaps, indeed, had more cause. We forget that once French peasants were the "Niggers" of France, and that German princelings once discussed with doubt the brains and humanity of the bauer (p. 386) .
It was, then, not only DuBois' painstaking methods of research and his objective interpretations of the evidence that has
given The Philadelphia Negro a permanent place in the socio-
26. Ibid., p. 164.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxv
logical literature. It was also the fact that DuBois brought a
thoroughly sociological point of view to bear on this carefully collected evidence. In other words, the book, in emphasizing an environmental point of view, made a definite theoretical con tribution. Some four decades later, for example, the authors of an
important modern study of the Negro community in Chicago, Black Metropolis, explicitly referred to this contribution as follows:
In 1899, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois published the first important sociological study of a Negro community in the United States The Philadelphia Negro (University of Pennsylvania). At the outset, he presented an ecological map detailing the distri bution of the Negro population by "social condition," and divided his subjects into four "grades:" (1) the "middle classes" and those above; (2) the working people-fair to
comfortable; (3) the poor; (4) vicious and criminal classes.
Despite the economic emphasis in this classification and his extensive presentation of data on physical surroundings, Du Bois concluded that "there is a far mightier influence to mold and make the citizen, and that is the social atmosphere which surrounds him; first his daily companionship, the thoughts and whims of his class; then his recreation and amusements; finally the surrounding world of American civilization" (p. 309). This
emphasis upon the social relations-in family, clique, church, voluntary associations, school, and jobas the decisive ele ments in personality formation is generally accepted. The authors feel that it should also be the guiding thread in a study of "class". . . all serious students of Negro communities since DuBois have been concerned with the nature of social stratifi cation. ... In the Thirties this interest was given added stimulus by the suggestive hypotheses thrown out by Professor W. Lloyd Warner and by a general concern in anthropological and sociological circles with social stratification in America.
27
As this quotation from Black Metropolis suggests, there has been a direct intellectual line between DuBois' emphasis on class and social environment as major causal agents in personality formation and a whole subsequent tradition in American soci-
27. St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Black Metropolis, pp. 787-88.
xxvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
ology. Thus, for example, Franz Boas in his Lowell Lecture, The Mind of Primitive Man (1911), was echoing the findings and conclusions of DuBois when he wrote that "the traits of the American Negro are adequately explained on the basis of his
history and his social status . . , without falling back upon the
theory of hereditary inferiority." 28 And the tradition continued
through W. I. Thomas and Florian Znanieckfs classic and
pioneering study of the adjustment to the urban environment of
Polish peasants in Chicago and Warsaw ( The Polish Peasant in
Europe and America 1918-21), through the whole school of urban sociology which Robert E. Park (for some time an assistant and colleague of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee) inspired at
the University of Chicago during the 1920's, to the later W. Lloyd Warner school of community studies at Harvard and Chicago, which inspired Black Metropolis and Deep South as well as the classic Yankee City Series. The origins, in both method and theoretical point of view, of all of these studies are to be found in The Philadelphia Negro.
In many ways, DuBois' whole life experiences before coming to Philadelphia in 1896 his youth, when he competed on his merits with his peers in the white community in Great Barring- ton, his observations of the faculty and students at Fisk as well as the poorest and most primitive Negroes in West Tennessee, his own achievements at Harvard as well as his contacts with great teachers like William James, and his witnessing the attitudes of educated Europeans toward hruself all combined to prepare him to see that racial inequality was partly a matter of class
inequality and to emphasize the need for stratification and the creation of an open and talented elite class within the Negro community. And, above all, he emphasized the fact that this class,
already existing in nascent form in Philadelphia, must be
recognized by members of the white community who were forever judging all Negroes on the basis of the behavior of the
"submerged tenth." "In many respects it is right and proper to judge a people by its best classes rather than by its worst classes or middle ranks," he wrote in the excellent chapter on "The Environment of the Negro" (p. 316). "The highest class of any
28. Franz Boas, The Mind of Primitive Man (New York, 1911 ), p. 272.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxvii
group/' he continued, "represents its possibilities rather than its
expectations, as is so often assumed in regard to the Negro. The colored people are seldom judged by their best classes, and often the very existence of classes among them is ignored." Thus DuBois saw very clearly that the white community's propensity to see all Negroes as part of one homogeneous mass served as a
rationalization for their own racist thinking. Much of the charitable work among the depressed classes of Negroes, more
over, only served to reinforce white prejudices : "Thus the class of
Negroes which the prejudices of the city have distinctly en
couraged," wrote DuBois, "is that of the criminal, the lazy and the
shiftless; for them the city teems with institutions and charities; for them there is succor and sympathy; for them Philadelphians are thinking and planning; but for the educated and industrious
young colored man who wants work and not platitudes, wages and not alms, just rewards and not sermons for such colored
men Philadelphia apparently has no use" (p. 352). While DuBois was rightly critical of the white community, he
also criticized upper-class Negroes for not taking the lead among their own people:
The aristocracy of the Negro population in education, wealth and general social efficiency ... are not the leaders or the ideal-
makers of their own group in thought, work, or morals. They teach the masses to a very small extent, mingle with them but
little, do not largely hire their labor. Instead then of social
classes held together by strong ties of mutual interest we have in the case of the Negroes, classes who have much to keep them apart, and only community of blood and color prejudice to bind them togethere. . . . The first impulse of the best, the
wisest and richest is to segregate themselves from the mass . . .
they make their mistake in failing to recognize that however laudable an ambition to rise may be, the first duty of an upper class is to serve the lowest classes. The aristocracies of all
peoples have been slow in learning this and perhaps the Negro is no slower than the rest, but his peculiar situation demands
that in his case this lesson be learned sooner (pp. 316-17).
In emphasizing the need for a properly functioning class
structure within the Negro community, DuBois was anticipating
xxviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
one of the major themes of the late E. Franklin Frazier s classic
study of the emerging Negro middle class in America. Half a
century after DuBois' study of Philadelphia, Professor Frazier
(the first Negro to be elected president of the American Soci
ological Society) wrote in his Black Bourgeoisie:
Because of its struggle to gain acceptance by whites, the
black bourgeoisie has failed to play the role of a responsible
elite in the Negro community . . . they have no real interest in
education and genuine culture and spend their leisure in
frivolities and in activities designed to win a place in Negro
"society." The single factor that has dominated the mental
outlook of the black bourgeoisie has been its obsession with the
struggle for status. 29
In the long run, one of the most important contributions of
this book, as more than one reviewer at the time of its publication noted, may well be the fact that it is the best documented his torical record of an urban and Northern Negro community in
existence. Fortunately, DuBois was well trained in, and devoted
to, the historian's craft. But it was also fortunate that the city of
Philadelphia possessed the oldest and, in 1896, the largest
Northern Negro community in the nation, exceeded in population only by the three Southern Negro communities of New Orleans, Washington, D;C., and Baltimore (a border city).
In fact, Negroes had been brought up the Delaware by the
Swedes before Penn founded the Colony in 1682. In the city where the Declaration of Independence was written and the
nation founded, the Negroes also had an important history, which DuBois carefully documented: here in Philadelphia was the first
expression against the slave trade, the first organization for the
abolition of slavery, the first legislative enactments for the
abolition of slavery, the first attempt at Negro education, the first
Negro convention, and so forth. Since DuBois himself, in this study and in many others, con
tributed so much to the understanding of his people's history, it seems most appropriate to close this introduction with a brief
history of some of the more important sociological changes in the
29. E, Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie, pp. 235-36.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxix
Philadelphia Negro community since the turn of the nineteenth
century.
The Philadelphia Negro Since DuBois The most striking thing about the development of the Phil
adelphia Negro community since DuBois' day is its steady increase in size. In fact, the steady migration of Southern Negroes to Philadelphia began in the decade of the 1890
?
s ( see Table 1 )
Table 1
PHILADELPHIA NEGRO POPULATION Increase by Decades (1890-1960)
INCREASE DECADE POPULATION NUMBER PER CENT
and kept up throughout the twentieth century. DuBois saw this
increasing pace of migration and consequently went to Virginia during the first summer of his study in order to see how the Negroes lived in the rural areas, the better to understand their
problems of adjustment to urban life. The pace of migration, of
course, was greatly increased during World War I and the 1920's. At the same time, anti-Negro attitudes increased, producing racial
strife, increasing segregation in public places, and a rapid rise in
residential ghettoization. Migration slowed down during the 1930's, then increased again during World War II and the postwar years, until today the Negroes constitute over one fourth
X X X
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xxxii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
of the city's residents in contrast to the less than 5 per cent
minority of DuBois' day. With the steady increase in the size of the Negro population,
the pattern of residential distribution also changed. In contrast to
1890, when most of the city's Negroes lived in the center of the
city and close to their white neighbors, by 1960, a majority of
Negroes had moved to the southern, northern, and western sections of the city (Table 2). In 1960, for the first time in the
city's history, one whole city section contained more Negro than white residents (Table 2: 70 per cent Negro in North Phila
delphia). The changing size and residential distribution of the
Negro population has, of course, been both cause and result of
changing social relations between the races. In Philadelphia in the 1890's, the largest concentration of
Negroes was in the Seventh Ward which DuBois studied in detail. But this Ward was, at the same time, the center of the city's "silk stocking" or upper-class neighborhood. The majority of the Negroes in the Ward were employed as domestic servants, and lived in close proximity to (if not in the homes of) their
employers. Social relations between whites and Negroes, there
fore, were marked by clear status differentials and high social
interaction, rather than by the residential segregation, and low social interaction which characterizes the relations between the races today. In 1960, the Seventh Ward, as in its heyday of fashion in the 1890's, is still about one-third Negro. But most of the members of the white upper class have migrated to the suburbs. Though there are still a few fashionable white blocks, many of the old mansions have long since been converted into cultural institutions, apartments, rooming houses, and offices for
physicians and other professional people. Both the white and
Negro populations have steadily declined in absolute numbers: In 1890, the Seventh Ward had 30,179 residents of whom 8,861 (or 30 per cent) were Negroes; in 1960, there were only 17,079 residents in the Ward, of whom 6,308 (or 35 per cent) were Negroes.
30 And of course, in our modern, mechanized world of smaller middle-class households, live-in domestic servants are no
30. Population of Philadelphia Sections and Wards 1860-1960.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxiii
longer fashionable or economically feasible, producing a con
sequent decline in social relations between the races. Following a pattern set by the Georgetown comrnunity in
Washington, D.C., in an earlier day, the Seventh Ward has been witnessing, during the 1960's, a steadily increasing pattern of white invasion of the Negro areas of the Ward. Though the Ward has recently been absorbed into one all-inclusive center-city ward, its traditional area will be largely white by 1970. More and more white, suburban families are now moving back to the city, both those who have raised their children and those of the younger generation who are disenchanted with the suburban way of life. But they will be moving back to a more and more segregated city, as the figures in Tables 2 and 3 clearly show.
Fortunately for the historian and the sociologist, there were three major ghettoized Negro wards in the city in 1960 which had not had their boundaries changed since 1890 (Table 3). The changing racial composition of these three wards reflects the
history of the Negro community in the city in the twentieth
century. As an inspection of the figures in Table 3 will show, all three of these wards contained a small minority of Negro residents in 1890. But, as the size of the Philadelphia Negro community steadily increased in the twentieth century, each ward eventually became ghettoized in a definite historical pattern. The Thirtieth Ward, which lies just to the South of the Seventh ( see Ward Map in 1890, p. 60), became the city's first Negro ghetto (51 per cent Negro in 1920). It was no accident that Phila
delphia's first race riot in the twentieth century, in the summer of 1918, took place on the southern boundary of the Thirtieth Ward. Thus in her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, published in 1921, Sadie Tanner Mossell (now Mrs. Raymond Pace Alexander, wife of a noted jurist, and herself a lawyer and chairman of Philadephia's Commission on Human Relations) wrote that "a colored probation officer of the Municipal Court, a woman of refinement and training and an old citizen of Phila delphia, purchased and took up residence at the house numbered 2936 Ellsworth Street. The white people in the neighborhood
xxxiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
resented her living there and besieged the house. A race riot ensued in which two men were killed and sixty injured."
31
The steady migration of Negroes into the city during the war
years and the 1920's not only contributed to the ghettoization of
the Negro community; it also contributed to the segregation of
Negro children in the schools and the closing of most of the city's commercial and entertainment centers to Negroes: As Miss Mossell noted, "such social privileges as the service of eating houses and the attending of white churches and theaters by Negroes, were practically withdrawn after the influx of Negro migrants into Philadelphia."
32 The older Negro residents of the
city were naturally upset by this new segregation. The Mossell
study continued:
The old colored citizens of Philadelphia resented this. Placed the blame at the migrant's door and stood aloof from him.
Negro preachers invited the new arrivals into the church but
many of the congregations made him know that he was not wanted. In some cases the church split over the matter, the
migrants and their sympathizers withdrawing and forming a
church for themselves. 33
South Philadelphia, especially the southern part of the
Seventh Ward running along Lombard and South (the oldest Negro commerical street in the city) streets, together with the whole Thirtieth Ward, was Philadelphia's first Negro ghetto. And it remained so from the 1920's through World War II. Beginning in the 1920's, however, another Negro ghetto began to develop in North Philadelphia (see Tables 2 and 3). Thus in
1920, the Thirty-second Ward was composed primarily of residents of foreign-born and foreign-stock (mostly Jewish) origins. In the course of the next decade, however, the Negro population increased almost fourfold, and by 1930 made up nearly one third of the Ward's residents (Table 3). By 1940, the Thirty-second Ward was about half Negro, as was the Forty-seventh, an immediately adjacent ward to the south (the
31. Sadie Tanner Mossell, "The Standard of Living Among One Hundred Negro Migrant Families in Philadelphia," p. 9.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxv
Forty-seventh was cut out of the eastern half of the Twenty- ninth after the 1910 census and hence not used for Table 3).
By 1950, the Thirty-second, the Forty-seventh, and three other North Philadelphia wards were over half Negro; by 1960, this whole section became the city's major ghetto (70 per cent
Negro ) .
During the long, hot summer of 1964, a series of race riots broke out in major American cities, beginning in Harlem in
July and ending in Philadelphia on the last day of August. Just as the riot of 1918 had broken out along the boundary of the Thirtieth Ward ghetto, so it was no accident that the racial disturbance in 1964 broke out on the boundary between wards
Thirty-two and Forty-seven, along Columbia Avenue at 22nd
Street, when a husband and wife, both intoxicated, were found
quarreling by the police. Rioting soon spread throughout the North Philadelphia ghetto, killing two persons, injuring 339, and
producing some $3 million worth of property damage. The causes of any riot are many and complex. But DuBois
would have agreed that one of the important causes in 1964 was the fact that the Negro masses in North Philadelphia were almost
completely cut off from the more affluent and successful members of their own race. Most of the solid Negro citizens live in more suburban areas of the city and, like their counterparts whom DuBois criticized in his day, are more concerned with their own careers than with the problems of racial leadership. An ex
ception was the local head of the NAACP, Cecil Moore, a flam
boyant, charming, but often irresponsible individual who has
stepped into the leadership vacuum left by the more solid Negro establishment. For unlike the establishment Negroes, Moore re sides within the North Philadelphia ghetto and was on the scene
during the riots, doing his best to calm his neighbors down.
Lenora E. Berson, in her study of the riot, wrote:
Today, only the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has any real following in North
Philadelphia. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Com mittee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) have made little headway in the city.
Since his ascension to the presidency of the Philadelphia
xxxvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Branch in January, 1963, Cecil Moore has transformed the
NAACP from a conservative institution into a mass-member ship action organization.
Much of Moore's strength within the local NAACP comes from its North Philadelphia members, whom he recruited into the organization. Unlike most Negro leaders, Moore lives in the riot area. He calls the North Philadelphians "my people," and
many feel they are just that. In a poll of residents conducted by Radio Station WDAS, Moore was found to be far and away the best-known Philadelphia Negro.
34
The last Negro ghetto to develop was that of West Phila
delphia. By 1950, the Twenty-fourth Ward had more Negro than white residents for the first time. It has never reached the high
proportion of Negroes which marks the Thirtieth in South
Philadelphia, or the Thirty-second in North Philadelphia, largely because, since the 1950's, the southern part of the ward has
developed into a bohemian and intellectual community. Once an elite residential neighborhood containing some of the finest
examples of Victorian architecture in the city, this part of the
Twenty-fourth, known as "Powelton Village," has become a more or less integrated and middle-class community, made up largely of graduate students and faculty members of the University of
Pennsylvania and other local institutions, as well as other
professionals possessing liberal or bohemian values. There is a
great deal of neighborhhod pride in this area and some civic concern for life in the neighboring ghetto to the north.
By I960, fourteen wards in the cityeight in North Phila
delphia, three in South Philadelphia, and three in West Phil
adelphiacontained a majority of Negro residents. Indeed, the racial composition of the city and the residential distribution of its Negroes had changed beyond recognition since DuBois' day.
And so in many ways had the economic position of the Negroes, both for the better and for the worse. DuBois was
vitally concerned with the depressed and segregated economic
plight of the Negroes in the last decade of the nineteenth century, which was probably worse than it had been during the first decade of the century. He considered freedom and political rights
34. Lenora E. Berson, Case Study of a Riot, p. 30.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxvii
to be a mere sham unless Negroes were also able to take their
rightful place in the city's economic life. He was, for instance, horrified to find that the depressed economic plight of his people pushed them into close social relationships with the most corrupt elements of machine politics. Above all he stressed the fact that the lack of opportunity to advance by education or hard work
corrupted the Negro and drove him into the psychological en vironment of "excuse and listless despair." Thus he wrote: "The humblest white employee knows that the better he does his work the more chance there is for him to rise in business. The black
employee knows that the better he does his work the longer he
may do it; he can not hope for promotion" ( p. 328 ) . Aware of his own position in spite of his educational qualifications, DuBois saw that educational attainments of Negroes only led to frus tration: "A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering, well recommended," he wrote, "obtained work in the city, through an advertisement, on account of his excellent record. He worked a few hours and then was discharged because he was found to be colored. He is now a waiter at the
University Club, where his white fellow graduates dine." A graduate in pharmacy applied for a job and was given the
following answer: "I wouldn't have a darky to clean out my store, much less stand behind the counter" (p, 328). Clerks and white- collar jobs were, of course, unobtainable, but so were both skilled
and unskilled jobs in industry. DuBois noted one exception to this
at the Midvale Steel Works, where the manager, dubbed a
"crank" by many of his peers, had employed some 200 Negroes who worked along with white mechanics "without friction or trouble."* Finally, DuBois deplored the fact that, unlike other
minority groups, Negroes were rarely found running their own businesses. Those that did exist were marginal. In short, the vast
majority of Negroes in the city in DuBois' day were relegated to
domestic service or allied personal services such as catering or hotel jobs as waiters, porters, shoe-shine boys (some in
their fifties and sixties), and so forth. As of the 1960's, though Negroes are surely a long way from
Though DuBois did not mention it, the "crank" at the Midvale Steel Works was Frederick W. Taylor, who eventually became world famous as the "father of scientific management."
xxxviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
obtaining equal opportunity with whites, there is no question that
opportunities for Negro employment in the city have improved
greatly since the 1890's when DuBois painted a dismal picture of their plight. Perhaps the first wave of improvement in em ployment opportunities in the city, as well as all over the nation, came during World War I incidentally a mixed blessing. While, as noted above, there was virtually no industrial employment of
Negroes in 1896, Miss Mossell estimated that some 30,000 Negro laborers were employed by Philadelphia firms as of 1917. The Midvale Steel Company, which was the exception in 1896 when it
employed some 200 Negroes, employed some 4000 Negroes in 1917. While this new employment was a change for the better in some ways, it also had unfortunate consequences. "The Pennsyl vania Railroad," wrote Miss Mossell at the time, "was the only
industry which provided any kind of housing for the migrant. The camps in which it lodged him, however, proved to be of little assistance, since the camps themselves, consisting of ordinary tents and box cars, did not provide adequate shelter."
35
The living conditions of the Negro migrants were miserable
enough during the war. But things were even worse when the war came to an end. Unemployment, idleness, racial riots, and continual strife marked Negro-white relations during what Eu gene P. Foley has called "the warring Twenties."
36 In fact, racial
unrest was continual up to and after the time of the passage by Pennsylvania of its first Civil Rights Act of 1935. Though Negroes were now employed in industry, their inferior position and pay was taken for granted. For example, the city went through the most crippling transit strike in its history in the early 1940's. The strike, which cost the taxpayers more than $10 million, was due to the fact that white workers refused to go back to their jobs as
long as Negro workers were given equal pay for equal work. On the whole, then, it can be said that Negroes made very little headway in breaking down discrimination in employment throughout the 1920's and 1930's. Employment in industry, of
35. Mossell, op. cit., p. 7.
36. Eugene P. Foley, "The Negro Businessman: In Search of a Tradi tion," p. 573. This is an excellent study of Negro business in America and is most relevant here because most of the empirical data was taken from the Philadelphia community.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxix
course, picked up during World War II, but real gains awaited the postwar period.
The 1950's were definitely years of increasing opportunities for Philadelphia Negroes, even though in 1960 Negroes were twice as likely to be unemployed as whites ( 10 per cent vs. 5 per cent). In the first place there was a great decline in the pro portion of Negroes engaged in domestic service,* DuBois found that 88.5 per cent of the females, and 61.5 per cent of the males in the Seventh Ward were domestic servants. By I960, these propor tions had declined on a city-wide basis to 0.6 per cent of the males and 3.3 per cent of the females.
37 The big change came in the 1950's, when male domestic service declined by 61.2 per cent, and female by 29.9 per cent, in the course of a single de cade. In contrast to this decline in the proportion of Negroes in these occupations which stigmatized their inferior position, white- collar employment among Philadelphia Negroes increased in a
relatively spectacular fashion. Between 1950 and 1960, for ex
ample, the proportion of Negro males employed as clerical work ers increased by 58.9 per cent, that of females by 221.8 per cent. At the same time, the proportion of Negro males in professional occupations increased by 45.9 per cent, of females by 90.9 per cent; salesmen increased by 30.7 per cent, saleswomen by 88.4
per cent.
These statistics showing the quantitative increase in the pro portion of Negroes in white-collar occupations during the 1950's reflect unprecedented changes in the quality of race relations in
the center city. As of the 1930's, for instance, one rarely saw a
Negro in the major downtown department and clothing stores, in banks, moving-picture houses, theaters, or other public places. No major department store or bank had Negroes in white-collar
positions dealing directly with the public. No Negro lawyer could obtain office space in the center city business district. Negroes sat in the balconies of the big movie palaces. Hotels and restaurants were strictly segregated. Most of these strict taboos came in
*DuBois was very concerned about the low sex ratio (80) among Negroes and its effect on the family. It is consequently of interest that, in I960, the sex ratio of Negroes in the city had increased to 90, partly a reflection of the decline of domestic service as the main Negro occupation.
37. Philadelphia's Non-White Population I960, Tables 5 and 5a.
xl Introduction to the 1967 Edition
during and immediately after World War I; all of them were removed in the decade of the 1950's.
DuBois was particularly interested in the poor record of
Negroes as businessmen. In 1896, there were no more than 300
Negro-owned businesses in the city. The majority of them were
barbershops, catering establishments, and restaurants all ex
tensions of the servant role. And most of them were marginal, with the exception of a few well-known caterers. There is a direct
relation, according to Eugene P. Foley, who has studied the
Negro businessman in Philadelphia and elsewhere, between the
ghettoization of the Negro and the growth of Negro businesses. 38
In fact, among Negroes, as among whites, immigrants to the city seem more likely to go into business for themselves than older
residents. Thus in 1964, there were over 4000 Negro-owned busi
nesses in the city, most of them located within the boundaries of
the three Negro ghettos. Unfortunately, however, most of these
businesses were pretty much of the same marginal character as those of DuBois' day. Along with the absence of responsible
leadership this lack of success in business enterprise was certainly an important factor in the North Philadelphia riots of 1964. In her
study of the riots, for example, Lenora E. Berson found this to be
true.
The history of the Jews and of North Philadelphia com bined to make the Jewish merchants the major representatives of the white establishment in the area. But it was as whites and as merchants and realtors rather than as Jews per se that they bore the brunt of the Negroes' attack. Anti-Semitism was not a
primary factor in the rioting. Nevertheless, the Jews do have a special and ambiguous
position in the Negro ghetto. In every large city, Jewish organ izations and individuals have long been in the forefront of the civil rights campaigns. In Philadelphia, two white board members of the NAACP are Jews, as is the only white elected official from North Central Philadelphia, State Senator Charles
Weiner. The two Negro-oriented radio stations in the city are owned by Jews. It is likely that many, if not most, of North
Philadelphia's residents are treated by Jewish doctors, advised
by Jewish lawyers and served by Jewish community agencies.
38. Foley, op. cit., p. 569.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xli
But the landlord, too, is likely to be Jewish, as is the grocer and the man who owns the appliance store on the corner. All too often the Negro sees himself as a victim of their exploi tation, and the contrast between himself and the more affluent businessmen of the community generates bitterness and re sentment.39
The living conditions in the North Philadelphia ghetto are still
deplorable and probably getting worse; and they are so de
humanizing largely because of the moral myopia of white
residents of the City of Brotherly Love. At the same time, there is
cause for hope if one takes DuBois' position that the ultimate
salvation of the Negro community depends on its "Talented
Tenth." He opened his famous essay on the "Talented Tenth" as follows:
The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its
exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the
problem of developing the Best of this race that may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in
their own and other races.40
Opportunities for the Talented Tenth within the Philadelphia
Negro community have opened up at an increasing rate since the
end of World War II. Of non-white Philadelphians aged twenty- five and over, for example, the proportion that had finished high school tripled, the proportion that had finished college doubled
between 1940 and 1960. Furthermore, in contrast to DuBois' day when employment for educated Negroes was almost non-existent, there are now more jobs available for educated Negroes than there are educated Negroes to fill them. Finally, DuBois would
have been most gratified that, since World War II, talented
Negroes have moved into elite positions on the local bar and
bench, in business, in politics, and on the faculties of the local
colleges and universities. In closing, perhaps the best way to gain a historical perspec-
39. Berson, op. tit., p. 46.
40. W. E. B. DuBois, "The Talented Tenth," in The Negro Problem (New York, 1903), p. 33.
xlii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
tive on the dramatic changes in the opportunities that have
opened for talented Negroes since DuBois' day, might be to
speculate how he himself would now be received by the Univer
sity of Pennsylvania. And certainly there is no question that
today, if a gifted young Negro with a recent Ph.D. from Harvard,
a book published in the Harvard Historical Series, and two years
study abroad should apply for a position in the Sociology
Department, he would be welcomed with open arms as an As
sistant Professor at least, and at a salary of over $10,000 a year. In
fact, he would hardly need to apply; for he would have been
vigorously recruited; and he probably would not even consider
Pennsylvania because of the great demand for young Negro
sociologists at the very best sociology departments in the nation.
E.D.B.
University of Pennsylvania
June, 1967
SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following selected bibliography will serve to bring DuBois'
bibliography up to date.
I. General Works on the Negro in America. If available in a paperback edition, the citation is followed by (P).
Bardolph, Richard. The Negro Vanguard. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1959. (P)
Breyfogle, William A. Make Free: The Story of the Underground Railroad. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1958.
Broderick, Francis L. W. E. B. DuBois: Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1959. (P)
Clark, Kenneth B. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Deutsch, Morton, and Collins, Mary E. Intenadal Housing: A Psycho logical Evaluation of a Social Experiment. Minneapolis: Uni
versity of Minnesota Press, 1951.
Bollard, John. Caste and Class in a Southern Town. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937. (P)
Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Drake, St. Glair, and Cayton, Horace R. Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. (P)
DuBois, W. E. B. The Negro in Business. Atlanta, Ga.: Atlanta Uni versity Press, 1899.
. "The Negroes of Farmville, Virginia: A Social Study," Bul letin of the United States Department of Labor, III (January, 1898).
. "My Evolving Program for Negro Freedom," in Rayford W. Logan, ed., What The Negro Wants. Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina Press, 1944. (P)
Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959. (P)
Foley, Eugene P. "The Negro Businessman: In Search of a Tradition," in Talcott Parsons and Kenneth B. Clark, eds., The Negro Amer ican. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965. (P)
Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Amer ican Negroes, 2d ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.
Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie. New York: Free Press, 1957. (P)
. The Negro in the United States, rev. ed. New York: Mac- millan, 1957.
Glazer, Nathan, and Moynihan, Donald P. Beyond The Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish in New York City. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1963. (P)
Harris, Abram L. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business Among American Negroes. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1936.
Logan, Rayford W. The Negro in the United States: A Brief History. Princeton, N. J,: Van Nostrand, 1957. (P)
Lubell, Samuel. White and Black: Test of a Nation. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1940.
Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. New York: Harper & Row, 1944. (P)
Redding, Saunders. The Lonesome Road: The Story of the Negro in America. New York: Doubleday, 1958. (P)
Silberman, Charles E. Crisis in Black and White. New York: Random House, 1964. (P)
Taeuber, Karl E. and Alma F. Negroes in Cities. Chicago: Aldine, 1965.
xliv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, 1901. (P)
Weaver, Robert C. The Negro Ghetto. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1948.
Wilson, James Q. Negro Politics: The Search for Leadership. New York: Free Press, 1961.
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957. (P)
II. Publications Relevant to The Philadelphia Negro.
Alexander, Ramond Pace. "The Struggle Against Racism in Philadel phia from 1923 to 1948." Speech delivered before The Business and Professional Group of the American Jewish Congress, Philadelphia, 1950.
Berson, Lenora E. Case Study of a Riot: The Philadelphia Story. New York: Institute of Human Relations Press, 1966.
Drexel Institute of Technology. An Analysis of Little Businessmen in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1964.
Mossell, Sadie Tanner. "The Standard of Living Among One Hundred Negro Migrant Families in Philadelphia," The Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science, XCVIII, 1921.
City of Philadelphia, Commission on Human Relations. Philadelphia's Non-White Population 1960. Report No. 1, Demographic Data; Report No. 2, Housing Data; Report No. 3, Socioeconomic Data.
. General Socio-Economic Characteristics and Trends, Phila
delphia and Environs. Public Information Bulletin 8-C, April, 1963.
The Philadelphia Colored Directory. Philadelphia Colored Directory Co*., 1907.
Population of Philadelphia Sections and Wards: 1860-1960. Phila
delphia City Planning Commission, 1963.
Scott, Emmett J. Negro Migration During The War., New York: Oxford University Press, 1920.
pj^w-jc^;
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[Takenfrom publications of the American Academy, No. 150, fitly 2, r8g$.
The large figures refer to voting precincts.}
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THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO.
CHAPTER I.
THE SCOPE OF THIS STUDY.
1. General Aim. This study seeks to present the results of an inquiry undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania into the condition of the forty thousand or more people of
Negro blood now living in the city of Philadelphia. This
inquiry extended over a period of fifteen months and sought to ascertain something of the geographical distribution of
this race, their occupations and daily life, their homes, their
organizations, and, above all, their relation to their million
white fellow-citizens. The final design of the work is to
lay before the public such a body of information as may be a safe guide for all efforts toward the solution of the many Negro problems of a great American city.
2. The Methods of Inquiry. The investigation began August the first, 1896, and, saving two months, continued
until December the thirty-first, 189.7. The work com menced with a house-to-house canvass of the Seventh Ward. This long narrow ward, extending from South
Seventh street to the Schuylkill River and from Spruce street to South street, is an historic centre of Negro popu lation, and contains to-day a fifth of all the Negroes in
this city. 1 It was therefore thought best to make an
1 1 shall throughout this study use the term " Negro," to designate all
persons of Negro descent, although the appellation is to some extent
illogical. I shall, moreover, capitalize the word, because I believe that
eight million Americans are entitled to a capital letter.
(i)
2 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. L
intensive study of conditions in this district, and afterward to supplement and correct this information by general observation and inquiry in other parts of the city.
Six schedules were used among the nine thousand
Negroes of this ward ; a family schedule with the usual
questions as to the mimber of members, their age and sex, their conjugal condition and birthplace, their ability to read and write, their occupation and earnings, etc. ; an individual schedule with similar inquiries ; a home schedule with questions as to the number of rooms, the
rent, the lodgers, the conveniences, etc. ; a street schedule
to collect data as to the various small streets and alleys, and an institution schedule for organizations and institu tions
; finally a slight variation of the individual schedule
was used for house-servants living at their places of employ ment. 2
This study of the central district of Negro settlement furnished a key txxthe situation in the city ; in the other wards therefore a general survey was taken to note any striking differences of condition, to ascertain the general distribution of these people, and to collect information and statistics as to organizations, property, crime and pauperism, political activity, and the like. This general inquiry, while it lacked precise methods of measurement in most cases, served nevertheless to correct the errors and illustrate the
meaning of the statistical material obtained in the house- to-house canvass.
Throughout the study such official statistics and histori cal matter as seemed reliable were used, and experienced persons, both white and colored, were freely consulted.
3. The Credibility of the Results. The best available methods of sociological research are at present so liable to inaccuracies that the careful student discloses the results
of individual research with diffidence ; he knows that they
are liable to error from the seemingly ineradicable faults of
2 See Appendix A for form of schedules used.
Sect, 3.] The Credibility of the Results. 3
the statistical method, to even greater error from the methods of general observation, and, above all, he must ever tremble lest some personal bias, some moral conviction or some unconscious trend of thought due to previous training, has to a degree distorted the picture in his view.
Convictions on all great matters of human interest one must have to a greater or less degree, and they will enter to some extent into the most cold-blooded scientific research as a disturbing factor.
Nevertheless here are social problems before us demand
ing careful study, questions awaiting satisfactory answers.
We must study, we must investigate, we must attempt to solve
; and the utmost that the world can demand is, not
lack of human interest and moral conviction, but rather the heart-quality of fairness, and an earnest desire for the
truth despite its possible unpleasantness. In a house-to-house investigation there are, outside the
attitude of the investigator, many sources of error : mis
apprehension, vagueness and forgetfulness, and deliberate
deception on the part of the persons questioned, greatly vitiate the value of the answers ; on the other hand, con
clusions formed by the best trained and most conscientious students on the basis of general observation and inquiry- are really inductions from but a few of the multitudinous
facts of social life, and these may easily fall far short of
being essential or typical. The use of both of these methods which has been
attempted in this study may perhaps have corrected to some extent the errors of each. Again, whatever personal
equation is to be allowed for in the whole study is one
unvarying quantity, since the work was done by one inves
tigator, and the varying judgments of a score of census-
takers was thus avoided.3
3 The appended study of domestic service was done by Miss Isabel
Eaton, Fellow of the College Settlements Association. Outside of this
the- work was done by the one investigator.
4 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. I.
Despite all drawbacks and difficulties, however, the main results of the inquiry seem credible. They agree, to a large extent, with general public opinion, and in other respects they seem either logically explicable or in accord with historical precedents. They are therefore presented to the public, not as complete and without error, but as possessing on the whole enough reliable matter to serve as the scientific basis of further study, and of practical reform.
CHAPTER II.
THE PROBLEM.
4. The Negro Problems of Philadelphia. In Phila delphia, as elsewhere in the United States, the existence of certain peculiar social problems affecting the Negro people are plainly manifest. Here is a large group of people perhaps forty-five thousand, a city within a city who do not form an integral part of the larger social group. This in itself is not altogether unusual ; there are other unassim-
ilated groups : Jews, Italians, even Americans ; and yet in the case of the Negroes the segregation is more con
spicuous, more patent to the eye, and so intertwined with a long historic evolution, with peculiarly pressing social
problems of poverty, ignorance, crime and labor, that the
Negro problem far surpasses in scientific interest and social
gravity most of the other race or class questions. The student of these questions must first ask, What is
the real condition of this group of human beings ? Of whom is it composed, what sub-groups and classes exist, what sort of individuals are being considered ? Further, the student must clearly recognize that a complete study must not confine itself to the group, but must specially notice the environment ; the physical environment of city, sec tions and houses, the far mightier social environment the
surrounding world of custom, wish, whim, and thought which envelops this group and powerfully influences its social development. Nor does the clear recognition of the field of investiga
tion simplify the work of actual study ; it rather increases
it, by revealing lines of inquiry far broader in scope than first thought suggests. To the average Philaclelphian the
(5)
6 The Problem. [Chap. II.
whole Negro question reduces itself to a study of certain
slum districts. His mind reverts to Seventh and Lombard streets and to Twelfth and Kater streets of to-day, or to
St. Mary's in the past. Continued and widely known charitable work in these sections makes the problem of
poverty familiar to him ; bold and daring crime too often
traced to these centres has called his attention to a prob lem of crime, while the scores of loafers, idlers and pros titutes who crowd the sidewalks here night and day remind him of a problem of work.
All this is true all these problems are there and of
threatening intricacy ; unfortunately, however, the interest
of the ordinary man of affairs is apt to stop here. Crime, poverty and idleness affect his interests unfavorably and
he would have them stopped ; he looks upon these slums and slum characters as unpleasant things which should in some way be removed for the best interests of all. The social student agrees with him so far, but must point out that the removal of unpleasant features from our compli cated modern life is a delicate operation requiring know
ledge and skill ; that a slum is not a simple fact, it is a
symptom and that to know the removable causes of the
Negro slums of Philadelphia requires a study that takes one far beyond the slum districts. For few Philadelphians realize how the Negro population has grown and spread. There was a time in the memory of living men when a small district near Sixth and Lombard streets compre hended the great mass of the Negro population of the
city. This is no longer so. Very early the stream of the black population started northward, but the increased
foreign immigration of 1830 and later turned it back.
It started south also but was checked by poor houses and worse police protection. Finally with gathered momen tum the emigration from the slums started west, rolling on
slowly and surely, taking Lombard street as its main
thoroughfare, gaining early foothold in West Philadelphia,
Sect. 4.] The Negro Problems ofPhiladelphia. j
and turning at the Schuylkill River north and south to the newer portions of the city. Thus to-day the Negroes are scattered in every ward of
the city, and the great mass of them live far from the whilom centre of colored settlement. What, then, of this great mass of the population? Manifestly they form a class with social problems of their own the problems of the Thirtieth Ward differ from the problems of the Fifth, as the black inhabitants differ. In the former ward we have represented the rank and file of Negro working-people ; laborers and servants, porters and waiters. This is at pres ent the great middle class of Negroes feeding the slums on the one hand and the upper class on the other. Here are social questions and conditions which must receive the most careful attention and patient interpretation. Not even here, however, can the social investigator stop.
He knows that every group has its upper class ; it may be numerically small and socially of little weight, and yet its
study is necessary to the comprehension of the whole it forms the realized ideal of the group, and as it is true that a nation must to some extent be measured by its slums, it is also true that it can only be understood and finally judged by its upper class. The best class of Philadelphia Negroes, though some
times forgotten or ignored in discussing the Negro prob lems, is nevertheless known to many Philadelphians. Scattered throughout the better parts of the Seventh
Ward, and on Twelfth, lower Seventeenth and Nineteenth
streets, and here and there in the residence wards of the
northern, southern, and western sections of the city is a class of caterers, clerks, teachers, professional men, small mer
chants, etc., who constitute the aristocracy of the Negroes. Many are well-to-do, some are wealthy, all are fairly edu cated, and some liberally trained. Here too are social
problems differing from those of the other classes, and
differing too from those of the whites of a corresponding
8 The Problem. [Chap. II.
grade, because of the peculiar social environment in which the whole race finds itself, which the whole race feels, but which touches this highest class at most points and tells
upon them most decisively. Many are the misapprehensions and misstatements as to
the social environment of Negroes in a great Northern city. Sometimes it is said, here they are free ; they have the same chance as the Irishman, the Italian, or the Swede ; at other times it is said, the environment is such that it is
really more oppressive than the situation in Southern cities. The student must ignore both of these extreme statements and seek to extract from a complicated mass of facts the
tangible evidence of a social atmosphere surrounding Negroes, which differs from that surrounding most whites ; of a different mental attitude, moral standard, and economic
judgment shown toward Negroes than toward most other folk. That such a difference exists and can now and then plainly be seen, few deny ; but just how far it goes and how large a factor it is in the Negro problems, nothing but careful study and measurement can reveal. Such then are the phenomena of social condition and
environment which this study proposes to describe, analyze, and, so far as possible, interpret.
5. Plan of Presentment. The study as taken up here divides itself roughly into four parts : the history of the
Negro people in the city, their present condition considered as individuals, their condition as an organized social group, and their physical and social environment. To the history of the Negro but two chapters are devoted a brief sketch
although the subject is worthy of more extended study than the character of this essay permitted.
Six chapters consider the general condition of the
Negroes; their number, age and sex, conjugal condition, and birthplace; what degree of education they have obtained, and how they earn a living. All these subjects are treated usually for the Seventh Ward somewhat
Sect. 5.] Plan of Presentment. 9
minutely, then more generally for the city, and finally such historical material is adduced as is available for com parison.
Three chapters are devoted to the group life of the Negro ; this includes a study of the family, of property, and of organizations of all sorts. It also takes up such phe nomena of social maladjustment and individual depravity as crime, pauperism and alcoholism. One chapter is devoted to the difficult question of en
vironment, both physical and social, one to certain results of the contact of the white and black races, one to Negro suffrage, and a word of general advice in the line of social reform is added.
CHAPTER III. THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1638-1820.
6. General Survey. Few States present better oppor tunities for the continuous study of a group of Negroes than Pennsylvania. The Negroes were brought here early, were held as slaves along with many white serfs. They became the subjects of a protracted abolition controversy, and were finally emancipated by gradual process. Although > for the most part, in a low and degraded condition, and thrown upon their own resources in competition with white labor, they were nevertheless so inspired by their new free dom and so guided by able leaders that for something like forty years they made commendable progress. Meantime, however, the immigration of foreign laborers began, the new economic era of manufacturing was manifest in the land, and a national movement for the abolition of slavery had its inception. The lack of skilled Negro laborers for the factories, the continual stream of Southern fugitives and rural freedmen into the city, the intense race antipathy of the Irish and others, together with intensified prejudice of whites who did not approve of agitation against slavery
all this served to check the development of the Negro, to increase crime and pauperism, and at one period resulted in riot, violence, and bloodshed, which drove many Negroes from the city. Economic adjustment and the enforcement of law finally
allayed this excitement, and another period of material
prosperity and advance among the Negroes followed. Then came the inpouring of the ne^ ""y emancipated blacks from the South and the economic struggle of the artisans to main tain wages, which brought on a crisis in the city, manifested
again by idleness, crime and pauperism. (10)
Sect. 7.] Transplanting ofthe Negro, 1638-1760. n Thus we see that twice the Philadelphia Negro has, with
a fair measure of success, begun an interesting social devel opment, and twice through the migration of barbarians a dark age has settled on his age of revival. These same
phenomena would have marked the advance of many other elements of our population if they had been as definitely isolated into one indivisible group. No differences of social condition allowed any Negro to escape from the group, although such escape was continually the rule among Irish, Germans, and other whites.
7. The Transplanting of the Negro, 1638-1760. The Dutch, and possibly the Swedes, had already planted slavery on the Delaware when Penn and the Quakers arrived in i682.1 One of Penn's first acts was tacitly to recognize the serfdom of Negroes by a provision of the Free Society of Traders that they should serve fourteen
years and then become serfs a provision which he himself and all the others soon violated. 2
Certain German settlers who came soon after Penn, and who may or may not have been active members of the Society of Friends, protested sturdily against slavery in
1688, but the Quakers found the matter too " weighty."
3
Five years later the radical seceders under Kieth made the existence of slavery a part of their attack on the society. Nevertheless the institution of slavery in the colony con
tinued to grow, and the number of blacks in Philadelphia so increased that as early as 1693 we find an order of the
1 Cf. Scharf-Wcstcott's " History of Philadelphia," I, 65, 76. DuBois' " Slave Trade/' p. 24.
2 Hazard's "Annals," 553. Thomas' "Attitude of Friends Toward
Slavery," 266. 3 There is some controversy as to whether these Germans were actually
Friends or not; the weight of testimony seems to be that they were.
See, however, Thomas as above, p. 267, and Appendix. " Pennsylvania
Magazine," IV, 28-31 r The Critic, August 27, 1897. DuBois' "Slave Trade," p. 20, 203. For copy of protest, see published fac-simile and
Appendix of Thomas. For further proceedings of Quakers, see Thomas and DuBois, passim.
12 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
Council against the "tumultuous gatherings of the negroes of the towne of Philadelphia, on the first dayes of the
weeke." 4
In 1696 the Friends began a cautious dealing with the
subject, which in the course of a century led to the abolition
of slavery. This growth of moral sentiment was slow but
unwaveringly progressive, and far in advance of contem
porary thought in civilized lands. At first the Friends
sought merely to regulate slavery in a general way and
prevent its undue growth. They therefore suggested in
the Yearly Meeting of 1696, and for some time thereafter, that since traders
" have flocked in amongst us and . . .
increased and multiplied negroes amongst us," members
ought not to encourage the further importation of slaves,
as there were enough for all purposes. In 1711 a more
active discouragement of the slave trade was suggested, and in 1716 the Yearly Meeting intimated that even the
buying of imported slaves might not be the best policy,
although the Meeting hastened to call this u caution, not
censure."
By 1719 the Meeting was certain that their members
ought not to engage in the slave trade, and in 1730 they declared the buying of slaves imported by others to be " disagreeable.'' At this milestone they lingered thirty
years for breath and courage, for the Meeting had evidently distanced many of its more conservative members. In
1743 the question of importing slaves, or buying imported
slaves, was made a disciplinary query, and in 1754,
spurred by the crusade of Say, Woolman and Benezet, offending members were disciplined. In the important
gathering of 1758 the same golden rule was laid down as that with which the Germans, seventy years previous, had
taunted them, and the institution of slavery was categor
ically condemned/ Here they rested until 1775, when,
* " Colonial Records," I, $80-81. 5 Thomas, 276; Whittier Intro, to Woolman, 16.
Sect 7.] Transplanting ofthe Negro, 1638-1760. 13
after a struggle of eighty-seven years, they decreed the exclusion of slaveholders from fellowship in the Society. While in the councils of the State Church the freedom
of Negroes was thus evolving, the legal status of Negroes of Pennsylvania was being laid. Four bills were intro duced in 1700: one regulating slave marriages was lost; the other three were passed, but the Act for the Trial of
Negroes a harsh measure providing death, castration and
whipping for punishments, and forbidding the meeting together of more than four Negroes was afterward disal lowed by the Queen in Council. The remaining acts became laws, and provided for a small duty on imported slaves and the regulation of trade with slaves and ser vants.
6
In 1706 another act for the trial of Negroes was passed and allowed. It differed but slightly from the Act of 1700 ; it provided that Negroes should be tried for crimes by two
justices of the peace and a jury of six freeholders ; rob
bery and rape were punished by branding and exportation^ homicide by death, and stealing by whipping ;
7 the meeting of Negroes without permission was prohibited. Between this time and 1760 statutes were passed regulating the sale of liquor to slaves and the use of firearms by them ; and also the general regulative Act of 1726,
u for the Better
Regulation of Negroes in this Province." This act was
especially for the punishment of crime, the suppression of
pauperism, the prevention of intermarriage, and the like that is, for regulating the social and economic status of
Negroes, free and enslaved. 8
Meantime the number of Negroes in the colony con tinued to increase; by 1720 there were between 2500 and
5000 Negroes in Pennsylvania ; they rapidly increased until there were a large number by 1750 some say 11,000
*See Appendix B. 7 ' '
Statutes-at-Large, ' ' Ch. 143, 8Si . See Appendix B.
8 " Statutes-at-Large,
M III, pp. 250, 254; IV, 59 ff. See Appendix B.
14 Negro in Philadelphia, j6jS-/S2O. [Chap. III.
or more when they decreased by war and sale, so that the census of 1790 found 10,274 in the State.
9
The slave duties form a pretty good indication of the increase of Negro population.
10 The duty in 1700 was from 6^. to zos. This was increased, and in 1712, owing to the large importations and the turbulent actions of
Negroes in neighboring States, a prohibitive duty of ^20 was laid. 11 England, however, who was on the eve of signing the Assiento with Spain, soon disallowed this act and the duty was reduced to ^5. The influx of Negroes after the English had signed the huge slave contract with Spain was so large that the Act of 1726 laid a restrict ive duty of ;io. For reasons not apparent, but possibly connected with fluctuations in the value of the currency, this duty was reduced to 2 in 1729, and seems to have remained at that figure until 1761. The ^10 duty was restored in 1761, and probably helped
much to prevent importation, especially when we remem ber the work of the Quakers at this period. In 1773 a
prohibitive duty of ^20 was laid, and the Act of 1780 finally prohibited importation. After 1760 it is probable that the efforts of the Quakers to get rid of their slaves made the export slave trade much larger than the importation.
Very early in the history of the colony the presence of unpaid slaves for life greatly disturbed the economic con dition of free laborers. While most of the white laborers were indentured servants the competition was not so much felt
; when they became free laborers, however, and were
joined by other laborers, the cry against slave competition was soon raised. The particular grievance was the hiring out of slave mechanics by masters ; in 1708 the free white mechanics protested to the Legislature against this
'DuBois* " Slave Trade/' p. 23, note, XJ. S. Census. 10 See Appendix B. Cf. DuBois'
<* Slave Trade," passim. 11 PuBois* " Slave Trade," p. 206.
Sect. 8.] Emancipation, 1760-1780.
custom, 12 and this was one of the causes of the Act of
in all probability. When by 1722 the number of slaves had further increased, the whites again protested against the " employment of blacks," apparently including both free
and slave. The Legislature endorsed this protest and declared that the custom of employing black laborers and mechanics was " dangerous and injurious to the repub lic."
13 Consequently the Act of 1726 declared the hiring
of their time by Negro slaves to be illegal, and sought to restrict emancipation on the ground that
" free negroes
are an idle and slothful people," and easily become public burdens. 14
As to the condition of the Negroes themselves we catch only glimpses here and there. Considering the times, the system of slavery was not harsh and the slaves received fair attention. There appears, however, to have been much trouble with them on account of stealing, some drunkenness and general disorder. The preamble of the Act of 1726 declares that "it too often happens that Negroes commit felonies and other heinous crimes," and that much pauperism arises from emancipation. This act facilitated punishment of such crimes by providing indem nification for a master if his slave suffered capital punish ment. They were declared to be often " tumultuous " in 1693, to be found "cursing, gaming, swearing, and com mitting many other disorders " in 1732 ; in 1738 and 1741 they were also called "disorderly
n in city ordinances. 15
In general, we see among the slaves at this time the low condition of morals which we should expect in a barbar ous people forced to labor in a strange land.
8. Emancipation, 1760-1780. The years 1750-1760 mark the culmination of the slave system in Pennsylvania
I'Scharf-Westcott's " History of Philadelphia," I, 200. *s Watson's ''Annals," (Ed. 1850) I, 98. u See Appendix B. *Cf, Chapter XIII.
1 6 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
and the beginning of its decline. By that time most
shrewd observers saw that the institution was an economic
failure, and were consequently more disposed than formerly to listen to the earnest representations of the great anti-
slavery agitators of that period. There were, to be sure,
strong vested interests still to be fought. When the /io
duty act of 1761 was pending, the slave merchants of the
city, including many respectable names, vigorously pro tested
;
" ever desirous to extend the Trade of this Prov
ince," they declared that they had " seen for some time
past the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffered
for want of Labourers and Artificers," and had conse
quently u for some time encouraged the importation of
Negroes." They prayed at the very least for delay in
passing this restrictive measure. After debate and alterca
tion with the governor the measure finally passed, indi
cating renewed strength and determination on the part of
the abolition party. 16
Meantime voluntary emancipation increased. Sandiford
emancipated his slaves in 1733, and there were by 1790 in
Philadelphia about one thousand black freedmen. A school
for these and others was started in 1770 at the instance of
Benezet, and had at first twenty-two children in attend
ance. 17 The war brought a broader and kindlier feeling toward the Negroes ; before its end the Quakers had
ordered manumission, 18 and several attempts were made to
prohibit slavery by statute. Finally, in 1780, the Act for
the Gradual Abolition of Slavery was passed. 19 This act>
beginning with a strong condemnation of slavery, pro vided that no child thereafter born in Pennsylvania should
be a slave. The children of slaves born after 1780 were to be bond-servants until twenty-eight years of age that is.
""Colonial Records," VIII, 576; DuBois' ''Slave Trade/' p. 23. "Cf. Pamphlet: "Sketch of the Schools for Blacks/' also Chapter VIII. I8 Cf, Thomas' "Attitude of Friends," etc., p. 272. i* Dallas' "Laws," I, 838, Ch, 881; DuBois'
" Slave Trade," p, 225.
Sect. 9.] The Rise ofthe Freedman, 1780-1820. 17
"beginning with the year 1808 there was to be a series of
emancipations. Side by side with this growth of emanci
pation sentiment went an increase in the custom of hiring out Negro slaves and servants, which increased the old
competition with the whites. The slaves were owned in small lots, especially in Philadelphia, one or two to a
family, and were used either as house servants or artisans. As a result they were encouraged to learn trades and seem to have had the larger share of the ordinary trades of the
city in their hands. Many of the slaves in the better families became well-known characters as Alice, who for forty years took the tolls at Dunk's Ferry ; Virgil Warder, who once belonged to Thomas Penn, and Robert Venable, a man of some intelligence.
20
9. The Rise of the Freedman, 1780-1820. A careful study of the process and effect of emancipation in the different States of the Union would throw much light on our national experiment and its ensuing problems. Espe cially is this true of the experiment in Pennsylvania ; to
be sure, emancipation here was gradual and the number
emancipated small in comparison with the population, and
yet the main facts are similar: the freeing of ignorant slaves and giving them a chance, almost unaided from
without, to make a way in the world. The first result was widespread poverty and idleness. This was followed, as
the number of freedmen increased, by a rush to the city. Between 1790 and 1800 the Negro population of Philadel
phia County increased from 2489 to 6880, or 176 per cent,
against an increase of 43 per cent among the whites. The first result of this contact with city life was to stimulate
the talented and aspiring freedmen; and this was the easier because the freedman had in Philadelphia at that time a secure economic foothold ; he performed all kinds
of domestic service, all common labor and much of the skilled labor. The group being thus secure in its daily
*> Cf. Watson's "Annals" (Ed. 1850), I, 557, 101-103, 601, 602, 515.
1 8 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
bread needed only leadership to make some advance in
general culture and social effectiveness. Some sporadic cases of talent occur, as Derham, the Negro physician, whom Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1788, found "very learned"
21
Especially, however, to be noted are Richard Allen, 22 a
former slave of the Chew family, and Absalom Jones, 23 a
Delaware Negro. These two were real leaders and actually succeeded to a remarkable degree in organizing the freed-
men for group action. Both had bought their own freedom and that of their families by hiring their time Allen
being a blacksmith by trade, and Jones also having a trade.
When, in 1792, the terrible epidemic drove Philadelphians away so quickly that many did not remain to bury the
dead, Jones and Allen quietly took the work in hand,
spending some of their own funds and doing so well that
they were publicly commended by Mayor Clarkson in
I794- 24
The great work of these men, however, lay among their own race and arose from religious difficulties. As in other
colonies, the process by which the Negro slaves learned the
English tongue and were converted to Christianity is not
clear. The subject of the moral instruction of slaves had
early troubled Penn and he had urged Friends to provide meetings for them.
25 The newly organized Methodists soon attracted a number of the more intelligent, though the
81 The American Museum, 1789, pp, 61-62. 22 For life of Allen, see his
" Autobiography," and Payne's
" History
of the A. M. E. Church." 28 For life of Jones, see Douglass' "Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.'* 24 The testimonial was dated January 23, 1794, and was as follows:
" Having, during the prevalence of the late malignant disorder, had
almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to bury the dead, I, with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation of their pro ceedings as far as the same came under my notice. Their diligence, attention and decency of deportment, afforded me at the time much satisfaction. WIWMAM CLARKSON, Mayor." From Douglass' "St. Thomas' Church.
"
35 See Thomas, p. 266.
Sect 9.] The Rise ofthe Freedmany 17801820* 19
masses seem at the end of the last century not to have been
church-goers or Christians to any considerable extent. The small number that went to church were wont to worship at St. George's, Fourth and Vine ; for years both free Negroes and slaves worshiped here and were made welcome. Soon, however, the church began to be alarmed at the increase in its black communicants which the immigration from the country was bringing, and attempted to force them into the gallery. The crisis came one Sunday morning during prayer when Jones and Allen, with a crowd of followers, refused to worship except in their accustomed places, and finally left the church in a body.
26
This band immediately met together and on April 12, 1787, formed a curious sort of ethical and beneficial brother hood called the Free African Society. How great a step this was, we of to-day scarcely realize ; we must remind ourselves that it was the first wavering step of a people toward organized social life. This society was more than a mere club : Jones and Allen were its leaders and recog nized chief officers
; a certain parental discipline was
exercised over its members and mutual financial aid given. The preamble of the articles of association says :
" Where
as, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the African Race, who for their religious life and conversation, have obtained a good report among men, these persons from a love to the people of their own complexion whom they beheld with sorrow, because of their irreligious and
uncivilized state, often communed together upon this pain ful and important subject in order to form some kind of
religious body ; but there being too few to be found under the like concern, and those who were, differed in their
religious sentiments ; with these circumstances they labored
for some time, till it was proposed after a serious commu nication of sentiments that a society should be formed
without regard to religious tenets, provided the persons
Allen's "Autobiography," and Douglass* "St. Thomas!"
20 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one
another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows
and fatherless children.'' 27
The society met first at private houses, then at the
Friends' Negro school house. For a time they leaned
toward Quakerism; each month three monitors were
appointed to have oversight over the members
; loose
marriage customs were attacked by condemning cohabita
tion, expelling offenders and providing a simple Quaker-
like marriage ceremony. A fifteen-minute pause for silent prayer opened the meetings. As the representative body of the free Negroes of the city, this society opened com
munication with free Negroes in Boston, Newport and
other places. The Negro Union of Newport, R. L, pro
posed in 1788 a general exodus to Africa, but the Free
African Society soberly replied: " With regard to the
emigration to Africa you mention we have at present but
little to communicate on that head, apprehending every
pious man is a good citizen of the whole world." The
society co-operated with the Abolition Society in studying
the condition of the free blacks in 1790. At all times they seem to have taken good care of their sick and dead and
helped the widows and orphans to some extent Their
methods of relief were simple: they agreed "for the
benefit of each other to advance one-shilling in silver
Pennsylvania currency a month ; and after one year's sub
scription, from the dole hereof then to hand forth to the
needy of the Society if any should require, the sum of three shillings and nine pence per week of the said money ;
provided the necessity is not brought on them by their
own imprudence. 1 ' In 1790 the society had ^42 9^. id.
on deposit in the Bank of North America, and had applied for a grant of the Potter's Field to be set aside as a burial
ground for them, in a petition signed by Dr. Rush, Tench
Coxe and others.
"Douglass' "St. Thomas'"
Sect. 9.] The Rise ofthe Freedman, i?8o~i82o. 21
It was, however, becoming clearer and clearer to the leaders that only a strong religious bond could keep this untrained group together. They would probably have become a sort of institutional church at first if the question of religious denomination had been settled among them ; but it had not been, and for about six years the question was still pending. The tentative experiment in Quakerism had failed, being ill suited to the low condition of the rank and file of the society. Both Jones and Allen believed that
Methodism was best suited to the needs of the Negro, but the majority of the society, still nursing the memory of St.
George's, inclined toward the Episcopal church. Here came the parting of the ways : Jones was a slow introspective
man, with a thirst for knowledge, with high aspirations for
his people; Allen was a shrewd, quick, popular leader,
positive and dogged and yet far-seeing in his knowledge of
Negro character. Jones therefore acquiesced in the judg ment of the majority, served and led them conscientiously and worthily, and eventually became the first Negro rector
in the Episcopal church of America. About 1790 Allen and a few followers withdrew from the Free African
Society, formed an independent Methodist church which
first worshiped in his blacksmith's shop on Sixth near
Lombard. Eventually this leader became the founder and
first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of
America an organization which now has 500,000 mem bers, and is by long odds the vastest and most remarkable
product of American Negro civilization. 28
Jones and the Free African Society took immediate steps to secure a church ; a lot was bought at the corner of Fifth
and Adelphi streets in February, 1792, and by strenuous
effort a church was erected and dedicated on the seventeenth
28 There is on the part of the A. M. B. Church a disposition to ignore Allen's withdrawal from the Free African Society, and to date the A. M.
B. Church from the founding of that society, making it older than St.
Thomas. This, however, is contrary to Allen's own statement in his " Autobiography.
" The point, however, is of little real consequence.
22 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
of July, 1794. This was the first Negro church in America, and known as the First African Church of St. Thomas ; in
the vestibule of the church was written : "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light" Bethel
Church was erected by Allen and his followers in 1796, the
same year that a similar movement in New York estab lished the Zion Methodist Church. In 1794, too, the
Methodists of St. George's, viewing with some chagrin the
widespread withdrawal of Negroes from their body, estab
lished a mission at Camperdown, in the northeastern part of the city, which eventually became the present Zoar
Church. The general outlook for the Negroes at this period was
encouraging, notwithstanding the low condition of the
masses of the race. In 1788 Pennsylvania amended the
Act of 1780, so as to prevent the internal and foreign slave
trade, and correct kidnapping and other abuses that had
arisen. * The convention which adopted the Constitution of
1790 had, in spite of opposition in the convention, refused
to insert the word " white " in the qualifications for voters, and thus gave the right of suffrage to free Negro property holders
; a right which they held, and, in most counties of
the State, exercised until 1837. 3<) The general conference
of Abolition Societies, held in Philadelphia in 1794, started
an agitation which, when reinforced by the news of the
Haytian revolt, resulted in the national statute of 1794, for
bidding the export slave trade. 8l In 1799 and 1800 Absalom
Jones led the Negroes to address a petition to the Legisla
ture, praying for immediate abolition of slavery, and to
Congress against the fugitive slave law, and asking pros
pective emancipation for all Negroes. This latter petition was presented by Congressman Wain, and created an uproar
Carey & Bioren, Ch. 394. DuBois* '* Slave Trade," p. 231. 30 The constitution, as reported, had the word "white,** but this was
struck out at the instance of Gallatin. Cf. Ch. XVII.
Cf. DuBois' "Slave Trade, " Chapter VII.
Sect. 9.] The Rise ofthe Freedman, 1780-1820. 23
in the House of Representatives ; it was charged that the petition was instigated by the Haytian revolutionists and finally the Negroes were censured for certain parts of the petition.
sa
The condition of the Negroes of the city in the last decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades of the nineteenth century, although without doubt bad, slowly
improved ; an insurance society, in 1796, took the benefi cial features of the old Free African Society. Some small essays were made in business, mostly in small street stands, near the wharves
; and many were in the trades of all kinds.
Between 1800 and 1810 the city Negro population con tinued to increase, so that at the latter date there were
100,688 whites and 10,522 blacks in the city, the Negroes thus forming the largest per cent of the population of the
city that they have ever attained. The free Negroes also
began to increase from the effect of the abolition law. The school established in 1770 continued, and was endowed by bequests from whites and Negroes. It had 414 pupils by 1813. In this same year there were six Negro churches and eleven benevolent societies. When the war broke out many Philadelphia Negroes were engaged on land and sea.
Among these was James Forten a fine character, expres sive of the best Negro development of the time. Born in
1766, and educated by Benezet, he " was a gentleman by
nature, easy in manner and able in intercourse ; popular as a man of trade or gentleman of the pave, and well received by the gentry of lighter shade."
M For years he conducted a sail-making trade, employing both whites and Negroes. In 1814 he, Jones, Allen and others were asked, in the
midst of the alarm felt at the approach of the British, to
raise colored troops. A meeting was called and 2500 volunteers secured, or three-fourths of the adult male
** "Annals of Congress," 6 Cong., ISess., pp. 229-45. DuBois' "Slave
Trade, " pp. 81-83.
88 Quoted by W. C. Bolivar in Philadelphia Tribune.
24 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820* [Chap. III.
population ; they marched to Gray's Ferry and threw up fortifications. A battalion for service in the field was formed, but the war closed before they reached the front.
3*
The Negroes at this time held about $250,000 of city property, and on the whole showed great progress since
1780. At the same time there were many evidences of the effects of slavery. The first set of men emancipated by law were freed in 1808, and probably many entitled to free dom were held longer than the law allowed or sold out of the State. As late as 1794 some Quakers still held slaves, and the papers of the day commonly contain such adver
tisements, as : " To be Sold for want of Employ, For a term of years, a
smart active Negro boy, fifteen years of age. Enquire at Robert McGee's board yard, Vine street wharf."
35
^Delany's "Colored People/' p. 74. 35 Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1791. William White
had a large commission-house on the wharves about this time. Con siderable praise is given the Insurance Society of 1796 for its good man agement. Cf. "History ofthe Insurance Companies of North America.
' ' In
1817 the first convention of Free Negroes was held here, through the efforts of Jones and Forten.
CHAPTER IV.
THE NKG-RO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1830-1896.
10. Fugitives and Foreigners, 1820-1840. Five social
developments made the decades from 1820 to 1840 critical for the nation and for the Philadelphia Negroes ; first, the
impulse of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth cen
tury ; second, the reaction and recovery succeeding the War of 1812
; third, the rapid increase of foreign immigration ; fourth, the increase of free Negroes and fugitive slaves, especially in Philadelphia ; fifth, the rise of the Abolitionists
and the slavery controversy. Philadelphia was the natural gateway between the North
and the South, and for a long time there passed through it a stream of free Negroes and fugitive slaves toward the
North, and of recaptured Negroes and kidnapped colored
persons toward the South. By 1820 the northward stream increased, occasioning bitterness on the part of the South, and leading to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1820, and the counter acts of Pennsylvania in 1826 and 1827.* During this time new installments of Pennsylvania freedmen, and especially their children, began to flock to Philadelphia. At the same time the stream of foreign immigration to this
country began to swell, and by 1830 aggregated half a million souls annually. The result of these movements
proved disastrous to the Philadelphia Negro ; the better classes of them theJoneses, Aliens and Fortens could not
escape into the mass of white population and leave the new
1 These laws were especially directed against kidnapping, and were
designed to protect free Negroes. See Appendix B. The law of 1826 was declared unconstitutional in 1842 by the U. S. Supreme Court. See 16 Peters, 500 ff.
(25)
26 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
Negroes to fight out their battles with the foreigners. No distinction was drawn between Negroes, least of all by the new Southern families who now made Philadelphia their home and were not unnaturally stirred to unreasoning prejudice by the slavery agitation. To this was added a fierce economic struggle, a renewal
of the fight of the eighteenth century against Negro work men. The new industries attracted the Irish, Germans and other immigrants ; Americans, too, were flocking to the city, and soon to natural race antipathies was added a determined effort to displace Negro labor an effort which had the aroused prejudice of many of the better classes, and the poor quality of the new black immigrants to give it aid and comfort. To all this was soon added a problem of crime and poverty. Numerous complaints of petty thefts, house-breaking, and assaults on peaceable citizens were traced to certain classes of Negroes. In vain did the better class, led by men like Forten, protest by public meetings their condemnation of such crime
2 ;the tide had
set against the Negro strongly, and the whole period from 1820 to 1840 became a time of retrogression for the mass of the race, and of discountenance and repression from the whites.
By 1830 the black population of the city and districts had increased to 15,654, an increase of 27 per cent for the decade 1820 to 1830, and of 48 per cent since 1810. Never theless, the growth of the city had far outstripped this ; by 1830 the county had nearly 175,000 whites, among whom was a rapidly increasing contingent of 5000 foreigners. So intense was the race antipathy among the lower classes, anJ so much countenance did it receive from the middle and upper class, that there began, in 1829, a series of riots directed chiefly against Negroes, which recurred fre quently until about 1840, and did not wholly cease until
2 A meeting of Negroes held in 1822, at the A. M, . Church, denounced crime and Negro criminals.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners, 18201840. 27
after the war. These riots were occasioned by various incidents, but the underlying cause was the same : the simul taneous influx of freedmen, fugitives and foreigners into a large city, and the resulting prejudice, lawlessness, crime and poverty. The agitation of the Abolitionists was the match that lighted this fuel. In June and July, 1829, Mrs. Fanny Wright Darusmont, a Scotch woman, gave a num ber of addresses in Philadelphia, in which she boldly advocated the emancipation of the Negroes and something very like social equality of the races. This created great excitement throughout the city, and late in the fall the first riot against the Negroes broke out, occasioned by some
personal quarrel. 3
The legislature had proposed to stop the further influx of Southern Negroes by making free Negroes carry passes and excluding all others ; the arrival of fugitives from the
Southampton massacre was the occasion of this attempt, and it was with difficulty that the friends of the Negro pre vented its passage.
4 Quakers hastened to advise against
the sending of fugitives to the State, " as the effects of such
a measure would probably be disastrous to the peace and comfort of the whole colored population of Pennsylvania.
"
Edward Settle declared in 1832 : "The public mind here is more aroused even among respectable persons than it has been for several years," and he feared that the laws of 1826 and 1827 would be repealed, "thus leaving kidnap pers free scope for their nefarious labors."
5
In 1833 a demonstration took place against the Aboli
tionists, and in 1834 serious riots occurred. One night in
August a crowd of several hundred boys and men, armed
8 Scharf-Westcott's "History of Philadelphia," I, 824. There was at this time much lawlessness in the city which had no connection with the presence of Negroes, and which led to rioting and disorder in general. Cf. Price's " History of Consolidation."
* Southampton was the scene of the celebrated Nat Turner insurrection of Negroes.
6 Letter to Nathan Mendelhall, of North Carolina.
28 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
with clubs, inarched down Seventh street to the Pennsyl vania Hospital. They were joined by others, and all pro ceeded to some places of amusement where many Negroes were congregated, on South street, near Eighth. Here the
rioting began, and four or five hundred people engaged in a
free street fight. Buildings were torn down and inmates assaulted on Bedford and St. Mary streets and neighbor
ing alleys, until at last the policemen and constables suc
ceeded in quieting the tumult. The respite, however, was but temporary. The very next night the mob assembled
again at Seventh and Bainbridge ; they first wrecked a
Negro church and a neighboring house, then attacked
some twenty Negro dwellings ; " great excesses are repre
sented as having been committed by the mob, and one or
two scenes of a most revolting character are said to have
taken place." That the riots occurred by prearranged
plan was shown by the signals lights in windows by which the houses of the whites were distinguished and
those of the Negroes attacked and their inmates assaulted
and beaten. Several persons were severely injured in this
night's work and one Negro killed, before the mayor and
authorities dispersed the rioters.
The next night the mob again assembled in another
part of the city and tore down another Negro church. By this time the Negroes began to gather for self-defence, and
abottt one hundred of them barricaded themselves in a
building on Seventh street, below Lombard, where a howl
ing mob of whites soon collected. The mayor induced the Negroes to withdraw, and the riot ended. In this three
days' uprising thirty-one houses and two churches were
destroyed and Stephen James " an honest, industrious
colored man " killed. 6
The town meeting of September 15 condemned the riots and voted to reimburse the sufferers, but also took occasion
to condemn the impeding of justice by Negroes when any e Hazard's "Register," XIV, 126-28, 20x3-203.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners, 18201840, 29
of their number was arrested, and also the noise made in Negro churches. The fires smouldered for about a year, but burst forth again on the occasion of the murder of his master by a Cuban slave, Juan. The lower classes were aroused and a mob quickly assembled at the corners of Sixth and Seventh and Lombard streets, and began the work of destruction and assault, until finally it ended by setting fire to a row of houses on Eighth street, and fight ing off the firemen. The following night the mob met again and attacked a house on St. Mary street, where an armed
body of Negroes had barricaded themselves. The mayor and recorder finally arrived here and after severely lectur
ing the Negroes (!) induced them to depart. The whole of the afternoon of that day black women and children fled from the city.
7
Three years now passed without serious disturbance, although the lawless elements which had gained such a foothold were still troublesome. In 1838 two murders were committed by Negroes one of whom was acknowl edged to be a lunatic. At the burial of this one's victim, rioting again began, the mob assembling on Passyunk avenue and Fifth street and marching up Fifth. The same scenes were re-enacted but finally the mob was broken up.
8 Later the same year, on the dedication of
Pennsylvania Hall, which was designed to be a centre of
anti-slavery agitation, the mob, encouraged by the refusal of the mayor to furnish adequate police protection, burned the hall to the ground and the next night burned the
Shelter for Colored Orphans at Thirteenth and Callowhill
streets, and damaged Bethel Church, on Sixth street. 9
The last riot of this series took place in 1842 when a mob devastated the district between Fifth and Eighth
''Ibid., XVI, 35-38. 8 Scharf-Westcott's
" Philadelphia,*' I, 654-55.
9 Price, "History of Consolidation," etc., Ch. VII. The county
eventually paid $22,658.27, with interest and costs, for the destruction of
the hall.
30 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
streets, near Lombard street, assaulted and beat Negroes and looted their homes, burned down a Negro hall and a church
; the following day the rioting extended to the sec
tion between South and Fitzwater streets and was finally quelled by calling out the militia with artillery.
10
While these riots were taking place a successful effort was made to deprive free Negroes of the right of suffrage which they had enjoyed nearly fifty years. In 1836 a case came before the court of a Negro who had been denied the right of voting. The court decided in a peculiar de cision that free Negroes were not
u freemen " in the lan
guage of the constitution and, therefore that Negroes could not vote.11 The reform convention settled the matter by inserting the word "white" in the qualifications for election in the Constitution of 1837.
l2 The Negroes pro tested earnestly by meetings and appeals.
" We appeal to you
n said they, " from the decision of the ( Reform Con
vention,' which has stripped us of a right peaceably enjoyed during forty-seven years under the constitution of this commonwealth. We honor Pennsylvania and her noble institutions too much to part with our birthright, as her free citizens, without a struggle. To all her citizens the right of suffrage is valuable in proportion as she is free; but surely there are none who can so ill afford to spare it as ourselves. " Nevertheless the right was lost, for the
appeal fell on deaf ears. 13
A curious comment on human nature is this change of public opinion in Philadelphia between 1790 and 1837. No one thing explains it it arose from a combination of circumstances. If, as in 1790, the new freedmen had been given peace and quiet and abundant work to develop sensible and aspiring leaders, the end would have been
10 Scharf-Westcott, I, 660-61.
" Case of Fogg vs. Hobbs, 6 Watts, 553~56o. See Chapter XII. 12 See Chapter XII and Appendix B. 13 Appeal of 40,000 citizens, etc., Philadelphia, 1838. Written chiefly
by the late Robert Purvis, son-in-law of James Forten.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners 18201840. 31
different; but a mass of poverty-stricken, ignorant fugitives and ill-trained freedmen had rushed to the city, swarmed in the vile slums which the rapidly growing city furnished, and met in social and economic competition equally ignor ant but more vigorous foreigners. These foreigners outbid them at work, beat them on the streets, and were enabled to do this by the prejudice which Negro crime and the
anti-slavery sentiment had aroused in the city. Notwithstanding this the better class of Negroes never
gave up. Their school increased in attendance; their churches and benevolent societies increased
; they held
public meetings of protest and sympathy. And twice, in 1831 and 1833, there assembled in the city a general con vention of the free Negroes of the country, representing five to eight States, which, among other things, sought to interest philanthropists of the city in the establishment of
a Negro industrial school. 14 When the Legislatureshowed
a disposition in 1832 to curtail the liberties of Negroes, the Negroes held a mass meeting and memorialized the
lawmaking body and endeavored to show that all Negroes were not criminals and paupers ; they declared that while the Negroes formed eight per cent of the population they furnished but four per cent of the paupers ; that by actually produced tax receipts they could show that Negroes held at least $350,000 of taxable property in the city. More
over, they said," Notwithstanding the difficulty of getting places for our sons to learn mechanical trades, owing to the
prejudices with which we have to contend, there are between four and five hundred people of color who follow mechanical employments."
15 In 1837 the census of the Abolition Society claimed for the Negroes 1724 children in
school, $309,626 of unencumbered property, 16 churches and 100 benevolent societies.
14 See Minutes of Conventions; the school was to be situated in New Haven, but the New Haven authorities, by town meeting, protested so vehemently that the project had to be given up. Cf. also Hazard, V, 143.
15 Hazard's " Register," IX, 361-62.
33 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
ii. The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. The outlook
for the Negro in Philadelphia about 1840 was not encour
aging. The last of the first series of riots took place in
1843, and has been mentioned. The authorities were
wakened to their duty by this last outbreak of barbarism, and for several years the spirit of lawlessness, which now extended far beyond the race question and seriously threat
ened the good name of the city, was kept within control.
However, in 1849, a mob set upon a mulatto who had a
white wife, at the corner of Sixth street and St. Mary's, and there ensued a pitched battle for a night and a day ;
firemen fought with firemen ; the blacks, goaded to desper
ation, fought furiously ; houses were burned and firearms
used, with the result that three white men and one Negro
were killed and twenty-five wounded persons taken to the
hospital. The militia was twice called before the disturb
ance was quelled. These riots and the tide of prejudice and economic proscription drove so many Negroes from
the city that the black population actually showed a
decrease in the decade 1840-50. Worse than this, the good name of the Negroes in the city had been lost through the
increased crime and the undeniably frightful condition
of the Negro slums. The foreign element gained all
the new employments which the growing industries of
the State opened, and competed for the trades and com
mon vocations. The outlook was certainly dark. It was at this time that there arose to prominence and
power as remarkable a trade guild as ever ruled in a medi
aeval city. It took complete leadership of the bewildered
group of Negroes, and led them steadily on to a degree of
affluence, culture and respect such as has probably never
been surpassed in the history of the Negro in America.
This was the guild of the caterers, and its masters include
names which have been household words in the city for fifty
years : Bogle, Augustin, Prosser, Dorsey, Jones and Minton.
To realize just the character of this new economic
Sect, ii.] The Guild ofthe Caterers, 1840-1870. 33
development we must not forget the economic history of the slaves. At first they were wholly house servants or field hands. As city life in the colony became more important, some of the slaves acquired trades, and thus there arose a class of Negro artisans. So long as the
pecuniary interests of a slaveholding class stood back of these artisans the protests of white mechanics had little effect
; indeed it is probable that between 1790 and 1820 a
very large portion, and perhaps most, of the artisans of Phil
adelphia were Negroes. Thereafter, however, the sharp competition of the foreigners and the demand for new sorts of skilled labor of which the Negro was ignorant, and was not allowed to learn, pushed the black artisans more and more to the wall. In 1837 only about 350 men out of a city population of 10,500 Negroes, pursued trades, or about one in every twenty adults. The question, therefore, of obtaining a decent livelihood
was a pressing one for the better class of Negroes. The masses of the race continued to depend upon domestic
service, where they still had a practical monopoly, and
upon common labor, where they had some competition from the Irish. To the more pushing and energetic Negroes only two courses were open : to enter into com mercial life in some small way, or to develop certain lines of home service into a more independent and lucrative employment. In this latter way was the most striking advance made
; the whole catering business, arising from
an evolution shrewdly, persistently and tastefully directed, transformed the Negro cook and waiter into the public caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of underpaid menials to become a set of self-reliant, original business
men, who amassed fortunes for themselves and won general respect for their people. The first prominent Negro caterer was Robert Bogle,
who, early in the century, conducted an establishment on
Eighth street, near Sansoin. In his day he was one of the
34 Negro in Philadelphia, 18201896. [Chap. IV.
best known characters of Philadelphia, and virtually cre ated the business of catering in the city.
16 As the butler or waiter in a private family arranged the meals and attended the family on ordinary occasions, so the public waiter came to serve different families in the same capacity at larger and more elaborate functions; he was the butler of the smart set, and his taste of hand and eye and palate set the fashion of the day. This functionary filled a unique place in a time when social circles were very exclusive, and the millionaire and the French cook had not yet arrived. Bogle's place was eventually taken by Peter
Augustin, a West Indian immigrant, who started a business in 1818 which is still carried on. It was the Augustin establishment that made Philadelphia catering famous all over the country. The best families of the city, and the most distinguished foreign guests, were served by this caterer. Other Negroes soon began to crowd into the field thus opened. The Prossers, father and son, were prominent among these, perfecting restaurant catering and making many famous dishes. Finally came the triumvirate Jones, Dorsey and Minton, who ruled the fashionable world from 1845-1875. Of these Dorsey was the most unique char acter
; with little education but great refinement of man
ner, he became a man of real weight in the community, and associated with many eminent men. " He had the sway of an imperial dictator. When a Democrat asked his menial service he refused, because
( he could not wait on a party of persons who were disloyal to the government, and Lincoln' pointing to the picture in his reception rooms 'was the government.'"
17 Jones was Virginia
I6 Biddle's "Ode to Bogle, "
is a well-known squib; Bogle himself is credited with considerable wit. " You are of the people who walk in darkness," said a prominent clergyman to him once in a dimly lighted hall.
<c But," replied Bogle, bowing to the distinguished gentleman,
" I have seen a great light.
' '
17 See in Philadelphia Times, October 17, 1896, the following notes by ' '
Megargee :' '
Dorsey was one of the triumvirate of colored caterers the
Sect, ii.] The Guild ofthe Caterers, 1840-1870. 35
born, and a man of great care and faithfulness. He catered to families in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.18
Minton, the younger of the three, long had a restaurant at Fourth and Chestnut, and became, as the others did, mod erately wealthy.
19
Such men wielded great personal influence, aided the Abolition cause to no little degree, and made Philadelphia noted for its cultivated and well-to-do Negro citizens. Their conspicuous success opened opportunities for Negroes in other lines. It was at this time that Stephen Smith amassed a very large fortune as a lumber merchant, with which he afterward handsomely endowed a home for aged
other two being Henry Jones and Henry Minton who some years ago might have been said to rule the social world of Philadelphia through its stomach. Time was when lobster salad, chicken croquettes, deviled crabs and terrapin composed the edible display at every big Philadelphia gathering, and none of those dishes were thought to be perfectly pre pared unless they came from the hands of one of the three men named. Without making any invidious comparisons between those who were such masters of the gastronomic art, it can fairly be said that out side of his kitchen, Thomas J. Dorsey outranked the others. Although without schooling, he possessed a naturally refined instinct that led him to surround himself with both men and things of an elevating character. It was his proudest boast that at his table, in his Locust street residence, there had sat Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, John W. Forney, William D. Kelley and Fred Douglass. . . . Yet Thomas Dorsey had been a slave; had been held in bondage by a Maryland planter. Nor did he escape from his fetters until he had reached a man's estate. He fled to this city, but was apprehended and returned to his master. During his brief stay in Philadelphia, however, he made friends, and these raised a fund of sufficient proportion to purchase his freedom. As a caterer he
quickly achieved both fame and fortune. His experience of the horrors of slavery had instilled him with an undying reverence for those cham pions of his down-trodden race, the old-time Abolitionists. He took a prominent part in all efforts to elevate his people, and in that way he came in close contact with Sumner, Garrison, Forney and others.
18 Henry Jones was in the catering business thirty years, and died
September 24, 1875, leaving a considerable estate. 19 Henry Minton came from Nansemond County, Virginia, at the age
of nineteen, arriving in Philadelphia in 1830. He was first apprenticed to a shoemaker, then went into a hotel as waiter. Finally he opened dining rooms at Fourth and Chestnut. He died March 20, 1883.
36 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
and infirm Negroes. Whipper, Vidal and Purnell were
associated with Smith at different times. Still and Bowers were coal merchants and Adger was in the furniture
business. There were also some artists of ability : Bowser, who painted a portrait of Lincoln, and Douglass and Burr ; Johnson, the leader of a famous colored band and a com
poser. 20
During this time of effort, advance and assimilation the
Negro population increased but slowly, for the economic
struggle was too earnest for young and indiscriminate mar
riages, and immigrants had been frightened away by the riots. In 1840 there were 19,833 Negroes in the county, and ten years later, as has been noted, there were only
19,761. For the next decade there was a moderate increase
to 22,185, when the war brought a slight decrease, leaving the Negro population 22,147 in 1870. Meantime the white population had increased by leaps and bounds :
POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, 1840-1870.
In 1810 the Negroes had formed nearly one-tenth of the total population of the city, but in 1870 they formed but little over one thirty-third, the lowest proportion ever
reached in the history of Philadelphia. The general social condition showed some signs of im
provement from 1840 on. In 1847 there were 1940 Negro children in school
; the Negroes held, it was said, about
$400,000 in real estate and had 19 churches and 106 benevolent societies. The mass of the race were still domestic servants about 4000 of the 11,000 in the city
20 This band was in great demand at social functions, and its leader received a trumpet from Queen Victoria.
Sect, ii.] The Guild ofthe Caterers, 1840-1870. 37
proper being thus employed, a figure which probably meant a considerable majority of the adults. The remainder were chiefly employed as laborers, artisans,
coachmen, expressmen and barbers.
The habitat of the Negro population changed somewhat in this period. About 1790 one-fourth of the Negroes lived between Vine and Market and east of Ninth ; one-
half between Market and South, mostly in the alleys bounded by Lombard, Fifth, Eighth and South; one-
eighth lived below South, and one-eighth in the Northern
Liberties. Many of these, of course, lived in white families. In 1837 a quarter of the Negroes were in white
families, a little less than one-half were in the city limits
centring at Sixth and Lombard or thereabouts ; a tenth
lived in Moyamensing, a twentieth in the Northern Lib
erties, and the remaining part in Kensington and
Spring Garden districts. The riots concentrated this
population somewhat, and in 1847, ^ ^e 20,000 Negroes in the county, only 1300 lived north of Vine and east of
Sixth. The rest were in the city proper, in Moyamensing and in Southwark. Moyamensing was the worst slum
district: between South and Fitzwater and Fifth and
Eighth there were crowded 302 families in narrow, filthy
alleys. Here was concentrated the worst sort of depravity,
poverty, crime and disease. The present slums at Seventh and Lombard are bad and dangerous, but they are de
cent compared with those of a half century ago. The
Negroes furnished one-third of all the commitments for
crime in 1837, and one-half in 1847.
Beginning with 1850 the improvement of the Negro was more rapid. The value of real estate held was esti mated to have doubled between 1847 and 1856. The
proportion of men in the trades remained stationary ; there were 3321 children in school. Toward the time of
the outbreak of war the feeling toward the Negro in certain
classes softened somewhat, and his staunch friends were
38 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
enabled to open many benevolent institutions ; in many ways a disposition to help them was manifested : the
newspapers treated them with more respect, and they were not subject so frequently to personal insult on the street.
They were still kept off the street cars in spite of ener getic protest. Indeed, not until 1867 was a law passed prohibiting this discrimination. Judicial decisions upheld the railways for a long time, and newspapers and public opinion supported them. When by Judge Allison's decis ion the attitude of the courts was changed, and damages granted an evicted Negro, the railway companies often side-tracked and left cars which colored passengers had entered. Separate cars were run for them on some lines, and in 1865 a public ballot on the cars was taken to decide the admission of Negroes. Naturally the conductors returned a large majority against any change. Finally, after public meetings, pamphlets and repeated agitation, the prospective enfranchisement of the freedmen gained what decency and common sense had long refused.
21
Steps toward raising Negro troops in the city were taken in 1863, as soon as the efficiency of the Negro soldier had been proven. Several hundred prominent citizens
petitioned the Secretary of War and were given permis sion to raise Negro regiments. The troops were to receive no bounties, but were to have $10 a month and rations. They were to rendezvous at Camp William Penn, Chelten Hills. A mass meeting was soon held attended by the prominent caterers, teachers and merchants, together with white citizens, at which Frederick Douglass, W. D. Kelley and Anna Dickinson spoke. Over $30,000 was raised in the city by subscription, and the first squad of soldiers went into camp June 26, 1863. By December, three
21 See Spiers' "Street Railway System of Philadelphia/' pp. 23-27; also unpublished MS. of Mr. Bernheimer, on file among the senior theses in the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Penn sylvania.
Sect I2.J Influx of the Freedmen^ 1870-1896+ 39
regiments were full, and by the next February, five. The first three regiments, known as the Third, Sixth and Eighth United States Regiments of Colored Troops, went promptly to the front, the Third being before Fort Wagner when it fell. The other regiments followed as called, leaving still other Negroes anxious to enlist
22
After the war and emancipation great hopes were enter tained by the Negroes for rapid advancement, and nowhere did they seem better founded than in Philadelphia. The generation then in its prime had lived down a most intense and bitter race feud and had gained the respect of the better class of whites. They started with renewed zeal, therefore, to hasten their social development.
12. The Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. The period opened stormily, on account of the political rights newly conferred on black voters. Philadelphia city politics have ever had a shady side, but when it seemed manifest that one political party, by the aid of Negro votes, was soon to oust the time-honored incumbents, all the lawless
elements which bad city government for a half-century had nurtured naturally fought for the old regime. They found this the easier since the city toughs were largely Irish and
hereditary enemies of the blacks. In the spring elections
of 1871 there was so much disorder, and such poor police protection, that the United States marines were called on to preserve order.
23
In the fall elections street disorders resulted in the cold
blooded assassination of several Negroes, among whom was an estimable young teacher, Octavius V. Catto. The mur der of Catto came at a critical moment ; to the Negroes it seemed a revival of the old slavery-time riots in the day when they were first tasting freedom ; to the better classes of Philadelphia it revealed a serious state of barbarism and lawlessness in the second city of the land ; to the politicians
22 Pamphlet on
" Enlistment of Negro Troops," Philadelphia Library, Cf. Scharf-Westcott, I, 837.
40 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
it furnished a text and example which was strikingly effective and which they did not hesitate to use. The result of all this was an outburst of indignation and sor
row, which was remarkable, and which showed a deter
mined stand for law and order. The outward expression of this was a great mass meeting, attended by some of the
best citizens, and a funeral for Catto which was perhaps the most imposing ever given to an American Negro.
24
24 The following account of an eye-witness, Mr. W. C. Bolivar, is from the Philadelphia Tribune, a Negro paper :
" In the spring election
preceding the murder of Octavius V. Catto, there was a good deal of
rioting. It was at this election that the United States Marines were
brought into play under the command of Col. James Forney. Their very presence had the salutary effect of preserving order. The handwriting of political disaster to the Democratic party was plainly noticed This
galled 'the unterrified, ' and much of the rancor was owing to the fact
that the Negro vote would guarantee Republican supremacy beyond a
doubt. Even then Catto had a narrow escape through a bullet shot at Michael Maher, an ardent Republican, whose place of business was at
Eighth and Lombard streets. This assault was instigated by Dr. Gilbert, whose paid or coerced hirelings did his bidding. The Mayor, D. M. Fox, was a mild, easygoing Democrat, who seemed a puppet in the hands of astute conscienceless men. The night prior to the day in question, Octo ber 10, 1871, a colored man named Gordon was shot down in cold blood on Eighth street. The spirit of mobocracy filled the air, and the object of its spleen seemed to have been the colored men. A cigar store kept by Morris Brown, Jr., was the resort of the Pythian and Bauneker mem bers, and it was at this place on the night prior to the murder that Catto
appeared among his old friends for the last time. When the hour arrived for home going, Catto went the near and dangerous way to his residence, 814 South street, and said as he left,
' I would not stultify my manhood
by going to my home in a roundabout way.' Wheu he reached his residence he found one of its dwellers had his hat taken from him at a
point around the corner. He went out and into one of the worst places in the Fourth Ward and secured it
"Intimidation and assault began with the opening of the polls. The first victim was Levi Bolden, a playfellow, as a boy, with the chronicler of these notes. Whenever they could conveniently catch a colored man they forthwith proceeded to assail him. Later in the day a crowd forced itself into Emeline street and battered in the brains of Isaac Chase, going into his home, wreaking their spite on this defenceless man, in the pres ence of his family. The police force was Democratic, and not only stood
idly by, but gave practical support. They took pains to keep that part of the city not in the bailiwick of the rioters from knowing anything of
Sect. 12.] Influx ofthe Freedmen, 1870-1896. 41
This incident, and the general expression of opinion after the war, showed a growing liberal spirit toward the
what was transpiring. Catto voted and went to school, but dismissed it after realizing the danger of keeping it open during the usual hours. Somewhere near 3 o'clock as he neared his dwelling, two or three men were seen to approach him from the rear, and one of them, supposed to have been either Frank Kelly or Reddy Dever, pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Catto. The aim of the man was sure, and Catto barely got around a street car before he fell. This occurred directly in front of a
police station, into which he was carried. The news spread in every direction. The wildest excitement prevailed, and not only colored men, but those with the spirit of fair play, realized the gravity of the situation, with a divided sentiment as to whether they ought to make an assault on the Fourth Ward or take steps to preserve the peace. The latter pre vailed, and the scenes of carnage, but a few hours back, when turbulence was supreme, settled down to an opposite state of almost painful calm ness. The rioting during that day was in parts of the Fifth, Seventh and Fourth wards, whose boundary lines met. It must not be supposed that the colored people were passive when attacked, because the records show * an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tootn,' in every instance. No pen is graphic enough to detail the horrors of that day. Bach home was in sorrow, and strong men wept like children, when they realized how much had been lost in the untimely death of the gifted Catto.
" Men who had sat quietly unmindful of things not directly concerning themselves, were aroused to the gravity of the situation, wrought by the
spirit of a mob, came out of their seclusion and took a stand for law and order. It was a righteous public sentiment that brought brute force to
bay. The journals not only here, but the country over, with one voice condemned the lawless acts of October 10, 1871. Sympathetic public gatherings were held in many cities, with the keynote of condemnation as the only true one. Here in Philadelphia a meeting of citizens was
held, from which grew the greater, held in National Hall, on Market
street, below Thirteenth. The importance of this gathering is shown by a list its promoters. Samuel Perkins, Esq., called it to order, and the eminent Hon. Henry C. Carey presided. Among some of those in the list of vice-presidents were Hon. William M. Meredith, Gustavus S. Benson, Alex. Biddle, Joseph Harrison, George H. Stuart, J. Effing- ham Fell, George H. Boker, Morton McMichael, James L. Claghorn, F. C. and Benjamin H. Brewster, Thomas H. Powers, Hamilton Disston, William B. Mann, John W. Forney, John Price Wetherill, R. I/. Ashhurst, William H. Kemble, William S. Stokley, Judge Mitchell, Generals Collis and Sickel, Congressmen Kelley, Harmer, Myers, Creely, O'Neill, Samuel H. Bell and hundreds more. These names represented the
wealth, brains and moral excellence of this community. John Goforth, the eminent lawyer, read the resolutions, which were seconded in
42 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
Negro in Philadelphia. There was a disposition to grant
him, within limits, a man's chance to make his way in the world
; he had apparently vindicated his right to this in
war, and his ability for it in peace. Slowly, but surely,
therefore, the community was disposed to throw off the
trammels, brush away petty hindrances and to soften the
harshness of race prejudice, at least enough to furnish the
new citizen the legal safeguards of a citizen and the per sonal privileges of a man. By degrees the restrictions on
personal liberty were relaxed ; the street cars, which for
speeches by Hon. William B. Mann, Robert Purvis, Isaiah C. Weirs, Rev. J. Walker Jackson, Gen. C. H. T. Collis and Hon. Alex. K.
McClure. These all breathed the same spirit, the condemnation of mob law and a demand for equal and exact justice to all. The speech of Col. McClure stands out boldly among the greatest forensic efforts ever known to our city. His central thought was
' the unwritten law/ which made an impression beyond my power to convey. In the meanwhile, smaller meetings were held in all parts of the city to record their earnest protest
against the brute force of the day before. That was the end of disorder
in a large scale here. On the sixteenth of October the funeral occurred. The body lay in state at the armory of the First Regiment, Broad and Race streets, and was guarded by the military. Not since the funeral
cortege of President Lincoln had there been one as large or as imposing in Philadelphia. Outside of the Third Brigade, N. G. P., detached com mands from the First Division, and the military from New Jersey, there were civic organizations by the hundreds from Philadelphia, to say
nothing of various bodies from Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, New York and adjacent places. All the city offices were closed, beside many schools. City Councils attended in a body, the State Legislature was present, all the city employes marched in line, and personal friends came from far and near to testify their practical sympathy. The military was under the command of General Louis Wagner, and the civic bodies marshaled by Robert M. Adger. The pall-bearers were Lieutenant Colo nel Ira D. Cliff, MajorsJohn W. Simpson and James H. Grocker, Captains J. F. Needhatn and R. J. Burr, Lieutenants J. W. Diton, W. W. Morris and Dr. B. C. Howard, Major and Surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment. This is but a mere glance backward at the trying days of October, 1871, and is written to refresh the minds of men and women of that day, as well as to chronicle a bit of sad history that this generation may be informed. And so closed the career of a man of splendid equipment, rare force of character, whose life was so interwoven with all that was
good about us, as to make it stand out in bold relief, as a pattern for those who have followed after. "
Sect. 12.] Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. 43
many years had sought by every species of proscription to get rid of colored passengers or carry them on the plat form, were finally compelled by law to cancel such rules ; the railways and theatres rather tardily followed, and
finally even the schools were thrown open to all. 25 A
deep-rooted and determined prejudice still remained, but it showed signs of yielding.
It cannot be denied that the main results of the develop ment of the Philadelphia Negro since the war have on the whole disappointed his well-wishers. They do not pretend that he has not made great advance in certain lines, or even that in general he is not better off to-day than for
merly. They do not even profess to know just what his condition to-day is, and yet there is a widespread feeling that more might reasonably have been expected in the line of social and moral development than apparently has been
accomplished. Not only do they feel that there is a lack of positive results, but the relative advance compared with the period just before the war is slow, if not an actual
retrogression ; an abnormal and growing amount of crime and poverty can justly be charged to the Negro ; he is not a large taxpayer, holds no conspicuous place in the busi
ness world or the world of letters, and even as a working man seems to be losing ground. For these reasons those who, for one purpose and another, are anxiously watch
ing the development of the American Negro desire to know first how far these general impressions are true, what the real condition of the Negro is and what movements would best be undertaken to improve the present situa tion. And this local problem is after all but a small manifestation of the larger and similar Negro problems throughout the land.
For such ends the investigation, the results of which are here presented, was undertaken. This is not the first time such a study has been attempted. In 1837, 1847 and 1856
25 Cf. Appendix B.
44 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
studies were made by the Abolition Society and the Friends and much valuable data procured.
26 The United States censuses have also added to our general knowledge, and
newspapers have often interested themselves in the matter.
Unfortunately, however, the Friends' investigations are not
altogether free from a suspicion of bias in favor of the
Negro, the census reports are very general and newspaper articles necessarily hurried and inaccurate. This study seeks to cull judiciously from all these sources and others, and to add to them specially collected data for the years
1896 and 1897. Before, however, we enter upon the consideration of this
matter, we must bring to mind four characteristics of the
period we are considering : (i) The growth of Philadelphia ; (2) the increase of the foreign population in the city;
(3) the development of the large industry and increase of
wealth, and (4) the coming in of the Southern freedmen's sons and daughters. Even Philadelphians hardly realize that the population of their staid old city has nearly doubled since the war, and that consequently it is not the same place, has not the same spirit, as formerly ; new men, new ideas, new ways of thinking and acting have gained some entrance
; life is larger, competition fiercer, and con
ditions ofeconomic and social survival harder than formerly.
Again, while there were perhaps 125,000 foreign born
persons in the city in 1860, there are 260,000 now, not to
26 See Appendix C. The inquiry of 1838 was by the Philadelphia Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the report was in two parts, one a register of trades and one a general report of forty pages. The Society of Friends, or the Abolition Society, undertook the
inquiry of 1849, an^ published a pamphlet of forty-four pages. There was also the same year a report on the health of colored convicts. A pamphlet by Edward Needles was also published in 1849, comparing the Negroes in 1837 and 1848. Benjamin C. Bacon, at the instance of the Abolition Society, made the inquiry in 1856, which was published that year. In 1859, a second edition was issued with criminal statistics. All these pamphlets may be consulted at the Library Company of Philadel phia, or the Ridgway branch.
Sect. I2.J Influx ofthe Freedmen, 1870-1896. 45
mention the children of the former born here. These
foreigners have come in to divide with native Americans the industrial opportunities of the city, and have thereby intensified competition. Thirdly, new methods of con
ducting business and industry are now rife : the little shop, the small trader, the house industry have given way to the
department store, the organized company and the factory. Manufacturing of all kinds has increased by leaps and bounds in the city, and to-day employs three times as many men as in 1860, paying three hundred millions annually in wages ; hacks and expressmen have turned into vast inter-urban businesses: restaurants have become palatial hotels the whole face of business is being gradually transformed. Finally, into this rapid development have
precipitated themselves during the last twenty years fifteen
thousand immigrants, mostly from Maryland, Virginia and Carolina untrained and poorly educated countrymen, rushing from the hovels of the country or the cottages of
country towns, suddenly into the new, strange life of a
great city to mingle with 25,000 of their race already there.
What has been the result ?
[NoTE. There was a small riot in 1843 during the time of Mayor Swift. In 1832 began a series of literary societies the Library Company, the Banneker Society, etc. ,
which did much good for many years. The first Negro newspaper of the city, the "Demosthenian Shield," appeared in 1840. Among men not already mentioned in this period should be noted the Rev. C. W. Gardner, Dr. J. Bias, the
dentist, James McCrummell, and Sarah M. Douglass. All these were prominent Negroes of the day and had much influence. The artist, Robert Douglass, is the painter of a
portrait of Fannie Kemble, which its Philadelphia owner
to-day prefers to attribute to Thomas Dudley.]
CHAPTER V.
THE SIZE, AGE AND SEX OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.
13. The City for a Century. The population of the county
1 of Philadelphia increased about twenty-fold from
1790 to 1890 ; starting with 50,000 whites and 2500 Negroes at the first census, it had at the time of the eleventh census, a million whites and 40,000 Negroes. Com paring the rate of increase of these two elements of the
population we have :
OP INCREASE OF NEGROES AND WHITES.
* Decrease for Negroes.
The first two decades were years of rapid increase for the Negroes, their number rising from 2489 in 1790 to 10,552 in 1810. This was due to the incoming of the new freedmen and of servants with masters, all to some extent attracted
by the social and industrial opportunities of the city. The white population during this period also increased largely, though not so rapidly as the Negroes, rising from
1 The unit for study throughout this essay has been made the county of Philadelphia, and not the city, except where the city is especially mentioned. Since 1854, the city and county have been coterminous. Kven before that the population of the "districts
" was for our purposes an urban population, and a part of the group life of Philadelphia.
(46)
Sect 13.] The Cityfor a Century. 47
51,902 in 1790 to 100,688 in 1810. During the next decade the war had its influence on both races although it naturally had its greatest effect on the lower which
increased only 13 per cent against an increase of 28.6 per cent among the Negroes of the country at large. This
brought the Negro population of the county to 11,891, while the white population stood at 123,746. During the
next two decades, 1820 to 1840, the Negro population rose
to 19,833, by natural increase and immigration, while the
white population, feeling the first effects of foreign immi
gration, increased to 238,204. For the next thirty years the continued foreign arrivals, added to natural growth, caused the white population to increase nearly three-fold, while the same cause combined with others allowed an
increase of little more than 2000 persons among the Negroes, bringing the black population up to 22,147. In the last
two decades the rush to cities on the part of both white and
black has increased the former to 1,006,590 souls and the
latter to 39,371. The following table gives the exact
figures for each decade :
POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA, 1790-1890.
*These totals include Chinese, Indians, etc.
48 Sise, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
INCREASE OF THE NEGRO POPULATION IN PHILA DELPHIA FOR A CENTURY.
[NOTE. Each horizontal line represents an increment of 2500 persons in population ; the upright lines represent the decades. The broken diagonal shows the course of Negro population, and the arrows above recall historic events pre viously referred to as influencing the increase of the
Negroes. At the base of the upright lines is a figure giving the percentage which the Negro population formed of the total population.]
The Cityfor a Century. 49Sect 13.]
The Negro has never formed a very large percent of the
population of the city, as this diagram shows :
10 PerCt
PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN TOTAL POPULATION OP PHILADELPHIA.
A glance at these tables shows how much more sensitive the lower classes of a population are to great social changes
than the rest of the group; prosperity brings abnormal
increase, adversity, abnormal decrease in mere numbers, not
to speak of other less easily measurable changes. Doubt
less if we could divide the white population into social
strata, we would find some classes whose characteristics
corresponded in many respects to those of the Negro. Or
to view the matter from the opposite standpoint we have
here an opportunity of tracing the history and condition
of a social class which peculiar circumstances have kept
segregated and apart from the mass.
If we glance beyond Philadelphia and compare con
ditions as to increase of Negro population with the situa
tion in the country at largewe can make two interesting com
parisons : the rate of increase in a large city compared with
Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.50
that in the country at large ; and the changes in the proper-
tion of Negro inhabitants in the city and the United States.
INCREASE o* NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMPARED.
* Decrease.
A glance at the proportion of Negroes in Philadelphia and in the United States shows how largely the Negro problems are still problems of the country. (See diagram of the proportion of Negroes in the total population of
Philadelphia and of the United States on opposite page.) This is even more striking if we remember that Phila
delphia ranks high in the absolute and relative number of its Negro inhabitants. For the ten largest cities in the
United States we have :
TEN LARGEST CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO NEGRO POPULATION.
Sect. 13.] The Cityfor a Century.
5 2
S i z e , A g e a n d S e x .
[ C h a p .
V .
IP <
3o
800 < 1
<
I N
0 0
p ^
o $
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IO 0 0
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Sect 13.] The City for a Century. 53
Of all the large cities in the United States, only three have a larger absolute Negro population than Philadelphia :
Washington, New Orleans and Baltimore. We seldom realize that none of the great Southern cities, except the three mentioned, have a colored population approaching that of Philadelphia :
COLORED* POPULATION OF LARGE SOUTHERN CITIES.
* Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians, an insignificant number in these cases.
Taken by itself, the Negro population of Philadelphia is no insignificant group of men, as the foregoing diagrams show. (See page 52.)
In other words, we are studying a group of people the size of the capital of Pennsylvania in 1890, and as large as
Philadelphia itself in 1800.
Scanning this population more carefully, the first thing that strikes one is the unusual excess of females. This
fact, which is true of all Negro urban populations, has not often been noticed, and has not been given its true weight as a social phenomenon.
2 If we take the ten cities having the greatest Negro populations, we have this table :
3
3 My attention was first called to this fact by Professor Kelly Miller, of Howard University; cf.
" Publications of American Negro Academy," No. i. There is probably, in taking censuses, a larger percentage of omissions among males than among females; such omissions would, however, go but a small way toward explaining this excess of females.
3 In a good many of the Eleventh Census tables, " Chinese, Japanese
and civilized Indians," were very unwisely included in the total of the
Colored, making an error to be allowed for when one studies the Negro. In most cases the discrepancy can be ignored. In this case this fact but serves to decrease the excess of females, as these other groups have an excess of males. The city of Philadelphia has 1003 Chinese, Japanese
54 Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
COLORED* POPULATION OF TEN CITIES BY Sax.
* Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians an element that can be
ignored, "being small.
This is a very marked excess and lias far-reaching effects. In Philadelphia this excess can be traced back some years :
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES BY SEX. *
The cause of this excess is easy to explain. From the beginning the industrial opportunities of Negro women in and Indians. The figures for the whole United States show that this excess of females is probably confined to cities :
NEGKOES ACCORDING TO SEX.
* Figures for other years have not been found.
Sect 1 3.] The City for a Century. 55
cities have been far greater than those ofmen, through their
large employment in domestic service. At the same time the restriction of employments open to Negroes, which per haps reached a climax in 1830-1840, and which still plays a great part, has served to limit the number of men. The proportion, therefore, of men to women is a rough index of the industrial opportunities of the Negro. At first there was a large amount of work for all, and the Negro ser vants and laborers and artisans poured into the city. This lasted up until about 1820, and at that time we find the number of the sexes approaching equality in the county, although naturally more unequal in the city proper. In the next two decades the opportunities for work were
greatly restricted for the men, while at the same time, through the growth of the city, the demand for female servants increased, so that in 1840 we have about seven women to every five men in the county, and sixteen to every five in the city. Industrial opportunities for men then
gradually increased largely through the growth of the city, the development of new callings for Negroes and the in creased demand for male servants in public and private. Nevertheless the disproportion still indicates an unhealthy
condition, and its effects are seen in a large percent of
illegitimate births, and an unhealthy tone in much of the social intercourse among the middle class of the Negro population.
5
Looking now at the age structure of the Negroes, we notice the disproportionate number of young persons, that
is, women between eighteen and thirty and men between twenty and thirty-five. The colored population of Phila
delphia contains an abnormal number of young untrained
persons at the most impressionable age ; at the age when,
5 In social gatherings, in the churches, etc., men are always at a
premium, and this very often leads to lowering the standard of admission to certain circles, and often give's one the impression that the social level
of the women is higher than the level of the men.
Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
as statistics of the world show, the most crime is committed, when sexual excess is more frequent, and when there has not been developed fully the feeling of responsibility and
personal worth. This excess is more striking in recent
years than formerly, although full statistics are not
available :
* Including 1
Chinese, Japanese and Indians. 1 15 to 55. \ Over 55.
This table is too meagre to be conclusive, but it is proba ble that while the age structure of the Negro urban popu lation in 1848 was about normal, it has greatly changed in
recent years. Detailed statistics for 1890 make this
plainer :
NEGROES* OF PHILADELPHIA BY SEX AND AGE, 1890.
* Includes 1003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.
Comparing this with the age structure of other groups we have this table : 6
6 The age groupings in these tables are necessarily unsatisfactory on account of the vagaries of the census.
Sect. 13.] The Cityfor a Century. 57
In few large cities does the age structure approach the abnormal condition here presented ; the most obvious com
parison would be with the age structure of the whites of
Philadelphia, for 1890, which may be thus represented :
NEGRO MALES ACES FEMALES
WHITE .8. MALES AGJES FEMALES
We find then in Philadelphia a steadily and, in recent years, rapidly growing Negro population, in itself as large as a good-sized city, and characterized by an excessive
number of females and of young persons.
58 Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
14. The Seventh Ward, 1896. We shall now make a more intensive study of the Negro population, confining ourselves to one typical ward for the year 1896. Of the nearly forty thousand Negroes in Philadelphia in 1890, a little less than a fourth lived in the Seventh Ward, and over half in this and the adjoining Fourth, Fifth and
Eighth Wards :
The distribution of Negroes in the other wards may be seen by the accompanying map. (See opposite page.) The Seventh Ward starts from the historic centre of
Negro settlement in the city, Sbuth Seventh street and Lombard, and includes the long narrow strip, beginning at South Seventh and extending west, with South and Spruce streets as boundaries, as far as the Schuylkill River. The colored population of this ward numbered 3621 in 1860, 4616 in 1870, and 8861 in 1890. It is a thickly populated district of varying character ; north of it is the residence and business section of the city ; south of it a middle class and workingmen's residence section ; at the east end it joins Negro, Italian and Jewish slums ; at the west end, the wharves of the river and an industrial section separat ing it from the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania and the residence section of West Philadelphia.
Starting at Seventh street and walking along Lombard, let us glance at the general character of the ward. Pausing a moment at the corner of Seventh and Lombard, we can at a glance view the worst Negro slums of the city. The houses are mostly brick, some wood, not very old, and in general uncared for rather than dilapidated. The blocks between Eighth, Pine, Sixth and South have for many decades been the centre of Negro population. Here
Sect 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896. 59
the riots of the thirties took place, and here once was a
depth of poverty and degradation almost unbelievable. Even to-day there are many evidences of degradation,
although the signs of idleness, shiftlessness, dissoluteness
and crime are more conspicuous than those of poverty.
60 Sisey Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
The alleys 7 near, as Ratcliffe street, Middle alley, Brown's
court, Barclay street, etc., are haunts of noted criminals, male and female, of gamblers and prostitutes, and at the same time of many poverty-stricken people, decent but not
energetic. There is an abundance of political clubs, and
nearly all the houses are practically lodging houses, with
a miscellaneous and shifting population. The corners, night and day, are filled with Negro loafers able-bodied
young men and women, all cheerful, some with good- natured, open faces, some with traces of crime and excess, a few pinched with poverty. They are mostly gamblers, thieves and prostitutes, and few have fixed and steady
occupation of any kind. Some are stevedores, porters, laborers and laundresses. On its face this slum is noisy and dissipated, but not brutal, although now and then
highway robberies and murderous assaults in other parts of the city are traced to its denizens. Nevertheless the
stranger can iisually walk about here day and night with little fear of being molested, if he be not too inquisitive.
8
Passing up Lombard, beyond Eighth, the atmosphere suddenly changes, because these next two blocks have few
alleys and the residences are good-sized and pleasant. Here some of the best Negro families of the ward live. Some are wealthy in a small way, nearly all are Philadel
phia born, and they represent an early wave of emigration from the old slum section.9 To the south, on Rodman
7 "In the Fifth Ward only there are 171 small streets and courts; Fourth Ward, 88. Between Fifth and Sixth, South and Lombard streets, 15 courts and alleys.*
' " First Annual Report College Settlement Kitchen." p. 6.
8 In a residence of eleven months in the centre of the slums, I never was once accosted or insulted. The ladies of the College Settlement report similar experience. I have seen, however, some strangers here roughly handled.
9 It is often asked why do so many Negroes persist in living in the slums. The answer is, they do not; the slum is continually scaling off emigrants for other sections, and receiving new accretions from without. Thus the efforts for social betterment put forth here have often their best
The Seventh Ward of Philadelphia The Distribution of Negro Inhabitants Throughout the Ward,
and their social condition
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Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896. 61
street, are families of the same character. North of Pine and below Eleventh there are practically no Negro residences. Beyond Tenth street, and as far as Broad street, the Negro population is large and varied in char acter. On small streets like Barclay and its extension below Tenth Souder, on Ivy, Rodman, Salem, Heins, Isemin- ger, Ralston, etc., is a curious mingling of respectable working people and some of a better class, with recent immigrations of the semi-criminal class from the slums. On the larger streets, like Lombard and Juniper, there live many respectable colored families native Philadelphians, Virginians and other Southerners, with a fringe of more questionable families. Beyond Broad, as far as Sixteenth, the good character of the Negro population is maintained
except in one or two back streets, 10 From Sixteenth to
Eighteenth, intermingled with some estimable families, is a dangerous criminal class. They are not the low, open idlers of Seventh and Lombard, but rather the graduates of that school : shrewd and sleek politicians, gamblers and confidence men, with a class of well-dressed and partially undetected prostitutes. This class is not easily differen tiated and located, but it seems to centre at Seventeenth and Lombard. Several large gambling houses are near
here, although more recently one has moved below Broad, indicating a reshifting of the criminal centre. The whole community was an earlier immigration from Seventh and Lombard. North of Lombard, above Seventeenth, includ
ing Lombard street itself, above Eighteenth, is one of the best Negro residence sections of the city, centring about Addison street. Some undesirable elements have crept in even here, especially since the Christian League attempted to
results elsewhere* since the beneficiaries move away and others fill their places. There is, of course, a permanent nucleus of inhabitants, and these, in some cases, are really respectable and decent people. The forces that keep such a class in the slums are discussed further on.
10 Gulielma street, for instance, is a notorious nest for bad characters, with only one or two respectable families.
62 Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
clear out the Fifth Ward slums, 11 but still it remains a centre
of quiet, respectable families, who own their own homes
and live well. The Negro population practically stops at
Twenty-second street, although a few Negroes live beyond.
We can thus see that the Seventh Ward presents an epit ome of nearly all the Negro problems ; that every class is
represented, and varying conditions of life. Nevertheless
one must naturally be careful not to draw too broad con
clusions from a single ward in one city. There is no proof
that the proportion between the good and the bad here is
normal, even for the race in Philadelphia ; that the social
problems affecting Negroes in large Northern cities are
presented here in most of their aspects seems credible, but
that certain of those aspects are distorted and exaggerated
by local peculiarities is also not to be doubted.
In the fall of 1896 a, house-to-house visitation was made
to all the Negro families of this ward. The visitor went
in person to each residence and called for the head of the
family. The housewife usually responded, the husband
now and then, and sometimes an older daughter or other
member of the family. The fact that the University was
making an investigation of this character was known and
discussed in the ward, but its exact scope and character was
not known. The mere announcement of the purpose secured, in all but about twelve cases,
12 immediate admis
sion. Seated then in the parlor, kitchen, or living room,
11 The almost universal and unsolicited testimony of better class
Negroes was that the attempted clearing out of the slums of the Fifth
Ward acted disastrously upon them; the prostitutes and gamblers emi
grated to respectable Negro residence districts, and real estate agents, on
the theory that all Negroes belong to the same general class, rented them
houses. Streets like Rodman and Juniper were nearly ruined, and pro
perty which the thrifty Negroes had bought here greatly depreciated, It
is not well to clean a cess-pool until one knows where the refuse can be
disposed of without general harm.
The majority of these were brothels. A few, however, were homes of respectable people who -esented the investigation as unwarranted
and
unnecessary.
Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896. 63
the visitor began the questioning, using his discretion as to the order in which they were put, and omitting or adding questions as the circumstances suggested. Now and then the purpose of a particular query was explained, and usually the object of the whole inquiry indicated. General discus sions often arose as to the condition of the Negroes, which were instructive. From ten minutes to an hour was spent in each home, the average time being fifteen to twenty-five minutes.
Usually the answers were prompt and candid, and gave no suspicion of previous preparation. In some cases there was evident falsification or evasion. In such cases the visitor made free use of his best judgment and either inserted no answer at all, or one which seemed approxi mately true. In some cases the families visited were not at
home, and a second or third visit was paid. In other cases, and especially in the case of the large class of lodgers, the
testimony of landlords and neighbors often had to be taken. No one can make an inquiry of this sort and not be
painfully conscious of a large margin of error from omis
sions, errors of judgment and deliberate deception. Of such errors this study has, without doubt, its full share.
Only one fact was peculiarly favorable and that is the
proverbial good nature and candor of the Negro. With a more cautious and suspicious people much less success could have been obtained. Naturally some questions were answered better than others ; the chief difficulty arising in
regard to the questions of age and income. The ages given for people forty and over have a large margin of
error, owing to ignorance of the real birthday. The ques tion of income was naturally a delicate one, and often had to be gotten at indirectly. The yearly income, as a round sum, was seldom asked for ; rather the daily or weekly wages taken and the time employed during the year. On December i, 1896, there were in the Seventh Ward
of Philadelphia 9675 Negroes; 4501 males and 5174
Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
females. This total includes all persons of Negro descent, and thirty-three intermarried whites.
13 It does not include
NEGRO POPULATION OF SEVENTH WARD.
Grand total 9> 675
residents of the ward then in prisons or in almshouses.
There were a considerable number of omissions among- the
loafers and criminals without homes, the class of lodgers and the club-house habitues. These were mostly males, and their inclusion would somewhat affect the division by
sexes, although probably not to a great extent. 14 The
increase of the Negro population in this ward for six and a
half years is 814, or at the rate of 14.13 per cent per decade.
This is perhaps somewhat smaller than that for the popula tion of the city at large, for the Seventh Ward is crowded and
overflowing into other wards. Possibly the present Negro
population of the city is between 43,000 and 45,000. At
all events it is probable that the crest of the tide of immi
gration is passed, and that the increase for the decade 1890
-1900 will not be nearly as large as the 24 per cent of the
decade 1880-1890.
13 Twenty-nine women and four men. The question of race inter
marriage is discussed in Chapter XIV, "There may have been some duplication in the counting of servant
girls who do not lodge where they work. Special pains was taken to count them only where they lodge, but there must have been some errors.
Again, the Seventh Ward has a very large number of lodgers; some of these form a sort of floating population, and here were omissions; some were forgotten by landladies and others purposely omitted.
Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896.
The division by sex indicates still a very large and, it would seem, growing excess of women. The return shows 1150 females to every 1000 males. Possibly through the omission of men and the unavoidable duplication of some servants lodging away from their place of service, the disproportion of the sexes is exaggerated. At any rate it is great, and if growing, may be an indication of increased restriction in the employments open to Negro men since 1880 or even since 1890. The age structure also presents abnormal features.
16
Comparing the age structure with that of the large cities of Germany, we have :
Comparing it with the Whites and Negroes in the city in 1890, we have :
*Includes 1003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.
As was noticed in the whole city in 1890, so here is even more striking evidence of the preponderance of young peo
ple at an age when sudden introduction to city life is apt to be dangerous, and of an abnormal excess of females.
15 There is a wide margin of error in the matter of Negroes' ages, espe
cially of those above fifty; even of those from thirty-five to fifty, the age is often unrecorded and is a matter of memory, and poor memory at that. Much pains was taken during the canvass to correct errors and to throw out obviously incorrect answers. The error in the ages under forty is
probably not large enough to invalidate the general conclusions; those
under thirty are as correct as is general in such statistics, although the
CHAPTER VI.
CONJUGAL, CONDITION.
15. The Seventh Ward. The conjugal condition of the Negroes above fifteen years of age living in the Seventh Ward is as follows :x
For a people comparatively low in the scale of civiliza tion there is a large proportion of single men more than in Great Britain, France or Germany ; the number of mar ried women, too, is small, while the large number of wid owed and separated indicates widespread and early breaking
ages of children under ten is liable to err a year or so from the truth. Many women have probably understated their ages and somewhat swelled the period of the thirties as against the forties. The ages over fifty have a large element of error.
1 There are many sources of error in these returns: it was found that widows usually at first answered the question
" Are you married ? M in the negative, and the truth had to be ascertained by a second question; unfortunate women and questionable characters generally reported themselves as married; divorced or separated persons called themselves widowed. Such of these errors as were made through misapprehension, were often corrected by additional questions; in case of designed decep tion the answer was naturally thrown out if the deception was detected, which of course happened in few cases. The net result of these errors is difficult to ascertain: certainly they increase the apparent number of the truly widowed to some extent at the expense of the single and married.
(66)
Sect. 15.] The Seventh Ward. 67
tip of family life. 2 The number of single women is
probably lessened by unfortunate girls, and increased some what by deserted wives who report themselves as single. The number of deserted wives, however, allowing for false reports, is astoundingly large and presents many intricate problems. A very large part of charity given to Negroes is asked for this reason. The causes of desertion are partly laxity in morals and partly the difficulty of supporting a
family. The lax moral habits of the slave regime still show
themselves in a large amount of cohabitation without mar riage. In the slum districts there are many such families, which remain together years and are in effect common law marriages. Some of these connections are broken by whim or desire, although in many cases they are permanent unions.
The economic difficulties arise continually among young waiters and servant girls ; away from home and oppressed by the peculiar lonesomeness of a great city, they form chance acquaintances here and there, thought lessly marry and soon find that the husband's income cannot alone support a family ; then comes a struggle which generally results in the wife's turning laundress, but often results in desertion or voluntary separation. The great number of widows is noticeable. The condi
tions of life for men are much harder than for women and they have consequently a much higher death rate. Unac knowledged desertion and separation also increases this
total. Then, too, a large number of these widows are
2 The number of actually divorced persons among the Negroes is
naturally insignificant; on the other hand the permanent separations are
large in number and an attempt has been made to count them. They do not exactly correspond to the divorce column of ordinary statistics and therefore take something from the married column. The number of widowed is probably exaggerated somewhat, but even allowing for errors, the true figure is high. The markedly higher death rate for males has much to do with this. Cf. Chapter X.
68 Conjugal Condition. [Chap. VI.
simply unmarried mothers and thus represent the unchastity
of a large number of women. 3
The result of this large number of homes without hus
bands is to increase the burden of charity and benevolence,
and also on account of their poor home life to increase
crime. Here is a wide field for social regeneration.
Separating the sexes by age periods according to conjugal
condition we have these tables :
MALES.
FEMALES.
When we remember that in slavery-time slaves usually began to cohabit at an early age,
these figures indicate
the sudden and somewhat disastrous application of the
preventive check to population through the economic stress
of life in large cities. Negro girls no longer marry in
their 'teens as their mothers and grandmothers did. Of
those in the twenties over 40 per cent are still unmarried,
and of those in the thirties 21 per cent. So sudden a
change in marriage customs means grave dangers, as shown
by the fact that forty-five of the married couples under
forty were permanently separated and 239 women were widowed.
3 Unfortunately Philadelphia has no reliable registration of births, and
the illegitimate birth rate of Negroes cannot be ascertained. This is
probably high judging from other conditions.
Sect. 15.] The Seventh Ward. 69
If we reduce the general conjugal condition to per cents, we have this table :
MEN.
Here it is plain that although a large per cent of men under forty marry there is nevertheless a number who wait until they are settled in life and have a competence. With the mass of Negroes, however, the waiting past the fortieth
year means simply increased caution about marriage ; or, if they are widowers, about remarriage. Consequently
while, for instance, in Germany 84.8 per cent of the men from forty to sixty are married, among the Negroes of this ward less than 74 per cent are married. At the same time
there are indications of a large number of broken marriage ties. Of the men under forty the bulk marry late, that is in the thirties :
Turning now to the women, we have a table in which
Conjugal Condition. [Chap. VI.
the noticeable feature is the extraordinary number of wid owed and separated persons, indicating economic stress, a
high death rate and lax morality. Such are the social results of a large excess of young women in a city where young men cannot afford to marry. Of the women below forty, we have this tabulation :
The comparatively large number of separations is here to be noticed, and the fact that over a fifth of the women between thirty and forty are unmarried and 40 per cent are without husbands. From all these statistics, making some allowance for the
small number of persons counted and the peculiar conditions of the ward, we may conclude :
1. That a tendency to much later marriage than under the slave system is revolutionizing the Negro family and incidentally leading to much irregularity.
2. There is nevertheless still the temptation for young men and women under forty to enter into matrimony before their economic condition warrants it.
3. Among persons over forty there is a marked tendency to single life.
4. The very large number of the widowed and separated points to grave physical, economic and moral disorder.
16. The City. The census of 1890 showed that the conjugal condition of Negroes in the city was as follows :
Sect. 16.] The City. 71
Similar statistics for native whites with native parents for the city, are :
These figures, although six years earlier, for the most part confirm the statistics of the Seventh Ward, except in the statistics of separation. In this respect the returns for the Seventh Ward are probably more reliable, as the census counted only actually divorced persons. The largest dis crepancy is in the percentage of single females ; this prob ably comes from the fad that outside the Seventh Ward the single servant girls form a large part of the Negro population. On the whole it is noticeable that the conjugal condition of the Negroes approaches so nearly that of the
whites, when the economic and social history of the two groups has been so strikingly different.
These statistics are the best measurements of the condi tion and tendencies of the Negro home which we have, and although they are crude and difficult in some cases
rightly to interpret, yet they shed much light on the problem. First it must be remembered that the Negro home and the stable marriage state is for the mass of the colored people of the country and for a large per cent of those of Philadelphia, a new social institution. The strictly guarded savage home life of Africa, which with all its shortcomings protected womanhood, was broken up com
pletely by the slave ship, and the promiscuous herding of the West Indian plantation put in its stead. From this evolved the Virginia plantation where the double row of little slave cabins were but parts of a communistic pater nalism centring in the Big House which was the real centre
JZ Conjugal Condition. [Chap. VI.
of the family life. Even in Pennsylvania where the plan tation system never was developed the slave family was dependent in morals as well as work upon the master. With emancipation the Negro family was first made inde pendent and with the migration to cities we see for the first time the thoroughly independent Negro family. On the whole it is a more successful institution than we had a right to expect, even though the Negro has had a couple of centuries of contact with some phases of the monogamic ideal.4 The great weakness of the Negro family is still lack of respect for the marriage bond, inconsiderate entrance into it, and bad household economy and family government. Sexual looseness then arises as a secondary consequence, bringing adultery and prostitution in its train. And these results come largely from the postponement of marriage among the young. Such are the fruits of sudden social revolution.5
4 And, to tell the truth, contact with some very unsavory phases of it. 5 There can be no doubt but what sexual looseness is to-day the pre
vailing sin of the mass of the Negro population, and that its prevalence can be traced to bad home life in most cases. Children are allowed on the street night and day unattended; loose talk is often indulged in; the sin is seldom if ever denounced in the churches. The same freedom is allowed the poorly trained colored girl as the white girl who has come through a strict home, and the result is that the colored girl more often falls. Nothing but strict home life can avail in such cases. Of course there is much to be said in palliation: the Negress is not respected by men as white girls are, and consequently has no such general social protection; as a servant, maid, etc., she has peculiar temptations; especially the whole tendency of the situation of the Negro is to kill his self-respect which is tbe greatest safeguard of female chastity.
CHAPTER VII. SOURCES OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.
17. The Seventh Ward. We have seen that there is in Philadelphia a large population of Negroes, largely young unmarried folks with a disproportionate number of women. The question now arises, whence came these people ? How far are they native Philadelphians, and how far immigrants, and if the latter, how long have they been here ? Much depends on the answer to these questions ; no conclusions as to the effects of Northern city conditions on Negroes, as to the effects of long, close contact with modern culture, as to the general question of social and economic survival on the part of this race, can be intelligently answered until we know how long these people have been under the influence of given conditions, and how they were trained before they came.
1
It is often tacitly assumed that the Negroes of Philadel
phia are one homogeneous mass, and that the slums of the Fifth Ward, for instance, are one of the results of long contact with Philadelphia city life on the part of this mass. There is just enough truth and falsehood in such an
assumption to make it dangerously misleading. The slums of Seventh and Lombard streets are largely the results of the contact of the Negro with city life, but the Negro in
question is a changing variable quantity and has felt city
1 The chief source of error in the returns as to birthplace are tlie answers of those who do not desire to report their birthplace as in the South. Naturally there is considerable social distinction between
recently arrived Southerners and old Philadelphians; consequently the
tendency is to give a Northern birthplace. For this reason it is probable that even a smaller number than the few reported were really born in the city.
(73)
74 Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
influences for periods varying in different persons from one
day to seventy years. A generalization then that includes a North Carolina boy who has migrated to the city for work and has been here for a couple of months, in the same class with a descendant of several generations of
Philadelphia Negroes, is apt to make serious mistakes. The first lad may deserve to be pitied if he falls into dissipation and crime, the second ought perhaps to be condemned
severely. In other words our judgment of the thousands of Negroes of this city must be in all cases considerably modified by a knowledge of their previous history and antecedents.
Of the 9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 9138 gave returns as to their birthplace. Of these, there were born :
In Philadelphia 2939 or 32.1 per cent. In Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia . 526 or 6.0
"
In the New England and Middle States . 485 or 5.3 " In the South 4980 or 54.3
"
In the West and in foreign lands . , . , 208 or 2.3 "
That is to say, less than one-third of the Negroes living in this ward were born here, and over one-half were born in the South. Separating them by sex and giving their
birthplaces more in detail, we have :
BIRTHPLACE OF NEGROES, SEVENTH WARD.
Sect. 17.] The Seventh Ward. 75
This means that a study of the Philadelphia Negroes would properly begin in Virginia or Maryland and that
only a portion have had the opportunity of being reared amid the advantages of a great city. To study this even more minutely let us divide the population according to
age periods :
BIRTHPLACE BY AGE PERIODS.
That the Negro immigration to the city is not an influx of whole families is shown by the fact that 83 per cent of the children under ten were born in Philadelphia. Of the
youth from ten to twenty about one-half were born in the
city* The great influx comes in the years from twenty-one to thirty, for of these but 17 per cent were born in the
city ; of the men and women born between 1856 and 1865, that is, in war time, about one-seventh were born in the
city; of the freedmen, that is those born before 1856, a
larger portion, one-fifth, were born in Philadelphia. The wave of immigration may therefore be thus plotted :
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
PERSONS BORN SINCE 1686 1876-86 J866-I675 1856-1865 Befarel8S6
THE WAVE OF NEGRO IMMIGRATION.
The square represents the Negro population of the Seventh Ward, divided into segments according to age by the upright lines ; the shaded portions show the proportion of immigrants.
Further detailed information as to birthplace is given in
the next table. (See pages 77 and 78.) Much of the immigration to Philadelphia is indirect ;
Negroes come from country districts to small towns ; then go to larger towns ; eventually they drift to Norfolk, Va., or
to Richmond. Next they come to Washington, and finally settle in Baltimore or Philadelphia.
2 The training they receive from such wanderings is not apt to improve young
persons greatly, and the custom has undoubtedly helped to
swell the numbers of a large migratory criminal class who are often looked upon as the product of particular cities,
when, as a matter of fact, they are the offscourings of
2 Compare "The Negroes of Farmville: A Social Study," in Bulletin of U. S. Labor Bureau, January, 1898.
Sect. 17.] The Seventh Ward. 77
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES OF SEVENTH WARD, 1896. BIRTHPLACE MALES BY FIVE AGE PERIODS.
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES OF SEVENTH WARD, 1896. BIRTHPLACE FEMALES BY FIVE AGE PERIODS.
* Intermarried whites.
country districts, sharpened and prepared for crime by the
slums of many cities through which they have passed.
Sect. 17.] The Seventh Ward. 79
Besides these, there is the large and well-intentioned class who are seeking to better their lot and are attracted by the larger life of the city. Much light, therefore, will be thrown on the question of
migration if we take the Negro immigrants as a class and inquire how long they have lived in the city ; we can sepa rate the immigrants into four classes, corresponding to the waves of immigration : first, the ante-bellum immigrants, resident tkirty-five years or more ; second, the refugees of war time and the period following, resident twenty-one to thirty-four years ; third, the laborers and sightseers of the time of the Centennial, resident ten to twenty years ; fourth, the recent immigration, which may be divided into those resident from five to nine years, from one to four years, and those who have been in the city less than a year. Of 5337 immigrants,3 the following classes may be made :
Thus we see that the majority of the present immigrants arrived since 1887, and nearly 30 per cent since 1892. Carrying out the division by age periods, we have :
3 In the case of lodgers not at home and sometimes of members of families answers could not be obtained to this question. There were in all 862 persons born outside the city from whom answers were not obtained.
8o Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
This table simply confirms the testimony of others as to
the recent immigration of young people. Without doubt
these statistics of immigration considerably understate the
truth ; strong social considerations lead many Negroes to
give their birthplace as Philadelphia when, as a matter of
fact, it may be elsewhere. We may then safely conclude that less than a third of the Negroes in the city were born
here, and of the others less than a quarter have been resi
dent twenty years or more. So that half the Negro popu lation can not in any sense be said to be a product of the
city, but rather represents raw material, whose transforma
tion forms a pressing series of social problems. Of course, not all immigrants are undesirable material, nor are the
native Negroes all creditable to the city ; on the contrary,
many of the best specimens of Negroes both past and
present were not born in the city, 4 while some of the most
baffling problems arise as to the young people of native
families. Nevertheless, as a whole, it is true that the
average of culture and wealth and social efficiency is far
lower among immigrants than natives, and that this gives rise to the gravest of the Negro problems.
18. The City. The available figures for the past are not
many nor altogether reliable, yet it seems probable that the per cent of immigrants to-day is as large as at any
previous time and perhaps larger. In 1848, 57.3 per cent
of 15,532 Negroes were natives of the State, and the
* Absalom Jones, Dorsey, Minton, Henry Jones and Augustin were none of them natives of Philadelphia.
Sect 18.] The City. 81
remaining 42.7 per cent immigrants. In 1890 we have only figures for the whole State, which show that 45 per cent of the Negroes were immigrants mainly from Vir ginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina, etc.
5 For Philadelphia the percentage would probably be higher. The new immigrants usually settle in pretty well-defined
localities in or near the slums, and thus get the worst pos sible introduction to city life. In 1848, five thousand of the 6600 immigrants lived in the narrow and filthy alleys of the city and Moyamensing. To-day they are to be found partly in the slums and partly in those small streets with old houses, where there is a dangerous intermingling of good and bad elements fatal to growing children and unwholesome for adults. Such streets may be found in the Seventh Ward, between Tenth and Juniper streets, in parts of the Third and Fourth wards and in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth wa rds. This mingling swells the apparent size of many slum districts, and at the same time screens the real criminals. Investigators are often surprised in the
worst districts to see red-handed criminals and good-hearted, hard-working, honest people living side by side in apparent harmony. Even when the new immigrants seek better districts, their low standard of living and careless appear ance make them unwelcome to the better class of blacks and to the great mass of whites. Thus they find themselves
6 Chinese, Japanese and Indians are included in these tables. The
exact figures are:
Negro population of Pennsylvania 107,626 Of these, born in Pennsylvania 58,681
Virginia 19,873
Maryland 12,202 Delaware 4,851 New Jersey i>786 New York 891 North Carolina 1,362 District Columbia 1,131 Unknown 1,804
CHAPTER VIII.
EDUCATION AND
19. The History of Negro Education. Anthony Benezet and the Friends of Philadelphia have the honor of first recognizing the fact that the welfare of the State
demands the education of Negro children. On the twenty-sixth ofJanuary, 1770, at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends, the general situation of the Negroes, and especially the free Negroes, was discussed. On motion of one, probably Benezet, it was decided that instruction
ought to be provided for Negro children. 1 A committee
was appointed, and on February 30 this committee pro posed
" that a committee of seven Friends be nominated
by the Monthly Meeting, who shall be authorized to employ a schoolmistress of prudent and exemplary con
duct, to teach not more at one time than thirty children in the first rudiments of school learning, and in sewing and
knitting. That the admission of scholars into the said school be entrusted to the said committee, giving to the
children of free Negroes and Mulattoes the preference, and
the opportunity of being taught clear of expense to their
parents." A subscription of ^100 (about $266.67) was recommended for this purpose. This report was adopted, and the school opened June 28, 1770, with twenty-two colored children in attendance. In September the pupils had increased to thirty-six, and a teacher in sewing and
knitting was employed. Afterward those who could were
required to pay a sum, varying from seven shillings six
pence to ten shillings per quarter, for tuition. The following
1 This account Is mainly from the pamphlet: "A Brief Sketch of the Schools for Black People," etc. Philadelphia, 1867.
(S3)
84 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
year a school-house was built on Walnut street, below Fourth a one-story brick building, 32 by 1 8 feet. From 1770 to 1775 two hundred and fifty children and
grown persons were instructed. Interest, however, began to wane, possibly under the war-cloud, and in 1775 but five Negro children were in attendance and some white children were admitted. Soon, however, the parents were
aroused, and we find forty Negroes and six whites attend ing.
After the war Benezet took charge of the school and held it in his house at Third and Chestnut. At his death, in 1784, he left a part of his estate to
" hire and employ a
religious-minded person or persons to teach a number of Negro, Mulatto or Indian children, to read, write, arithme
tic, plain accounts, needle-work, etc." Other bequests were received, including one from a Negro, Thomas Shir ley, and from this fund the schools, afterward known as the Raspberry street schools, were conducted for many years, and a small school is still maintained. In the early part of the century sixty to eighty scholars attended the school, and a night school was opened. In 1844 a lot on Raspberry street was purchased, and a school-house erected. Here, from 1844 to 1866, eight thousand pupils in all were instructed.
Public schools for Negroes were not established until about 1822, when the Bird school, now known as the James Forten, was opened on Sixth street, above lyombard ; in 1830 an iinclassified school in West Philadelphia was begun, and in 1833 the Coates street school, now known as the Vaux school, on Coates street (now called Fairmount Avenue), near Fifth, was established. Other schools were opened at Frankford in 1839, at Paschalville in 1841, on Corn street in 1849, and at Holmesburg in 1854. In 1838 the Negro school statistics were as follows :
Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education.
NEGRO SCHOOI, STATISTICS, 1838.
Total children of school age 3,025.
Ten years later school facilities had greatly increased:
NEGRO SCHOOL STATISTICS, 1847.
This would seem tcj
indicate a smaller percentage of
children in school than in the last decade a natural out
come of the period of depression through which the
Negroes had just passed. In 1850 the United States census reported 3498 adults
who could neither read nor write, among the Negroes of the city. The adult population at that time must have been about 8000. There were 2176 children in school.
In 1856 we have another set of detailed statistics :
86 Ediication and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Children from 8 to 18 not in school 1,620.
The schools by this time had increased in number. There were the following public schools :
The public schools seemed to have been largely manned
by colored teachers, and were for a long time less efficient
than the charity schools. The grammar schools at one time, about 1844, were about to be given up, but were saved, and in 1856 were doing fairly well. The charity schools were as follows :
Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education. 87
Of the above schools, the House of Refuge, Orphans' Shelter, House of Industry, and Home for Colored Children were schools connected with benevolent and reformatory institutions. The Raspberry school was that founded by Benezet. The Institute for Colored Youth was founded by Richard Humphreys, a West Indian ex-slaveholder, who lived in Philadelphia. On his death, in 1832, he bequeathed the sum of #10,000 to the Friends, to found an institution, " having- for its object the benevolent design of instructing
the descendants of the African race in school learning, in the various branches of the mechanic arts and trades, and in
agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act as teachers." The Institute was acccordingly founded in 1837, chartered in 1842, and upon receiving further gifts was temporarily located on L,ornbard street. In 1866 additional sums were raised, and the Institute located on Bainbridge street, above Ninth, where it is still conducted. There were in 1856 the following private schools :
There were also two night schools, with an attendance of 150 or more. The percentage of illiteracy in the city was still large.
Bacon's investigation showed that of 9021 adults over
twenty years of age, 45^ per cent were wholly illiterate, 16^ per cent could read and write and 19 per cent could "read, write and cipher." Detailed statistics for each ward are given in the next table :
88 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
ILLITERACY OF PHILADELPHIA NEGROES, 1854-6.
Separate schools for black and white were maintained
from the beginning, barring the slight mixing in the early
Quaker schools. Not only were the common schools sep arate, but there were no public high schools for Negroes,
professional schools were closed to them, and within the
memory of living men the University of Pennsylvania not
only refused to admit Negroes as students, but even as
listeners in the lecture halls. 2 Not until 1881 was a law
passed declaring it " unlawful for any school director, super
intendent or teacher to make any distinction whatever on
account of, or by reason of, the race or color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking admission to, any public or common school maintained
2 Within a few years a Negro had to fight his way through a promi nent dental college in the city.
Sect. 20.] The Present Condition. 89
wholly or in part under the school laws of this common wealth." This enactment was for some time evaded, and even now some discrimination is practiced quietly in the matter of admission and transfers. There are also schools still attended solely by Negro pupils and taught by Negro teachers, although, of course, the children are at
liberty to go elsewhere if they choose. They are kept largely through a feeling of loyalty to Negro teachers. In spite of the fact that several Negroes have been gradu ated with high marks at the Normal School, and in at least one case ''passed one of the best examinations for a
supervising principal's certificate that has been accom
plished in Philadelphia by any teacher," 3
yet no Negro has been appointed to a permanent position outside the few colored schools.
20. The Present Condition. There were, in 1896, 5930 Negro children in the public schools of the city, against 6150 in 1895 and 6262 in 1897. Confining our selves simply to the Seventh Ward, we find the total popu lation of legal school age six to thirteen in Pennsylvania was 862 in 1896, of whom 740, or 85.8 per cent, were reported as attending school at some time during the year. Of the persons five to twenty years of age about 48 per cent were in school. Statistics by age and sex are in the next table. 4 (See page 90.) Some difference is to be noted between the sexes : Of
the children six to thirteen years of age, 85 per cent of the
boys and nearly 86 per cent of the girls are in school ; of
the youth fourteen to twenty, 20 per cent of the boys and
21 per cent of the girls are in school. The boys stop school pretty suddenly at sixteen, the girls at seventeen*
3 Philadelphia Ledger, August 13, 1897. 4 The chief error in the school returns arises from irregularity in
attendance. Those reported in school were there sometime during the
year, and possibly off and on during the whole year, but many were not
steady attendants.
9o Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Nearly u per cent of the children in school were in attendance less than the full term f of these attending the
whole term there is much irregularity through absences and tardiness. On the whole, therefore, the effective school attendance is less than appears at first sight.
SCHOOL POPULATION AND ATTENDANCE (1896-97) BY
Negroes of the Seventh Ward.
The question of illiteracy is a difficult one to have answered without actual tests, especially when the people questioned have some motives for appearing less ignorant than they actually are. The figures for the Seventh Ward, therefore, undoubtedly understate the illiteracy somewhat ; nevertheless the error is not probably large enough to
5 Of 647 school children 62 were in school less than nine months some
less than three. Probably many more than this did not attend the full term.
Sect 20.] The Present Condition.
deprive the figures of considerable value, and compared with
statistics taken in a similar manner they are probably of
average reliability. 6 Of 8464 Negroes in the Seventh
Ward the returns show that 12.17 per cent are totally illiterate. Comparing this with previous years we have :
1850. 1856. 1870 .
, 44 percent. 1890 18 per cent,
1896 (7th Ward) 12.17 "
The large number of young people in the Seventh Ward
probably brings the average of illiteracy below the level
of the whole city. Why this is so may be seen if we take the illiteracy of four age-classes :
The same difference is plain if we take the returns of the census of 1890 for the colored population of the whole city :
6 As has before been noted, the Negroes are less apt to deceive deliber
ately than some other peoples. The ability to read, however, is a point
of pride with them, and especial pains was taken in the canvass to avoid
error; often two or more questions on the point were asked. Nevertheless
all depended in the main on voluntary answers. 7 This looks small and yet it probably approximates the truth, My
general impression from talking with several thousand Negroes in the
Seventh Ward is that the percentage of total illiteracy is small among them.
Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIIL
Separating those in the Seventh Ward by sex, we have this table, showing a total illiteracy of 10 per cent among the males and 17 per cent among the females :
BY SEX AND BY AGE PERIODS. SEVENTH WARD.
Granting that those reporting themselves as able to read
should in most cases be included under the illiterate, and
that therefore the rate of illiteracy in the Seventh Ward is about 1 8 per cent, and perhaps 20 per cent for the city, nevertheless the rate is, all things considered, low and
places the Philadelphia Negroes in a position not much worse than that of the total population of Belgium (15.9 per cent), so far as actual illiterates are concerned.
8
8The Seventh Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Ivabor enables us to make some comparison of the illiteracy of the foreign and Negro populations of the City:
Nationalities.
Italians, 1894 . . .
Russians, 1894 . .
Poles, 1894 .... Hungarians, 1894 Irish, 1894 .... Negroes, 7th W., 1896 Germans, 1894 . .
Persons able to Read and Write.
1396 1128
838
6893
36.37 p. c,
58.08 "
59-73 "
69.16 "
74.21 "
81.44 "
85.26
Illiterates.
2442 814
565
140 1 88
i57i
78
63.63 p.c.
41.92
40.27
30.84
25.79
18.56
14.74
Comparison of Illiteracy.
The foreigners here reported include all those living in certain parts of the Third and Fourth Wards of Philadelphia. They are largely recent immigrants. The Russians and Poles are mostly Jews. ISABEL BATON.
Sect. 20.] The Present Condition. 93
The degree of education of those who can read and write can only be indicated in general terms. The majority have only a partial common school education from the country schools of the South or the primary grades of the
city ; a considerable number have taken grammar school work
; a very few have entered the high schools and there
have been from fifty to one hundred graduates from col
leges and professional schools since the war. Exact figures as to the proportion of students taking higher courses are
not easily obtained.
In the Catto School, 1867-96, n per cent of those enter ing the primary grade were promoted to the grammar school
; less than i per cent of those entering the primary
grade of the Vaux School were promoted to the High School. Of those graduating from the course at the Insti tute for Colored Youth, 8 per cent have taken a college or
professional course. 9 Thus it appears that of 1000 colored
children entering the primary grade no go to the gram mar school, ten to the high school and one to college or to a professional school. The basis of induction here is, however, too small for many conclusions.
10
At present there are in the Seventh Ward thirteen schools for children of all races and sixty-four teachers, with school
property valued at $214,382. The schools are : one com bined grammar and secondary, three secondary, one com
bined secondary and primary, four primary and four
kindergartens. In the city the following are the public schools chiefly
attended by Negroes :
9 Data furnished by two principals of colored schools. At present
(1897) there are 58 Negro students in the following schools: Central
High, Girls' Normal, Girls' High, Central Manual Training and North
East Manual Training; or about one per cent of the total school enroll
ment. 10 probably the percentage of children promoted from primary
to
grammar grades in this case is unusually small.
94 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Coulter street, Twenty-second Section .
J. 33. Hill, Germantown 84 Robert Vaux, Wood street 67 O. V. Catto, Lombard street 140 Wilmot, Meadow and Cherry streets . . 48 James Miller, Forty-second and Ludlowsts., 24 J. S. Ramsey, Quince and Pine streets . . 243
45 boys, 39 girls, all colored.
89 " "
74 "
150 "
47 "
13 "
253 nearly all
colored.
All the teachers are colored except those in the Ramsey and Miller schools, who are all white. There are a few colored kindergarten teachers in various sections, and large numbers of colored children go to other schools beside those designated. Many of the colored schools have a high reputation for efficient work.
11 There is, theoretically, no discrimination in night schools and some Negroes go to white schools ; for the most part, however, the
Negroes are in the following night schools :
PHILADELPHIA COLORED NIGHT SCHOOLS, 1895.
11 The following report from a member of the Committee on Schools of the City Councils is taken from the Philadelphia Ledger, December 2, 1896: On the matter of the needs of the colored population in connection with the schools, Mr. Meehan had to say:
" Young women of the colored
race are qualifying themselves for public school teachers by taking the regular course through our Normal School. No matter how well qualified they may be to teach, directors do not elect them to positions in the schools. It is taken for granted that only white teachers shall be placed in charge of white children. The colored Normal School grad uates might be given a chance by appointments in the centre of some colored population, so that colored people might support their own teachers if so disposed, as they support their own ministers in their
Sect 20.] The Present Condition. 95
The Institute for Colored Youth is still a popular and useful institution. It gives grammar and high school courses. In 1890, by the efforts of both white and colored friends,
12 an industrial department, with eleven teachers, was added. Among the men trained here are Octavius V. Catto, Jacob C. White, Jr., who was for thirty-five years principal of the Vaux School, two ex-ministers from the United States to Haiti, and the young colored physician who recently broke twenty-five years record in the excel lence of his examination before the State Board. Under Mr. White, mentioned above, Mr. Henry Tanner, the artist recently honored by the French government, was graduated from the Vaux School.
Considering this testimony as a whole, it seems certain that the Negro problem in Philadelphia is no longer, in the
main, a problem of sheer ignorance ; to be sure, there is still a very large totally illiterate class of perhaps 6000
persons over ten years of age ; then, too, the other 24,000 are not in any sense of the word educated as a mass ; most of them can read and write fairly well, but few have a
training beyond this. The leading classes among them are mostly grammar school graduates, and a college bred person is very exceptional. Thus the problem of education is still large and pressing ; and yet considering their ignorance in the light of history and present experience, it must be
acknowledged that there are other social problems con nected with this people more pressing than that of educa tion
; that a fair degree of persistence in present methods
will settle in time the question of ignorance, but other
social questions are by no means so near solution. The only difficulties in the matter of education are care
lessness in school attendance, and poverty which keeps
separate colored churches. The good result of this arrangement is shown by the experience in the Twenty-second Section, where there are two schools with seven colored teachers, ranking among the most popular in the section."
12 Negroes in the city raised $2000 toward this.
96 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII
children out of school. The former is a matter for the colored people to settle themselves, and is one to which their attention needs to be called. While much has been done, yet it cannot be said that Negroes have fully grasped their great school advantages in the city by keeping their younger children regularly in school, and from this retniss- ness much harm has sprung.
CHAPTER IX.
THE OCCUPATIONS OF NEGROES.
21. The Question of Earning a Living. For a group of freedmen the question of economic survival is the most
pressing of all questions ; the problem as to how, under the circumstances of modern life, any group of people can earn a decent living, so as to maintain their standard of
life, is not always easy to answer. But when the question is complicated by the fact that the group has a low degree of efficiency on account of previous training ; is in com petition with well-trained, eager and often ruthless com petitors ; is more or less handicapped by a somewhat indefinite but existent and wide-reaching discrimination ; and, finally, is seeking not merely to maintain a standard
of living but steadily to raise it to a higher plane such a
situation presents baffling problems to the sociologist and
philanthropist. And yet this is the situation of the Negro in Philadel
phia ; he is trying to better his condition ; is seeking to
rise ; for this end his first need is work of a character to
engage his best talents, and remunerative enough for him to support a home and train up his children well. The
competition in a large city is fierce, and it is difficult for
any poor people to succeed. The Negro, however, has two
especial difficulties : his training as a slave and freedman
has not been such as make the average of the race as efficient and reliable workmen as the average native Amer ican or as many foreign immigrants. The Negro is, as a
rule, willing, honest and good-natured ; but he is also, as
a rule, careless, unreliable and unsteady. This is without
doubt to be expected in a people who for generations have (97)
g8 The Ocatpations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
been trained to shirk work ; but an historical excuse counts for little in the whirl and battle of bread-winning. Of course, there are large exceptions to this average rule; there are many Negroes who are as bright, talented and reliable as any class of workmen, and who in untrammeled
competition would soon rise high in the economic scale, and thus by the law of the survival of the fittest we should Soon have left at the bottom those inefficient and lazy drones who did not deserve a better fate. However, in the realm of social phenomena the law of survival is greatly modified by human choice, wish, whim and prejudice. And consequently one never knows when one sees a social outcast how far this failure to survive is due to the defi ciencies of the individual, and how far to the accidents or
injustice of his environment. This is especially the case
with the Negro. Every one knows that in a city like
Philadelphia a Negro does not have the same chance to exercise his ability or secure work according to his talents as a white man. Just how far this is so we shall discuss later
; now it is sufficient to say in general that the sorts
of work open to Negroes are not only restricted by their own lack of training but also by discrimination against them on account of their race
; that their economic rise is
not only hindered by their present poverty, but also by a
widespread inclination to shut against them many doors of advancement open to the talented and efficient of other races.
What has thus far been the result of this complicated situation ? What do the mass of the Negroes of the city at present do for a living, and how successful are they in those lines? And in so far as they are successful, what have they accomplished, and where they are inefficient in their present sphere of work, what is the cause and rem
edy ? These are the questions before us, and we proceed to answer the first in this chapter, taking the occupations of the Negroes of the Seventh Ward first, then of the city
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 99
in a general way, and finally saying a word as to the
past. 22. Occupations in the Seventh 'Ward. Of the 257
boys between the ages of ten and twenty, who were regu larly at work in 1896, 39 per cent were porters and errand
boys ; 25.5 per cent were servants ; 16 per cent were common laborers, and 19 per cent had miscellaneous employment. The occupations in detail are as follows :
l
Total population, males 10 to 20 . . . .651 Engaged in gainful occupations .... 257 Porters and errand boys 100 39.0 per cent. Servants 66 25.5
"
Common laborers 40 16.0 " Teamsters 7
Apprentices 6
Bootblacks 6
Drivers 5
Newsboys 5 Peddlers 4
Typesetters 3 Actors 2
Bricklayers 2
Hostlers 2
Typewriters 2
Barber, bartender, bookbinder, factory
hand, rubber-worker, sailor, shoe
maker one each 7 51 19-5
257 ico per cent.
1 The returns as to occupations are on the whole reliable. There was in the first place little room for deception, since the occupations of
Negroes are so limited that a false or indefinite answer was easily revealed by a little judicious probing; moreover there was little disposi tion to deceive, for the Negroes are very anxious to have their limited
opportunities for employment known; thus the motives of pride and
complaint balanced each other fairly well. Some error of course remains: the number of servants and day workers is slightly under
stated; the number of caterers and men with trades is somewhat
exaggerated by the answers of men with two occupations: e.g.,* waiter with a small side business of catering returns himself as caterer; a
carpenter who gets little work and makes his living largely as a laborer is sometimes returned as a carpenter, etc. In the main the errors are
small and of little consequence.
ioo The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
Of the men twenty-one years of age and over, there were in gainful occupations, the following :
In the learned professions 61 2.0 per cent.
Conducting business on their own ac count 207 6.5
"
In the skilled trades 236 7.0 "
Clerks, etc 159 5o <f
Laborers, better class 602
Laborers, common class 852 1454 45.0
Servants 1079 34.0 "
Miscellaneous n .5 u
3207 ioo per cent.
Total male population, 21 and over sSso. 8
2 A more detailed list of the occupations of male Negroes, twenty-one years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as follows:
Entrepreneurs.
Caterers 65 Employment Agents . . . . 3 Hucksters 37 Lodging House Keepers ... 3 Proprietors Hotels and Restau- Proprietors of Pool Rooms . . 3
rants 22 Real Estate Agencies 3 Merchants: Fuel and Notions 22 Job Printers 3 Proprietors of Barber Shops . . 15 Builder and Contractor , ... j Expressmen owning outfit . . 14 Sub-landlord i Merchants, Cigar Stores ... 7 Milk Dealer I Merchants, Grocery Stores . . 4 Publisher , i
Proprietors of Undertaking Es- tablishments 2 207
In Learned Professions,
Clergymen .22 Dentists 3 Students 17 Editors i Teachers 7
Physicians . . , 6 61
Lawyers 5
In the Skilled Irades.
Barbers 64 Apprentice i
Cigar Makers 39 Boilermaker I Shoemakers 18 Blacksmith i Stationary Engineers 13 China Repairer ........ i Bricklayers n Cooper . . . , 4 i Printers 10 Cabinetmaker i
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 101
This shows that three-fourths of the male Negroes ten
years of age and over in gainful occupations are laborers and servants, while the remaining fourth is equally divided into three parts : one to the trades, one to small business
Painters , . , 10
Upholsterers 7
Carpenters 6 Bakers 4 Tailors 4 Undertakers 4 Brickmakers 3 Framemakers 3 Plasterers 3 Rubber Workers 3 Stone Cutters 3 Bookbinders 2
Candy Makers 2
Chiropodists 2
Ice Carvers 2
Photographers 2
Dyer i Furniture Polisher i
Gold Beater i Kalsominer I Locksmith
Laundryman (steam) Paper Hanger Roofer Tinsmith Wicker Worker Horse Trainer Chemist Florist . i
Pilot i
236
Clerks^ Semi-Professional and Responsible Workers.
Messengers 33 Stewards 31 Musicians 20
Clerks 18
Agents 15 Clerks in Public Service ... 8 Managers and Foremen .... 6 Actors 6
Bartenders 5
Servants.
Domestics 582 Nurses .
Hotel Help 457 Public Waiters 38
Laborers (Select Class}.
Policemen 5 Sextons 4
Shipping Clerks 3
Dancing Masters 3 Inspector in Factory . , . . i
Cashier i
159
. 2
1079
164 China Packers 14Stevedores Teamsters *34
Janitors 94 Drivers . . .
Hod Carriers 79 Oyster Openers Hostlers 44
Elevator Men 22 Sailors 21
Watchmen 14 12
..... 4
602
IO2 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX*
enterprises, and one to professional men, clerks and miscel laneous employments.
Turning now to the females, ten to twenty years of age, we have :
Housewives ............. 38 4.5 per cent. At work 3 .............. 289 36.5 " At school ............. 333 42.0 " At home, unoccupied, etc....... 133 17.0 "
Total female population 10-20 . . . 793 100 per cent.
Of the 289 at work there were :
In domestic service ......... 211 73.0 per cent. Doing day's work .......... 32 n.o " Dressmakers and seamstresses ..... 16 5.5 " Servants in public places ...... 12 4.3 " Apprentices ..... * ..... 6 Musicians ............ 4 Teachers ............. 3 Clerks .............. 2 Actresses ............. 2 Hairdressers ........... i
18 6.2
289 100 per cent.
Taking the occupations of women twenty-one years of age and over, we have :
Domestic servants .......... 1262 Housewives and day laborers .... 937 Housewives ............. 568 Day laborers, maids, etc....... 297
37.0 per cent.
27.0 "
17.0 "
9.0 "
Laborers (Ordinary). Common Laborers ...... 493 Casual Laborers ....... 12 Porters ........... 274 Miscellaneous Laborers .... 4 Laborers for City ...... 47 _ Bootblacks ......... 22 852
Miscellaneous.
Rag Pickers ......... 6 Prize Fighter ........ I "Politicians" ... ..... 2 _ Root Doctors - ....... 2 u
8 This includes 12 housewives who also work.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 103
In skilled trades . . . . 221 6.0 per cent. Conducting businesses 63 2.0
"
Clerks, etc 40 i.o "
Learned professions 37 i.o "
3425 100 per cent. Total female population 21 and over 3740. *
Leaving out housewives who do no outside work and scheduling all women over twenty-one who have gainful occupations, we have :
4 A more detailed list of the occupations of female Negroes, twenty-one years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as follows :
Entrepreneurs. Caterers 18 Undertakers 3 Restaurant Keepers 17 Child-Nursery Keepers .... 3 Merchants 17 Employment Agents 5 63
Learned Professions. Teachers 22 Students 7 Trained Nurses 8
37 Skilled Trades.
Dressmakers 204 Manicure i Hairdressers 6 Barber I
Milliners 3 Typesetter i
Shrouders of Dead 4 Apprentice i 221
Clerks^ Semi-Professional and Responsible Workers.
Musicians 12 Matrons 2
Clerks 10 Actress i
Stewardesses 4 Missionary I
Housekeepers 4
Agents 3 4
Stenographers 3
Laborers, etc.
Housewives and Day Workers . 937 Janitresses 22
Day Workers 128 Factory Employe I Public Cooks 72 Office Maids 12
Seamstresses 48 Waitresses in Restaurants, etc. 14 1234
Servants.
Domestic Servants 1262
104 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
Professions 37
Working on own account 63 In trades 221
Clerks and agents, etc. 40
Day workers, janitresses, seamstresses, cooks, etc 1234 Servants 1262
2857
The following tables gather up all these statistics and
give full returns with distinctions of age and sex :
OCCUPATIONS FEMALES, TEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER. SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 105
OCCUPATIONS MAI,ES, TEN TO TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
OCCUPATIONS MALES, TWENTY-ONE YEARS AND OVER. SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
io6 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
OCCUPATIONS Continued.
* Intermarried white man.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 107
OCCUPATIONS Continued.
L,et us now glance at the occupations as a whole : of the
9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 1212 are children nine
years of age or less. Of the remaining 8463 there are :
io8 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
At work 6,6ro In school 609 Housewives 568 Known criminals 1 16 Unoccupied, at home, defective, unknown, etc 560
8,463
Tlie 6610 at work are distributed as follows :
Professions 101
Working on own account 268 In trades 492 Clerks, semi-professional and responsible workers .... 216 Laborers (select) 778 Laborers (ordinary) 2,111 Servants 2,644
6,610
We can grasp the true meaning of these figures only by comparing the distribution of occupations among the Negroes with that of the total population of the city ; for this purpose we must redistribute the occupations accord ing to the simpler, but in many respects unsatisfactory, divisions of the United States census. We then have :
Total population over TO . . . . Number in gainful occupations . Per cent in gainful occupations .
Whole Population of Philadelphia,
1890.
Number.
847,283 466,791
55-1
Negroes of Seventh Ward,
1896.
Number.
8,463 6,611
78
Per Cent.
Engaged in agriculture Engaged in professional service . . . Engaged in domestic and personal
service
Engaged in trade and transportation Engaged in manufacturing and me chanical industries
6,497 19,438
106,129 115,462
219*265
1.5
4-2
22.7 24.7
46.9
ii
130*
4,889 1, 006
541
.2
2.0
74-3 15-3
8.2
*Omitting 24 students 21 years of age and over.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.
Illustrated graphically, this is :
A
109
WHOLE POPULATION OF PHILA.
NEGROES OF 7TRWARD
Comparing the whole population with the Negroes of the Seventh Ward by sex, we have :
1.9
3.9
173
29.5
47.4
TOTAL MALES OF ALL COLORS.
MALE NEGROES 7T WARD
mow
iECHANICAL INDUSTRIES
2J5%
61.5%
7.7
4.8
37.9
11.4
45B
TOTAL FEMALES OF ALL COLORS.
FEMALE NEGROES 7T? WARD
TRA|DE *|TRAN5PORTAT1ON
ECHANICAL INDUSTRIES
In these statistics and tables we have first to notice the
large proportion of these people who work for a living ; taking the population ten years of age and over, and we have 78 per cent for the Negroes of the Seventh Ward, and 55.1 per cent for the whole city, white and colored. This is an indication of an absence of accumulated wealth,
no The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
arising- from poverty and low wages; the general causes of
poverty are largely historical and well known ; to appre ciate the cause of low wages, we have only to see the few occupations to which the Negroes are practically limited, and imagine the competition that must ensue. This is true among the men, and especially true among the women, where the limitation is greatest. All the forces that are impelling white women to become bread winners, are emphasized in the case of Negro women : their chances of marriage are decreased by the low wages of the men and the large excess of their own sex in the great cities
; they must work, and if there are few chances open they must suffer from competition in wages. Among the men low wages means either enforced celibacy or irregular and often dissipated lives, or homes where the wife and mother must also be a bread-winner. Statistics curiously illustrate this
; 16.3 per cent of the native white women
THE WORKING POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA, 1890.
of native parents and of all ages, in Philadelphia are bread winners
;
5 their occupations are restricted, and there is
great competition ; yet among Negro women, where the
5 A better comparison here would be made by finding the percentages of the population above 10 years of age ; statistics unfortunately are not available for this.
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. in
restriction in occupation reaches its greatest limit, never
theless 43 per cent are bread-winners, and their wages are
at the lowest point in all cases save in some lines of domes
tic service where custom holds them at certain figures ; even here, however, the tendency is downward.
The causes of this peculiar restriction in employment of
Negroes are twofold: first, the lack of training and
experience among Negroes ; second, the prejudice of the whites. The first is to be expected in some degree, although undoubtedly carelessness and culpable inefficiency have
played their part. The second cause will be discussed at
length, later. One point, however, needs mention : the
peculiar distribution of employments among whites and
Negroes makes the great middle class of white people seldom, if ever, brought into contact with Negroes may not this be a cause as well as an effect of prejudice?
Another noticeable fact is the absence of child-labor ; this is not voluntary on the part of the Negroes, but due to
restricted opportunity ; there is really very little that Negro children may do. Their chief employment, therefore, is found in helping about the house while the mother is at
work. Thus those children scheduled as at home repre sent child-labor in many cases.
23. Occupations in the City. Turning from the more
detailed study of the Seventh Ward, let us glance in a
general way over the occupations of Negroes in the city at
large. The Professions. The learned professions are represented
among Negroes by clergymen, teachers, physicians, lawyers and dentists, in the order named. Practically all Negroes
go to their own churches, where they have, save in a very few cases, clergymen of their own race. There are not less than sixty Negro ministers in the city (possibly a hundred)
mostly Methodists and Baptists, with three or four Presby terians and two Episcopalians. The Presbyterian and
Episcopalian clergymen are well trained and educated men
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in nearly every case. The ministers of the African Metho dists vary ; those in charge of the larger churches are all men of striking personality, with genius for leadership and
organization in some lines, and in some cases, though not in all, they are well-educated men. Practically none of them are illiterate. The Baptist ministers are not on the whole so well trained as the Methodists, although some are well-educated.
Taken on the average the Negro ministers of -the city are
good representatives of the masses of the Negroes. They are largely chosen by the masses, must cater to their
tastes, and must in every way be men whom the rank and file of the race like and understand. Sometimes a strong personality, like the late Theodore Miller, will take a church and lift it to a high level ; usually the minister rather follows than leads, and indicates public opinion among his people rather than forms it The Baptist min ister is the elected chairman of a pure democracy, who, if he can command a large enough following, becomes a virtual dictator
; he thus has the chance to be a wise leader
or a demagogue, or, as in many cases, a little of both. The Methodist minister is the appointed steward of a large cor
poration, of which his particular church is a small part. His success depends upon the way in which he conducts this church : his financial success, his efforts to increase church membership and his personal popularity. The result is that the colored Methodist minister is generally a wide-awake business man, with something of the politician in his make-up, who is sometimes an inspiring and valuable leader of men; in other cases he may develop into a loud but wily talker, who induces the mass of Negroes to put into fine church edifices money which ought to go to charity or business enterprise.
Ministers receive from $250 a year, in small missions, to
$1500 in three or four of the largest churches. The aver age would be between $600 and $1000.
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City.
Next to the clergymen come the teachers, of whom there are about forty in the city :
These teachers are in nearly every case well equipped and have made good records. Save in the kindergartens, or in one or more temporary cases, they teach Negro chil dren exclusively. The public school teachers receive the same pay as the white teachers.
6
The Negro physician is to-day just beginning to reap the reward of a long series of attempts and failures. At first thought it would seem natural for Negroes to patronize Negro merchants, lawyers and physicians, from a sense of
pride and as a protest against race feeling among whites. When, however, we come to think further, we can see many hindrances. If a child is sick, the father wants a good physician ; he knows plenty of good white physicians ; he knows nothing of the skill of the black doctor, for the black doctor has had no opportunity to exercise his skill.
Consequently for many years the colored physician had to sit idly by and see the 40,000 Negroes healed principally by white practitioners. To-day this has largely changed, and principally through the efforts of the younger class of
doctors, who have spared no pains to equip themselves at the best schools of the country. The result is that fully half the Negroes employ Negro physicians, and to a small extent these physicians practice among the whites. There
6 This has been the case only in comparatively recent times.
Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
are still many of the old class of root doctors and patent medicine quacks with a lucrative trade among Negroes.
7
Of reputable Negro physicians there are in the city about
fifteen, graduated as follows :
University of Pennsylvania 5 Hahnemann (Homeopathic) 2 Women's Medical 2
Medico-Chirurgical I
Harvard I
University of Michigan I
Howard 2
14
Seven of these have good-sized practice, running from
$1500 a year to $3000 or more. Five others have practi
cally just commenced to get practice and are doing fairly well. The other two have outside work and have a limited
practice. There are many medical students in the city, and this field is the most attractive open to the Negro among the learned professions.
In contrast to the fair success of the Negro in medicine is his partial failure in law. There are at present about ten
practicing Negro lawyers in the city, graduated as follows :
Howard 3 University of Pennsylvania 4 Unknown - 3
Two of these are fairly successful practitioners well versed in law, with some experience, and a small but steady practice. Three others are with difficulty earning a living at criminal practice in police cases ; and the rest are
having little or no practice. This failure of most Negro lawyers is not in all cases due to lack of ability and push on their part. Its principal cause is that the Negroes furnish
little lucrative law business, and a Negro lawyer will seldom be employed by whites. Moreover, while the work of a
physician is largely private, depending on individual skill,
7 Negroes also buy immense quantities of patent medicines, etc.
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 115
a lawyer must have co-operation from fellow lawyers and
respect and influence in court ; thus prejudice or discrimi
nation of any kind is especially felt in this profession. For
these reasons Negro lawyers are for the most part confined
to petty criminal practice and seldom get a chance to show their ability.
There are three Negro dentists, two being graduated from first-class institutions and enjoying good practice. On the whole, the professional class of Negroes is cred
itable to the race. The teachers and physicians would bear
comparison with any race ; the ranks of the clergy are
overcrowded and they present all degrees, from excellent
and well-trained spiritual guides to blatant demagogues ; the lawyers have little chance to show themselves.
The Entrepreneur The number of individual under takers of business enterprise among Negroes is small but
growing. Let us first take the Seventh Ward alone and
glance over the field. There are in this ward twenty-three establishments for meals and other entertainment, varying from a small one-room restaurant to a twenty-room hotel ;
some of these on Lombard and South streets have capacious
dining-rooms with twenty or more tables ; some are little
dark places with two or three dubious looking stands. In
length of establishment they vary : eight had in 1896 been
running a year or less ; four, two years ; two, three years ;
four, from four to eight years. They represent investments
varying from $40 to $1500, and employ beside the pro
prietors between fifty and one hundred persons according to the season.
There are in the Seventh Ward twenty-three barber
shops varying from two months to forty years in length of
establishment ; eight are from three to five years old, five
over ten years old. They employ beside the proprietors from twenty to forty journeymen more or less regularly* A shop represents an investment varying from $50 to '$250 or more. The Negro as a barber is rapidly losing ground
u6 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in the city. It is difficult to say why this has occurred, but there are several contributory reasons : first the calling was for so long an almost exclusively Negro calling that it came in for a degree of the contempt and ridicule poured on Negroes in general ; it therefore grew very unpopular among Negroes, and apprentices became very scarce. To day one would have to look a long time among young and aspiring Negroes to find one who would willingly become a barber it smacks perhaps a little too much of domestic service, and is a thing to fall back upon but not to aspire to. In the second place the business became unpopular with Negroes because it compels them to draw a color line. No first-class Negro barber would dare shave his own brother in his shop in Philadelphia on account of the color
prejudice. This is peculiarly galling and has led to much criticism and unpopularity for certain leading barbers
among their own people. These two reasons led to a lack of interest and enterprise in the business for a long time and it needed but one movement to hasten the collapse, that is, competition. The competition of German and Italian barbers furnished the last and most potent reason for the withdrawal of the Negro ; they were skilled work men, while skilled Negro barbers were becoming scarce \ they cut down the customary prices and some of them found business co-operation and encouragement which
Negroes could not hope for. For these reasons the business is slipping from the Negro. This is undoubtedly a calamity and unless the Negro in spite of sentiment awakens in time he will find a lucrative employment gone and nothing in its place. Already a white labor union movement is beginning to crowd the Negro, to ask for legislation which will strike him most forcibly and in other ways to bring organized endeavor to bear upon disorganized apathy. The Seventh Ward has thirteen small Negro grocery
stores. They are mostly new ventures, eight being less than a year old ; four, one to five years old, and one fifteen
Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 117
years old. Two are co-operative enterprises but have had no great success. All of these stores with two or three
exceptions are really experiments and most of them will soon go to the wall and their places be taken by others. The six smaller shops represent investments of $25 to $50 ; two have $50 and $100 invested ; three between $100 and $200, and one from $500 to $1000. The ambition of the middle class of Negroes lies in this direction and their endeavors are laudable. In another age of industrial
development they would have already constituted them selves a growing class of small tradesmen ; but to-day the
department store and stock-company make the competition too great for people with so little commercial training and instinct. Nevertheless the number of Negro groceries will
undoubtedly grow considerably in the next decade. Next come fourteen cigar stores representing a total
investment of $1000 to $1500 mostly in sums of $25, $50 and $100. These stores have been established as follows :
one year or less, six ; two years, four ; three to sixteen years, four. They sell cigars and tobacco, and daily papers; some also rent bicycles, or have a boot-blacking stand or pool room attached. One of the proprietors conducts, beside his
cigar store, three barber shops and a restaurant, and
employs twenty people. Some of these stores are finely equipped. This business is new for Negroes and growing ; a few women have ventured into it, and thus in some cases it furnishes a side occupation for wives.
There are four candy and notion shops established
respectively five months, six months, one year and three
years, and each representing an investment of $10 to $100.
They are in most cases in the hands of women and do a small business. There are also numberless places for selling fuel of all kinds, of which about thirteen rise to the dignity of shops. They represent small investments. Three retail liquor shops and one bottling establishment
are conducted by colored people, representing considerable
n8 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX,
investments. Two of the saloons are old and well con ducted, and financially successful. The other saloon and the bottling establishment are not very successful.
Four large employment agencies and some smaller ones are situated in the ward. They conduct lodging houses and in some cases boarding houses in connection. One is sixteen years old ; all hire clerks. Their business is to act as agents for persons desiring servants, and to guide unemployed persons to situations ; for this
they charge a percentage or fixed sum out of the wages. They also often serve as homes for unemployed servants, giving them board and lodging, sometimes on credit. Their work is thus useful and lucrative when properly conducted as in two or three establishments. In one or two others, however, there is some suspicion of unfair
dealing ; servants are attracted from the South by catchy advertisements and personal letters, only to find themselves
eventually penniless and out of work in a large city. 8
Questionable acquaintanceships are also made at the agencies at times, which lead to ruin. These agencies need strict regulation. There are four undertaking establishments, two of which
are conducted by women. They represent investments of $iooo-$io,ooo and two of them do a business which proba bly aggregates $8000 or more annually in each case. They are all old establishments six to thirty-three years and in no branch of business, save one, has the Negro evinced so much push, taste and enterprise. Two of the establish ments will, in equipment, compare favorably with the white businesses in the city ; indeed, in fair competition they have gained the great bulk of Negro and some white patronage from white competitors. Three bakeries, established two and three years respect-
8 In Norfolk, Va., I once saw the advertisement on a street sign calling for colored "clerks, saleswomen, stenographers/' etc., for Northern cities!
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 119
ively are having moderate success. Six printing offices established, one, six months, the others four to seven years, do job work on small presses; two publish weekly papers. These shops are fairly successful and get considerable work from the colored people. One dressmaker has a shop with $150 invested; another runs a dressmaking school.
Four upholsterers have shops, old and well established, and all do a good business ; in two cases the business amounts to two to five thousand a year. One sells antique furniture also.
There are a large number of caterers in the ward eighty- three9 in all. Most of these, however, do a small busi ness, and in some cases have other work also for at least a part of the year. Of the principal.caterers there are about ten, of whom the doyen was the late Andrew F. Stevens. 10 These ten caterers do a large business, amounting in some cases probably to $3000 to $5000 a year. They have a small co-operative store on Thirteenth street, with a considerable stock of dishes, and such things as olives, pickles, etc. This is conducted by a manager and has one hundred or more members. There is also a caterers' association, which is really a trades union. Its club room serves as a clearing house for business and the employment of waiters. This has been running ten years. The catering business presents many interesting phases to the economist and sociologist. Undoubtedly the pre-eminence of Negroes in this business has declined since the Augustins, Jones and Dorsey passed. Negro caterers are still prominent, but they do not
by any means dominate the field, as then. The chief reason for this is the change that has come over American
9 This total includes a large number of men and women who do some private catering, but for the most part work under other caterers; strictly a large part of them are waiters rather than caterers.
10 Mr. Stevens died in 1898 he was an honest, reliable, business man of pleasant address, and universally respected. He was easily the successor of Dorsey, Jones and Minton in the catering business.
120 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
fashionable society in the last twenty-five years, and the
application of large capital to the catering business.
Philadelphia society is no longer a local affair, but receives its cue as to propriety and fashion from New York, Lon don and Paris
; consequently the local caterers can no
longer dictate fashion for any single American city ; more than this, demands have so risen with increasing wealth that catering establishments like Delmonico's, which would
keep in the front rank, represent a large investment of
capital investments far beyond the power of the local
Negro caterers of Philadelphia. Thus we find a large business built up by talent and tact, meeting with changed social conditions
; the business must therefore change too.
It is the old development from the small to the large industry, from the house-industry to the concentrated
industry, from the private dining room to the palatial hotel. If the Negro caterers of Philadelphia had been white, some of them would have been put in charge of a large hotel, or would have become co-partners in some large restaurant business, for which capitalists furnished funds, For such business co-operation, however, the time was not
ripe, and perhaps only a few of the best Negro caterers would have been capable of entering into it with success. As it was, the change in fashion and mode of business changed the methods of the Negro caterers and their clientele. They began to serve the middle class instead of the rich and exclusive, their prices had to become more reasonable, and their efforts to excel had consequently fewer incentives. Moreover, they now came into sharp competi tion with a class of small white caterers, who, if they were worse cooks, were better trained in the tricks of the trade. Then, too, with this new and large clientele that per sonal relationship between the caterer and those served was broken up, and a larger place for color prejudice was made.
It is thus plain that a curious economic revolution in one industry has gone on during twenty-nine years, not
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 131
unaccompanied by grave social problems. In this case the Negro has emerged in better condition and has shown more capacity for hand-to-hand economic encounter than, for instance, in the barbering business. Yethe has not emerged unscathed
; in every such battle, when a Negro is fighting
for an economic advantage, there is ever a widespread feeling among all his neighbors that it is inexpedient to allow this class to became wealthy or even well-to-do. Consequently the battle always becomes an Athanasius contra mundum, where almost unconsciously the whole countenance and aid of the community is thrown against the Negro. The three Negro cemetery companies of the city have
their headquarters in the Seventh Ward. They arose from the curious prejudice of the whites against allowing Negroes to be buried near their dead. The companies hold valuable property and are fairly well conducted.
u
There are several expressmen in the ward owning their own outfits
; one has been established twenty-five years ;
he has three or four wagons and hires four or five men regularly. There was in 1896 a hardware and furniture business forty-seven years old, on South street, but the
proprietor, Robert Adger, has since died. 12 There are
11 When tlie caterer Henry Jones died his funeral procession was actually turned back from the cemetery by the refusal of the authorities of Mt Moriah Cemetery to allow him interment there; he had before his death bought and paid for a lot in the cemetery and the Supreme Court eventually confirmed his title. To-day this absurd prejudice is not so strong and Negroes own lots in the Episcopal Cemetery of St. James the Less and in perhaps one other.
12 The following clipping from the Philadelphia Ledger, Novembers, 1896, illustrates a typical life: " Robert Adger, a colored Abolitionist, died on Saturday, at his home,
835 South street. He was born a slave, in Charleston, S. C., in 1813. His mother, who was born in New York, went to South Carolina about 1810, with some of her relatives, and while there was detained as a slave. "When his master died, Mr. Adger, together with his mother and other
members of the family, were sold at auction, but, through the assistance
122 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
several bicycle shops, a flourishing milk, butter and egg store, a china repairing shop, of long standing; a hair goods store, a rubber goods repairing shop, seventeen years old; a second-hand stove store and two patent medicine shops. To test the accuracy of these statistics and to note
changes, a second visit was made in this ward in 1897, with this result :
NEGRO BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS, SEVENTH WARD, 1896-97.
Such small businesses represent the efforts of a class of
poor people to save capital. 1*
They are all alike hindered by three great drawbacks: First, the Negro never was trained for business and can get no training now ; it is very seldom that a Negro boy or girl can on any terms get a
of friends, legal proceedings were instituted, and their release finally secured. Mr. Adger then came to this city about 1845, and secured a position as a waiter in the old Merchants* Hotel. Later he was employed as a nurse, and while working in that capacity, saved enough money to start in the furniture business on South street, above Eighth, which he continued to conduct with success until his death. Mr. Adger always took an active interest in the welfare of the people of his race."
13 One enterprising capitalist hires and sub-rents eight different houses with, furnished apartments, paying $1944 annually in rent; he has a bicycle shop which brings in $1000 a year for an expen se of about $330. He also owns a barber shop which brings in about $1000 a year; one-half the gross receipts of this he pays to a foreman, who pays his journeymen barbers; the owner pays foj rent and material.
" If I had an education/' he said, " I could get on better."
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City.
position in a store or other business establishment where he can learn the technique of the work or general business methods. Second, Negro merchants are so rare that it is natural for customers, both white and colored, to take it for
granted that their business is poorly conducted without
giving it a trial. 14
Third, the Negroes are unused to co-operation with their own people and the process of learning it is long and tedious. Hitherto, their economic activities have been directed almost entirely to the satis faction of wants of the upper classes of white people, and, too, of personal and household wants ; they are just begin- ing to realize that within their own group there is a vast field for development in economic activity. The 40,000 Negroes of Philadelphia need food, clothes, shoes, hats and
furniture; these by proper thrift they see ought to be in part supplied by themselves, and the little business ventures we have noticed are attempts in this direction. These
attempts would, however, be vastly more successful in another economic age. To-day, as before noted, the appli cation of large capital to the retail business, the gathering of workmen into factories, the wonderful success of trained talent in catering to the whims and taste of customers almost precludes the effective competition of the small store. Thus the economic condition of the day militates largely against the Negro ; it requires more skill and ex
perience to run a small store than formerly and the large store and factory are virtually closed to him on any terms. Turning now to the other wards of the city let us notice
some of the chief business ventures of the Negroes. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is representative :
14 Several storekeepers have had white persons enter the store, look at the proprietors and say
" Oh ! I er made a mistake," and go out.
124 The Occupations of Negroes. [ Chap. IX.
Ward. Character of Business. No. Estab lishments.
Second. Harness shop
Third. Grocery stores 3 Barber shop i
Fourth. Barbershops 5 Second-hand clothing i Second-hand furniture i Coal and wood shops 4 Newspaper i Restaurants
|
10 Hair goods and dressmaking I Expressmen ^ 5 Decorating and paper-hanging i Job printer i Shoe repair shops 3 Candy store (manufacture) I Cigar stores . 2
Crockery store I i Second-hand stoves ! i
Fifth. Barber shops j 7 Pool-room
j
i
Shoeblacking shop j
r
Restaurants j
8 Undertaker I Fuel and notions 2 Cigar store x
Publishing house (books and papers) - | I Blacksmith and wheelwright I
Eighth. Florist i Watch repairer Newspaper and job printing ........ | i Undertaker ! I Hotel and liquor saloon
j
i
Barber shops j
9 Upholsterers i 2
Rag warehouse i Restaurants 5 Fuel and newspaper shop I Grocery store ! I Cigar stores
j
2
Employment bureau j i Hair dresser for ladies I
Fourteenth. Barber j
i
Grocery store i i Upholsterer
j
i
Dealer in mineral water i Second-hand furniture store ..... ...j i Fuel and candy store
|
i
Restaurants ! 2
Twentieth. Tailor shop i Shoe-repairing shop i Barbershops
'
2
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City.
Ward. Character of Business. No. lishments.
Twenty- Real estate agent i seventh. Meat dealer (wholesale) I
Fifteenth Carpet cleaning works i and Meat and provisions i
Twenty-ninth. Barber shopsand various small establishments 20
Twenty-sixth Second-hand stoves i and Cigar store I
Thirtieth. Barber shops 2 Expressman j Second-hand furniture . i Upholsterer i Grocery store I Milk and ice shop I Job printing i Restaurant i
Twenty-second. Restaurant and lodging house i Grocery stores 2 Barbers 2 Upholsterer i Expressman i Steam laundry i i
The most important omissions here are barber shops, on account of the large number, caterers, because their head
quarters are mainly in private houses, and many small stores which are easily overlooked and which quickly come and disappear. Some of the businesses are large and im
portant : Three or four caterers do a business of several thousand dollars per year ; the well-known Chestnut street
florist does a flourishing and well conducted business ; 15
the undertaker in the Eighth Ward and the real estate dealer in the Twenty-seventh are unusually successful in
their lines. The crockery store in the Fourth Ward is neat and tasty. The three largest enterprises are the pro vision and wholesale meat businesses in the Fifteenth Ward, and the carpet cleaning works. It is reported that the
business of each of these approaches $10,000 a year.
15 Here was a case where some persons sought to drive an enterprising and talented Negro out of business simply because he was colored. A Chestnut street property owner made a special effort to give him a start and now he conducts a business of which no merchant need be ashamed.
126 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
There are five weekly newspapers and a quarterly maga zine published in the city by Negroes. Two of the papers are denominational organs for churches ; another paper is
the official organ of the Odd Fellows ; the fourth and fifth are local news sheets. The quarterly is published by the A. M. E. Church. These papers are fairly successful, and
are considerably read and reflect the general public opinion
pretty well. Most of them have been very weak editorially, though there are some signs of improvement, especially in the case of the quarterly. The publishing house does a business of $15,000 a year.
The Trades, The practical exclusion of the Negro from the trades and industries of a great city like Phila
delphia is a situation by no means easy to explain. It is
often said simply: the foreigners and trades unions have
crowded Negroes out on account of race prejudice and left
employers and philanthropists helpless in the matter. This
is not strictly true. What the trades unions and white workmen have done is to seize an economic advantage plainly offered them. This opportunity arose from three
causes : Here was a mass of black workmen of whom very few were by previous training fitted to become the mechanics and artisans of a new industrial development ; here, too, were an increasing mass of foreigners and native Americans who were unusually well fitted to take part in the new industries
; finally, most people were willing and
many eager that Negroes should be kept as menial servants rather than develop into industrial factors. This was the situation, and here was the opportunity for the white workmen
; they were by previous training better workmen on the average than Negroes; they were stronger numer ically and the result was that every new industrial enter
prise started in the city took white workmen. Soon the white workmen were strong enough to go a step further than this and practically prohibit Negroes from entering trades under any circumstances ; this affected not only new
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 127
enterprises, but also old trades like carpentering, masonry,
plastering and the like. The supply of Negroes for such trades could not keep pace with the extraordinary growth of the city and a large number of white workmen entered the field. They immediately combined against Negroes primarily to raise wages ; the standard of living of the
Negroes lets them accept low wages, and, conversely, long necessity of accepting the meagre wages offered have made a low standard of living. Thus partially by taking advantage of race prejudice, partially by greater economic
efficiency and partially by the endeavor to maintain and raise wages, white workmen have not only monopolized the new industrial opportunities of an age which has transformed Philadelphia from a colonial town to a world-
city, but have also been enabled to take from the Negro workman the opportunities he already enjoyed in certain lines of work.
If now a benevolent despot had seen the development, he would immediately have sought to remedy the real
weakness of the Negro's position, i. <?., his lack of train
ing; and he would have swept away any discrimination
that compelled men to support as criminals those who
might support themselves as workmen.
He would have made special effort to train Negro boys for industrial life and given them a chance to compete on
equal terms with the best white workmen ; arguing that in the long run this would be best for all concerned, since
by raising the skill and standard of living of the Negroes hewould make them effective workmen and competitors who would maintain a decent level of wages. He would have
sternly suppressed organized or covert opposition to Negro workmen. There was, however, no benevolent despot, no philan
thropist, no far-seeing captain of industry to prevent the
Negro from losing even the skill he had learned or to inspire
him by opportunities to learn more. As the older Negroes
128 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
with trades dropped off, there was little to induce younger men to succeed them. On the contrary special effort was made not to train Negroes for industry or to allow them to
enter on such a career. Consequently they gradually slipped
out of industrial life until in 1890 when the Negroes formed
4 per cent of the population, only i.i per cent of 134,709
men in the principal trades of the city were Negroes ; of
46,200 women in these trades 1.3 per cent were Negroes ; or taking men and women together, 2160 or 1.19 per cent of all were Negroes. This does not, however, tell the
whole story, for of this 2160, the barbers, brickmakers, and dressmakers formed 1434. In the Seventh Ward the number in the trades is much larger than the proportion in the city, but here again they are confined to a few
tmdes barbers, dressmakers, cigarmakers and shoemakers. How now has this exclusion been maintained? In
some cases by the actual inclusion of the word " white "
among qualifications for entrance into certain trade unions. More often, however, by leaving the matter of color
entirely to local bodies, who make no general rule, but
invariably fail to admit a colored applicant except under
pressing circumstances. This is the most workable system and is adopted by nearly all trade unions. In sections
where Negro labor in certain trades is competent and con
siderable, the trades union welcomes them, as in Western
Pennsylvania among miners and iron-workers, and in
Philadelphia among cigarmakers ; but whenever there is a trade where good Negro workmen are comparatively scarce each union steadfastly refuses to admit Negroes, and
relies on color prejudice to keep up the barrier. Thus the
carpenters, masons, painters, iron-workers, etc., have suc
ceeded in keeping out nearly all Negro workmen by simply declining to work with non-union men and refusing to let colored men join the union. Sometimes, in time of strikes, the unions are compelled in self-defence not
only to allow Negroes to join but to solicit them; this
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 129
happened, for instance, in the stone-cutters' strike some
years ago. To repeat, then, the real motives back of this exclusion
are plain : a large part is simple race prejudice, always
strong in working classes and intensified by the peculiar
history of the Negro in this country. Another part, however, and possibly a more potent part, is the natural
spirit of monopoly and the desire to keep up wages. So
long as a cry against " Irish " or " foreigners
" was able to
marshal race prejudice in the service of those who desired to keep those people out of some employments, that cry was sedulously used. So to-day the workmen plainly see that a large amount of competition can be shut off by
taking advantage of public opinion and drawing the color
line. Moreover, in this there is one thoroughly justifiable consideration that plays a great part : namely, the Negroes are used to low wages can live on them, and consequently would fight less fiercely than most whites against reduc
tion.
The employers in this matter are not altogether blame less. Their objects in conducting business are not, of
course, wholly philanthropic, and yet, as a class, they rep resent the best average intelligence and morality of the
community. A firm stand by some of them for common human right might save the city something in taxes for the suppression of crime and vice. There came some time
since to the Midvale Steel Works a manager whom many dubbed a " crank ;" he had a theory that Negroes and
whites could work together as mechanics without friction
or trouble. 16 In spite of some protest he put his theory into
practice, and to-day any one can see Negro mechanics
working in the same gangs with white mechanics with
out disturbance. A few other cases on a smaller scale
18 The large steel manufactory known as the *' Midvale Steel Works "
is located at Nicetown, near Germantown, in Philadelphia County. This
130 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
have occurred throughout the city. In general, however, the black mechanic who seeks work from a mill owner, or a contractor, or a capitalist is told :
" I have no feeling in
the matter, but my men will not work with you." Without doubt, in many cases, the employer is really powerless ; in many other cases he is not powerless, but is willing to appear so. The Negroes of the city who have trades either give
them up and hire out as waiters or laborers, or they become job workmen and floating hands, catching a bit of carpen tering here or a little brick-work or plastering there at
reduced wages. Undoubtedly much blame can rightly be laid at the door of Negroes for submitting rather tamely to this organized opposition. If they would meet organization with organization and excellence of work by excellence,
establishment was visited by the writer, and the manager of the estab lishment interviewed as to the success of the experiment made by him in employing Negroes as workmen along with whites.
About 1 200 men are employed altogether, and fully 200 of these are Negroes. About 40 per cent of the whole number of employes are American-born, but generally of Irish, English or German parentage. The remaining 43 per cent are foreign-born, chiefly English, Irish and German, with a few Swedes.
" Our object in putting Negroes on the force,'' said the manager," was twofold. First, we believed them to be good workmen ; secondly, we thought they could be used to get over one difficulty we had experi enced at Midvale, namely, the clannish spirit of the workmen and a tendency to form cliques. In steel manufacture much of the work is done with large tools run by gangs of men; the work was crippled by the different foremen trying always to have the men in their gang all of their own nationality. The English foreman of a hammer gang, for instance, would want only Englishmen, and the Irish Catholics only Irishmen. This was not good for the works, nor did it promote friend liness among the workmen. So we began bringing in Negroes and placing them on different gangs, and at the same time we distributed the other nationalities. Now our gangs have, say, one Negro, one or two Americans, an Englishman, etc. The result has been favorable both for the men and for the works. Things run smoothly, and the output is noticeably greater.
"
The manager was especially questioned about the grade of work done by Negroes and their efficiency as skilled workmen. He said:
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 131
they could do much to win standing in the industries of the cities. This is to-day hard to begin, but it is worth the trying, and the Industrial Department of the Institute for Colored Youth, which the Negroes themselves helped equip, is a step in this direction.
Clerks, Semi-professional and Responsible Workers. Under this head has been grouped a miscellaneous mass of
occupations : clerks in public and private service, stewards, messengers, musicians, agents, managers and foremen, actors, policemen, etc., i. <?., that class of persons whose
position demands a degree of attainment in education, reliability, talent or skill. Here the number of Negroes is small, but they are nearly as well represented as in
trades an indication of a rather abnormal development. Of 46,393 men in this class of occupations in the city (i. e., policemen, watchmen, agents, commercial travelers, bankers
"They do all the grades of work done by the white workmen. Some of this work is of such a nature that it had been supposed that only very
intelligent English and American workmen could be trusted with it. We have 100 colored men doing that skilled work now, and they do it as well as any of the others."
As to wages, the manager said no discrimination was made between
Negroes and whites. They start as laborers at $1.20 a day and " we try
to treat them as individuals, not as a herd; they know that good work
gives them a chance for better work and better pay. Thus their ambition
is aroused; yesterday, for instance, four Negroes saved a furnace worth
$30,000. The furnace was full of molten steel, which had become
clogged, so that it could not be gotten out in the usual way. A number
of powerful men were required to open the side of the furnace. Four
colored men volunteered and saved the steel." With regard to the relations between white and black workmen the
manager said: f * We have had no trouble at all. The unions generally
hold potential strikes over their employers' heads to keep the Negro out
of employment. There has, however, been no strike in this establish
ment for seventeen years, and Negroes have been employed for the last
seven years." Finally the manager declared that according to his
belief the Negro
workman does not have half a. chance to show his ability. "He does
good work and betters his condition when he has any inducement to do
so > ISABEL BATON.
133 The Occupations of Negroes, [Chap. IX.
and brokers, bookkeepers, clerks and salesmen, and bar
keepers) 327, or seven-tenths of i per cent were Negroes ; if we add to this stewards, messengers, musicians, and clerks in government service, they form about i per cent of
those in the city. Nearly all the clerks and salesmen are to
be found in Negro stores, although there are a few excep tions.
CLERKS, SEMI-PROFESSIONAL AND RESPONSIBLE WORKERS IN PHILADELPHIA, 1890.
There are about sixty colored policemen on the force at
present, and the general impression seems to be that they make good average officers. They were first appointed to the police force by Mayor King in 1884. At first there was violent opposition, which would have been listened to
had it not been for political complications. The Negro policemen are put on duty mostly in or near the chief
Negro settlements and no one of them has yet been pro moted from the ranks. The number of Negroes in
government service is as follows :
Municipal departments n Custom House i Post-office 17
Navy yard , i
Beside these there are a number of messengers and
ordinary laborers. In many cases these clerks have made
very excellent records, as in the case of the discount clerk
in the tax office, who has held his position for many years, and is perhaps the most efficient clerk in the office ; or
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 133
again the Negro postmaster and employes in the post- office at Wanamaker's store who have been unusually successful in administrating the second largest sub-station
in the city. In a few cases certain Negroes have received
office through political influence and have been plainly unfitted for their work.
There are a few clerks in responsible positions one
employed by the Pennsylvania railway company, another
in a bank. Such cases, however, are rare. Laborers. The great mass of the men and a large per
centage of the women are manual laborers i. <?., teamsters, janitors, stevedores, hod-carriers, hostlers, elevator-men,
sailors, china-packers and night-watchmen. Their wages are usually :
Teamsters $i to $1.50 a day.
Janitors $30 to $60 a month.
Stevedores 2oc. to 300. an hour (irregular employment). Hod-carriers .... $1.50 to $2.50 a day (employed according to season). Hostlers $i6 to $30 a month.
Elevator-men . . . $16 to $25 a month.
Besides these there are the ordinary porters, errand
boys, newsboys and day-laborers, whose earnings vary
considerably, but usually are too small to support a family
without much help from wife and children. Stevedores, hod-carriers and day-laborers are especially liable to
irregular employment, which makes life hard for them
sometimes. The mass of the men are, save in the lower
grades, given average wages and meet their greatest diffi
culty in securing work. The competition in ordinary laboring work is severe in so crowded a city. The women
day-laborers are, on the whole, poorly paid, and meet fierce
competition in laundry work and cleaning. The most noticeable thing about the Negro laborers as
a whole is their uneven quality. There are some first-
class, capable and willing workers, who have held their
positions for years and give perfect satisfaction. On the
134 The Occiipations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
other hand, there are numbers of inefficient and unintelli
gent laborers on whom employers cannot rely and who are below average American labor in ability. This unevenness arises from two causes : the different training of the various groups of Negroes composing the city population ; some are the descendants of generations of free Negroes ; some of trained house-servants, long in close contact with their masters' families
; others are the sons
of field-hands, untouched and untrained by contact with civilized institutions : all this vast difference in preparation shows vast differences in results. The second reason lies in the increased competition within the group, and the
growing lack of incentive to good work, owing to the
difficulty of escaping from manual toil into higher and better paid callings ; the higher classes of white labor are
continually being incorporated into the skilled trades, or clerical workers, or other higher grades of labor. Some times this happens with Negroes but not often. The first- class ditcher can seldom become foreman of a gang ; the hod-carrier can seldom become a mason
; the porter
cannot have much hope of being a clerk, or the elevator- boy of becoming a salesman. Consequently we find the ranks of the laborers among Negroes filled to an unusual extent with disappointed men, with men who have lost the incentive to excel, and have become chronic grumblers and complainers, spreading this spirit further than it would
naturally go. At the same time this shutting of the natural outlet for ability means an increase of competition for ordinary work.
Without doubt there is not in Philadelphia enough work of the kind that the mass of Negroes can and may do, to employ at fair wages the laborers who at present desire work. The result of this must, of course, be disastrous, and give rise to many loafers, criminals, and casual labor ers. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in seasons when work is more plentiful, temporary
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 135
immigrations from the South swell the number of laborers abnormally ; every spring the tide of immigration sets in, consisting of brickmakers, teamsters, asphalt-workers, common laborers, etc., who work during the summer in the city and return to the cheaper living of Virginia and
Maryland for the winter. This makes the competition in summer close for Philadelphians, and often brings actual distress in winter. A pressing duty is to see that the opportunities for work in the city are not misrepresented, and to relieve congestion in some avenues by opening others to Negro labor. Nor would this be a boon simply for Negroes : the excessive competition of Negroes in
certain lines of work makes more suffering for their white
competitors than if that competition were less intense in
places and spread over a larger area. White hod-carriers and porters suffer greatly from competition, while other branches of labor are artificially protected an economic
injustice which might be remedied. Another custom that works much harm to all classes
and colors of laborers is the custom of working exclusively white or exclusively colored gangs of workmen. It is unjust to the Negro because it virtually closes the greater part of the field of labor against him, since his numbers are small
compared with the population of the city, and it is harder
for him to gather gangs than for the whites. It is, how
ever, a fruitful cause of injustice to white laborers ; for the
contractor who gets a gang of Negroes to work, has a
temptation to force down wages which he seldom resists or cares to resist. He knows that the standard of living of the Negroes is low, and their chances for employment limited. He therefore takes on a gang of Negroes, lowers wages, and then if whites wish to regain their places, they must accept the lower wages. The white laborers then blame the Negroes for bringing down wages a charge with just enough truth in it to intensify existing preju dices. If laborers on ordinary jobs were hired regardless
136 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
of color and according to efficiency, no doubt both white
and black labor would gain, and the employer would not
in the long run lose much.
Servants. Probably over one-fourth of the domestic
servants of Philadelphia are Negroes, and conversely
nearly one-third of the Negroes in the city are servants.
This makes the Negro a central problem in any careful
study of domestic service, and domestic service a large
part of the Negro problems. The matter thus is so
important that it has been made the subject of a special study appended to this work. A few general considera tions only will be advanced here.
So long as entrance into domestic service involves a loss
of all social standing and consideration, so long will domes
tic service be a social problem. The problem may vary in character with different countries and times, but there will
always be some maladjustment in social relations when any considerable part of a population is required to get its sup
port in a manner which the other part despises, or affects
to despise. In the United States the problem is compli cated by the fact that for years domestic service was per formed by slaves, and afterward, up till to-day, largely by black freedmen thus adding a despised race to a despised
calling. Even when white servants increased in number
they were composed of white foreigners, with but a small
proportion of native Americans. Thus by long experience the United States has come to associate domestic service with some inferiority in race or training. The effect of this attitude on the character of the service
rendered, and the relation of mistress and maid, has been
only too evident, and has in late years engaged the atten
tion of some students and many reformers. These have
pointed out how necessary and worthy a work the domestic
performs, or could perform, if properly trained ; that the
health, happiness and efficiency of thousands of homes, which are training the future leaders of the republic, depend
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 137
largely on their domestic service. This is true, and yet the remedy for present ills is not clear until we recognize how far removed the present commercial method of hiring a ser vant in market is from that which obtained at the time when the daughters of the family, or of the neighbor's family, helped in the housework. In other words, the industrial revolution of the century has affected domestic service
along with other sorts of labor, by separating employer and employed into distinct classes. With the Negro the effect of this was not apparent so long as slavery lasted ; the house servant remained an integral part of the master's family, with rights and duties. When emancipation broke this relation there went forth to hire a number of trained black servants, who were welcomed South and North
; they liked their work, they knew no other kind, they under stood it, and they made ideal servants. In Philadelphia twenty or thirty years ago there were plenty of this class of Negro servants and a few are still left. A generation has, however, greatly altered the face of
affairs. There were in the city, in 1890, 42,795 servants, and of these 10,235 were Negroes. Who are these Negroes? No longer members of Virginia households trained for domestic work, but principally young people who were using domestic service as a stepping-stone to something else ; who worked as servants simply because they could get nothing else to do ; who had received no training in service because they never expected to make it their life-calling. They, in common with their white fel low citizens, despised domestic service as a relic of slavery, and they longed to get other work as their fathers had longed to be free. In getting other work, however, they were not successful, partly on account of lack of ability, partly on account of the strong race prejudice against them. Consequently to-day the ranks of Negro servants, and that means largely the ranks of domestic service in general in Philadelphia^ have received all those whom the
138 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
harsh competition of a great city has pushed down, all
whom a relentless color proscription has turned back from other chosen vocations ; half-trained teachers and poorly
equipped students who have not succeeded ; carpenters and masons who may not work at their trades ; girls with com mon school training, eager for the hard work but respect able standingof shop girls and factory hands, and proscribed
by their color in fact, all those young people who, by natural evolution in the case of the whites, would have
stepped a grade higher than their fathers and mothers in
the social scale, have in the case of the post-bellum gen eration of Negroes been largely forced back into the great mass of the listless and incompetent to earn bread and
butter by menial service. And they resent it ; they are often discontented and
bitter, easily offended and without interest in their work.
Their attitude and complaint increases the discontent of
their fellows who have little ability, and probably could not rise in the world if they might And, above all, both
the disappointed and the incompetents are alike ignorant of domestic service in nearly all its branches, and in this
respect are a great contrast to the older set of Negro
servants.
Under such circumstances the first far-sighted movement
would have been to open such avenues of work and
employment to young Negroes that only those best fitted
for domestic work would enter service. Of course this is
difficult to do even for the whites, and yet it is still the
boast of America that, within certain limits, talent can
choose the best calling for its exercise. Not so with Negro
youth. On the contrary, the field for exercising their talent and ambition is, broadly speaking, confined to the dining
roonij kitchen and street. If now competition had drained off the talented and aspiring into other avenues, and eased
the competition in this one vocation, then there would
have been room for a second movement, namely, for training
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 139
schools, which would fit the mass of Negro and white domestic servants for their complicated and important duties. Such a twin movement the diversification of
Negro industry and the serious training of domestic ser vants would do two things : it would take the ban from the calling of domestic service by ceasing to make "Negro
"
and " servant " synonymous terms. This would make it possible for both whites and blacks to enter more freely into service without a fatal and disheartening loss of self-
respect ; secondly, it would furnish trained servants a sad
necessity to-day, as any housekeeper can testify. Such a movement did not, however, take place, but, on
the contrary, another movement. English trained ser
vants, the more docile Swedes and better paid white ser vants were brought in to displace Negro servants. One has but to notice the coachmen on the driveways, or the butlers on Rittenhouse Square, or the nursemaids in Fair- mount Park, to see how largely white servants have dis placed Negroes. How has this displacement been brought about? First, by getting better trained and more willing servants
; secondly, by paying servants higher wages. The Swedish and American servants, in most cases, know more of domestic service than the post-bellum generation of
Negroes, and certainly as a class they are far more recon ciled to their lot. In the higher branches of domestic ser
vice cooks, butlers and coachmen the process has been to substitute a man at $50 to $75 a month for one at $30 to $40, and naturally again the resnlt has been gratifying, because a better class of men are attracted by the wages ; thus the waiters at the new large hotels are not merely white, but better paid, and undoubtedly ought to render bet
ter service. In these ways without doubt domestic service has in some respects improved in the city by a partial substi tution of better trained, better paid and more contented white servants for poorly trained, discontented, and in the case
of waiters, butlers and coachmen, poorly paid Negroes.
140 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX,
Moreover, the substitution has not met with active opposi tion or economic resistance on the part of the Negroes,
because fully one-half of those in domestic service would
be only too glad to get other work of any kind.
What now has been the result of these economic changes ? The result has undoubtedly been the increase of crime, pau perism and idleness among Negroes : because while they are
being to some extent displaced as servants, no correspond
ing opening for employment in other lines has been made.
How long can such a process continue ? How long can a community pursue such a contradictory economic policy first confining a large portion of its population to a pursuit
which public opinion persists in looking down upon ; then
displacing them even there by better trained and better paid
competitors. Manifestly such a course is bound to make
that portion of the community a burden on the public ; to
debauch its women, pauperize its men, and ruin its homes ; it makes the one central question of the Seventh Ward, not imperative social betterments, raising of the
standard
of home life, taking advantage of the civilizing institutions of the great city on the contrary, it makes it a sheer
question of bread and butter and the maintenance of a
standard of living above that of the Virginia plantation. Nor has the whole group failed in every case to answer
this question : the foregoing statistics show how, slowly and
under many discouragements, diversification of employ ments is taking place among the black population. This, however, is the brighter side and represents the efforts of
that determined class among all people that surmount
eventually nearly all obstacles. The spirit of the age however looks to-day not to the best and most energetic, but to those on the edge, those who will become effect ive members of society only when properly encouraged. The
great mass of the Negroes naturally belong to this class and
when we turn to the darker side of the picture and study the disease, poverty and crime of the Negro population,
Sect. 24.] History of Occupations. 141
then we realize that the question of employment for
Negroes is the most pressing of the day and that the starting
point is domestic service which still remains their peculiar
province. First then as before said the object of social
reform should be so to diversify Negro employments as to
afford proper escape from menial employment for the
talented few, and so as to allow the mass some choice in
their lifework : this would be not only for the sake of
Negro development, but for the sake of a great human
industry which must continue to suffer as long as the odium
of race is added to a disposition to look down upon the
employment under any circumstances ; the next movement
ought to be to train servants not toward servility and toady
ing, but in problems of health and hygiene, in proper clean
ing and cooking, and in matters of etiquette and good form.
To this must be added such arousing of the public con science as shall lead people to recognize more keenly than
now the responsibility of the family toward its servants to
remember that they are constituent members of the family
group and as such have rights and privileges as well as
duties. To-day in Philadelphia the tendency is the other
way. Thousands of servants no longer lodge where they work but are free at night to wander at will, to hire lodg
ings in suspicious houses, to consort with paramours, and
thus to bring moral and physical disease to their place of
work. A reform is imperatively needed, and here, as in most of the Negro problems, a proper reform will benefit white
and black alike the employer as well as the employed.
24. History of the Occupations of Negroes. There
early arose in the colony of Pennsylvania the custom of
hiring out slaves, especially mechanics .and skilled work
men. This very soon roused the ire of the free white
workmen, and in 1708 and 1722 we find them petitioning the legislature against the practice,
and receiving some
encouragement therefrom. As long, however, as an in
fluential class of slaveholders had a direct financial interest
142 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in black mechanics they saw to it that neither law nor
prejudice hindered Negroes from working. Thus before and after the Revolution there were mechanics as well as servants among the Negroes. The proportion of servants, however, was naturally very large. We have no figures until 1820, when of, the 7582 Negroes in the city, 2585 or 34 per cent were servants ; in 1840, 27 per cent were servants. Some of these servants represented families, so that the proportion of those dependent on domestic service was
larger even than the percentage indicated. In 1896 in the Seventh Ward the per cent of servants, using the same method of computation^was 27.3 per cent. Of those not servants, the Negroes themselves declared
in 1832, that " notwithstanding the difficulty of getting
places for our sons as apprentices to learn mechanical
trades, owing to the prejudices with which we have to con tend, there are between four and five hundred people of color in the city and suburbs who follow mechanical employ ments." In 1838 the investigator of the Abolition Society found 997 of the 17,500 Negroes in the county who had learned trades, although only a part of these (perhaps 350) actually worked at their trades at that time. The rest, out side the servants and men with trades, were manual laborers. Many of these mechanics were afterward driven from the city by the mobs.
In 1848 another study of the Negroes found the distribu tion of the Negroes as follows : Of 3358 men, twenty-one years of age and over :
Laborers . . . 1581 Waiters, cooks, etc 557 Mechanics 286 Coachmen, carters, etc 276 Sailors, etc 240 Shopkeepers, traders, etc 166 Barbers 156 Various occupations 96
3358
Sect 24.] History of Occupations. 143
Of 4249 women, twenty-one years and over there were :
Washerwomen 1970 Seamstresses 486 Day workers 786 In trades 213 Housewives 290 Servants (living at home) 156 Cooks 173 Rag pickers 103 Various occupations 72
4249
Of both sexes five to twenty years of age there were :
School children 1940 Unaccounted for 1200 At home 484 Helpless 33 Working at home 274 Servants 354 laborers 253 Sweeps 12 Porters 18
Apprentices 230
4798
Besides these there were in white families 3716 servants.
Just how accurate the statistics of 1847 were it is now difficult to say, probably there was some exaggeration from the well-meant effort of the friends of the Negro to show the best side. Nevertheless it seems as though the diver
sity of employments at this time was considerable, although of course under such heads as "shopkeepers and traders
"
street stands more often than stores were meant, In 1856 the inquiry appears to have been more exhaus
tive and careful, and the number of Negroes with trades had increased to 1637 including barbers and dressmakers. Bven here, however, some uncertainty enters, for
" less than
two-thirds of those who have trades follow them. A few of the remainder pursue other avocations from choice, but the greater number are compelled to abandon their trades
144 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
on account of the unrelenting prejudice against their color." The following table gives these returns :
OCCUPATION OF PHILADELPHIA NEGROES, 1856.
Mechanical Trades.
Dressmakers 588 Barbers 248 Shoemakers 112 Shirt and dressmakers ... * 70 Brickmakers 53 Carpenters 49 Milliners and dressmakers 45 Tailors , 49 Tanners and curriers 24 Blacksmiths 22 Cabinetmakers . , 20 Weavers 16
Pastry cooks 10 Plasterers 14 Sailmakers 12
113 other trades with one to nine in each 305
1637
In the light of such historical testimony it seems certain that the industrial condition of the Negro in the last cen
tury has undergone great vicissitudes, although it is difficult sometimes to trace them. A diagram something like this would possibly best represent the historical development for a century :
179Q 1800 1820 1830 1840 1850 I860 1870 I860 1690
Such a diagram must of course be based largely upon conjecture, but it represents as nearly as the data allow
the proportionate not the absolute extent to which the
Negroes of the city are represented in certain pursuits.
Sect. 24.] History of Occupations. 145
In the half century 1840 to 1890 the proportion of
Negroes who are domestic servants has not greatly changed ; the mass of the remainder are still laborers
; their oppor
tunities for employment have been restricted by three causes : competition, industrial change, color prejudice. The competition has come in later years from the phenom enal growth of cities and the consequent hardening of conditions of life ; the Negro has especially felt this change because of all the elements of our urban population he is least prepared by previous training for rough, keen compe tition
; the industrial changes since and just before the
emancipation of the slaves have had a great influence on their development, to which little notice has hitherto been
given. In the industrial history of nations the change from agriculture to manufacturing and trade has been a
long, delicate process : first came house industries spin ning and weaving and the like ; then the market with its
simple processes of barter and sale ; then the permanent stall or shop, and at last the small retail store. In our day this small retail store is in process of evolution to some
thing larger and more comprehensive. When we look at this development and see how suddenly the American city Negro has been snatched from agriculture to the centres of trade and manufactures, it should not surprise us to learn
that he has not as yet succeeded in finding a permanent place in that vast system of industrial co-operation. Apart from
all questions of race, his problem in this respect is greater than the problem of the white country boy or the European
peasant immigrant, because his previous industrial condition
was worse than theirs and less calculated to develop the
power of self-adjustment, self-reliance and co-operation. All these considerations are further complicated by the fact that the industrial condition of the Negro cannot be con sidered apart from the great fact of race prejudice indefi
nite and shadowy as that phrase may be. It is certain
that, while industrial co-operation among the groups of a
146 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
great city population is very difficult under ordinary cir
cumstances, that here it is rendered more difficult and in some respects almost impossible by the fact that nineteen- tweiitieths of the population have in many cases refused to co-operate with the other twentieth, even when the co-operation means life to the latter and great advantage to the fortner. In other words, one of the great postulates of the science of economics that men will seek their economic advantage is in this case untrue, because in many cases men will not do this if it involves association, even in a casual and business way, with Negroes. And this fact must be taken account of in all judgments as to the Negro's economic progress.
CHAPTER X. THK HEALTH OF NEGROES.
25. The Interpretation of Statistics. The character istic signs which usually accompany a low civilization are a high birth rate and a high death rate ; or, in other words, early marriages and neglect of the laws of physical health. This fact, which has often been illustrated by sta tistical research, has not yet been fully apprehended by the general public because they have long been used to
hearing more or less true tales of the remarkable health and longevity of barbarous peoples. For this reason the recent statistical research which reveals the large death rate
among American Negroes is open to very general misappre hension. It is a remarkable phenomenon which throws much light on the Negro problems and suggests some obvious solutions. On the other hand, it does not prove, as most seem to think, a vast recent change in the con dition of the Negro. Reliable data as to the physical health of the Negro in slavery are entirely wanting ; and yet, judging from the horrors of the middle passage, the decimation on the West Indian plantations, and the bad sanitary condition of the Negro quarters on most Southern
plantations, there must have been an immense death rate
among slaves, notwithstanding all reports as to endur ance, physical strength and phenomenal longevity. Just how emancipation has affected this death rate is not clear ; the rush to cities, where the surroundings are tmhealthful, has had a bad effect, although this migration on a large scale is so recent that its full effect is not yet apparent ; on the other hand, the better care of children and improvement in home life has also had some favorable effect. On the whole, then, we must remember that reliable statistics as to Negro health are but recent in date and that as yet no
(147)
148 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
important conclusions can be arrived at as to historic
changes or tendencies. One thing we must of course
expect to find, and that is a much higher death rate at
present among Negroes than among whites : this is one measure of the difference in their social advancement. They have in the past lived under vastly different conditions and
they still live under different conditions : to assume that, in discussing the inhabitants of Philadelphia, one is dis
cussing people living under the same conditions of life, is
to assume what is not true. Broadly speaking, the Negroes as a class dwell in the most unhealthful parts of the city and in the worst houses in those parts ; which is of course
simply saying that the part of the population having a
large degree of poverty, ignorance and general social
degradation is usually to be found in the worst portions of
our great cities.
Therefore, in considering the health statistics of the
Negroes, we seek first to know their absolute condition, rather than their relative status ; we want to know what their death rate is, how it has varied and is varying and what its tendencies seem to be; with these facts fixed we must then ask, What is the meaning of a death rate like that of the Negroes of Philadelphia ? Is it, compared with
with other races, large, moderate or small ; and in the case
of nations or groups with similar death rates, What has been the tendency and outcome ? Finally, we must com
pare the death rate of the Negroes with that of the com munities in which they live and thus roughly measure the
social difference between these neighboring groups ; we must endeavor also to eliminate, so far as possible, from the
problem disturbing elements which would make a differ ence in health among people of the same social advance ment. Only in this way can we intelligently interpret statistics of Negro health.
Here, too, we have to remember that the collection of
statistics, even in Philadelphia, is by no means perfect.
Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City. 149
The death returns are to be relied upon, but the returns of births are wide of the true condition ; the statistics of causes
of death are also faulty. 26. The Statistics of the City. The mortality of
Negroes in Philadelphia, according to the best reports, has
been as follows : l
* Including still-births ; excluding still-births, 29.52. f Including still-births and assuming the average Negro population, 1891-1896, at
the low figure of 41,500.* For this period, excluding still-births, 25.41.
The average annual death rate, 1884 to 1890, in the wards having over 1000 Negro inhabitants, was as follows :
1 The earlier figures are from Dr. Emerson's reports, in the " Condition/
1
etc., of the Negro, 1838, and from the pamphlet, " Health of Convicts.'*
All the tables, 1884 to 1890, are from Dr. John Billings' report in the
Eleventh Census. Later reports are compiled from the City Health
Reports, 1890 to 1896. 2 This figure is conjectural, as the real Negro population is unknown.
Estimated according to the rate of increase from 1880 to 1890, the aver
age annual population would have been 42,229 ; I think this is too high,
as the rate of increase has been lower in this decade.
150 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
Separating the deaths by the sex of the deceased, we have :
Total death rate of Negroes, 1890, (still-births
included) 32.42 per 1000. For Negro males 36.02
"
For Negro females 29.23 "
Separating by age, we have :
Total death rate, 1890 (still-births included) all ages . . 32.42 per 1000.
Under fifteen 69. 24 Fifteen to twenty 13.61 Twenty to twenty-five 14. 50 Twenty-five to thirty-five 15.21
Thirty-five to forty-five 17.16
Forty-five to fifty-five 29.41
Fifty-five to sixty-five 40.09
Sixty-five and over 116.49
The large infant mortality is shown by the average annual rate of 171.44 (including still-births), for children
under five years of age, during the years 1884 to 1890. These statistics are very instructive. Compared with
modern nations the death rate of Philadelphia Negroes is
high, but not extraordinarily so : Hungary (33.7), Austria
(30.6), and Italy (28.6), had in the years 1871-90 a larger average than the Negroes in 1891-96, and some of these lands surpass the rate of 1884-90. Many things com bine to cause the high Negro death rate : poor heredity, neglect of infants, bad dwellings and poor food. On the other hand the age classification of city Negroes with its excess of females and of young people of twenty to thirty- five years of age, must serve to keep the death rate lower than its rate would be under normal circumstances. The in fluence of bad sanitary surroundings is strikingly illustrated in the enormous death rate of the Fifth Ward the worst Negro slum in the city, and the worst part of the city in
respect to sanitation. On the other hand the low death rate of the Thirtieth Ward illustrates the influences of
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City, 151
good houses and clean streets in a district where the better
class of Negroes have recently migrated. The marked excess of the male death rate points to a
great difference in the social condition of the sexes in the
city, as it far exceeds the ordinary disparity ; as, e. g., in
Germany where the rates are, males 28.6, females 25.3.* The young girls who come to the city have practically no chance for work except domestic service. This branch of work, however, has the great advantage of being healthful
; the servant has usually a good dwelling, good
food and proper clothing. The boy, on the contrary, usually has to live in a bad part of the city, on poorly pre
pared or irregular food and is more exposed to the weather.
Moreover, his chances of securing any work at all are much smaller than the girls'. Consequently the female death
rate is but 81 per cent of the male rate.
When we turn to the statistics of death according to age, we immediately see that, as is usual in such cases, the high death rate is caused by an excessive infant mortality,which
ranks very high compared with other groups. The chief diseases to which Negroes fall victims are :*
For the period, 18911896, the average annual rate was as follows :
3 This and other comparisons are mostly taken from Mayo-Smith, * Statistics and Sociology.
"
* For death rate, 1884-1890, Cf. below, p. 159.
152 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
The strikingly excessive rate here is that of consump tion, which is the most fatal disease for Negroes. Bad ven
tilation, lack of outdoor life for women and children, poor protection against dampness and cold are undoubtedly the chief causes of this excessive death rate. To this must be added some hereditary predisposition, the influence of
climate, and the lack of nearly all measures to prevent the
spread of the disease.
We find thus a group of people with a high, but not unusual,death rate, which rate has been gradually decreas
ing, if statistics are reliable, for seventy-five years. This death rate is due principally to infantile mortality and
consumption, and these are caused chiefly by conditions of life and poor hereditary physique. How now does this group compare with the condition of
the mass of the community with which it comes in daily contact? Comparing the death rates of whites and
Negroes, we have :
* Including still-births.
I Excluding still-births. J Assuming white population, 1891-96, has increased in the same ratio as 1880-90, and
that it averaged 1,066,985 in these years. g Assuming that the mean Negro population was 41,500.
This shows a considerable difference in death rates, amounting to nearly 10 per cent in 1884-1890, and to 4 per cent by the estimated rates of 1891-1896. If the
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City.
estimate of population on which the latter rate is based is
correct, then the difference in death rate is not larger than
would be expected from different conditions of life. 5
The absolute number of deaths (excluding still-births) has been as follows :
Comparing the death rate by wards we have this table :
POPULATION AND DEATH RATE, PHILADELPHIA, 1884-90.
6 The official figures of the Board of Health give no estimate of the
Negro death-rate alone. They give the following death rate for the city including both whites and blacks, and excluding still-births:
v Total Number Death rate per 1000Year- of Deaths. of Population. 1891 23,367 21.85
1892 24,305 22.25
1893 23,655 21.20
1894 22,68o 19-9
1895 23,796 20.44
1896 23,982 20.17
Average death rate for the six years, 20.97; by my calculation, the rate for the whole population would be 21.63.
154 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
POPULATION AND DEATH RATE, 1884-90 Continued.
* Death rate included in that of the Twenty-fourth ward.
From this table we may make some interesting compari sons : take first the worst wards :
* Total Negro population, 16,780.
In all these wards there is a large Negro population com
prising a considerable per cent of new immigrants ; and these wards contain the worst slum districts and most un
sanitary dwellings of the city. However, there are in these same wards peculiar circumstances which decrease the death rate of the whites : First, in the Fourth and Fifth wards a large number of foreign immigrants whose
Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City. 155
death rate, on account of the absence of old people and
children, is small ; and of Jews whose death rate is, on account of their fine family life, also small ; secondly, in the
Seventh and Eighth wards there are, as all Philadelphians know, large sections inhabited by the best people of the
city, with a death rate below the average. Taking another set of wards, we have :
* Total Negro population, 8,371.
Here we have quite a different tale. These are the wards where the best Negro families have been renting and buying homes in the last ten years, in order to escape from the crowded downtown wards. The Thirtieth and
Twenty-sixth wards are the best sections ; the statistics of
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth wards show the same thing although their validity is somewhat vitiated by the large number of Negro servants there in the prime of life. A last set of wards is as follows :
* Total Negro population, 6,277.
In most of these some exceptional circumstances make the Negro death rate abnormally low. Generally this arises from the fact that these are white residential wards and the Negro population is largely composed of servants.
These, as has been before noted, have a small death rate
because of their ages, and then too, when they are sick
156 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
they go home to die in the Seventh Ward, or to the hos
pitals in the Twenty-seventh and other wards.
These tables would seem to adduce considerable proof that the Negro death rate is largely a matter of condition
of living. When we look at the comparative deaths of the races,
by sex, we see that the forces operating among Negroes to make a disparity between the death rates of men and women are largely absent among the whites.
(1890, including still-births.)
The age structure reveals partially the character of the
great differences in death rate between the races. (See
page 157.)
DEATH RATE OF PHILADELPHIA BY AGE PERIODS, FOR 1890. RATE PER 1000
4060 50*0 5070 70-80 80-90 9CHOO 100-HO IKH20
(STU-U-BIRTHS INCLUDED)
[ NEGROES J 'WHITES
Sect 26.] 7%e Statistics of the City.
oo
I
o <J
A
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cd W PQ
I
s
siso o:S
fOVO UOOO Is- M ^CTi-
00\3 t>.i- tv rCOO C* W O
2
O O M O uo
5 tO 1**- O w r- wvo ONt*w q\o ONwOCOlO^lOOVOOOVOJC^. s-d-w w o^^cjc* tooo f 1000 (^ r inT fT cT Ci" w" M" M" tow" JH"
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158 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
DEATH RATE IN PHILADELPHIA, 1890, BY EIGHT AGE PERIODS.
For children under five, including still-births, we find these average annual death rates, 1884-1890:
Nothing shows more plainly the poor home life of the Negroes than these figures. A comparison of the differ ences in death rate from various diseases will complete the
picture :
DEATH RATE PER 100,000 FROM SPECIFIED DISEASES, 1890. For Whole City.
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City. 159
AVERAGE ANNUAL DEATH RATE OF PHILADELPHIA, 1884-1890, EACH 100,000 OF POPULATION.
For Specified Diseases.
The Negroes exceed the white death rate largely in con sumption, pneumonia, diseases of the urinary system, heart disease and dropsy, and in still-births ; they exceed moder
ately in diarrheal diseases, diseases of the nervous system, malarial and typhoid fevers. The white death rate exceeds that of Negroes for diphtheria and croup, cancer and tumor, diseases of the liver, and deaths from suicide. We have side by side and in intimate relationship in a
large city two groups of people, who as a mass differ con siderably from each other in physical health ; the differ
ence is not so great as to preclude hopes of final adjust ment
; probably certain social classes of the larger group are in no better health than the mass of the smaller group. So too there are without doubt classes in the smaller group whose physicial condition is equal to, or superior to the
160 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
average of the larger group. Particularly with regard to
consumption it must be remembered that Negroes are not the first people who have been claimed as its peculiar vic tims; the Irish were once thought to be doomed by that disease but that was when Irishmen were unpopular.
Nevertheless, so long as any considerable part of the population of an organized community is, in its mode of life and physical efficiency distinctly and no
ticeably below the average, the community must suffer. The suffering part furnishes less than its quota of
workers, more than its quota of the helpless and
dependent and consequently becomes to an extent a burden on the community. This is the situation of the Negroes of Philadelphia to-day : because of their physical 'health
they receive a larger portion of charity, spend a larger proportion of their earnings for physicians and medicine, throw on the community a larger number of helpless widows and orphans than either they or the city can afford.
Why is this ? Primarily it is because the Negroes are as a mass ignorant of the laws of health. One has but to visit a Seventh Ward church on Sunday night and see an audi ence of 1500 sit two and threehoursin the foul atmosphere of a closely shut auditorium to realize that long formed habits of life explain much of Negro consumption and pneumonia ; again the Negroes live in unsanitary dwell
ings, partly by their own fault, partly on account of the difficulty of securing decent houses by reason of race
prejudice. If one goes through the streets of the Seventh Ward and picks out those streets and houses which, on account of their poor condition, lack of repair, absence of conveniences and limited share of air and light, contain the worst dwellings, one finds that the great majority of such streets and houses are occupied by Negroes. In some cases it is the Negroes' fault that the houses are so bad ; but in very many cases landlords refuse to repair and refit for Negro tenants because they know that there are few
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City. 161
dwellings which Negroes can hire, and they will not there fore be apt to leave a fair house on account of damp walls or poor sewer connections. Of modern conveniences Negro dwellings have few. Of the 2441 families of the Seventh Ward only 14 per cent had water closets and baths, and many of these were in poor condition. In a city of yards, 20 per cent of the families had no private yard and consequently no private outhouses.
Again, in habits of personal cleanliness and taking proper food and exercise, the colored people are woefully defi cient. The Southern field-hand was hardly supposed to wash himself regularly, and the house servants were none too clean. Habits thus learned have lingered, and a gospel of soap and water needs now to be preached. Negroes are commonly supposed to eat rather more than necessary. And this perhaps is partially true. The trouble is more in the quality of the food than its quantity, in the wasteful method of its preparation, and in the irregularity in eating.
6 For in
stance, one family of three living in the depth of dirt and
poverty on a crime-stricken street spent for their daily food : Cents.
Milk, for child 4 One pound pork chops 10 One loaf bread 5
19
When we imagine this pork fried in grease and eaten with baker's bread, taken late in the afternoon or at bed
time, what can we expect of such a family ? Moreover, the tendency of the classes who are just struggling out of extreme poverty is to stint themselves for food in order to have better looking homes; thus the rent in too many cases eats up physical nourishment.
Finally, the number of Negroes who go with insufficient clothing is large. One of the commonest causes of
6 Cf. Atwater & WoodsDietary Studies with reference to the Food of the Negro in Alabama?' (Bulletin No. 38, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture), p. 21, and. passim.
i6z The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
consumption and respiratory disease is migration from the warmer South to a Northern city without change in manner of dress. The neglect to change clothing after becoming damp with rain is a custom dating back to slavery time. These are a few obvious matters of habit and manner of
life which account for much of the poor health of Negroes. Further than this, when in poor health the neglect to take proper medical advice, or to follow it when given, leads to much harm. Often at the hospital a case is treated and temporary relief given, the patient being directed to return after a stated time. More often with Negroes than with whites, the patient does not return until he is worse off than at first. To this must be added a superstitious fear of hospitals prevalent among the lower classes of all people, but especially among Negroes. This must have some foundation in the roughness or brusqueness of man ner prevalent in many hospitals, and the lack of a tender spirit of sympathy with the unfortunate patients. At any rate, many a Negro would almost rather die than trust himself to a hospital. We must remember that all these bad habits and sur
roundings are not simply matters of the present generation, but that many generations of unhealthy bodies have be queathed to the present generation impaired vitality and
hereditary tendency to disease. This at first seems to be contradicted by the reputed robustness of older generations of blacks, which was certainly true to a degree. There cannot, however, be much doubt, when former social condi tions are studied, but that hereditary disease plays a large part in the low vitality of Negroes to-day, and the health of the past has to some extent been exaggerated. All these considerations should lead to concerted efforts to root out disease. The city itself has much to do in this respect. For so large and progressive a city its general system of drainage is very bad; its water is wretched, and in many other respects the city and the whole State are "woefully and
Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City. 163
discreditably behind almost all the other States in Christen dom."7 The main movement for reform must come from the Negroes themselves, and should start with a crusade for fresh air, cleanliness, healthfully located homes and
proper food. All this might not settle the question of
Negro health, but it would be a long step toward it The most difficult social problem in the matter of Negro
health is the peculiar attitude of the nation toward the
well-being of the race. There have, for instance, been few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar in difference. Nearly the whole nation seemed delighted with the discredited census of 1870 because it was thought to show that the Negroes were dying off rapidly, and the
country would soon be well rid of them. So, recently, when attention has been called to the high death rate of this race, there is a disposition among many to conclude that the rate is abnormal and unprecedented, and that, since the race is doomed to early extinction, there is little left to do but to moralize on inferior species. Now the fact is, as every student of statistics knows,
that considering the present advancement of the masses of
the Negroes, the death rate is not higher than one would
expect; moreover there is not a civilized nation to-day which has not in the last two centuries presented a death rate which equaled or surpassed that of this race. That the Negro death rate at present is anything that threatens the extinction of the race is either the bugbear of the un
trained, or the wish of the timid.
What the Negro death rate indicates is how far this race is behind the great vigorous, cultivated race about it. It
should then act as a spur for increased effort and sound
upbuilding, and not as an excuse for passive indifference, or increased discrimination.
7 Dr. Dudley Pemberton before tlie State Homeopathic Medical
Society, Philadelphia Ledger^ October i, 1896.
CHAPTER XL THE NEGRO FAMILY.
27. The Size of the Family. There were in the Seventh Ward, in 1896, 7751 members of families (includ ing 171 persons living alone), and 1924 single lodgers.
1
The average size of the family, without lodgers and
boarders, was 3.18.
FAMILIES ACCORDING TO SIZE.
With the whole population of the ward included, the average size was about four, and counting married and
* Families who were lodging and there were many were counted as families, not as lodgers. They were mostly young couples with one or no children. The lodgers were not counted with the families because of their large numbers, and the shifting of many of them from month to month.
(164)
Sect. 27.] The Size of the Family. 165
single lodgers as part of the renting family, the average size is about five. 2 In any case the smallness of the families is remarkable, and is probably due to local causes in the ward, to the general situation in the city and to development in the race at large. The Seventh Ward is a ward of lodgers and casual sojourners ; newly married couples settle down here until they are compelled, by the appearance of children, to move into homes of their own, and these in later years are being chosen in the
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth wards, and up town. Some couples leave their families in the South with grandmothers and live in lodgings here, returning to
Virginia or Maryland only temporarily in summer or win ter
; a good many men come here from elsewhere, live as
lodgers and support families in the country ; then, too, childless couples often work out, the woman at service and the man lodging in this ward ; the woman joins her husband once or twice a week, but does not lodge regularly there, and so is not a resident of the ward ; such are the local conditions that affect greatly the size of families.
3
The size of families in cities is nearly always smaller than elsewhere, and the Negro family follows this rule ; late marriages among them undoubtedly act as a check to population; moreover, the economic stress is so great that only the small family can survive ; the large fami
lies are either kept from coming to the city or move
away, or, as is most common, send the breadwinners to the
city while they stay in the country. It is of course but 2 This figure is obtained by dividing the total population of the ward
by the number of homes directly rented, viz., 1675. There is an error here arising from the fact that some sub-renting families are really lodgers and should be coiinted with the census family, while others are
partially separate families and some wholly separate. This error can not be eliminated.
8 The excessive infant mortality also has its influence on the average size of families. Cf. Chapter X. Whether infanticide or feticide is preva lent to any extent there are no means of knowing. Once in a while such a case finds its way to the courts.
i66 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
conjecture to say how far these causes are working among the general Negro population of the country ; but consid
ering that the whole race has to-day begun its great battle
for economic survival, and that few of the better class, male or female, can expect to get married early in life, it
is fair to expect that for several decades to come the aver
age size of the Negro family will decrease until economic
well-being can keep pace with the demands of a rising standard of living ; and that then we shall have another era of good-sized though not very large Negro families.
4
As has before been intimated, the difficulty of earning income enough to afford to marry, has had its ill effects on
the sexual morality of city Negroes, especially, too, since
their hereditary training in this respect has been lax. It
is, therefore, fair to conclude that a number of the fami lies of two are simply more or less permanent cohabita
tions ; and that a large number of families are centres of
irregular sexual intercourse. Observation in the ward
bears out this conclusion, and shows that fifty-eight of the
families of two were certainly unmarried persons. The result of all these causes is shown in the following
table, although the comparison is not strictly allowable; the real family of the Negroes is compared with the census
family of other groups, and this exaggerates the proportion of the smaller families among the Negroes :
4 During the last ten years I have been bidden to a dozen or more wed
dings among the better class of Negroes. In no case was the bridegroom under 30, or the bride under 20. In most cases the man was about 35, and the woman 25 or more.
Sect. 27.] The Size of the Family. 167
Further comparison with France may be made : 5
Making allowance for the errors of this comparison, it nevertheless seems true that the conditions of family life in the ward are abnormal and characterized by an unusu ally large number of families of two persons. There are no statistics for the Negro families of the
whole city such as would serve to eliminate the local
peculiarities of the Seventh Ward. General observation would indicate in the Fifth and Eighth wards similar con ditions to the Seventh. In most of the other wards condi tions are different, and in all probability vary widely from these crowded central wards. Nevertheless, throughout all of them large families are not the rule, the number of bachelors and lodgers is considerable, and there is some
cohabitation, although this is, in the city at large, much less prevalent than in the Seventh Ward. It would seem, therefore, that the indications of our study of conjugal
5 The figures relative to other groups of city Negroes as collected by the conference at Atlanta University are as follows:
These figures apply to only 1137 families in the above named and other cities. Cf.
" U. S. Bulletin of Labor, 1 *
May, 1897.
168 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
condition were here emphasized, and that the Negro urban home has commenced a revolution which will either purify and raise it or more thoroughly debauch it than now ; and that the determining factor is economic opportunity. The full picture of this change demands statistics of births and
marriages from year to year. These unfortunately are not so registered as to be even partially reliable. Both the birth and marriage rate, however, are in all probability steadily decreasing.
6 The death rate also comes in here as a factor, not only by reason of the great infant mortality but also on account of the excessive death rate of the men. In all this one catches a faint glimpse of the intricacy and
far-reaching influence of the Negro problems. 28. Incomes. The economic problem of the Negroes
of the city has been repeatedly referred to. We now come directly to the question, What do Negroes earn? In a year about what is the income of an average family ? Such a question is difficult to answer with anything like
accuracy. Only returns based on actual written accounts would furnish thoroughly reliable statistics ; such accounts cannot be had in this case. The few that keep accounts would in many cases naturally be unwilling to produce them. On the other hand, the great mass of people in the
6 The birth rate for the city is given in official returns as follows: 1894. Total for city : males, 16,185; females, 14,552. Negroes: males,
536; females, 476.
1895. Total for city: males, 15,618; females, 14,220. Negroes: males, 568; females, 524.
1896. Total for city: males, 15,534; females, 14,219. Negroes: males, 572; females 514.
Average per year for whites, 29,013. Average per year for Negroes, 1,063. White birth rate, 27.2 per thousand. Negro birth rate, 25. 1 per thousand. Assuming white population as 1,066,985. Assuming Negro population as 41,500. The Department of Health declares these returns considerably below
the truth, and the omissions among Negroes are of course large. Never theless, the Negro birth rate in Philadelphia is probably not high.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 169
lower walks of life scarcely know how much they earn in a year. The tables here presented, therefore, must be regarded simply as careful estimates. These estimates are based on three or more of the following items : (i) The statement of the family as to their earnings. Some of the better class gave a general estimate of their average yearly income
; most gave the wages earned per week or month
at their usual occupation. (2) The occupations followed by the several members of the family ; (3) the time lost from work in the last year or the time usually lost ; (4) the
apparent circumstances of the family judging from the
appearance of the home and inmates, the rent paid, the presence of lodgers, etc.
In most cases the first item was given the greatest weight in settling the matter, but was modified by the others; in other cases, however, either this statement could not be ob tained or was vague, and in a few instances evidently false. In such circumstances the second item was decisive : the
occupations followed by the mass of Negroes are paid according to a pretty well-known scale of prices ; a hotel waiter's income could be pretty accurately fixed without further data. The third item was important in many occupations ; stevedores, for instance, receive generally
twenty cents per hour ; nevertheless, few if any earn $600 a year, because they lose much time between ships and in winter. Finally, as a general corrective to deception or inadvertence the circumstances of home life as seen by the
investigator on his visit, the rent paid an item which could be pretty accurately ascertained the number of
lodgers, the occupation of the housewife and children all these items served to confirm or throw doubt on the con clusions indicated by the other data, and were given some
weight in the final judgment. Thus it can easily be seen that these returns may contain,
and probably do contain, considerable error. On the one hand they cannot be as accurate as returns based on income
170 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
tax reports, and on the other hand they are probably more reliable than data founded solely on the bare statements of
those asked. The personal judgment of the investigator enters into the determination of the figures to a larger extent than is desirable, and yet it has been limited as
carefully as the nature of the inquiry permitted. 7
The income according to size of family is indicated in the next table. From this, making the standard a family of five,
INCOMES, ACCORDING TO SIZE OF FAMILY IN SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
and making some allowance for larger and smaller families, we can conclude that 19 per cent of the Negro families in the Seventh Ward earn five dollars and less per week on the average ; 48 per cent earn between $5 and $10 ; 26 per
7 There were many families who were undoubtedly tempted to exag gerate their income so as to appear better off than they were; others, on the contrary, understated their resources. In most cases, however, the
testimony so far as it went appeared to be candid and honest.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 171
cent, $io-$i5, and 8 per cent over $15 per week. Tabu lating this we have :
It is difficult to compare this with other groups because of the varying meaning of the terms poor, well-to-do, and the like* Nevertheless, a comparison with Booth's diagram of London will, if not carried too far, be interesting:
8
POVERTY IN LONDON AND AMONG THE NEGROES OF THE SEVENTH WARD OF PHII^ADELPHIA.
8.4% 8.9%
OLONDON VERY POOR HtOROCS VERYPOOR ZTHYtARD
5L5%e$.5% 17.8% 8.E54 POOR COMFORTABLE MIDDLE CLASS-fcABOVE
POOR TO FAIR COMFORTABUt GOOD CIRCUMSTANCES
*Cf. Booth's " Life and Labor of the People/' II, 21. In this case I
The Negro Family. [Chap XI.
The chief difficulty of this comparison lies in the dis tribution of the population between the "poor" and "com fortable ;" probably the former class among the Negroes is here somewhat exaggerated. At any rate, the division between these two grades is in the Seventh Ward much less stable than in London since their economic status is less fixed. In good times perhaps 50 per cent of the
Negroes could well be designated comfortable, but in time of financial stress vast numbers of this class fall below the line into the poor and go to swell the number of
paupers, and in many cases of criminals. Indeed this whole division into incomes of different classes is, among the Negroes, much less stable than among the whites, just as it used to be less stable among the whites of fifty years ago than it is among those of to-day. The whole division into "poor," "comfortable" and
" well-to-do n depends primarily on the standard of living
among a people. Let us, therefore, note something of the income and expenditure of certain families in different
grades. 9 The very poor and semi-criminal class are con
gregated in the slums at Seventh and Lombard Streets, Seventeenth and Lombard, and Eighteenth and Naudain, together with other small back streets scattered over the ward. They live in one-and two-room tenements, scantily furnished and poorly lighted and heated ; they get casual
labor, and the women do washing. The children go to school irregularly or loaf on the streets. This class does not frequent the large Negro churches, but part of them fill the small noisy missions. The vicious and criminal
have combined Booth's two lower classes, ** lowest " and " very poor." I
shall discuss the criminal and lowest class in Chapters XIII and XIV. The separation of the "poor" and "very poor" in the Seventh Ward is somewhat arbitrary. I have called all those receiving $150 and less a
year " very poor."
9 Only a few reliable budgets are subjoined, and they are typical. A large number might have been gathered, but they would hardly have added much to these.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 173
portion do not usually go to church. Those of this class who are poor but decent are next-door neighbors usually to pronounced criminals and prostitutes. The income and expenditure of some of these families follow. Family No. i lives in one of the worst streets of the
ward, surrounded by thieves and prostitutes. There are three persons in the family: a woman of thirty-four, with a son of sixteen and a second husband of twenty-six. Both the husband and son are out of work, the former being a waiter and the latter a bootblack. They live in one filthy room, twelve feet by fourteen, scantily furnished and
poorly ventilated. The woman works at service and receives about three dollars a week. They pay twelve dol lars a month for three rooms, and sub-rent two of them to other families, which makes their rent about three dollars.
Their food costs them about $1.00 a week and the fuel
56 cents a week during the winter. Their expenditure for other items is varying and indefinite ; beer, however, comes in for something. Their whole expenditure is
probably $125-$! 50 a year, of which the woman earns at least $100.
Family No. a has a yearly budget as follows for two
persons :
Rent, @ $4 a month ........ ..... , . $48.00 Food Bread, pork, tea, etc., @ $1.440. week ... 74.88 Fuel, 20-47 cents a week ............. 16.60
Other items would bring this up to about $150 to $175. Family No. 3, consisting of one person, reports the fol
lowing budget, not including rent :
Food ........ . ....... . ...... $30.00 Fuel ...... . ................ 15-00 Clothing .................... . 10. oo Amusements ................... 1.50 Sickness, etc ..... .............. 10.00 Other purposes ............... ... 15- oo
Total, per year ....... . ....... $81.50
174 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
The rent of such a family would not exceed $40, mak ing the total expenditure about $121.50.
Family No. 4 four persons man and wife and two babies, living in one room, spend as follows :
Rent, @ $3 a month $36.00 Food Weekly: milk |b .28
pork ,70 bread ^35
1.33 69.16
Fuel, 20-98 cents a week 18.00
{123.16
The man has work one and one-half weeks in the month as a wire fence maker, when regularly employed, which is about half the time. The rest of the time he takes care of the babies while his wife works at service. The last two families seem respectable, but unfortunate. The other two are doubtful.
The " poor " are a degree above these cases ; they are
composed of the inefficient, unfortunate and improvident, and just manage to get enough to eat, a little to wear, and shelter. A specimen family is composed of six persons man and wife, a widowed daughter, two grandsons of thirteen and eleven, and a nephew of twenty-eight They live in three rooms, with poor furniture and of fair clean liness. The father and nephew are laborers, often out of work. The mother does day's work and the daughter is at service. They spend for :
Rent $8 per month $ 96.00 Food $2.16 a week 112.32 Fuel 50-84 cents a week ....-- 31.20
#239,52
Clothing, etc., will bring this total to $250-^275. This is an honest family, belonging to one of the large Baptist churches.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 175
Family No. 5, a mother and child, expends for
Food $ 96.00 Fuel 30.00 Clothing 30,00 Amusements 10.00 Sickness 15.00 Other purposes 25 . oo
Total $206.00
To this must be added house-rent, bringing the total to $250 or $275. We next come to the great hard-working laboring class the 47 per cent of the population which is, on the whole,
most truly representative of the mass. They live in houses with three to six rooms, nearly always well furnished ; they spend considerable for food and dress, and for churches and beneficial societies. They are honest and good-natured for the most part, but are not used to large responsibility.
No. 6, a family of three from this class man, wife and
seventeen-year-old son earn and spend as follows :
INCOME.
Man hod-carrier and la borer, $i.25-$2.oo a day casual averages $3 .oo a
week $150.00
Wife washerwoman, Oct. to Mch., earns $5.00 to
#6.00 a week, rest of year $i. 5o~$2. oo,average, $3. 50, 180.00
Son porter in office build
ing, $2.50 per week and board 6 days 125 .00
$455-00
This family occupies a seven-room house, but rents out
three of the rooms to lodgers. They have a nicely fur nished parlor.
EXPENSE.
Rent, $22,00 a month, of which $14. oo is repaid by lodgers net rent, $8.00 $96.00
Food $3.5O-$4.oo a week 190.00
Fuel . 35,oo
$321.00
Clothing and all other pur poses, and savings . . . 134.00
176 Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
Three other families of the same class follow : No. 7. Expenditure for one year, $338 (not including
rent). Number in family, adults 2, chidren 2. Food $110.00 Fuel 40.00 Clothing 50.00 Amusements 35 ,00 Sickness 40*00 Other purposes 63.00
No. 8, EXPENDITURE: FOR ONE YEAR, $520.00. Number in Family', Adults j, Children 2.
No. 9. EXPENDITURE FOR ONE YEAR, ABOUT $600.00. Number in Family, Adults 2, Children 7.
Three other budgets are appended, representing a still better class :
No. 10. Total income, $840.00. Rent $192.00 Food 260,00 Fuel 50,00 Clothing 25.00 Amusements 15. oo
$542.00
This Is a small family mother and daughter who are evidently saving money. The daughter is a teacher.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 177
No. ii. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent, $683.
378.00 Fuel ...................... 45.00 Clothing ..................... 100.00 Amusements ................... 20-00 Sickness ..................... 50.00 Other purposes ............ ..... 90*00
There are four adults and three children in this family. No. 12. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent,
Food $420.00 Fuel 60.00
Clothing 150.00 Amusements . 20.00 Sickness 5.00 Travel, and other purposes 150.00
This Is one of the best families in the city; they keep one servant There are three adults and two children in the family. The class to which these last families belong is often
lost sight of in discussing the Negro. It is the germ of a great middle class, but in general its members are curiously hampered by the fact that, being shut off from the world about them, they are the aristocracy of their own people, with all the responsibilities of an aristocracy, and yet they, on the one hand, are not prepared for this r61e, and their own masses are not used to looking to them for leadership. As a class they feel strongly the centrifugal forces of class repulsion among their own people, and, indeed, are com pelled to feel it in sheer self-defence. They do not relish being mistaken for servants ; they shrink from the free and
easy worship of most of the Negro churches, and they shrink from all such display and publicity as will expose them to the veiled insult and depreciation which the masses suffer. Consequently this class, which ought to
lead, refuses to head any race movement on the plea that thus they draw the very color line against which they protest. On the other hand their ability to stand
178 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
apart, refusing on the one hand all responsibility for the masses of the Negroes and on the other hand seeking no
recognition from the outside world, which is not willingly accorded their opportunity to take such a stand is hin dered by their small economic resources. Even more than the rest of the race they feel the difficulty of getting on in the world by reason of their small opportunities for remu nerative and respectable work. On the other hand their position as the richest of their race though their riches are insignificant compared with their white neighbors makes unusual social demands upon them. A white Phila- delphian with $1500 a year can call himself poor and live
simply. A Negro with $1500 a year ranks with the richest of his race and must usually spend more in proportion than his white neighbor in rent, dress and entertainment
In every class thus reviewed there comes to the front a central problem of expenditure. Probably few poor nations waste more money by thoughtless and unreason able expenditure than the American Negro, and especially those living in large cities like Philadelphia. First, they waste much money in poor food and in unhealthful methods of cooking. The meat bill of the average Negro family would surprise a French or German peasant or even an Englishman. The crowds that line Lombard street on Sundays are dressed far beyond their means ; much money is wasted in extravagantly furnished parlors, dining-rooms, guest chambers and other visible parts of the homes. Thousands of dollars are annually wasted in excessive rents, in doubtful
" societies
" of all kinds and descriptions, in amusements of various kinds, and in miscellaneous ornaments and gewgaws. All this is a natural heritage of a slave system, but it is not the less a matter of serious import to a people in such economic stress as Negroes now are. The Negro has much to learn of the Jew and Italian, as to living within his means and saving every penny from excessive and wasteful expenditures.
Sect 29.] Property. 179
29. Property. We must next inquire what part of these incomes have been turned into real property. Philadelphia keeps no separate account of her white and Negro real estate owners and it is very difficult to get reliable data on the subject. Even the house-to-house inquiry could but approximate the truth on account of the number of houses owned by Negroes but rented out through white real estate agents. From the returns it appears that 123 of the 2441 families in the Seventh Ward or 5.3 per cent own property in that ward; seventy-four other families own property outside the ward, making in all 197 or 8 per cent of the families who are property holders. It is possible that omissions may raise this total to 10 per cent. The total value of this property is partly conjectural but a careful estimate would place it at about $1,000,000, or 4^ per cent of the valuation of a ward where the Negroes form 42 per cent of the population. Two estimates for the whole city represent the holdings
of the well-to-do Negroes, that is, those having $10,000 and more of property, as follows :
10
From $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 27 "
15,000 to 25,000 10 "
25,000 to 50,000 ii "
50,000 to 100,000 . 4 "
100,000 to 500,000 i
53
In all, these persons represent an ownership of at least
$1,500,000. The other property holders can only be estimated
; the total ownership of property by Philadelphia
Negroes must be at least five millions, not including
10 These estimates are by lifelong residents of Philadelphia, who have had unusual opportunity ofknowing the men ofwhom they speak. One says,
" I have . . . prepared an estimate which I herein enclose. I
have endeavored to be as conservative as possible. There are, doubtless, several omitted because they are not known, or if known are not now thought of; but I believe the estimate is approximately correct."
i8o The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
church property. Comparing this with estimates in the
past, we have : n
1821, real estate, assessed value, $r 12,464; real value, $281,162
1832,
1838, " "
1848, (< "
1855, real and personal estate
357,000
322,532
53 r >&>9
2,685,693
5,000,000
In 1849 tke returns of the investigation showed that 7.4 per cent of the Negroes in the county owned property, and 5.5 per cent in the city proper, compared with 5.3 per
11 The figures for 1821 are from assessors 5
reports, quoted in the investi
gation of 1838. The figures for 1832 are from a memorial to the legisla ture, in which the Negroes say that by reference to the receipts of tax payers which were "actually produced/' they paid at least $2500 in taxes, and had also $100,000 in church property. From this the inquiry of 1838 estimates that they owned $357,000 outside church property. The same study estimates the property of Negroes in 1838 as follows:
Real Estate (true value). Personal Property.
City $241,962 $505,322 Northern Liberties 26,700 35,539 Kensington 2,255 3,825 Spring Garden 5,935 21,570 Southwark I5>355 26,848 Moyamensing 30,325 74,755
$322,532 $667,859 Encumbrances 12,906
$309,626
The report says; " This amount must, of course, be received as only an
approximation of the truth." Fifteen church edifices, a cemetery and hall are not included in the above. l * Condition," etc., 1838. pp. 7, 8. The investigation in 1847-48, gave the following results:
Value Real Estate, Encumbrances. City $368,842 $78,421 Spring Garden , % 27,150 11,050 Northern liberties 40,675 13,440 Southwark 3^544 5,9*5 Moyamensing 51,973 20,216 West Philadelphia 11,625 1,400
9 $130,442
Sect. 29.] Property. 181
cent in the Seventh Ward to-day. In this comparison, however, we must consider the enormous increase in the value of Philadelphia real estate.
This property was distributed as follows:
The occupations of the 315 freeholders was as follows: 78 laborers.
49 traders.
41 mechanics.
35 coachmen and hackmen. 28 waiters.
20 barbers, ii professional men.
53 females.
315
The personal property was as follows:
"Statistical Inquiry'/ etc., p. 15.
182 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
Taking the heads of the 123 families known to live in the Seventh Ward and to own real estate we find that they were born as follows :
Philadelphia . 41 41 =33^ per cent. Pennsylvania 7
"
Maryland 22
Virginia 21
South 13 Delaware and New Jersey .... 8 Other parts of United States and abroad 7
Unknown 4 -
123
- 82 = 66% per cent.
A comparison between 1838 and 1848 was made by Needles' " Pro
gress." etc., pp. 8, 9.& 1837. 1847. Increase.
Real estate, less incumbrances . $309,626 $401,362 $9I >736 House and water rents .... 161,482 200,697 39.225 Taxes 3,253 6,308 3,056
The Inquiry of 1856, pp. 15, 16, declares that the previous year the
Negroes owned;
Real and personal property (true value) 12,685,693.00 Taxes paid 9,766.42 House, water and ground rent 396,782.27
A detailed estimate for 1897 gives the following: Value of Estate. Number of Estates. Total.
$250,000-^500,000 I .. .,. $35O,OOO 100,000 . . I ..-... 100,000 8o,OOO I .*. = ... 8o,OOO 75,ooo i ... = ... 75,000 60,000 I .. = ... 60,000 40,000 4 ... = ... 160,000 35>ooo 3 ...=... 105,000 30,000 4 ... = ... 120,000 20,000 10 ... = ... 200,000 15,000 ii ... = ... 165,000 10,000 16 ... = ... 160,000
52 $1,575,000
The total of $1,575,000 is the estimated wealth of the well-to-do. This estimate is as reliable as can be obtained, and is probably not far
from the real facts.
Sect. 29.] Property,
The eighty-two not born in Philadelphia have lived there as follows :
Over 2 and under 10 years c 10 to 14 years 15 to 19
"
20 to 24 "
25 to 29 "
30 to 34 "
35 to 39 "
40 to 44 "
45 to 49 "
50 to 54 "
60 years and over Unknown 4
82
Nineteen have lived less than twenty years in the city and fifty-nine, twenty years or more. The occupations of the 123 property owners were as
follows :
Caterers 22
Waiters 12 Porters and Janitors 10 Housewives 9 Laundresses 8 Mechanics 7 Coachmen 6 Clerks in public service .... 4 Drivers and teamsters .... 4 Upholsterers 3
Employment agents 3 Merchants 3 Stewards 3 Ministers 3 Hod-carriers and laborers ... 2 Policemen and watchmen . . 2
Hotel keepers and restaura teurs 3
Cooks . 2 Undertakers 2 School-teachers 2
Barbers 2
Physicians 2
Shrouder of dead i
Newspaper publisher ..... i Real estate dealer i Sexton i No occupation .
*
3 Unknown 2
123
This shows that the real estate owners are either Phila
delphia born or old residents and that the mass of them are caterers and house servants, with a sprinkling of those
representing the newer employments as clerks in public service, merchants, and the like.
1 84 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
Of these one hundred and twenty-three families
62 own the houses they occupy. 20 own the houses they occupy, and also other real estate in
the city. 7 own the houses they occupy, own other real estate in the
city, and also own real estate elsewhere. 5 own homes outside the city, and other real estate else
where. 22 own real estate in the city. 7 own real estate in the city and elsewhere also.
In other words, 89 own homes in the city, and 34 own real estate somewhere.
Returns from forty of these holders indicate a total hold
ing of $250,000, or if we add in one large estate, $650,000. Other less definite but fairly reliable returns raise the total
ownership of property in the Seventh Ward to $1,000,000 or more. Sixty-three of the seventy-four owning property outside the city report $49,010 in real estate.
12 In none
of these returns has there been any account of the mort
gage indebtedness taken, nor is there any means of ascer
taining this debt 13
On the whole the statistics show comparatively few Negro property holders in Philadelphia. In a city where the percentage of home owners is unusually large, over 94 per cent of the Negroes appear from the imperfect returns
available to be renters. There are several reasons for this :
first, the Negroes distrust all saving institutions since the fatal collapse of the Preedrnen's Bank ; secondly, they have difficulty in buying homes in decent neighborhoods ; thirdly, the rising price of real estate, and the falling off of
wage and industrial opportunity for the Negro must be taken into account Finally a curious effect of color
14 There is more property than this owned, but only the answers that seemed reliable and definite were recorded. Most of this property is in the country districts of the South.
13 Many efforts were made to get official data on the matter of property, but the authorities had no way of even approximately distinguishing the races.
Sect 29.] Property. 185
prejudice, to be discussed later, has had enormous influence in concentrating Negro population in localities where it was hard to buy homes. All these are cogent reasons, and yet they are not enough to excuse the Negroes from not buying much more property than they have. Much of the money that should have gone into homes has gone into costly church edifices, dues to societies, dress and entertainment. If the Negroes had bought little homes as persistently as they have worked to develop a church and secret society system, and had invested more of their earnings in savings- banks and less in clothes they would be in a far better condition to demand industrial opportunity than they are to-day. This does not mean that the Negro is lazy or a spend
thrift ;
it simply means misdirected energies which cause the Negro people yearly to waste thousands of dollars in rents and live in poor homes when they might with proper foresight do much better.
There are some signs of awakening to this fact among the Negroes. Lately they are just beginning to understand and profit by the Building and Loan Associations. Forty- one families in the Seventh Ward, or about 2 per cent, belong now to such associations and the number is increas ing. Outside the Seventh Ward as large and probably a larger percentage belong to co-operative home -buying societies. The peculiar phenomenon among the colored people, however, is the wide development of beneficial and secret orders. Three hundred and six families, or 17 per cent of the Negroes of the ward, are reported as belonging to beneficial societies and probably 25 per cent or more
actually belong. Beside these there are the petty insurance
societies, to which 1021 families or 42 per cent belong. In more prosperous times this membership may reach 50 or 60 per cent or a total of at least 4000 men, women and children. The beneficial and secret societies, being organ izations of Negroes, will be spoken of later. The petty
i86 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
insurance societies are for the most part conducted by whites. Some of these are reliable enterprises, and by careful management and honest dealing do something to
encourage the saving spirit among the Negroes. It is
doubtful, however, if they form the best kind of incentive, and probably they stand in the way of the savings-bank and building association. Only a few deserve this quali fied approval. The large majority are little better than licensed gambling operations ; it is a disgrace that a great
municipality allows them to prey upon the people in the manner they do.
14 They usually rest on no sound business
principles ; they take any and all risks, generally without
medical examination and depend on lapses in payments and bold cheating to make money. Even the best conducted of these societies have to depend on the unreturned contribu
tions of persons who cannot keep up their payments, to make both ends meet. There were in 1897 thirty-one insurance societies doing
business in the Seventh Ward. The following table gives the weekly premiums required for sick and death benefits
in one society :
RATES AND DEATH BENEFITS.
Weekly Dtiesfor Benefits Payable at Death only.
u For an account of a partial investigation of this subject and some attempts at reform, see "Report ofCitizens* Permanent Relief Committee, etc, , 1893-4," pp. 31, ff. Cf. Also the work of the Star Kitchen at Seventh and Lombard streets, Philadelphia.
Sect. 29.] Property. 187
This is at the rate of $46.80 to $52 for a $1000 life
policy at the age of 43, which can be had in regular com panies for about $35. The excess represents the expense of collection and the gambler's risk.
SICKNESS AND ACCIDENT BENEFITS. Weekly Duesfor Specified Sumsper Week.
Children Age, 2 to n years. Amount payable to children after their certificates have been issued for
the following periods: Three months, one-third; six months, one-half; nine months, three-
fourths; one year, full amount. Death benefits, $40. Weekly dues, 5 cents. Upon payment of 10 cents weekly dues, children from six to eleven
years will be paid weekly sick benefits of $2.50. Membership fee for children, 50 cents. Membership fee for adults, $i.
Into these companies a large part of the income of many families goes. For instance, let us examine the expendi tures of certain actual families for such insurance, remem bering that the total income of these families is in most cases $20 to $40 a month.
Monthly. 1. A family of 2 adults and 2 children (stevedore) . . $3 . 29 2. A family of 2 adults have for 10 years paid .... I . oo 3. A family of 4 adults 2.20 4. A family of 4 adults 2.40 5. A family of i adult and i child 2-00 6. A family of 4 adults 1.84
1 88 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
Monthly.
7. A family of i adult $2 '57 8. A family of 2 adults (waiter) 2.20 9. A family of 2 adults (servant)
"
1.5
10. A family of 5 adults and 2 children (laborer) . . . 3.00 11. A family of 2 adults and 3 children (stevedore) . . i .44 12. A family of 9 adults and i child 5-oo 13. A family of 8 adults and 4 children 4 . 2 14. A family of 9 adults 4,43 15. A family of 2 adults 2.50 1 6. A family of 2 adults (stevedore) 3- 17. A family of 2 adults (stevedore) 3,00 1 8. A family of 10 adults 8.50 19. A family of 2 adults, i child (stevedore) . . - . 5.00 20. A family of 5 adults, i child 5. 21. A family of 3 adults 3-9 22. A family of 4 adults, i child (laborer) 5,00 23. A family of 2 adults, 3 children (waiter) . ... 4,60
It is impossible to get accurate returns as to the total
amount spent by the Negroes of the Seventh Ward for in surance in such societies, but answers to questions on this
point indicate a total expenditure of approximately $25,000
annually. For this enormous outlay something conies
back in the benefits, but probably much less than half. The method of conducting these societies puts a premium on dishonesty and misrepresentation and a tax on honesty and health. A certain class of the insured get sick regu larly and draw benefits and are winked at by the societies as a paying advertisement on the street. Their honest
neighbors on the other hand will struggle on and work for
years, paying regularly in some cases five, ten and fifteen or more years in various societies only to be cheated out of their insurance by rascally agents, or conniving home offices, or their own failure at the last moment to keep up payments. Of course the sum involved is too small, and the cheated persons too unknown and lowly to lead to liti
gation. Let us take some examples : 15
15 Once in a while the affairs of one of these companies are revealed to the public, as for instance, the following noted in the Public Ledger\
Sect 29.] Property, 189
1. This family lost $100 paid in for insurance, by final
lapse in payments. The woman was sixty years old, and poor.
2. This family belonged to the society ten years and paid $12 a year. Finally fell seven days in arrears with payments, and was dropped. Had received $65 in benefits.
3. This family had paid in $50 ; was one day behind and was dropped.
4. This family had a woman insured for $2.50 a week, and $50 at death. She received no sick benefits at all,
October 20, 1896. The company became bankrupt, and its affairs were found hopelessly involved.
" This was the scheme, according to the former agent and some of the certificate holders. Upon the payment of ten cents a week for seven years, the subscriber was promised $100, to be paid at the end of the seventh year. In a year ten cents a week would amount to $5.20; in seven years to $,36.40. The Keystone Investment Company promised to give |ioo for $36.40.
4 * Later the assessment was raised to fifteen cents a week. This would amount in seven years to $54. 60, for which sum $100 was promised in return . Some few of the certificate holders paid twenty cents a week, it is said. This, in seven years, would amount to $72.80, for which sum, according to the agreement, the certificate holder was to be paid $100.
" Just how many subscribers the company had it is impossible to leant
from the ofiicers. A gentleman, who has a store next door to the com pany's office, said yesterday that a great many people went there each week to pay their assessments. They appeared to be poor people, he said. There were a great many Negroes among them, and some of them, he said, came from New Jersey.
" The concern started in business in 1891, and has always occupied its
present quarters, which are very unpretentious, by the way, for a financial
company of any standing. A lady residing on Girard avenue, east of Hanover street, yesterday related her experience with the company as follows:
** *I invested in certificates for my mother and my little daughter, paying fifteen cents a week on each. The agreement was that each was to receive $100 at the end of seven years. I have been paying for my little girl nearly three years, and for my mother nearly two years. It will be two years next Christmas. The payments were made regu larly. On both certificates I have paid in about $35,*
'*
The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
and only $20 at death. They said : " We stint ourselves
of our victuals to keep up and then lose it all."
5. A family who put $75 into a society and lost it all. 6. A mother was in the society two years. When
she was taken sick, she sent her child to notify them ; they took no notice of this on the ground that the notification
by a child was not legal, and paid her nothing.
7. This man was a member of the society fifteen
years, and his wife seven years ; paid in $354 in all and
drew out $90 in benefits ; the society then " discovered "
that the man belonged to the G. A. R., and dropped him and kept the money.
8. This man belonged to a society seven years, at $1.30 per month ; received $20 in benefits and lost the rest
through a lapse in payments.
9. This family belonged to different societies eight years and lost all the money invested.
10. This person was a member of a society some time, when the collector absconded with the money, and the so
ciety refused to bear the responsibility. 11. The mother had paid $54.60 to a society for a death
benefit, but at her death the society paid nothing. 12. The society collapsed and this person lost $75. 13. This family invested $1.23 a month with a society
for thirteen years in order to receive $200 endowment.
This was at the rate of $73.80 annually for a $1000 policy !
14. This man has paid in $88 so far, and has never re ceived sick or other benefits.
15. This woman had belonged to a society for years and was once taken sick just before the agent called. When he came he was asked to return, as the sick woman was asleep. He did not return, and when a claim for sick benefits was made, it was denied on the ground that the
woman had not paid her dues when the agent called. In many other cases the matter of age is made a loop
hole for cheating ; numbers of the Negroes do not know
Sect. 29.] Property. 191
their exact ages ; in such cases the insurance agent will
suggest an age, usually below the evident truth, and insert it in the policy ; if the insured dies the physician guesses at another age nearer the truth, and inserts it in the death certificate. Thereupon the insurance company points to the discrepancy, alleges an attempt to deceive on the part of the insured, and either refuses to pay any of the policy or generally offers to compound for a half or a third of the amount promised. This is perhaps the most common form of cheating outside the failure to account for the payments of lapsed members. In some cases the home office pays the death claim, and the local office or agent cheats the insured.
Without doubt such societies meet outrageous attempts at deception on the part of the insured ; and yet since their methods of business put a premium on this sort of cheat
ing they can hardly complain. The whole business is
nothing more than gambling, where one set of sharpers bet
against another set, and the honest hard-working but
ignorant toilers pay the bill. 16 With all the harm that
open policy-playing and other sorts of gambling do, it is to be doubted if their effects on character are more deleterious than this form of insurance business. The Negroes by the crime of the Preedmen's Bank have been long prejudiced against banks, and this business encourages their aversion
to the slow, sure methods of saving. If the colored people are ever to learn
u forehandedness," in place of the slip
shod chance methods of living, the savings-bank must
soon replace the insurance society ; and that they could
support savings-banks in abundance is shown by the fact
* As before noted, I am aware that a few of these societies do not wholly deserve this sweeping condemnation, and that all of them are defended by certain short-sighted persons as encouraging savings. My observation convinces me, however, of the substantial truth of my con clusions. Of course, all this has nothing to do with the legitimate life insurance business.
192 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
that they annually invest between $75,000 and $100,000 in insurance societies in the city of Philadelphia.
It is not generally known how lucrative a business the
exploitation of the Negro in various lines has become. In
ornaments, clothes, entertainments, books and investment
schemes, the shrewd and unscrupulous have a broad field
of work, and it is being industriously cultivated, especially by whites and to some extent by certain classes of Negroes. Instead then of a struggling people being met by aid in the direction of their greatest weakness, they are sur
rounded by agencies which tend to make them more wasteful and dependent on chance than they are now. One has only to watch the pawn-brokers' shops on Satur
day night in winter to see how largely Negroes support them
; and it is but a step from the insurance society to
the pawnshop and thence to the policy shop. 30. Family Life. Among the masses of the Negro
people in America the monogamic home is comparatively a new institution, not more than two or three generations old. The Africans were taken from polygamy and trans planted into a plantation where the home life was pro tected only by the caprice of the master, and practically unregulated polygamy and polyandry was the result, on the
plantations of the West Indies. In States like Pennsyl vania the marriage institution among slaves was early established and maintained. Consequently one meets
among the Philadelphia Negroes the result of both systems the looseness of plantation life and the strictness of Quaker teaching. Among the lowest class of recent immigrants and other unfortunates there is much sexual promiscuity and the absence of a real home life. Actual prostitution for gain is not as widespread as would at first
thought seem natural. On the other hand, there are two widespread systems among the lowest classes, viz., tem porary cohabitation and the support of men. Cohabitation of a more or less permanent character is a direct offshoot
Sect. 30.] Family Life.
of the plantation life and is practiced considerably ; in distinctly slum districts, like that at Seventh and Lom bard, from 10 to 25 per cent of the unions are of this nature. Some of them are simply common-law marriages and are practically never broken. Others are compacts, which last for two to ten years ; others for some months ; in most of these cases the women are not prostitutes, but rather ignorant and loose. In such cases there is, of course, little home life, rather a sort of neighborhood life, center ing in the alleys and on the sidewalks, where the children are educated. Of the great mass of Negroes this class forms a very small percentage and is absolutely with out social standing. They are the dregs which indicate the former history and the dangerous tendencies of the masses. The system of supporting men is one common among the prostitutes of all countries, and widespread among the Negro women of the town. Two little colored girls walking along South street stopped before a gaudy pair of men's shoes displayed in a shop window, and one said : " That's the kind of shoes I'd buy my fellow ! The remark fixed their life history ; they were from among the prostitutes of Middle Alley, or Ratcliffe street, or some similar resort, where each woman supports some man from the results of her gains. The majority of the well-dressed loafers whom one sees on Locust street near Ninth, on Lom bard near Seventh and Seventeenth, on Twelfth near Kater, and in other such localities, are supported by prostitutes and
political largesse, and spend their time in gambling. They are absolutely without home life, and form the most dan gerous class in the community, both for crime and political corruption.
Leaving the slums and coming to the great mass of the
Negro population we see undoubted effort has been made to establish homes. Two great hindrances, however, cause much mischief: the low wages of men and the high rents. The low wages of men make it necessary for mothers to
194 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
work and in numbers of cases to work away from home sev eral days in the week. This leaves the children without
guidance or restraint for the better part of the day a thing disastrous to manners and morals. To this must be added the result of high rents, namely, the lodging system. Who ever wishes to live in the centre of Negro population, near the great churches and near work, must pay high rent for a decent house. This rent the average Negro family cannot afford, and to get the house they sub-rent a part to
lodgers. As a a consequence, 38 per cent of the homes of the Seventh Ward have unknown strangers admitted freely into their doors. The result is, on the whole, pernicious, especially where there are growing children. Moreover, the tiny Philadelphia houses are ill suited to a lodging system. The lodgers are often waiters, who are at home between meals, at the very hours when the housewife is off at work, and growing daughters are thus left unprotected. In some cases, though this is less often, servant girls and other female lodgers are taken. In such ways the privacy and intimacy of home life is destroyed, and elements of danger and demoralization admitted. Many families see this and refuse to take lodgers, and move where they can afford the rent without help. This involves more depriva tions to a socially ostracized race like the Negro than to whites, since it often means hostile neighbors or no social intercourse. If a number of Negroes settle together, the real estate agents dump undesirable elements among them, which some enthusiastic association has driven from the slums.
There are a large number of waiters, porters and ser vant girls in the city who naturally have no home life and are exposed to peculiar temptations. The church is the rallying place of the best class of these young people, and it attempts to furnish their amusements. Loafing and promenading the streets is the only other entertainment most of these young folks have. They form a serious
Sect 30.] Family Life. 195
problem, to which the lodging system is the only attempted answer, and that a dangerous one. Homes and clubs properly conducted ought to be opened for them. A Young Men's Christian Association which would not degenerate into an endless prayer meeting might meet the wants of the young men. The home life of the middle laboring class lacks many
of the pleasant features of good homes. Traces of plan tation customs still persist, and there is a widespread cus tom of seeking amusement outside the home ; thus the home becomes a place for a hurried meal now and then, and lodging. Only on Sundays does the general gathering in the front room, the visits and leisurely dinnei; smack of
proper home life. Nevertheless, the spirit of home life is steadily growing. Nearly all the housewives deplore the
lodging system and the work that keeps them away from home; and there is a widespread desire to remedy these evils and the other evil which is akin to them, the allow
ing of children and young women to be out unattended at night.
In the better class families there is a pleasant family life
of distinctly Quaker characteristics. One can go into such homes in the Seventh Ward and find all the quiet comfort and simple good-hearted fare that one would expect among well-bred people. In some cases the homes are lavishly furnished, in others they are homely and old-fashioned. Even in the best homes, however, there is easily detected a tendency to let the communal church and society life
trespass upon the home. There are fewer strictly family gatherings than would be desirable, fewer simple neighbor hood gatherings and visits ; in their place are the church
teas, the hall concerts, or the elaborate parties given by the richer and more ostentatious. These things are of no par ticular moment to the circle of families involved, but they set an example to the masses which may be misleading. The mass of the Negro people must be taught sacredly to
196 The Negro Family. [Cliap. XI.
guard the home, to make it the centre of social life and moral guardianship. This it is largely among the best class of Negroes, but it might be made even more con spicuously so than it is. Such emphasis undoubtedly means the decreased influence of the Negro church, and that is a desirable thing. On the whole, the Negro has few family festivals ; birth
days are not often noticed, Christmas is a time of church and general entertainments, Thanksgiving is coming to be widely celebrated, but here again in churches as much as in homes. The home was destroyed by slavery, struggled up after emancipation^nd is again not exactly threatened, but neglected in the life of city Negroes. Herein lies food for thought.
CHAPTER XII. THE ORGANIZED LIFE OF NEGROES.
31. History of the Negro Church in Philadelphia. We have already followed the history of the rise of the Free African Society, which was the beginning of the
Negro Church in the North. 1 We often forget that the
rise of a church organization among Negroes was a curious phenomenon. The church really represented all that was left of African tribal life, and was the sole expression of the organized eiforts of the slaves. It was natural that
any movement among freedmen should centre about their religious life, the sole remaining element of their former tribal system. Consequently when, led by two strong men, they left the white Methodist Church, they were naturally unable to form any democratic moral reform association ; they must be led and guided, and this guidance must have the religious sanction that tribal government always has.
Consequently Jones and Allen, the leaders of the Free African Society, as early as 1791 began regular religious exercises, and at the close of the eighteenth century there were three Negro churches in the city, two of which were
independent. 2
1 Cf. Chapter III. a St. Thomas', Bethel and Zoar. The history of Zoar is of interest. It
"extends over a period of one hundred years, being as it is an offspring of St. George's Church, Fourth and Vine streets, the first Methodist
Episcopal church to be established in this country, and in whose edifice the first American Conference of that denomination was held. Zoar Church had its origin in 1794, when members of St, George's Church, established a mission in what-was then known as Campingtown, now known as Fourth and Brown streets, at which place its first chapel was built. There it remained until 1883, when economic and sociological
I 98 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
St. Thomas' Church has had a most interesting history. It early declared its purpose
" of advancing our friends in
a true knowledge of God, of true religion, and of the ways and means to restore our long lost race to the dignity of
men and of Christians." 3 The church offered itself to the Protestant Episcopal Church and was accepted on condi
tion that they take no part in the government of the gen eral church. Their leader, Absalom Jones, was ordained
deacon and priest, and took charge of the church. In 1804 the church established a day school which lasted until
i8i6/ In 1849 St. Thomas' began a series of attempts to gain full recognition in the Church by a demand for
delegates to the Church gatherings. The Assembly first declared that it was not expedient to allow Negroes to
take part. To this the vestry returned a dignified answer, asserting that
" expediency is no plea against the violation
of the great principles of charity, mercy, justice and
truth." Not until 1864 was ^e Negro body received into full fellowship with the Church. In the century and more of its existence St. Thomas' has always represented a high
grade of intelligence, and to-day it still represents the most
cultured and wealthiest of the Negro population and the
Philadelphia born residents. Its membership has conse-
causes made necessary the selection of a new site. The city had grown, and industries of a character in which the Negroes were not interested had developed in the neighborhood, and, as the colored people were
rapidly moving to a different section of the city, it was decided that the church should follow, and the old building was sold. Through the
liberality of Colonel Joseph M. Bennett a brick building was erected on Melon street, above Twelfth.
** Since then the congregation has steadily increased in numbers, until in August of this year it was found necessary to enlarge the edifice. The corner-stone of the new front was laid two months ago. The present membership of the church is about 550." Public Ledger> November 15, 1897.
* See Douglass' " Annals of St. Thomas'."
* It was then turned into a private school and supported largely by an
English educational fund.
Sect. 31.] Negro Church in Philadelphia. 199
quently always been small, being 246 in 1794, 427 in 1795, 105 in 1860, and 391 in i897.
5
The growth of Bethel Church, founded by Richard Allen, on South Sixth Street, has been so phenomenal that it belongs to the history of the nation rather than to any one city. Prom a weekly gathering which met in Allen's blacksmith shop on Sixth near Lombard, grew a large church edifice
; other churches were formed under the same
general plan, and Allen, as overseer of them, finally took the title of bishop and ordained other bishops. The Church, under the name of African Methodist Episcopal, grew and spread until in 1890 the organization had 452,725 members, 2481 churches and $6,468,280 worth of property.
6
By i8i3 7 there were in Philadelphia six Negro churches
with the following membership : 8
St. Thomas', P. B 560 Bethel, A. M. B. 1272 Zoar, M. E 80 Union, A. M. B 74 Baptist, Race and Vine Streets So Presbyterian 300
2366
The Presbyterian Church had been founded by two Negro missionaries, father and son, named Gloucester, in iSoy.
9 The Baptist Church was founded in 1809. The inquiry of 1838 gives these statistics of churches :
5 St. Thomas1 has suffered often among Negroes from the opprobrium of being "aristocratic," and is to-day by no means a popular church among the masses. Perhaps there is some justice in this charge, but the church has nevertheless always been foremost in good work and has many public spirited Negroes on its rolls.
6 Cf. U. S. Census, Statistics of Churches, 1890. 7 In 1809 the leading Negro churches formed a
" Society for Suppress
ing Vice and Immorality, >J which received the endorsement of Chief
Justice Tilghman, Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Rush, and others. *' Condition of Negroes, 1838," pp. 39-40. *C Robert Jones* "Fifty years in Central Church." John Gloucester
began preaching in 1807 at Seventh and Bainbridge.
2OO Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Three more churches were added in the next ten years, and then a reaction followed.10 By 1867 there were in all
probability nearly twenty churches, of which we have statistics of seventeen :u
STATISTICS OF NEGRO CHURCHES, 1867.
Since the war the growth of Negro churches has been
by bounds, there being twenty-five churches and missions in 1880, and fifty-five in 1897.
10 In 1847 there were 19 churches; 12 of these had 3974 members; n of the edifices cost $67,000.
" Statistical Inquiry," 1848, pp. 29, 30.
In 1854 there were 19 churches reported and 1677 Sunday-school scholars* Bacon, 1856.
11 See Inquiry of 1867.
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 201
So phenomenal a growth, as this here outlined means more than the establishment of many places of worship. The Negro is, to be sure, a religious creature most primi tive folk are but his rapid and even extraordinary- founding of churches is not due to this fact alone, but is rather a measure of his development, an indication of the
increasing intricacy of his social life and the consequent multiplication of the organ which is the function of his
group life the church. To understand this let us inquire into the function of the Negro church.
32. The Function of the Negro Church, The Negro church is the peculiar and characteristic product of the
transplanted African, and deserves especial study. As a social group the Negro church may be said to have ante dated the Negro family on American soil ; as such it has
preserved, on the one hand, many functions of tribal
organization, and on the other hand, many of the family functions. Its tribal functions are shown in its religious activity, its social authority and general guiding and
co-ordinating work ; its family functions are shown by the fact that the church is a centre of social life and inter
course ; acts as newspaper and intelligence bureau, is the
centre of amusements indeed, is the world in which the
Negro moves and acts. So far-reaching are these functions of the church that its organization is almost political. In
Bethel Church, for instance, the mother African Methodist
Episcopal Church of America, we have the following officials and organizations :
The Bishop of the District . \ The Presiding Elder I Executive. The Pastor . J The Board of Trustees ......... Executive Council. General Church Meeting Legislative. The Board of Stewards ........ \ The Board of Stewardesses I Financial Board. The Junior Stewardesses . J The Sunday School Organization . . . Educational System. Indies' Auxiliary, Volunteer Guild, etc. Tax Collectors,
202 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Ushers' Association Police.
Class Leaders \SheriffsandMagistrates.
Local Preachers J
Choir Music and Amusement.
Allen Guards Militia.
Missionary Societies Social Reformers.
Beneficial and Semi-Secret Societies, etc. Corporations.
Or to put it differently, here we have a mayor, appointed from without, with great administrative and legislative pow ers, although well limited by long and zealously cherished
custom ; he acts conjointly with a select coimcil, the trustees,
a board of finance, composed of stewards and stewardesses, a common council of committees and, occasionally, of all church members. The various functions of the church are carried out by societies and organizations. The form of
government varies, but is generally some form of democracy
closely guarded by custom and tempered by possible and
not infrequent secession.
The functions of such churches in order of present emphasis are :
1. The raising of the annual budget. 2. The maintenance of membership. 3. Social intercourse and amusements.
4. The setting of moral standards.
5. Promotion of general intelligence. 6. Efforts for social betterment.
i. The annual budget is of first importance, because the life of the organization depends upon it. The amount of expenditure is not very accurately determined before
hand, although its main items do not vary much. There is the pastor's salary, the maintenance of the building,
light and heat, the wages of a janitor, contributions to
various church objects, and the like, to which must be
usually added the interest on some debt. The sum thus
required varies in Philadelphia from $200 to $5000. A small part of this is raised by a direct tax on each mem ber. Besides this, voluntary contributions by members,
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 203
roughly gauged according to ability, are expected, and a
strong public opinion usually compels payment Another
large source of revenue is the collection after the ser mons on Sunday, when, amid the reading of notices and a subdued hum of social intercourse, a stream of givers walk to the pulpit and place in the hands of the trustee or steward in charge a contribution, varying from a cent to a dollar or more. To this must be added the steady revenue from entertainments, suppers, socials, fairs, and the like. In this way the Negro churches of Philadelphia raise
nearly $100,000 a year. They hold in real estate $900,000 worth of property, and are thus no insignificant element in the economics of the city.
2. Extraordinary methods are used and efforts made to maintain and increase the membership of the various churches. To be a popular church with large membership means ample revenues, large social influence and a leader
ship among the colored people unequaled in power and effectiveness. Consequently people are attracted to the
church by sermons, by music and by entertainments ; finally, every year a revival is held, at which considerable numbers
of young people are converted. All this is done in perfect sincerity and without much thought of merely increasing membership, and yet every small church strives to be large
by these means and every large church to maintain itself
or grow larger. The churches thus vary from a dozen to a thousand members.
3. Without wholly conscious effort the Negro church has become a centre of social intercourse to a degree unknown in white churches even in the country. The various churches, too, represent social classes. At St. Thomas' one looks for the well-to-do Philadelphians, largely descendants of favorite mulatto house servants, and conse
quently well-bred and educated, but rather cold and reserved
to strangers or newcomers ; at Central Presbyterian one sees the older, simpler set of respectable Philadelphians
2c>4 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
with distinctly Quaker characteristics pleasant but con
servative ; at Bethel may be seen the best of the great
laboring class steady, honest people, well dressed and well
fed, with church and family traditions ; at Wesley will be
found the new arrivals, the sight-seers and the strangers to
the city hearty and easy-going people, who welcome all
comers and ask few questions ; at Union Baptist one may look for the Virginia servant girls
and their young men ; and so on throughout the city. Each church forms its
own social circle, and not many stray beyond its bounds.
Introductions into that circle come through the church, and
thus the stranger becomes known. All sorts of entertain
ments and amusements are furnished by the churches :
concerts, suppers, socials, fairs, literary exercises and debates,
cantatas, plays, excursions, picnics, surprise parties, cele
brations. Every holiday is the occasion of some special entertainment by some club, society or committee of the
church ; Thursday afternoons and evenings, when the ser
vant girls are free, are always sure to have some sort of
entertainment. Sometimes these exercises are free, some
times an admission fee is charged, sometimes refreshments
or articles are on sale. The favorite entertainment is a
concert with solo singing, instrumental music, reciting, and
the like. Many performers make a living by appearing at
these entertainments in various cities, and often they are
persons of training and ability, although not always. So
frequent are these and other church exercises that there are
few Negro churches which are not open four to seven nights in a week and sometimes one or two afternoons in addition.
Perhaps the pleasantest and most interesting social
intercourse takes place on Sunday ; the weaty week's work
is done, the people have slept late and had a good break
fast, and sally forth to church well dressed and complacent. The usual hour of the morning service is eleven, but
people stream in until after twelve. The sermon is usually short and stirring, but in the larger churches elicits little
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 205
esponse other than an "Amen" or two. After the sermon the social features begin ; notices on the various meetings of the week are read, people talk with each other in sub dued tones, take their contributions to the altar, and lin ger in the aisles and corridors long after dismission to laugh and chat until one or two o'clock. Then they go home to good dinners. Sometimes there is some special three o'clock service, but usually nothing save Sunday school, until night Then comes the chief meeting of the day ; probably ten thousand Negroes gather every Sunday night in their churches. There is much music, much preaching, some short addresses; many strangers are there to be looked at
; many beaus bring out their belles, and those who do not gather in crowds at the church door and escort the young women home. The crowds are usually well behaved and respectable, though rather more jolly than comports with a puritan idea of church services.
In this way the social life of the Negro centres in his church baptism, wedding and burial, gossip and court ship, friendship and intrigue all lie in these walls. What wonder that this central club house tends to become more and more luxuriously furnished, costly in appointment and easy of access !
4. It must not be inferred from all this that the Negro is hypocritical or irreligious. His church is, to be sure, a social institution first, and religious afterwards, but nevertheless, its religious activity is wide and sincere. In direct moral teaching and in setting moral standards for the people, however, the church is timid, and naturally so, for its constitution is democracy tempered by custom, Negro preachers are often condemned for poor leadership and empty sermons, and it is said that men with so much power and influence could make striking moral re forms. This is but partially true. The congregation does not follow the moral precepts of the preacher, but rather the preacher follows the standard of his flock, and only
2o6 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
exceptional men dare seek to change this. And here it
must be remembered that the Negro preacher is primarily an executive officer, rather than a spiritual guide. If one
goes into any great Negro church and hears the sermon
and views the audience, one would say : either the sermon
is far below the calibre of the audience, or the people are less
sensible than they look ; the former explanation is usually
true. The preacher is sure to be a man of executive ability, a leader of men, a shrewd and affable president of a large and
intricate corporation. In addition to this he may be, and
usually is, a striking elocutionist ; he may also be a man of
integrity, learning, and deep spiritual earnestness; but these
last three are sometimes all lacking, and the last two in many cases. Some signs of advance are here manifest : no min
ister of notoriously immoral life, or even of bad reputation, could hold a large church in Philadelphia without eventual
revolt. Most of the present pastors are decent, respectable men
; there are perhaps one or two exceptions to this, but the
exceptions are doubtful, rather than notorious. On the whole
then, the average Negro preacher in this city is a shrewd
manager, a respectable man, a good talker, a pleasant com
panion, but neither learned nor spiritual, nor a reformer.
The moral standards are therefore set by the congrega tions, and vary from church to church in some degree. There has been a slow working toward a literal obeying of
the puritan and ascetic standard of morals which Method
ism imposed on the freedmen ; but condition and tem
perament have modified these. The grosser forms of im
morality, together with theatre-going and dancing, are
specifically denounced ; nevertheless, the precepts against
specific amusements are often violated by church members.
The cleft between denominations is still wide, especially between Methodists and Baptists. The sermons are usually kept within the safe ground of a mild Calvinism, with
much insistence on Salvation, Grace, Fallen Humanity and the like.
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 207
The chief fuaction of these churches in morals is to con serve old standards and create about them a public opinion which shall deter the offender. And in this the Negro churches are peculiarly successful, although naturally the standards conserved are not as high as they should be.
5. The Negro churches were the birthplaces of Negro schools and of all agencies which seek to promote the in
telligence of the masses ; and even to-day no agency serves to disseminate news or information so quickly and effect ively among Negroes as the church. The lyceum and lecture here still maintain a feeble but persistent exist
ence, and church newspapers and books are circulated
widely. Night schools and kindergartens are still held in connection with churches, and all Negro celebrities, from a
bishop to a poet like Dunbar, are introduced to Negro audiences from the pulpits.
6. Consequently all movements for social betterment are
apt to centre in the churches. Beneficial societies in end less number are formed here ; secret societies keep in touch ; co-operative and building associations have lately sprung up ; the minister often acts as an employment agent ; con siderable charitable and relief work is done and special meetings held to aid special projects.
12 The race problem in all its phases is continually being discussed, and, indeed, from this forum many a youth goes forth inspired to work.
Such are some of the functions of the Negro church, and a study of them indicates how largely this organization has come to be an expression of the organized life of Negroes in a great city.
33. The Present Condition of the Churches. The 2441 families of the Seventh Ward were distributed among the various denominations, in 1896, as follows :
Cf. Publications of Atlanta University No. 3, "Efforts of American
Negroes for Social Betterment."
208 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Families.
Methodists 84 2
Baptists 577
Episcopalians I 5^
Presbyterians 74
Catholic 69
Shakers 2
Unconnected and unknown 721
2441
Probably half of the "unconnected and unknown 17
habitually attend church.
In the city at large the Methodists have a decided majority,
followed by the Baptists, and further behind, the Episco
palians. Starting with the Methodists, we find three
bodies : the African Methodist Episcopal, founded by Allen, the A. M. E. Zion, which sprung from a secession of
Negroes from white churches in New York in the eighteenth century ; and the M. E. Church, consisting of colored
churches belonging to the white Methodist Church, like
Zoar.
The A. M. E. Church is the largest body and had, in
1897, fourteen churches and missions in the city, with a
total membership of 3210, and thirteen church edifices,
seating 6117 persons. These churches collected during the
year, $27,074.13. Their property is valued at $202,229 on which there is a mortgage indebtedness of $30,000 to $50,000. Detailed statistics are given in the table
on the next page. These churches are pretty well organized, and are con
ducted with vim and enthusiasm. This arises largely from their system. Their bishops have been in some in
stances men of piety and ability like the late Daniel A.
Payne. In other cases they have fallen far below this
standard; but they have always been men of great influ
ence, and had a genius for leadership else they would not
have been bishops. They have large powers of appoint ment and removal in the case of pastors, and thus each
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210 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
pastor, working under the eye of an inspiring chief, strains every nerve to make his church a successful
organization. The bishop is aided by several presiding elders, who are traveling inspectors and preachers, and
give advice as to appointments. This system results in
great unity and power ; the purely spiritual aims of the
church, to be sure, suffer somewhat, but after all this pecu liar organism is more than a church, it is a government of
men. The headquarters of the A. M. E. Church are in Philadel
phia. Their publishing house, at Seventh and Pine, pub lishes a weekly paper and a quarterly review, besides some
books, such as hymnals, church disciplines, short treatises, leaflets and the like. The receipts of this establishment in 1897 were $16,058.26, and its expenditures $14,119.15. Its total outfit and property is valued at $45,513.64, with
an indebtedness of $14,513.64. An episcopal residence for the bishop of the district has
recently been purchased on Belmont avenue. The Phila
delphia Conference disbursed from the general church
funds in 1897, $985 to superannuated ministers, and $375 to widows of ministers. Two or three women missionaries visited the sick during the year and some committees of the Ladies' Mission Society worked to secure orphans' homes.13 Thus throughout the work of this church there
18 An account of the present state of the A. M. E. Church from its own lips is interesting, in spite of its somewhat turgid rhetoric. The follow
ing is taken from the minutes of Philadelphia Conference, 1897:
REPORT ON STATE OF THE CHURCH. " To the Bishop and Conference: We your Committee on State of the Church beg leave to submit the following: '* Every truly devoted African Methodist is intensely interested in the
condition of the church that was handed down to us as a precious heir loom from the hands of a God-fearing, self-sacrificing ancestry; the church that Allen planted in Philadelphia, a little over a century ago has
enjoyed a marvelous development. Its grand march through the pro cession of a hundred years has been characterized by a series of brilliant
Sect 33-] Condition of the Churches. 311
is much evidence of enthusiasm and persistent progress. 1*
There are three churches in the city representing the A. M. E. Zion connection. They are :
Wesley Fifteenth and Lombard Sts. Mount Zion Fifty-fifth above Market St Union Ninth St. and Girard Ave.
successes, completely refuting the foul calumnies cast against it and overcoming every obstacle that endeavored to impede its onward march, giving the strongest evidence that God was in the midst of her; she should not be moved.
" From the humble beginnings in the little blacksmith shop, at Sixth and Lombard streets, Philadelphia, the Connection has grown until we have now fifty-five annual conferences, beside mission fields, with over four thousand churches, the same number of itinerant preachers, near six hundred thousand communicants, one and a half million adherents, with sir regularly organized and well-manned departments, each doing a magnificent work along special lines, the whole under the immediate supervision of eleven bishops, each with a marked individuality and all laboring together for the further development and perpetuity of the church. In this the Mother Conference of the Connection, we have every reason to be grateful to Almighty God for the signal blessings He has so graciously poured out upon us. The spiritual benedictions have been many. In response to earnest effort and faithful prayers by both pastors and congregations, nearly two thousand persons have professed faith in Christ, during this conference year. Five thousand dollars have been given by the membership and friends of the Connectional interests to carry on the machinery ofthe church, besides liberal contributions for the cause of missions, education, the Sunday-school Union and Church ^Extension Departments, and beside all this, the presiding elder and pastors have been made to feel that the people are perfectly willing to do what they can to maintain the preaching of the word, that tends to elevate mankind and glorify God.
* * The local interests have not been neglected; new churches have been built, parsonages erected, church mortgages have been reduced, auxiliary societies to give everybody in the church a chance to work for God and humanity, have been more extensively organized than ever before. "The danger signal that we see here and there cropping out, which
is calculated to bring discredit upon the Church of Christ, is the unholy ambition for place and power. The means ofttimes used to bring about the desired results, cause the blush of shame to tinge the brow of
14 Cf., e. ,*., the account of the founding of new missions in the minutes
of the Philadelphia Conference, 1896.
212 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
No detailed statistics of these churches are available ; the last two are small , the first is one of the largest and
Christian manhood. God always has and always will select those He
designs to use as the leaders of his Church. " Political methods that are in too many instances resorted to, are con
trary to the teaching and spirit of the Gospel of Christ. Fitness and
sobriety will always be found in the lead. " Through mistaken sympathy we find that several incompetent men
have found their way into the ministerial ranks; men who can neither
manage the financial nor spiritual interests of any church or bring success
along any line, who are continuously on the wing from one conference to the other. The time has come when the strictest scrutiny must be exer
cised as to purpose and fitness of candidates, and if admitted and found
to be continuous failures, Christian charity demands that they be given an opportunity to seek a calling where they can make more success than in the ministry. These danger signals that flash up now and then must be observed and everything contrary to the teachings of God's word and
the spirit of the discipline weeded out. The church owes a debt of
gratitude to the fathers who have always remained loyal and true; who labored persistently and well for the upbuilding of the connection, that
they can never repay. " Particular care should be taken that no honorable aged minister of
our great Church should be allowed to suffer for the necessaries of life.
We especiallv commend to the consideration of every minister the Ministers' Aid Association, which is now almost ready to be organized, the object of which is to help assuage the grief and dry the tears of those
who have been left widowed and fatherless. " Our Publication Department is making heroic efforts for the larger
circulation of our denominational papers and literature generally. These
efforts ought to be, and must needs be heartily seconded by the Church.
Lord Bacon says: l
Talking makes a ready man, writing an exact man, but reading makes a full man.' We want our people at large to be brim ful of information relative to the growth of the church, the progress of
the race, the upbuilding of humanity and the glory of God. 41 Our missionary work must not be allowed to retrograde. The banner
that Allen raised must not be allowed to trail, but must go forward until
the swarthy sons of Ham everywhere shall gaze with a longing and loving look upon the escutcheon that has emblazoned on it, as its motto: 'The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man,' and the
glorious truth flashing over the whole world that Jesus Christ died to
redeem the universal family of mankind. Disasters and misfortunes
may come to us, but strong men never quail before adversities. The clouds of to-day may be succeeded by the sunshine of to-morrow.
"
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 213
most popular in the city ; the pastor receives $1500 a year and the total income of the church is between $4000 and
$5000. It does considerable charitable work among its
aged members, and supports a large sick and death benefit
society. Its property is worth at least $25,000. Two other Methodist churches of different denomina
tions are : Grace U. A. M. E-, Lombard street, above Fif teenth ; St. Matthew Methodist Protestant, Fifty-eighth and Vine streets. Both these churches are small, although the first has a valuable piece of property. The Methodist Episcopal Church has six organizations
in the city among the Negroes ; they own church property valued at $53,700, have a total membership of 1202, and an income of $16,394 in 1897. Of this total income, $1235, or T% Per cent> was given for benevolent enterprises. These churches are quiet and well conducted, and although not among the most popular churches, have nevertheless a membership of old and respected citizens.
COLORED M. B. CHURCHES IN PHILADELPHIA, 1897.
There were in 1896 seventeen Baptist churches in Phila
delphia, holding property valued at more than $300,000, having six thousand members, and an annual income of,
probably, $30,000 to $35,000. One of the largest churches has in the last five years raised between $17,000 and
$18,000.
214 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
BAPTIST CHURCHES OF PHILADELPHIA, 1896.
The Baptists are strong in Philadelphia, and own many large and attractive churches, such as, for instance, the Union Baptist Church, on Twelfth street ; Zion Baptist, in the northern part of the city ; Monumental, in West Phila
delphia, and the staid and respectable Cherry Street Church. These churches as a rule have large membership. They are> however, quite different in spirit and methods from the Methodists
; they lack organization, and are not so well
managed as business institutions. Consequently statistics of their work are very hard to obtain, and indeed in many cases do not even exist for individual churches. On the other hand, the Baptists are peculiarly clannish and loyal to their organization, keep their pastors a long time, and thus each church gains an individuality not noticed in Methodist churches. If the pastor is a strong, upright character, his influence for good is marked. At the same time, the Baptists have in their ranks a larger percentage of illiteracy than probably any other church, and it is often possible for an inferior man to hold a large church
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches.
for years and allow it to stagnate and retrograde. The Baptist policy is extreme democracy applied to church
affairs, and no wonder that this often results in a per nicious dictatorship. While many of the Baptist pastors of Philadelphia are men of ability and education, the general average is below that of the other churches a fact due principally to the ease with which one can enter the Baptist ministry.
35 These churches support a small
publishing house in the city, which issues a weekly paper* They do some charitable work, but not much.
16
There are three Presbyterian churches in the city :
Central Church is the oldest of these churches and has an interesting history. It represents a withdrawal from the First African Presbyterian Church in 1844. The con
gregation first worshiped at Eighth and Carpenter streets.
15 Baptists themselves recognize this. One of the speakers in a recent
association meeting, as reported by the press, " deprecated the spirit
shown by some churches in spreading their differences to their detriment as church members, and in the eyes oftheir white brethren; and he recom mended that unworthy brethren from other States, who sought an asylum of rest here, be not admitted to local pulpits except in cases where the ministers so applying are personally known or vouched for by a resident
pastor. The custom ofrecognizing as preachers men incapable of doing good work in the pulpit, who were ordained in the South after they had failed in the North, was also condemned, and the President declared that the times demand a ministry that is able to preach. The practice of
licensing incapable brethren for the ministry, simply to please them, was also looked upon with disfavor, and it was recommended that applicants for ordination be required to show at least ability to read intelligently the Word of God or a hymn.' '
16 One movement deserves notice the Woman's Auxiliary Society. It consists of five circles, representing a like number of colored Baptist churches in this city, viz., the Cherry Street, Holy Trinity, Union, Nicetown and Germantown, and does general missionary work.
216 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
and in 1845 purchased a lot at Ninth and Lombard, where they still meet in a quiet and respectable house of
worship. Their 430 members include some of the oldest and most respectable Negro families of the city. Probably if the white Presbyterians had given more encouragement to Negroes, this denomination would have absorbed the best elements of the colored population ; they seem, how ever, to have shown some desire to be rid of the blacks, or at least not to increase their Negro membership in Phila
delphia to any great extent. Central Church is more
nearly a simple religious organization than most churches ; it listens to able sermons, but does little outside its own doors. 17
Berean Church is the work of one man and is an insti tutional church. It was formerly a mission of Central Church and now owns a fine piece of property bought by donations contributed by whites and Negroes, but chiefly by the former. The conception of the work and its carrying out, however, is due to Negroes. This church conducts a successful Building and Loan Association, a kindergarten,
17 See, Jones'
" Fifty Years In Central Street Church," etc. The system
and order in this church is remarkable. Bach year a careful printed report of receipts and expenditures is made. The following is an abstract of the report for 1891 :
Receipts.
Finance Committee . , $977, 39 Pew Rents 709,75 Legacy 760.77 Other Receipts 329,54
-. . , v 1^777.45 Expenditures.
Pastor's Salary $1000.00 Other Salaries ....... 476.00 Repayment of Loan 409.00 Interest on Mortgage 60 . 96 Donations to General Church 31-57 General Bxpenses, etc. 759. 23
12736,76
Balance $ 40.69
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 217
a medical dispensary and a seaside home, beside the num erous church societies. Probably no church in the city,
except the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion, is doing so much for the social betterment of the Negro.
18 The First African is the oldest colored church of this denomina
tion in the city. The Episcopal Church has, for Negro congregations, two
independent churches, two churches dependent on white
parishes, and four missions and Sunday schools. Statistics of three of these are given in the table on page 218.
The Episcopal churches receive more outside help than others and also do more general mission and rescue work
They hold $150,000 worth of property, have 900-1000 members and an annual income of $7000 to $8000. They
represent all grades of the colored population. The oldest of the churches is St. Thomas? Next comes the
Church of the Crucifixion, over fifty years old and perhaps the most effective church organization in the city for
benevolent and rescue work. It has been built up virtually
by one Negro, a man of sincerity and culture, and of
peculiar energy. This church carries on regular church,
work at Bainbridge and Eighth and at two branch mis
sions ;
it helps in the Fresh Air Fund, has an ice mission > a
vacation school of thirty-five children, and a parish visitor.
It makes an especial feature of good music with its vested
choir. One or two courses of University Extension lectures are held here each year, and there is a large beneficial and
insurance society in active operation, and a Home for the Homeless on Lombard street. This church especially reaches after a class of neglected poor whom the other colored churches shun or forget and for whom there is little fellowship in white churches, The rector says of this
work :
"For history and detailed account of this work see Anderson's " Presbyterianism and the Negro,"
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" As I look back over nearly twenty years of labor in one parish, I see a great deal to be devoutly thankful for. Here are people struggling from the beginning of one
year to another, without ever having what can be called the necessaries of life. God alone knows what a real struggle life is to them. Many of them must always be 'moving on,' because they cannot pay the rent or meet other obligations.
"I have just visited a family of four, mother and three children. The mother is too sick to work. The eldest girl will work when she can find something to do. But the rent is due, and there is not a cent in the house. This is but a sample. How can such people support a church of their own? To many such, religion often becomes doubly comforting. They seize eagerly on the promises of a life where these earthly distresses will be forever absent.
" Ifthe other half only knew how this half is living how hard and dreary, and often hopeless, life is the members of the more favored half would gladly help to do all they could to have the gospel freely preached to those whose lives are so devoid of earthly comforts.
"Twenty or thirty thousand dollars (and that is not
much), safely invested, would enable the parish to do a
work that ought to be done and yet is not being done at
present The poor could then have the gospel preached to them in a way that it is not now being preached." The Catholic church has in the last decade made great
progress in its work among Negroes and is determined to do much in the future. Its chief hold upon the colored
people is its comparative lack of discrimination. There is
one Catholic church in the city designed especially for
Negro work St. Peter Clavers at Twelfth and lyombard
formerly a Presbyterian church; recently a parish house
has been added. The priest in charge estimates that 400 or 500 Negroes regularly attend Catholic churches in various
220 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
parts of the city. The Mary Drexel Home for Colored Orphans is a Catholic institution near the city which is
doing much work. The Catholic church can do more than
any other agency in humanizing the intense prejudice of
many of the working class against the Negro, and signs of this influence are manifest in some quarters. We have thus somewhat in detail reviewed the work of
the chief churches. There are beside these continually
springing tip and dying a host of little noisy missions which
represent the older and more demonstrative worship. A description of one applies to nearly all; take for instance
one in the slums of the Fifth Ward: " The tablet in the gable of this little church bears the
date 1837. For sixty years it has stood and done its work in the narrow lane. What its history has been all this time it is difficult to find out, for no records are on hand, and no one is here to tell the tale.
" The few last months of the old order was something like this: It was in the hands of a Negro congregation. Several visits were paid to the church, and generally a dozen people were found there. After a discourse by a
very illiterate preacher, hymns were sung, having many repetitions of senseless sentiment and exciting cadences. It took about an hour to work up the congregation to a fervor aimed at Whe^a this was reached a remarkable scene presented itself. The whole congregation pressed forward to an open space before the pulpit, and formed a
ring. The most excitable of their number entered the ring, and with clapping of hands and contortions led the devotions. Those forming the ring joined in the clapping of hands and wild and loud singing, frequently springing
1
into the air, and shouting loudly. As the devotions pro ceeded, most of the worshipers took off their coats and vests and hung them on pegs on the wall. This continued for hours, until all were completely exhausted, and some had fainted and been stowed away on benches or the pulpit
Sect. 34.] Societies and Cooperative Business. 221
platform. This was the order of things at the close of sixty years' history.
* * * When this congregation vacated the church, they did so stealthily, under cover of darkness, removed furniture not their own, including the pulpit, and left bills unpaid."
19
There are dozens of such little missions in various parts of Philadelphia, led by wandering preachers. They are survivals of the methods of worship in Africa and the West Indies. In some of the larger churches noise and excite ment attend the services, especially at the time of revival or in prayer meetings. For the most part, however, these customs are dying away. To recapitulate, we have in Philadelphia fifty-five Negro
churches with 12,845 members owning $907,729 worth of
property with an annual income of at least $94,968. And these represent the organized efforts of the race better than
any other organizations. Second to them however come the secret and benevolent societies, which we now consider.
34. Secret and Beneficial Societies, and Co-operative Business. The art of organization is the one hardest for the freedman to learn, and the Negro shows his greatest deficiency here ; whatever success he has had has been shown most conspicuously in his church organizations, where the religious bond greatly facilitated union, In other organizations where the bond was weaker his success has been less. From early times the precarious economic condition of the free Negroes led to many mutual aid organizations. They were very simple in form : an initia tion fee of small amount was required, and small regular payments ; in case of sickness, a weekly stipend was paid, and in case of death the members were assessed to pay for the funeral and help the widow. Confined to a few mem bers, all personally known to each other, such societies
**Rev. Charles Daniel, in the Naz&rene. The writer hardly does
justice to the weird witchery of those hymns sung thus rudely.
222 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
were successful from the beginning. We hear of them in the eighteenth century, and by 1838 there were 100 such small groups, with 7448 members, in the city. They paid in $18,851, gave $14,172 in benefits, and had $10,023 on hand. Ten years later about eight thousand members belonged to 106 such societies. Seventy-six of these had a total membership of 5187. They contributed usually 25 cents to 37^ cents a month; the sick received $1.50 to $3,00 a week, and death benefits of $10.00 to $20.00 were allowed. The income of these seventy-six societies was $16,814.23 ; 681 families were assisted.
20
These societies have since been superceded to some extent by other organizations ; they are still so numerous, however, that it is impractical to catalogue all of them ; there are probably several hundred of various kinds in the city. To these were early added the secret societies, which
naturally had great attraction for Negroes. A Boston lodge of black Masons received a charter direct from Eng land, and independent orders of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, etc., grew up. During the time that Negroes were shut out of the public libraries there were many literary associations with libraries. These have now dis appeared. Outside the churches the most important organizations among Negroes to-day are : Secret societies, beneficial societies, insurance societies, cemeteries, building and loan associations, labor unions, homes of various sorts and political clubs. The most powerful and flourishing secret order is that of the Odd Fellows, which has two hundred thousand members among American Negroes. In Philadelphia there are 19 lodges with a total membership of i r 88, and $46,000 worth of property. Detailed statis tics are in the next table : 21
20 Cf. report of inquiries in above years. 21 From Report of Fourth Annual Meeting of the District Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania, G. U. of O. F., 1896.
Sect. 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 223
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This order owns two halls in the city worth perhaps $40,000. One is occupied by the officers of the Grand
Lodge, which employs several salaried officials and clerks. The order conducts a newspaper called the Odd Fellows* Journal. There are 19 lodges of Masons in the city, 6 chapters,
5 commanderies, 3 of the Scottish Rite, and I drill corp. The Masons are not so well organized and conducted as the Odd Fellows, and detailed statistics of their lodges are not available. They own two halls worth at least $50,000, and probably distribute not less than $3000 to $4000 annu
ally in benefits.
Beside these chief secret orders there are numerous
others, such as the American Protestant Association, which has many members, the Knights of Pythias, the Galilean Fishermen, the various female orders attached to these, and a number of others. It is almost impossible to get accurate statistics of all these orders, and any estimate of their economic activity is liable to considerable error.
However, from general observation and the available
figures, it seems fairly certain that at least four thousand
Negroes belong to secret orders, and that these orders
annually collect at least $25,000, part of which is paid out in sick and death benefits, and part invested. The real estate, personal property and funds of these orders amount to no less than $125,000. The function of the secret society is partly social inter
course and partly insurance. They furnish pastime from the monotony of work, a field for ambition and intrigue, a chance for parade, and insurance against misfortune. Next to the church they are the most popular organiza tions among Negroes. Of the beneficial societies we have already spoken in
general. A detailed account of a few of the larger and more typical organizations will now suffice. The Quaker City Association is a sick and death benefit society, seven
Sect 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 225
years old, which confines its membership to native Phila- delphians. It has 280 members and distributes $1400 to ^1500 annually. The Sons and Daughters of Delaware is over fifty years old. It has 106 members, and owns $3000 worth of real estate. The Fraternal Association was founded in 1861
; it has 86 members, and distributes
about $300 a year. It "was formed for the purpose of relieving the wants and distresses of each other in the time of affliction and death, and for the furtherance of such benevolent views and objects as would tend to estab lish and maintain a permanent and friendly intercourse among them in their social relations in life." The Sons of St. Thomas was founded in 1823 an^ was originally confined to members of St. Thomas' Church. It was formerly a large organization, but now has 80 members, and paid out in 1896, $416 in relief. It has $1500 invested in government bonds. In addition to these there is the Old Men's Association, the Female Cox Association, the Sons and Daughters of Moses, and a large number of other small societies.
There is arising also a considerable number of insur ance societies, differing from the beneficial in being con ducted by directors. The best of these are the Crucifixion connected with the Church of the Crucifixion, and the
Avery, connected with Wesley A. M. E. Z. Church ; both have a large membership and are well conducted. Nearly every church is beginning to organize one or more such
societies, some of which in times past have met disaster
by bad management. The True Reformers of Virginia, the most remarkable Negro beneficial organization yet started, has several branches here. Beside these there are number less minor societies, as the Alpha Relief, Knights and Ladies of St. Paul, the National Co-operative Society, Col
ored Women's Protective Association, Ix>yal Beneficial, etc. Some of these are honest efforts and some are swindling- imitations of the pernicious white petty insurance societies.
226 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
There are three building and loan associations conducted
by Negroes. Some of the directors in one are white, all the others are colored. The oldest association is the Cen
tury, established October 26, 1886. Its board of directors
is composed of teachers, upholsterers, clerks, restaurant
keepers and undertakers, and it has had marked success. Its income for 1897 was about $7000. It has $25,000 in
loans outstanding. The Berean Building and Loan Association was estab
lished in 1888 in connection with Berean Presbyterian Church ; 13 of the 19 officers and directors are colored.
Its income for 1896 was nearly $30,000, and it had $60,000 in loans
; 43 homes have been bought through this asso ciation.
22
The Pioneer Association is composed entirely of Negroes, the directors being caterers, merchants and upholsterers. It was founded in 1888 and has an office on Pine street. Its receipts in 1897 were $9000, and it had about $20,000 in loans. Nine homes are at present being bought in this association.
There are arising some loan associations to replace the
pawn-shops and usurers to some extent. The Small Ix)an Association, for instance, was founded in 1891, and has the
following report for 1898 :
Sliares sold . {1144,00 Assessments on shares 114.40 Repaid loans 4537.5 Interest . * 417-06 Cash in treasury . . 275 , 54 Dividends paid 222167 Loans made 4626.75 Expenses 82.02
The Conservative is a similar organization, consisting of ten members.
22 This association has issued a valuable little pamphlet called tf Helpful
Hints on Home," which it distributes. This explains the object and methods ofbuilding and loan associations.
Sect. 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 327
This account has attempted to touch only the chief and characteristic organizations, and makes no pretensions to completeness. It shows, however, how intimately bound together the Negroes of Philadelphia are. These associa tions are largely experiments, and as such, are continually reaching out to new fields. The latest ventures are toward labor unions, co-operative stores and newspapers. There are the following labor unions, among others : The Caterers' Club, the Private Waiters' Association, the Coachmen's
Association, the Hotel Brotherhood (of waiters), the Cigar- makers' Union (white and colored), the Hod-Carriers' Union, the Barbers' Union, etc.
Of the Caterers1 Club we have already heard. 23 The
Private Waiters' Association is an old beneficial order with well-to-do members. The private waiter is really a skilled workman of high order, and used to be well paid. Next to the guild of caterers he ranked as high as any class of
Negro workmen before the war indeed the caterer was but a private waiter further developed. Consequently this labor union is still jealous and exclusive and contains some members long retired from active work. The Coach men's Association is a similar society; both these organiza tions have a considerable membership, and make sick and death benefits and social gatherings a feature. The Hotel Brotherhood is a new society of hotel waiters and is con ducted by young men on the lines of the regular trades unions, with which it is more or less affiliated in many cities. It has some relief features and considerable social life. It strives to open and keep open work for colored waiters and often arranges to divide territory with whites, or to prevent one set from supplanting the other. The Cigar-makers' Union is a regular trades union with both white and Negro members. It is the only union in Phila
delphia where Negroes are largely represented. No friction
1 See supra, p. 119 &
228 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII,
is apparent. The Hod-Carriers' Union is large and of consid erable age but does not seem to be very active. A League of Colored Mechanics was formed in 1897 but did not accom
plish anything. There was before the war a league of this sort which flourished, and there undoubtedly will be
attempts of this sort in the future until a union is effected. 24
The two co-operative grocery stores, and the caterers 7
supply store have been mentioned. 25 There was a dubious
attempt in 1896 to organize a co-operative tin-ware store which has not yet been successful.
26
With all this effort and movement it is natural that the Negroes should want some means of communication. This
they have in the following periodicals conducted wholly by Negroes :
M The College Settlement was interested in this organization, but the movement was evidently premature.
25 See supra, p. 117 and p. 119. 26 An interesting advertisement of this venture is appended; it is a
curious mixture of business, exhortation and simplicity. The present state of the enterprise is not known :
"NOTICE TO AI,L. U WB CALL YOUR ATTENTION
"To THIS WORK.
"THE UNION TIN-WARE MANUFACTURING CO. " Is now at work, chartered under the laws of the States of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania. u The purpose of said Company is to manufacture everything in the
TIN-WARE LINE that the law allows, and to sell stock all over the United States of America; and put in members enough in every city to open a Union Tin-Ware Store, and if the promoter finds that he has not enough members in a city to open a Tin-Ware Store, then he shall open it with money from the factory. SHARES are $10.00, they can be paid on installment plan; and you do not have any monthly dues to pay, but on the soth of every December or whenever the Stockholders appoint the time, the dividend will be declared.
" We will make this one of the grandest organizations ever witnessed by the Race, if you lend us your aid. This Store will contain Groceries, Dry Goods and Tin-Ware, and you can do your dealing at your own store. This factory will give you work, and learn you a trade/*
Sect 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 229
A. M. E. Church Review, quarterly, 8vo, about ninety- five pages.
Christian Recorder, eight-page weekly newspaper. (Both these are organs of the A. M. E. Church.)
Baptist Christian Banner, four-page weekly newspaper. (Organ of the Baptists.) Odd Fellows' Journal, eight- page weekly newspaper.
(Organ of Odd Fellows.) Weekly Tribune, eight-page weekly newspaper, seven
teen years established.
The Astonisher, eight-page weekly newspaper (German- town). The Standard-Echo, four-page weekly newspaper (since
suspended). The Tribune is the chief news sheet and is filled generally
with social notes of all kinds, and news of movements
among Negroes over the country. Its editorials are usually of little value chiefly because it does not employ a respon sible editor. It is in many ways however an interesting paper and represents pluck and perseverance on the
part of its publisher. The Astonisher and Standard Echo are news sheets. The first is bright but crude. The Recorder, Banner and Journal are chiefly filled with columns of heavy church and lodge news. The Review has had an interesting history and is probably the best Negro periodical of the sort published; it is often
weighted down by the requirements of church politics, and
compelled to publish some trash written by aspiring candi dates for office
; but with all this it has much solid matter
and indicates the trend of thought among Negroes to some extent It has greatly improved in the last few years.
Many Negro newspapers from other cities circulate here and widen the feeling of community among the colored
people of the city. One other kind of organization has not yet been men
tioned, the political clubs, of which there are probably
230 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
fifty in tlie city. They will be considered in another chapter.
35. Institutions. The chief Negro institutions of the city are : The Home for Aged and Infirmed Colored Per sons, the Douglass Hospital and Training School, the Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home, three cemetery companies, the Home for the Homeless, the special schools, as the Institute for Colored Youth, the House of Industry, Raspberry street schools and Jones's school for girls, the Y. M. C. A., and University Extension Centre. The Home for the Aged, situated at the corner of Girard
and Belmont avenues, was founded by a Negro lumber merchant, Steven Smith, and is conducted by whites and Negroes. It is one of the best institutions of the kind; its
property is valued at $400,000, and it has an annual income of $30,000. It has sheltered 558 old people since its foundation in 1864. The Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School is
a curious example of the difficult position of Negroes : for years nearly every hospital in Philadelphia has sought to exclude Negro women from the course in nurse-training, and no Negro physician could have the advantage of hospital practice. This led to a movement for a Negro hospital ; such a movement however was condemned by the whites as an unnecessary addition to a bewilder ing number of charitable institutions ; by many of the best Negroes as a concession to prejudice and a draw ing of the color line. Nevertheless the promoters insisted that colored nurses were efficient and needed training, that colored physicians needed a hospital, and that colored patients wished one. Consequently the Doug lass Hospital has been established and its success seems to warrant the effort.27
27 Since the opening of the hospital colored nurses have had less trouble In white institutions, and one colored physician has been
Sect. 35. ] Institutions. 231
The total income for the year 1895-96 was $4,656.31; sixty-one patients were treated during the year, and thirty- two operations performed ; 987 out-patients were treated. The first class of nurses was graduated in 1897. The Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home is conducted
by the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth at 756 South Twelfth street The exchange is open at stated times during the week, and various articles are on sale. Cheap lodging and board is furnished for a few school girls and working girls. So far the work of the exchange has been limited but it is slowly growing, and is certainly a most deserving venture.
28
The exclusion of Negroes from cemeteries has, as before mentioned, led to the organization of three cemetery com panies, two of which are nearly fifty years old. The Olive holds eight acres of property in the Twenty-fourth Ward, claimed to be worth $100,000. It has 900 lot owners ; the I^ebanon holds land in the Thirty-sixth Ward, worth at least $75,000. The Merion is a new company which owns twenty-one acres in Montgomery County, worth per haps $30,000. These companies are in the main well- conducted, although the affairs of one are just now some what entangled. The Home for the Homeless is a refuge and home for
the aged connected with the Church of the Crucifixion.
appointed intern in a large hospital. Dr. N. F. Mossell was chiefly instrumental in founding the Douglass Hospital.
In connection with this work, Bethel Church often holds small receptions for servant girls on their days off, when refreshments are served and a pleasant time is spent. The following is a note of a similar enterprise at another church :
" The members of the Berean Union have opened a
* Y ' parlor, where young colored girls employed as domes tics can spend their Thursday afternoon both pleasantly and profitably. The parlor is open from 4 until 10 p. m., every Thursday, and members of the Union are present to welcome them. A light supper is served for ten cents. The evening is spent in literary exercises and social talk. The parlor is in the Berean Church, South College avenue, near Twen tieth street."
232 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
It is supported largely by whites but not entirely. It has an income of about $500. During 1896, 1108 lodgings were furnished to ninety women, 8384 meals given to inmates, 2705 to temporary lodgers, 2078 to transients, and 812 to invalids. The schools have all been mentioned before. The
Young Men's Christian Association has had a checkered history, chiefly as it would seem from the wrong policy pursued ; there is in the city a grave and dangerous lack of
proper places of amusement and recreation for young men. To fill this need a properly conducted Young Men's Christian Association, with books and newspapers, baths, bowling alleys and billiard tables, conversation rooms and
short, interesting religious services is demanded ; it would cost far less than it now costs the courts to punish the petty misdemeanors of young men who do not know how to amuse themselves. Instead of such an institution however the Colored Y. M. C. A. has been virtually an attempt to add another church to the numberless colored churches of the city, with endless prayer-meetings and loud gospel hymns, in dingy and uninviting quarters. Consequently the institution is now temporarily suspended. It had accomplished some good work by its night schools, and social meetings.
Since the organization of the Bainbridge Street Univer sity Extension Centre, May 10, 1895, lectures have been delivered at the Church of the Crucifixion, Eighth and Bainbridge streets, by Rev. W. Hudson Shaw, on English History; by Thomas Whitney Surette, on the Develop ment of Music; by Henry W. Elson, on American His tory, and by Hilaire Belloc, on Napoleon. Each of these lecturers, except Mr. Belloc, has given a course of six lectures on the subject stated, and classes have been held in connection with each course. The attendance has been above the average as compared with other Centres in the city.
Sect. 36.] The Experiment of Organization. 233
Beside these efforts there are various embryonic institu tions : A day nursery in the Seventh Ward by the Woman's Missionary Society, a large organization which does much charitable work
; an industrial school near the city, etc.
There are, too, many institutions conducted by whites for the benefit of Negroes, which will be mentioned in another
place. Much of the need for separate Negro institutions has in
the last decade disappeared, by reason of the opening of the doors of the public institutions to colored people. There are many Negroes who on this account strongly oppose efforts which they fear will tend to delay further progress in these lines. On the other hand, thoughtful men see that invaluable training and discipline is coming to the race through these institutions and organizations, and
they encourage the formation of them.
36. The Experiment of Organization. looking back over the field which we have thus reviewed the churches, societies, unions, attempts at business co-operation, institu tions and newspapers it is apparent that the largest hope for the ultimate rise of the Negro lies in this mastery of the art of social organized life. To be sure, compared with his neighbors, he has as yet advanced but a short distance
; we are apt to condemn this lack of unity, the
absence of carefully planned and laboriously executed effort among these people, as a voluntary omission a bit of carelessness. It is far more than this, it is lack of social
education, of group training, and the lack can only be sup plied by a long, slow process of growth. And the chief value of the organizations studied is that they are
evidences of growth. Of actual accomplishment they have, to be sure, something to show, but nothing to boast of inordinately. The churches are far from ideal asso ciations for fostering the higher life rather they combine too often intrigue, extravagance and show, with all their
, saving and charity ; their secret societies are often
234 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
diverted from their better ends by scheming and dishonest
officers, and by the temptation of tinsel and braggadocio ; their beneficial associations, along with all their good work, have an unenviable record of business inefficiency and internal dissension. And yet all these and the other agen cies have accomplished much, and their greatest accom plishment is stimulation of effort to further and more effective organization among a disorganized and headless host. All this world of co-operation and subordination into which the white child is in most cases born is, we must not forget, new to the slave's sons. They have been compelled to organize before they knew the meaning of organization \ to co-operate with those of their fellows to whom co-operation was an unknown term ; to fix and fasten ideas of leadership and authority among those who had always looked to others for guidance and command. For these reasons the present efforts of Negroes in working together along various lines are peculiarly promising for the future of both races.
CHAPTER XIII. THK NEGRO CRIMINAL.
37. History of Negro Crime in the City. 1 Prom his
earliest advent the Negro, as was natural, has figured largely in the criminal annals of Philadelphia, Only such
superficial study of the American Negro as dates his beginning with 1863 can neglect this past record of crime in studying the present. Crime is a phenomenon of organ ized social life, and is the open rebellion of an individual
against his social environment. Naturally then, if men are suddenly transported from one environment to another, the result is lack of harmony with the new conditions ; lack of harmony with the new physical surroundings lead ing to disease and death or modification of physique ; lack of harmony with social surroundings leading to crime. Thus very early in the history of the colony characteristic complaints of the disorder of the Negro slaves is heard. In 1693, July n, the Governor and Council approved an ordinance,
" Upon the Request of some of the members of
Council, that an order be made by the Court of Quarter Sessions for the Countie of Philadelphia, the 4th July instant (proceeding upon a presentment of the Grand June for the bodie of the sd countie), agt the tumultuous gath erings of the Negroes of the towne of Philadelphia, on the
1 Throughout this chapter the basis of induction is the number of
prisoners received at different institutions and not the prison population at particular times. This avoids the mistakes and distortions of the latter method. (Cf. Falkner; "Crime and the Census,
JJ Publications
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 190)- Many writers on Crime among Negroes, as e. g,, F. I*. Hoffman, and all who use the Eleventh Census uncritically, have fallen into numerous mistakes and exaggerations by carelessness on this point.
(235)
236 The Negro Criminal [Chap, XIII.
first dayes of the weeke, ordering the Constables of phila-
delphia, or anie other person whatsoever, to have power to take up Negroes, male or female, whom they should find gadding abroad on the said first dayes of the weeke, with out a ticket from their Mr. or Mris., or not in their Compa, or to carry them to gaole, there to remain that night, and that without meat or drink, and to Cause them to be pub- lickly whipt next morning with 39 Lashes, well Laid on, on their bare backs, for which their sd. Mr. or Mris. should
pay i5d. to the whipper," etc. 2
Penn himself introduced a law for the special trial and
punishment of Negroes very early in the history of the
colony, as has been noted before. 3 The slave code finally
adopted was mild compared with the legislation of the
period, but it was severe enough to show the unruly char acter of many of the imported slaves.
4
Especially in Philadelphia did the Negroes continue to
give general trouble, not so much by serious crime as by disorder. In 1732, under Mayor Hasel, the City Council " taking under Consideration the frequent and tumultuous
meetings of the Negro Slaves, especially on Sunday, Gam ing, Cursing, Swearing, and committing many other Dis orders, to the great Terror and Disquiet of the Inhabitants of this city/' ordered an ordinance to be drawn up against such disturbances.5 Again, six years later, we hear of the draft of another city ordinance for
" the more Effectual
suppressing Tumultuous meetings and other disorderly doings of the Negroes, Mulattos and Indian servts. and slaves." 6 And in 1741, August 17,
" frequent complaints
having been made to the Board that many disorderly per sons meet every ev'g about the Court house of this city,
3 "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," I, 380-81.
*See Chapter III, and Appendix B. * Cf. "Pennsylvania Statutes at Large," Ch. 56. 5 Watson's "Annals," I, 62.
Sect. 37.] History of Negro Crime. 237
and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with milk pails and other things late at night, and many disor ders are there committed against the peace and good gov ernment of this city," Council ordered the place to be cleared "in half an hour after sunset.*' 7
Of the graver crimes by Negroes we have only reports here and there which do not make it clear how frequently such crimes occurred. In 1706 a slave is arrested for setting fire to a dwelling; in 1738 three Negroes are hanged in neighboring parts of New Jersey for poisoning people, while at Rocky Hill a slave is burned alive for killing a child and burning a barn. Whipping of Negroes at the public whipping post was frequent, and so severe was the punishment that in 1743 a slave brought up to be whipped committed suicide. In 1762 two Philadelphia slaves were sentenced to death for felony and burglary ; petitions were circulated in their behalf but Council was obdurate.8
Little special mention of Negro crime is again met with until the freedmen under the act of 1780 began to congre gate in the city and other free immigrants joined them. In 1809 the leading colored churches united in a society to
suppress crime and were cordially endorsed by the public for this action. After the war immigration to the city increased and the stress of hard times bore heavily on the lower classes. Complaints of petty thefts and murderous assaults on peaceable citizens now began to increase, and in numbers of cases they were traced to Negroes. The better class of colored citizens felt the accusation and held a
meeting to denounce crime and take a firm stand against their own criminal class. A little later the Negro riots commenced, and they received their chief moral support from the increasing crime of Negroes; a Cuban slave
id., pp. 62-63. 8 "Pennsylvania Colonial Records,
" II, 275; IX, 6;
" "Watson's An nals," I, 309,
The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
brained his master with a hatchet, two other murders by Negroes followed, and gambling, drunkenness and debauch
ery were widespread wherever Negroes settled. The terribly vindictive insurrection of Nat Turner in a neigh boring State frightened the citizens so thoroughly that when some black fugitives actually arrived at Chester from Southampton County, Virginia, the Legislature was
hastily appealed to, and the whole matter came to a climax in the disfranchisement of the Negro in 1837, and the riots in the years 1830 to 1840.* Some actual figures will give us an idea of this, the
worst period of Negro crime ever experienced in the city. The Eastern Penitentiary was opened in 1829 near ^e close of the year. The total number of persons received here for the most serious crimes is given in the next table. This includes prisoners from the Eastern counties of the State, but a large proportion were from Philadelphia :
10
Or to put it differently the problem of Negro crime in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1850 arose from the fact that less than one-fourteenth of the population was responsible for nearly a third of the serious crimes committed. These figures however are apt to relate more especially
to a criminal class. A better measure of the normal criminal tendencies of the group would perhaps be found in the statistics of Moyamensing, where ordinary cases of crime and misdemeanor are confined and which contains
9 Cf. Chapter IV. 10 Reports Eastern Penitentiary.
Sect 37.] History of Negro Crime. 239
only county prisoners,
prison are :
The figures for Moyamensing
Here we have even a worse showing than before ; in 1896 the Negroes forming 4 per cent of the population fur nish 9 per cent of the arrests, but in 1850 being 5 per cent of the population they furnished 32 per cent of the prisoners received at the county prison. Of course there are some considerations which must not be overlooked in interpreting these figures for 1836-55. It must be remembered that the discrimination against the Negro was much greater then than now : he was arrested for less cause and given longer sentences than whites.
11 Great numbers of those arrested and committed for trial were never brought to trial so that their guilt could not be proven or disproven ; of
737 Negroes committed for trial in six months of the year 1837, it is stated that only 123 were actually brought to trial
; of the prisoners in the Eastern Penitentiary, 1829 *
1846, 14 per cent of the whites were pardoned and 2 per cent of the Negroes. All these considerations increase the
statistics to the disfavor of the Negro. 12 Nevertheless
making all reasonable allowances it is undoubtedly true that the crime of Negroes in this period reached its high tide for this city.
The character of the crimes committed by Negroes compared with whites is shown by the following table,
"Average length of sentences for whites in Eastern Penitentiary 'during nineteen years, 2 years 8 -months 2 days ; for Negroes, 3 years
3 months 14 days. Cf. " Health of Convicts" (pam.), pp. 7, 8.
Ibid., "Condition of Negroes," iS;^ pp. 15-18; "Condition," etc., 1848, pp. 26, 27.
240 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
which covers the offences of 1359 whites and 718 Negroes committed to the Eastern Penitentiary, 1829-1846. If we take simply petty larceny we find that 48. 8 per cent of the whites and 55 per cent of the Negroes were committed for
this offence. 13
38, Negro Crime Since the War. Throughout the land there has been since the war a large increase in crime,
especially in cities. This phenomenon would seem to have sufficient cause in the increased complexity of life, in industrial competition, and the rush of great numbers to the large cities. It would therefore be natural to sup pose that the Negro would also show this increase in
criminality and, as in the case of all lower classes, that he would show it in greater degree. His evolution has, how ever, been marked by some peculiarities. For nearly two decades after emancipation he took little part in many of the great social movements about him for obvious reasons. His migration to city life, therefore, and his sharing in the
competition of modern industrial life, came later than was the case with the mass of his fellow citizens. The Negro began to rush to the cities in large numbers after 1880, and consequently the phenomena attendant on that momentous change of life are tardier in his case. His rate of criminality has in the last two decades risen rapidly, and this is a parallel phenomenon to the rapid rise of the
13 " Condition of Negroes," 1849, PP- 28> 29. " Condition," etc., 1838,
pp. 15-18.
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 241
white criminal record two or three decades ago. Moreover, in the case of the Negro there were special causes for the
prevalence of crime : he had lately been freed from serf
dom, he was the object of stinging oppression and ridicule, and paths of advancement open to many were closed to him. Consequently the class of the shiftless, aimless, idle,
discouraged and disappointed was proportionately larger. In the city of Philadelphia the increasing number of
bold and daring crimes committed by Negroes in the last ten years has focused the attention of the city on this sub
ject. There is a widespread feeling that something is
wrong with a race that is responsible for so much crime, and that strong remedies are called for. One has but to visit the corridors of the public buildings, when the courts are in session, to realize the part played in law-breaking by the Negro population. The various slum centres of the colored criminal population have lately been the objects of
much philanthropic effort, and the work there has aroused discussion. Judges on the bench have discussed the mat ter. Indeed, to the minds of many, this is the real Negro problem.
14
That it is a vast problem a glance at statistics will
show; 15 and since 1880 it has been steadily growing. At
the same time crime is a difficult subject to study, more
14 "The large proportion of colored men who, in April/had been before the criminal court, led Judge Gordon to make a suggestion -when he yes terday discharged the jurors for the term.
' It would certainly seem,' said
the Court, ' that the philanthropic colored people of the community, of
whom there are a great many excellent and intelligent citizens sincerely interested in the welfare of their race, ought to see what is radically
wrong that produces this state of affairs and correct it, if possible. There is nothing in history that indicates that the colored race has a pro
pensity to acts of violent crime; on the contrary, their tendencies are
most gentle, and they submit with grace to subordination.* " Philadel
phia Record, April 29, 1893; Cf. Record, May 10 and 12; Ledger, May 10, and Times, May 22, 1893.
15 Except as otherwise noted, the statistics of this section are from the
official reports of the police department,
242 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
difficult to analyze into its sociological elements, and most difficult to cure or suppress. It is a phenomenon that stands not alone, but rather as a symptom of countless
wrong social conditions. The simplest, but crudest, measure of crime is found
in the total arrests for a period of years. The value of such figures is lessened by the varying efficiency and dili
gence of the police, by discrimination in the administration of law, and by unwarranted arrests. And yet the figures roughly measure crime. The total arrests and the number of Negroes is given in the next table for thirty-two years, with a few omissions :
ARRESTS IN PHILADELPHIA, 1864-96.
We find that the total arrests in the city per annum have risen from 34,221 in 1864 to 61,478 in 1894, an increase of
Sect 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 343
80 per cent in crime, parallel to an increase of 85 per cent in population. The Negroes arrested have increased from 3114 in 1864 t 4^05 in 1894, an increase of 54 per cent in crime, parallel to an increase of 77 per cent in the Negro population of the city. So, too, the percentage of Negroes in the total arrests is less in 1894 than in 1864. If, how ever, we follow the years between these two dates we see an important development : 1864 was t^ie date bounding the ante-bellum period of crime; thereafter the proportion of
Negro arrests fell steadily until, in 1874, ttie Negroes came as nearly as ever furnishing their normal quota of arrests, 3.9 per cent from 3.28 per cent (1870) of the popu lation. Then slowly there came a change. With the Centennial Exposition in 1876 came a stream of immi grants, and once started the stream increased in speed by its own momentum. With this immigration the propor tion of Negro arrests arose rapidly at first as a result of the exposition ; falling off a little in the early eighties, but with
1885 rising again steadily and quickly to over 6 per cent in 1888, 6.4 per cent in 1890, 7 per cent in 1893, 8.5 per cent in 1895, 9 per cent in 1896. This is, as has been said
before, but a rough indication of the amount of crime for which the Negro is responsible ; it must not be relied on too closely, for the number of arrests cannot in any city accurately measure wrongdoing save in a very general way; probably increased efficiency in the police force since 1864 has had large effect ; and yet we can draw the legitimate conclusion here that Negro crime in the city is far less, according to population, than before the war ; that after the war it decreased until the middle of the seventies and then, coincident with the beginning of the new Negro immigra tion to cities,
1* it has risen pretty steadily. These same phenomena can be partially verified by sta
tistics of Moyamensing prison. If we take the tried and
Cf. Cliapters IV and VII.
244 Tfo Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
untried prisoners committed to this county prison from
1876 to 1895 we find the same gradual increase of crime :
MOYAMENSING PRISON. Both Tried and Untried Prisoners.
If we compare in this table the period 1876-85 with that of 1886-95 we find that the proportion of Negro criminals in the first period was 5.6 per cent, in the second 7.8 per cent The statistics of inmates of the House of Correction
where mild cases and juveniles are sent, for the last few years
go to tell the same tale :
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 245
Gathering up the statistics presented let us make a rough diagram of some of the results. First let us scan the record of the Negro in serious crime, such as entails incarceration in the Eastern Penitentiary. In these figures the Philadelphia convicts are not separated from those in the eastern counties of the state prior to 1885. A large proportion of the prisoners however are from Philadelphia ; perhaps the net result of the error is somewhat to reduce the
apparent proportion of Negroes in the earlier years. Taking then the proportion of Negro prisoners received to total receptions since the founding of the Penitentiary we have this diagram :
PROPORTION OF NEGROES TO TOTAI, CONVICTS RECEIVED AT THE EASTERN PENITENTIARY, 1829-1895.
40 A I
1830 183S 1840 (845 1850 (855 I860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 PROPORTION OF NEGRO TO TOTAL CRIMINALS.
>>M< Mt .. ~ POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA*
The general rate of criminality may be graphically repre sented from the proportion of Negroes in the county prison,
246 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
although changes In the policy of the courts make the validity of this somewhat uncertain :
1640 1850 i860 (870 I88O 1890 1900 " PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN MOYAMENSING PRISON TO TOTAL PRISONERS
TOTAL POPULATION OF CITY PROPORTION ETC. ESTIMATED FROM ARRESTS.
It thus seems certain 17 that general criminality as
represented by commitments to the county prison has decreased markedly since 1840, and that its rapid increase since 1880 leaves it still far behind the decade 1830 to 1840. Serious crime as represented by commitments to the peni tentiary shows a similar decrease but one not so marked indicating the presence of a pretty distinct criminal class.
17 The chief element of uncertainty lies in the varying policy of the courts, as for instance, in the proportion of prisoners sent to different
places of detention, the severity of sentence, etc. Only the general conclusions are insisted on here.
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 247
CONVICTS COMMITTED TO THE EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
* Only convicts from Philadelphia; the statistics for the year 1891 are not available And are omitted.
The record of arrests per 1000 of Negro population 1864 to 1896 seems to confirm these conclusions for that
period:
IB65 1870 IS75 J8SO 1665 1690 NEGRO ARRESTS TO EVERY 1000 OF NEGRO POPULATION. WHITE " 1000 - WHITE
1895
The increase in crime between 1890 and 1895 is not without pretty adequate explanation in the large Negro
248 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
immigration cityward and especially in u the terrible
business depression of 1893" to which the police bureau attributes the increase of arrests. The effect of this would naturally be greater among the economic substrata.
This brings us to the question, Who are the Negro criminals and what crimes do they commit? To obtain an answer to this query let us make a special study of a typical group of criminals.
39. A Special Study in Crime.18 During ten years previous to and including 1895, there were committed to the Eastern Penitentiary, the following prisoners from the
city of Philadelphia :
WHITES AND NEGROES COMMITTED TO THE EASTERN PENITENTIARY,
* Statistics for this year were not available. Throughout this section, therefore, this year Is omitted.
us now take the 541 Negroes who have been the perpetrators of the serious crimes charged to their race
during the last ten years and see what we may learn. These are all criminals convicted after trial for periods
16 For the collection of the material here compiled, I am indebted to Mr. David N. Fell, Jr., a student of the Senior Class, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in the year ^S-'gy, As before noted the figures in this Section refer to the number of prisoners received at the Eastern Penitentiary, and not to the total prison population at any par ticular time.
Sect 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 249 varying from six months to forty years. It seems plain in the first place that the 4 per cent of the population of
Philadelphia having Negro blood furnished from 1885 to 1889, 14 per cent of the serious crimes, and from 1890 to
1895, 22^ per cent. This of course assumes that the convicts in the penitentiary represent with a fair degree of
accuracy the crime committed. The assumption is not wholly true ; in convictions by human courts the rich always are favored somewhat at the expense of the poor, the upper classes at the expense of the unfortunate
classes, and whites at the expense of Negroes. We know for instance that certain crimes are not punished in Phila
delphia because the public opinion is lenient, as for instance embezzlement, forgery, and certain sorts of
stealing; on the other hand a commercial community is apt to punish with severity petty thieving, breaches of the peace, and personal assault or burglary. It happens, too, that the prevailing weakness of ex-slaves brought up in the communal life of the slave plantation, without
acquaintanceship with the institution of private property, is to commit the very crimes which a great centre of commerce like Philadelphia especially abhors. We must add to this the influences of social position and connections in procuring whites pardons or lighter sentences. It has
been charged by some Negroes that color prejudice plays some part, but there is no tangible proof of this, save
perhaps that there is apt to be a certain presumption of
guilt when a Negro is accused, on the part of police, public and judge.
19 All these considerations modify somewhat our judgment of the moral status of the mass of Negroes. And yet, with all allowances, there remains a vast problem of crime.
The chief crimes for which these prisoners were con victed were :
w Witness the case of Marion Stuyvesant accused of the murder of the librarian Wilson, in 1897.
250 The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
Theft 243 Serious assaults on persons 139 Robbery and burglary 85 Rape ... . 24 Other sexual crimes 23 Homicide 16 All other crimes n
Total 541
Following these crimes from year to year we have :
The course of the total serious crime for this period may be illustrated by this diagram:
1889 i860 1887 1388 1889 I89Q 1891 1803 1894 1693
Drawing a similar diagram for the different sorts of crime we have :
Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 251
...- HOMICIDE: BURGLARY & ROBBERY
In ten years convictions to the penitentiary for theft
have somewhat increased, robbery, burglary and assault have considerably increased, homicide has remained about
the same, and sexual crimes have decreased. Detailed statistics are given in the following table :
CRIMES OF 541 CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY, 1885-1895.
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
The total crime can be classified also in this way :
Crimes against property ...... 328 60.63 percent. " "
persons ....... 157 29.02 4< "
persons and property . 8 1.48 "
Sexual crimes . .......... 48 8.87
541 100. percent.
Let us now turn from the crime to the criminals. 497 of
them (91.87 per cent) were males and 44 (8.13 per cent) were females. 296 (54.71 per cent) were single, 208 (3445
per cent) were married, and 37 (6.84 per cent) were widowed.
In age they were divided as follows :
The mass of criminals are, it is easy to see, young single men under thirty. Detailed statistics of sex and age and
conjugal condition are given in the next tables.
AGE AND SEX OF CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY. NEGROES, 1885-1895.
Sect 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 253 CONJUGAL CONDITION OF CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
The convicts were born in the following States:
Philadelphia 114 Other parts of Pennsylvania 48 New Jersey 21 Maryland ...... 99 Virginia . 77 Delaware 37 District of Columbia 55 North Carolina 19 New York II South Carolina 9 Georgia 8
Other parts of the North ........ 13 " " " South .....,., 22
The West 13 Foreign Countries 15
541
Altogether 21 per cent were natives of Philadelphia ; were born in the North, and 309, or 57 per cent, were
born in the South. Two-thirds of the Negroes of the city,
judging from the Seventh Ward, were born outside the
city, and this part furnishes 79 per cent of the serious
crime. 54 per cent were born in the South, and this part furnishes 57 per cent of the crime, or more, since many giving their birthplace as In the North were really born in
the South.
The total illiteracy of this group reaches 26 per cent or
adding in those who can read and write imperfectly, 34 per cent compared with 18 per cent for the Negroes of the
254 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
city in 1890. In other words the illiterate fifth of the
Negro population furnished a third of the worst criminals.
II,I,ITERACY OF CONVICTS IN THE EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY.
Naturally as the general intelligence of a community increases the general intelligence of its criminals increases,
though seldom in the same proportion, showing that some
crime may justly be attributed to pure ignorance. The number of criminals able to read and write has increased
from 50 per cent in 1885 to 79 per cent in 1895. The number of colored men from fifteen to thirty who can read and write was about 90 per cent in the Seventh Ward in 1896. This shows how little increased intelligence alone avails to stop crime in the face of other powerful forces. It would of course be illogical to connect these
phenomena directly as cause and effect and make Negro crime the result of Negro education in that case we should find it difficult to defend the public schools in most
modern lands. Crime comes either in spite of intelligence or as a result of misdirected Intelligence under severe
economic and moral strain. Thus we find here, as is
apparently true in Prance, Italy and Germany, increasing crime and decreasing illiteracy as concurrent phenomena rather than as cause and effect. However the rapid increase of intelligence in Negro convicts does point to
some grave social changes : first, a large number of young
Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 255 Negroes are in such environment that they find it easier to be rogues than honest men ; secondly, there is evidence of the rise of more intelligent and therefore more dangerous crime from a trained criminal class, quite different from the thoughtless, ignorant crime of the mass of Negroes. A separation of criminals according to sex and age and
the kind of crime is of interest. (See p. 256 for males.) CRIMINATE IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY. -FEMALES, BY AGE
AND CRIME.
The women are nearly all committed for stealing and fighting. They are generally prostitutes from the worst slums. The boys of fifteen to nineteen are sentenced largely for petty thieving :
Whole number of male convicts, 15-19 years of age . . 53 Convicted for larceny 27
" assault and fighting 8 " " sexual crimes 5
" burglary 5
" " other crimes 8 53
Making a similar table for two other age periods we have : Men, 25-29 Years.Men, 20-24 Years,
Larceny 62 Assault . , , 41
Burglary and robbery .... 30 Sexual crimes 6 Other crimes 14
153
Larceny 45 Assault 33 Burglary and robbery .... 22 Sexual crimes . 13 Homicide 4 Other crimes 3
119
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Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 157 There is here revealed no especial peculiarity: stealing
and fighting are ever the besetting sins of half-developed races.
It would be very instructive to know how many of the 541 criminals had been in the hands of the law before. This is however very difficult to ascertain correctly since in many, if not the majority of cases, the word of the
prisoner must be taken. Even these methods however reveal the startling fact that only 315 or 58 per cent of these 541 convicts are reported as being incarcerated for the first time. 226 or 42 per cent can be classed as habitual criminals, who have been convicted as follows :
226 loo per cent.
When we realize that probably a large number of the other convicts are on their second or third term we begin to get an idea of the real Negro criminal class.
19
19 The following Negroes were measured by the Bertillon system in?
Philadelphia during the last three years:
1893 64 (Whites 101).
1894 66 (Whites 248).
1895 56 (Whites 267).
1896 75 (Whites 347).
The arrests by detectives for five years are given on the following- page (258).
258 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
A few other facts are of interest: if we tabulate crime according to the illiteracy of its perpetrators, we have :
Larceny 31 per cent of illiteracy. Assault, burglary and homicide . .34 " t " Sexual crimes . 55
" " "
Or in other words, the more serious and revolting the crime the larger part does ignorance play as a cause. If we separate prisoners convicted for the above crimes according to length of sentence, we have :
Under five years 464 90.5 per cent. Five and under ten years 40 8.0
"
Ten years and over 9 1.5 <f
513
Of the 49 sentenced for 5 years and over, 18 or 37 per
CRIMES OF NEGROES ARRESTED BY DETECTIVES, 1878-1892.
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 259
cent were illiterate; of those sentenced for less than 5 years, 1 60 or 35 per cent were illiterate. From this study we may conclude that young men are
the perpetrators of the serious crime among Negroes ; that this crime consists mainly of stealing and assault ; that
ignorance, and immigration to the temptations of city life, are responsible for much of this crime but not for all ; that deep social causes underlie this prevalence of crime and
they have so worked as to form among Negroes since 1864 a distinct class of habitual criminals
; that to this criminal
class and not to the great mass of Negroes the bulk of the serious crime perpetrated by this race should be charged.
40. Some Cases of Crime. It is difficult while studying crime in the abstract to realize just what the actual crimes committed are, and under what circumstances they take
place. A few typical cases of the crimes of Negroes may serve to give a more vivid idea than the abstract statistics
give. Most of these cases are quoted from the daily news
papers. First let us take a coupk of cases of larceny:
Bdward Ashbridge, a colored boy, pleaded guilty to the larceny of a quart of milk, the property of George Abbott. The boy's mother said he was incorrigible, and he was committed to the House of Refuge. William Drumgoole, colored, aged thirty-one years, of Lawrenceville,
Va., was shot in the back and probably fatally wounded late yesterday afternoon by William H. McCalley, a detective, employed in the store of John Wanamaker, Thirteenth and Chestnut streets. Drumgoole, it is alleged, stole a pair of shoes from the store, and was followed by McCalley to the corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut streets, where he placed him under arrest. Drumgoole broke away from the detective's grasp, and running down Thirteenth street turned into Drury street, a small thoroughfare above Sansom street. McCalley started in pursuit, calling upon him to stop, but the fugitive darted into an alley way, and when his pursuer came up within a few yards of him, he threatened to " do him up
>J if he followed him any further. McCalley
drew his revolver from his pocket, and as Drnmgoole again broke into a run he pointed the weapon at his legs and fired. Drumgoole fell to the
ground, and when McCalley came up to him he was unable to rise. McCalley saw at a glance that, instead of wounding him in the leg, as he had intended, the bullet had lodged in the man's back. He hurriedly
260 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
sought assistance, and had the wounded man taken to the Jefferson Hospital. McCalley then surrendered himself to Reserve Policeman Powell, and was taken to the Central Station.
Fighting and quarreling among neighbors and associates is common in the slum districts :
Etta Jones, colored, aged twenty-one years, residing on Hirst street, above Fifth, was stabbed near her home last night, it is alleged, by I^ottie Iree, also colored, of Second and Race streets. The other woman was taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where her injuries were found to consist of several cuts on the left shoulder and side, none of which are dangerous. Her assailant was arrested later by Policeman Dean and locked up in the Third and Union streets station house. The assault is. said by the police to have been the outcome of an old grudge. Joseph Cole, colored, aged twenty-four years, residing in Gillis' alley,
was dangerously stabbed shortly before midnight on Saturday, as is alleged, by Abraham Wheeler, at the latter's house, on Hirst street. Cole was taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where it was found the knife had penetrated to within a short distance of the right lung. Wheeler fled from the house after the cutting and eluded arrest until yesterday after noon, when he was captured by Policeman Mitchell, near Fifth and Lombard streets. When brought to the station house Wheeler denied having cut Cole, but acknowledged having struck him because he was insulting his wife. He was locked up, however, to await the result of Cole's injuries.
Sometimes servants are caught pilfering:
Theodore Grant, colored, residing on Burton street, attempted to pledge a woman's silk dress for $15 at McFillen's, Seventeenth and Market streets, several days ago. The pawnbroker refused, under his rule, to take women's raiment from a man, and told Grant to bring the owner. Grant went away and returned with Ella Jones, a young colored woman, who consented to take $7 for the dress. Since that time C. F. Robertson, residing at Sixtieth and Spruce streets, made complaint to the police of the loss of the dress, and as the result of an investigation made by Special Policemen Gallagher and Ewing, Grant and Ella Jones were arrested yesterday charged with, the larceny of the silk dress, which was recovered. Grant admitted to the special policemen that Ella had given him the dress to pawn, but asserted that he had nothing to do with the matter except to offer to pledge the article. At a hearing before Magis trate Jermon, at the City Hall, yesterday, Mr. Robertson stated that the girl had made a statement to him, saying that Grant had induced her to take the dress. He said the girl had been perfectly trustworthy up to the time of her acquaintance with Grant, and had been left in full charge of the house, and that nothing was ever missed. He said he also expected
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 261
to show that Grant had been concerned in two or three robberies. Ella Jones, a neatly dressed girl, who said she came from Maryland, stated to the magistrate that Grant had been coming to see her for about a year past. She said he had been importuning her to take something and let him pawn it, so that he could raise somemoney, until she finally consented. After she started to go to her mistress' room to get the dress her heart failed and she turned back, but he persuaded her, telling her that Mrs. Robertson would not miss it, and then she took the dress. Mr. Robertson informed the magistrate, and Ella assented to the statement, that Grant had taken every cent ofher earnings from her for weeks past and had also pawned all of her clothing, so that at the present time she was penniless and had not a single garment except what she wore. The magistrate said it was undoubtedly a hard case, but he would have to hold Grant and Ella on the charge of larceny, and Grant under additional bail for a further hearing next Thursday on the charges referred to by Mr. Robertson. The police say that Grant, who is a smooth-faced, cross-eyed mulatto, is a " crap fiend,'* and that whatever money he has managed to obtain by
threats and cajolery from his victim, Ella Jones, has gone into the pockets of the small-fry gamblers.
There is growing evidence of the appearance of a set of thieves of intelligence and cunning: sneak thieves, confidence-men, pickpockets, and "sharpers." Some typi cal cases follow :
Marion Shields and Alice Hofiinan, both colored and residing on Fitzwater street, above Twelfth, had a further hearing yesterday before
Magistrate South, at the City Hall, and were held for trial on the charge of pilfering wearing apparel, money, vases, umbrellas, surgical instru ments, and other portable property from physicians* offices and houses, where they had made visits, under the pretence of desiring to hold consultations with the doctors. The Magistrate said there were ten cases against Marion Shields individually on which she would be placed under $2500 bail, and six cases against both women on which the bail would be $1500. For her frankness, Marion Shields was given the lighter sentence, one year in the Eastern Penitentiary, and Alice Hoffman was sentenced to eighteen months in the same institution. Two daring thieves yesterday entered the jewelry store of Albert
Baudschopfs , 468^ North Eighth street, and secured a number of articles of jewelry from under the very eyes of the proprietor. They had left the store and proceeded leisurely down the street before the jeweller discovered his loss, with the result that before an alarm, could be
given the thieves had traveled a considerable distance. One of the men was captured after a long chase, but the other's whereabouts is unknown. About half-past one o'clock two colored men entered the store and upon their request were shown trays of various articles. One of the men engaged the proprietor in conversation while the other continued to
262 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
inspect the jewelry. They said they did not intend buying then and would call again and opening the door walked hurriedly down the street. Mr. Baudschopfs says the men got away with a gold-filled watch case, a silver watch, three gold lockets, each set with a small diamond ; two dozen ladies* gold rings, not jewelled; a gold scarf pin and a man's gold watch.
A crime for which Negroes of a certain class have become notorious is that of snatching pocketbooks on the streets :
While passing down Eleventh street, near Mount Vernon, shortly after nine o'clock, Mrs. K. Nichun, of 1947 Waruock street, was approached from behind by a Negro, who snatched a pocketbook containing $2 from her hand and ran down a small thoroughfare towards Tenth street. Very few pedestrians were upon the street at the time, but two men, who were attracted by the woman's scream, started in pursuit of the thief. The latter had too much of a start, however, and escaped.
William Williams, colored, of Dayton, OM was locked up in the Cen tral Station yesterday, by Reserve Policeman A, Jones, on the charge of
snatching a pocketbook from the hands of Mrs. Mary Tevis, of 141 Mifflin street. The theft occurred at Eighth and Market streets. After
securing the pocketbook Williams ran until he reached the old office of
the city solicitor, at Sixth and Locust streets. He was followed by Reserve Jones, who captured him in the cellar of the building. Williams was taken to Eighth and Sansom streets to await the arrival of the patrol
wagon, and while getting into the vehicle the pocketbook dropped from
out of his trousers.
Detectives Bond and O'Leary and Special Policeman Duffy, of the
Eighth and Lombard streets station, arrested last night Sylvester Archer, of Fifth street, below Lombard, William Whittington, alias
" Piggy," of
Florida street, and William Carter, of South Fifteenth street, all colored
and about twenty-one years of age, on the charge of assault upon and
robbery of Mrs. Harrington Fitzgerald, wife of the editor of the Evening Item-. The assault occurred on Monday at noon. As Mrs. Fitzgerald was passing Thirteenth and Spruce streets, a purse which she carried in
her hand, and which contained $20, was snatched from her by one of
three colored men. They took advantage of the crowd to strike her after
the robbery had been perpetrated and escaped before her outcry was
heard. When the men were brought to the Central Station last night and questioned by Captain of Detectives Miller, Whittington, it is said, confessed complicity in the crime. He told the captain that they had been following a band up Thirteenth street, and as they reached Spruce street Carter said,
" There's a pocketbook; I'm going to get it." "All
right; get it,*' came the response. Carter ran up to Mrs. Fitzgerald and and in a moment shouted, "I've got it ! " Then he and Archer ran up Thirteenth street. Each man has a criminal record, and the picture of
Sect 40*] Some Cases of Crime. 263
each is in the Rogues' Gallery. Carter has just completed a six months' sentence for purse-snatching, while Williams and Archerhave each served time for larceny.
So frequent have these crimes become that sometimes Negroes are wrongfully suspected; whoever snatches a
pocketbook on a dark night is supposed to be black. A favorite method of stealing is to waylay and rob the
frequenters of bawdy houses ; very little of this sort of crime, naturally, is reported. Here are some cases of such " badger thieves," as they are called :
William Lee, colored, and Kate Hughes, a white woman, were con victed of robbing Vincenzo Monacello of Jio. Lee was sentenced to three years and three months in the Eastern Penitentiary and his accomplice to three years in the county prison. Mary Roach, jointly indicted with them, was acquitted. Monacello testified that, while walking along Christian street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, on Thursday night of last week, he was accosted by Mary Roach and accompanied her to her home on Essex street. Here he met Lee and Kate Hughes and they all drank considerable beer. Later in the night he started with Kate Hughes, at her suggestion, to a house further up the street While on their way the prosecutor said he was struck in the face with a brick by Lee, after which the money was stolen from him. Mary Roach took the stand against the other two defendants and the case against her was abandoned.
Ella Jones, colored, claiming to be from Baltimore, was arrested yes terday by Policeman Dean on the charge of the larceny of a Jio bill from Joseph Gosch, a Pole, who came from Pittsburg on Sunday, and claims that while he was looking for lodging he was taken to the woman's house and robbed.
From pocketbook snatching to highway robbery is but a step :
Before Judge Yerkes, in Court No. I, Samuel Buckner, a young colored man, was convicted of robbing George C. Goddard of a gold watch and chain and a pocketbook containing $3. He was sentenced to ten years in the Eastern Penitentiary. Mr. Goddard, with his head swathed in
bandages, was called to the stand. He said that a few minutes past mid night of November 28 he was returning to his home, No. 1220 Spruce street, after a visit. He placed his hand in his pocket, drew out his key and was about to mount the steps when a dark form appeared from Bean street, a small, poorly-lighted thoroughfare, next door but one to his
home, and at the same instant he was struck a violent blow full in the
364 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
face with a brick. He sank to the pavement unconscious. When he recovered his senses he was in the Pennsylvania Hospital. There was a long, deep cut on his right cheek, another across the forehead, both eyes were blackened and swollen, and his nose was also bruised. At the same time he discovered the loss of his pocketbook and jewelry. Judge Yerkes reviewed the facts of the case, and in imposing sentence said:
" When you committed this offence you were absolutely indifferent as to the conse quences ofyour cowardly attack. You rifled this man's person of all his valuables and left him lying unconscious on the pavement, and for aught you knew he might have been dead. It is necessary not only that society be protected from the depredations of such fiends as you, but also that an
example be made of such ruffians. The sentence of the Court is that you undergo an imprisonment of ten years at labor in the Eastern Peniten
tiary, and stand committed until this sentence shall be complied with." The official record shows that Buckner was arrested on December n, l893> by policeman Logan, of the Lombard street station, on the charge of the larceny of a purse from Mrs. Caroline Lodge, of 2416 North Fifteenth street, on the street, and was sentenced December 14, 1893, by Judge Biddle, to one year's imprisonment.
Cases of aggravated assaults, for various reasons, are
frequent :
Rube Warren, colored, thirty years, of Foulkrod and Cedar streets, was held in Jiooo bonds, by Magistrate Eisenbrown, for an alleged aggra vated assault and battery on Policeman Haug, of the Frankford sta tion, during a dog fight about a month ago. The policeman attempted to stop the fight when Warren, it is charged, assisted by several compan ions, assaulted him, broke his club and took away his revolver. During the free fight that followed, in which other policemen took part, Warren escaped and went to Baltimore. There, it is said, he was sent to prison for thirty days. As soon as he was released he went back to Frankford, where he was arrested on Saturday night. William Braxton, colored, aged twenty-eight years, of Irving street,
above Thirty-seventh, was yesterday held in $800 bail for a further hear ing, charged with having committed an aggravated assault on William Keebler, of South Thirtieth street. The assault occurred about three o'clock yesterday morning on Irving street, near Thirty-seventh, where the colored folks of the neighborhood were having a party. Keebler and two friends, none of whom were colored, forced their company on the invited guests, it is said, and a fight ensued. Keebler was found a short time afterward lying in the snow with one eye almost gouged out. He was conveyed to the University Hospital and the police of the Woodland avenue station, under Acting Sergeant Ward, upon being notified of the affair, hurried to the Irving street house and arrested twenty of the guests just in the height of their merrymaking. All of them, however, were discharged at the hearing, upon Braxton's being recognized as the man
Sect. 40.] Some Cases oj Crime. 265
who struck Keebler. The physician at the hospital says that the injured man will very likely lose the sight of one eye.
Gambling goes on almost openly in the slum sections and occasions, perhaps, more quarreling and crime than any other single cause. Reporters declared in 1897
" Policy playing is rampant in Philadelphia. Under the very noses of
the police officials and, it is safe to say, with the knowledge of some of them, policy shops are conducted openly and with amazing audacity. They are doing a
' land office ' business. Hundreds of poor people every day place upon the infatuating lottery money that had better be spent for food and clothing. They actually deny themselves the necessaries of life to gamble away their meagre income with small chance of getting any return. Superintendent of Police Linden, discussing the general subject of policy playing with a Ledger reporter, said:
* There are not words enough in the dictionary to express my feelings upon this matter. I regard policy as the worst evil in a large city among the poor people. There are several reasons for this. One is that women and children may play. Another is that players may put a few cents on the lottery. Policy may do more harm than all the saloons and lt speak easies J> in the city. The price of a drink of liquor is five or ten cents and the cost of a " growler
' * is ten cents, but a man or a woman can buy two cents' worth
of policy. The effect of this is obvious. Persons who have not the price of a drink may gamble away the few pennies they do possess in a policy shop. Then the drain is constant. Policy "fiends" play twice a day, risk ing from two cents to a dollar upon the chance. They become so infatu ated with the play that they will spend their last cent upon it in the hope of making a
" hit." Many children go hungry and with insufficient cloth ing as a result of policy playing. I have heard of young children engag ing in this sort of gambling. Of course the effect of this is very bad. The policy evil is, to my mind, the very worst that exists in our large cities as affecting the poorer classes of people/
*' *
20 Although the police lieutenants have reported to the Superinten dent that few policy shops exist, the Ledger has information which leads it to state that such is not the fact. Many complaints against the evil nave been received at this office. A reporter found it easy to locate and gain admittance to a number of houses where policy is written. A policy writer who is thoroughly informed as to the inside working of the system is authority for the statement that at no time in recent years has policy playing been so prevalent or the business carried on as openly as it is now. While the locations of the policy shops are well known and the writers
familiar to many persons, the backers, who, after all, are the substantial part of the system, are hard to reach, for they exercise an unusual cun
ning in the direction of the business. There are several backers in
266 The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
Once in a while gambling houses are raided:
Twenty-three colored men, who were arrested in a raid of the police on an alleged gambling house, on Rodman street, above Twelfth, had
Philadelphia of greater or less pretensions, but a young man who resides-
uptown and operates principally in the territory north of Girard avenue,
is said to be the heaviest backer of the game in this city. He owns sixty or seventy "books, "and his income from their combined receipts is sufficient to support himself and several relatives in magnificent style.
A Ledger reporter spent one day last week looking up the policy shops in one of the sections where this backer operates. He found, in addition to several places where policy is written, the rendezvous of the
writers
and the headquarters of the policy king himself.
The writers who hold "books" from the backer in question meet
twice every day, Sundays excepted, in a mean, dirty little house over
looking the Reading tracks, just below Montgomery avenue. They enter by the rear through a narrow alley leading off Delhi street,
several
yards below Montgomery avenue. At noon and at 6 o'clock in the eve
ning the writers hurry to this rendezvous.
The unusual number of men gathering at this point at regular inter
vals, and the business-like manner in which they go through the alley and back gate is enough to attract the attention of the Twelfth District
policeman on this beat and arouse his suspicions. Whether he notices it
or not, these proceedings have been going on for months.
Each writer, when he reaches this central point, turns in his "book "
and receipts. There are two drawings daily, hence the two meetings. Two relatives of the backer receive the u books" and the money. A copy of each writer's
" book " and all the money are carried by one of these men to the house of an ex-special policeman, a few squares away, and there turned over to the backer, who has received a telegram from Cincinnati stating the numbers that have come out at that drawing. The "books" are carefully gone over, to see if there are any
<c hits."
If there are they are computed, and the backer sends to each writer the
amount necessary to pay his losses. The numbers that appear at each
drawing are printed with rubber stamps in red ink, on slips of white
paper and given to the writers to distribute among the players. These drawings are usually carried to the rendezvous by the ex-police
man. The backer pockets the half day's receipts, mounts his bicycle and rides away. To establish beyond a doubt the character of the building in which
the writers meet, the reporter made his way into it on the afternoon in
question. It is a well-known policy shop, conducted by a colored man, who has been writing policy for years. He is president of a colored political club, with headquarters near by. On the occasion of the visit the back gate was ajar. Pushing it open, the reporter walked in without
challenge. From the Public Ledger, December 3, 1897.
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 267
a hearing yesterday, before Magistrate South, at the City HalL One man* residing on Griscom street, testified that the house was supposed to be a "club," and that it was customary to paya dollar before admission could be secured, and that he had been gambling at "crap
" and a card game known as " five-up," and had lost 18. He said there was a president, marshal and sergeant-at-arms. He pointed out Boiling, Jordan and Phillips as the principals. Special Policeman Duffy testified that the crowd was playing "crap" with dice on the floor when he headed the raid on Monday night. He said he had notified Boiling, as the head of the house, three months ago, when he had heard that gambling was going on there, to stop it. On cross-examination the witness said he did not know that it was a social club called the " Workingmen's Club/* Patrol man William Harvey testified that he went to the house on last Saturday night and got in readily, and was not called on to pay a dollar initiation fee, as had been claimed was the rule. He said he played '* sweat
" and lost twenty-five cents, but did not win anything. He said Boiling was- running the game. He said that when he entered the house somebody called out " Sam's got a new man," and that was all that was said.
More and more frequently in the last few years, have
crime, excess, and disappointment led to attempted suicide :
Policeman Wynne, of the Fifth and Race streets station, last evening found an unknown colored woman lying unconscious in an alleyway at Delaware avenue and Race street. Beside the woman was an empty bottle labeled benzine. Wynne immediately summoned the patrol wagon and had the woman removed to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where her condition was said to be critical. The physicians said there was no doubt the woman had drunk the contents of the bottle, and narcotics weie at once administered to counteract the effect of the poison. At midnight the woman showed signs of returning consciousness and it was thought that she would recover. The police have no clue to her identity, as she could not tell her name, and the alleyway where she was found is sur rounded by business houses, and no one could be found who knew her.
It is but fair to add that many unsustained charges of crime are made against Negroes, and possibly more in
proportion than against other classes. Some typical cases of this sort are of interest :
W. M. Boley, colored, thirty years old, who said he resided in Mayes- ville, South Carolina, was a defendant before Magistrate Jermon, at the
City Hall, yesterday, on the charge of assault with intent to steal. Detective Gallagher and Special Police-man Thomas testified that their attention was attracted to the prisoner by his actions in a crowd at the
268 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
New York train gate at Broad street station on Saturday. He had with him several parcels which he laid on the floor near the gate, and they said they saw him make several attempts to pick women's pockets, and arrested him. The man however proved by documentary evidence that he was a clergyman, a graduate of Howard University, and financial agent of a Southern school. He was released. Under instructions from Judge Finletter, a jury rendered a verdict of
not guilty in the case of George Queen, a young colored man, charged with the murder of Joseph A. Sweeney and John G. O'Brien. Dr. Frederick G. Coxson, pastor of the Pitman Methodist Episcopal Church, at Twenty-third and Lombard streets, testified that on the night in question he was about to retire, when he heard a disturbance on the street. Upon going out he saw three young men, two of whom were leading the other and persuading him to come with them. At the same time the prisoner, Queen, came along in the middle of the street, walking leisurely. Immediately upon seeing him the three men attacked him, and were shortly afterward joined by three others, and the entire crowd, among whom were Sweeney and O'Brien, continued beating and striking the colored man. Suddenly the crowd scattered and Queen was placed under arrest ; he had fatally stabbed two of his assailants. This testimony showed that the accused was not the aggressor, and without hearing the defence Judge Finletter ordered the jury to render a verdict of not guilty. The case, he said, was one of justifiable homicide, the defendant having a right to resist the attack by force. The judge further said he thought the case would have a tendency to repel the brutal attacks made on inoffensive persons in the community, and to make the streets safe for every man to walk on at any hour without fear.
for a moment the question of the deeper social causes of crime among Negroes, let us consider two closely .allied subjects, pauperism and the use of alchoholic liquors.
CHAPTER XIV.
PAUPERISM AND ALCOHOLISM.
41. Pauperism. Emancipation and pauperism must ever go hand in hand ; when a group of persons have been for generations prohibited from self-support, and self- initiative in any line, there is bound to be a large number of them who, when thrown upon their own resources, will be found incapable of competing in the race of life. Penn sylvania from early times, when emancipation of slaves in considerable numbers first began, has seen and feared this
problem of Negro poverty. The Act of 1726 declared;- " Whereas free Negroes are an idle and slothful people and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and afford ill
examples to other Negroes, therefore be it enacted * *
* * that if any master or mistress shall discharge or set free any Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance with sufficient securities in the sum of $o to indemnify the county for any charge or incumbrance they may brings upon the same, in case such Negro through sickness or otherwise be rendered incapable of self-support." The Acts of 1780 and 1788 took pains to provide for Negro
paupers in the county where they had legal residence, and
many decisions of the courts bear upon this point. About 1820 when the final results of the Act of 1780 were being felt, an act was passed
u To prevent the increase of pauper ism in the Commonwealth ;
" it provided that if a servant
was brought into the state over twenty-eight years of age (the age of emancipation) his master was to be liable for his support in case he became a pauper.
1
Thus we can infer that much pauperism was prevalent among the freedmen during these years although there are
1 See Appendix B for these various laws. (269)
27 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
no actual figures on the subject In 1837, 235 f
1673 Inmates of the Philadelphia County Almshouse were
Negroes or 14 per cent of paupers from 7.4 per cent of the
population. These paupers were classed as follows : 2
Males.
Under 21 years 18 21 to 50
<c 57
30 to 75 " .18
Unknown 13
106
Females.
Under 18 years 33 181040
" 59
40 to 60 c '
17 60 " and over . . . 10 Unknown 10
129
Lunatics and defective 16 males, 31 females, Defective from exposure n " n " Consumption, rheumatism, etc. ... 9 "
Pleurisy, typhus fever, etc 12 "
Destitute 13 "
Paupers 32 "
35 "
Unclassed 13 " 28 "
Women lying-in, children and orphans, 24 * f
106 males, 129 females.
Ten years later there were 196 Negro paupers in the Almshouse, and those receiving outdoor relief were reported as follows :3
In the City: Of 2562 Negro families, 320 received assistance.
In Spring Garden: Of 202 Negro families, 3 received assistance.
In Northern Liberties: Of 272 Negro families, 6 received assistance.
In Southwark: Of 287 Negro families, 7 received assistance.
In West Philadelphia: Of 73 Negro families, 2 received assistance.
In Moyamensing: Of 866 Negro families, 104 received assistance.
Total, of4262 Negro families, 442 received assistance, or 10 per cent.
1 " Condition," etc., 1838.
su Condition," etc., 1848.
Sect. 41.] Pauperism. 271
This practically covers the available statistics of the past ; it shows a large amount of pauperism and yet perhaps not more than could reasonably be expected.
To-day it is very difficult to get any definite idea of the extent of Negro poverty ; there is a vast amount of alms giving in Philadelphia, but much of it is unsystematic and there is much duplication of work; and, at the same time, so meagre are the records kept that the real extent of pauperism and its causes are very hard to
study. 4
The first available figures are those relating to lodgers at the station houses i. v persons without shelter who have applied for and been given lodging :
5
1891, total lodgers . . 13,600, of whom 365, or 2.7 per cent were Negroes.
Somewhat similar statistics are furnished by the report of arrests by the vagrant detective for the last ten years :
The Negro vagrants arrested during the last six years were thus disposed of :
4 Cf. The "Civic Club Digest " for general information.
s From reports of police department. Many other official reports might be added to these, but they are easily accessible.
272 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV*
These records give a vague idea of that class of persons
just hovering between pauperism and crime tramps,
loafers, defective persons and unfortunates a class difficult
to deal with because made up of diverse elements.
Turning to the true paupers, we have the record of the
paupers admitted to the Blockley Almshouse during six
years:
ADUI/TS SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER.
CHILDREN UNDER SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE.
In 1891, 4.2 per cent of the whites admitted were
insane and 2.3 per cent of the Negroes; in 1895,
8.3 per cent of the whites and 8.6 per cent of the
Negroes :
Sect 41.] Pauperism.
THE INSANE.
273
We have already seen that in the Seventh Ward about 9 per cent of the Negroes can be classed as the
" very poor,
}>
needing public assistance in order to live. From this we may conclude that between three and four thousand Negro families in the city may be classed among the semi-pauper class. Thus it is plain that there is a large problem of
poverty among the Negro problems ; 4 per cent of the
population furnish according to the foregoing statistics
at least 8 per cent of the poverty. Considering the
economic difficulties of the Negro, we ought perhaps to
expect rather more than less than this. Beside these per manently pauperized families there is a considerable number of persons who from time to time must receive temporary aid, but can usually get on without it. In time of stress
as during the year 1893 this class is very large. There is especial suffering and neglect among the children
of this class of people : in the last ten years the Children's
Aid Society has received the following children : 6
From iBB? to 2897* Received from judges and magistrates (so-called delin
quents) ...................... Deserted babies ................ ... Orphans ...................... Half-orphans, including those with mothers in delicate
health and worthless fathers ; also both parents worthless .....................
From Blockley Almshouse ..............
Negroes. 7'otaL
19 7
4
181
55
147
448
*From the Society records, by courtesy of the officers.
274 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
From Blockley Almshouse (foundlings) ....... 12 362 From Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children . . 3 45 From County Poor Boards .............. 26 151
no 1389
The total receptions during these ten years have been
1389, of which the Negroes formed 8 per cent. This but
emphasizes the fact of poor family life among the lower classes which we have spoken of before. A little better light can be thrown on the problem of
poverty by a study of concrete cases ; for this purpose 237
families have been selected. They live in the Seventh
Ward and are composed of those families of Negroes whom the Charity Organization Society, Seventh District, has aided for at least two winters.
7 First, we must notice
that this number nearly corresponds with the previously estimated per cent of the
" very poor."
8 Arranging these
families according to size, we have :
Number in Family. Families. Persons.
122
162
124
95 60
7 ii
638
The reported causes of poverty, which were in all cases
verified by visitors so far as possible, were as follows :
7 From the C. O. S. records, Seventh District, by courtesy of Miss Burke.
8 This coincidence in figures was entirely unnoticed until both had
been worked out by independent methods.
Sect. 41.] Pauperism. 275
Lack of work 115 families. Sickness, accident, or physical disability ... 39 Death of bread-winner and old age 24 Probable gambling, criminal shiftlessness, etc., 16
Desertion of bread-winner 15 Laziness and improvidence 10
Intemperate use of alcoholic liquors . . . . 8
Financial reverses 7
234 families.
From as careful a consideration of these cases as the necessarily meagre information of records and visitors
permit, it seems fair to say that Negro poverty in the Seventh Ward was, in these cases, caused as follows :
By sickness and misfortune 40 per cent. By lack of steady employment ... ... 30
"
By laziness, improvidence and intemperate drink 20 "
By crime 10 **
Of course this is but a rough estimate ; many of these causes indirectly influence each other : crime causes sick
ness and misfortune ; lack of employment causes crime ; laziness causes lack of work, etc.
Several typical families will illustrate the varying con
ditions encountered :
No. i. South Eighteenth street Four in the family ; husband intemperate drinker; wife decent, but out of
work. No. 2. South Tenth street. Five in the family; widow
and children out of work, and had sold the bed to pay for
expense of a sick child.
No. 3, Dean street A woman paralyzed; partially sup ported by a colored church.
No. 4. Carver street. Worthy woman deserted by her husband five years ago ; helped with coal, but is paying the Charity Organization Society back again.
No. 5. Hampton street Three in family; living in three rooms with three other families.
" No push, and improvident"
276 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
No. 6. Stockton street. The woman has just had an
operation performed in the hospital, and cannot work yet. No. 7. Addison street Three in family; left their work
in Virginia through the misrepresentations of an Arch
street employment bureau ; out of work.
No. 8. Richard street. Laborer injured by falling of a
derrick ;
five in the family. His fellow workmen have contributed to his support, but the employers have given
nothing* No. 9. Lombard street. Five in family; wife white ;
living in one room ; hard cases ; rum and lies ; pretended one child was dead in order to get aid.
No. 10. Carver street. Woman and demented son; she was found very drunk on the street ; plays policy.
No. ii. Lombard street Worthy woman sick with a tumor ; given temporary aid.
No. 12. Ohio street. Woman and two children deserted by her husband ; helped to pay her rent.
No. 13. Rodman street A widow and child; out of work. "One very little room, clean and orderly."
No. 14. Fothergill street Two in the family; the man
sick, half-crazy and lazy; " going to convert Africa and
didn't want to cook ; "
given temporary help. No. 15. Lombard street An improvident young couple
out of work ; living in one untidy room, with nothing to
pay rent No. 1 6. Lombard street A poor widow of a wealthy
caterer ; cheated out of her property ; has since died.
No. 17. Ivy street A family of four; husband was a stevedore, but is sick with asthma, and wife out of work ;
decent, but improvident. No. 1 8. Naudain street Family of three; the man,
who is decent, has broken his leg ; the wife plays policy. No. 19. South Juniper street Woman and two chil
dren ; deserted by her husband, and in the last stages of
consumption.
Sect 42.] The Drink Habit. 277
No. 20. Radcliffe street. Family of three; borrowed of
Charity Organization Society $1.00 to pay rent, and re
paid it in three weeks.
No. 21. Lombard street "A genteel American white woman married to a colored man
; he is at present in the
South looking for employment; have one child; 1 ' both
are respectable. No. 22. Fothergill street. Wife deserted him and two
children, and ran off with a man ; he is out of work ; asked aid to send his children to friends.
No. 23. Carver street. Man of twenty-three came from Virginia for work ; was run over by cars at Forty-fifth, street and Baltimore avenue, and lost both legs and right arm
; is dependent on colored friends and wants something
to do.
No. 24. Helmuth street. Family of three; man out of work all winter, and wife with two and one-half days' work a week
; respectable. No. -25. Richard street. Widow, niece and baby ; the
niece betrayed and deserted. They ask for work.
42. The Drink Habit. The intemperate use of intoxi
cating liquors is not one of the Negro's special offences ; nevertheless there is considerable drinking and the use of
beer is on the increase. The Philadelphia liquor saloons are conducted under an unusually well-administered system, and are not to so great an extent centres of brawling and
loafing as in other cities ; no amusements, as pool and
billiards, are allowed in rooms where liquor is sold. This
is not an unmixed good for the result is that much of the
drinking is thus driven into homes, clubs and "speak easies." The increase of beer-drinking among all classes, black and white, is noticeable ; the beer wagons deliver
large numbers of bottles at private residences, and much is carried from the saloons in buckets.
An attempt was made in 1897 to count the frequenters of certain saloons in the Seventh Ward during the hours
278 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
from 8 to 10 on a Saturday night. It was impracticable to make this count simultaneously or to cover the whole ward, but eight or ten were watched each night.
9 The results are a rough measurement of the drinking habits in this ward.
There are in the ward 52 saloons of which 26 were watched in districts mostly inhabited by Negroes. In these
two hours the following record was made: Persons entering the saloons :
Negroes male, 1373; female, 213. Whites male,
1445; female, 139. Of those entering, the following are known to have
carried liquor away :
Negroes male, 238 ; female, 125. Whites male, 275 ;
female, 81.
3170 persons entered half the saloons of the Seventh
Ward in the hours from 8 to 10 of one Saturday night in December, 1897 ; of these, 1586 were Negroes, and 1584 were whites; 2818 were males, and 352 were females.
10
Of those entering these saloons at this time a part carried
away liquor mostly beer in tin buckets; of those thus
visibly carrying away liquor there were in all 719; of these 363 were Negroes, and 356 were whites; 513 were
males, and 206 were females. The observers stationed near these saloons saw, in the
two hours they were there, 79 drunken persons. The general character of the saloons and their frequenters
can best be learned from a few typical reports. The num bers given are the official license numbers :
No. 516. Persons entering saloon :
Men white, 40; Negro, 68. Women white, 12; Negro, 12.
9 1 am indebted to Dr. S. M. I/indsay and the students of the Wharton School for the carrying ont of this plan.
10 No comparison of the number of Negroes and whites for the ward can be made, because many of the saloons omitted are frequented by whites principally.
Sect. 42.] The Drink Habit. 279
Persons carrying liquor away : Men white, 8 ; Negro, 16. Women white, i ; Negro, 3. Drunken persons seen, 12. General character of saloon and frequenters :
" A small corner saloon, kept by a white man. The saloon appears to be a respectable one and has three entrances : one on Thirteenth street and the two on a small court The majority of the colored patrons are poor people and of the working class. The white patrons are, for the greater part, of the better class. Among the latter very few were intoxicated."
No. 488. Persons entering: Men white, 24 ; Negro, 102. Women white, 2 ;
Negro, 3. Carrying liquor away, 12 ; drunken persons seen, 8. General character : " The saloon was none too orderly;
policemen remained near all the time ; the Negro men entering were as a rule well dressed perhaps one-third were laborers
; the white men were well dressed but
suspicious looking characters."
No. 515. Persons entering : Men white, 81 ; Negro, 59. Women white, 4 ;
Negro, 10.
Persons carrying liquor away : Men white, 15 (one a boy of 12 or 14 years of age);
Negro, n. Women white, 4; Negro, 8. Drunken persons seen, 2 (to one nothing was sold). General character of saloon and frequenters: "There
were two Negro men and seven white men in saloon when the count was started. The place has three doors but all are easily observed. Trade is largely in distilled
liquors, and a great deal is sold in bottles a * barrel
shop. 5
No. 527. Persons entering saloon :
2So Pattperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
8 to 9 P. M. 9 to 10 P. M. Total.
Men, White 49 54 104 "
Negro 29 37 68
Women, White 3 3 6 "
Negro 5 2 7
88 97 185
Persons carrying liquor away:
Men, White 6 n 17 "
Negro 4 9 T3 Women, White o i i
" Negro 4 o 4
Boys, "
i o i
15 21 36
Drunken persons seen, none. General character of saloon and frequenters :
" Quiet,
orderly crowd quick trade no loafing. Three boys were
among those entering."
No. 484. Persons entering saloon :
Men white, 70; Negro, 32. Women white, 10; Negro, i.
Persons carrying liquor away : Men white, 10 ; Negro, 12. Women white, 4 ;
Negro, o.
Drunken persons seen, n, six of whom were white and five black. ' I cannot say that the saloon was responsible for all of them, but they were all in or about it."
This saloon is in the worst slum section of the ward and is of bad character. Frequenters were a mixed lot,
u fast,
tough, criminal and besotted. "
No. 487. Persons entering :
Men white, 79; Negro, 129. Women white, 13; Negro, 34.
Persons carrying liquor away : Men white, 15 ; Negro, 25. Women white, 5 ;
Negro, 8.
Sect. 42.] The Drink Habit. 281
" No drunken men seen. Frequented by a sharp class of criminals and loafers. Near the notorious < Middle Alley.
3 "
No. 525. Total Negroes entering, 14; total whites entering, 13. " No loafers about the front of the saloon. Streets well
lighted and neighborhood quiet, according to the policeman. There was a barber shop next door and a saloon on the corner ten doors below. Very few drunken people were seen. Trade was most brisk between eight and nine o'clock. In two hours one more Negro than white entered. Two more Negroes, men, than whites carried away liquor. One white man, a German, returned three times for beer in a kettle. Two Negro women carried beer away in kettles ; one white woman (Irish) made two trips. All women entered by side door. The saloon is under a residence, three stories, corner of Waverly and Eleventh streets.
Waverly street has a Negro population which fairly swarms good position for Negro trade. Proprietor and assistant were both Irish. The interior of the saloon was finished in white pine stained to imitate cherry. Ex tremely plain. Barkeeper said,
c A warm night, but we are doing very well.' One beggar came in, a colored * Auntie ;' she wanted bread, not gin. Negroes were well
dressed, as a rule, many smoking. The majority of frequenters by their bustling air and directness with which
they found the place, showed long acquaintance with the
neighborhood ; especially this corner."
No. 500. Persons entering saloon : Men white, 40; Negro, 73. Women white 4;
Negro, 6. Persons carrying liquor away : Men white, 6; Negro, 23. Women white, 5;
Negro, 4. Drunken persons seen, i.
282 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
General character of saloon and frequenters: "Four
story building, plain and neat; three entrances; iron
awning ; electric and Welsbach lights. Negroes generally
tidy and appear to be pretty well-to-do. Whites not so
tidy as Negroes and generally mechanics. Almost all
smoke cigars. Liquor carried away openly in pitchers and
kettles. Three of the white women, carrying away liquor, looked like Irish servant girls. Some of the Negroes carried bundles of laundry and groceries with them."
Pew general conclusions can be drawn from this data. The saloon is evidently not so much a moral as an economic
problem among Negroes ; if the 1586 Negroes who went into the saloons within two hours Saturday night spent five
cents apiece, which is a low estimate, they spent $79.30.
If, as is probable, at least $100 was spent that Saturday
evening throughout the ward, then in a year we would not be wrong in concluding their Saturday night's expenditure was at least $5000, and their total expenditure could
scarcely be less than $10,000, and it may reach $20,000 a
large sum for a poor people to spend in liquor.
43. The Causes of Crime and Poverty. A study of statistics seems to show that the crime and pauperism of
the Negroes exceeds that of the whites ; that in the main,
nevertheless, it follows in its rise and fall the fluctuations
shown in the records of the whites, i. <?., if crime increases
among the whites it increases among Negroes, and vice
versa, with this peculiarity, that among the Negroes the
change is always exaggerated the increase greater, the
decrease more marked in nearly all cases. This is what we would naturally expect: we have here the record of a low social class, and as the condition of a lower class is by its
very definition worse than that of a higher, so the situation
of the Negroes is worse as respects crime and poverty than
that of the mass of whites. Moreover, any change in social
conditions is bound to affect the poor and unfortunate more
than the rich and prosperous. We have in all probability
Sect. 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty. 283
an example of this in the increase of crime since 1890 ; we have had a period of financial stress and industrial depression ; the ones who have felt this most are the poor, the unskilled laborers, the inefficient and unfortunate, and those with small social and economic advantages: the
Negroes are in this class, and the result has been an increase in Negro crime and pauperism; there has also been an increase in the crime of the whites, though less rapid by reason of their richer and more fortunate upper classes. So far, then, we have no phenomena which are new or
exceptional, or which present more than the ordinary social
problems of crime and poverty although these, to be sure, are difficult enough. Beyond these, however, there are
problems which can rightly be called Negro problems: they arise from the peculiar history and condition of the American Negro. The first peculiarity is, of course, the slavery and emancipation of the Negroes. That their
emancipation has raised them economically and morally is
proven by the increase of wealth and co-operation, and the decrease of poverty and crime between the period before the war and the period since ; nevertheless, this was mani
festly no simple process : the first effect of emancipation was that of any sudden social revolution : a strain upon the strength and resources of the Negro, moral, economic and physical, which drove many to the wall. For this reason the rise of the Negro in this city is a series of rushes and
backslidings rather than a continuous growth. The second
great peculiarity of the situation of the Negroes is the fact of immigration ; the great numbers of raw recruits who have from time to time precipitated themselves upon the
Negroes of the city and shared their small industrial oppor tunities, have made reputations which, whether good or bad, all their race must share ; and finally whether they failed or succeeded in the strong competition, they themselves must soon prepare to face a new immigration. Here then we have two great causes for the present
284 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
condition of the Negro : Slavery and emancipation with their attendant phenomena of ignorance, lack of discipline, and moral weakness
; immigration with its increased com
petition and moral influence. To this must be added a third as great possibly greater in influence than the other
two, namely the environment in which a Negro finds him self the world of custom and thought in which he must live and work, the physical surrounding of house and home and ward, the moral encouragements and discourage ments which he encounters. We dimly seek to define this social environment partially when we talk of color prejudice but this is but a vague characterization ; what we want
to study is not a vague thought or feeling but its concrete manifestations. We know pretty well what the surround ings are of a young white lad, or a foreign immigrant who comes to this great city to join in its organic life. We know what influences and limitations surround him, to what he may attain, what his companionships are, what his encouragements are, what his drawbacks. This we must know in regard to the Negro if we would
study his social condition. His strange social environment must have immense effect on his thought and life, his work and crime, his wealth and pauperism. That this environ ment differs and differs broadly from the environment of his fellows, we all know, but we do not know just how it differs. The real foundation of the difference is the wide spread feeling all over the land, in Philadelphia as well as
in Boston and New Orleans, that the Negro is something less than an American and ought not to be much more than what he is. Argue as we may for or against this idea, we must as students recognize its presence and its vast effects.
At the Eastern Penitentiary where they seek so far as
possible to attribute to definite causes the criminal record
of each prisoner, the vast influence of environment is shown. This estimate is naturally liable to error, but the
Sect. 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty, 285
peculiar system of this institution and the long service and wide experience of the warden and his subordinates gives it a peculiar and unusual value. Of the 541 Negro prison ers previously studied 191 were catalogued as criminals by reason of " natural and inherent depravity.
" The others were divided as follows :
Crimes due to
(a) Defects of the law :
Laxity in administration 33 Unsuitable laws for minor offences 48 Inefficient police , 22 License given to the young 16 Inefficient laws in regard to saloons . .... u Poor institutions and lack of institutions 12
142
(&) Immediate environment:
Association . . 53 Amusements 16 Home and family influences 25
94
(c) Lack of training, lack of opportunity, lack of desire to work 56
(d) General environment 6
(e) Disease 16
(_/") Moral weakness and unknown 36 114
This rough judgment of men who have come into daily contact with five hundred Negro criminals but emphasizes the fact alluded to
; the immense influence of his peculiar
environment on the black Philadelphian ; the influence of homes badly situated and badly managed, with parents untrained for their responsibilities ; the influence of social
surroundings which by poor laws and inefficient adminis tration leave the bad to be made worse ; the influence of economic exclusion which admits Negroes only to those
parts of the economic world where it is hardest to retain ambition and self-respect ; and finally that indefinable but real and mighty moral influence that causes men to have
286 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
a real sense of manhood or leads them to lose aspiration and self-respect. Kor the last ten or fifteen years young
1
Negroes have been ponring into this city at the rate of a thousand a year \ the question is then what homes they find or make, what neighbors they have, how they amuse themselves, and what work they engage in ? Again, into what sort of homes are the hundreds of Negro babies of each year born? Under what social influences do they come, what is the tendency of their training, and what places in life can they fill ? To answer all these questions is to go far toward finding the real causes of crime and pauperism among this race ; the next two chapters, therefore, take up the question of environment.
CHAPTER XV.
THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE NEGRO.
44. Houses and Rent. The Inquiry of 1848 returned quite full statistics of rents paid by the Negroes.
1 In the whole city at that date 4019 Negro families paid $199,665.46 in rent, or an average of $49.68 per family each year. Ten years earlier the average was $44 per family. Nothing better indicates the growth of the Negro population in numbers and power when we compare with this the figures for 1896 for one ward ; in that year the
Negroes of the Seventh Ward paid $25,699.50 each month in rent, or $308,034 a year, an average of $126.19 per annum for each family. This ward may have a somewhat higher proportion of renters than most other wards. At the lowest estimate, however, the Negroes of Philadelphia pay at least $1,250,000 in rent each year.
2
The table of rents for 1848 is as follows (see page 288): We see that in 1848 the average Negro family rented by
the month or quarter, and paid between four and five dol lars per month rent. The highest average rent for any section was less than fifteen dollars a month. For such rents the poorest accommodations were afforded, and we know from descriptions that the mass of Negroes had small and unhealthful homes, usually on the back streets and
alleys. The rents paid to-day in the Seventh Ward, according to the number of rooms, are tabulated on page 289.
1 ** Condition,** etc., 1848, p. 16. 2 Not taking into account sub-rent repaid by sub-tenants ; subtracting
this and the sum would be, perhaps, $1,000,000 see infra* p. 291. That paid by single lodgers ought not, of course, to be subtracted as it has not been added in.
(287)
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Sect. 44.] Houses and Rent. 289 NEGRO HOMES, ACCORDING TO RENTS AND ROOMS.*
Seventh Ward, Philadelphia.
.$25*699-50 Total rent per year $308,034*
>nth per family, $10.50+
Total rent pr month Total rent per year Aver, rent per mont!
Aver, rent per year per family . $126.19 Aver, rent peryearper indmdnal,$3i.S.j
3 The returns as to rents paid are among the most reliable of the statis tics gathered. The amount of rent is always well known, and there
are
29 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Condensing this table somewhat we find that the Negroes pay rent as follows :
Under $5 per month 490 families> or 21.9 per cent. $5 and under $10 643
$10 "
$15 380 $15
" " $20 252
$20 $30 375 $30 and over 95
28.7
17.0
"3 17.0
The lodging system so prevalent in the Seventh Ward makes some rents appear higher than the real facts warrant. This ward is in the centre of the city, near the places of
employment for the mass of the people and near the centre of their social life
; consequently people crowd here in
great numbers. Young couples just married engage lodg ing in one or two rooms ; families join together and hire one house
; and numbers of families take in single lodgers ;
thus the population of the ward is made up of
Families owning or renting their homes and living alone 738, or 31 per cent.
Families owning or renting their homes, who take lodgers or sul>renters 937,
" 38
"
Families sub-renting under other families 766, "
31 "
Total individuals .... * 7751 100 " Total families , . 2441
Individuals lodging with families 1924
Total individuals 9675
The practice of sub-renting is found of course in all degrees : from the business of boarding-house keeper to the
few motives for deception. Moreover in Philadelphia there is a tendency to build rows and streets of houses with the same general design. These rent for the same sum, and thus particular instances of false report are easily detected. One feature of the returns must be noted, 2. e, , the large number of cases where high rents are paid for one- and two-room tene ments. In nearly all of these cases this rent is paid for large front bed rooms in good localities, and often includes furniture. Sometimes a limited use of the family kitchen is also included. In such cases it is misleading to call these one-room tenements. No other arrangement, however, seemed practical in these tables.
Sect. 44.] Houses and Rent. 291
case of a family which rents out its spare bed-chamber. In the first case the rent is practically all repaid, and must in some cases be regarded as income ; in the other cases a small fraction of the rent is repaid and the real rent and the size of the home reduced. I^et us endeavor to deter mine what proportion of the rents of the Seventh Ward are repaid in sub-rents, omitting some boarding and lodging- houses where the sub-rent is really the income of the house wife. In most cases the room-rent of lodgers covers some return for the care of the room. The next table gives detailed statistics :
PROPORTION OF RENT REPAID IN SUB-RENT.
Negroes of Seventh Ward, Philadelphia.
It appears from this table that nearly $9000 is paid by the sub-renting families and lodgers to the renting families. A part of this ought to be subtracted from the total rent
292 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
paid if we would get at the net rent; just how much, however, should be called wages for care of room, or other conveniences furnished sub-renters, it is difficult to
say. Possibly the net rent of the ward is $20,000, and of the city about $i,ooo,ooo.
4
The accommodations furnished for the rent paid must now be considered. The number of rooms occupied is the simplest measurement, but is not very satisfactory in this
case owing to the lodging system which makes it difficult to say how many rooms a family really occupies. A very large number of families of two and three rent a single bedroom and these must be regarded as one-room tenants, and yet this renting of a room often includes a limited use of a common kitchen
; on the other hand this sub
renting family cannot in justice be counted as belonging to the renting family. The figures are:
829 families live in I room, including families lodging, or 35.2 per cent.
104 " " " 2 rooms or 4.4
"
371 " " "
3 " or J5.7
r7 " " "4 "\ or I2 7
127 " " "
5 "
J 7
754 " " " 6 " or more or 32.0
"
The number of families occupying one room is here
exaggerated as before shown by the lodging system ; on the other hand the number occupying six rooms and more is also somewhat exaggerated by the fact that not all sub-rented rooms have been subtracted, although this has
been done as far as possible. Of the 2441 families only 334 had access to bathrooms
and water-closets, or 13.7 per cent. Even these 334 fami lies have poor accommodations in most instances. Many share the use of one bathroom with one or more other families. The bath-tubs usually are not supplied with hot water and very often have no water-connection at all. This
condition is largely owing to the fact that the Seventh
4 Here, again, the proportion paid by single lodgers must not be sub
tracted as it has not been added in before.
Sect 44.] Houses and Rent. 293
Ward belongs to the older part of Philadelphia, built when vaults in the yards were used exclusively and bath rooms could not be given space in the small houses. This was not so unhealthful before the houses were thick and when there were large back yards. To-day, however, the back yards have been filled by tenement houses and the bad sanitary results are shown in the death rate of the ward. Even the remaining yards are disappearing. Of the
1751 families making returns, 932 had a private yard 12x12 feet, or larger ; 312 had a private yard smaller than 12x12 feet ; 507 had either no yard at all or a yard and outhouse in common with the other denizens of the tene ment or alley. Of the latter only sixteen families had water-closets. So
that over 20 per cent and possibly 30 per cent of the Negro families of this ward lack some of the very elementary accommodations necessary to health and decency. And this too in spite of the fact that they are paying compara tively high rents. Here too there comes another consider
ation, and that is the lack of public urinals and water-closets in this ward and, in fact, throughout Philadelphia. The result is that the closets of tenements are used by the
public. A couple of diagrams will illustrate this ; the houses of older Philadelphia were built like this :
A HOME B OUTHOUSE C YARD O PASSAGE TO STREET
When, however, certain districts like the Seventh Ward became crowded and given over to tenants, the thirst for
294 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
money-getting led landlords in large numbers of cases to
build up their back yards like this :
A FRONT TENEMENT FACING ST. C BACK TENEMENT FACING ALLEY D ALLEY R COMMON OUTHOUSE
FOR 3 TENANTS
This is the origin of numbers of the blind alleys and
dark holes which make some parts of the Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Wards notorious. The closets in such cases are sometimes divided into compartments for different tenants,
but in many cases not even this is done ; and in all cases the alley closet becomes a public resort for pedestrians and
loafers. The back tenements thus formed rent usually for from $7 to $9 a month, and sometimes for more. They consist of three rooms one above the other, small, poorly
lighted and poorly ventilated. The inhabitants of the
alley are at the mercy of its worst tenants ; here policy
shops abound, prostitutes ply their trade, and criminals
hide. Most of these houses have to get their water at a
hydrant in the alley, and must store their fuel in the
house. These tenement abominations of Philadelphia are
perhaps better than the vast tenement houses of New York,
but they are bad enough, and cry for reform in housing. The fairly comfortable working class live in houses of
3-6 rooms, with water in the house, but seldom with a
bath. A three room house on a small street rents from $10 up ; on Lombard street a 5-8 room house can be
rented for from $18 to $30 according to location. The
great mass of comfortably situated working people live in
houses of 6-10 rooms, and sub-rent a part or take lodgers. A 5-7 room house on South Eighteenth street can be had for $20; on Florida street for $18 ; such, houses have
Sect. 44.] Houses and Rent. 295
usually a parlor, dining room and kitchen on the first floor and two to four bedrooms, of which one or two are apt to be rented to a waiter or coachman for $4 a month, or to a married couple at $6-10 a month.
' The more elaborate houses are on I^ombard street and its cross streets. The rents paid by the Negroes are without doubt far
above their means and often from one-fourth to three-fourths of the total income of a family goes in rent This leads to much non-payment of rent both intentional and uninten tional, to frequent shifting of homes, and above all to
stinting the families in many necessities of life in order to live in respectable dwellings. Many a Negro family eats less than it ought for the sate of living in a decent house.
Some of this waste of money in rent is sheer ignorance and carelessness. The Negroes have an inherited distrust of banks and companies, and have long neglected to take
part in Building and Ix>an Associations. Others are simply careless in the spending of their money and lack the shrewdness and business sense of differently trained peoples, Ignorance and carelessness however will not explain all or even the greater part of the problem of rent among Negroes. There are three causes of even greater impor tance : these are the limited localities where Negroes may rent, the peculiar connection of dwelling and occupation among Negroes and the social organization of the Negro. The undeniable fact that most Philadelphia white people prefer not to live near Negroes
5 limits the Negro very seriously in his choice of a home and especially in the choice of a cheap home. Moreover, real estate agents knowing the limited supply usually raise the rent a dollar or two for Negro tenants, if they do not refuse them
altogether. Again, the occupations which the Negro follows, and which at present he is compelled to follow, are
5 The sentiment has greatly lessened in intensity during the last two decades, but it is still strong ; cf. section 47,
296 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
of a sort that makes it necessary for him to live near the best portions of the city ; the mass of Negroes are in the economic world purveyors to the rich working in private houses, in hotels, large stores, etc.
6 In order to keep this work they must live near by; the laundress cannot bring her Spruce street family's clothes from the Thirtieth Ward, nor can the waiter at the Continental Hotel lodge in Oermantown. With the mass of white workmen this same necessity of living near work, does not hinder them from
getting cheap dwellings ; the factory is surrounded by cheap cottages, the foundry by long rows of houses, and even the white clerk and shop girl can, on account of their hours of labor, afford to live further out iu the suburbs than the black porter who opens the store. Thus it is clear that the nature of the Negro's work compels him to crowd into the centre of the city much more than is the case with the mass of white working people. At the same time this necessity is apt in some cases to be overestimated, and a few hours of sleep or convenience serve to persuade a good many families to endure poverty in the Seventh Ward when they might be comfortable in the Twenty- fourth Ward. Nevertheless much of the Negro problem in this city finds adequate explanation when we reflect that here is a people receiving a little lower wages than usual for less desirable work, and compelled, in order to do that
work, to live in a little less pleasant quarters than most
people, and pay for them somewhat higher rents. The final reason of the concentration of Negroes in
certain localities is a social one and one peculiarly strong : the life of the Negroes of the city has for years centred in the Seventh Ward
; here are the old churches, St. Thomas',
Bethel, Central, Shiloh and Wesley ,* here are the halls of the secret societies
; here are the homesteads of old families.
To a race socially ostracised it means far more to move to 6 At the same time, from long custom and from competition, their
-wages for this work are not high.
Sect 44.] Houses and Rent. 297
remote parts of a city, than to those who will in any part of the city easily form congenial acquaintances and new ties. The Negro who ventures away from the mass of his people and their organized life, finds himself alone, shunned and
taunted, stared at and made uncomfortable ; he can make few new friends, for his neighbors however well-disposed would shrink to add a Negro to their list of acquaint ances. Thus he remains far from friends and the con centred social life of the church, and feels in all its bitterness what it means to be a social outcast. Con
sequently emigration from the ward has gone in groups and centred itself about some church, and individual initiative is thus checked. At the same time color prejudice makes it difficult for groups to find suitable places to move to one Negro family would be tolerated where six would be
objected to ; thus we have here a very decisive hindrance to emigration to the suburbs.
It is not surprising that this situation leads to consider
able crowding in the homes, i. e. , to the endeavor to get as
many people into the space hired as possible. It is this crowding that gives the casual observer many false notions as to the size of Negro families, since he often forgets that
every other house has its sub-renters and lodgers. It is however difficult to measure this crowding on account of this very lodging system which makes it very often un certain as to just the number of rooms a given group of
people occupy. In the following table therefore it is likely that the number of rooms given is somewhat greater than is
really the case and that consequently there is more crowd
ing than is indicated. This error however could not be
wholly eliminated under the circumstances ; a study of the
table (page 298) shows that in the Seventh Ward there are
9302 rooms occupied by 2401 families, an average of 3.8 rooms to a family, and 1.04 individuals to a room. A division by rooms will better show where the crowding comes in.
298
o g
I w
1
P <
8
O u o
o w
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
O O *o rt- 1000 vo ^ o o cot^M NOO rot^corf lOCO O--
J3AO pH ^ cO . ^ . t* .
OAS.X
VH <N . M M (N
M CO CS M .
CS cO CS w CO M CS IO
. H
. to O ^vo ir> cs .
r>.oo t>- 10 cs
toco TJ- cs >-i
-rJ-M * CS H
- IO tO\O . H
S '
*TJ
'Sg
61-3"^ 1> ^^ t^ "
>
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 299
Families occupying five rooms and less: 1648, total rooms per family, 2.17 ; total individuals per room, 1.53.
Families occupying three rooms and less: 1350, total rooms
per family, 1.63 ; total individuals per room, 1.85. The worst cases of crowding are as follows :
Two cases of 10 persons in i room. One case of 9
" i
**
Five cases of 7 "
i "
Six cases of 6 " i "
Twenty-five cases of 5 persons in I room. One case of 9 persons in 2 rooms. One case of 16 " 3
"
One case of 13 "
3 f<
One case of n " 3 "
As said before, this is probably something under the real truth, although perhaps not greatly so. The figures show considerable overcrowding, but not nearly as much as is often the case in other cities. This is largely due to the character of Philadelphia houses, which are small and low, and will not admit many inmates. Five persons in one room of an ordinary tenement would be almost suffocating. The large number of one-room tenements with two persons should be noted. These 573 families are for the most part young or childless couples, sub-renting a bedroom and
working in the city. 7
45. Sections and Wards. The spread of Negro popu lation in the city during the nineteenth century is worth
studying. In I793, 8 one-fourth of the black inhabitants
or 538 persons lived north of Market street and south of Vine, and were either in the homes of white families as
T One room under such circumstances may not by any means denote excessive poverty or indecency ; the room is usually rented in a good locality and is well furnished. Cf. note 3.
8 During the plague of that year a census of the inhabitants remain
ing in the city was taken. Five-sixths of the Negroes remained, so the census gives a good idea of the distribution of the Negro population. The results are published in the report printed afterward by order of Councils.
300 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
servants, or in the alleys, as Shively's, Pewter Platter, Croomb's, Sugar, Cresson's, etc. Between Market and South lived one-half of the blacks, crowded in a region that cen tred at Sixth and Lombard : in Strawberry alley and lane, Elbow lane, Grey's alley, Shippen's alley, etc., besides in the families of the whites on Walnut, Spruce, Pine, etc. The remaining fourth of the population was in Southwark, south of South street, and in the Northern Liberties, north of Vine. Details are given in the next table :
NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO INHABITANTS OF PHII,A- DEI.PHIA IN 1793 OCTOBER TO DECEMBER. (Taken from the Census of the Plague Committee.)
BETWEEN MARKET AND VINE STREETS. Streets, etc.
Market Water Front Second Third Fourth ..... Fifth
Sixth
Seventh .... Eighth Ninth Arch Race Vine (south side) New Church alley . .
Negroes.
63
31
40
29
37
42
24
32 8
13
3
56
38
9
3 2
Streets, etc.
Quarry Cherry alley . , . South alley . . . North alley .... Sugar alley .... Appletree alley . .
Cresson's alley . .
Shively's alley . .
Pewter Platter alley Croomb's alley . . Baker's alley . . .
Brooks* court . . .
Priest's alley . . .
Says alley ....
Total,
BETWEEN MARKET AND SOUTH STREETS.
Streets, etc. Negroes. Streets, etc.
Water ........ 12 Front. ........ 129 Second Third. . Fourth . Fifth . .
Sixth . .
Seventh
Eighth . Ninth .
116
66
Si
63
37 o
Penn Chestnut Walnut
Spruce Pine
South (north side) Strawberry lane . .
Strawberry alley . Elbow lane . . . . Beetles' alley . . .
Negroes.
4
25 I
4 14
7 10
ii
3
5
7 . i
6
6
538
Negroes.
II
50 83 66
3i
32 4 2
10
5
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 301
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
The changes from 1793 to 1838, nearly a half century, may thus be shown:
Thus we see in 1838 that the centre of Negro population had gone southward toward Moyamensing. The Cedar, Locust, Newmarket, Pine and South Wards, as they were then called, had the bulk of the population, and they cor
responded approximately to the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and
Eighth Wards of to-day. Ten years later than this, in 1848^ we have a more
detailed account of the distribution of the Negroes in the
various sections of the city. They were mostly crowded into narrow courts and alleys. The colored population north of Vine and east of Sixth streets consisted of 272 families with 1285 persons. One hundred and one families of these (415 persons) lived on Apple street and its courts, and in PaschalPs alley (now Lynd street). Apple street
itself, including Hick's court, had 37 families, with 138 persons, living in 16 houses; Shotwell's row, on the same
street, had 16 families with 65 persons in 7 houses ; the rooms were about 8 feet square. Paschall's alley contained
48 families with 212 persons, in 28 houses ; one house had
7 families, 33 persons, living in 13 rooms, 8 feet square. The rent of the whole house was $266 per year ;
" yet all
of them \i. <?.,
these families] have comfortable beds and
bedding." About a third of the total Negro population of Moya-
8 The figures for 1838 and 18 cf. census of 1840.
are from the inquiries of those dates ;
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 33
mensing (the district " south of Cedar street and west of
Passyunk road 5>
) was crowded into the space between Fifth and Eighth streets, and Sonth and Fitzwater ; for instance :
Families. Families.
Shippen street 55 Black Horse alley , 5 Bedford street ........ 63 Button's court 9 Small street 73 Yeager's court 9 Baker street 21 Dickerson's court 5 Seventh, and South, streets . . 14 Britton's court 5 Spafford street 16 Cryder's court 4 Freytag's alley 9 Sherman's court 13 Prosperous alley II
Total 302
" It is in this district and in the adjoining portion of the
city, especially Mary street and its vicinity, that the great destitntion and wretchedness exist" The personal property of 176 of the above 302 families is returned as $603.50, or
$3.43 per family ; 15 families (42 persons) on Small street
(Alaska street) above Sixth, have their whole property val ued at $7. Most of these Negroes were rag-pickers, and 29 out of 42 families were not natives of the State. Mary street and its courts had 80 families, with 281 persons living in 35 houses. Some were industrious and temperate, but there was "much surrounding misery.' > In Gile's alley (from Cedar to Lombard street) were 42 families, 147 per sons, in 20 houses. Eighty-three of these persons were not natives of the State, and 13 of the families received public charity. A description of this district in 1847 is inte resting :
" The vicinity of the place we sought was pointed out by a large number of colored people congregated on the
neighboring pavements. We first inspected the rooms, yards and cellars of the four or five houses next above Baker street on Seventh* The cellars were wretchedly dark, damp and dirty, and were generally rented for twelve and a half cents per night. These are occupied by one or more families at the present time, but in the winter season when the frost drives those who in summer sleep abroad in
304 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
fields, in boardyards and in sheds, to seek more effectual
shelter, they often contain from twelve to twenty lodgers per night Commencing at the back of each house are small wooden buildings roughly put together, about six feet square, without windows or fireplaces, a hole about a foot square being left in front along side of the door to let in fresh air and light, and to let out foul air and smoke. These desolate pens, the roofs of which are generally leaky, and their floors so low that more or less water comes in on them from the yard in rainy weather, would not give com fortable winter accommodations to a cow. Although as dismal as dirt, damp and insufficient ventilation can make them, they are nearly all inhabited. In one of the first we entered, we found the dead body of a large Negro man who had died suddenly there. This pen was about eight feet deep by six wide. There was no bedding in it, but a box or two around the sides furnished places where two colored persons, one said to be the wife of the deceased, were lying either drunk or fast asleep. The body of the dead man was on the wet floor beneath an old torn coverlet." 10
In 1853 a similar description of the crime, filth and
poverty of this district shows us that the present slums do not compare with those in misfortune and deprav ity.
u Much of this poverty and degradation could in 1847 be laid at the door of the new immigrants, and although some of the immigrants were in good circum
stances, yet in general most of the poverty was found where most of the immigrants were. The immigrants formed the following percentages of the total population in
1847: City 47.7 per cent.
Moyamensing 46.3 "
Southwark 35.9 "
West Philadelphia 34.3 "
Spring Garden 31.4 "
Northern Liberties 14.2 "
10 " Condition of Negroes," 1848, pp. 34-41. 11 "
Mysteries and Miseries of Philadelphia.'* (Pamphlet)
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 305
The historic centre of Negro settlement in the city can thus be seen to be at Sixth and Lombard. From this point it moved north, as is indicated for instance by the estab lishment of Zoar Church in 1794. Immigration of foreign ers and the rise of industries, however, early began to turn it back and it found outlet in the alleys of Southwark and
Moyarnensing. For a while about 1840 it was bottled up here, but finally it began to move west. A few early left the mass and settled in West Philadelphia ; the rest began a slow steady movement along Lombard street. The influx of 1876 and thereafter sent the wave across Broad street to a new centre at Seventeenth and Lombard. There it divided into two streams
; one went north and joined
remnants of the old settlers in the Northern Liberties and
Spring Garden. The other went south to the Twenty- sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards. Meantime the new immigrants poured in at Seventh and Lombard, while Sixth and Lombard down to the Delaware was deserted to the Jews, and Moyamensing partially to the Italians. The Irish were pushed on beyond Eighteenth to the Schuylkill, or emigrated to the mills of Kensington and elsewhere. The course may be thus graphically repre sented (see page 306) :
This migration explains much that is paradoxical about Negro slums, especially their present remnant at Seventh and Lombard. Many people wonder that the mission and reformatory agencies at work there for so many years have so little to show by way of results. One answer is that this work has new material continually to work upon, while the best classes move to the west and leave the dregs behind. The parents and grandparents of some of the best families of Philadelphia Negroes were born in the
neighborhood of Sixth and Lombard at a time when all
Negroes, good, bad and indifferent, were confined to that and a few other localities. With the greater freedom of domicile which has since coine, these slum districts have
306 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
sent a stream of emigrants westward. There has, too, been a general movement from the alleys to the streets and from the back to the front streets. Moreover it is untrue
MIGRATION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION, 1790-1890.
that the slums of Seventh and Lombard have not greatly changed in character ; compared with 1840, 1850 or even
1870 these slums are much improved in every way. More
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards.
and more every year the unfortunate and poor are being sifted out from the vicious and criminal and sent to better quarters. And yet with all the obvious improvement, there are still
slums and dangerous slums left. Of the Fifth Ward and ad joining parts of the Seventh, a city health inspector says :" Few of the houses are underdrained, and if the closets have sewer connections the people are too careless to keep them in order. The streets and alleys are strewn with garbage, excepting immediately after the visit of the street cleaner. Penetrate into one of these houses and beyond into the back yard, if there is one (frequently there is not), and there will be found a pile of ashes, garbage and filth, the accumulation of the winter, perhaps of the whole year. In such heaps of refuse what disease germ may be breed ing?-
12
To take a typical case : " Gillis* Alley, famed in the Police Court, is a narrow
alley, extending from Ix>mbard street through to South street, above Fifth street, cobbled and without sewer con nections. Houses and stables are mixed promiscuously. Buildings are of frame and of brick. No. looks both outside and in like a Southern Negro's cabin. In this miserable place four colored families have their homes. The aggregate rent demanded is $22 a month, though the owner seldom receives the full rent For three small dark rooms in the rear of another house in this alley, the tenants pay, and have paid for thirteen years, $11 a month. The entrance is by a court not over two feet wide. Except at midday the sun does not shine in the small open space in the rear that answers for a yard. It is safe to say that not one house in this alley could pass an inspection without being condemned as prejudicial to health. But if they are so condemned and cleaned, with such inhabitants how long will they remain clean?"
u
12 Dr. Frances Van Gasken in a tract published by tlie Civic Club. 18 Ibid.
308 Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Some of the present characteristics of the chief alleys where Negroes live are given in the following table :
I -d 1 ij a & I
I I S " I!
S * I 3
PB
I!I g 1 1 ?S i fc U
JBO 50 -( n j S
2a I 3
? -3" S
Old
W
en
Ho
01
l^i.till-HT I inj;qnoa PUB jooj is
I rt
s {25
w
tn
I,M * r< CO '! -
SC2 s
i S3THOH
m k Yard
ements
n ! B 3i
R g H'
ag cS t)
> cO
^I >*
I *aW S^
"stands PJB
b- u
5 1 s S
o
5 rt *o W TT* O ^
8f S S ^
rf
2. *n )4 fw
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 309
The general characteristics and distribution of the Negro population at present in the different wards can only be indicated in general terms. The wards with the best Negro population are parts of the Seventh, Twenty-sixth, Thir tieth and Thirty-sixth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twenty- fourth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-ninth. The worst Negro population is found in parts of the Seventh, and in the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth. In the other wards either the classes are mixed or there are very few colored people. The tendency of the best migration to-day is toward the Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards, and West
Philadelphia.
46. Social Classes and Amusements. Notwithstanding the large influence of the physical environment of home and ward, nevertheless there is a far mightier influence to mold and make the citizen, and that is the social atmos
phere which surrounds him: first his daily companionship, the thoughts and whims of his class ; then his recreations and amusements
; finally the surrounding world of Ameri can civilization, which the Negro meets especially in his economic life. !Let us take up here the subject of social classes and amusements among Negroes, reserving for the next chapter a study of the contact of the Whites and Blacks.
There is always a strong tendency on the part of the
community to consider the Negroes as composing one
practically homogeneous mass. This view has of course a certain justification: the people of Negro descent in this land have had a common history, suffer to-day com mon disabilities, and contribute to one general set of social problems. And yet if the foregoing statistics have emphasized any one fact it is that wide variations in
antecedents, wealth, intelligence and general efficiency have already been differentiated within this group. These differences are not, to be sure, so great or so patent as those among the whites of to-day, and yet they un-
310 The Environment of the Negro. [Cliap. XV.
doubtedly equal the difference among the masses of the
people in certain sections of the land fifty or one hundred
years ago; and there is no surer way of misunderstanding the
Negro or being misunderstood by him than by ignoring manifest differences of condition and power in the 40,000 black people of Philadelphia. And yet well-meaning people continually do this. They
regale the thugs and whoremongers and gamblers of
Seventh and Lombard streets with congratulations on what the Negroes have done in a quarter century, and pity for their disabilities
; and they scold the caterers of Addison
street for the pickpockets and paupers of the race. A judge of the city courts, who for years has daily met a
throng of lazy and debased Negro criminals, comes from the bench to talk to the Negroes about their criminals : he
warns them first of all to leave the slums and either forgets or does not know that the fathers of the audience he is
speaking to, left the slums when he was a boy and that the
people before him are as distinctly differentiated from the criminals he has met, as honest laborers anywhere differ
from thieves.
Nothing more exasperates the better class of Negroes than this tendency to ignore utterly their existence. The
law-abiding, hard-working inhabitants of the Thirtieth
Ward are aroused to righteous indignation when they see that the word Negro carries most Philadelphians' minds to
the alleys of the Fifth Ward or the police courts. Since so much misunderstanding or rather forgetfulness and care lessness on this point is common, let us endeavor to try and
fix with some definiteness the different social classes which are clearly enough defined among Negroes to deserve attention. When the statistics of the families of the Seventh Ward were gathered, each family was put in one of four grades as follows :
Grade i. Families of undoubted respectability earning sufficient income to live well ; not engaged in menial
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 311
service of any kind ; the wife engaged in no occupation save that of house-wife, except in a few cases where she had special employment at home. The children not com pelled to be bread-winners, but found in school ; the family living in a well-kept home.
Grade 2. The respectable working-class ; in comfortable circumstances, with a good home, and having steady remunerative work. The younger children in school.
Grade j. The poor; persons not earning enough to keep them at all times above want; honest, although not
always energetic or thrifty, and with no touch of gross immorality or crime. Including the very poor, and the
poor. Grade 4. The lowest class of criminals, prostitutes and
loafers ; the " submerged tenth.
57
Thus we have in these four grades the criminals, the
poor, the laborers, and the well-to-do. u The last class
represents the ordinary middle-class folk of most modern
countries, and contains the germs of other social classes
which the Negro has not yet clearly differentiated. Let us begin first with the fourth class.
The criminals and gamblers are to be found at such centres as Seventh and Lombard streets, Seventeenth and
Lombard, Twelfth and Kater, Eighteenth and Naudain^ etc. Many people have failed to notice the significant change which has come over these slums in recent years ; the squalor and misery and dumb suffering of 1840 has
passed, and in its place have come more baffling and sinister
phenomena: shrewd laziness, shameless lewdness, cunning"
14 It will be noted that this classification differs materially from the
economic division in Chapter XI. In that case grade four and a part of
three appear as the " poor ;
J> grade two and the rest of gratie three, as
the "fair to comfortable ; n and a few of grade two and grade one as the
well-to-do. The basis of division there was almost entirely according to
income; this division brings in moral considerations and questions of
expenditure, and consequently reflects more largely the personal judg ment of the investigator.
312 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
crime. The loafers who line the curbs in these places are no fools, but sharp, wily men who often outwit both the Police Department and the Department of Charities. Their nucleus consists of a class of professional criminals, who do not work, figure in the rogues' galleries of a half-dozen
cities, and migrate here and there. About these are a set of gamblers and sharpers who seldom are caught in serious crime, but who nevertheless live from its proceeds and aid and abet it. The headquarters of all these are usually the political clubs and pool-rooms; they stand ready to entrap the unwary and tempt the weak. Their organization, tacit or recognized, is very effective, and no one can long watch their actions without seeing that they keep in close touch with the authorities in some way. Affairs will be gliding on lazily some summer afternoon at the corner of Seventh and Lombard streets
; a few loafers on the corners, a pros
titute here and there, and the Jew and Italian plying their trades. Suddenly there is an oath, a sharp altercation, a blow
; then a hurried rush of feet, the silent door of a
neighboring club closes, and when the policeman arrives only the victim lies bleeding on the sidewalk ; or at mid
night the drowsy quiet will be suddenly broken by the cries and quarreling of a half-drunken gambling table ; then comes the sharp, quick crack of pistol shots a scur
rying in the darkness, and only the wounded man lies awaiting the patrol-wagon. If the matter turns out seri
ously, the police know where in Minster street and Middle alley to look for the aggressor ; often they find him, but
sometimes not.15
The size of the more desperate class of criminals and their shrewd abettors is of course comparatively small, but it is large enough to characterize the slum districts. Around this central body lies a large crowd of satellites
15 The investigator resided at tlie College Settlement, Seventh and Ix>m- bard streets, some months, and thus had an opportunity to observe this slum carefully.
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 313
and feeders: young idlers attracted by excitement, shift less and lazy ne'er-do-wells, who have sunk from better things, and a rough crowd of pleasure seekers and liber tines. These are the fellows who figure in the police courts for larceny and fighting, and drift thus into graver crime or shrewder dissoluteness. They are usually far more ignorant than their leaders, and rapidly die out from disease and excess. Proper measures for rescue and reform might save many of this class. Usually they are not natives of the city, but immigrants who have wandered from the small towns of the South to Richmond and Washington and thence to Philadelphia. Their environ ment in this city makes it easier for them to live by crime or the results of crime than by work, and being without ambition or perhaps having lost ambition and grown bitter with the world they drift with the stream. One large element of these slums, a class we have barely
mentioned, are the prostitutes. It is difficult to get at any satisfactory data concerning such a class, but an attempt has been made. There were in 1896 fifty-three Negro women in the Seventh Ward known on pretty satisfactory evidence to be supported wholly or largely by the proceeds of prostitution ; and it is probable that this is not half the real number
;
16 these fifty-three were of the following ages :
14 to 19 2 20 to 24 ii
25 to 29 9 30 to 39 17 40 to 49 3 50 and over . 2 Unknown . , . 9
Total 53
Seven of these women had small children with them and Tiad probably been betrayed, and had then turned to this
K These figures were taken during the inquiry by the viator to the houses.
314 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
sort of life. There were fourteen recognized bawdy houses in the ward
; ten of them were private dwellings
where prostitutes lived and were not especially fitted up, although male visitors frequented them. Four of the houses were regularly fitted up, with elaborate furniture, and in one or two cases had young and beautiful girls on exhibition. All of these latter were seven- or eight-room houses for which $26 to $30 a month was paid. They are pretty well-known resorts, but are not disturbed. In the slums the lowest class of street walkers abound and ply their trade among Negroes, Italians and Americans. One can see men following them into alleys in broad daylight. They usually have male associates whom they support and who join them in
" badger
" thieving. Most of them
are grown women though a few cases of girls under sixteen have been seen on the street.
This fairly characterizes the lowest class of Negroes. According to the inquiry in the Seventh Ward at least 138 families were estimated as belonging to this class out of 2395 reported, or 5.8 per cent This would include between five and six hundred individuals. Perhaps this number reaches 1000 if the facts were known, but the evidence at hand furnishes only the number stated. In the whole city the number may reach 3000, although there is little data for an estimate.17
The next class are the poor and unfortunate and the casual laborers
; most of these are of the class of Negroes
who in the contact with the life of a great city have failed to find an assured place. They include immi grants who cannot get steady work; good-natured, but unreliable and shiftless persons who cannot keep work or spend their earnings thoughtfully ; those who have suffered accident and misfortune
; the maimed and defective classes,
17 This includes not simply the actual criminal class, but its aiders and abettors, and the class intimately associated with it. It would, for instance, include much more than Charles Booth's class A in I/ondon.
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 315
and the sick ; many widows and orphans and deserted
wives ; all these form a large class and are here considered.
It is of course very difficult to separate the lowest of this class from the one below, and probably many are included here who, if the truth were known, ought to be classed lower. In most cases, however, they have been given the benefit of the doubt The lowest ones of this class usually live in the slums and back streets, and next door, or in the same house often, with criminals and lewd women.
Ignorant and easily influenced, they readily go with the tide and now rise to industry and decency, now fall to crime. Others of this class get on fairly well in good times, but never get far ahead. They are the ones who earliest feel the weight of hard times and their latest
blight. Some correspond to the "worthy pdor" of most charitable organizations, and some fall a little below that class. The children of this class are the feeders of the criminal classes. Often in the same family one can find
respectable and striving parents weighed down by idle, impudent sons and wayward daughters. This is partly because of poverty, more because of the poor home life. In the Seventh Ward 303^ per cent of the families or 728 may be put into this class, including the very poor, the poor and those who manage just to make ends meet in good times. In the whole city perhaps ten to twelve thousand Negroes fall in this third social grade. Above these come the representative Negroes ; the mass
of the servant class, the porters and waiters, and the best
of the laborers. They are hard-working people, proverb ially good-natured ; lacking a little in foresight and fore-
handedness, and in " push." They are honest and faithful^
of fair and improving morals, and beginning to accumulate
property. The great drawback to this class is lack of
congenial occupation especially among the young men and
women, and the consequent wide-spread dissatisfaction and
complaint. As a class these persons are ambitious ; the
316 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
majority can read and write, many have a common school training, and all are anxious to rise in the world. Their
wages are low compared with corresponding classes of white workmen, their rents are high, and the field of advancement opened to them is very limited. The best expression of the life of this group is the Negro church, where their social life centres, and where they discuss their situation and prospects. A note of disappointment and discouragement is often
heard at these discussions and their work suffers from a
growing lack of interest in it. Most of them are probably best fitted for the work they are doing, but a large percentage deserve better ways to display their talent, and better remuneration. The whole class deserves credit for its bold advance in the midst of discouragements, and for the distinct moral improvement in their family life during the last quarter century. These persons form 56 per cent or 1,252 of the families of the Seventh Ward, and include
perhaps 25,000 of the Negroes of the city. They live in 5 xo-room houses, and usually have lodgers. The houses are always well furnished with neat parlors and some musical instrument. Sunday dinners and small parties, together with church activities, make up their social inter course. Their chief trouble is in finding suitable careers for their growing children.
Finally we come to the 277 families, 11.5 per cent of those of the Seventh Ward, and including perhaps 3,000 Negroes in the city, who form the aristocracy of the Negro population in education, wealth and general social effi
ciency. In many respects it is right and proper to judge a people by its best classes rather than by its worst classes or middle ranks. The highest class of any group represents its possibilities rather than its exceptions, as is so often assumed in regard to the Negro. The colored people are seldom judged by their best classes, and often the very existence of classes among them is ignored. This is
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 317
partly due in the North to the anomalous position of those who compose this class ; they are not the leaders or the ideal-makers of their own group in thought, work, or morals. They teach the masses to a very small extent, mingle with them but little, do not largely hire their labor. Instead then of social classes held together by strong ties of mutual interest we have in the case of the Negroes, classes who have much to keep them apart, and only community of blood and color prejudice to bind them
together. If the Negroes were by themselves either a
strong aristocratic system or a dictatorship would for the
present prevail. With, however, democracy thus prema turely thrust upon them, the first impulse of the best, the wisest and richest is to segregate themselves from the mass. This action, however, causes more of dislike and jealousy on the part of the masses than usual, because those masses look to the whites for ideals and largely for leadership. It is natural therefore that even to-day the mass of Negroes should look upon the worshipers at St. Thomas' and Central as feeling themselves above them, and should dis
like them for it. On the other hand it is just as natural for the well-educated and well-to-do Negroes to feel them selves far above the criminals and prostitutes of Seventh
and Lombard streets, and even above the servant girls and
porters of the middle class of workers. So far they are
justified ; but they make their mistake in failing to recog nize thatjhowever laudable an ambition to rise may be, the first duty of an upper class is to serve the lowest classes-
The aristocracies of all peoples have been slow in learning this and perhaps the Negro is no slower than the rest, but
his peculiar situation demands that in his case this lesson be
learned sooner. Naturally the uncertain economic status
even of this picked class makes it difficult for them to
spare much time and energy in social reform ; compared with their fellows they are rich, but compared with white
31 8 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Americans they are poor, and they can hardly fulfill their
duty as the leaders of the Negroes until they are captains of industry over their people as well as richer and wiser.
To-day the professional class among them is, compared with other callings, rather over-represented, and all have a
struggle to maintain the position they have won.
This class is itself an answer to the question of the
ability of the Negro to assimilate American culture. It is a class small in numbers and not sharply differentiated from other classes, although sufficiently so to be easily
recognized. Its members are not to be met with in the
ordinary assemblages of the Negroes, nor in their usual
promenading places. They are largely Philadelphia born, and being descended from the house-servant class, contain
many mulattoes. In their assemblies there are evidences of good breeding and taste, so that a foreigner would
hardly think of ex-slaves. They are not to be sure people of wide culture and their mental horizon is as limited as that of the first families in a country town. Here and there may be noted, too, some faint trace of careless moral training. On the whole they strike one as sensible, good folks. Their conversation turns on the gossip of similar circles among the Negroes of Washington, Bos ton and New York
; on questions of the day, and, less
willingly, on the situation of the Negro. Strangers secure entrance to this circle with difficulty and only by introduction. For an ordinary white person it would be almost impossible to secure introduction even by a friend. Once in a while some well-known citizen meets a
company of this class, but it is hard for the average white American to lay aside his patronizing way toward a Negro, and to talk of aught to him but the Negro question ; the
lack, therefore, of common ground even for conversation makes such meetings rather stiff and not often repeated. Fifty-two of these families keep servants regularly ; they
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 3*9
live in well-appointed homes, which give evidence of taste and even luxury.
18
Something must be said, before leaving this subject, of the amusements of the Negroes. Among the fourth grade and the third, gambling, excursions, balls and cake-walks are the chief amusements. The gambling instinct is wide
spread, as in all low classes, and, together with sexual
looseness, is their greatest vice ; it is carried on in clubs, in private houses, in pool-rooms and on the street. Public
gambling can be found at a dozen different places every night at full tilt in the Seventh Ward, and almost any stranger can gain easy access. Games of pure chance are
preferred to those of skill, and in the larger clubs a sort of three-card monte is the favorite game, played with a dealer who gambles against all comers. In private houses in the slums, cards, beer and prostitutes can always be found. In
the public pool-rooms there is some quiet gambling and
playing for prizes. For the new comer to the city the
only open places of amusement are these pool-rooms and
gambling clubs ; here are crowds of young fellows, and
18 A comparison of the size of families in the highest and lowest class may be of interest:
Average size of family, first grade, 4.07 #; fourth grade, 2.08$. This certainly looks like the survival of the fittest, and is hardly an
argument for the extinction of the civilized Negro.
320 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
once started in this company no one can say where they may not end. The most innocent amusements of this class are the balls
and cake-walks, although they are accompanied by much drinking, and are attended by white and black prostitutes^ The cake-walk is a rhythmic promenade or slow dance, and when well done is pretty and quite innocent. Excursions are frequent in summer, and are accompanied often by much fighting and drinking. The mass of the laboring Negroes get their amusement in
connection with the churches. There are suppers, fairs, concerts, socials and the like. Dancing is forbidden by most of the churches, and many of the stricter sort would not think of going to balls or theatres. The younger set, however, dance, although the parents seldom accompany them, and the hours kept are late, making it often a dissi
pation. Secret societies and social clubs add to these amusements by balls and suppers, and there are numbers of parties at private houses. This class also patronizes fre
quent excursions given by churches and Sunday schools and secret societies
; they are usually well conducted, but cost a great deal more than is necessary. The money wasted in excursions above what would be necessary for a
day's outing and plenty of recreation, would foot up many thousand dollars in a season.
In the upper class alone has the home begun to be the centre of recreation and amusement. There are always to be found parties and small receptions, and gatherings at the invitations of musical or social clubs. One large ball each year is usually given, which is strictly private. Guests from out of town are given much social attention. Among nearly all classes of Negroes there is a large un
satisfied demand for amusement. Large numbers of servant
girls and young men have flocked to the city, have no homes, and want places to frequent. The churches supply this need partially, but the institution which will supply this want
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 321
better and add instruction and diversion, will save many girls from ruin and boys from crime. There is to-day little done in places of public amusement to protect colored girls from designing men. Many of the idlers and rascals of the slums play on the affections of silly servant girls> and either ruin them or lead them into crime, or more often live on a part of their wages. There are many cases of this latter system to be met in the Seventh Ward.
It is difficult to measure amusements in any enlightening way. A count of the amusements reported by the Tribune^ the chief colored paper, which reports for a select part of the laboring class, and the upper class, resulted as follows for nine weeks:19
Parties at liomes in liotior of visitors ......... 16 ** ** liomes . . ii '* *' ** with dancing 10
Balls in halls 10 Concerts in churches 7 Church suppers, etc 7 Weddings , 7 Birthday parties 7 Ivectures and literary entertainments at chnrches ... 6 Card parties 4 Fairs at churches 3 Lawn parties and picnics 3
91
These, of course, are the larger parties in the whole city, and do not include the numerous small church socials and gatherings. The proportions here are largely accidental, but the list is instructive.
19 These weeks were not consecutive but taken at random.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CONTACT OF THE RACES.
47. Color Prejudice. Incidentally throughout this
study the prejudice against the Negro has been again and
again mentioned. It is time now to reduce this somewhat indefinite term to something tangible. Everybody speaks of the matter, everybody knows that it exists, but in just what form it shows itself or how influential it is few agree. In the Negro's mind, color prejudice in Philadelphia is that widespread feeling of dislike for his blood, which keeps him and his children out of decent employment, from cer tain public conveniences and amusements, from hiring nouses in many sections, and in general, from being recog nized as a man. Negroes regard this prejudice as the chief cause of their present unfortunate condition. On the other hand most white people are quite unconscious of any such powerful and vindictive feeling ; they regard color preju dice as the easily explicable feeling that intimate social intercourse with a lower race is not only undesirable but
impracticable if our present standards of culture are to be maintained
; and although they are aware that some
people feel the aversion more intensely than others, they cannot see how such a feeling has much influence on the real situation or alters the social condition of the mass of Negroes. As a matter of fact, color prejudice in this city is
something between these two extreme views : it is not to-day responsible for all, or perhaps the greater part of the Negro problems, or of the disabilities under which the race labors
; on the other hand It is a far more powerful
social force than most Philadelphians realize. The prac- (322)
Sect 47-] Color Prejudice. 323
tical results of the attitude of most of the inhabitants of Philadelphia toward persons of Negro descent are as follows :
1. As to getting work : No matter how well trained a Negro may be, or how
fitted for work of any kind, he cannot in the ordinary course of competition hope to be much more than a menial servant.
He cannot get clerical or supervisory work to do save in exceptional cases.
He cannot teach save in a few of the remaining Negro schools.
He cannot become a mechanic except for small transient jobs, and cannot join a trades union. A Negro woman has but three careers open to her in
this city : domestic service, sewing, or married life. 2. As to keeping work : The Negro suffers in competition more severely than
white men.
Change in fashion is causing him to be replaced by whites in the better paid positions of domestic service.
Whim and accident will cause him to lose a hard-earned place more quickly than the same things would affect a white man.
Being few in number compared with the whites the crime or carelessness of a few of his race is easily imputed to all, and the reputation of the good, industrious and reliable suffer thereby.
Because Negro workmen may not often work side by side with white workmen, the individual black workman is rated not by his own efficiency, but by the efficiency of a whole group of black fellow workmen which may often be low.
Because of these difficulties which virtually increase
competition in his case, he is forced to take lower wages for the same work than white workmen.
324 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
3. As to entering new lines of work : Men are used to seeing Negroes in inferior positions ;
when, therefore, by any chance a Negro gets in a better
position, most men immediately conclude that he is not fitted for it, even before he has a chance to show his fitness.
If, therefore, he set up a store, men will not patronize him.
If he is put into public position men will complain. If he gain a position in the commercial world, men will
quietly secure his dismissal or see that a white man suc ceeds him.
4. As to his expenditure : The comparative smallness of the patronage of the
Negro, and the dislike of other customers makes it usual to increase the charges or difficulties in certain directions
in which a Negro must spend money. He must pay more house-rent for worse houses than
most white people pay. He is sometimes liable to insult or reluctant service in
some restaurants, hotels and stores, at public resorts, theatres and places of recreation ; and at nearly all barber
shops.
5. As to his children : The Negro finds it extremely difficult to rear children in
such an atmosphere and not have them either cringing or
impudent : if he impresses upon them patience with their
lot, they may grow up satisfied with their condition ; if he inspires them with ambition to rise, they may grow to despise their own people, hate the whites and become embittered with the world.
His children are discriminated against, often in public schools.
They are advised when seeking employment to become waiters and maids.
They are liable to species of insult and temptation peculiarly trying to children.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 325
6. As to social intercourse : In all walks of life the Negro is liable to meet some
objection to his presence or some discourteous treatment ; and the ties of friendship or memory seldom are strong enough to hold across the color line.
If an invitation is issued to the public for any occasion, the Negro can never know whether he would be welcomed or not
; if he goes he is liable to have his feelings hurt and
get into unpleasant altercation ; if he stays away, he is blamed for indifference.
If he meet a lifelong white friend on the street, he is in a dilemma
; if he does not greet the friend he is put down
as boorish and impolite ; if he does greet the friend he is liable to be flatly snubbed.
If by chance he is introduced to a white woman or man, he expects to be ignored on the next meeting, and usually is. White friends may call on him, but he is scarcely
expected to call on them, save for strictly business matters. If he gain the affections of a white woman and marry
her he may invariably expect that slurs will be thrown on her reputation and on his, and that both his and her race will shun their company.
1
When he dies he cannot be buried beside white corpses. 7. The result: Any one of these things happening now and then would
not be remarkable or call for especial comment ; but when one group of people suffer all these little differences of
treatment and discriminations and insults continually, the result is either discouragement, or bitterness, or over-sensi
tiveness, or recklessness. And a people feeling thus cannot do their best.
Presumably the first impulse ofthe average Philadelphian would be emphatically to deny any such marked and
blighting discrimination as the above against a group o
citizens in this metropolis. Every one knows that in the
1 Cf. Section 49.
326 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
past color prejudice in the city was deep and passionate ; living men can remember when a Negro could not sit in a street car or walk many streets in peace. These times have passed, however, and many imagine that active discrimination against the Negro has passed with them. Careful inquiry will convince any such one of his error. To be sure a colored man to-day can walk the streets of Philadelphia without personal insult ; he can go to
theatres, parks and some places of amusement without
meeting more than stares and discourtesy ; he can be accommodated at most hotels and restaurants, although his treatment in some would not be pleasant. All this is a vast advance and augurs much for the future. And yet all that has been said of the remaining discrimination is but too true.
During the investigation of 1896 there was collected a number of actual cases, which may illustrate the discrimi nations spoken of. So far as possible these have been sifted and only those which seem undoubtedly true have been selected.2
i. As to getting work. It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the situation of the
Negro in regard to work in the higher walks of life : the white boy may start in the lawyer's office and work himself into a lucrative practice ; he may serve a physician as office boy or enter a hospital in a minor
position, and have his talent alone between him and
3 One of the questions on the schedule was: "Have you had any difficulty in getting work?
" another: " Have you had any difficulty in
renting houses?" Most of the answers were vague or general. Those that were definite and apparently reliable were, so far as possible, inquired into farther, compared with other testimony and then used as material for working out a list of discriminations; single and isolated cases without corroboration were never taken. I believe those here
presented are reliable, although naturally I may have been deceived in some stories. Of the general truth of the statement I am thoroughly convinced.
Sect 47.] Color Prejudice. 327
affluence and fame ; if he is bright in school, he may
make his mark in a university, become a tutor with some time and much inspiration for study, and eventually fill a professor's chair. All these careers are at the very outset closed to the Negro on account of his color ; what
lawyer would give even a minor case to a Negro assistant? or what university would appoint a promising young Negro as tutor ? Thus the young white man starts in life knowing that within some limits and barring accidents, talent and application will tell. The young Negro starts knowing that on all sides his advance is made doubly difficult if not wholly shut off by his color. Let us come, however, to ordinary occupations which concern more
nearly the mass of Negroes. Philadelphia is a great indus trial and business centre, with thousands of foremen,
managers and clerks the lieutenants of industry who direct its progress. They are paid for thinking and for skill to direct, and naturally such positions are coveted
because they are well paid, well thought-of and carry some
authority. To such positions Negro boys and girls may not aspire no matter what their qualifications. Even as teachers and ordinary clerks and stenographers they find
almost no openings. l>t us note some actual instances :
A young woman who graduated with credit from the Girls' Normal School in 1892, has taught in the kinder
garten, acted as substitute, and waited in vain for a per manent position. Once she was allowed to substitute in a
school with white teachers ; the principal commended her
work, but when the permanent appointment was made a white woman got it A girl who graduated from a Pennsylvania high school
and from a business college sought work in the city as a
stenographer and typewriter. A prominent lawyer under took to find her a position ; he went to friends and said, " Here is a girl that does excellent work and is of good character ; can you not give her work ?
" Several imme-
328 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
diately answered yes. "But," said the lawyer, u I will be
perfectly frank with you and tell you she is colored ;" and not In the whole city could he find a man willing to employ her. It happened, however, that the girl was so
light in complexion that few not knowing would have
suspected her descent. The lawyer therefore gave her temporary work in his own office until she found a position outside the city.
" But," said he,
" to this day I have not dared to tell my clerks that they worked beside a Negress." Another woman graduated from the high school and the Palmer College of Shorthand, but all over the city has met with nothing but refusal of work.
Several graduates in pharmacy have sought to get their three years required apprenticeship in the city and in only one case did one succeed, although they offered to work for
nothing. One young pharmacist came from Massachusetts and for weeks sought in vain for work here at any price; tc I wouldn't have a darky to clean out my store, much less to stand behind the counter," answered one druggist. A colored man answered an advertisement for a clerk in the suburbs. "What do you suppose we'd want of a nigger ?
n was the plain answer. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering, well recommended, obtained work in the city, through an
advertisement, on account of his excellent record. He worked a few hours and then was discharged because he was found to be colored. He is now a waiter at the University Club, where his white fellow graduates dine.
3
Another young man attended Spring Garden Institute and studied drawing for lithography. He had good references from the institute and elsewhere, but application at the five largest establishments in the city could secure him no work. A telegraph operator has hunted in vain for an opening, and two graduates of the Central High School
3 And is, of course, pointed out by some as typifying the educated Negro's success in life.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 329
have sunk to menial labor. " What's the use of an educa tion ? " asked one. Mr, A has elsewhere been employed as a traveling salesman. He applied for a position here by letter and was told he could have one. When they saw him they had no work for him. Such cases could be multiplied indefinitely. But that is
not necessary ; one has but to note that, notwithstanding the acknowledged ability of many colored men, the Negro is conspicuously absent from all places of honor, trust or
emolument, -as well as from those of respectable grade in commerce and industry. Even in the world of skilled labor the Negro is largely
excluded. Many would explain the absence of Negroes from higher vocations by saying that while a few may now and then be found competent, the great mass are not fitted for that sort of work and are destined for some time to form a laboring class. In the matter of the trades, how ever, there can be raised no serious question of ability ; for years the Negroes filled satisfactorily the trades of the
city, and to-day in many parts of the South they are still prominent. And yet in Philadelphia a determined preju dice, aided by public opinion, has succeeded nearly in
driving them from the field: A
, who works at a bookbinding establishment on
Front street, has learned to bind books and often does so
for his friends. He is not allowed to work at the trade in the shop, however, but must remain a porter at a porter's wages. B is a brushmaker
; he has applied at several estab
lishments, but they would not even examine his testi monials. They simply said :
" We do not employ colored people." C is a shoemaker \ he tried to get work in some of
the large department stores. They u had no place" for him.
D was a bricklayer, but experienced so much trouble in getting work that he is now a messenger.
330 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
E is a painter, but has found it impossible to get work because he is colored. F is a telegraph line man, who formerly worked in
Richmond, Va. When he applied here he was told that Negroes were not employed. G is an iron puddler, who belonged to a Pittsburg
union. Here he was not recognized as a union man and could not get work except as a stevedore. H was a cooper, but could get no work after repeated
trials, and is now a common laborer. I is a candy-maker, but has never been able to find
employment in the city ; he is always told that the white
help will not work with him.
J is a carpenter ; he can only secure odd jobs or work where only Negroes are employed. K was an upholsterer, but could get no work save in
the few colored shops, which had workmen ; he is now a waiter on a dining car.
L was a first-class baker ; he applied for work some time ago near Green street and was told shortly, "We don't work no niggers here." M is a good typesetter ; he has not been allowed to
join the union and has been refused work at eight different
places in the city. N is a printer by trade, but can only find work as a
porter.
O is a sign-painter, but can get but little work. P is a painter and gets considerable work, but never
with white workmen.
Q is a good stationary engineer, but can find no employment ; is at present a waiter in a private family. R was born in Jamaica ; he went to England and
worked fifteen years in the Sir Edward Green Economizing Works in Wakefield, Yorkshire. During dull times he emigrated to America, bringing excellent references. He applied for a place as mechanic in nearly all the large iron
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 331
working establishments in the city. A locomotive works assured him that his letters were all right, but that their men would not work with Negroes. At a manufactory of railway switches they told him they had no vacancy and he could call again ; he called and finally was frankly told that they could not employ Negroes. He applied twice to a foundry company: they told him: "We have use for only one Negro a porter," and refusing either further con versation or even to look at his letters showed him out. He then applied for work on a new building ; the man told him he could leave an application, then added :
u To tell the truth, itis no use, for we don't employ Negroes." Thus the man has searched for work two years and has not yet found a permanent position. He can only support his family by odd jobs as a common laborer. S is a stone-cutter ; he was refused work repeatedly
on account of color. At last he got a job during a strike and was found to be so good a workman that his employer refused to dismiss him. T was a boy, who, together with a white boy came
to the city to hunt work. The colored boy was very light in complexion, and consequently both were taken in as
apprentices at a large locomotive works; they worked there some months, but it was finally disclosed that the
boy was colored; he was dismissed and the white boy retained.
These all seem typical and reliable cases. There are, of
course, some exceptions to the general rule, but even these seem to confirm the fact that exclusion is a matter of preju dice and thoughtlessness which sometimes yields to determi nation and good sense. The most notablecase in point is that of the Midvale Steel Works, where a large number of Negro- workmen are regularly employed as mechanics and work
alongside whites/ If another foreman should take charge there, or if friction should arise, it would be easy for all
* Cf. Section 23.
332 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
this to receive a serious set-back, for ultimate success in such matters demands many experiments and a widespread public sympathy. There are several cases where strong personal influence
has secured colored boys positions ; in one cabinet-making factory, a porter who had served the firm thirty years, asked to have his son learn the trade and work in the
shop. The workmen objected strenuously at first, but the employer was firm and the young man has been at work there now seven years. The S. S. White Dental Company has a colored chemist who has worked up to his place and gives satisfaction. A jeweler allowed his colored fellow- soldier in the late war to learn the gold beaters' trade and work in his shop. A few other cases follow : A was intimately acquainted with a merchant
and secured his son a position as a typewriter in the merchants office. B
, a stationary
7 engineer, came with his employer
from Washington and still works with him. C
, a plasterer, learned his trade with a firm in
Virginia who especially recommended him to the firm where he now works. D is a boy whose mother's friend got him work
as cutter in a bag and rope factory ; the hands objected but the friend's influence was strong enough to keep him there.
All these exceptions prove the rule, viz., that without
strong effort and special influence it is next to impossible for a Negro in Philadelphia to get regular employment in most of the trades, except he work as an independent workman and take small transient jobs. The chief agency that brings about this state of affairs
is public opinion ; if they were not intrenched, and strongly intrenched, back of an active prejudice or at least passive acquiescence in this effort to deprive Negroes of a decent
livelihood, both trades unions and arbitrary bosses would be
Sect 47.] Color Prejitdice. 333
powerless to do the liarm they now do ; where, however, a large section of the public more or less openly applaud the stamina of a man who refuses to work with a "Nigger," the results are inevitable. The object of the trades union is purely business-like ; it aims to restrict the labor market, just as the manufacturer aims to raise the price of his goods. Here is a chance to keep out of the market a vast number of workmen, and the unions seize the chance save in cases where they dare not as in the case of the cigar-makers and coal-miners. If they could keep out the foreign workmen in the same way they would ; but here public opinion within and without their ranks forbids hostile action. Of course, most unions do not flatly declare their discrimi nations
; a few plainly put the word
" white " into their constitutions
; most of them do not and will say that they
consider each case on its merits. Then they quietly black ball the Negro applicant Others delay and temporize and
put off action until the Negro withdraws; still others discriminate against the Negro in initiation fees and dues, making a Negro pay $100, where the whites pay $25. On the other hand in times of strikes or other disturbances cordial invitations to join are often sent to Negro work men.6
At a time when women are engaged in bread^winning to a larger degree than ever before, the field open to Negro women is unusually narrow. This is, of course, due largely to the more intense prejudices of females on all subjects,
* Two newspaper clippings will illustrate the attitude of the workmen ; the first relates to the Chinese apprentices taken into the Baldwin Loco motive Works: The announcement that the Baldwins had taken five Chinese appren
tices made quite a stir among labor leaders. Some of them worked themselves into quite a fever of indignation. Charles P. Patrick, grand organizer of the Boilermakers* Union, was quite outspoken on the subject. He said: "All this plan of patting Chinamen in to learn trades sounds
nice and charitable to the Christian League, bat how does it sound to the ears of American mechanics who are walking the streets in search of
334 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
and especially to the fact that women who work dislike to be in any way mistaken for menials, and they regard Negro women as menials par excellence. A
, a dressmaker and seamstress of proven ability,
-employment ? I have traveled all over this country and Mexico, and I have never before seen Chinamen given places over the heads of Ameri cans. In the West and in Mexico, Chinese labor is plentiful, but the Chinamen are given only menial positions. They are servants, helpers in the mines and laborers. I never before heard of a Chinaman being given a place as an apprentice in a shop.
" Our government excludes Chinese labor from this country, yet here is the Christian League seeking to put forbidden immigrants in a position where they, with their peculiarly cheap, even beggarly style of living, can compete with American labor. I have only been in this city for a few days, but I venture to say I have seen more beggars and men out of work around Eighth and Market streets than I have seen in the whole City of Mexico."
Missionary Frederic Poole disposed of this argument in a few words. He said: " It is not my idea, nor the idea of Mr. Converse, that these men should at any time compete with American workingmen. It is not the wish of the men themselves. Mr. Converse would not have given them employment had any such thing been intended.
" To-day China is building a vast railroad to Pekin that will open up
all the wealthy and fertile region of Central China. The enterprise is under the direction of the government. It will be in operation in about four years. Men of intelligence will be needed for engineers, and there my five protege's will find their life work. It is not unlikely that the Chinese Government will send for them before their apprenticeship is over.*'
John H, Converse was rather interested when he learned of objections to his Chinese apprentices.
" We might have expected such objections from professional agitators,
" he said, "but I do not think you will learn of any among our employes." Continuing, he said: "The Baldwin Locomotive Works is now con
structing eight locomotives for the Chinese Government, which will be the first to run over the great new railroad being built from Pekin to Tien-Tsin. American workingmen would be very narrow indeed if they cannot see that it is to their own immediate advantage that Chinese mechanics fit to look after American locomotives shall be trained at once, for the time is coming when thousands of American workingmen may be kept busy from the extension of railroad building in China. "These five boys are Philadelphians. They were not brought here,
and every broad-minded mechanic will believe that their apprenticeship in our shops, should they, as they probably will, return to China, must mean something for the American locomotive. They are the first to be
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 335
sought work in the large department stores. They all commended her work, but could not employ her on account of her color. B is a typewriter, but has applied at stores and
admitted to a locomotive works in this country, and the news will in all likelihood create a more friendly feeling in the railroad department of the Chinese Government for American products."
Mr. Converse said that his firm had no thought of extending the privi lege beyond the present number of Chinese apprentices. Philadelphia Public Ledger\ January 5, 1897. No Negro apprentices have ever been admitted. The other clipping is a report of the discussion in the annual meeting
of the Federation of Labor: The Negro question occupied the major portion of the session, and
a heated discussion was brought on by a resolution by Henry Lloyd, reaffirming the declarations of the Federation that all labor, without
regard to color, is welcome to its ranks denouncing as untrue in fact the reported statements of Booker T. Washington that the trades unions were placing obstacles in the way of the material advancement of the Negro, and appealing to the records of the Federation Conventions as complete answers to such false assertions.
This resolution caused much spirited discussion. Delegate Jones, of Augusta, Ga., spoke, claiming that the white laborer could not compete with the Negro laborer, though organization would improve conditions materially. President Gompers took part in the discussion, explaining that the movement was not against the Negro laborer, but against the cheap laborer, and that the textile workers of the East had been com pelled to contribute most of their means to teach laborers in the South the benefits of organization. He also made the point that the capitalist would profit by the failure
of the Negro laborers to organize, thus making the Negro an impediment to labor movements.
C. P. Frahey, a Nashville delegate, insisted that the Negro was not the equal of the white man socially or industrially. Hegrew warm in speak- ing of President Gompers* remarks regarding the Negro in the labor movement, and stated that the President had notrevoked the commission of a National Organizer who had patronized a non-union white barber shop in preference to a union Negro barber shop. The organizer had simply been allowed to resign and no publicity had
been given the matter. In answer to a question desiring the name of the party, Frahey stated it was Jesse Johnson, president of the pressmen, James O'Connell and P. J. McGuire spoke for the resolution. The
latter insisted that Booker T. Washington was attempting to put the
Negro before the public as the victim of gross injustice, and himself as the
336 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
offices in vain for work ;
" very sorry
" they all say, but
they can give her no work. She has answered many advertisements without result.
C- has attended the Girls 7 High School for two
years, and has been unable to find any work ; she is wash
ing and sewing for a living now. D- is a dressmaker and milliner, and does bead
work. " Your work is very good," they say to her, " but
if we hired you all of our ladies would leave." E-
, a seamstress, was given work from a store
once, to do at home. It was commended as satisfactory, but they gave her no more. F- had two daughters who tried to get work as
stenographers, but got only one small job. G- is a graduate of the Girls, High School, with
excellent record ;
both teachers and influential friends have been seeking work for her but have not been able to find any. H- a giri 3 applied at seven stores for some work
not menial ; they had none.
I-started at the Schuylkill, on Market street, and applied at almost every store nearly to the Delaware for work
; she was only offered scrubbing.*
Moses of the race. M. D. Rathford insisted that drawing the color line would be a blow to the miners' organization. W. D. Mahon charged that Jones was not a representative of Southern
trades unionism, having just joined the ranks. Jones then, in his own defence, declared he did not oppose the Negro, but did contend that the
Negro laborer was lower than the white, citing an Atlanta case, where whites and blacks had been jointly employed and the whites struck. He wanted to know if there had been any efforts made in the Bast to
organize Chinese who came in conflict with the union labor. President Gompers then ruled that the discussion must cease. The resolution which had caused the heated debate was adopted, and
the delegates went into executive session. Public Ledger', December 17, 1897.
6 From the facts tabulated, it appears that one-twentieth of the colored domestic servants of Philadelphia have trades, while in addition to this one-tenth have had some higher school training and are presumably
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 337
2. So much for the difficulty of getting work. In addition to this the Negro is meeting difficulties in keeping the work he has, or at least the better part of it. Out side of all dissatisfaction with Negro work there are whims
fitted to be something more than ordinary domestics. Why then do they not enter these fields instead of drifting into or deliberately choosing domestic service as a means of livelihood? The answer is simple. In a majority of cases the reason why they do not enter other fields is because they are colored not because they are incompetent. Many instances might be cited in proof of this, were proof needed. The following cases are only some ofthose that were personally encountered by the investigator in one ward of one city. One very fair young girl, apparently a white girl, was employed as a
clerk in one of the large department stores for over two years, so that there was no question of her competency as a clerk. At the end of this time it was discovered that she had colored blood and she was promptly discharged. One young woman who had been a teacher and is now a school janitress, teaching occasionally when extra help is needed, states that she had received an appointment as typewriter in a certain Philadel
phia office, on the strength of her letter of application and when she appeared and was seen to be a colored girl, the position was refused her. She said that her brother whom people usually take to be a white man
after serving in the barbershop of a certain hotel for more than ten
years, was summarily discharged when it was learned that he was of Negro birth. One woman, who was a seamstress and dressmaker, stated that she had on several occasions gotten work from a certain church home when she wore a heavy veil, on making her application at the office, but that ou the first occasion when she wore no veil her applica tion was refused and had been every time since. Of course many of the men in domestic service have had similar experiences. Ten men out of one hundred and fifty-six had trades, but none of them were members of the trades unions. Mr. McGuire, vice-president of the Federation of Labor, stated to the
present investigator that the Federation claims that colored men may be members of any trade union represented in the Federation. But what this profession amounts to may be judged from Mr. McGwire's further statement, quoted verbatim: "A majority are willing to have them admitted, but a strong minority will oppose it. Not a word will be said
against it in discussion, but quietly at the ballot they will rule them out." How this profession of admission, which amounts to practical exclu
sion, looks from the workingman's point of view is shown in the experi ence of a first-rate colored carpenter and builder in the Seventh Ward who was induced to apply ior admission to the Carpenters* Union. He asked an officer of the Amalgamated Association of Carpenters and
338 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
and fashions that affect his economic position ; to-day general European travel has made the trained English servant popular and consequently well-shaven white men-
servants, whether English or not, find it easy to replace
Joiners, one of the allied societies of the American Federation of I/abor, if it would be of any use for him to apply to the Union for membership. "If you know your trade and are a carpenter in good and regular standing, I see no reason why you should not become a member/' said the officer. * * So he sent me to the present secretary of the association, and when I put the question to him, he said, 'Well, he didn't know whether I could join or not, because they had never had a colored man in the Union, but he would report it to the association here [Philadelphia] and would write to headquarters in New York to see if it would be admis sible to enter a colored man.' He put it on the ground of my color, you see," This application was made in December, 1896. The applicant was told that the matter would be acted on in the Union on a certain night in January, 1897, and every attempt was made to send a man to report that particular meeting, but without success. What occurred is not hard to guess, however, since the colored carpenter whose case was then consid ered has received no word from the Union from that day to this. He has called at the secretary's office three or four times and left word that he would like to hear what action was taken regarding his application for admission to the Union, but December i, 1897, he had received no answer to his application made in December, 1896. The effect of this is well illustrated by the case of a young colored
" waiter man " on Pine street, whose case may be taken as typical. He had studied three years at Hampton, where he had learned in that time the stone-cutter's trade. He could practice this in Georgia, he said, but in the South stone-cutters get only $2.00 a day as compared with $3.50, sometimes $4.00 a day, in the North. So he came North with the promise of a job of stone-cutting for a new block of buildings to be erected by a Philadelphian he had met in Georgia. He received $3.50 a day, but when the block was done he could get no other job at stone-cutting and so went into domestic service, where he is receiving $6.25 a week instead of the $21.00 a week he should be receiving as a stone-cutter. The effect on domestic service is to swell its already over-full ranks with
discontented young men and women whom one would naturally expect to find rendering half-hearted service because they consider their domestic work only a temporary makeshift employment. One sometimes hears it said that "our waiter has graduated from such and such a school, but we notice that he is not even a very good waiter." Such comments give rise to the speculation as to the success in ditch digging which would be likely to attend upon the labors of college professors, or indeed, how many of the young white men who have graduated from college and from law
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 339
Negro butlers and coachmen at higher wages. Again, though a man ordinarily does not dismiss all his white mill-hands because some turn out badly, yet it repeatedly happens that men dismiss all their colored servants and condemn their race because one or two in their employ have proven untrustworthy. Finally, the antipathies of lower classes are so great that it is often impracticable to mix races among the servants, A young colored girl went to work temporarily in Germantown ;
" I should like
so much to keep you permanently," said the mistress, " but
all my other servants are white." She was discharged. Usually now advertisements for help state whether white or Negro servants are wanted, and the Negro who applies at the wrong place must not be surprised to have the door slammed in his face. The difficulties encountered by the Negro on account of
sweeping conclusions made about him are manifold ; a
large building, for instance, has several poorly paid Negro janitors, without facilities for their work or guidance in its
prosecution. Finally the building is thoroughly overhauled
or rebuilt, elevators and electricity installed and a well paid set of white uniformed janitors put to work under a re
sponsible salaried chief. Immediately the public concludes
that the improvement in the service is due to the change of color. In some cases, of course, the change is due to a
widening of the field of choice in selecting servants ; for
assuredly one cannot expect that one twenty-fifth of the
population can furnish as many good workmen or as uniformly good ones as the other twenty-four twenty-fifths. One actual case illustrates this tendency to exclude the
schools would stow themselves excellent waiters, particularly if they took up the work simply as a temporary expedient. A
{ ' match * * between Yale and Hampton, where mental activities must be confined to the walls of the butler's pantry, and where there were to be no
** fumbles "
with soup plates, might bring out interesting and suggestive points. ISABBI. BATON.
340 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Negro without proper consideration from even menial employment : A great chnrch which has a number of members among
the most respectable Negro families in the city has recently erected a large new building for its offices, etc., in the city. As the building was nearing completion a colored clergy man of that sect was surprised to hear that no Negroes were to be employed in the building ; he thought that a
peculiar stand for a Christian church to take and so he went to the manager of the building; the manager blandly assured him that the rumor was true
; and that there was
not the shadow of a chance for a Negro to get employment under him, except one woman to clean the water-closet The reason for this, he said, was that the janitors and help were all to be uniformed and the whites would not wear uniforms with Negroes. The clergyman thereupon went to a prominent member of the church who was serving on the building committee ; he denied that the committee had made any such decision, but sent him to another member of the committee
; this member said the same thing and
referred to the third, a blunt business man. The business man said : " That building is called the Church House, but it is more than that, it is a business enterprise, to be run on business principles. We hired a man to run it so as to get the most out of it We found such a man in the present manager, and put all power in his hands." He acknowledged then, that while the committee had made no decision, the question of hiring Negroes had come up and it was left solely to the manager's decision. The manager thought most Negroes were dishonest and untrust worthy, etc. And thus the Christian church joins hands with trades unions and a large public opinion to force Negroes into idleness and crime. Sometimes Negroes, by special influence, as has been
pointed out before, secure good positions; then there are other cases where colored men have by sheer merit and
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 341
pluck secured positions. In all these cases, however, they are liable to lose their places through no fault of their own and primarily on account of their Negro blood. It may be that at first their Negro descent is not known, or other causes may operate ; in all cases the Negro's tenure of office is insecure :
A worked in a large tailor's establishment on Third street for three weeks. His work was acceptable. Then it became known he was colored and he was dis charged as the other tailors refused to work with him. B
, a pressman, was employed on Twelfth street, but
a week later was discharged when they knew he was colored
; he then worked as a door-boy for five years, and
finally got another job in a Jewish shop as pressman. C was nine years a painter in Stewart's Furniture
Factory, until Stewart failed four years ago. Has
applied repeatedly, but could get no work on account of color. He now works as a night watchman on the streets for the city. D was a stationary engineer; his employer died,
and he has never been able to find another.
E was light in complexion and got a job as driver ; he " kept his cap on," but when they found he was colored
they discharged him.
F was one of many colored laborers at an ink factory. The heads of the firm died, and now whenever a
Negro leaves a white man is put in his place. G worked for a long time as a typesetter on Tag-
gart's Times; when the paper changed hands he was
discharged and has never been able to get another job ; he
is now a janitor. H was a brickmason, but his employers finally
refused to let him lay brick longer as his fellow workmen were all white ; he is now. a waiter.
Iv learned the trade of range-setting from his
employer ; the employer then refused him work and he
342 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
went into business for himself ; he has taught four appren
tices.
M is a woman whose husband was janitor for a firm twenty years ; when they moved to the new Betz Building they discharged him as all the janitors there were white
; after his death they could find no work for his boy.
N was a porter in a book store and rose to be head postmaster of a sub-station in Philadelphia which handles
$250,000, it is said, a year ; he was also at the head of a
very efficient Bureau of Information in a large department store. Recently attempts have been made to displace him, for no specified fault but because
u we want his place for another [white] man." O is a well-known instance; an observer in 1898
wrote : lt If any Philadelphian who is anxious to study the matter with his own eyes, will walk along South Eleventh street, from Chestnut down, and will note the most tasteful and enterprising stationery and periodical store along the
way, it will pay him to enter it. On entering he will, accord ing to his way of thinking, be pleased or grieved to see that it is conducted by Negroes. If the proprietor happens to be in he may know that this keen-looking pleasant young man was once assistant business manager of a large white religious newspaper in the city. A change of management led to his dismissal. No fault was found, his work was commended, but a white man was put into his place, and profuse apologies made.
"The clerk behind the counter is his sister; a neat lady like woman, educated, and trained in stenography and
typewriting. She could not find in the city of Philadel
phia, any one who had the slightest use for such a colored woman.
" The result of this situation is this little store, which is remarkably successful. The proprietor owns the stock, the store and the building. This is one tale of its sort with a pleasant ending. Other tales are far less pleasing."
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 343
Much discouragement results from the persistent refusal to promote colored employes. The humblest white employe knows that the better he does his work the more chance there is for him to rise in the business. The black employe knows that the better he does his work the longer he may do it ; he cannot often hope for promotion. This makes much of the criticism aimed against Negroes, because some of them want to refuse menial labor, lose
something of its point. If the better class of Negro boys could look on such labor as a stepping-stone to some
thing higher it would be different ; if they must view it as a lifework we cannot wonder at their hesitation : A has been a porter at a great locomotive works for
ten years. He is a carpenter by trade and has picked up considerable knowledge of machinery ; he was formerly allowed to work a little as a machinist
; now that is stopped
and he has never been promoted and probably never will be. B has worked in a shop eight years and never been
promoted from his porter's position, although he is a capa ble man. C is a porter ; he has been in a hardware store six
years ; he is bright and has repeatedly been promised advancement but has never got it D was for seven years in a gang of porters in a
department store, and part of the time acted as foreman. He had a white boy under him who disliked him ; eventually the boy was promoted but he remained a
porter. Finally the boy became his boss and discharged him.
E , a woman, worked long in a family of lawyers ; a white lad went into their office as office-boy and came to be a member of the firm ; she had a smart, ambitious son and asked for any sort of office work for him anything in which he could hope for promotion. "Why don't you make him a waiter ? " they asked. p lias for twenty-one years driven for a lumber
344 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
firm ; speaks German and is very useful to them, but they
have never promoted him.
G was a porter ; he begged for a chance to work up ; offering to do clerical work for nothing, but was refused. White companions were repeatedly promoted over his head. He has been a porter seventeen years. H was a servant in the family of one of the members
of a large dry goods firm ; he was so capable that the
employer sent him down to the store for a place which the manager very reluctantly gave him, He rose to be registering clerk in the delivering department where he
worked fourteen years and his work was commended.
Recently without notice or complaint he was changed to run an elevator at the same wages. He thinks that pres sure from other members of the firm made him lose his work.
Once in a while there are exceptions to this rule. The Pennsylvania Railroad has promoted one bright and persis tent porter to a clerkship, which he has held for years. He had, however, spent his life hunting chances for promo tion and had been told "You have ability enough, George, if you were not colored ."
There is much discrimination against Negroes in wages. 7
^n the case of the Colored people, the number of mother wage- earners more than doubles the number of widows. This is due to the small average wage of the Colored husband the smallest among the twenty-seven nationalities. The laundress is the economic supplement of the porter. . . . It is not because the Colored husband of this
district neglects his responsibility as a wage-winner that so many Colored women are forced into supplemental toil, for 98.7 per cent of the Colored husbands are wage-earners, and only 92.2 per cent of the American, 90.3 per cent of the Irish, 96 per cent of the German, 93.7 per cent of the
Italian, 93.1 per cent of the French. The Danes, 80 per cent; Cana
dians, 81.8 per cent; Russians, 85.7 per cent, and Hungarians, 88.8 per cent, have the smallest percentages. Of the more largely represented nationalities, the French most nearly approach the Colored people in the
percentage of their wives who are wage-earners; but while the French percentage is 21.6 per cent, the Colored people's percentage is 53.6 per cent." Dr. W. Laidlaw in the " Report of a Sociological Canvass of the Nineteenth Assembly District," a slum section of New York City, in 1897.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 345
The Negroes have fewer chances for work, have been used to low wages, and consequently the first thought that occurs to the average employer is to give a Negro less than he would offer a white man for the same work. This Is not universal, but it is widespread. In domestic service of the ordinary sort there is no difference, because the
wages are a matter of custom. When it comes to waiters, butlers and coachmen, however, there is considerable difference made; while white coachmen receive from $5-$75> tte Negroes do not get usually more than $30-$6o. Negro hotel waiters get from $i8-$2O, while whites receive $2O-$3O. Naturally when a hotel manager replaces $20 men with $30 men he may expect, outside any question of color, better service.
In ordinary work the competition forces down the wages outside mere race reasons, though the Negro is the greatest sufferer; this is especially the case in laundry work. ""
I've counted as high as seven dozen pieces in that wash
ing," said a weary black woman, " and she pays me only
.$1.25 a week for it" Persons who throw away $5 a week on gew-gaws will often haggle over twenty-five cents with a washerwoman. There are, however, notable excep tions to these cases, where good wages are paid to persons who have long worked for the same family. Very often if a Negro is given a chance to work at a
trade his wages are cut down for the privilege. This gives the workingman's prejudice additional intensity: A got a job formerly held by a white porter ; the
wages were reduced from $12 to $8. B worked for a firm as china packer, and they said
he was the best packer they had. He, however, received but $6 a week while the white packers received $12. C has been porter and assistant shipping clerk in an
Arch street store for five years. He receives $6 a week and whites get $8 for the same work. D is a stationary engineer ; he learned his trade
346 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI,
with this firm and has been with them ten years. Formerly he received $9 a week, now $10.50 ; whites get $13 for the same work. E is a stationary engineer and has been in his place
three years. He receives but $9 a week. F works with several other Negroes with a firm of
electrical engineers. The white laborers receive $2 a day : "We've got to be glad to get $1.75." G was a carpenter, but could get neither sufficient
work nor satisfactory wages. For a job on which he received $15 a week, his white successor got $18. H
, a cementer, receives $1.75 a day ; white work
men get $2-$3- He has been promised more next fall. I
, a plasterer, has worked for one boss twenty-seven
years. Regular plasterers get $4 or more a day ; he does the same work, but cannot join the union and is paid as a laborer $2.50 a day.
j works as a porter in a department store ; is mar ried, and receives $8 a week.
" They pay the same to
white unmarried shop girls, who stand a chance to be promoted.'
*
3. If a Negro enters some line of employment in which
people are not used to seeing him, he suffers from an
assumption that he is unfit for the work. It is reported that a Chestnut street firm once took a Negro shop girl, but the protests of their customers were such that they had to dismiss her. A great many merchants hesitate to advance Negroes lest they should lose custom. Negro merchants who have attempted to start business in the city at first encounter much difficulty from this prejudice: A has a bakery ; white people sometimes enter and
finding Negroes in charge abruptly leave. B is a baker and had a shop some years on Vine
street, but prejudice against him barred him from gaining much custom. C is a successful expressman with a large business ;
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 347
he is sometimes told by persons that they prefer to patronize wThite expressmen.
-D is a woman and keeps a hair store on South street. Customers sometimes enter, look at her, and leave. E is a music teacher on Lombard street Several
white people have entered and seeing him, said : " Oh ! I
thought you were white excuse me ! " or " I'll call again ! " Even among the colored people themselves some preju
dice of this sort is met. Once a Negro physician could not get the patronage of Negroes because they were not used to the innovation. Now they have a large part of the Negro patronage. The Negro merchant, however, still lacks the full confidence of his own people though this is slowly growing. It is one of the paradoxes of this question to see a people so discriminated against sometimes add to their misfortunes by discriminating against themselves. They themselves, however, are beginning to recognize this.
4. The chief discrimination against Negroes in expendi ture is in the matter of rents. There can be no reasonable doubt but that Negroes pay excessive rents : A paid $13 a month where the preceding white
family had paid $10. paid $16 ; "heard that former white family paid
C paid $25 ; " heard that former white family paid
$20." D paid $12 ; neighbors say that former white family
paid $9. E - paid $25, instead of $18. F paid $12, instead of $10. G >the Negro inhabitants of the whole street pay $iz
to $14 and the whites $9 and $10. The houses are all alike.
H , whites on this street pay $i5~$i8 ; Negroes pay $l8-$2I. Not only is there this pretty general discrimination irt
348 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
rent, but agents and owners will not usually repair the houses of the blacks willingly or improve them. In addition to this agents and owners in many sections utterly refuse to rent to Negroes on any terms. Both these sorts of discrimination are easily defended from a merely business
point of view ; public opinion in the city is such that the
presence of even a respectable colored family in a block will affect its value for renting or sale ; increased rent to
Negroes is therefore a sort of insurance, and refusal to rent a device for money-getting. The indefensible cruelty lies with those classes who refuse to recognize the right of respectable Negro citizens to respectable houses. Real -estate agents also increase prejudice by refusing to dis criminate between different classes of Negroes. A quiet Negro family moves into a street. The agent finds no great objection, and allows the next empty house to go to any Negro who applies. This family may disgrace and scandalize the neighborhood and make it harder for decent families to find homes.8
In the last fifteen years, however, public opinion has so
greatly changed in this matter that we may expect much in the future. To-day the Negro population is more widely scattered over the city than ever before. At the same time it remains true that as a rule they must occupy the worst houses of the districts where they live. The advance made has been a battle for the better class of Negroes. An ex-Minister to Hayti moved to the northwestern part of the city and his white neighbors insulted him, barricaded their steps against him, and tried in every way to make him move
; to-day he is honored and respected in the whole neighborhood. Many such cases have occurred ; in
8 Undoubtedly certain classes of Negroes bring much deserved criti cism on themselves by irregular payment or default of rent, and by the poor care they take of property. They must not, however, be con founded with the better classes who make good customers ; this is again a place for careful discrimination.
Sect 47.] Color Prejudice. 349
others the result was different An estimable young Negro, just married, moved with his bride into a little street The neighborhood rose in arms and besieged the tenant and the landlord so relentlessly that the landlord leased the house and compelled the young couple to move within a month. One of the bishops of the A. M. E. Church recently moved into the newly purchased Episcopal residence on Belmont
avenue, and his neighbors have barricaded their porches against his view.
5. The chief discrimination against Negro children is in the matter of educational facilities. Prejudice here works to compel colored children to attend certain schools where most Negro children go, or to keep them out of private and higher schools. A tried to get her little girl into the kindergarten
nearest to her, at Fifteenth and Locust The teachers wanted her to send it down across Broad to the kinder
garten chiefly attended by colored children and much further away from its home. This journey was dangerous for the child, but the teachers refused to receive it for six
months, until the authorities were appealed to. In transfers from schools Negroes have difficulty in
getting convenient accommodations ; only within compara tively few years have Negroes been allowed to complete the course at the High and Normal Schools without diffi
culty. Earlier than that the University of Pennsylvania refused to let Negroes sit in the Auditorium and listen to lec
tures, much less to be students. Within two or three years a Negro student had to fight his way through a city dental school with his fists, and was treated with every indignity. Several times Negroes have been asked to leave schools of
stenography, etc., on account of their fellow students. In
1893 a colored woman applied at Temple College, a church institution, for admission and was refused and advised to
go elsewhere. The college* then offered scholarships to
churches, but would not admit applicants from colored
350 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
churches. Two years later the same woman applied again. The faculty declared that they did not object, but that the students would
; she persisted and was finally admitted
with evident reluctance. It goes without saying that most private schools, music
schools, etc., will not admit Negroes and in some cases have insulted applicants. Such is the tangible form of Negro prejudice in Phila
delphia. Possibly some of the particulur cases cited can be proven to have had extenuating circumstances unknown to the investigator ; at the same time many not cited would be just as much in point. At any rate no one who has with any diligence studied the situation of the Negro in the city can long doubt but that his opportunities are limited and his ambition circumscribed about as has been shown. There are of course numerous exceptions, but the mass of the
Negroes have been so often refused openings and discour
aged in efforts to better their condition that many of them say? as one said,
" I never apply I know it is useless.
n
Beside these tangible and measurable forms there are
deeper and less easily described results of the attitude of the white population toward the Negroes : a certain manifestation of a real or assumed aversion, a spirit of ridicule or patronage, a vindictive hatred in some, absolute indifference in others
; all this of course does not make
much difference to the mass of the race, but it deeply wounds the better classes, the very classes who are attain ing to that to which we wish the mass to attain. Notwith standing all this, most Negroes would patiently await the effect of time and commonsense on such prejudice did it not to-day touch them in matters of life and death ; threaten their homes, their food, their children, their hopes. And the result of this is bound to be increased crime, inefficiency and bitterness.
It would, of course, be idle to assert that most of the
Negro crime was caused by prejudice ; the violent economic
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 351
and social changes which the last fifty years have brought to the American Negro, the sad social history that preceded these changes, have all contributed to unsettle morals and pervert talents. Nevertheless it is certain that Negro prejudice in cities like Philadelphia has been a vast factor in aiding and abetting all other causes which impel a half-developed race to recklessness and excess. Certainly a great amount of crime can be without doubt traced to the discrimination against Negro boys and girls in the matter of employment. Or to put it differently, Negro prejudice costs the city something. The connection of crime and prejudice is, on the other
hand, neither simple nor direct. The boy who is refused promotion in his job as porter does not go out and snatch
somebody's pocketbook. Conversely the loafers at Twelfth and Kater streets, and the thugs in the county prison are not usually graduates of high schools who have been refused work. The connections are much more subtle and dangerous ; it is the atmosphere of rebellion and discontent that unrewarded merit and reasonable but unsatisfied ambition make. The social environment of excuse, listless despair, careless indulgence and lack of inspiration to work is the growing force that turns black boys and girls into gamblers, prostitutes and rascals. And this social environment has been built up slowly out of the dis
appointments of deserving men and the sloth of the un- awakened. How long can a city say to a part of its citizens, " It is useless to work ; it is fruitless to deserve well of men
; education will gain you nothing but disappointment
and humiliation ? " How long can a city teach its black children that the road to success is to have a white face ?
How long can a city do this and escape the inevitable penalty ?
For thirty years and more Philadelphia has said to its black children : " Honesty, efficiency and talent have little
to do with your success ; if you work hard, spend little and
352 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
are good you may earn your bread and butter at those sorts of work which we frankly confess we despise ; if you are dishonest and lazy, the State will furnish your bread free." Thus the class of Negroes which the prejudices of the city have distinctly encouraged is that of the criminal, the lazy and the shiftless
; for them the city teems with institutions
and charities ; for them there is succor and sympathy ; for
them Philadelphians are thinking and planning ; but for the educated and industrious young colored man who wants work and not platitudes, wages and not alms, just rewards and not sermons for such colored men Philadel phia apparently has no use.
What then do such men do? What becomes of the graduates of the many schools of the city ? The answer is simple : most of those who amount to anything leave the city, the others take what they can get for a livelihood.
L,et us for a moment glance at the statistics of three colored schools : 9
1. The O. V. Catto Primary School. 2. The Robert Vaux Grammar School.
3. The Institute for Colored Youth. There attended the Catto school, 1867-97, 5915 pupils.
Of these there were promoted from the full course, 653. 129 of the latter are known to be in positions of higher grade ; or taking out 93 who are still in school, there remain 36 as follows: 18 teachers, 10 clerks, 2 physicians, 2 engravers, 2 printers, i lawyer and i mechanic. The other 524 are for the most part in service, laborers
and housewives. Of the 36 more successful ones fully half are at work outside of the city.
Of the Vaux school there were, 1877-89, 76 graduates. Of these there are 16 unaccounted for ; the rest are :
Teachers 27 Barbers 4 Musicians 5 Clerks ......... 3 Merchants 3 Physician i
9 Kindly furnished by the principals of these schools.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 353
Mechanic I Deceased ........ 8 Clergymen 3 Housewives ....... 5
47
From one-half to two-thirds of these have been compelled to leave the city in order to find work ; one, the artist, Tanner, whom France recently honored, could not in his native land much less in his native city find room for his talents. He taught school in Georgia in order to earn money enough to go abroad. The Institute of Colored Youth has had 340 graduates,
1856-97 ; 57 of these are dead. Of the 283 remaining 91 are unaccounted for. The rest are :
Teachers 117 Electrical Engineer . , i
Lawyers 4 Professor i
Physicians 4 Government clerks ... 5 Musicians 4 Merchants . 7 Dentists , . 2 Mechanics 5 Clergymen....... 2 Clerks 23 Nurses 2 Teacher of cooking . . i
Editor I Dressmakers 4 Civil Engineer i Students ....... 7
192
Here, again, nearly three-fourths of the graduates who have amounted to anything have had to leave the city for work. The civil engineer, for instance, tried in vain to
get work here and finally had to go to New Jersey to teach. There have been 9, possibly n, colored graduates of the
Central High School. These are engaged as follows :
Grocer i Porter i
Clerks in service of city . 2 Butler I
Caterer i Unknown 3 or 5
It is high time that the best conscience of Philadelphia awakened to her duty ; her Negro citizens are here to
remain ; they can be made good citizens or burdens to the
community ; if we want them to be sources of wealth and
power and not of poverty and weakness then they must be
354 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
given employment according to their ability and encour
aged to train that ability and increase their talents by the
hope of reasonable reward. To educate boys and girls and then refuse them work is to train loafers and rogues.
10
From another point of view it could be argued with much cogency that the cause of economic stress, and conse quently of crime, was the recent inconsiderate rush of
Negroes into cities ; and that the unpleasant results of this
migration, while deplorable, will nevertheless serve to
check the movement of Negroes to cities and keep them in the country where their chance for economic development is widest. This argument loses much of its point from the fact that it is the better class of educated Philadelphia- born Negroes who have the most difficulty in obtaining employment. The new immigrant fresh from the South is much more apt to obtain work suitable for him than the black boy born here and trained in efficiency. Neverthe less it is undoubtedly true that the recent migration has both directly and indirectly increased crime and competi tion. How is this movement to be checked ? Much can be done by correcting misrepresentations as to the oppor tunities of city life made by designing employment bureaus and thoughtless persons ; a more strict surveillance of criminals might prevent the influx of undesirable elements. Such efforts, however, would not touch the main stream of immigration. Back of that stream is the world-wide desire to rise in the world, to escape the
choking narrowness of the plantation, and the lawless
repression of the village, in the South. It is a search for better opportunities of living, and as such it must be dis couraged and repressed with great care and delicacy, if at all. The real movement of reform is the raising of economic standards and increase of economic opportunity in the South. Mere land and climate without law and
10 Cf. on this point the interesting article of John Stevens Durham in the Atlantic Monthly, 1898.
Sect. 48.] Benevolence. 355
order, capital and skill, will not develop a country. When Negroes in the South have a larger opportunity to work, accumulate property, be protected in life and limb, and
encourage pride and self-respect in their children, there will be a diminution in the stream of immigrants to Northern cities. At the same time if those cities practice industrial exclusion against these immigrants to such an extent that they are forced to become paupers, loafers and
criminals, they can scarcely complain of conditions in the
South. Northern cities should not, of course, seek to
encourage and invite a poor quality of labor, with low standards of life and morals. The standards of wages and
respectability should be kept up ; but when a man reaches those standards in skill, efficiency and decency no question of color should, in a civilized community, debar him from an equal chance with his peers in earning a living.
48. Benevolence. 11 In the attitude of Philadelphia
toward the Negro may be traced the same contradictions so often apparent in social phenomena; prejudice and
apparent dislike conjoined with widespread and deep sympathy ; there can, for instance, be no doubt of the
sincerity of the efforts put forth by Philadelphians to help the Negroes. Much of it is unsystematic and ill-directed and yet it has behind it a broad charity and a desire to
relieve suffering and distress. The same Philadelphian who would not let a Negro work in his store or mill will contribute handsomely to relieve Negroes in poverty and
distress. There are in the city the following charities
exclusively designed for Negroes :
Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Belmont and Girard avenues.12
11 No attempt has been made here to make any intensive study of the efforts to help Negroes, which are widespread and commendable; they
need, however, a study which would extend the scope of this inquiry too far. a Founded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf. Chap. XII.
356 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Home for Destitute Colored Children, Berks street and Old Lancaster road.
St. Mary Day Nursery, 1627 Lombard street The Association for the Care of Colored Orphans, Forty-
fourth and Wallace streets. Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training
School, 1512 Lombard street. 13
Magdalen Convent House of the Good Shepherd (Roman Catholic), Penn and Chew streets, Germantown.
St. Mary's Mission for Colored People, 162329 Lombard street.
Raspberry Street School, 229 Raspberry street. The Star Kitchen, and allied enterprises, Seventh and
Lombard streets. Colored Industrial School, Twentieth street, below
Walnut. Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, for Indians and Colored
People, CornwelPs Station, Pa. Men's Guild House, 1628 Lombard street. House of St. Michael and All Angels, 613 North Forty-
third street
The Industrial Exchange Training School and Dormi tory, 756 South Twelfth street.
13
Fifty-nine of the charities mentioned in the Civic Club
Digest discriminate against colored persons. Fifty-one societies profess to make no discrimination ; in the case of the larger and better known societies this is true, as, for instance, the Home Missionary Society, the Union Benevo lent Association, the Protestant Episcopal City Mission, the Charity Organization Society, the Children's Aid
Society, the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children, etc.
Others, however, exercise a silent policy against Negroes. The Country Week Association, for instance, would rather Negroes should not apply, although it sends a few away
18 Founded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf. Chap. XEL
Sect. 48.] Benevolence. 357
each summer. Colored applicants at the building of the
Young Woman's Christian Association are not very welcome. So with many other societies and institutions. This veiled discrimination is very unjust, for it makes it seem as though the Negro had more help than he does. On the other hand between donors, prejudiced persons, friends of the Negro, and the beneficiaries, the managers of
many of these enterprises find it by far the easiest method silently to draw the color line.
Fifty-seven other charities make no explicit statement as to whether they discriminate or not To sum up then :
Charitable agencies exclusively for Negroes 14 " " " " Whites 59 " *' which profess not to discriminate,
but in some cases do 51 * *' which make no statements, but usu
ally discriminate 57
~i8r
On the whole it is fair to say that about one half of the charities of Philadelphia, so far as mere numbers
are concerned, are open to Negroes. In the different
kinds of charity, however, some disproportion is notice
able. Of direct almsgiving, the most questionable and
least organized sort of charity, the Negroes receive
probably far more than their just proportion, as a study
of the work of the great distributing societies clearly shows. On the other hand, protective, rescue and reforma
tory work is not applied to any great extent among them.
Consequently, while actual poverty and distress among
Negroes is quickly relieved, there are only a few agencies
to prevent the better classes from sinking or to reclaim
the fallen or to protect the helpless and the children.
Even the agencies of this sort open to the Negroes are not
always taken advantage of, partly through ignorance and
carelessness, partly because they fear discrimination or be
cause they are apt to be treated the same whether they be
from Addison street or Middle alley.
358 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Much of the benevolence of the whites has been checked because the classes on whom it has been showered have not appreciated it, and because there has been no careful
attempt to discriminate between different sorts of Negroes. After all, the need of the Negro, as of so many unfortunate classes, is
" not alms but a friend."
There are a few homes, asylums, nurseries, hospitals and the like for work among Negroes, which are doing excel lent work and deserve commendation. It is to be hoped that this sort of work will receive needed encouragement
49. The Intermarriage of the Races. For years much has been said on the destiny of the Negro with regard to
intermarriage with the whites. To many this seems the difficulty that differentiates the Negro question from all other social questions which we face, and makes it seem
ingly insoluble; the questions of ignorance, crime and
immorality, these argue, may safely be left to the influence of time and education
; but will time and training ever
change the obvious fact that the white people of the
country do not wish to mingle socially with the Negroes or to join blood in legal wedlock with them ? This prob lem is, it must be acknowledged, difficult. Its difficulty arises, however, rather from an ignorance of surrounding facts than from the theoretic argument. Theory in such case is of little value ; the white people as members of the races now dominant in the world naturally boast of their blood and accomplishments, and recoil from an alliance with a people which is to-day represented by a host of untrained and uncouth ex-slaves. On the other hand, whatever his practice be, the Negro as a free American citizen must just as strenuously maintain that marriage is a private contract, and that given two persons of proper age and economic ability who agree to enter into that relation, it does not concern any one but themselves as to whether one of them be white, black or red. It is thus that theoretical argument comes to an unpleasant stand-
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 359
still, and its further pursuit really settles nothing, nay, rather unsettles much, by bringing men's thoughts to a question that is, at present at least, of little practical impor tance. For in practice the matter works itself out : the average white person does not marry a Negro; and the average Negro, despite his theory, himself marries one of his race, and frowns darkly on his fellows unless they do likewise. In those very circles of Negroes who have a large infusion of white blood, where the freedom of mar riage is most strenuously advocated, white wives have
always been treated with a disdain bordering on insult, and white husbands never received on any terms of social
recognition.
Notwithstanding theory and the practice of whites and
Negroes in general, it is nevertheless manifest that the white and black races have mingled their blood in this
country to a vast extent Such facts puzzle the foreigner and are destined to puzzle the future historian. A serious student of the subject gravely declares in one chapter that the races are separate and distinct and becoming more so, and in another that by reason of the intermingling of white blood the " original type of the African has almost
completely disappeared ; " " here we have reflected the
prevailing confusion in the popular mind. Race amalga mation is a fact, not a theory ; it took place, however, largely under the institution of slavery and for the most
part, though not wholly, outside the bonds of legal marriage. With the abolition of slavery now, and the establishment of a self-protecting Negro home the question is, what have been the tendencies and the actual facts with
regard to the intermarriage of races? This is the only
question with which students have to do, and this singu larly enough has been the one which they, with curious
unanimity, have neglected. We do not know the facts
"Hoffman's "Race Traits and Tendencies/* eta, pjx I and 177.
360 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
with regard to the mingling of white and black blood in the past save in a most general and unsatisfactory way ; we do not know the facts for to-day at all. And yet, of course, without this knowledge all philosophy of the situation is vain
; only long observation of the course of
intermarriage can furnish us that broad knowledge of facts which can serve as a basis for race theories and final con clusions.
15
The first legal obstacle to the intermarriage of whites and blacks in Pennsylvania was the Act of 1726, which forbade such unions in terms that would seem to indicate that a few such marriages had taken place. Mulattoes early appeared in the State, and especially in Philadelphia, some
being from the South and some from up the State. Sailors from this port in some cases brought back English, Scotch and Irish wives, and mixed families immigrated here at the time of the Haytian revolt. Between 1820 and 1860 many natural children were sent from the South and in a few cases their parents followed and were legally married here.
Descendants of such children in many cases forsook the mother's race
; one became principal of a city school, one
a prominent sister in a Catholic church, one a bishop, and one or two officers in the Confederate army.
16 Some mar riages with Quakers took place, one especially in 1825, when a Quakeress married a Negro, created much com ment. Descendants of this couple still survive. Since
the War the number of local marriages has considerably increased.
In this work there was originally no intention of treating the subject of intermarriage, for it was thought that the data would be too insignificant to be enlightening. When,
ls Hoffman has the results of some intermarriages recorded, but they are chiefly reports of criminals in the newspapers, and thus manifestly unfair for generalization.
16 From a personal letter of a life long Philadelphian, whose name I am not at liberty to quote.
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 361
however, in one ward of the city thirty-three cases of mixed marriages were found, and it was known that there were others in that ward, and probably a similar proportion in many other wards, it was thought that a study of these thirty-three families might be of interest and be a small contribution of fact to a subject where facts are not easily accessible.
The size of these families varies, of course, with the question as to what one considers a family ; if we take the " census family," or all those living together under circum stances of family life in one home, the average size of the thirty-three families of the Seventh Ward in which there were intermarried whites was 3.5. If we take simply the father, mother and children, the average size was 2.9. There were ninety-seven parents and children in these families, and twenty other relatives living with them, making 117 individuals in the families. Tabulated they are as follows :
Of the intermarried whites there are four husbands and twenty-nine wives, Let us first consider the families
having the four white husbands :
362 The Contact of the Races, [Chap. XVI.
FOUR WHITE HUSBANDS.
THEIR FOUR NEGRO WIVES.
The third family may be simply a case of cohabitation, and not enough is known of the fourth to make any judg ment. The second family lives in a comfortable home and
appears contented. The first family is poor and the man lazy and good-natured. The twenty-nine white wives were of the following ages :
15 to 19 i
20 to 24 7
25 to 29 8
30 to 39 . 8
40 to 49 3 50 and over I Unknown I
Total 29
Sect 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 363
They were born as follows :
Philadelphia 6 Hungary I Ireland 6 Virginia I England 3 Maryland i Scotland 2 Delaware I New York 2 Unknown 3 Germany 2 Canada ....... i Total 29
By rearranging this table we have for the known cases :
Born in Philadelphia " " the United States . . n 11 " " North 8 " " " South . 3" "
foreign lands 15
Those not born in Philadelphia have resided there as follows :
X^ess than I year i One to three years i Five to ten years 3 Over ten years 8 Unknown . 10
*3 Born in Philadelphia 6
29 These wives are occupied as follows :
Housewives 18 " and day's work 3
Waitresses 2
No occupation or unknown 3 Cook i Merchant I Service , I
29
Only one of these women was reported as illiterate, and in the case of three no return was made as to illiteracy.
Fourteen of these wives had no children by this mar
riage ; 6 had i child, 6 had 2 children, 3 had 3 children ;
364 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
making 27 children in all. Of the 14 having no children
5 were women under twenty-five recently married ; 2 were women over forty and probably past child-bearing. Several of the remaining 7 were, in all probability, lewd.
Of the colored husbands of these white wives we have the following statistics :
Ageis to 24 2 50 and over i 25 to 29 5 Unknown 2 30 to 39 12
40 to 49 7 Total 29
Birthplace Philadelphia ... 5 North Carolina .... i Maryland . ..." 5 Massachusetts .... i Virginia 5 Alabama . i District ofColumbia 3 New York I Delaware 2 Unknown 2 Kentucky .... i NewJersey .... i Total 29 Texas I
Born in Philadelphia 5 " " North 8 " " South 19
Illiteracy Can read and write 23 Illiterate 4 Unknown 2
Total 29
Occupations Baker and Merchant . . i Waiter 9 Stationary Engineer . . i Porter . 3 Ivaborer I
Barber 2 Stevedore i
Steward 2 Caterer i
Cook 2 Messenger i Restaurant Keeper . . 2 Bootblack i
Helper and Engineer . i Unknown i
Total 29
The social grade of thirty-two of these families is thought to be as follows:
First grade, four families. These all live well and are
Sect. 49. ] The Intermarriage of the Races. 365
comfortable ; the wife stays at home and the children
at school. Everything indicates comfort and content ment.
Second grade, fifteen families. These are ordinary work ing-class families ; the wife in some cases helps as a bread winner
; none of them are in poverty, many are young
couples just starting in married life. All are decent and respectable.
Third grade, six families. These are poor families of low grade, but not immoral; some are lazy, some unfor tunate.
Fourth grade, seven families. Many of these are cases of permanent cohabitation and the women for the most part are or were prostitutes. They live in the slums mostly, and in some cases have lived together many years. None of them have children, or at least have none living with them at present.
Let us now glance a moment at the 31 children of these mixed marriages: 27 born of white mothers by Negro husbands, and 4 of Negro mothers by white husbands:
Ofschool age, 5-20 14 Number in school 12 Number over 10 who are illiterate ...... . . o At work, I, as porter.
The homes occupied by these families and the rents paid monthly are :
366 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
One family owns real estate (building lots). One family belongs to a building" and loan association.
The data here presented constitute too narrow a basis for many general conclusions even for a single city. Of the 2441 families in the ward these families represent 1.35 per cent. There are two or more other cases in the Seventh Ward not catalogued. If this percentage holds good in the
remaining parts of the city there would be about one hundred and fifty such marriages in the city ; there are no data on this point.
It is often said that only the worst Negroes and lowest whites intermarry. This is certainly untrue in Philadel
phia ; to be sure among the lowest classes there is a large number of temporary unions and much cohabitation. In the case of the Seventh Ward several of such cases were not noticed at all in the above record as they savor more of
prostitution than of marriage. On the other hand it is an error certainly in this ward to regard marriages of this sort as confined principally to the lower classes ; on the con
trary they take place most frequently in the laboring classes, and especially among servants^ where there is the most contact between the races. Among the best class of Negroes and whites such marriages seldom occur although one notable case occurred in 1897 ^n Philadelphia, where there could be no question of the good social standing of the parties.
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 367
As to the tendencies of the present, and the general result of such marriages there are no reliable data. That more separations occur in such marriages than in others is very probable. It is certainly a strain on affections to have to endure not simply the social ostracism of the whites but of the blacks also. Undoubtedly this latter acts as a more practical deterrent than the first. For, while a Negro expects to be ostracized by the whites, and his white wife agrees to it by her marriage vow, neither of them are quite prepared for the cold reception they invari ably meet with among the Negroes. This is the con sideration that makes the sacrifice in such marriages great, and makes it perfectly proper to give the aphoristic marriage advice of Punch to those contemplating such alliances. Nevertheless one must candidly acknowledge that there are respectable people who are thus married and are apparently contented and as happy as the average of mankind. It is difficult to see whose concern their choice is but their own, or why the world should see fit to insult or slander them.
CHAPTER XVII.
NKGRO SUFFRAGE.
50. The Significance of the Experiment. The indis criminate granting of universal suffrage to freedmen and
foreigners was one of the most daring experiments of a too
venturesome nation. In the case of the Negro its only
justification was that the ballot might serve as a weapon of
defence for helpless ex-slaves, and would at one stroke
enfranchise those Negroes whose education and standing entitled them to a voice in the government. There can be
no doubt but that the wisest provision would have been an
educational and property qualification impartially enforced
against ex-slaves and immigrants. In the absence of such
a provision it was certainly more just to admit the
untrained and ignorant than to bar out all Negroes in spite of their qualifications ; more just, but also more dangerous. Those who from time to time have discussed the results
of this experiment have usually looked for their facts in
the wrong place, t. e., in the South. Under the peculiar conditions still prevailing in the South no fair trial of the
Negro voter could have been made. The " carpet-bag
"
governments of reconstruction time were in no true sense
the creatures of Negro voters, nor is there to-day a Southern
State where free untrammeled Negro suffrage prevails. It
is then to Northern communities that one must turn to
study the Negro as a voter, and the result of the experi ment in Pennsylvania while not decisive is certainly instructive.
51. The History of Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. The laws for Pennsylvania agreed upon in England in 1682 declared as qualified electors
" every inhabitant in the
said province, that is or shall be a purchaser of one
(368)
Sect. 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 369
hundred acres of land or upwards, .... and every person that hath been a servant or bondsman, and is free by his
service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land, and cultivated twenty thereof;" and also some other
taxpayers. 1
These provisions were in keeping with the design of
partially freeing Negroes after fourteen years service and
contemplated without doubt black electors, at least in
theory. It is doubtful if many Negroes voted under this
provision although that is possible. In the call for the
Convention of 1776 no restriction as to color was men tioned,
2 and the constitution of that year gave the right of suffrage to
u every freeman of the full age of twenty-one
years, having resided in this State for the space of one
whole year." 3
Probably some Negro electors in Penn
sylvania helped choose the framers of the Constitu
tion.
In the Convention of 1790 no restriction as to color was
adopted and the suffrage article as finally decided upon read as follows :
4 ' Article III, Section i. In elections by the citizens,
every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the State two years next before the election, and within that time paid a State or county tax, which shall
have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector.
" 4
Nothing in the printed minutes of the convention indi
cates any attempt in the convention to prohibit Negro-
suffrage, but Mr. Albert Gallatin declared in 1837: "I
have a lively recollection that in some stages of the discus
sion the proposition pending before the convention limited
* " Minutes of the Conventions of 1776 and J79O'* (Ed. 1825) pp. 3*~3$'> Cf. p. 26.
2 Ibid., pp. 38-39. Ibid., p. 57-
* Ibid., p. 300. Cf.
" Pardon's Digest/' sixth edition.
370 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
the right of suffrage to * free white citizens/ etc., and that
the word white was struck out on my motion." 5
It was alleged afterward that in 1795 the question came before the High Court of Errors and Appeals and that its decision denied the right to Negroes. No written decision of this sort was ever found, however, and it is certain that for nearly a half century free Negroes voted in parts of
Pennsylvania. 6
As the Negro population increased, however, and ignor ant and dangerous elements entered, and as the slavery controversy grew warmer, the feeling against Negroes increased and with it opposition to their right to vote. In
July, 1837, the Supreme Court sitting at Sunbury took up the celebrated case of Hobbs et aL against Fogg. Fogg was a free Negro and taxpayer, and had been denied the
right to vote by Hobbs and others, the judges and inspec tors of election in Luzerne County. He brought action and was sustained in the Court of Common Pleas, but the Supreme Court under Judge Gibson reversed this judgment. The decision rendered was an evident straining of law and sense. The judge sought to refer to the decision of 1795, but could cite no written record ; he explained the striking out of the word " white " in the constitutional convention as done to prevent insult to
" dark colored white men," and held that a Negro, though free, could never be a freeman.7
All doubt was finally removed by the reform constitu tional convention of 1837-38. The article on suffrage as reported to the convention May 17, 1837, was practi cally the same as in the Constitution of 1790.
8 This
5 " Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1837,'* X, 45. Cf.
Purvis in * 'Appeal of 40,000 Citizens." The printed minutes give only the main results with few details.
6 6 Watts, 553-560, "Pennsylvania Reports. "
"Proceedings, etc., Convention 1837-8, II, 476.
7 6 Watts, 553-60, ** Pennsylvania Reports."
s "Proceedings and Debates, J>
I, 233.
Sect 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 371
article was taken up June 19, 1837. There was an attempt to amend the report and to restrict the suffrage to u free white male" citizens. The attempt was de fended as being in consonance with the regulations of other States, and with the real facts in Pennsylvania, since " In the county of Philadelphia the colored man could not with safety appear at the polls,"
9 The amend ment, however, met opposition and was withdrawn. The matter arose again a few days later but was voted down by a vote of 61 to 49.
10
The friends of exclusion now began systematic efforts to stir up public opinion. No less than forty-five petitions against Negro suffrage were handed in, especially from Bucks County, where a Negro had once nearly succeeded in being elected to the legislature. Many petitions too in favor of retaining the old provisions came in, but it was
charged that the convention would not print petitions in favor of Negro suffrage, and some members did not wish even to receive petitions from Negroes.
11
The discussion of the Third Article recurred January 17, 1838, and a long argument ensued. Finally the word u white" was inserted in the qualifications of voters by a vote of 77 to 45. A protracted struggle took place to soften this regulation in various ways, but all efforts failed
and the final draft, which was eventually adopted by popular vote, had the following provisions :
tt
"Article III, Section i. In elections by the citizens, every white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in this State one year, and in the electoral district where he offers to vote ten days immediately preceding such election, and within two years paid a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least ten days
* " Proceedings and Debates, "
II, 478.
Ibid., Ill, 82-92. 11
Ibid., Volumes IV-IX.
Ibid., IX, 320-397, X, 1-134-
372 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector." ls
This disfranchisement lasted thirty-two years, until the
passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Constitution of 1874 formally adopted this change.
1* Since 1870 the
experiment of untrarnmeled Negro suffrage has been made
throughout the State.
52. City Politics. About 5500 Negroes were eligible to vote in the city of Philadelphia, in 1870. The question first arises. Into what sort of a political atmosphere were
they introduced, and what training did they receive for their new responsibilities ? Few large cities have such a disreputable record for mis-
government as Philadelphia. In the period before the
war the city was ruled by the Democratic party, which retained its power by the manipulation of a mass of
ignorant and turbulent foreign voters, chiefly Irish. Riots, disorder, and crime were the rule in the city proper and
especially in the surrounding districts. About the time of the breaking out of the war, the city was consolidated and
made coterminous with the county. The social up heaval after the Civil War gave tlie political power to the Republicans and a new era of misrule commenced. Open disorder and crime were repressed, but in its place came the rule of the boss, with its quiet manipulation and cal
culating embezzlement of public funds. To-day the gov ernment of both city and State is unparalleled in the
history of republican government for brazen dishonesty and bare-faced defiance of public opinion. The supporters of this government have been, by a vast majority, white men and native Americans ; the Negro vote has never exceeded 4 per cent of the total registration.
13 " Purdon," sixth edition. 14 The Constitution of 1874 gave the right of suffrage to
" Kvery male
citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years "
'Debates" etc., I, 503, etc. See Index " Constitution of Pennsylvania,
"
Article VIII; and also the Act of 6 April, 1870,
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 373
Manifestly such a political atmosphere was the worst possible for the new untutored voter. Starting himself without political ideals, he was put under the tutelage of unscrupulous and dishonest men whose ideal of government was to prostitute it to their own private ends. As the Irishman had been the tool of the Democrats, so the
Negro became the tool of the Republicans. It was natural that the freedman should vote for the party that emanci
pated him, and perhaps, too, it was natural that a party with so sure a following, should use it unscrupulously. The result to be expected from such a situation was that the Negro should learn from his surroundings a low ideal of political morality and no conception of the real end of
party loyalty. At the same time we ought to expect indi vidual exceptions to this general level, and some evidences of growth.
53. Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. The experi ment of Negro suffrage in Philadelphia has developed three classes of Negro voters : a large majority of voters who vote blindly at the dictates of the party and, while not open to direct bribery, accept the indirect emoluments of office or influence in return for party loyalty ; a consid
erable group, centering in the slum districts, which casts a
corrupt purchasable vote for the highest bidder ; lastly, a
very small group of independent voters who seek to use their vote to better present conditions of municipal life.
The political morality of the first group of voters, that is to say, of the great mass of Negro voters, corresponds roughly to that of the mass of white voters, but with this difference : the ignorance of the Negro in matters of gov ernment is greater and his devotion to party blinder and
more unreasoning. Add to this the mass of recent immi
grants from the South, with the political training of re
construction and post-bellum days, and one can easily see
how poorly trained this body of electors has been. Under such circumstances it is but natural that political
374 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
morality and knowledge should be even slower in spread ing among Negroes than wealth and general intelligence. One consequently finds among those of considerable intelli
gence and of upright lives such curious misapprehension of political duties as is illustrated by the address of the Afro-American League to the mayor of the city, February 8, 1897:
"MR. MAYOR: We desire Erst and foremost, to tender you our pro found thanks for the honor of this cordial reception. We regard it, sir, as proof of the recognition on your part of that just and most admirable custom of our country's government, which permits the subjects, however humble may be their condition in life, to see their ruler as well as feel the workings of his power.
" We are here to state to your excellency that the colored citizens of Philadelphia are penetrated with feelings of inexpressible grief at the manner in which they have thus far been overlooked and ignored by the
Republican party in this city, in giving out work and otherwise distribu
ting the enormous patronage in the gift of the party. We are therefore here, sir, to earnestly beseech of you as a faithful Republican and our
worthy chief executive, to use your potent influence as well as the good offices of your municipal government, if not inconsistent with the public weal, to procure for the colored people of this city a share at least, of the
public work and the recognition which they now ask for and feel to be justly due to them, no less as citizens and taxpayers, than on a basis of their voting strength of something over 14,000 in the Republican party here in Philadelphia.
* ' As the chosen organ of this body of men I am actuated by a due sense of their earnestness of purpose in this matter and I regret to be inade
quate to the task of convincing you, Mr. Mayor, of the deep interest which is being universally manifested by the colored element in Philadel
phia in this somewhat important question. The colored people neither ask for nor expect extremes; we only claim that our loyal fidelity to the Republican party should count, at some time, for some benefits to at least a reasonable number of the colored race when our friends are installed into place and power; and, cherishing as we do, sir, the most implicit confidence in your justice as the chief executive of this great city, we firmly believe that this most unfair treatment of which our people now complain, would not fail, when brought thus to your attention, in moving you in our humble behalf. We, therefore, have here to present for your candid consideration a paper containing the names of some worthy and reliable men of our race and they are respectfully urged for appointment as indicated on the face of that paper, and out of a desire, Mr. Mayor, to facilitate your efforts should you take favorable action upon this matter, these men, as we will state, have been selected as near as possible from
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 375
every section of the city, as well as upon the proof of their fitness for the places named."
The organization which here speaks is not large or nearly as representative as it claims to be ; it is simply a small faction of u outs " who are striving to get
" in." The significant thing about the address is the fact that a con siderable number of fairly respectable and ordinarily intelligent citizens should think this a perfectly legitimate and laudable demand. This represents the political morality of the great mass of ordinary Negro voters. And what more does it argue than that they have learned their lesson well and recited it bluntly but honestly? What more do the majority of American politicians and voters to-day say in action if not in word than :
" Here is my vote, now where is my pay in office or favor or influence ?" What thousands are acting, this delegation had the charm ing simplicity to say plainly and then to print.
Moreover one circumstance makes this attitude of mind more dangerous among Negroes than among whites ; Negroes as a class are poor and as laborers are restricted to few and unremunerative occupations ; consequently the bribe of office is to them a far larger and alluring tempta tion than to the mass of whites. In other words here are a people more ignorant than their fellows, with stronger tendencies to dishonesty and crime, who are offered a far
larger bribe than ordinary men to enter politics for personal gain. The result is obvious :
" Of course I'm in politics," said a Negro city watchman,
" it's the only way a colored
man can get a position where he can earn a decent living/' He was a fireman by trade, but Philadelphia engineers object to working with
" Niggers."
If this is the result in the case of an honest man, how
great is the temptation to the vicious and lazy. This
brings us to the second class of voters the corrupt class, which sells its votes more or less openly. The able-bodied, well-dressed loafers and criminals who
376 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
infest the sidewalks of parts of the Fifth, Seventh and other wards are supported partly by crime and gambling, partly by the prostitution of their female paramours, but
mainly from the vast corruption fund gathered from office holders and others, and distributed according to the will of the party Boss. The Public Ledger said in 1896 :
iv It is estimated that the Republican City Committee realized nearly if
not all of $100,000 from the i)4 per cent assessment levied upon municipal officeholders for this campaign. Of this sum $40,000 has been paid for the eighty thousand tax receipts to qualify Republican voters. This leaves $60,000 at the disposal of David Martin, the Combine leader.
" *
How is this corruption fund used? Without doubt a large part of it is spent in the purchase of votes. It is of course difficult to estimate the directly purchasable vote
among the whites or among the Negroes, Once in a while when "thieves fall out" some idea of the bribery may be obtained
; for instance in a hearing relative to a Third
Ward election :
William Reed, of Catharine street, below Thirteenth, was first on the stand. He was watcher in the Fifteenth Division on election day.
'* Did you make up any election papers for voters?" asked Mr. Ingham. " I marked up about seventy or eighty ballots; I got $20 off of Roberts*
brother, and used $100 altogether, paying the rest out of my own pocket. ' ' " How did you spend the money?" " Oh, well, there were some few objectionable characters there to make
trouble. We'd give 'em a few dollars to go away and attend to their business." Then he addressed Mr. Ingham directly,
*' You know how it works." " I'd give 'em a dollar to buy a cigar. And if they didn't want to pay
$1 for a cigart "why, they could put it in the contribution box at church." " Was this election conducted in the usual way?" inquired. Mr. Sterr. ** Oh, yes, the way they're conducted in the Third Ward with vote
buying, and all the rest of it." " Bid the other side have any money to spend?" " Saunders had $16 to the division." '* What did your side have?" " Oh, we had about $60 ; there was money to burn. But our money
went to three people. The other fellows saved theirs. I spent mir like a sucker."
15 October 5, 1896.
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Sujjrage. 377
James Brown, a McKinley-Citizen worker, began his testimony indig nantly.
" Election? Why Reed and Morrow, the judges of the election, run the whole shootin' match," he declared,
" It jsvas all a farce. I brought
voters up ; and Reed would take 'em away from me. When we chal lenged anybody, Reed and the others would have vouchers ready."
" Did they use money ?" "There was a good deal of money through the division. We wasn't
even allowed to mark ballots for our own people who asked for help. The judge would ask 'em if they could read and write. When they said f
yes,' he'd tell 'em they were able to mark their own ballot. There were even some people who wanted to mark their own ballots. Reed would simply grab 'em and mark their ballots, whether they liked it or not."
Lavinia Brown, colored, of the rear of 1306 Kater street, said that Mr. Bradford was judge on election day, of the Sixteenth Division, and that on the morning of the election she cooked his breakfast. She said that I. Newton Roberts came to the house, and in her presence gave Bradford a roll of notes, at the same time throwing her $2, but she did not know for what purpose he gave it.
George W. Green, colored, of 1224 Catharine street, said he was a watcher at the polls of the Sixteenth Division. He told of fraud and how the voters were treated.
" Were you offered any money ?" ** Yes, sir. Lincoln Roberts came over to me and shoved $50 at me,
but I turned him down and would not take it, because I didn't belong to that crowd." Continuing, he said: "Seven or eight men were chal lenged, but it did not amount to anything, because Lincoln Roberts would tell the police to eject them. He also vouched for men who did not live in the ward. This condition of affairs continued all day."
Several other witnesses followed, whose testimony was similar to
Green's, and who declared that money was distributed freely by the Roberts faction to buy over voters. They said that challenges were dis
regarded, and that the election was a farce. Voters were kept out, and
when it was known that any of Saunders* adherents were coming a rash would be made, making it impossible for that side to enter the booth.
Philip Brown, a McKinley-Citizen watcher, said that the election was
a fraud. He saw Mr. Roberts with a pile of money, going around shout ing,
u That's the stuff that wins I" When asked what the judge was doing all this time he said:
" Why, the judge belonged to Mr. Roberts, who had rail control of the
polling place all day."
William Hare, of 1346 Kater street, proved an interesting witness. His
story is as follows : " Mr. Lincoln Roberts brought my tax receipt and told me to come
around to the club. I went and was given a bundle of tax receipts,
378 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
marked for other men, and told to deliver them. The next day being election day I made it a point to watch, and saw that every man to whom I gave a receipt came to the polls and voted for Mr. Roberts. I saw Mr. Newton Roberts mark thetballots over six times myself.
' '
Many of the men mentioned here are white, and this happened in a ward where there are more white than Ne gro voters, but the same open bribery goes on at every election in the slum districts of the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Wards, where a large Negro vote is cast. In a
meeting of Negroes held in 1896 one politician calmly announced that " through money from my white friends I control the colored vote in my precinct." Another man arose and denounced the speaker pretty plainly as a trick ster although his allegation was not denied. This brought on general discussion in which there were uncontradicted statements that in certain sections votes were bought for "
fifty cents and a drink of whisky " and men " driven in
droves to the polls." There was some exaggeration here and yet without doubt many Negroes sell their votes directly for a money consideration. This sort of thing is confined to the lowest classes, but there it is widespread. Such bribery, however, is the least harmful kind because it is so direct and shameless that only men of no character would accept it. Next to this direct purchase of votes, one of the chief
and most pernicious forms of bribery among the lowest classes is through the establishment of political clubs, which abound in the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Wards, and are not uncommon elsewhere. A political club is a band of eight or twelve men who rent a club house with money furnished them by the boss, and support them selves partially in the same way. The club is often named after some politician one of the most notorious gambling hells of the Seventh Ward is named after a United States Senator and the business of the club is to see that its
precinct is carried for the proper candidate, to get "jobs" for some of its "boys," to keep others from arrest and to
Sect. 53.] Some J3ad Results of Negro Suffrage. 379
secure bail and discharge for those arrested. Such clubs become the centre of gambling, drunkenness, prostitution and crime. Every night there are no less than fifteen of these clubs in the Seventh Ward where open gambling goes on, to which almost any one can gain admittance if properly introduced
; nearly every day some redhanded criminal finds refuge here from the law. Prostitutes are in easy reach of these places and sometimes enter them. Liquor is furnished to " members " at all times and the restrictions on membership are slight. The leader of each club is boss of his district
; he knows the people, knows the ward bossr
knows the police; so long as the loafers and gamblers under him do not arouse the public too much he sees that they are not molested. If they are arrested it does not mean much save in grave cases. Men openly boast on the streets that they can get bail for any amount. And cer tainly they appear to have powerful friends at the Public
Buildings. There is of course a difference in the various clubs
; some are of higher class than others and receive
offices as bribes ; others are openly devoted to gambling
and receive protection as a bribe ; one of the most notorious
gambling houses of the Seventh Ward was recently raided, and although every school boy knows the character of the
proprietor he was released for " lack of evidence." Still
other clubs are simply winter quarters for thieves, loafers
and criminals well known to the police. There are of course one or two clubs, mainly social and only partially political, to which the foregoing statements do not apply
as for instance the Citizens' Club on Broad street, which has the best Negroes of the city in its membership, allows
no gambling and pays its own expenses. This club, however, stands almost alone and the other twelve or
fifteen political clubs of the Seventh Ward represent a form of political corruption which is a disgrace to a
civilized city. In the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Wards there are ten or twelve more clubs, and probably in the
380 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
whole city the Negroes have forty such places with a
possible membership of five or six hundred. The influence of these clubs on the young immigrants, on growing boys, on the surrounding working people is most deplorable. At the polls they carry the day with high-handed and often
riotous proceedings, voting " repeaters
" and " colonists "
often with impunity.
Among the great mass of Negro voters, whose votes cannot be directly purchased, a less direct but, in the long
run, more demoralizing bribery is common. It is the same sort of bribery as that which is to-day corrupting the white
voters of the land, viz :
(a) Contributions to various objects in which voters are
interested.
(b) Appointment to public office or to work of any kind for the city. Men accept from political organizations, contributions to
charitable and other objects which they would not think of
accepting for themselves. Others less scrupulous get con
tributions or favors for enterprises in which they are
directly interested. Fairs, societies, clubs and even churches have profited by this sort of political corruption, and the custom is by no means confined to Negroes. A better known method of political bribery among the
mass of Negroes is through apportionment of the public work or appointment to public office. The work open to
Negroes throughout the city is greatly restricted as has
been pointed out. One class of well-paid positions, the
city civil service, was once closed to them, and only one
road was open to them to secure these positions and that was unquestioning obedience to the "machine." The emoluments of office are a temptation to most men, but
how much greater they are for Negroes can only be realized on reflection : Here is a well-educated young man, who
despite all efforts can get no work above that of porter at $6 or $8 a week. If he goes into
" politics," blindly
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 381 votes for the candidate of the party boss, and by hardr steady and astute work persuades most of the colored voters in his precinct to do the same, he has the chance of being rewarded by a city clerkship, the social prestige of being in a position above menial labor, and an income of $60 or $75 a month. Such is the character of the grasp which the " machine" has on even intelligent Negro voters.
How far this sort of bribery goes is illustrated by the fact that 170 city employes are from the Fifth Ward and probably forty of these are Negroes. The three Negro members of the machine in this ward are all office-holders. About one-fourth of the fifty-two members of the Seventh Ward machine are Negroes, and one-half of these are office holders. The Negro's record as an office-seeker is, it is needless to say, far surpassed by his white brother and it is only in the last two decades that Negroes have appeared as members of councils and clerks. 16
In spite of the methods employed to secure these offices it cannot as yet justly be charged that many of the Negro office-holders are unfitted for their duty. There is always the possibility however that incompetent Negro officers may increase in number; and there can be no doubt but that corrupt and dishonest white politicians have been kept in power by the influence thus obtained to sway the Negro vote of the Seventh and Eighth and other wards. The problem of the Negro voter then is one of the many prob lems that baffle all efforts at political reform in Philadelphia : the small corrupt vote of the slums which disgraces repub lican government; the large vote of the masses which mistaken political ideals, blind party loyalty and economic stress now holds imprisoned and shackled to the service of dishonest political leaders.
M Cf. "A Woman's Municipal Campaign." Publications of Amer. AcacL of PoL and Soc. Science.
382 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
54. Some Good Results of Negro Suffrage. It is wrong to suppose that all the results of this hazardous
experiment in widening the franchise have been evil.
First the ballot has without doubt been a means of protec tion in the hands of a people peculiarly liable to oppression. Its first bestowal gained Negroes admittance to street-cars
after a struggle of a quarter century ; and frequently since
private and public oppression has been lightened by the
knowledge of the power of the black vote. This fact has
greatly increased the civic patriotism of the Negro, made him strive more eagerly to adapt himself to the spirit of the city life, and has kept him from becoming a socially dangerous class. At the same time the Negro has never sought to use his
ballot to menace civilization or even the established prin ciples of this government This fact has been noticed by many students but it deserves emphasis. Instead of being radical light-headed followers of every new political pana cea, the freedmen of Philadelphia and of the nation have
always formed the most conservative element in our politi cal life and have steadfastly opposed the schemes of infla
tionists, socialists and dreamers. Part of this conservatism
may to be sure be the inertia of ignorance, but even such inertia must anchor to some well-defined notions as to what the present situation is ; and no element of our political life seems better to comprehend the main lines of our social organization than the Negro. In Philadelphia he
has usually been allied with the better elements although too often that " better" was far from the best. And never has the Negro been to any extent the ally of the worst elements.
In spite of the fact that unworthy officials could easily get into office by the political methods pursued by the
Negroes, the average of those who have obtained office has been good. Of the three colored councilrnen one has re ceived the endorsement of the Municipal League, while
Sect. 55.] The Paradox of Reform, 383
the others seem to be up to the average of the councilmen. One Negro has been clerk In the tax office for twenty years or more and has an enviable record. The colored police men as a class are declared by their superiors to be capable, neat and efficient. There are some cases of inefficiency one clerk who used to be drunk most of his time, another who devotes his time to work outside his office, and many cases of inefficient watchmen and laborers. The average of efficiency among colored officeholders however is good and much higher than one might naturally expect
Finally, the training in citizenship which the exercise of the right of suffrage entails has not been lost on the Phila
delphia Negro. Any worthy cause of municipal reform can secure a respectable Negro vote in the city, showing that there is the germ of an intelligent independent vote which rises above even the blandishments of decent remu nerative employment. This class is small but seems to be
growing. 55. The Paradox of Reform. The growth of a higher
political morality among Negroes is to-day hindered by their paradoxical position. Suppose the Municipal League or the Woman's School-board movement, or some other reform is brought before the better class of Negroes to-day;
they will nearly all agree that city politics are notoriously
corrupt, that honest women should replace ward heelers on
school-boards, and the like. But can they vote for such
movements? Most of them will say No; for to do so will throw many worthy Negroes out of employment: these
very reformers who want votes for specific reforms, will not themselves work beside Negroes, or admit them to posi tions in their stores or offices, or lend them friendly aid in
trouble. Moreover Negroes are proud of their councilmen
and policemen. What if some of these positions of honor and respectability have been gained by shady "politics" shall they be nicer in these matters than the mass of the
whites? Shall they surrender these tangible evidences of
384 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
the rise of their race to forward the good-hearted but hardly
imperative demands of a crowd of women ? Especially, too, of women who did not apparently know there were any Negroes on earth until they wanted their votes? Such
logic may be faulty, but it is convincing to the mass of
Negro voters. And cause after cause may gain their re
spectful attention and even applause, but when election-
day comes, the " machine" gets their votes.
Thus the growth of broader political sentiment is hin dered and will be until some change comes. When indus trial exclusion is so broken down that no class will be unduly tempted by the bribe of office ; when the apos tles of civil reform compete within the ward Boss in
friendliness and kindly consideration for the unfortunate ; when the league between gambling and crime and the city authorities is less close, then we can expect the more rapid development of civic virtue in the Negro and indeed in the whole city. As it is to-day the experiment of Negro suf
frage with all its glaring shortcomings cannot justly be
called a failure, but rather in view of all circumstances a
partial success. Whatever it lacks can justly be charged to those Philadelphians who for thirty years have surrend ered their right of political leadership to thieves and trick
sters, and allowed such teachers to instruct this untutored
race in whose hand lay an unfamiliar instrument of civili zation.
CHAPTER XVIII. A FINAL WORD.
56* The Meaning of All This. Two sorts of answers are usually returned to the bewildered American who asks seriously : What is the Negro problem ? The one is straightforward and clear: it is simply this, or simply that, and one simple remedy long enough applied will in time cause it to disappear. The other answer is apt to be hopelessly involved and complex to indicate no simple panacea, and to end in a somewhat hopeless There it is ; what can we do ? Both of these sorts of answers have some thing of truth in them : the Negro problem looked at in one way is but the old world questions of ignorance, poverty, crime, and the dislike of the stranger. On the other hand it is a mistake to think that attacking each of these questions single-handed without reference to the
others will settle the matter: a combination of social
problems is far more than a matter of mere addition, the combination itself is a problem. Nevertheless the Negro problems are not more hopelessly complex than many others have been. Their elements despite their bewildering complication can be kept clearly in view : they are after
all the same difficulties over which the world has grown gray : the question as to how far human intelligence can be trusted and trained; as to whether we must always have the poor with us ; as to whether it is possible for the
mass of men to attain righteousness on earth ; and then to this is added that question of questions : after all who are Men ? Is every featherless biped to be counted a man and brother? Are all races and types to be joint heirs of the
(335)
386 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
new earth that men have striven to raise in thirty centuries and more? Shall we not swamp civilization in barbar ism and drown genius in indulgence if we seek a mythical Humanity which shall shadow all men ? The answer of the early centuries to this puzzle was clear : those of any nation who can be called Men and endowed with rights are few : they are the privileged classes the well-born and the accidents of low birth called up by the King. The rest, the mass of the nation, the pobel} the mob, are fit to follow, to obey, to dig and delve, but not to think or rule or play the gentleman. We who were born to another philosophy hardly realize how deep-seated aud plausible this view of human capabilities and powers once was ; how utterly in
comprehensible this republic would have been to Charle
magne or Charles V or Charles I. We rather hasten to forget that once the courtiers of English kings looked upon the ancestors of most Americans with far greater contempt than these Americans look upon Negroes and perhaps, indeed, had more cause. We forget that once French peasants were the
cc Niggers
" of France, and that German
princelings once discussed with doubt the brains and
humanity of the bauer* Much of this or at least some of it has passed and the
world has glided by blood and iron into a wider humanity, a wider respect for simple manhood unadorned by ancestors or privilege. Not that we have discovered, as some hoped and. some feared, that all men were created free and equal, but rather that the differences in men are not so vast as we had assumed. We still yield the well-born the advantages of birth, we still see that each nation has its dangerous flock of fools and rascals ; but we also find most men have brains to be cultivated and souls to be saved.
And still this widening of the idea of common Human ity is of slow growth and to-day but dimly realized. We grant full citizenship in the World Commonwealth to the
"Anglo-Saxon" (whatever that may mean), the Teuton
Sect 56.] The Meaning of All This. 387
and the Latin ; then with just a shade of reluctance we extend it to the Celt and Slav. We half deny it to the yel low races of Asia, admit the brown Indians to an ante-room
only on the strength of an undeniable past ; bnt with the
Negroes of Africa we come to a full stop, and in its heart the civilized world with one accord denies that these come within the pale of nineteenth-century Humanity. This
feeling, widespread and deep-seated, is, in America, the vastest of the Negro problems ; we have, to be sure, a
threatening problem of ignorance but the ancestors of most Americans were far more ignorant than the freedmen's sons ; these ex-slaves are poor but not as poor as the Irish
peasants used to be ; crime is rampant but not more so, if as much, as in Italy; but the difference is that the ancestors of the English and the Irish and the Italians were felt to be worth educating, helping and guiding because they were men and brothers, while in America a census which gives a slight indication of the utter disap
pearance of the American Negro from the earth is greeted with ill-concealed delight.
Other centuries looking back upon the culture of the
nineteenth would have a right to suppose that if, in a land
of freemen, eight millions of human beings were found to be dying of disease, the nation would cry with one voice, " Heal them ! " If they were staggering on in ignorance, it
would cry, "Train them!" If they were harming themselves
and others by crime, it would cry, " Guide them !" And
such cries are heard and have been heard in the land ; but
it was not one voice and its volume has been ever broken
by counter-cries and echoes, " Let them die!" " Train them
like slaves !" " Let them stagger downward !"
This is the spirit that enters in and complicates all
Negro social problems and this is a problem which only civilization and humanity can successfully solve. Mean time we have the other problems before us we have the
problems arising from the uniting of so many social
388 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
questions about one centre. In such a situation we need only to avoid underestimating the difficulties on the one hand and overestimating them on the other. The prob lems are difficult, extremely difficult, but they are such as the world has conquered before and can conquer again. Moreover the battle involves more than a mere altruistic interest in an alien people. It is a battle for humanity and human culture. If in the hey-dey of the greatest of the world's civilizations, it is possible for one people ruthlessly to steal another, drag them helpless across the
water, enslave them, debauch them, and then slowly murder them by economic and social exclusion until they disappear from the face of the earth if the consumma tion of such a crime be possible in the twentieth century, then our civilization is vain and the republic is a mockery and a farce.
But this will not be ; first, even with the terribly
adverse circumstances under which Negroes live, there is not the slightest likelihood of their dying out ; a nation that has endured the slave-trade, slavery, reconstruction, and present prejudice three hundred years, and under it increased in numbers and efficiency, is not in any immedi ate danger of extinction. Nor is the thought of voluntary or involuntary emigration more than a dream of men who forget that there are half as many Negroes in the United States as Spaniards in Spain. If this be so then a few
plain propositions may be laid down as axiomatic : 1. The Negro is here to stay. 2. It is to the advantage of all, both black and white,
that every Negro should make the best of himself. 3. It is the duty of the Negro to raise himself by every
effort to the standards of modern civilization and not to lower those standards in any degree.
4. It is the duty of the white people to guard their civil ization against debauchment by themselves or others ; but in order to do this it is not necessary to hinder and
Sect 57,] The Duty of the Negroes. 389
retard the efforts of an earnest people to rise, simply because they lack faith in the ability of that people.
5. With these duties in mind and with a spirit of self-
help, mutual aid and co-operation, the two races should
strive side by side to realize the ideals of the republic and
make this truly a land of equal opportunity for all men.
57. The Duty of the Negroes. That the Negro race has an appalling work of social reform before it need hardly be said. Simply because the ancestors of the present white
inhabitants of America went out of their way barbarously to mistreat and enslave the ancestors of the present black
inhabitants gives those blacks no right to ask that the civil
ization and morality of the land be seriously menaced for
their benefit. Men have a right to demand that the mem bers of a civilized community be civilized ; that the fabric
of human culture, so laboriously woven, be not wantonly or
ignorantly destroyed. Consequently a nation may rightly demand, even of a people it has consciously and intention
ally wronged, not indeed complete civilization in thirty or
one hundred years, but at least every effort and sacrifice
possible on their part toward making themselves fit mem bers of the community within a reasonable length of time; that thus they may early become a source of strength and
help instead of a national burden. Modern society has
too many problems of its own, too much proper anxiety as to its own ability to survive under its present organization, for it lightly to shoulder all the burdens of a less
advanced
people, and it can rightly demand that as far as possible and as rapidly as possible the Negro bend his energy to the
solving of his own social problems contributing to his
poor, paying his share of the taxes and supporting the
schools and public administration. For the accomplish ment of this the Negro has a right to demand freedom for
self-development, and no more aid from without than is
really helpful for furthering that development Such aid
must of necessity be considerable : it must furnish schools
39o A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
and reformatories, and relief and preventive agencies ; but
the bulk of the work of raising the Negro must be done by the Negro himself, and the greatest help for him will be
not to hinder and curtail and discourage his efforts.
Against prejudice, injustice and wrong the Negro ought to
protest energetically and continuously, but he must never
forget that he protests because those things hinder his own
efforts, and that those efforts are the key to his future.
And those efforts must be mighty and comprehensive, persistent, well-aimed and tireless; satisfied with
no partial
success, lulled to sleep by no colorless victories ; and, above
all, guided by no low selfish ideals ; at the same time they must be tempered by common sense and rational expecta tion. In Philadelphia those efforts should first be directed
toward a lessening of Negro crime ; no doubt the amount
of crime imputed to the race is exaggerated, no doubt
features of the Negro's environment over which he has no
control, excuse much that is committed ; but beyond all this the amount of crime that can without doubt rightly be
laid at the door of the Philadelphia Negro is large and is a
menace to a civilized people. Efforts to stop this crime
must commence in the Negro homes ; they must cease to
be, as they often are, breeders of idleness and extravagance and complaint Work, continuous and intensive; work,
although it be menial and poorly rewarded ; work, though done in travail of soul and sweat of brow, must be so im
pressed upon Negro children as the road to salvation, that
a child would feel it a greater disgrace to be idle than to
do the humblest labor. The homely virtues of honesty, truth and chastity must be instilled in the cradle, and
although it is hard to teach self-respect to a people whose
million fellow-citizens half-despise them, yet it must be
taught as the surest road to gain the respect of others.
It is right and proper that Negro boys and girls should
desire to rise as high in the world as their ability and just desert entitle them. They should be ever encouraged and
Sect 57.] The Duty of the Negroes. 391
urged to do so, although they should be taught also that
Idleness and crime are beneath and not above the lowest
work. It should be the continual object of Negroes to
open up better industrial chances for their sons and daugh ters. Their success here must of course rest largely with the white people, but not entirely. Proper co-operation
among forty or fifty thousand colored people ought to
open many chances of employment for their sons and
daughters in trades, stores and shops, associations and
industrial enterprises.
Further, some rational means of amusement should be
furnished young folks. Prayer meetings and church
socials have their place, but they cannot compete in attrac
tiveness with the dance halls and gambling dens of the
city. There is a legitimate demand for amusement on the
part of the young which may be made a means of educa
tion, improvement and recreation. A harmless and beauti ful amusement like dancing might with proper effort be
rescued from its low and unhealthful associations and
made a means of health and recreation. The billiard table is no more wedded to the saloon than to the church
if good people did not drive it there. If the Negro homes
and churches cannot amuse their young people, and if no
other efforts are made to satisfy this want, then we cannot
complain if the saloons and clubs and bawdy houses send
these children to crime, disease and death.
There is a vast amount of preventive and rescue work
which the Negroes themselves might do : keeping little
girls off the street at night, stopping the escorting of
unchaperoned young ladies to church and elsewhere,
showing the dangers of the lodging system, urging the
buying of homes and removal from crowded and tainted
neighborhoods, giving lectures and tracts on health and
habits, exposing the dangers of gambling and policy-
playing, and inculcating respect for women. Day-nurseries and sewing-schools, mothers
5
meetings, the parks and
393 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
airing places, all these things are little known or appre ciated among the masses of Negroes, and their attention should be directed to them.
The spending of money is a matter to which Negroes need to give especial attention. Money is wasted to-day in dress, furniture, elaborate entertainments, costly church
edifices, and " insurance " schemes, which ought to go
toward buying homes, educating children, giving simple healthful amusement to the young, and accumulating something in the savings bank against a
" rainy day." A
crusade for the savings bank as against the " insurance "
society ought to be started in the Seventh Ward without delay.
Although directly after the war there was great and remarkable enthusiasm for education, there is no doubt but that this enthusiasm has fallen off, and there is to-day much neglect of children among the Negroes, and failure to send them regularly to school. This should be looked into by the Negroes themselves and every effort made to induce full regular attendance.
Above all, the better classes of the Negroes should
recognize their duty toward the masses. They should not
forget that the spirit of the twentieth century is to be the
turning of the high toward the lowly, the bending of
Humanity to all that is human ; the recognition that in the slums of modern society lie the answers to most of our
puzzling problems of organization and life, and that only as we solve those problems is our culture assured and our progress certain. This the Negro is far from recognizing for himself; his social evolution in cities like Philadel
phia is approaching a mediaeval stage when the centri fugal forces of repulsion between social classes are be
coming more powerful than those of attraction. So hard has been the rise of the better class of Negroes that
they fear to fall if now they stoop to lend a hand to their fellows. This feeling is intensified by the blindness
Sect 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 393
of those outsiders who persist even now in confounding the good and bad, the risen and fallen in one mass. Nevertheless the Negro must learn the lesson that other nations learned so laboriously and imperfectly, that his better classes have their chief excuse for being in the work they may do toward lifting the rabble. This is especially true in a city like Philadelphia which has so distinct and creditable a Negro aristocracy ; that they do
something already to grapple with these social problems of their race is true, but they do not yet do nearly as much as they must, nor do they clearly recognize their responsi bility.
Finally, the Negroes must cultivate a spirit of calm, patient persistence in their attitude toward their fellow citizens rather than of loud and intemperate complaint, A man may be wrong, and know he is wrong, and yet some finesse must be used in telling him of it. The white people of Philadelphia are perfectly conscious that their
Negro citizens are not treated fairly in all respects, but it will not improve matters to call names or impute unworthy motives to all men. Social reforms move slowly and yet when Right is reinforced by calm but persistent Progress we somehow all feel that in the end it must triumph.
58. The Duty of the Whites. There is a tendency on the part of many white people to approach the Negro question from the side which just now is of least pressing importance, namely, that of the social intermingling of races. The old query : Would you want your sister to marry a Nigger? still stands as a grim sentinel to stop much rational discussion. And yet few white women have been pained by the addresses of black suitors, and these who have easily got rid of them. The whole discussion is little less than foolish
; perhaps a century from to-day we may find ourselves seriously discussing such questions of social
policy, but it is certain that just as long as one group deems it a serious mesalliance to marry with another just
394 A Final Word. [Chap. XVTIL
so long few marriages will take place, and it will need neither law nor argument to guide human choice in such a matter. Certainly the masses of whites would hardly acknowledge that an active propaganda of repression was necessary to ward off intermarriage. Natural pride of
race, strong on one side and growing on the other, may be trusted to ward off such mingling as might in this stage of
development prove disastrous to both races. All this there fore is a question of the far-off future.
To-day, however, we must face the fact that a natural repugnance to close intermingling with unfortunate ex- slaves has descended to a discrimination that very seriously hinders them from being anything better. It is right and
proper to object to ignorance and consequently to ignorant men
; but if by our actions we have been responsible for
their ignorance and are still actively engaged in keeping them ignorant, the argument loses its moral force. So with the Negroes : men have a right to object to a race so poor and ignorant and inefficient as the mass of the Negroes ; but if their policy in the past is parent of much of this condition, and if to-day by shutting black boys and girls out of most avenues of decent employment they are in
creasing pauperism and vice, then they must hold them selves largely responsible for the deplorable results.
There is no doubt that in Philadelphia the centre and kernel of the Negro problem so far as the white people are concerned is the narrow opportunities afforded Negroes for
earning a decent living. Such discrimination is morally wrong, politically dangerous, industrially wasteful, and
socially silly. It is the duty of the whites to stop it, and to do so primarily for their own sakes. Industrial freedom of opportunity has by long experience been proven to be
generally best for all. Moreover the cost of crime and
pauperism, the growth of slums, and the pernicious in fluences of idleness and lewdness, cost the public far more than would the hurt to the feelings of a carpenter to work
Sect 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 395
beside a black man, or a shop girl to stand beside a darker mate. This does not contemplate the wholesale replacing of white workmen for Negroes out of sympathy or philan thropy ; it does mean that talent should be rewarded, and aptness used in commerce and industry whether its owner be black or white
; that the same incentive to good, honest,
effective work be placed before a black office boy as before a white one before a black porter as before a white one ; and that unless this is done the city has no right to com
plain that black boys lose interest in work and drift into idleness and crime. Probably a change in public opinion on this point to-morrow would not make very much difference in the positions occupied by Negroes in the city : some few would be promoted, some few would get new places the mass would remain as they are ; but it would make one vast difference : it would inspire the young to try harder, it would stimulate the idle and discouraged and it would take away from this race the omnipresent excuse for failure : prejudice. Such a moral change would work a revolution in the criminal rate during the next ten years. Even a Negro bootblack could black boots better if he knew he was a menial not because he was a Negro but because he was best fitted for that work. We need then a radical change in public opinion on this
point ; it will not and ought not to come suddenly, but instead of thoughtless acquiescence in the continual and
steadily encroaching exclusion of Negroes from work in the city, the leaders of industry and opinion ought to be
trying liere and there to open up new opportunities and
give new chances to bright colored boys. The policy of the city to-day simply drives out the best class of young people whom its schools have educated and social oppor tunities trained, and fills their places with idle and vicious
immigrants. It is a paradox of the times that young mem and women from some of the best Negro families of the city families born and reared here and schooled in the
396 A final Word. [Chap. XVIIL
best traditions of tins municipility have actually had to go to the South to get work, if they wished to be aught but chambermaids and bootblacks. Not that such work may not be honorable and useful, but that it is as wrong to make scullions of engineers as it is to make engineers of scullions. Such a situation is a disgrace to the city a
disgrace to its Christianity, to its spirit of justice, to its
common sense ; what can be the end of such a policy but
increased crime and increased excuse for crime ? Increased
poverty and more reason to be poor ? Increased political serfdom of the mass of black voters to the bosses and rascals who divide the spoils? Surely here lies the first duty of a civilized city.
Secondly, in their efforts for the uplifting of the Negro the people of Philadelphia must recognize the existence of the better class of Negroes and must gain their active aid ?nd co-operation by generous and polite conduct Social
sympathy must exist between what is best in both races and there must no longer be the feeling that the Negro who makes the best of himself is of least account to the city of Philadelphia, while the vagabond is to be helped and
pitied. This better class of Negro does not want help or
pity, but it does want a generous recognition of its diffi
culties, and a broad sympathy with the problem of life as it presents itself to them. It is composed of men and women educated and in many cases cultured ; with proper co-operation they could be a vast power in the city, and the
only power that could successfully cope with many phases of the Negro problems. But their active aid cannot be
gained for purely selfish motives, or kept by churlish and ungentle manners ; and above all they object to being patronized.
Again, the white people of the city must remember that much of the sorrow and bitterness that surrounds the life of the American Negro comes from the unconscious preju dice and half-conscious actions of men and women who do
Sect. 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 397 not intend to wound or annoy. One is not compelled to discuss the Negro question with every Negro one meets or to tell him of a father who was connected with the Under ground Railroad; one is not compelled to stare at the solitary black face in the audience as though it were not human
; it is not necessary to sneer, or be unkind or boor
ish, if the Negroes in the room or on the street are not all the best behaved or have not the most elegant manners ; it is hardly necessary to strike from the dwindling list of one's boyhood and girlhood acquaintances or school-day friends all those who happen to have Negro blood, simply because one has not the courage now to greet them on the street. The little decencies of daily intercourse can go on, the courtesies of life be exchanged even across the color line without any danger to the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon or the social ambition of the Negro. With out doubt social differences are facts not fancies and can not lightly be swept aside ; but they hardly need to be looked upon as excuses for downright meanness and incivility. A polite and sympathetic attitude toward these striving
thousands; a delicate avoidance of that which wounds and embitters them
; a generous granting of opportunity to
them ; a seconding of their efforts, and a desire to reward
honest success all this, added to proper striving on their part, will go far even in our day toward making all men, white and black, realize what the great founder of the city meant when he named it the City of Brotherly ZrOve.
APPENDICES.
(399)
4 0 0
A p p e n d i x A .
S c h e d u l e s .
4 0 1
4O2 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF
PHILADELPHIA.
Instructions for Family Schedule.
A family schedule must be made out for every group of two or more related persons living under conditions of
family life. Boarders, lodgers and servants, are to be
entered on separate individual schedules. Hotels, etc., should be entered on an institution schedule, and the in
mates on family and individual schedules.
Question I. Enter here the number of persons in the family, exclusive of lodgers, boarders, visitors or servants.
Question 2. Facts for the head of the family should be entered in the first column, and he or she should be designated as Head, whether man, woman, married or single. Give the other members the term which will indicate their relation to the head; as wife, son, daughter, sister, etc, or mother (z. e. mother of head of family), etc.
uestion 3. Abbreviate to M. (male), or F, (female), uestion 4. Give exact years, as, 17, 29, 31, 43, etc., and do not say
" about" 25,30,35,40. Enter children less than one year old on the ist of December, in twelfths of a month, as 6-12, 3-12, etc.; or if not one month old, as 0-12.
Questions. Enter as married (mar.), single (sing.), widowed (wid.). and separated (sep.).
Question 6. Give State and town.
Questions 7 and 8. Give approximate number of years. Question n. This refers to the children of the family. Questions 12 and 13. Write
" Graduate Girls' High, '96 "; or "Attend ant Institute for Colored Youth, 3 yrs.," etc. Schools higher than common schools are here referred to. Answer this for all members of the family.
Questions 14 and 15. This is an important inquiry. _ Simple as it appears, it is always difficult in census work to get satisfactory replies to this question. Inaccuracy and insufficiency of statement are the most prominent evils to be avoided:
For instance, remember: wewant to know not what a man " works in,"
but just what he does. We want to distinguish between : the owner or director of a business and one who works at it; between waiters and head-waiters; between cooks in private families and in hotels; between coachmen, hackmen, and draymen ; between merchants and pedlars, and those who keep stands.
Do not say: ' *
Printer, ' ' but c ' compositor,
' ' or " pressman ;" not 4 '
mechanic, ' '
but " carpenter " or " plumber;" not "agent/* but "real-estate
agent;" not "merchant" or "pedlar," but " dry-goods merchant
"
or "pedlar tinware"; not "clerk" but "salesman in hardware- store," "stenographer," "bookkeeper," etc.
Schedules. 403
Describe women who keep house at home as "housewives;" those who keep house for others as "housekeepers." If the woman does her own housework, andin addition pursues a gainful occupation, as dressmaking, enter: "housewife dressmaker,
" or "housewife day's-work-out. '
J
Daughters, etc., who help with housework, should be entered:" housework no pay." Those who do nothing should be entered as " no occupation." Children, too young to have an occupation, should be entered ** at home," or "at school."
Question 17. Answer only one of these preferably one of the first two. Seek to approximate the truth as nearly as possible.
Question 22. This refers to sickness that was severe enough to interfere seriously with daily work.
Question 25. Give the name of the disease or ailment. Question 25. Give dates as nearly as possible, and addresses. Question 26. Enter either the reason given or the reason surmised, or
both. Question 28. Give street and number. Question 30. Give names of societies. Question 3?. This question is optional, and is onlv for those who are able
to give their expenditure in some detail. Fill only one of the three columns for each particular item (f. g~ rentyearlyt food weekly, etc.) and seek by reference to written accounts to make this report accu rate. Remember that income^ expenditure and savings must balance.
Question 33. Bnter this under one of the following heads: A. Athlet ics (bicycling, baseball, etc, ) . B. Music. C. Church entertainments, D. Indoor games (cards, billiards, etc.). K. Balls. P. House- parties. G. Picnics and excursions. H. Theatres.
Remember to enter here the actual chief amusement, not merely the one the person likes best, but does not often enjoy.
Question 35. Give relationship to head of family.
Where the question only applies to certain members of the family, put a cross in the spaces where there are no answers expected. Where no information Is given, put "unknown," or "unanswered."
Finally, remember that the information given is confi dential
; the University of Pennsylvania will strictly guard
it as such, and allow no one to have access to the schedules for other than scientific purposes. We ask, under these conditions, careful, accurate, and truthful answers.
404 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SEVEN.
Individual Schedule, 2.
Schedules. 405
406 Appendix A.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOME SCHBDUI/B. Kvery structure in which persons Kve is a dwelling for the purposes of
this investigation, whether wholly so occupied or not. In each dwelling there will be one or more homes; for each such home a Home Schedule must be made out, and at its top the schedule number of the correspond ing family or individual inserted.
Question 4. If it occupies the house, put * ' whole house. ' '
Questions 14, 15, 16, 17, Answer Yes or No. Note whether these facili ties are used by one or more homes ?
euestions 19, 20, 21, 22. Answer excellent^ good, fair or bad.
uestion 26. This refers primarily to the living room. Note the presence of the following articles: piano, organ, parlor-suit, sewing-machine, bookshelves, couch, centre-table, rocking-chair, etc.
Schedules. 407
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF PHH^LDKI,PHIA, WARD SEVEN.
House Servant Schedule^ 4.
For Instructions, see Family Schedule, i.
408 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. CONDITION OF THE NBGROKS OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SBVHN.
Street Schedule, 5. Street> between Streets.
DECEMBER i, 1896. No Investigator.
I
2
3 4
6
8 9 10 ii 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 *9 20 21 22
General Character? Width? ' Paved with ? Street-car line ? Character of houses ? Stories in houses? . . Material of houses ? ... Proportion occupied as dwellings? . Proportion of Whites to Blacks ? Nationality of Whiter ?Nationality of White- Cleanliness of street? , Width of sidewalks ? . Lighted by ? Hydrants? Schools? . Churches? Saloons ? Pool-rooms? . ., . . . Public institutions ? Public conveniences ? . Shops? , Remarks? ......
Schedules. 409
INSTRUCTIONS FOR STREET SCHEDULE. A ** street " in this Schedule is meant to designate not necessarily tr
whole street which bears one name as Ix>mbard from river to river but rather such parts of streets as have a common character; thus four or five Schedules would be necessary for the distinctive parts of Ix>mbard Street, two for Juniper, several for Pine, one for Wetherill.
i. Characterize the street concisely; as, "respectable residence street," or
4< blind alley with tumble-down brick houses. >r
4. Answer by Yes or JVo. 5. Note whether the houses are dwellings, stables, etc, , respectable,
suspicious, etc. 8. Estimate carefully; as one-third dwellings, or one-half back
yards, etc. 9 and 10. Ask a policeman, or one or two of the persons dwelling
there. Do not depend on your own observation, unless it extends over some time.
ii. Answer by excellent, good^/air, or bad. 14. Give number. 15. Give names. 1 6. Give number, names and denomination. 17 and 18. Give number. 19. This includes hospitals, clubs, missions, manufactories. Note
clubs of all sorts carefully, and ascertain their character if possible. Bnter all these institutions bv name.
20. This refers to public water-closets, baths, unnals, and lavatories. 21. Give approximate distribution and character of shojjs. 22. Make here any concise statement that will throw light on the
street and its inhabitants.
410 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. CONDITION or THE NEGROES OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SEVEN.
Institution Schedule, 6.
DECEMBER i, 1896. No._ Investigator.
I
2
3 4 5 6
S 9 10 n 12
13 14 15 16
Name? ... . Street and number ? Character? Proprietors? Number of members or partners? . Amount of capital invested ? . . . Real estate owned ? Value of same ? Taxes paid last year on same ? . . . Value of other property ? Income last twelve months ? . . . Source of said income ? Expenditures last twelve months ? . Objects of expenditures ?..,.. History ? Description and remarks:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTITUTION SCHEDULE.
This includes all institutions conducted by Negroes wholly or partially, or wholly or partially in the interest of the Negroes; as, e. g., churches, missions, clubs, shops, stands, stores, agencies, societies, associations, halls, newspapers, etc. Find out the object of the enterprise (philanthropic, social, business,
etc. ), the capital invested, the property owned, taxes paid, income for past twelve months, character and amount of expenditure, sort of quar ters occupied, and persons connected, etc., aiming, in all cases, to collect essential facts.
Especially try and find out whether the enterprise is that of one per son, of a partnership, or is a co-operative enterprise among a large num ber. If in any degree co-operative, bring out the extent, character and objects of the co-operation.
APPENDIX B.
LEGISLATION, ETC., OF PENNSYLVANIA IN REGARD TO
THE NEGRO.
1682. Negro Serfdom Recognized. The charter of the Free Society of Traders of Pennsylvania recognizes the slavery of Blacks. Slaves were to be freed after fourteen years of service, upon condition that they cultivate land allotted to them, and surrender two-thirds of the produce annually. Hazard's 'Xn-
nalsT(Ed. 1850), 553. 1693, July IX - Tumults of Slaves. Action of City Council
of Philadelphia against tumults by slaves. Penna. CoL Rec., I, 380-81.
1700. Slave Marriages. Penn proposes a bill regulating slave marriages; bill is lost in Council. Bettle, 368; Thomas, 266.
1700, November 27. Trial of Slaves. "An Act for the Trial of Negroes." Introduced by Penn. This act provided that Negroes accused of high crime should be tried by two
justices of the peace and six freeholders; rape of white women to be punished by death, and attempts by castration; Negroes were not to carry arms without special license; over four Ne groes meeting together on Sundays or other days
4 '
upon no lawful business of their masters or owners
" were to be whipped. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 56. (Disallowed January 7, 1706.) 1700, November 27. Traffic with Slaves.
'* An Act for the Better Regulation of Servants in this Province and Territories*" Traffic with slaves forbidden, among other things. Statutes- at-Large, ch. 49.
1700, November 27. Duty on Slaves. "An Act for Grant ing an Impost upon Wines, Rum, Beer, Ale, Cider, etc, , Im ported, Retorted and Sold in this Province and Territories.'*
2. . . . "for every Negro, male or female, imported, if above sixteen years of age, twenty shillings; for every Negro under the age of sixteen, six shillings. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 85.
4*2 Appendix B.
1706, January 12. Duty on Slaves. "An Act for Raising a Supply
" Imported Negroes, except those who
lived at least two years in Jersey, 405. (or IO.T. ?) per head.
Statutes-at-Large, ch. 164.
1706, January 12. Trial of Negroes. "An Act for the Trial of Negroes." Practically the same as the Act of 1700; attempt to rape and robbery of 5 or more, punished by branding and exportation. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 143. (Repealed by Act of 1780, q. v.)
1708. Protest to Legislature. Protest of Mechanics against hiring out of Negroes. Scharf-Wescott : "History of Phila
delphia" I, 200.
1710, December 28. Duty Ad. " An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." 40$. on Negroes imported. Carey and Bioren, I, 82.
1711, February 28. Duty Ad. " An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . , M
40?. on Negroes not imported for
importers own use. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 181. (Disallowed 20 February, 1714.)
1712, Petition for Emancipation. Petition of Southeby for Abolition of Slavery. DuBois^Slave Trade? p. 22.
1712. Negro Plot. Negro plot in New York. Ibid. 1712, June n. Duty Ad.
" A Supplementary Act to. . ." the Act of 1810. Carey and Bioren, I, 87-88. (Disallowed in 1713.)
1712, June 7. Prohibitory Duty Ad. " An Act to Prevent
the Importation of Negroes and Indians into this Province. "
20 prohibitory duty laid on slaves imported, because of their plots and insurrections. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 192. Cf. DuBois^Slave Trade" p. 22. (Disallowed 1713.)
1713. Assiento Treaty. Contract for importing slaves into
Spanish West Indies signed by Great Britain. DuBois' u Slave
Trade" pp. 207-9. 1715, May 28. Duty Ad.
" An Act for Laying a Duty on Negroes Imported into this Province/' ^5 duty ; slaves of immigrants not to be sold for a year. Statutes-at-Large, III, 121. (Disallowed 21 July, 1719.)
1718, February 22. Duty Ad. l * An Act for Continuing a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." ^5 duty; slaves of immigrants not to be sold for 16 months. Statutes-at-Large, III, 164.
Legislation, etc. 413
1721, February 24. Duty Act. "An Act for Continuing several Acts. . . . Act of 1718 continued. Statutes-at Large, III, 238.
1721, August 2 1 . Traffic with Negroes. * ' A Supplementary
Act to a Law. . . ." On Public Houses. No liquors to be sold Negroes or Indians without leave. Statutes-at-Large III, 250.
1721, August 26. Police Regulation. "An Act for Pre venting Accidents that May Happen by Fire." Slaves shoot ing squibs or guns in Philadelphia without license to be whipped. -Statutes-at-Large, III, 254.
1722, May 12. Duty Act. " An Act for Laying a Duty on Negroes. . . ." $ duty, as in 1718. Statutes-at- Large, HI, 275.
1722. Petition of White Laborers. Laborers petition Gen eral Assembly against employment of Blacks. Assembly resolves: That the principle is dangerous and injurious to the republic and not to be sanctioned. ^Watson's Annals,"!, 98.
1726, March 5. Duty Ad. " An Act for Laying a Duty
on Negroes. . . ." Act of 1722 continued from 1726 to 1729. Statutes-at-Large, IV, 52.
1726, March 26. Status of Negroes Defined. " An Act
for the Better Regulation of Negroes in this Province/* 1
'Whereas, it often happens that Negroes commit felonies and other heinous crimes, which by the laws of this Province are punishable by death, but the loss of such cases falling wholly on the owner, is so great a hardship that sometimes may induce him to conceal such crimes, or convey his Negro to some other place and so suffer him to escape justice to the ill example of others to commit like offences,
" Beit resolved, etc., That Negroesconvicted of capital crime be valued and paid for out of money collected as duty on their importation,** .
III. c *
Whereas, free Negroes are an idle and slothful peo ple and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and afford ill examples to other Negroes. Therefore, Be it enacted that if any master or mistress shall discharge or set free any Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance with sufficient securities in the sum of ^30 to indemnify the county for any charge or mcumbrance they may bring upon the same in case
4*4 Appendix B.
such Negro, through sickness or otherwise, be rendered incap able of self-support.
"
In case of freedom by will, the executor or administrator was required to give the bond, or such slaves should not be regarded as free.
Any Negro becoming free under age 21 might be bound to service until of age. The Act further provided penalties for the harboring of
Negroes by each other; for trading or dealing with each other without license all on pain of being sold into slavery if unable to pay fine; also provided penalty of 100 for anybody who should marry a Negro and white person; ^"30 for Negro caught living in marriage relation with white person, in such cases Negro to be sold into slavery for life.
XI of Act prohibited masters, etc., from allowing Negro slaves to hire their own time. One section also imposed a duty of ^10 on imported
slaves. - Statutes-at-Large, IV, 59. 1729, May 10. Duty Ad.
lt An Act for paying a Duty on Negroes Imported into this Province.
1 '
2 duty. Statutes-
at-Large, IV, 128.
1732, April 17. Slave Tumults. Philadelphia Council order Ordinance drawn to prevent tumults of slaves on Sundays. "Watson's Annals',' I, 62.
1738, July 3. Stove Tumults. Draft of Ordinance to sup press tumults of slaves considered in Philadelphia City Coun cil./^., I, 62.
1741, August 17. Tumults of Negroes. Order made by Philadelphia City Councils to suppress disorders of Negroes and others on court house square at night. Watson's Annals'," It 62-63.
1761, March 14. Duty Act. " An Act for paying a Duty on
Negro and Mulatto Slaves imported into this province." ^10 duty? Continued in 1768; repealed in 1780. Carey and Bioren, I. 37i, 451-
1761, April 22. Duty Ad. " A Supplement to. . . . "
the Act of 1761. Ibid., 371, 451. 1768, February 20. Duty Act. Acts of 1761 re-enacted.
Dallas, I, 490.
1773, February 26. Duty Ad. "An Act for Making
Legislation, etc. 415
Perpetual the Act. . . . "
of 1761. Additional ^10 duty provided for. Dallas, I, 671.
1775. Bill on Importation. Bill to prohibit importation or slaves vetoed by Governor. Bettle.
1778, September 7. Recovery of Duties. " An Act for the
Recovery of the Duties on Negro and Mulatto Slaves. . . . "
Dallas, I, 782.
1779, February 5. Plan of Emancipation. Supreme Ex ecutive Council recommends a plan of gradual emancipation to Assembly.
1780, March i. Slavery Abolished. " An Act for the Grad
ual Abolition of Slavery." 1,2. General condemnation of slavery. 3. No child born hereafter in Pennsylvania to be a slave. 4. Children of slaves born hereafter to be bound to service
until twenty-eight years of age. 5. All slaves to be registered. 7. Negroes to be tried for crime like other inhabitants. 10. None to be slaves except those registered. 14. Acts of 1725, 1761 and 1773 repealed. Carey and
Bioren, ch. 88 1.
1786. Petition for Potter's Field. Petition of Philadelphia Negroes to Council for leave to enclose Potter's Field as a Negro burial ground. Penna. Col. Rec.,,XIV, 637.
1788, March 29. Ad of 1780 Amended. ** An Act to Ex plain and Amend an Act Entitled ' An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.'
"
2. Slaves of immigrants to be free.
3. Slaves not to be removed from without their consent given before two justices.
4. Persons possessed of children liable to serve till twenty- eight years old must register them.
5. Slave trading forbidden under penalty and forfeiture. 6. Slaves serving for a term of years not to be separated
from parents. Carey and Bioren, ch. 394. 1790, September 2. Negro Suffrage. Constitution of Penn
sylvania. Art. Ill, Sec. i . In elections by the citizens, every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the State two years^ next before the election, and within that time paid a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at
416 Appendix B,
least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector. Purdon'/Digest" 6th ed.
1793, April ii. Duty on Slaves. " An Act to Establish a
Board of Wardens for the Port of Philadelphia, . .
22. Of passengers entering port only slaves to pay head
money. Carey andBioren, ch. 178. 1800, Petition to Congress. Petition of Negroes to Legisla
te and Congress against slave-trade. DuBois^Slave Trade," ! 3i-83.
1821, April. Ad vs. Pauperism. "An Act to Prevent the Increase of Pauperism in the Commonwealth."
i. If any black indentured servant over twenty-eight
years of age is brought into the State, his master is liable for his
charge if he becomes a pauper. Laws of Penna., 1821.
1826, March 25. Act vs. Kidnapping. " An Act to Give
Effect to the Provisions of the Constitution of the United States,
Relative to Fugitives from Labor, for the Protection of the Free
People of Color, and to prevent Kidnapping." i. Fine of $5oo-$2oco and imprisonment seven to twenty-
one years for kidnapping. 2. Aiding and abetting punished. 3~6- Claimed fugitives to be arrested on warrant and taken
before a judge. Oath of alleged owner or of interested per sons not received as evidence. Laws of Penna., 1826. Cf.
Prigg vs. Penna., 16 Peters, 500, U. S. Reports.
1827, April 17. Sales of Fugitives. "An Act to Prevent Certain Abuses of the Laws Relative to Fugitives from Labor.
"
No sales of fugitive slaves to be made in the State of Pennsyl vania. Laws of Penna., 1827.
1832. Restriction on Immigration. Bill in Legislature to
make free Negroes carry passes. Cf., p. 27. 1837, July- Negro Suffrage. Pennsylvania Supreme Court
at Sunbury ; case of Hobbs et aL vs. Fogg. Judgment of Com mon Pleas Court reversed and Negro declared not a
" free
man " in the meaning of Constitution. Penna. Reports, 6 Watts, 553-6*
1838. Negro Suffrage. Revised Constitution of Pennsyl vania, Art. Ill, Sec. i. "In elections by the citizens, every white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided
in this State one year, and in the election district where he
Legislation, etc. 417
offers to vote ten days immediately preceding such election, and within two years paid a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least ten days before the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector/
'
PurdonVDigest^Sixth Ed.
1854, ^a7 & "An Act for the Regulation and Continuance of a System of Education by Common Schools/* The Controllers and Directors of the several school districts
of the State are hereby authorized and required to establish within their respective districts separate schools for Negro and Mulatto children wherever such schools can be located so as to accommodate twenty or more pupils; and wherever such schools shall be established and kept open four months in
every year the Directors and Controllers shall not be compelled to admit such pupils into any other schools of the district.
Laws of Penna., 1854. 1863, March 6. Immigration. Petition against immigration
of freedmen to Pennsylvania denied by Senate committee of
legislature. Pamphlet, Phila. Library.
1867. Separate Seats in Cars. Pennsylvania Supreme Court; case of West Chester and Philadelphia Co. vs. Miles. Held that separation of Negroes to assigned seats for good order is not illegal on railways, etc. Penna. Reports, 5 Smith, 209.
1867, March 22. Civil Rights. Negroes to have same rights on railway carsas white citizens, Brightley's Purdon, Eleventh
Ed., 1436.
1870, April 6. Negro Suffrage. 10 of Act says : " That
so much of every Act of Assembly as provides that only white freemen shall be entitled to vote or to register as voters, or as
claiming to vote, at any general or special election in this
Commonwealth, be and the same is hereby repealed ; and that
hereafter all freemen, without distinction of color, shall be en
rolled and registered according to the provisions of the act ap
proved April 17, 1869.*' Laws of Penna., 1870. 1874. Negro Suffrage. New Constitution removes restric
tions as to color.
1 874, April 10. CivilRights. Pennsylvania Supreme Court; case of Drew vs. Peer. Damages given Negroes for ejectment from a theatre. 12 Norris, 234,
1878, March 15. Civil Rights. Pennsylvania Supreme
4i8 Appendix B.
Court; case of Central Railroad of New Jersey vs. Green and wife. Damages granted for compelling Negroes to go from one car to another on railway. Penna. Reports, 5 Norris, 421, 427.
1 88 1, June 8. Mixed Schools. i. It shall be unlawful for any school director, superintendent, or teacher to make any distinction whatever on account of, or by reason of, the race or color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon or seeking admission to any public or common school main tained wholly or in part under the school laws of the common wealth. Brightley's Purdon, Bleventh ed., p. 292.
1887, May 19. Civil Rights. "An Act to Provide Civil Rights for all People, Regardless of Race or Color,
" <v i. Be it
enacted, etc., that any person, company, corporation, being owner, lessee or manager of any restaurant, hotel, railroad, street railway, omnibus line, theatre, concert hall or place of entertainment or amusement, who shall refuse to accommodate, convey or admit any person or persons on account of race or color over their lines or into their hotel or restaurant, theatre, con cert hall or place of amusement, shall upon conviction thereof be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine of not less than fifty or more than one hundred dollars." I/aws of Penna., 1887, pp. 130-31.
1895, July 2. Life Insurance. 1,1fe insurance companies are not allowed to make any discriminations as to premiums, divi dends, or otherwise, between insured of the same class and ex pectation of life. Penna. I^aws, 1895, p. 432.
APPENDIX C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
/. General Works.
Publications of Atlanta University : No. i. Mortality Among Negroes in Cities. No. 2. Social and Physical Condition of Negroes. No. 3. Efforts of Negroes for Social Betterment.
Atlanta, Ga., 1896-98. Edward Bettle. Notices of Negro Slavery as Connected
with Pennsylvania. In Mem. Hist. Soc. of Pennsylvania, L Charles Booth, lyife and Labour of the People. I<ondon,
1892. M. Carey and J. Bioren. I^aws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1802.
Philadelphia, 1803. A. J. Dallas. I^aws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1781. Philadel
phia, 1797. W. E. Burghardt DuBois. Suppression of the Slave Trade.
New York, 1896. The Study of the Negro Problems. Annals of the
Amer. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science. Philadelphia, 1898. The Negroes of Farmville, Va. (U. S. Bureau
of I^abor Bulletin , January, 1898.) [Benjamin Franklin.] An Essay on the African Slave
Trade. Philadelphia, 1790. [Friends.] Germantown Friends' Protest Against Slavery,
1688. (Facsimile copy) Philadelphia, 1880.
[Friends.] The Appeal of the Religious Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc. . . . on behalf of the Colored Races. Philadelphia, 1858.
[Friends.] A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the Testimony of rite Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the Slave Trade. Philadelphia, 1843. Samuel Hazard. The Register of Pennsylvania. Phila
delphia, 1828-36.
(4i9)
420 Appendix C.
Hull House Maps and Papers. New York, 1895. Samuel M. Janney. History of the Religious Society of
Friends. Philadelphia, 1859-67. Walter Laidlaw, Editor. The Federation of Churches and
Christian Workers in New York City. First and Second Sociological Canvasses. New York, 1896-1897. Marion J. McDougal. Fugitive Slaves. Boston, 1891. Edward Needles. An Historical Memoir of the Pennsyl
vania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Phila
delphia, 1848. William C. Nell. Services of Colored Americans in the
Wars of 1776 and 1812. Reprinted, Philadelphia, 1894. Statutes-at-Large of the State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Colonial Records. Philadelphia. Robert Proud. History of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,
1797-98. R. Mayo-Smith. Statistics and Sociology. New York, 1896. Allen Clapp Thomas. The Attitude of the Society of
Friends toward Slavery, etc. (Reprinted from Vol. VIII, American Society of Church History.) New York, 1897. Census of the United States, First to the Eleventh. Wash
ington, 1790-1898.
George W. Williams. History of the Negro Race in Amer ica from 1619 to 1880. New York, 1883. Joseph T. Willson. The Black Phalanx. Hartford, 1889. Carroll D. Wright. Slums of Great Cities. Seventh Special
Report of the United States Department of Labor. Washing ton, 1894.
//. Books and Pamphlets Relating to Philadelphia Negroes.
Benjamin C. Bacon. Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1856.
Ibid., Second Edition, with Statistics of Crime. Philadelphia, 1859. A Brief History of the Movement to Abolish the Slums of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam.) Collection of Reports of Charitable Institutions for Colored
Persons. Philadelphia. (Ridgeway Library.)
Bibliography. 421
Colored Enlistments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia Library Co.)
Colored People in Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam. Phila delphia Library Co.)
Colored Regiments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia Library Co.) Education and Employment Statistics of the Colored People
of Philadelphia. (MS. in Library of Historical Association.) Dr. E. O. Emerson. Vital Statistics of Philadelphia (in
American Journal of Medical Sciences, July, 1848.) [Friends.] A Brief Sketch of the Schools for Black People
and Their Descendants Established by the Religious Society of Friends, in 1770. Philadelphia, 1867. A. Mott. Biography of Colored People. Philadelphia.
(Pam. Philadelphia Library Co.) Edward Needles. Ten Years' Progress, or a Comparison of
the State and Condition of the Colored People in the City and County of Philadelphia from 1837 to 1847. Philadelphia, 1849.
Daniel A. Payne. History of the A. M. E. Church. Nash ville, 1891.
Report of the Committee Appointed for the Purpose of Securing to Colored People in Philadelphia the Right to the use of the Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1865. (Para.) Report of the Committee on the Comparative Health, Mor
tality, Length of Sentences, etc., of White and Colored Con victs. Philadelphia, 1849.
Frederick W. Spiers. The Street Railway System of Phila delphia, etc. Johns Hopkins University Studies. Ser. 15, Nos. 3-5. Baltimore, 1897. The Present State and Condition of the Free People of
Colour of the City of Philadelphia and Adjoining Districts, etc. Philadelphia, 1838. A Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the People of
Color of the City and Districts of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1849. Trades of the Colored People. Philadelphia, 1838. John F. Watson. Annals of Philadelphia. Philadelphia,
1830. A. W. Wayman. My Recollections of A. M. E. Ministers.
Philadelphia, 1882.
422 Appendix C.
Why Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1866. (Pam.^Two Editions.)
[John Woolman.] Considerations on Keeping Negroes. Philadelphia, 1784.
///. Books and Pamphlets Written by Philadelphia Negroes.
Act of Incorporation, Causes and Motives of the African Episcopal Church of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1810.
Richard Allen. (First Bishop of A. M. E. Church.) The I/ife, Experience and Gospel labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, etc. Written by himself. Philadelphia, 1833.
Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico. The Doctrine and Discip line of the A. M. E. Church. Philadelphia, 1819. Matthew Anderson. Presbyterianism and Its Relation to
the Negro. Philadelphia, 1897. Appeal of Forty Thousand Colored Citizens, Threatened with
Disfranchisement, to the People of Pennsylvania. Philadel
phia, 1838. (Pam.) Jeremiah Asher. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1862. E. D. Bassett Handbook on Hayti. Philadelphia. J. J. G. Bias. Synopsis of Phrenology. Philadelphia, 1859. Lorenzo Blackson. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1861. C. H. Brooks. Manual and History of the Grand United
Order of Odd Fellows, 360 pp. Philadelphia, 1864. Robert Campbell. A Pilgrimage to My Motherland; an Ac
count of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central Africa. Philadelphia, 1861.
W. Y. Catto. History of the Presbyterian Movement. Phil adelphia, 1858.
Levi J. Coffin. The Relation of Baptized Children to the Church. Philadelphia, 1890. 106 pp.
Martin Robinson Delaney. Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, etc. Philadelphia, 1852. William Douglass. Sermons Preached in the African Prot
estant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia. Phila delphia, 1854. William Douglass. Annals of St. Thomas' Church. Phil
adelphia, 1862.
Bibliography. 423
Jolin S. Durham. To Teach the Negro History. Philadel phia, 1898.
Frances B. W. Harper. Miscellaneous Poems. Boston, 1854.
. Forest leaves. Baltimore, 1855.
. lola I^eroy: A Novel. Third Edition. Philadelphia, 1892. 280 pp. Absalom Jones. A Thanksgiving Sermon. ... On
Account of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade, etc. Philadelphia, 1808. (Pam.) Robert Jones. Fifty Years in the [Lombard Street Central
Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia, 1894. 170 pp. H. T. Johnson. The Divine Ix>gos. Philadelphia, 1890. Jarena I^ee. Journal. Philadelphia, 1849.
. The Color of Solomon. Philadelphia, 1895. 93 PP-
Minutes of the First Annual Convention of the People of Colour. Philadelphia, 1831. (Pam.) Minutes of Third Annual Convention of Free Negroes.
Philadelphia, 1833. (Pam.) Mrs. N. T. Mossell. The Work of Afro-American Women.
Philadelphia, 1894. 178 pp. Proceedings of Convention of Colored Freemen of Pennsyl
vania. Philadelphia. (Pam.) Robert Purvis. Remarks on the L/ife and Character ofJames
Forten. (Pam.) William Still. The Underground Railroad. Philadelphia,
1872. 780 pp. Benjamin T. Tanner. An Apology for African Methodism.
Baltimore, 1867. 468 pp. . Theological lectures. Nashville, 1894.
185 PP- . An Outline of History and Government for
A. M. K. Churchmen. Philadelphia, 1884. 206 pp. [Joseph Willson.] Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored
Society in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841.
SPECIAL REPORT
ON
NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE IN THE SEVENTH WARD
PHILADELPHIA
BY
ISABEL EATON, M. A. Fellow of the College Settlements Association
I.
INTRODUCTION.
This paper is an attempt to give the most accurate facts obtainable bearing upon the question of colored domestic ser vice in Philadelphia. It endeavors to show the relation of the colored domestic to the general domestic service problem on the one hand, and to the great mass of the Negro people on the other. The purpose, scope and methods of the work are the same as those already explained at length by Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois in the introduction to this volume, constituting the general report of the investigation conducted by the University of Pennsylvania. The section treating Domestic Service is no unimportant divi
sion of the general subject. On the contrary, it is probably of more consequence than any other single aspect of the problem, since the number of domestic servants among colored wage- earners is shown by the last census to be greater in thirty-two out of forty-eight States than the number engaged in any other occupation ; while in many cases it is greater than the number engaged in all other employments taken together. Indeed this predominance of domestic service over all other occupations fol lowed by the Negroes, is recorded of every State in the Union, excepting the Southern States, where agriculture stands first and domestic service second. It will doubtless be surprising to many to hear that the census record shows that each of the Northern and Western States, with the single exception of Dela ware, has more colored people in domestic service than in any other occupation, while in nearly seven in every ten of these States colored domestic service more than outnumbers the aggregate of all other occupations of colored people. The record for the State of Pennsylvania as given by the last census shows the following 'facts concerning occupations of Negroes throughout the State:
428 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
It appears from this that very nearly 60 per cent of the colored
workingmen of Pennsylvania are engaged in domestic ser vice ; while over 91 per cent of the colored workingwomen of the State are in service. A graphic presentation of these facts makes clear the large proportion of the Negro population of Pennsylvania employed in domestic service:
PROPORTION OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PENNSYLVANIA AS COMPARED WITH WHOLE WORKING COLORED POPU
LATIONELEVENTH CENSUS.
O IOO
B DOMESTIC SERVICE Q ALL OTHER OCCUPATIONS
In the city of Philadelphia nearly the same preponderance of domestic service in relation to other occupations of the colored
people is found.
In this investigation a separate schedule for domestic service was used. 1 Like the other schedules, it was prepared under the direction of Dr. S. M. Lindsay, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was carefully revised by the national Department of Labor at Washington, as well as by prominent statisticians in New York and elsewhere. The facts here given were collected during a nine months, residence at the Philadelphia College Settlement, which is located in the heart of one of the most densely populated Negro quarters of the city.
This schedule was used throughout the residence streets of the Seventh Ward, and elsewhere in the ward limits wherever
1 See Appendix A.
Introduction.
colored domestics were employed. 2 This ward includes among
its inhabitants all grades of wealth and comfort, from the houses with a coachman and coachman's assistant, a butler and butler's assistant, and a retinue of female domestics as well, to those houses where only one woman is employed, who does "general housework/' sometimes including not only cooking and laundry work, but also the furnace work, removal of ashes, 1
'cleaning the front, ' ' and other outside work usually delegated
to a man. And thus, since nearly all degrees of wealth are represented in the district investigated that is to say, from the present point of view, all grades of service-employing fami lies it is probable that all grades of colored domestic service have been encountered in this survey.
In this house-to-house canvass, every domestic scheduled, with a very few exceptions, was personally interviewed. Oc casionally the butler or waiter would answer for the cook, if both chanced to have served long in the same family, or sometimes the lady of the house would herself supply the answers, but in every case the information given was such as to warrant belief in its reliability. To the domestic servants personally interviewed in this way have been added the far greater number scheduled by Dr. DuBois in his canvass of the homes of the colored people within the ward limits. Alto gether 677 men have been recorded and 1612 women, making a total of 2289 domestics, male and female, either working or
living in the Seventh Ward.
For map showing the ward boundaries see page 59.
II.
ENUMERATION OF NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVANTS.
Recent Reform in Domestic Service. Reform in the ad ministration of the household has been called a
" belated
reform, " one that has been so long- a time in gaining the ear of
intelligent people that it must somehow make up for lost time and gain a little on other reforms before it can hope to come abreast of the progress of the age. In view of the fact that college-bred women in greater numbers are assuming responsibility for the administration of the household, at the
same time that reform of domestic service is being agitated, it is natural to think that the one thing partly accounts for the
other. It is certainly true that the question is now for the first time being treated scientifically by some of the most intelligent women in the country. The Civic Club of Philadelphia has done honorable pioneer work in attempting to establish a standard of work and wages for domestic servants, and other similar clubs are following in their footsteps. Also, there is
beginning to be a literature on the subject, best represented by Charles Booth's Study of Household Service in the eighth vol ume of his " Life and Labour of the People,'' and by the admi rable work entitled "Domestic Service" by Miss Lucy M. Salmon, Professor of History at Vassar College. In the
latter work, which is easily the best authority on this much discussed but little understood subject, the doctrine of sur
vival through adaptation is for the first time applied to the
economics of the household. One result has been the con viction that much of the friction in the modern household arises from its lack of adaptation to the civilization of to-day, and will disappear when domestic service gets in line with the march of progress and ceases to try to meet modern needs by the employment of mediaeval methods. The higher is dependent on the lower, and as our social reforms deal with the houses and food of the poor for the sake of higher things than mere physical well being, so all our reforms must
(430)
Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants. 431
begin at the bottom and work up. We may take courage that reforms in domestic service and in household economics will
spread, since they have now ceased to be regarded as impos sibilities, and the problems involved are being fairly faced. With the widening of woman's mental horizon has come a realizing sense of the truth regarding household work, that " in no other occupation is there so much waste of labor and
capital, and in no other would a fraction of this waste be over looked.17
This report endeavors to contribute to the problem the results of a study of facts concerning the domestic work of Negroes in Philadelphia. Enumeration. In presenting these facts, we shall begin
with an enumeration of Negro domestics. The first table shows the number of colored domestic ser
vants3 in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia by sex and age periods:
TABLE I.
(Domestic Service. )
NUMBER OF COIX>RED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN WARD SEVEN BY SEX AND AGE PERIODS.
From this statement it will be seen that of the colored ser vice in the ward about 30 per cent is furnished by men and 70 per cent by women. In the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia there were found to be 9675 colored persons, of whom 2289 are here seen to be domestic employes, or 23.7 per cent of the
8 In this study of the condition of the colored people of Philadelphia, all persons scheduled as
* * domestk servants " are connected with private establishments, waiters in hotels, etc., being classified with public service.
432 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
total colored population of the ward. It is a little over 30 per cent of all tlie colored wage-earners of the ward.* This per cent in domestic service agrees very nearly with the
following table taken from the eleventh census, showing the
proportion of Negro wage-earners engaged in domestic service the country over to be 31.4 to the hundred.
5
TABI,E FROM EI^VENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWING PERCENTAGES OF DIFFERENT BI/EMENTS OF THE POPULATION
ENGAGED IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS.
When public waiters and waitresses in hotels and restaurants, as well as janitors and caretakers, are included in the count of domestic servants, it brings the ratio up nearly to 41 per cent of the whole number of colored wage-earners in the ward.
After considering what per cent of the colored people are
domestics, it is interesting to notice what part of domestic ser vice is colored. So we turn from the ratios just given to con sider what proportion of the total of domestic service in the United States is performed by colored people. When we think of American domestic service as a whole, we have a more or
4 The 2289 domestics which constitute 34 per cent of the 6611 Negroes in the Seventh Ward engaged in gainful occupations are those actually investigated in the special inquiry into domestic service. The number may not include all the domestics in the ward and does not include many classes of persons enumerated under "domestic and personal ser vice" in the table on page 108 of this volume.
5 Domestic service is classified in the census under "personal service," and includes persons classified elsewhere in this investigation, such as hotel proprietors, but the number of Negroes thus included is small, and the error of comparison, therefore, small.
Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants. 433
less clear conception of a great army of the colored race in the south, of the Irish and Germans in the north, of the Swedes in the middle west, and of the Chinese on the Pacific Coast. The census of 1890 gives the relative numbers of native white, foreign white and colored (including Chinese) domestic em ployes in the United States as follows:
ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION ENGAGED IN DOMESTIC SERVICE.
(From the Eleventh Census of the United States. )
* Includes New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. fThis term includes also Chinese who are reckoned in the census as "colored."
These figures attribute nearly 29 per cent of the domestic service of the country to the colored, who comprise only I2j4 per cent of the population. The colored perform about three times as much domestic
service in proportion to their numbers as the whites do. From this it will be seen that^while the study of domestic service in
any consideration of the condition of the colored people is
important, the study of the Negro domestic is equally impor tant in any careful consideration of the domestic service prob lem. It will be noticed that the per cents for the middle sec
tion of States show only 10.67 P61 " *& of the domestic service
performed by colored people. The large urban populations of the New York cities doubtless reduce this below what it would be if only Pennsylvania and New Jersey were consid ered, as city servants are mostly drawn from our foreign white
population, but if the rate be accepted as true for the city of
434 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
Philadelphia (though it is doubtless much too low for a city which has the largest colored population of any city in the United States, except New Orleans and Washington), if it be accepted for Philadelphia, where 4 per cent of the population is colored, we shall find that the Negro domestics
' ' run ahead of their ticket ' ' here also in this matter of household service. The probable reason for this disproportion is not far to seek
when we remember the unpopularity of domestic service which keeps whites out, and reflect that the colored prejudice^which is known to operate against the Negro in nearly all depart ments of labor excepting drudgery, actually works in his favor in the matter of domestic service, where the competence of Negro waiters and the superior skill of Negro cooks is generally ad mitted. Hence, Negro labor, following the line of least resist ance, flows in enlarged streams into the channel of domestic service.
III.
SOURCES OF THE SUPPLY AND METHODS OF HIRING.
The question next arises as to the chief sources of Philadel phia's large supply of colored service. Are these people Southern Negroes, or Philadelphia born ? The quality of ser vice rendered and the standard of excellence may depend in some degree upon circumstances of birth and training. Hence the facts in regard to nativity as shown in Table II, which fol lows, are worth considering:
TAB^E II. NATIVITY OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.
Number and Per Cent by Sex and Birthplace.
(435)
436 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
These facts show clearly that the greater part of Philadel phia's colored domestic service is supplied from Maryland and Virginia, particularly from the latter State. It will be noticed that less than one-fifth of it (18.5 per cent) is supplied from
Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, while very nearly one-half (48.4 percent) comes from the two States of Maryland and Virginia. Some interesting indications in regard to nativ ity and quality of service as measured by length of service with the same employer, are brought out later in Table XXV. Methods of Hiring. Philadelphia is as much at the mercy
of employment bureaus, and the frequently untrustworthy recommendations of previous employers, as are other large cities. Yet these and the method of advertising are the only ways open to the employer for accomplishing what has been called the
" inevitable annual change of employes." The col
ored people in domestic service seldom seek employment through the Philadelphia intelligence offices or by applying in answer to advertisement unless it is particularly stated that colored
help is acceptable or preferred. They generally offer the recom mendations of former employers, though many of them, seldom the best ones, offer their services from door to door and are employed upon the recommendation of personal appearance and general bearing. The colored man's avoidance of the employ ment bureau is largely due to the fact that extortionate fees are usually charged him. He patronizes a few bureaus kept by colored people whom he trusts ; and his unwillingness to answer advertisements needs no explanation but the remark already offered. Personnel of Colored Domestic Service. In regard to
the personnel of domestic service, the facts in Philadelphia cor
respond with those for all employes the world over ; Negro domestic servants are for the most part women rather than men, and young rather than middle-aged or old people. An examina tion of Table I will show that only about 30 in 100 of Philadel phia's colored domestics are men, while a study of the census figures of 1890 shows only 16 men in 100 in domestic service the country over; and the disproportion in English household service is even greater, there being only 7 men in 100 Lon don servants. The sexes thus engaged in domestic work in
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 437
Philadelphia, in the United States and in I/radon are here compared in tabular form:
TABLE III. Sux IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF DIFFERENT LOCALITIES COMPARED.
A comparison of the two columns shows very clearly that domestic work which has long been considered as
" women's work M is still being done largely by women, A comparison of the items of the first column of Table II with each other shows that, taking the country over, where the domestic service is represented largely by Irish, German, English, Swedish and Norwegian elements as well as Negroes, the proportion of men servants falls to only about one-half that of colored men ser vants in Philadelphia. This again is probably to be accounted for by the fact that so many avenues of employment which are closed to colored men are open to men among the white foreign element which makes up the greater part of American service. In our shops and markets and in our building trades, on our trolley cars and our delivery wagons we see Irish and German and Swedish men, but no Negroes. The result upon domestic service of this closing of so many doors to the colored man is twofold. Many of them, being unable to better them selves financially by leaving service for other employments, remain in household work much longer than they otherwise would do, and when they marry many of them
** turn waiter**
because household service is one of the best paid employments open to the blacks. Thus colored men servants tend to remain in service longer than whites do, and the frequent addition to their ranks of married colored men also tends to increase the ratio of men servants among Negro domestics as well as to raise the average age. Next to the small number of men in domestic service and tie
fact that a greater proportion of colored than of white men are
438 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
domestics, a study of the personnel of domestic service reveals peculiarities concerning the age of servants. Nearly all house hold servants are comparatively young. This has been found to be true everywhere, where records have been made, and more especially among whites than among blacks. The colored people in service are older on the average than the whites (as would be expected from facts just given). ISTearly one-half of all the colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Phila delphia, both men and women, are included in the age period between twenty-one and thirty years as may be seen by refer ence to Table I. The average age among them is 31.9 years for the men, and 29.6 for the women, the combined average for both sexes being 30.3 years. This shows that Philadelphia's colored domestics are comparatively young people, but an ex amination of the age of London servants shows also 30.5 years as the average age of the men and 28.2 years as the average. age of the women in service there. While the United States Census of 1890 shows men servants the country over to average 29. i years, the women average only 26. 8 years. These average ages are given in tabular form for convenience of comparison.
TABLE IV. AGE IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF
COMPARED. I,OCAI,ITIES
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 439
Taken from Booth's " I^ife and Labour of the People," Vol. 8, p. 211.
44O Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 441
442 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
But while these are average ages, the very great excess of the younger age periods over the older ones may be more clearly seen by the diagrams A, B and C, contrasting the ages of domestic men servants with the ages of all other male wage earners. Diagram A shows these differences of age, as exhib ited in London, between men in household service and all of occupied London. Diagram B shows the contrast as it exists between men servants in the United States and all the occupied men in the total population. Diagram C contrasts ages of col ored male servants in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia and those of all occupied colored males in that ward. What these three maps mean is that the ratio which the young men in domestic service bear to the whole number of men in domestic service is greater (by as much as the diagram indicates in each case) than the ratio which the young men in all occupations bear to the whole number of men in all occupations. In Lon don, according to Mr. Booth's diagram, there is an excess of
youth in service between ages of fifteen and thirty-three, after which age the males in household work fall behind those otherwise occupied. In America, according to diagram B,
6 the
excess of young men in service begins at fifteen, lasting till nearly the age of thirty-nine, after which the proportion of men in service is less than that of men otherwise occupied. In the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, according to diagram C, we notice an interesting variation from the comparatively close
agreement of diagrams A and B. The greatest excess of youth in service, here, as in A and B, is also at about twenty-three to twenty-five years, but diagram C seems to show that in Negro wage-earning in cities, the disproportionately large number of men in domestic service holds good for every age except that period which marks a man's greatest physical strength, the period between thirty and forty years. The ex cess of colored men of that age in other occupations is no- doubt due to the large number of colored men of great physi cal strength who act as stevedores, porters, etc., between the ages of thirty and forty. The sudden bend at thirty-five in the domestic service line, in diagram C, is due to the fact that the last age period recorded was
" forty-one years and over,"
Computed on census figures and after Mr. Booth's method.
Sources of Supply and Methods of JFftring". 443
and, therefore, includes a few old servants about sixty. If each decade had been recorded, the curve would be more gradual, perhaps crossing- the other between forty and forty- five. The excess of sixty-seven points on the forty-five-year line is almost equal to the excess at twenty-five years, and Is, therefore, probably in need of modification, though there is little doubt of its indicating a real condition of Negro labor in cities.
The fact that the highest point of excess of youth in these three diagrams is reached at twenty-three to twenty-five years is significant, and suggests the query why it is that domestic service so clearly attracts the young of both sexes and of all races. It is safe to say that one of the most prominent deter mining causes is necessity for immediate income. Many young men and women are obliged by circumstances to under take some form of work which, while requiring no capital and no particular course of training, still yields an immediate return, which is certain to provide them at least their board and lodging, with a small amount for living expenses. This is the chief reason why the first employment of young men and women just beginning to support themselves is so often " going out to service.
**
IV.
GRADES OF SERVICE AND WAGES.
In his study of household service in the eighth volume of "
Life and Labour of the People," Mr. Charles Booth distin
guishes three grades or divisions among women in domestic service. The lowest group is made up of those employed in the "roughest single-handed places/
5 The next group is made up of those in single-handed places, but of a better class; while the third group
" includes those employed in many mid dle class homes and in the large establishments of the wealthy, it being scarcely possible to make any practical division between these two classes of servants.
13 Bach group merges
imperceptibly into the next above it, so that it is practically
impossible to separate them in statistical enumeration. If
another grade be supplied between the second and third given ;kere__a grade found in well-to-do Philadelphia families,
where
two women servants are employed this grading of London service applies very fairly to the condition of colored
service
in Philadelphia. A considerable number of families in Phila delphia employ but one woman servant, and hire no extra help to do laundry work, house cleaning or outside work. The one woman does the tl cooking, washing, ironing, and drags up all the ashes, tends furnace, cleans the front, and does every sin
gle thing " as one woman put her own case. A second sort
of household has only one domestic, but also hires extra ser
vice for laundry work, etc. Then follows the large number of houses where two women servants are kept, cook and
' ' second
girl," sometimes with and sometimes without the weekly extra service; and finally, the establishments with many domestics, each having his or her own special duties. The
only classification of househould servants which is at all prac ticable in this inquiry is that into sub-occupations or special
ized kinds of work resulting from division of labor within domestic service. Such a classification of colored domestic service in Philadelphia shows seven sub-divisions of the work
engaging the labor of ,men servants, while there are no fewer
than twelve in which women are employed. These are here given in tabulated form:
(444)
Grades of Service and Wages. 445
TABLE v. SUB-OCCUPATIONS IN PHILADEWHIA DOMESTIC SERVICE (SEVENTH
WAJLD) BY NUMBER AND SEX.
MALE. FEMALE.
Bell and errand boys, etc. . . 23 Bntler 109 Coachman 76 Waiter 387 Cook 47 Valet 4 General work 31
Bell and errand girls, etc. . . Child's nurse Chambermaid Waitress . , Waitress and chambermaid . Lady's maid Laundress , . . , Cook Cook and laundress Chambermaid and laundress , "Janitress" ........ General housework . . . . .
34 21
114 44 2*
Work Required of Various Sub-occupations. The work usually assigned to each of these sub-classes is known in a gen eral way by everyone. In one of the appendices to her book on " Domestic Service," Miss Salmon publishes a circular letter from one of the committees of the Philadelphia Civic Club to the members of the club, submitting standards of work and wages for the various classes of sub-occupations among domestic servants. A single paragraph may be quoted, which gives the duties of one sub-occupation minutely and accurately, though all sorts of cross-classifications occur in practice, the waitress often being also chambermaid or laundress:
4
'Waitresses at $3.00 or $3.50 per week; must understand care of dining-room, of silver, glass and china; care and atten tion in waiting on table, care of parlor and halls and answer ing the doorbell properly." The requirements for cooks, laundresses, chambermaids,
nurses, etc., are given with equal accuracy of detail, but this is so generally understood that it is not necessary to dwell ou the point here. The term "janitress" may need a word of explanation; this was what the hall servant and generally use ful domestic at a large private boarding school called herself, and there were several others who seemed best classed with her. The duties of the butler in many cases extend to those of steward, and he is often to a large degree responsible for the selection and purchase of the food materials used in his
particular establishment. The colored butler thus honorably
446 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
commissioned generally styles himself " butler and steward,"
though he has not, in any case thus far personally encountered, the responsibility of engaging and paying the other servants, as is the case with the English steward. The Philadelphia use of the word is evidently a modification of the English term and bears a quite different significance. The wages paid for these services vary in accordance with
many modifying influences, as will be shown. Domestic ser
vice, however, is generally acknowledged to be well paid, as
compared with other occupations which are open to women.
A cook receiving $4.50 a week, the average pay in Boston, can save as much in a year as the average teacher in American
public schools, as is shown by a comparison of the average teacher's salary, based on 6512 records,
7 and the statement is
made on the authority of cashiers of banks in factory towns that domestics as a class save more than do factory hands. The
question of the savings of colored domestics is treated in the
latter part of this report. Table VI, which follows, shows the range of wages paid to
men in the various sub-divisions of colored domestic service and also the average wage in each class of service. This table and Table VII represent the statements of the workers themselves in regard to their earnings.
TABLE VI. OF WAGES AND AVERAGE WAGES OF COLORED MEN SER
VANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.
* Computed on basis of reports from all individuals interviewed belonging to each
sub-occupation .
f The figures given indicate the lowest and highest wages reported in each class, as
reported by those interviewed in a canvass of 616 individuals in the Seventh Ward, Philadelphia.
M. Salmon, "Domestic Service/' p. 99.
Grades of Service and Wages. 447
The figures here given of course represent the weekly pay for the services classified; but such sums as $1.00 as the weekly pay for the service of a cook, or $2.00 as that of a waiter should be recognized as unusual and as recording facts which are far from typical, which represent the extreme of underpay offered only under extraordinary circumstances, probably to a young and inexperienced boy or to an aged or otherwise ineffi cient cook.
Table VII gives the same set of facts in regard to the earn ings of women servants:
TABLE VII. OF WAGES AND AVERAGE WAGES OF COIX>RED WOMEN
SERVANTS IN
* That is to say, ' '
living and tips." f The average is the actual average for all cases recorded.
These two tables show that in domestic service, as in every other department of the economic world, it is the office of skill or of trust which is the best paid. The offices of skill and trust among the men are those of butler and valet, or trusted per sonal attendant. Frequently the coachman is also butler.
Comparison of the average pay of butlers with that of waiters or general work of
* *
utility men, J * as they are called, shows very
clearly the higher pay for skilled work. Men cooks' wages are here seen to below in comparison with the butlers* or coachmen's,
this for several reasons: first, because in so small a number as were encountered one man.receiving only $1.00 brings down the average appreciably; further, because in the wealthiest
448 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
establishments almost no men-cooks were encountered. The majority of men-cooks reporting were employed in boarding houses, where presumably the pay was not allowed for on a lavish scale; but, finally and chiefly, wages of men-cooks are lower because a man servant who is a cook practically com petes with the woman-cook. The services of an excellent woman can be gotten for $4.50 or $5.00, while no woman can take the place of a butler or coachman; hence butlers'
wages are not affected by woman's competition. Doubtless the same tendency operates to lower the wages of waiters, now that such capable waitresses can be obtained. The same ten
dency is noticeable in England, where Mr. Booth says the but
ler is " giving place to the neat parlor-maid/' In Table VII,
showing women's wages, the skilled specialists are cooks and
laundresses, while the office of trust is held by the janitress, and these are seen to head the list in the matter of pay, being the only women domestics who receive on the average more than $4.00. The Boston Employment Bureau publishes a list
8
showing the same thing. The average wages of cooks in Boston is given as $4.45, while chambermaids receive $3.86, waitresses $3.76, second girls $3.34 and general servants $3.16. The factotum, who does everything from cooking to furnace work and house cleaning, is evidently not considered a skilled
hand, nor paid as such.
Secondly, these two tables also show clearly a very large dif ference between the pay of men and of women in domestic service; the men receiving on the average close upon 100 per cent more than the women. Miss Salmon's averages,
9
showing the wages of men and of women domestics throughout the country, are $167.96 yearly for women and $373.36 yearly for men. The difference here is more than 100 per cent. These figures, therefore, emphasize this difference between
men's pay and women's pay, showing that men servants are
generally paid moie than double the wages which women accept. Are wages in domestic service affected by race or color ?
How do theory and practice agree in this matter of wages ?
8 L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service/' p. 90. 9
If. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. 88, or see Table X, following.
Grades of Service and Wages. 449
How nearly does the wage which ought to be paid agree with the actual average pay of domestics? A comparison of the figures given in Table VII, with the standard of wages suggested by the ladies of the Philadelphia Civic Club in the letter already quoted, is interesting as showing the close agreement between pay which the best intelligence of the city believes to be just and the actual average wages of Philadelphia domestics. The following table compares these average wages with the Civic Club estimates:
TABLE VHI. COMPARISON OF " THEORETICAL WAGES" WITH ACTUAL WAGES o#
DOMESTICS IN PHILADELPHIA.
This agreement points to the probability that among women in domestic service at least, there is no difference between "white pay and black pay," however much of it there may be in other departments of work in Philadelphia ; for the Civic Club estimate is given for the whole field of service, white as
well as black. Among men servants, however, there probably is a variation in wages determined largely by color. This first became evident on Rittenhouse Square,
18 where the colored
butlers encountered were receiving on the average $36.90 monthly (a slightly better wage than that of the Seventh Ward employes doing the same work), while the white but lers, according to the statement of one of their number,
**
gene
rally get $40.00 to $45.00 a month in the houses that keep one man. Where there are two men two white men the first
^Rittenhouse Square is not in the Seventh Ward, but being probably the most fashionable quarter of the city, was investigated for purposes oC
comparison.
45 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
may get $50.00 and the second $45.00 ; but there are not many houses that pay $50.00."
n
The variation in pay of colored and white butlers is probably partly due then to the fact already stated that there are rela tively fewer white than colored men in service ; thus giving different ratios of supply and demand for white and colored men servants. But the matter of fashion counts much. It doubtless has more influence in determining the pay of an employee who is as much in evidence as is the butler or coach man than it has in fixing the pay of an
" invisible employee"
like the cook. The question of personal appearance and fashion holds also as between different grades of white employees, as will be seen from Mr. Booth's statements that in London "a second footman of five feet six inches would command 20 to ^22, while one of five feet ten inches or six feet would not take under 2% or ^30. Again, a short first footman could not
expect more than ,30, while a tall man would command j$2to ^40." The same principle operating in Philadelphia often obliges colored men, like short footmen in London, to take what they can get. There is a relatively smaller demand for them for these two reasons, and so their pay varies from white men' spay, while among the women those cooks and maids who are the most skillful are in greatest demand ; so that color makes less difference in the women's wages. Does "imported service
" affect wages of colored domes
tic servants in Philadelphia ? There can be little doubt that in household service, where hardly anything else could have affected their secure hold on at least this one branch of employ ment, fashion has militated against the colored people of Phila
delphia. A Spruce street colored butler said, "What are you 11 The remainder of this conversation gives a side light on the reason
for this difference in men's wages. The investigator, seeing this butler was communicative, said, "The colored butlers get less than that, I sup pose you know, only $30 or $35, and a few get $40. Don't you think they make as good or better butlers and waiters than you white men do ?" He laughed and said,
" Yes, they're better at that than we are, and "
in a half-confidential, half-amused tone" they aren't so lazy as we are. We're lazy, but they are always anxious to please, and they work harder 'an we do." " Well, why don't they get the same pay, then ? " " Well,** he said, stiffening,
" but even if they do, you don't expect a white man is going to work for what a nigger will take. You can't expect that."
Grades of Service and Wages. 45*
going to do when you're shut out of your work ? I don't know no other country. I was born here. The colored are shut out more than when I come to Philadelphia in '65. The foreigners shut us out of even our ordinary work we've always done in service. I don't know why ; because the colored people are just as good help as they ever was. And the worst is it throws them into the slums when they can't get their work. I've been praying the Lord to help our people,
" etc. A white
butler on Rittenhouse Square sums up the situation from what might be called the impersonal point of view:
'* You see they (the employers) go to Europe and bring home Englishmen, and that knocks out the Negro." Many colored women natives say that it is harder now than formerly to get good places, because there are so many more white girls foreigners seeking household work.
It is difficult to reduce to figures information on this point, but the following enumeration which shows the distribution of colored service with reference to the fashionable quarter seems to confirm the opinions of the butlers quoted, or at least to
indicate that the people who employ the greatest number of servants employ fewer colored people than are to be found in
plainer establishments. TABLE IX.
DISTRIBUTION OF COIX>REI> SERVICE WITH REFERENCE TO THE FASHIONABLE QUARTER.
The smaller number of colored domestics employed in the fashionable section is noticeable both on Pine and Spruce streets, the number to the east of Broad on Spruce being very
nearly double that in the more fashionable region to the west
The greater divergence of the ratios east and west is where we should expect it in accordance with the butler's theory that
452 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
is on Spruce, the more fashionable street. 12 On the whole, it
seems probable that the fashion of importing English and French service has an appreciable effect in the direction of
complicating Philadelphia's Negro problem. " Importation" from the butler's point of view is easily ex
plained. The willingness of English butlers to come to America is doubtless largely, indeed almost wholly, due to the fact that their absolute money wages are so much higher here than in England. Few of them are political economists enough to realize that $600 in America may be worth only half that sum in England. So glittering an offer as that of "double his present salary,'* is eagerly accepted by the majority of Englishmen of a certain grade of intelligence and this has quite definite results upon the domestic service of our large cities in America.
In the table which follows, the annual money wages of domestic servants in London are contrasted with the general yearly average wages for men's and women's work in thirty- seven of our States and also with the wages of colored domestic servants in Philadelphia.
TABLE X. COMPARING ENGLISH AND AMERICAN "MONEY WAGES."
(Annual Amounts Over and Above Board and Lodging.)
* Charles Booth, Vol. viii, pp. 217 and 223. f Salmon,
" Domestic Service/' p. 28.
12 In corroboratlon of this belief that colored men are displaced by im ported English and foreign men servants comes the statement made to the investigator by the business manager of the Continental Hotel. He says that the Continental, which at the change of seasons often adds at one time as many as thirty colored waiters and bellmen to its force, "can always get as many colored waiters as are wanted at a few hours' notice," which certainly indicates that there are many unemployed colored men in Philadelphia who are anxious to work but are crowded out in the supply and demand adjustments.
Grades of Service and Wages. 453
The comparison here offered shows that in the most of the sub-occupations of domestic service the actual sums paid are twice as large in America as in London. The range of wages in England as given by Mr. Booth also
strengthens the belief that American wages must sound very large to English ears.
" The actual wages earned," says Mr. Booth, on page 217 of his eighth volume,
** begin as low as one
shilling a week, this amount being received in three cases (out of a total of 1692 servants), while forty-two more were paid less than ^5 per annum at the other end of the scale we find three servants all over thirty years old, receiving from 26 to
36 a year, three more receiving 20 and ^39, others re ceiving from 15 to 20.
" To an American this sounds far from lavish although it is of course impossible to know how much this money is worth until we know the cost of staple articles in I^ondon. Still^to a servant who has been receiving even 36 a year ($180), our highest women's wage ($520 yearly) would doubtless present remarkable attractions. Do board and lodging enter into, or affect, wages? A
comparison of the items of Table X shows a very large dif ference between the pay of American men servants and American women servants. This seems hardly to be accounted for by the fact that a much larger per cent of women in domes tic service than of men receive board and lodging in addition to wages. Miss Salmon's investigation estimates that only 60
per cent of the men servants receive board and lodging while 98 per cent of the women do.
In the Philadelphia investigation the facts upon this point seem to indicate that the amount of wages is only slightly affected, if at all, by the question of board and lodging. When these are given in addition to wages they apparently do not
stand, in the mind of either employer or domestic, as part pay ment for service. A comparison of the pay of women cooks who lodge at their place of work with that of women cooks who lodge at home will illustrate this. The average pay of those who lodge at their place of work,and therefore receive board and lodging in addition to wages, is $4.13 as contrasted with $3.95 received by those who go home at night Here the difference will be seen to be in the opposite direction from what
we should expect if board and lodging are reckoned as part of
454 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
the wages of cooks. The same facts hold good for the other sub-occupations among colored domestic servants in the ward, which would seem to indicate that in Philadelphia, at leastboard and lodging are customarily given or not according as it suits the convenience or the preference of mistress or maid, but are not, except rarely, considered a part of the wages paid for service. Many employers doubtless believe that the service rendered by girls who lodge in their place of work is better, and they may perhaps consider the board and lodging given as added pay for better quality of service. Be this as it may, the actnal money wages do not appear to be affected by it in Philadelphia, where, as will be seen by the following table, only 50 per cent of the colored women in service and only 24 per cent of the colored men lodge at their employers' establish ments.
TABLE XL NUMBER AND PER CENT OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS, BY SEX,
IN SEVENTH WARD, WHO LODGE AT PLACE OF WORK.
To the thoughtful and thrifty colored domestic this ought to suggest an easy way of saving a good bit for the
" old folks at
home J ' if they can only see it that way, for they reduce the home expenses both for meals and for rent in many cases by lodging at place of work, while they themselves receive the same money wages and very likely higher ones, whether their board and lodging comes out of their employer or is drawn from their own home circle. The majority of the single colored girls in service board and
lodge in their employers' establishments, only 38.7 per cent of them going home at nightj while most of the married women in service, as is natural, do go home from work, only 27.5 per cent of them lodging in the employers' house. Of
Grades of Service and Wages. 455
the men reporting- in regard to lodging place 29 per cent of the single men sleep at their places of work, while 71 per cent have lodgings elsewhere. Of the married men only 17.6 per cent lodge at the place of work while 82.4 per cent lodge at home.
V.
SAVINGS AND EXPENDITURE.
The question of the savings of Seventh Ward domestics would naturally be discussed here. Table XII shows the facts upon this point. It is based upon the records of those who have been personally interviewed. In this table the "societies J> referred to are either sick benefit, death benefit, or insurance societies, which are all very popular with the colored people. Their tendency to use this method of saving rather than to deposit in the bank is shown in many ways. They frequently express their distrust of banks and banking. One girl sums up her philosophy by saying,
ll I save in my pocket.
I'm a very poor spender, but I bank a little too, only the banks are so shaky I'm afraid of them. A friend of mine lost $600 in the Keystone and I lost $100 and came near putting in $50.00 just the day before the bank broke. Yes, I'm afraid of banks.'* A waiter working on Spruce near Broad says, " I've quit banking. I lost $300 in the Keystone." This distrust of banks is traced by excellently qualified judges as far back as the Freedman's Bank trouble, and it seems probable that that first wave of distrust has been followed by a second one, and that to the Philadelphia colored people the failure of the Keystone stands for the same thing nearer home. Table XII shows proportion of colored domestics who are
saving and who, therefore, not only are not a burden to the community, but are adding something to the sum total of its power. It shows also the methods of saving employed.
It will be noticed that the men do more banking in propor tion than the women do, and less saving
' '
at home " or by means of the benefit societies. Three men use the bank where one woman does, while three women save at home to one man who does. It is also noticeable that the percentages of those who do not save at all are about equal in both columns of Table XII.
(456)
Savings and Expenditure. 457
TABLE XII
SAVINGS OF COLORED DOMESTICS IN PHILADELPHIA.
(By Sex and by Method of Saving. )
In contrast with this 15 per cent which saves nothing, may be mentioned a few cases which seem particularly note worthy as examples of unusual thrift :
1. The case of a young chore-man twenty years old, who said,
" No, he wasn't saving any thing to speak of." And it
would have passed at that, had not his employer said, " Why,
Henry, you know you bring me $2.00 every month to save for you/
1 And it came out that from the $14.00 he earned monthly he was regularly sending $5.00 each month to his aged mother and saving $2.00. The month before his report was taken he had sent $10.00 to his mother because she had had a destructive fire at home and needed new articles.
2. The case of a man cook thirty-one years old, who has been in his present situation over seven years, and earns $8.00 weekly. From this amount he has supported his family and built a home which he now owns. He also has a good bank account which, he says, his wife doesn't know about. He's ** going to surprise her with it when he gets a good bit; or, if
he dies she will have something to keep her/ 1 This man also
has membership in two benefit societies.
458 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
3. The case of a young woman twenty-nine years of age,, who receives $4.00 a week for cooking. She sends $10.00 a month to her mother who is a consumptive invalid and also " puts by
" $2.00 every month.
4. A chambermaid, a widow fifty-three years old, who says, "I've got a little home in Virginia I bought and paid for myself/' She earns $3.00 a week. She also has a bank account and belongs to a sick benefit society.
5. The case of a young woman of twenty-two years who ' ' banks halfshe earns every week.
' ' She earns $3.50 weekly and saves $91.00 a year from her total yearly earnings, $182.00.
6. The case of a butler earning $35.00 a month, who owns five lots in Richmond, two more in New Jersey and one in Essington.
7. Another butler forty years old, who has been twenty-three years in the same family. He is paid $40.00 a month. He owns a Maryland stock farm which his uncle manages for him, several lots of land in south
Philadelphia, has a term policy on which he pays $93.00 yearly and has membership in a sick benefit which insures him $10.00 a week in case of illness. Perhaps the most popular way of saving among the colored
servants of Philadelphia is now by means of the '
society. ' '
Of all those reporting on savings 48.4 per cent of the men and 52.7 per cent of the women are saving in these societies. Whether this per cent of patronage of societies by domestic ser vants is greater or less than that for the whole community, very nearly two-thirds of all the women who save at all do so through one or more societies while the greater part of the other one- third do their saving at home,
* ' in their pockets.
' '
These societies, when they are bona fide insurance companies, often furnish fair investments to their contributors. A policy drawing a fee of$1.30 monthly when paid up entitles Its holder to $10.00 a week in case of sickness. A policy drawing eighty cents a month entitles its holder to $5.00 a week sick benefit. These represent the sick benefit rates paid by two of the best and most reliable societies. The great value of such companies to such individuals as are subject to frequent illness and have no home for a refuge is clear at a glance. But it often hap pens that colored people who have Iron constitutions will go
Savings and Expenditure. 459
into these societies and contribute year after year, reaping no- benefit because they are never ill, and loath to stop paying their fees and begin to deposit in the bank for fear they should be ill. The fact that this sort of membership in sick benefits is a very bad investment was pointed out to a certain waiter on Pine street who had paid $30.00 a year for ten years into his two societies, but had never drawn a cent from either because he had never been sick. The fact that, had he banked his money he would have had now in hand the sum of $300, could not be denied, but this certainty was not sufficient to stifle the feeling that if he dropped the societies he
f ' would lose all he had put in
" and the question arising, "suppose I should be sick?" which was not to be satisfactorily answered by state ments of probabilities. The same thing, grown to greater proportions, is seen in the case of one quite aged butler, who for sixteen years has held policies in seven societies and has never drawn, except when his wife died. Many instances might be cited of domestics who have belonged to two or more societies for six years or more and have never drawn though their policies were paid up. Several instances were encountered of domestics who were saving in societies and also in the bank, and who when they were sick drew all their money out of the bank and " never thought of the society
" and so did not draw at all, but exhausted their bank accounts and were then, presumably, helped by friends. One woman,who had been insured in one society for seventeen years and also held a sick
benefit, exhausted her whole bank account and only drew on the society for two weeks (although she was ill some months) because she "didn't think of it" till she had spent all the
money she had in the bank. All which goes to show how difficult it is for a people long unused to any financial responsi bility to adjust their minds to it and how easy a matter it is for unscrupulous persons or societies to take advantage of their
simplicity. Assistance Given by Domestic Servants. In connection
with wages and savings may be considered the matter of assistance to dependents. Many colored domestics in Phila delphia either wholly support or very materially help toward
the support ofparents or other members of the family. Even,
460 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
in many cases, taking entire care of more distant relatives, outside the immediate home circle. The answers to Question 21 of the schedule (" Who besides
yourself is supported by your wages?") were separated into four grades : (i) those wholly supporting one or both parents; (2), those helping parents ; (3), those wholly supporting others than parents ; (4), those helping, but not wholly supporting, others than parents.
In this matter, the men generally do less proportionately than the women. Of 187 men reporting on this point, 13, that is 7 per cent, are of the first class, who furnish from their earnings the whole support of one or both parents ; 40 (or 21.4 per cent) are of the second class, and are helping one or both
parents; 25 (or 13.4 per cent), are of the third class, and are
supporting some other member of the family, generally some younger brother or sister ; while 16 (or 8.6 per cent) are of the fourth class, and are helping, though not wholly supporting, some other member of the family; 8 (or 4.3 per cent) are doing more than one of these things; e. g., one young fellow of twenty years who earns only $3.00 a week, is responsible for the support of his father's entire family, seven in number, as the father drinks and can not be depended upon. One waiter, twenty-eight years old, receives $20.00 a month and is help ing his own father and mother and both his wife's parents also. His wife too is earning, so what it practically amounts to is that the two young people are between them taking care of the four old people. The facts gathered in the Seventh Ward show 50*3 per cent of the men in domestic service are contributing toward the support of parents or others while
49-7 Per cent have no one but themselves to look out for. These facts and similar ones for colored women domestics are here tabulated, 187 men in all reported on this subject and 420 women.
Table XIII presents approximately the actual condition in regard to responsibilities assumed for the help or support of parents and others. Whether the following table, which, will show the proportion of wages thus given, is equally reliable, is an open question. It is difficult to estimate at a moment's notice what one spends or gives for any one object. To determine with any degree of accuracy the amount one
Savings and Expenditure. 461
TABLE XIII. NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHIL
ADELPHIA HAVING PARENTS OR OTHERS DEPENDENT ON THEM.
(607 Cases.)
spends in a year for clothing is not always an easy thing to do. So the answers given must involve a large amount of involun tary misstatement. The following table, therefore, may be taken with allowances. It gives the result of many averages thus hastily struck by the domestics interviewed, and shows the number and percentage of colored servants who regularly give one-half, more than one-half or less than one-half their
wages toward the support of those dependent on them.
TABI.E XIV.
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF COIX>RED DOMESTIC SERVANTS OF PHII^J>EI<FHIA SUPPORTING OTHERS, BY SEX AND
PROPORTION OF WAGES GIVEN.
Many who do help their p&mits and others report that they
M can not estimate how much it takes.' * Fifteen, how ever, who give no estimate as to proportion of wages given, say very plainly that it
" takes all I make," or, it " takes every
thing but eno' to clothe me." One married man of forty
462 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
is supporting- his "
sister's little girl/ '
who, he says, is "like an adopted child to us. Her father and mother are living but they have three or four besides her to support." This man earns thirty dollars a month, on which he supports his own iamily and his sister's little girl, and is also saving in the bank and has a one-dollar fee in a sick benefit society. One young "waiter-man," earning twenty-five dollars a
month, is "making a home for his mother" and helping three sisters besides. But none of these cases appear in Table XIV, since none of them could give any kind of an estimate of the proportion of earnings given. That considerable was given in each of these cases, however, is obvious, and many similar instances might be cited. It is almost invariably true of bell boys and errand boys and girls that they take their entire earnings home to their parents to swell the general store. One young bell boy said that he "took all he earned home to his mother except twenty-five cents he kept himself and she saved that for him." Summary. A large part of the earnings of the colored
domestics of the ward are thus seen to go towards the support of parents and dependents. This generosity towards their own will be attested, it is believed, by everyone who has had any considerable knowledge of the colored people. When one remembers that the same thing is noticeably true of the Jews, the thought naturally occurs that it is perhaps an instinct of self-preservation, which reveals itself among oppressed races. Again, that with a majority of Negroes, some part of their
earnings are steadily * '
put by for a nest egg ' ' to use one of
their own quaint expressions will doubtless be similarly at tested. There is of course much extravagance among Negroes. Much is doubtless spent for amusement, much certainly goes for finery. These outlays are compara tively large with some among the colored domestics of Phila delphia, although the facts which came to the knowledge of the investigator during these nine months in Philadelphia seemed to indicate that, speaking broadly, the colored domes tics of that city are a thrifty class of people.
VI.
AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATIONS.
There can be little doubt that the monotony of the life of a domestic employee is one of the chief obstacles in the way of many competent workers who, but for this, might enter service as a permanent employment. Although household work is less arduous than many other forms of man ual labor, yet it is true of it more than of almost any other occu
pation that it demands practically the whole of the worker's time. Nearly all of the restaurant waiters interviewed have " only two hours at a time/* and it will readily be understood
that with their leisure so broken they find it difficult to employ it to any very great advantage, either in the direction of study or of recreation. The liberty of the
* *
private waiter ' '
(except on his day out) is even less than that of the hotel waiter. House hold work is a ceaseless round which> like woman's work, is * 'never done. ' ' And the private domestic, even when given con siderable liberty and free time while within the household, must always hold himself in readiness to answer any call at a moment's notice. All this is a very serious objection in the minds of most young people, who, as has been seen, constitute the greater part of domestic service everywhere. Without doubt it deters many whites as well as blacks, and many rural as well as urban people, from entering household service. Indeed, it
is probable that it determines in a very considerable degree the personnel of domestic service in England as well as through out the United States, and somewhat modifies its character in
the matter of permanence, as many English girls prefer factory work, and many girls in our cotton-growing and grape-raising regions, as well as in our factory towns, prefer field
and factory work when it is to be had, and only fall back into the ranks of domestic service when the season is passed or factory work slack. Of the restlessness of household servants in England, Mr. Booth says :
* " Many of this class (the middle grade)
18 Charles Booth, vol. 8, chapter on Household Service.
(463)
464 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
only go to service when factory work is slack. They almost universally stipulate for one whole day's holiday in every month indeed, with most of them, this seems to be the one thing which makes the servant's life worth living. . . The dullness and monotony of a domestic servant's life seems to be the most generally pressing question. The demand is for more Sundays and evenings out and a monthly holiday. . . Careful mistresses assert that they find that even quite young girls fresh from the country chafe under any restriction as to the manner in which they shall spend their leisure, or as to be ing out late alone.
JJ
The same tendencies are noticeable throughout American domestic service, both with native whites, foreign whites, and colored domestics. This dissatisfaction is shown by the rest less attempts of domestics to enter other occupations. Among American domestic employes the country over, 28 per cent are found to have been engaged in other occupations, such as hop- picking, grape- and cotton-picking and factory work.
1* That these people are now employed in domestic work, Miss Salmon believes, means not so much a preference for service as that it is a sort of demure ressort to be taken up only when no better paid or more popular work offers. For the other kinds of work named the employes get wages so high as to enable them to live for a considerable time in idleness hence its popularity among young people in many places. Among the colored people in the city of Philadelphia, 524
domestics report in regard to other occupations. Ofthis number 91, or 17.4 per cent, have done, or attempted to get the opportu nity to do, other work than domestic service, and it is notice able that the employment which has occupied this 17.4 per cent ofcolored domestics has been very different in character from the field and factory work attracting young domestics in general. Among colored city domestics, the work done by the women before entering service has very generally been dress making, typewriting or teaching, while the men have worked as porters, or drug clerks, or have practiced trades or even pro fessions. One man was encountered who had graduated from Hampton and from a law school as well, while several stone-
14 L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. no.
Amusements and Recreations. 465
cutters, brick masons and carpenters were found who had drifted or been forced into the ranks of domestic service. The chief difference between the case of these Negro domes
tics in the city and the case of the grape-pickers and factory hands both in England and America who have tried to leave service for other work is indicated by the widely different char acter of the work sought in each case. The grape- and cotton- pickers and the factory hands leave service only temporarily, lured by the high wages and the "liveliness" of the work, fully expecting all the time to return to service when the har vesting is over and their wages spent; while the colored city employes who attempt to get other work wish to leave domestic service permanently. They wish to do this partly because they consider that service savors of slavery and that they are de
graded by it, and, being ambitious of achieving respectability, they attempt to better their social standing by becoming teachers or dressmakers; partly also because they hope for higher wages from teaching and other work than they receive as domestics. The difference between the proportion of servants the country over who have done other work and the proportion of colored domestics in Philadelphia who have done or attempted to do other work is a large one. Twenty-eight per cent of general domestic service as contrasted with 17,4 per cent of colored
domestic service shows a difference which is almost in the ratio of five to three. And also it must be remembered and this accentuates the difference still further that the colored ser
vants who have tried to get other work and failed have also been counted, since the attempt showed their restlessness in service and their desire to leave it. There must be some reason
for this apparent willingness to remain in service on the part of
the colored people. In answer to the schedule question, l ' Have
you ever tried to do other work ?" a large number of domes tics replied,
" I never go any place I'm not sure of I won't
give them a chance to refuse me/* One girl who had taught for four years and who thinks she lost her place at the end of that time from prejudice on the part of the school committee
says, without the slightest apparent touch of resentment, " The
reason I don't try to teach is because I know I'd have trouble, and I can save as much this way." Another ex-teacher has now been a chambermaid for several years for the same reason.
466 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
One Philadelphia carpenter and builder says, ' ' We have five
granddaughters my son's children from twenty-three years old to fourteen; and what can we do with them ? They can't get teachers' places, though they are good students. Dress
making is about played out. Service ? They don't want to do that. Typewriting is about the only hope, and the oldest one was refused that the other day." One man, now a waiter, was formerly a stock clerk for the
Eureka Silk Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and held his place there for seven years. At the end of that time he applied by letter for a similar position in Philadelphia, and was told to ' * come along ; everything was satisfactory ; his record was
good and they would try him." When he appeared in person -they inquired,
" Are you Mr. ? "
. . .
" Well, we have
another applicant on file who is coming around to-day. If we don't decide on him we'll let you know." He left his address and has not heard from the firm since. He says,
" Waiting is
all we can get to do, and lots will refuse us that. No man as dark as I am could get work at one of the large apartment houses. They want a
'
bright skin. 7
It is the same in many hotels, and families, too." Another man states that when he applied for office work the clerk to whom he addressed his remarks looked at him and did not answer him at all ; while yet another, a fine looking young man of the type called a " brown skin," said he had been refused clerk's work with insults, which
* (
it would be impossible for him to repeat before a lady words he would not soil his lips with." Fortunately, however, this is becoming less common. When colored domes tics are refused it appears to be generally with the simple state ment that white help is preferred. It should be said here that among those who said that they had never attempted anything except domestic employment, fifty-two, or about 10 per cent, have even been refused domestic work when applying for it. Some ofthese were inclined to charge the refusal to race preju dice; some attribute it to the fact that unintelligent employers class all colored people together; or, to put it in their own words, **
If the mistresses has bad luck with one colored girl they wont never have another. They think all colored is alike." Still others think it is not a race question at all, but merely one of
supply and demand. As one man put it, " There isn't work
Amusements and Recreations. 467
enough or places enough to go round ; that's it." There are many well-authenticated cases also of " light
" colored people who have retained their places from two to fifteen years, under the impression, on the part of the employer, that they were white people ; but on the discovery of the slight tincture of African blood, although it could not be detected, and although the work had been entirely satisfactory, their situations were immediately forfeited. Such instances might be multiplied indefinitely, as they were encountered upon every hand. In consideration of all this, it appears highly probable that
the Negroes are deterred in many cases from attempting to obtain other work, from unwillingness to run the risk of insult or failure. The moral certainty of
* c
having trouble ' '
is prob ably sufficient to account for the comparatively low percentage of colored domestics who have attempted to leave service, while the well-known fact that so many industries are closed against the race would account in large measure for the scarcity of those who have actually been engaged in other employments. These facts are sufficient to explain the 10.6 per cent difference in the two percentages compared. Judging by the character of the work sought by the domes
tics who have left or attempted to leave service, it seems fair to conclude that,while the monotony of service and the low pay, as compared with harvest wages, are the chief things that rural American servants have against it, probably the chief objection of colored city domestics against service is the social stigma which rightly or wrongly attaches to it. It savors to them of the degradation of their slavery days, while they believe that
to be a teacher is to achieve immediate social position and become a respected member of the community. Colored city domestics seek other work, therefore, from the desire to escape social degradation first, from the desire for greater personal freedom next, and finally from the hope of higher remuneration. But while the social stigma is the city Negro's chief objec
tion to domestic service there can be no doubt that from his
point of view this dullness of the life is one of its most serious drawbacks the most serious probably with the exception ofthe one already named. That the monotony of service is as keenly felt by the colored people as by any other domestics may easily be inferred both from the well-known fact of the natural
468 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
joyousness and gaiety of the Negro's disposition, and also from the fact^shown in Table XI, that so large a proportion of them, as compared with other domestics, stipulate for the freedom of their evenings. It was found from schedules relating to 564 cases that 75.6 per cent of all the Negro men servants inter viewed and 49.3 per cent of all the women servants go home from work. When this is contrasted with the per cent of domestic servants the country over who go home from work, we find a remarkable divergence. In general service
15
40 per cent of the men and only 2 per cent of the women lodge at home, that is to say, outside the establishment of the employer. This seems to show clearly the greater tendency of the colored domestic to escape from the solitary confinement to which our present system of household management condemns all the servants in
" single-handed
" places. It should be marked,
however, that the per cents relating to Philadelphia colored
people here are based on less than 600 schedules, while those
relating to general service are based upon over 2500. Also, it is much oftener the case among colored domestics that they work in the same city in which their families and friends live, while many white women domestics have no home nearer than Ireland or Sweden, and so they naturally lodge at their work ing places, while the colored women as naturally lodge at home when it is possible to do so.
Questions will arise as to the amount of leisure dme usually granted to colored domestics and how this leisure is employed.
It would be impossible to tabulate the statements returned in answer to the question,
" Number of hours free each month," but it may be said in general that a very great number of dif ferent arrangements obtain even in this one ward of one city. The most of them include one afternoon each week and the evening or the afternoon and evening ofalternate Sundays. For the greater number of both men and women domestics report this amount of leisure while some are allowed only one afternoon and every third Sunday or one afternoon and every fourth Sunday. Still a considerable number are given the usual afternoon of a week day and every Sunday afternoon as well. Some have their afternoon and alternate Sundays
15 Iy. M. Salmon,
" Domestic Service/* p. 92. Based on 2545 cases.
Amusements and Recreations. 469
and one or more evenings, and a considerable number have this arrangement with the freedom of all their evenings. While still others have two afternoons weekly and alternate Sundays. The whole holiday every month which is so dear to the English household servant is not found in American domestic service. No Negro employe in the Philadelphia ward investigated reported such a whole holiday, however liberal might be the leisure granted in the shape of parts of different days ; and Miss Salmon's treatment of the subject mentions no whole day of leisure for domestics, but states that "in the case of more than 1000 employees at least one after noon each week is given, while more than 400 employers give a part of Sunday/' The question how their leisure is employed was answered by
only 257 colored domestics, of whom 206 were women and only 51 were men. It will be seen from the tabulation of these returns that the Negro church is very closely bound up with the problem of the recreations of the Negro people, and in this connection a word of explanation is necessary to acquaint the
general reader with the status of the Negro church. To quote from a well-known American scholar and writer who is an authority upon race questions:
" Among most people the
primitive sociological group was the family or at least the clan. Not so among American Negroes ; such vestiges of primitive organization among the Negro slaves were destroyed by the
slaveship. In this country the first distinct voluntary organi zation of Negroes was the Negro church. The Negro church came before the Negro home ; it ante-dates their social life, and in every respect it stands to-day as the fullest, broadest expres sion of organized Negro life. . . . We are so familiar with churches, and church work is so near to us, that we have scarce time to view it in perspective and to realize that in origin and
functions the Negro church is a broader, deeper and more com
prehensive social organism than the churches of white Ameri cans, The Negro church is not simply an organism for the
propagation of religion ; it is the centre of social, intellectual
and religious life of an organized group of individuals. It pro vides social intercourse, it provides amusements of various
kinds, it serves as a newspaper and intelligence bureau, it
supplants the theatre, it directs the picnic and excursion, it
470 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
furnishes the music, it introduces the stranger to the community, it serves as a lyceum, library and lecture bureau ; it is, in fine, the central organ of the organized life of the American Negro, for amusement, relaxation, instruction and religion. To main tain its pre-eminence the Negro church has been forced to
compete with the dance-hall, the theatre and the home as an amusement-giving agency. Aided by color proscription in
public amusements, aided by the fact mentioned before that the church among us is older than the home the church has been peculiarly successful, so that of the 10,000 Philadelphia Negroes whom I asked,
' Where do you get your amusements ? *
fully three-quarters could only answer, ' From the churches.' " "
This centralization of amusements about the church shows itself very conspicuously in the following tabulation based on
257 records :
TABLE XV.
LEISURE TIME OF COLORED DOMESTICS How EMPLOYED.
If these figures may be taken as typical nearly 57 per cent of the Negro men and nearly 66 per cent of the Negro women in domestic service look to the churches and the church entertain ments for all their recreations except those engaged within the precincts of their own homes, such as home studies, music and social visits. Indeed the number who depend upon the
tf Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, in the "College Settlement News," Philadel phia, July, 1897. See also page 197 etseq., in this volume.
Amusements and Recreations. 471
church in this matter should be even greater than these figures indicate, since it is true that many of those reporting that they spend their leisure "at home, resting/' or
' * at home, sewing and clearing up," also in most cases report in answer to ques tion twenty-three of the schedule, the church of which they are members and whose regular services they regularly attend. Of the seventeen men reporting that their leisure is spent in "resting up
" only two report that they attend no church and
ofthe sixty-onewomen thus classified only four attend nochurch. If we count these " at home " domestics then where they really belong, with the church-goers, we shall have 93.2 per cent of the women and 86.3 per cent of the men among domestics who depend on the church for their lectures, libraries, musicales, festivals, etc., as well as for their religious instruction and
uplift. This gives a combined average of 91.8 per cent of all colored domestics whose usual entertainment and instruction is of this kind.
A comparison of the per cents of those whose leisure is chiefly devoted to study shows that 19.6 per cent of the men are so classified to 14.1 per cent of the women. Nearly a third of the women so classed are music students; and if these are counted out we shall have only 9.7 per cent of the women domestics devoting their leisure chiefly to study and reading. One young waiter, a West Indian, was devoting his spare time to the study of English and meantime was taking his directions from his employer in French. Another waiter reported that he read "the classics" in his spare hours, and still another confessed to a fondness for
* * the poets J * while at the same time
he offered a pleasing contrast to many of the poets he admired, in having his collar and white tie and complete costume quite faultlessly neat and well ordered. The mistress of one house hold says,
" Our waiter has the education of a gentleman, 11
but on the other hand one employer whose judgments were
evidently free from bias says, " Our man may be a good lawyer
but he certainly is not a good waiter." This was however the only adverse criticism offered in regard to any of the
domestics who were students and readers. It appears that educated domestics are generally no worse workers than others, if they are no better. In at least two cases it appeared that
the educated domestic did better household work than others.
472 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
These were a cook and maid whose employer said both her
girls read a great deal and apparently spent their time upon good literature; her cook was then reading "Hyperion/' she said. The question naturally followed,
" Is shea good cook ?"
" Yes, I have never had a more efficient girl
" was the ready reply,
' * and I have employed both white and colored. These are two of the cleanest girls I have ever had in the house."
Several of the women servants reported their leisure devoted chiefly to
" literaries," all of which, so far as the investigator
was able to learn, were connected with the churches. These students and readers among domestic servants doubtless are the more ambitious ones who are anxious to improve every opportunity with the hope of finally working
their way out of service. This high per cent of readers among colored domestics, 20 per cent of the men and 10 per cent of the women, ought not to be surprising, however, when we remember that 10 per cent of these people have had some training higher than the
common school and might therefore be expected to have lit
erary taste. In regard to the home-keeping domestics, if
the first and last
classes in Table XV be combined, we find 41 . 2 per cent of home- keeping women domestics who are either at home or at their churches during their leisure time. At the Pennsylvania Hospital the investigator was informed by one of
the officials
in charge that more late passes were given to the white than
to the colored servants, and there are about equal numbers of
each race employed. The church affiliation of colored domestic servants in Phila
delphia may be given in this connection. Reports from 548 persons were received on this point, 400 women and 148
men.
The following table shows the various denominations by number and per cent :
Amusements and Recreations. 473
TABLE xvi. CHURCH AFFILIATION OF COLORED DOMESTICS IN THE SEVENTH
WARD OF PHILADELPHIA.
These per cents are united into combined averages and rep resented in graphic form in the following diagram *.
DIAGRAM SHOWING CHURCH AFFILIATION OF THE COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS OF THE SEVENTH WARD OF PHILADELPHIA.
O tO 20 30 4-Q SO GO 7O 8O &O K>O
METHODIST BAPTIST EPISCOPAL PRESBYTER!** CATHOLIC ALL OTHERS
VII.
LENGTH AND QUALITY OF NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE.
In regard to length of service, we have 284 reports from men employed in domestic service, and 591 from women, 875 altogether. Of these 213 are from men personally interviewed, and since
this question was uniformly asked, these 213 reports will rep resent the service of the rank and file of men servants. The remaining 71 were recorded upon the family schedules,
and were obtained, therefore, from the statements of their
parents or sisters, and since no question regarding length of service appears in the family schedule, this information was evidently volunteered. From this fact It seems probable that the length of service in these 71 cases was put forward as being something unusual, as indeed it is, including as it does , 7 rec ords of 10 to 15 years service with one family, 12 records of 16 to 20 years, and 10 records of over 20 years of service, one coachman having served 41 years in the same family. In view of the nature of this information it has been kept separate from the other records and dealt with by itself in order to avoid misrepresentation of facts. The service periods shown in these 71 records range from 2
to 41 years, the average service period being 1 1 years and 5 months.
TABLE XVII.
{Domestic Service.}
SERVICE PERIODS OF SEVENTY-ONE * * LONG-SERVICE MEN J ' IN THE SEVENTH WARI> OE PHILADELPHIA.
The following table (No. XVIII) gives the nativity of these 71 "long-service men.'
J
(474)
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 475
TABLE XVIII.
{Domestic Service.}
NATIVITY OF SEVENTY-ONE " LONG-SERVICE MEN " IN THE SEVENTH: WARD OF PHILADELPHIA.
Here the 18.4 per cent from Philadelphia agrees with the Philadelphia percentage in Table II, and also the 28*2 per cent from Virginia corresponds very nearly with the parallel record in that table which shows 27.9 per cent of the total domestic service of Philadelphia coming from Virginia. Turning to consider the pay of these long-service men, it is found that of these 71 men 20 are coachmen, while 51 are "private waiters.*** The following table gives their range of wages and average wages. The general average wage will be seen to approach close upon $9.00 a week.
TABLE XIX.
{^Domestic Service.')
WAGES OF SEVENTY-ONE "LONG-SERVICE** HEN IN THE SEVENTH WARD OF PHJX,AI>EI*FHIA,
476 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
With, these facts concerning service periods, nativity and wages of "long-servicemen," it may be interesting to compare the same facts for the men of the rank and file. With the c< rank-and-file men " the service periods vary from a few days to 31 years, the average period being 4 years 6 months and some days, a considerable contrast with the n years and 5 months of the long-service men.
In the following table the nativity of the long-service men and that of the rank-and-file men are brought together:
TABLB XX.
{Domestic Service.}
NATIVITY OF " RANK-AND-FILK MBN " COMPARED WITH NATIVITY OF " IrONG-SERVTCK MEN " IN THE SEVENTH WARD.
In this table as in previous ones, Maryland and Virginia are seen to be far in the lead
*
in the matter of furnishing the domestic service of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia. Here indeed, the Virginia record rises to a number almost twice as great as that furnished by both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania taken together; although the percentage from the State here
practically agrees -with that of the long- service men. The facts in regard to range of wages and average wages of coach men and private waiters in the
' * rank and file ' J of service in the Seventh Ward are given in Table XXI, which follows:
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 477
TABLE XXI.
{Domestic Service.'} WAGES OP " RANK-AND-FILE MEN" IN THE SEVENTH WARD OF
PHILADELPHIA.
A comparison of this with the average pay of the "long- service men*' (whose average coachman's wage is $10.74, while their average waiter's wage is $8.10 and their general average wage is $8.84, nearly $9.00), would seem to point to the possibility that length of service may have some occult connection with length of pocketbook, and that the
" giving
satisfaction" may not be all on one side of the line in the domestic service question. Of course it is true that a bad ser vant can not command high wages, also it is impossible to transform a poor servant into a good one by paying him high wages; but, on the other hand, it is true that good service can not be obtained without paying good wages for it.
Schedules giving service periods of colored women employed in the Seventh Ward show 591 records, only six of which were volunteered as unusual, as in the case of the long-service men given above; in view of the smallness of this number these six schedules have not been dealt with separately; but the women who have served five years and over have been isolated, irre spective of the manner in which the information was obtained, and their statements separately treated as in the case of the long-service men. These " long-service women " who have served five years
and more show 178 records; the range of service periods is from five to thirty-five years, the average being six years and eight months. The range of service periods of
** rank-and-file women"
varies from one day to five years, while their average service period is found to be three years and six months, only about one-half the service period of the long-service women.
478 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
Their nativity and that of the ' '
rank-and-file women " are
given together for purposes of contrast and show the following* facts:
TABLE XXII.
{Domestic Service.)
NATIVITY OF "LONG-SERVICE WOMEN" COMPARED WITH NATIVITY OF "RANK-ANB-FlLE WOMEN " IN SEVENTH WARD.
According to this record a greater proportion of "long- service women " come from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, which is not the case in Table XX, contrasting nativity of the men. The following tables show the range of wages and average
wage for each of the classes of women servants here considered:
TABLE XXIII.
(Domestic Service.)
WAGES OF "LONG-SERVICE WOMEN" IN THE SEVENTH WARD OP PHII,ADEI,PHIA.
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service, 479
(In this table and the one following 4^ weeks have been reckoned to a month.)
TABLE XXIV.
{Domestic Service. )
WAGES OF " RAOT>AND-FII^ WOMEN" IN THE SEVENTH WARD OF PHILADEIJPHIA.
By comparing the last two tables it will be seen that the wage varies less between long- service and ordinary-service women than in the case of the men. The ordinary cook's wage, $3.99, compares more favorably with $4.21, the long- service cook's wage, than does $8.58, the ordinary coachman's
wage, with $10.74, the wage of the long-service coachman, and the contrasts throughout will be seen to be less pronounced in
the women's than in the men's wages. But if the wage of ordinary service and long service varies
less among the women than among the men, it must be remem bered that the length of service varies less among the women than among the men. The average service periods of two classes of men servants are four years six months, and eleven years five months, the onebeing two and one-half times as great as the other; while the average service periods of the two
classes of women are three years six months, and six years eight months, the one being not quite twice the other; hence, the narrower variations in wages of women as compared with those of men would corroborate the theory of the close connec tion of quality of service and consequent length of service
with high wages, rather than weaken that theory. Also it
is true that in spite of the occasionally greater range in the
wages paid to the "rank and file/' the average wages ofthe long- service domestics, both men and women, are uniformly greater
480 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
than the average wages paid to the ' ' rank and file. ' ' Combin
ing the average service periods of the long-service domestics
with those of the " rank and file " gives us a combined average
of six years and one month as the average service period of colored men servants, and four years and five months as the average service period of colored women servants in Philadel phia. Again, uniting these averages of servants of both sexes
in Philadelphia, gives the combined average service period for all colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia. This combined average service period is 4.96 years, that is to say, five years lacking less than one month. It is based on 875 records:
17
This offers a decided contrast with the average length of ser
vice of domestics the country over, which average service
period, Miss Salmon states, "is found to be less than one
year and a half." 18
This contrast in service periods may be made clearer by the following graphic representation, showing length of service
period of Negroes and of general domestic service in the United
States, given in terms of a common unit of length.
OF SERVICE.
CEN'L SERVICE (AU.DOMESTICS m U.Sj COLORED OQWESTIC SERVICE ^ (N PHILADELPHIA)
These service periods will be seen to stand to each other in the ratio of about 3 to 10, and may have some connection with the relative numbers of white and Negro domestics. It may be that the Negro service period is three times as long as the average service period, because there are three times as
"Some time after the beginning of the investigation it was found to be practicable to get two records of length of service from each individual interviewed by adding the question,
c< How long were you in your last place ?" This question was then uniformly asked, which accounts for 875 records of length of service from only 616 people personally interviewed. It must also be noted that the average is high, partly because the number of cases is small and includes a few cases of excep tionally long-service periods.
18 I/. M. Salmon,
" Domestic Service,'* p. 109.
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 481
many Negro servants proportionately, and therefore three times as many chances for capable servants to be found among them. Another possible explanation of the longer period of colored domestics may be their greater docility as servants. As one employer whose name is well known in Philadelphia circles has said of colored domestics : " If you get a good class of colored people they are the most faithful, honest and biddable servants in the world." This docility which is a recognized trait of the Negro character has doubtless been developed by slavery, and it is not unlikely that it has been still further culti vated in these later days by their knowledge that losing their
places in service may mean inability to get work of any kind for an indefinite period. However, if we may judge from the remarks of a certain colored waitress upon length of service, the Negroes feel that there is a point beyond which docility and a respectful bearing cease to be virtues. As she had held her own situation for twenty-two years, her remark may fairly be taken as unaffected by personal considerations, She said :
'* Yes, they say long service is good service, but some
times you can't stay at places ; some of the ladies an' gentle men's not very pleasant" An employer, on the same point, says :
" It isn't the servants any more than it is the mistresses
who are responsible for the frequent changes of place/' She thinks that
" it varies with the individual, not with the race.'*
Many of the employers who discussed the subject with the investigator said that their experience was that colored servants were " more respectful
" (six said this),
" less impertinent
" (2),
" very anxious to please
" (2), "more agreeable and obliging
and have nicer manners " (4). A third possible explanation of the longer period of service
among colored domestics may be found in the fact frequently adduced by their employers, that they
" are much more likely
than white girls to become attached to the family" so they naturally stay longer in one place than others do. Another
employer says: "When they become fond of you they are very staunch friends," and yet another, says of them :
" They
are muck more loyal and infinitely more affectionate than white servants. They have shown me absolute loyalty in service.
"
This is significant as being the testimony of a Northern woman who had "never seen a colored servant" before she was
482 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
married and who employed them for the first time on coming to Philadelphia and now, after sixteen years,
(< would never have any one else." The question whether one State or one section furnishes
better domestics than another State or section is interesting, and has its bearing on the point under discussion. It is pos sible that the Philadelphia colored people represent a higher grade socially and intellectually, than the Negroes of the South and so, in searching for an explanation of the connec tion between length of service and quality of service it may be suggestive and valuable here to compare the facts already tabulated in regard to nativity with the facts in regard to
ordinary and extraordinary service, to see if any indication may be forthcoming as to the locality which furnishes the best quality of colored domestic service, whether Philadelphia and Pennsylvania or the South. Such a comparison may cast light on the moot question whether Philadelphians are more likely to be well served by Philadelphia colored people or by Southerners. In the table given below, therefore, the per cent of Philadelphia colored people among long-service and ordinary domestics is compared with the corresponding per cent of
Virginia-born colored domestics. Virginia has been chosen to
represent the South because it is the Southern State furnishing the greatest number of domestic servants in the Seventh Ward and is perhaps the State coming most sharply into competition with the native colored domestics.
TABLE XXV. COMPARING QUALITY OF SERVICE (AS IMPLIED IN LENGTH OF SER
VICE PERIOD) OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS OF VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 483
The proportions of Pennsylvania and of Virginia service here shown, are approximately represented by the fractions , $, 3$ and f, where the numerator in each case stands for Phila delphia servants employed in the Seventh Ward, and the denominator stands for Virginia servants there employed. When these fractions are reduced to the same scale they become
i urn mn a*d ntt*- Here> as wm ** ***> ^ first and smallest fraction stands for the shortest service period (three years and six months); the second fraction for the next longer service period, and so on. The values of these fractions will be seen to increase progressively, excepting the last, so that the greater values correspond with the longer service
periods. The values of these fractions then, when taken in connection with the increasing service periods, would seem to indicate that the greater the proportion of Philadelphia domes tics as compared with the proportion of Virginia domestics, the more valuable is the service ; that is to say that Philadelphia- born colored people appear to render the more efficient service. It should be said that the fourth fraction in the above compar ison, to be consistent with the theory offered, should be larger than the third, but it must be remembered that the fourth frac tion is based upon only seventy-one records and is therefore less likely to represent the facts accurately than the others which are based on a much greater number of records. Such indications as the above approach nearer to accurate
treatment of the question of quality of service rendered than it
is possible to get through quoting opinions of employers. The subject is hard to treat at all adequately for the reason that all statements of degrees of excellence or of incompetency must be based on the shifting sands of opinion and upon the opinions of many different people, having different traditions, different education and home influences, different degrees of insight and different standards of excellence. Statements so conditioned
must necessarily be relative and impossible to reckon up and number with any semblance of statistical precision. Still the
opinions of the employers of colored domestics in the Seventh
Ward of Philadelphia, a large proportion of whom have em ployed both white and colored help, should have a certain
interest and value, even though they are not reducible to
figures.
484 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
Fifty-five employers 19 in the Seventh Ward stated their views
in regard to the qualities of Negro domestics and many varying opinions, both favorable and unfavorable, were expressed. The balance of testimony from these fifty-five employers, how ever, seems to be largely in favor of the colored people rather than whites, both in regard to the service offered and in the attitude of the employe toward the employer. Only one
employer stated that she preferred white to colored ; she was employing colored help at that time only because she had not been able to secure satisfactory white girls. Twenty employers say that they find colored domestics quite as neat as whites, while two find them not as neat and five find them more so
;
"much cleaner than the Irish both in their work and in their persons;
n 'they keep their kitchen and their own room cleaner."
Ten employers think they stay for as long or longer a service period, while seven think they do not stay as long as the whites. Fourteen employers think they render as good service as whites, and eleven think their service better, or "a
great deal better;" while one although employing three col ored servants thinks the whites do better work and says she has colored servants "because they look more like servants." She also thinks they drink more than the whites, an opinion which, so far as the present investigator can learn, she is
unique in holding, since all the other employers who discussed the point held the opposite view.
One gentleman, the business manager of one of the large first-class apartment hotels which employs thirty dining-room men, names their freedom from intemperance as one of the chief reasons why he
'
'decidedly prefers colored help, M 4 *
They give more attention to their work," he says, "are better waiters and they drink less. They can be counted upon on pay day the same as any other day, while white serving men are likely to go and drink up their pay and be useless for the rest of the day." The business manager of the Continental says the same thing, as do also all the hotels which employ colored service.
A very few employers think colored domestics (<are lazy and neglect their work," while more than four times as many say
18 Most of whom have employed both white and Negro domestics.
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 485
that they are " industrious
1 ' and " good workers, 11 "
splendid workers/'
" a great deal better workers and decidedly better
cooks than the whites/' One employer says on this point: "No, I have not found them lazy, at least no more so than others
; there are good ones and bad ones among both white and colored. 1 ' Skill in cooking was mentioned by only six employers, all of whom think colored cooks superior to other servants in this respect.
Further judgments are: " They are excellent servants and
have an intuitive knowledge of what you want; " "
they <& all the things white servants wait to be told to do/' Several employers agree on these points, but one says:
" They have
to be told to do everything, but if you keep after them, you can get the things done." The testimonial of one cook upon the virtues of f< her madam" will show this matter from the domestic point of view. This cook says, "My madam gives me the key, and she never comes down to see if I'm here in the morning; she knows I'll be here; and she never comes into the kitchen to see if meals are getting along, because she knows when half-past six o'clock comes she can trust her girls to have it ready right then." One mistress said:
" Trust
them, and I have found they always prove themselves worthy of trust." Eighteen employers concur in the view that they are trustworthy and do not disappoint confidence; while three think them unreliable and untrustworthy, as compared with white servants. On this subject one employer on Spruce street said:
'* I think the colored people are much maligned in regard
to honesty, cleanliness and trustworthiness; my experience of them is that they are immaculate in every way, and they are perfectly honest; indeed, I can't say enough that is good about them." These sentiments were held by several other employ ers, one on Broad street using almost the same words: *'I think the colored people are very much maligned in this mat ter of honesty and trustworthiness; I have two colored men now who are as honest as the sun, and my cook, who also does all the marketing, is very industrious and careful painstak ing. She is a good, faithful creature, and very grateful."
In regard to the question of the pilfering of food left from the table, the concensus of opinion is heavily against the colored people. There are only three employers wlio have
486 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
anything to say in defence of tliem in this particular, and six against. Their defenders say:
" After ten years of experience
with the colored people, I have never had a colored servant take anything, even food;" the next: "We lost more food, etc., from the treating in the kitchen, which the Irish indulge in, than we have ever missed from pilfering of colored ser vants,
" and a third, who employs both white and colored ser vants, says: "I know it is frequently said that the colored people take food home from the kitchen, but I have not found it so." On the other hand it is said: "They are good ser vants, but they will carry things off;
" while another says that
they "take food; they don't mean to be dishonest, but they don't consider that stealing, and are perfectly honest about
money. " Another employer says:
" Unquestionably they
are light-fingered about food and sweetmeats; slavery has
always clothed and fed them and taught them to help them selves; we think slavery is responsible for it." Another thinks
" they are like children in temptation; they can't resist
sweetmeats, but never take things of value." The other two employers who spoke on this point say practically the same thing: "They are honest; they take things to eat home, but they don't count that; we never lose anything valuable." The other calls them "thieves," but evidently means pilferers of food.
In regard to their honesty, the balance is as strongly with them as, in this question of purloining food, it is against them. Eighteen employers say they are honest, and not one states the
opposite. Two of these find them " more honest than white
servants," and two others, already quoted, say they are f< per
fectly honest," " as honest as the sun." Many remarks made
by domestics themselves, in the course of conversation, might be quoted as casting light on the subject, but only two will be given here. One elderly colored man, who had been a school janitor in the west end of the ward for two years, and was nearly nine years in his former place, said: "Some people say if you put your hand in a man's pocket, you're stealing; they think that's the only way; but if you loaf two or three hours every day when your boss is paying you for working, I say you're stealing just the same stealing his time; I say we only live one day at a time, and that one day we've got to do the
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 487
same as if we'd just come to that place. In summer places I've seen them so triflin' fooling away their time, and merely because the proprietor don't see them.
1 ' The same spirit was shown by a woman cook on Broad street, who took pleasure in doing good work always for "her lady," whose kindness she enlarged upon with a warmth that showed a strong affec tion. This woman said: " When my time comes to go home from here, it will be a pleasant thought that I have done all I can to help my kind employer/' These two cases imply not only honesty in the overt act, but an entire honesty of pur pose. Many similar cases might be cited. The question of the general bearing and manners of colored
domestics was discussed by many of their employers. The general opinion of the employers is that they are
" more will
ing and obliging" than white servants. As one employer says: "The Germans drink and the Irish order you out of the house, but the colored people are more respectful and anxious to please." "They are more agreeable and obliging and have nicer manners," says another employer, and adds; " When my sister was ill, the Irish maid I had at the time refused to carry up the breakfast tray,
*
because,' she said, * it
was not her business to do nursing,' and she * wouldn't do it
for ten dollars.' " So the employer herself prepared and
carried up the trays until the colored girl, who came soon after, volunteered her services with: "Let me take up the breakfast tray, Mrs. W . You look ready to drop," and since she came, Mrs. W has never had a white girl in the house. That the colored people are more willing and obliging in manner is attested by twenty employers and denied by no
one, while one employer, who is connected with the University, and has had years of experience, both with white and colored
servants, says of the colored people: " Whether they are better
or worse than the whites may depend upon what whites you have. We had white servants for seven winters, and always em ployed the best Irish servants we could get; but they were so unsatisfactory that we gave them up and tried colored servants. Our experience of them is that they are infinitely cleaner than the white Irish, both in their work and personally; they are more self-respecting and better mannered more agreeable in
manners; indeed, I have found them capable of the very highest
488 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
cultivation of manner. One of our men has the education of a gentleman and is improving himself constantly; the other is
ignorant, but is exceedingly refined and modest in manner. Of course they have faults; they are fickle, changing from
place to place, even when they are fond of their employers, and they have quick tempers, but they are truthful and honest; we have never lost a thing by them. We keep them by prefer ence, and shall continue to do so."
Several employers agree in regard to this instinct of the colored people for good manners. One who constantly em ploys nine servants, and in the last twenty-five or thirty years has had only one set of white servants says:
" There is much more to them than people think; our first man servant has as many of the instincts of a gentleman as anyone I ever saw." This is high praise.
{
They have a native, deep-seated refine ment and very lovely manners," says another who has em ployed them for fifteen years. A judgment which was frequently encountered and always
among those employers who had had experience of both white and colored servants was that colored servants are "just like other people of their own class." One employer says on this point:
" I don't find a bit of difference; some are very neat
and some are very untidy; it depends entirely on the girl." Another says: "There are good ones and poor ones among both; it varies with the individual, not with the race."
Another, in charge of a large institution, employing many servants of whom half are white and half colored, says: " My experience has been very satisfactory with the colored ; they are less impertinent, but in most respects are much like white people of their own class. One is about as faithful as the other, and in the matter of neatness they are just like other people ; it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. As to trust worthiness I have found certain ones are perfectly reliable
just as with other human beings." Those who are interested in this subject will doubtless see that, although these opinions of employers have no statistical value, they will have a prac tical value for many readers, and especially if they open the eyes of the Philadelphia public, or even a small part of it, to the hitherto apparently unsuspected fact that there are grades among colored people, just as there are among white people;
Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 489
and among colored servants as among white servants; that they are "just like other human beings;' 7 some of them trustworthy, and others not; some of them "perfectly reli able,
7 ' and others the opposite of what that phrase expresses, exactly as with white people of their own class. To class the whole race together, or to class all colored domestics to gether, is to make a serious mistake.
VIII.
CONJUGAI, CONDITION, ILLITERACY AND HEALTH OF NEGRO DOMESTICS.
Conjugal Condition. The following table gives the facts in the matter of conjugal condition of colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, by sex and age periods. It is based upon 2289 records (see page 491): Comparing the conjugal condition of Negro domestics with
that of all domestics, we have:
TABLE XXVI.
CONJTTGAI, CONDITION IN ALI, AMERICAN DOMESTIC SERVICE COM PARED WITH CONJUGAL, CONDITION AMONG COLORED
DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.
(490)
C o n j u g a l
C o n d i t i o n ^
I l l i t e r a c y a n d
H e a l t h .
4 9 1
t / 5
12wc<Q5 3
8CO2 -
a56*4I3
SI
o &
W i d o w
M a r r i e d .
iIWid o w e d ,
M an3&I
.
5 8
o o
-
2 "
r f ^
o o
. .
O O
f O O
O O
r O
M O
O 1 - 1^
\ 0 \ 0
S O
O d
* * >
&
8 _ SS
t
t t
I
492 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
This comparison of the conjugal condition of white and of colored domestics may advantageously be reduced to graphic form for clearness. The first of these diagrams presents the facts of conjugal condition among American domestics ser vants of all nationalities, as recorded in the eleventh census, while the second presents the same facts relating to colored domestic servants in Philadelphia.
CONJUGAL CONDITION IN Aw, AMERICAN DOMESTIC SERVICE. (Figures ofEleventh Census*}
CONJUGAI, CONDITION IN COLORED DOMESTIC SERVICE IN PHILADELPHIA.
30 40 50 70 ftO OO 100
D WNCLE MARRIED WIDOWED DIVORCED UNKNOWN
A study of census statistics in connection with the results of this investigation seems to show a remarkably close parallel between the conjugal statistics of men servants, white and colored. The disproportionate number of single white women is accounted for by the great number of unmarried foreign- born white women in American domestic service. This study of the conjugal condition of domestic servants seems to corrob orate the opinion of those employers who found colored people " very much like other human beings/* Illiteracy. The following table of illiteracy is based upon
576 reports:
Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health, 493
TABLE XXVIII. AMONG DOMESTIC SERVANTS, NEGROES, OF THE SEVENTH
WARD, PHILADELPHIA,
This table shows 9.6 per cent of the men and 24.8 per cent of the women in domestic service to be illiterate in some degree, with a total percentage of 20.7 illiterate, either wholly or in
part, while 80 per cent ofthe colored men and women in domestic service have at least a common school education. Fourteen per cent of the total count will be seen to have had some train ing above that of the common schools, or to have attended an industrial school.
The illiteracy of Negro servants is about 2 per cent greater than that of the total Negro population of the Seventh Ward. This is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact that 70 per cent ofcolored domestic servants are women, and the illiteracy of col ored women is uniformly greater than that of colored men. This will be seen by glancing at the per cents of illiteracy for colored men and women servants, 9.6 per cent as opposed to 24.8 per cent, and in the total population 14.2 per cent as opposed to 24.1 per cent. In the whole population the sexes are about
evenly balanced in numbers; hence, in the general average for the illiteracy of the whole population, the rates for each sex would bear an equal part in the general result. A comparison of these averages shows that the men in domestic service are somewhat less Illiterate than the men in the whole popula tion^ while the women in domestic service appear to be slightly behind the women of the whole population.
494 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
The question will arise as to the relative illiteracy of Negro domestics and ofother domestics the country over. It is inter
esting to make the comparison. The census of 1890 gives the
percentage of male illiterates in domestic and personal service
as 18.9. This is the rate for all men servants in America, ten
years old and over and includes all nationalties, the native
whites, foreign-born whites and colored. It is less creditable
than the record of the Philadelphia colored population by
nearly five points, the record for Philadelphia's male Negroes ten years old and over being but 14.2 per cent. And it is
only about half as creditable as the record of colored domestic
men servants, their per cent of illiteracy amounting to only 9.6. (The margin of error in the last is probably large, how
ever, since it is computed upon but 156 cases.) The census shows for female domestic service the country over, including both native and foreign white, and colored women over ten
years of age, a per cent of illiteracy amounting to 24.75.
Among colored women servants in Philadelphia 24.80 are found to be illiterate. The whole colored population of Phila
delphia improves slightly upon this, showing for its women and girls 24.1 per cent of illiteracy.
ILLITERACY 0* COLORED DOMESTICS (PHILADELPHIA) AND OF ALL AMERICAN DOMESTICS, COMPARED BY SEX.
This comparison seems to indicate that the grade of intelli
gence of women servants, white and colored, is practically the
same, while the colored men servants are of a higher grade of
intelligence than are white men servants. The investigator is inclined to think that the average of illiteracy for colored men
Conjugal Condition, Illiteracy and Health. 495
servants, though computed on so few records, fairly represents the real conditions. It is not difficult to account for the great difference in records of colored and of white men servants when one remembers the fact so often referred to, of the crowding out of competent and educated colored men, who have been clerks, teachers and skilled workmen, and who at one time or another have found themselves in a position where they were obliged to take domestic service or nothing. Large numbers of such men in the ranks of domestic service would bring down the percentage of illiteracy very decidedly. That it should reach the point of 9.6 per cent is very creditable to the colored men servants if the figures are correct, since the per cent of illiteracy for native white males is not quite four points ahead of it, being given by the census as 5.83 per cent.
Health Statistics for Domestic Servants. The questions" Number of days sick in last twelve months?" " Nature of illness ?'
' were answered by 547 domestic servants. The tabula tion of their reports follows:
TABLE XXIX.
(Domestic Service.}
SICKNESS AND HEALTH DURING LAST TWELVE MONTHS, BY SEX.
From this table it is seen that 80 per cent of the men have not been ill at all during the year; while among the women 74 per cent have been exempt from illness. It is noteworthy that the slightest illness appears to liave been conscientiously reported upon, since very nearly one-third of the men reporting
496 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
illness were cases of colds or other such slight troubles as kept them ill only a day or two; while rather more than one-third of the women also scrupulously reported such insignificant illnesses. In this paper, however, the example of the Commis sioner of I^abor has been followed and
' c
colds J ' have not been
counted at all. Wherever, therefore, an illness of one or two
days is reported, it is of more serious nature than a mere cold. Of the 547 persons reporting, 3.1 per cent report serious ill-
nessjof which 2.6 per cent belongs to thewomen and the remain ing .5 per cent to the men. The most prevalent troubles are consumption, la grippe,
quinsy, sore throat, rheumatism, neuralgia, chills and fever, or
dyspepsia and "inflammation," which latter term appears to be a general name for all discomforts of the inner domestic from indigestion to peritonitis and sudden death.
Of those reporting illness seven of the thirty-one men will be seen to have been ill one week or less ; while thirty-three of the 102 women were ill one week or less. One maid reports a severe attack of la grippe but she
" worked all the same/ 7
losing not one day of work in the year. And Table VII will show that this is no uncommon fact but that several of those report ing illness lose no time from work. While the women's sick list shows thirty-three ill one week or less, it shows sixty-nine who have had longer periods of illness. Among the longest periods reported are the following: "Out of work for three months on account of trouble with the eyes, an operation for
cataract;" another, out three or four months on account of weak lungs, says :
" I never can work more than a few weeks
to a time; "
another, laid up three months with a sprained ankle
; another, "sick from March to Christmas with rheu matism ;
" another, "four months sick with rheumatism, but
worked ;
' *
another, five months sick with nervous shock caused by sudden death of her husband in an accident ; one man has chills and fever from time to time all the year round; another, "had rheumatism all winter but lost no working time." A comparison of the length of illness tabu lated below will show that the records just quoted are unusual. Table XXIX gives the complete record of those who report illness within the past twelve months.
Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health. 497
(Domestic Service*)
PERSONS SICK OR. INJURED, BY SEX, BY KIND OP AILMENT OR INJURY AND BY IrBNGXH OF
Broken leg. f Intermittent ("loses no time"). j" Few days.'* |Unknown ("worked all time"). | Unknown. ^ Result of beavy lifting. ** Hemorrhage. fj- Unknown ("worked all time.")
498 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
TABLE XXX. Continued.
* Week (" worked all time ). f " All winter but worked all time/ '
t Few days.
Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health* 499
This table Is found to aggregate 415 weeks of illness during the year, to be distributed among 547 persons, giving an aver age loss of work time for illness of about four-fifths of a week per individual during the year.**
Health of colored domestic servants in the Seventh Ward during the last twelve months is shown in the diagram which follows:
HBAI/TH STATISTICS, FOR LAST TWELVE MONTHS, OF DOMESTICS OF PHIIABEUPHIA.
MALE
FEMALE
TOTAL
|_| WOTSICKATAU. DURING LAST It MONTHS
fp ILL ONE WEEK OHIO* - * - H|lLtMOftETHANlV*EEK- * .- -
20 It may be of interest to compare tliis result with the following table taken from Professor Mayo Smith's "Statistics and Sociology," which table, the author says, is
" based upon the experience of the largest and most important Friendly Society in England, which gives aid to members when they are ill, the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, comprising: 400,000 members.
" The table is as follows :
15-20 years
20-25 "
25-45 "
45-65 "
15-65 "
ATcrage Sickness per Individual Per Annum (in Weeks).
Hale. Female.
. .666 ,666
-737 -737 - -995 -995 . 2.736 2.751 . 1.314 1-334
Omitting the 45-65 period, which is not fairly comparable with the
ages of colored domestic servants {their average age being 3P.3), it
will be seen that the average illness among the English working people is nearly the same as that among colored domestics of the same age. The English Sick Benefit Society showing an average of .799 as com
pared with .759 for colored servants, ths slight difference being to the
advantage ofthe colored servants.
IX.
IDEAI^S OF BETTERMENT.
In view of the general purpose of this investigation, it is proper to discuss in conclusion the question of the improve ment of Philadelphia Negro domestic service. In the first place, what remedies or improvements in domestic service have already been tried with any measure of success ? The answer to this question should indicate the lines along which progress may be expected. The only two scientific studies of the subject up to the pres
ent time, are those of Mr. Charles Booth and of Miss Salmon, who in 1897 published her 3OO-page book entitled
" Domestic Service. " Mr. Booth's treatment of the subject is purely sta tistical, simply stating and grouping facts; it has no theory of betterment to offer. But Miss Salmon, besides giving statistics of American domestic service, also treats the question in its historical aspects and considers it philosophically and practi cally, with an eye to its probable future development and to possible remedies for present difficulties, Hence the best, perhaps the only answer, to the above ques
tion now to be found in print is that given by Miss Salmon in the closing chapters of her book; and a brief abstract of those chapters is therefore given here, with her permission.
Before suggesting any plan of betterment, Miss Salmon enu merates and discards various "doubtful remedies/' such as the removal cf all difficulties by the application of the golden rule, employing the system of service books in vogue in Germany, introducing domestic training- in the public schools, and other methods. All these plans fail, says the author, because they assume that the adjustment to be made is a purely personal one, whereas larger relations political, economic, industrial and social are, in point of fact involved; and she believes that reform in domestic service, if it is to succeed,
( l must be accom plished along the same general economic lines as are reforms in other great departments of labor.
" She shows that domestic service, though apparently isolated from other departments of
(500)
Ideals of Betterment. 501
the world's work, has been powerfully affected by inventions, by political revolutions and social changes, by the commercial development of the country and the introduction of the factory system, which took out of the household once and for all the
making of men's garments, many kinds of woolen wear, boots and shoes, hats, gloves, etc., together with the preparation of many kinds of food now made chiefly in factories cheese, canned vegetables, ice cream, etc.
Having shown that domestic labor is not isolated but forms an integral and closely interwoven part of the social fabric, the author turns to consider possible remedies which can succeed
only as they harmonize with the all-pervasive economic ten dencies of modern times. Miss Salmon first enumerates these tendencies and declares them to be:
" i. The tendency toward concentration of capital and labor
in industry, shown in pools, trusts, department stores, etc. "
2. The tendency toward specialization in every department of labor.
" 3. The tendency toward collective action growing from (i)
and (2). * '
4. The tendency toward profit-sharing and similar methods constantly becoming more far-reaching.
"5. The tendency toward greater industrial independence of women. "
The first of the remedies suggested by Miss Salmon as run
ning in harmony with these tendencies is specialization of household employments. This is an important point deserving of most careful consideration. It is true that all advancement
yet made in household employments has involved division of labor and unconscious co-operation; as, for instance, when spin ning and weaving, once done by the women at home, was removed to the factory ; next, when the sewing machine took the making of underclothing largely out of the home and made of it the "white goods** industry. Cheese, a home product till 1860, is now wholly factory made.
It is important to notice that all these articles, both of food
and clothing, though at first more expensive when factory made, are now both better and more cheaply made outside the household. The presumption is that other articles now in a 'ransition state (such^for example, as glass-canned fruits and
502 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
preserves, jellies, pickles, bread, cake, pastry, pressed meats, condensed milk, butter, etc.) would soon be among those things made both letter and more cheaply out of the house than within, were the demand for them sufficient. These things, if purchased through women's exchanges, are more expensive only because the
' ( demand for them has thus far been limited/ *
The author believes that their cheapening would follow upon their greater demand, together with improved quality, as has been the case with clothing, etc. She shows further that the
delivery of practically all articles of food ready for the final
application of heat is possible through business enterprise and scientific experiment, and believes that this would go a long way toward solving the
'
'servant question' *
by taking most of the domestics out of the house and thus lessening the strain of personal relations of employer and employe. Employers would welcome such a change. The situation would be improved for the employes also, since many women could retain their homelife and at the same time earn money and support their families.
31 This change, it is pointed out, "is in direct line with the tendency toward specialization everywhere else found, in that it enables each person to do
exclusively that thing which she can do best; it allows the concentration of labor and capital and thus economizes and secures the largest results; it retains the woman's homelife without sacrificing her bread-winning opportunities; it
improves the quality of products, thus made under the most favorable conditions; it brings the work of every cook into competition with the work of every other cook and thus incites improvement; it applies the principle of unconscious
co-operation and thus harmonizes with other business activi ties."
That the laundry department also could thus be taken outside the household will not be questioned, since Troy laundries
already do many articles better and more cheaply than can be
21 A long list of bread-winners among women is given ("Domestic Service," page 219 et seq. ) showing how women are wholly or partly supporting their families by preparing in their homes articles of food for sale in neighboring large cities, each woman usually making large quantities of only one or two articles, e. g., Saratoga potatoes, sold in
large quantities to grocers, jams and pickles, chicken salad, cake, etc.
Ideals of Betterment. 503
done at home. Troy prices would lessen with increased demand and competition among laundries. The care of lawns, gardens and orchards in summer, and of
furnaces in winter, also tends to become a business in itself; and many cases are recorded of men who care for eight or ten different furnaces, or who have charge of from ten to fifteen lawns or gardens, and of women who wash windows once a week for a large number of families. There are many reasons why this tendency should develop.
It has much in its favor, while the only objection to it that the cost of living would be increased is not valid, since it is cer tain that the added expense would only be temporary, as in the case of factory-made garments, and would finally operate decidedly to cheapen living expenses. The secondpossible remedy suggested is profit-sharing, and its
application to housework is interesting. " It is possible," says
Miss Salmon, " to fix a sum, as $50 or $100 for monthly
expenses, including food, fuel, lights, a pro-raia for guests, etc. If by care in the use of materials the expenses amount to but $45 or $90 monthly, the $5 or $10 saved can be divided accord
ing to a proportion previously agreed upon, between the em ployer and the employees; the cook, who is in a position to save most, receiving the greatest percentage of the bonus." Domestics thus become interested partners in the concern and
with most satisfactory results. Miss Salmon states that this is not untested theory but has been successfully practiced and
actually does place the household on a business basis. A third possible remedy proposed is thorough education in
household science. It is maintained that the organization of a
great professional school fully equipped for the study of
domestic science and open only to graduates of the leading colleges and universities would start household science in the
right direction that in which advancement in all other occupa tions has been made and thus make possible true progress and further harmonious development in this
" belated industry,"
w
The result, should these remedies be applied on a large scale, Miss Salmon believes would be far-reaching and of inesti mable value. She says:
" This readjustment of work and the
called by Miss Addams in a recent address.
504 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
willingness of large numbers of women to work for remuneration would be as productive of improvement in all household affairs as division of labor has been elsewhere. A far-reaching benefit is suggested by Maria Mitchell when she says:
' the dress maker should no more be a universal character than the carpenter. Suppose every man should feel it his duty to do his own mechanical work of all kinds would society be bene fited? would the work be well done? Yet a woman is expected to know how to do all kinds of sewing, all kinds of cooking, all kinds of any "woman's work/' and the conse quence is that life is passed in learning these only, while the universe of truth beyond remains unentered.' It must be said in conclusion," the author continues, "that little can be ac
complished in domestic reform except through the use of means which already exist, developing these along lines marked out by industrial progress in other fields." This brief extract gives the gist of the best thought thus far
devoted to the subject Now, we must ask ourselves, how can all this be applied to Negro domestic service in Philadelphia? What facts now existing in service there can be laid hold of and developed along these lines of progress observed in other fields of industry ?
Most of the facts of Negro domestic service which are amen able to such adaptation and development are to be found under the head of specialization of employments. Considerable out side service is already being done by colored people in Phila delphia. The degree to which laundry work, for example, has been removed from the household may be seen by the fact that there are but thirty-one private laundresses in the ward, while 1097 colored women in the ward support their families by taking in washing or doing "day's work," as they call washing by the day at the employer's house. There is every evidence that sending out the washing instead of keeping a laundress as one of the regular domestics is more satisfactory both to employer and employee; for the laundress would rather do the work at home, and often must do it there or not at all when there are young children in her family, while the em ployer gains a peaceful Monday and Tuesday by having the work done out, besides saving the slight but constant expense of coal and washing supplies. Aside fromthese 1097 individual
Ideals of Betterment* 505
laundresses in the ward, there are also two regular laundries managed by Negro families, where all the working members of the family are busily employed for six days in the week with the work of a large number of families. Such colored people as these are justly jealous of the work given to China men, while many native Negroes cannot get work to do. There is no doubt that successful and excellent laundries would grow up under the management of Philadelphia colored men and women if employers could be satisfied to "put the washing out "and to admit the possibility of having clothing laun dered on some other week day than that which was usual in the Plymouth colony. The domestic economy of America to-day is more complex than was that of the Plymouth colony, and we can very easily make due allowance for the fact by letting our laundresses choose their own " Monday." Another branch of domestic work showing the specializing
tendency is that known as " general work," which with men
servants usually denotes care of furnaces, cleaning the front of the house, etc. Nearly all of these men do such work for a con siderable number of families and devote their entire time to it One man was encountered who was in charge of the furnaces and " outside work " of not less than eight different establish ments. In this direction employers could easily co-operate to effect further specialization, as only a little over two per cent of Negro male wage-earners are at present general workers. It was observed that such men were found almost exclusively in the more fashionable and wealthy quarter, while elsewhere the waiter manservant undertook the outside work as part of his duty. The specializing tendency in this department of Negro service is much less marked than in the laundry work. Still progress in the right direction is practicable, since the tendency, though not greatly developed, still exists. A much more significant fact in the matter of specialization
of work is the presence in the Seventh Ward alone, of eighty- three colored caterers and cateresses, whose employment by families who entertain to any extent surely diminishes the need in those families for the services of such large numbers of domestics as would otherwise be employed by them. The use of such outside professional help is clearly a development in the right direction and the service thus secured is manifestly
506 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
better, because skilled. It is equally evident that it is cheaper to employ a caterer periodically than to keep an extra number of trained domestics permanently employed in the household for such occasions. Here again, then, specialization is found actually at work among the colored people of Philadelphia. A fourth instance of it which is found in the city is worth
citing. This is a Woman's Exchange. The preparation of foods, such as fruit in glass jars, preserves, jellies, pickles, etc., and the making of simple garments, underwear, aprons, shirt waists, baby's caps, etc., are the kinds of work spe cialized upon by the
" Exchange for Women's Work," lo
cated at 756 South Twelfth street, in connection with the
parsonage of Bethel Church. This Exchange is outside the Seventh Ward, but is so notable a case of the tendency here discussed that it seems well to mention it. The articles offered for sale are of excellent quality and are sold at moderate
prices. The investigator has noticed, in a high grade pro vision store on Chestnut street, not far from Rittenhouse
Square, that jellies, jams and fruits are offered for sale bearing conspicuous sale cards marked,
" Miss } s Pickled.
Peaches, " " Miss 's Currant Jelly,
' '
etc. This suggests that there might be an exchange for colored women's work at such provision stores and high grade groceries if the proprietors could be induced to co-operate, as many of them doubtless could be byjudicious and business-like suggestions from their
leading customers or from some well-known and influential
organization of women. Colored women who have unusual skill in the preparation of any kind of foods might in this way be able to place their goods advantageously, greatly to their own benefit and also to that of the community of which they form often an unemployed part. To sum up : the facts of colored domestic service which can
be laid hold of and developed along the lines of specialization of household work then, are these facts connected with "Extra Service " : (i) Laundry work can be done more con veniently and as cheaply or more cheaply outside of the house than within it, and many excellent laundresses among the married colored women are anxious to get such work to do, (2)
" Outside work," furnace work, etc., can similarly be done
by men making it their business, and a man servant thus be
Ideals of Betterment. 57
left free for other duties or dispensed with altogether. (3)
Patronage of caterers rather than the employment of supernu merary domestics is a step tending to simplify household work in large establishments and the employment of competent colored caterers a step tending to simplify the problem of
unemployed colored men in Philadelphia. (4) Anything tend ing to extend the patronage of exchanges for women's work, and
;by inducing competition in such work, to cheapen articles so offered for sale is a step in the direction of taking food
preparation outside the household, and anything tending to
secure a steady sale for the work of skilled colored cooks in such exchanges is a step in the direction of solving the * 'colored unemployed
" problem of Philadelphia with all the
degradation and suffering implied in that problem. In regard to the second possible remedy proposed by Miss
Salmon, it can only be said that the method of profit-sharing is as practicable with colored as with white or foreign em
ployes perhaps more so since colored domestics are prover bially
" anxious to please." The third possible remedy suggested thorough education
in household affairs aims to remove the odium now attaching to domestic service and to attract competent people to the
employment by raising it to the rank of a profession. The
Philadelphia colored people have already thought this subject
through for themselves. A woman physician who is well known in Philadelphia, one of the most intelligent and interest
ing women of either race, said to the present investigator; " If
domestic service were made more honorable, more tolerable, more human, it would not be so unpopular. If we had good training schools for service it would become an honorable
branch of business. Mr. Booker Washington believes in '
put
ting brains into common work/ and that is just what I say about domestic labor. If a girl is taught to cook skillfully and
to buy economicallyshe becomes a dignified laborer. A trained worker is always honorable and dignified. I have often said
there should be a school to train domestics. Many girls want to work who can't get the'opportunity. Ifyou ask them
' What doyouunderstand doing ? What do you represent ?' they say,
' I
don't know how to do anything well;' it is a most lamentable answer and a most common one. But they want to learn; if
508 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
you ask, c Would you go and work for fifty cents a week and be
trained?' they will say: 'yes, willingly.' And I believe that we should have a school of instruction with a regular course, where graduates who reach a certain degree of excellence get a certificate of efficiency. I^et this school be an employment bureau also. Such an arrangement would be a help both ways, to the employes and to the competent among the employed." That this idea of Dr. 's could be made workable seems
unquestionable when we study the situation in London as shown by Mr. Booth. There the girls from the workhouse schools, who have only the merest rudiments of training in household affairs, are nevertheless in such demand in I^ondon service that, as Mr. Booth says;
23 " There is no difficulty in
finding places for the girls from the workhouse schools as the demand far exceeds the supply/' The M. A. B. Y. S. (Metro politan Association for Befriending Young Servants) has organ ized an employment bureau where these young servant girls may be engaged, and at this office the protection of the girl is insured by obliging the mistress to sign a form of agreement stating the number in her family, work required, wages paid, privileges granted, etc. The detailed workings of this bureau and its friendly connection with the girls after their places are secured are set forth fully in Mr. Booth's book. The chief thing to be noted here is the remarkable demand which actu ally exists for girls having any training at all, which fact leaves little doubt that the training does distinctly add to the value of the servant. A training school for domestic training could easily be established in Philadelphia in connection with institu tions already organized. The best known colored institute in the city of Philadelphia is already doing admirable work in manual training and the teaching of trades from the building trades to millinery and dressmaking. Would it not be practi cable to add courses in domestic science and economy, chemis
try and sanitation, etc., to which only graduates of the institute should be admitted and where certificates should be granted only to graduates attaining a certain rank in their work, both theo retical and practical? An employment bureau in connection
23 " Life and Labour of the People/* Charles Booth, Vol. 8, p. 215 and
following.
Ideals of Betterment, 509
with such a training school could be undertaken on a fair business basis by some philanthropic or civic association, to insure fair treatment, as is done by the M. A. B. Y. S. in I^ondon. Such a plan would undoubtedly be facilitated by the presence at the head of this particular institution at the present time of one of the most gifted and progressive women in Phila delphia, whose views on domestic service are the leading- ones in modern domestic reform. In closing this paper it may be well to point out that these
suggestions, all of which are in line with the views of the best thinkers upon the subject of reform in the administration of household matters, would obviate in large measure the greatest difficulties in the domestic service of to-day. What are these difficulties? In England the two greatest, in the opinion of Mr. Booth, are the dullness of the domestic servants* life and the difficulty of the personal relations between employer and employed. The same is true of American domestic ser vice, with the added drawback of loss of social standing, which in this country is the greatest objection of all, though hardly consciously felt in Kngland, When the domestic becomes a "trained worker, honorable and dignified," this great objec tion will be removed, and it is clear that minimizing the num ber of domestics employed within the household would do away in large measure with the difficulty of the personal rela tions between mistress and maid, while the domestics thus set free to perform their special work according to their own methods, and in their own homes, would have no more reason to complain of the dullness of such life than a dressmaker or milliner would have. With the removal of these obstacles, better ability would enter domestic service, and the industry would become more honorable as well as more endurable and attractive to domestics, who we sometimes forget are also human beings, and naturally wish to live the lives of human beings.
INDEX.
Abolition of slavery, 15, 16, 22, 39, 412, 415. Abolition Society, 20, 22, 31.
Addison street, 61, 357.
Adger, Eobert, 36, 121. African M. Jfi. Church, 21, 203-10, 473. African M. , Zion Church, 211-10. Afro-American League, 374.
Age of Negroes, 55, 56, 57, 64, 65, 65, 431. Allen, Bichard, 18, 19, 21, 23.
Alleys, 60.
Alleys, blind, 294.
Alleys where Negroes live, 308.
Amalgamation, 358^f. Amendments, 14n and 15, 372. Amusements, 3Q9/f, 320-21, 463-64.
Anglo-Saxons, 386.
Aristocracy among Negroes, 176-77, 316-19. Arrests, 242, 243, 247.
Artists, Negro, 36.
Assientio treaty, 14, 412.
Augustin, Peter, 32, 34.
Bakers, Negro, 118.
Baptist Church among Negroes, 213-15, 473. Barbers, 115-16.
Bath rooms and water-closets, 292-94. Beneficial Societies, Negro, 185, 221-22, 224-20, 457-59.
Benevolence, 355jf.
Benevolent institutions for Negroes, 355-56.
Benezet, Anthony, 12, 23, 83, 84.
Bethel Church, 201.
Bettle, Edward, 27. Bird school, 84.
Birthplace of Negroes, 73f, 77-78, 80f. Birth rate, 168.
Blockley almshouse, 272.
Bogle, Robert, 32, 33-4.
Bribery in voting, 373, 375/f.
(5")
Index.
Budgets of families, 173ff.
Building and Loan Association, 185, 226. Cake-walks, 320.
Candy and notion stores, 117. Caterers' Association, 119.
Caterers, decline of Negro, 120.
Mstory of Negro, 32/f, 36, 119. Catholic Church among Negroes, 219-20. Catto, Oetavius V., 39-42.
Catto School, 352.
Cemeteries, Negro, 121, 231.
Central Church, 215-16.
Charities, color discrimination in, 356-57.
Charity Organization Society, 274-75.
Cherry Street Church, 214. Children's Aid Society, 273-74. Children, destitute, 273-74.
Church affiliations, 208.
Churches, activities of, 207.
annual budget of, 202-3. condition of, 207-8.
Negro, 199, 200.
Negro and amusements, 194, 4G9-70.
Negro, history of, 197ff.
typical organization of, 201-2.
Cigar stores, 117.
Cities, migration to, 354.
Northern, Negroes in, 8. rush of Negroes to, 240.
City population, Negro, 50-3.
Citizens' Club, 379.
Civic Club of Philadelphia, 430, 445.
Civil rights, 417, 418.
Clarkson, Mayor, 18. Classes among Negroes, 39C. Clerks, Negroes as, 131-33.
Clothing of Negroes, 161-62.
Clubs, political, 378-80.
Coates Street School, 84. Color discrimination, 394-96.
in charities, 356-57.
in discharging employes, 341-42. in getting work, 323-24, 326-29, 464-67, 484-89. in promotion of Negro employes, 343-44. in rents, 295-97, 347-48.
in schools, 349-50.
Index.
Color discrimination, in trades, 129n, 329-31.
typical cases of, 327ft in wages, 139, 323, 344-46, 449-51. in woman's work, 333-36.
Color line in work, 339-40. Color prejudice, 145-46, 282-86, 464-67, 484-89 Condition of Negroes, 31, 36, 37. Condition of slaves, 15.
Conjugal condition, 66ft 70-71.
Confidence-men, 261.
Convention of Negroes, 24, 31. Co-operative Caterers' Supply Store, 119. Co-operative stores, 117, 228.
Correction, House of, Negroes in, 244. Court of Errors and Appeals on Suffrage, 370. Crime, 390, 413.
according to years, 251. causes of, 140, 285.
character of, 250.
and illiteracy, 253-55, 258-59.
history of Negro, 253ft improper charges of, 267-68. kinds of, 240.
of Negroes, 235, 236, 237, 238, 238-40.
punishment of, 249. recent increase of, 241, 247-48.
serious, 250-51.
since the war, 240ft special study of, 248ft
Criminal class, 257.
Criminals, 31, 235ft
age of, 253-55.
birthplace of, 253.
conjugal condition of, 253. sex of, 252.
Crucifixion, Church of, 217-19. Death rate, 149, 150-51, 152-55, 157, 158-59.
by wards, 149.
Dentists, 115.
Derham, Negro physician, 18. Desertion of husbands and wives, 67. Detectives, Negroes arrested by, 258n.
Dickinson, Anna, 38.
Discrimination, see Prejudice and Color discrimination. Diseases of Negroes, 151-52, 495.
Distribution of Negroes, 37, 81.
513
514 Index.
Distribution of Negroes in the city, 299-304. Domestic service, ideals for betterment of,
grades of, 444-45.
lack of opportunities for recreation in, 467-68.
proportion of Negroes in, 137, 427, 428.
quality of, 474/f. reform of, 430.
Miss Salmon's suggestion for improving, 500-511.
special report on, 425/f.
profit-sharing in, 503.
specialization in, 501-3, 504-7.
See also Servants,
Douglass, Frederick, 38.
Hospital, 230-31.
Drink habit, 277-82. Duties of slaves, 14, 16, 411, 412, 413.
Duty of Negroes, 389^. Duty of Whites, 393#. Education of Negroes, S3f, 93, 95.
Emancipation, 15, 16, 22, 39, 412, 415.
Employment agencies, 118. Environment of Negroes, 284-86.
Episcopal Church among Negroes, 217-19.
Estates, value of, 182n.
Excess of young people, 55. in domestic service, 438.
Excursions, 320.
Expenditures of Negroes, 178, 392, 456-62.
Exploitation of the Negro, 192.
Extinction of the Negro, 388.
Families, size of, 164/f, 274, 319n.
Family festivals, 196.
Females, excess of, 53-5, 65.
Food of Negroes, 161, 173/f. Forten, James, 23, 24.
Foundlings, 273-74.
Free African Society, 19, 20, 21, 23.
Free Masons, 224.
Free Negroes, 16, 20.
Friends and slavery, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24.
Fugitive slaves, 25.
sale of, 416.
Function of churches, 201, 203-5.
Gallatin, Albert, 369.
Gambling, 265-67, 379.
Gibson, Judge, on suffrage, 370.
Index. 515
Gordon, Judge J. G., on crime, 241n. Graduates, Negro, occupations of, 352-53.
Graduates, Negro, of schools, occupations of, 352-3.
Grocery stores, 116-17.
Hayti, revolt in, 22-23.
Hazel, Mayor, 236. Health of Negroes, 147ff, 160-63. Health, see Servants.
Heredity in disease, 162.
History of Negroes in Philadelphia, 10ff. Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, 230. Home for the Homeless, 231-32. Home life, 71, 72, 192-96. Homes by size and inhabitants, 291, 297-99. Homes of laboring class, 294-95,
of poor, 293-94.
House-to-house inquiry, 62-3. Houses and rents, 287-90.
Housing of the poor, 293-94.
Humanity, idea of, 386.
Humphreys, Richard, 87.
Illiteracy and crime, 253-55, 258-59. of Negroes, 85ff, 85, 87, 88, 91, 92, 92.
Illiteracy, see Servants.
Immigrants, 73ff, 75, 76, 417.
foreign, 26, 44.
Negro, 304.
Immigration of Negroes, 416, 417. Incomes of Negroes, 168-71. Increase of Negroes in U. S., 49-50.
Negro population, 46-48, 64. Whites, 46, 47, 48.
Infusion of white blood, 358ff, 359. Insane among Negroes, 273. Insurance, life, 418.
Insurance Societies, Negro, 225.
petty, character of, 186.
expenditures for, 187-88.
losses by, 188-91.
rates of, 186-87.
sick and death benefits of, 186-87.
Intermarriage of races, 358ff. in Ward Seven, 361-66. statute on, 360.
Intermarried persons, white and black, age of, 362, 364.
birthplace of, 362, 363.
516 Index.
Intermarried persons, character of, 366-67.
children of, 363, 365.
illiteracy of, 363, 364.
occupations of, 363, 364.
rooms and rents paid by, 365-66. social grades of, 364-65.
Jones, Absalom, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 198.
Henry, 32, 34, 35.
Juan, a slave, 29.
Kelley, W. D., 38.
Kidnapping of Negroes, 416.
Kieth, 11.
Laboring class among Negroes, 175-76, 315-16.
Lawyers, 114rl5.
Legislation of Pennsylvania on Negroes, 411/f.
Length of residence of Negroes, 79, 80.
Liquors, alcoholic, expenditure for, 282.
Literature concerning Philadelphia Negroes, 420.
of Philadelphia Negroes, 422,
Literary societies, 45.
Loan associations, 226.
Lodgers, 164-65, 271.
Lodging system, 194.
Lombard street, 58, 60, 61, 294, 295.
Marriage, 13, 68-70, 71, 72, 165-66.
Marriage of whites and blacks, 358ff.
Marriage rate, 168.
Marriages, slave, 411.
Maryland, migration from, 75, 435-36.
Mechanics, Negro, 412, 413.
opposition of white, 412, 413.
Membership of churc'hes, 203.
Methodist Church and the Negroes, 18, 19.
among Negroes, 208-13.
Merchants, Negro, 115/f, 122, 124-25.
Methods of inquiry, 1.
Middle alley, 60.
Middle classes among Negroes, 315-16. Midvale Steel Works, 129, 332.
Migration of laborers, annual, 135.
Ministers, Baptist, 112.
Methodist, 112.
Negro, 111, 112, 205-6.
Minton, Henry, 32, 34, 35.
Miscegenation, 358ff.
Missions, Negro, 220-21.
Index. 517
Mixed marriages, 358ff. Mixed schools, 417. Movement of Negro population, 305-6. Moyamensing prison, Negroes in, 238, 239, 243, 244, 246. Mulattoes, 203, 359.
"Negro Plot" in New York, 412. Negro problems, 5, 385)f. "Negro," use of term, In.
Newspapers and periodicals, Negro, 45, 126, 229.
Night schools, 86, 94. Number of Negroes, 13, 14, 17, 26, 49-51, 52, 59, 63-64- Occupations, 97ff, 109-10, 142-45.
history of, 141#. of graduates of schools, 352-53.
Odd Fellows, 222-24. Officeholders, Negro, 380-81.
Organizations of Negroes, 197/f, 233-34.
Ownership of property, 179/f. Pauperism, 413-14, 416.
Negro, 269ff.
Paupers in almshouse, 272.
typical families of, 274-77.
Penitentiary, Eastern, Negroes in, 238, 245, 247, 248.
Penn, Wm., and slavery, 11, 18. Pennsylvania Hall, 29.
Physicians, 113-14.
Pocketbook snatching, 262-63.
Policemen, Negroes as, 132.
Policy playing, 265.
Political clubs, 378-80.
Politics of Philadelphia, 372.
Poor class among Negroes, 172-74, 314-15. Potters' field, 415.
Poverty, causes of, 275, 282-86.
Preachers, Negro, 111, 112, 205-6, see also
Prejudice, color, 322/f, 375.
against Negroes in business, 346-47. connection with crime, 350-55.
results of, 325-26, 350-55.
see also Color discrimination.
Prejudice, unconscious, 396-97.
Presbyterian Church among Negroes, 215-17. Professions, learned, Negroes in, 11 If.
Property-holders, lB2ff.
birthplace of, 182.
length of residence of, 183.
51 8 Index.
Property-holders, occupations of, 183.
Property of Negroes, 31.
Prosser, 32, 34.
Prostitutes, 313-14.
Quaker City Association, 224-25.
Quakers, see Friends.
Raspberry street school, 84, 87.
Rateliffe alley, 60.
Reform in polities, 383ff.
Religion of churches, 205-6.
Rent, 287-90.
Rent, discrimination in, 295-97, 347-48.
extravagance in, 295.
Riots against Negroes, 26-29, 32, 45n, 237-38.
Robbery, highway, 263.
Saloons, 277-82.
conducted by Negroes, 117-18.
Sandiford, R., 16.
Schedules used, 2, 400$ School attendance, 84ff, 89, 90.
Schools, abolition of separate, 418.
Negro, 20, 83, 84, 85.
separate, mixed, 417, 418.
Secret societies, 185, 221f.
Separate cars, 417, 418.
schools, 88, 89, 417.
Serfdom, Negro, 369, 411.
Serfs, white, 1
Servants, domestic, 136ff.
age of, 431, 438-42.
amusements of, 463-64.
birthplace of, 435-36, 475, 476, 478.
board and lodging of, 141, 453-55.
character by birthplace, 482-83.
by race and color, 432, 433.
character of, 481-82, 485-87.
church affiliations of, 472-73.
attempts of, to change occupation, 465, 466.
conjugal condition of, 490-92.
employment of leisure time of, 469ff. health of, 495-99.
illiteracy of, 492-94-95.
imported, 139, 338-39, 450-53.
influence of fashion on, 451.
leisure time of, 468-69.
length of service of, 474-76, 480-81.
Index. 519
Servants, domestic, methods of Mring, 436. number of, 431.
opinion of employers on, 484^. savings of, 456-59.
sex of, 431, 436-37.
support of dependents by, 460-62.
training of, 503-4, 507-9.
wages of, 446-48, 475, 477, 478, 479. work required of, 445.
Service, see Domestic Service and Servants. Seventh Ward, 1, 58, 59-62. Sex of Negroes, 56, 64. Sexual morality, 166.
Shirley, Thomas, 84.
Slave, importation of, 415.
Slaves, duty on, 412, 414, 416. in Philadelphia, 17.
traffic with, 411, 413.
trial of, 411, 412.
tumults of, 411, 414. Slave trade, petition vs., 416.
Slums, Negro, 303, 307, 308.
Smith, Stephen, 36. Social classes among Negroes, 6, 7, 8, 309^f.
intercourse between the races, 325.
Soldiers, colored, 23, 24, 38, 39.
Status of Negroes, 413.
Stevens, A. F., 110.
Still, William, 36.
Street cars, discriminations on, 38.
St. George's Church, 19.
Study of the Negro in Philadelphia, 43, 44. St. Thomas' Church, 22, 198-99.
Sub-renting, 290-92.
Suffrage, history of Negro in Pennsylvania, 368, 369.
Negro, 22, 30, 416, 417.
attempt to restrict, 369-70. bad results of, 373ff. good results of, 382ff. Judge Gibson on, 370. in convention of 1837; 371-72, 415, 416.
in the North, 368.
Suicide, 267.
Swedes and slavery, 11.
Tanner, Henry O., Negro artist, 353.
Teachers, 113.
52O Index.
Thieves, "badger" and sneak, 261, 263. Traders, Free Society, 11.
Trades, Negroes in, 14, 15, 33, 126tf, 329-3 J. Trades Unions, 128-29, 336-38n.
and Negroes, 332-33.
among Negroes, 227-28. Trial of Negroes, 13. True Reformers, Order of, 225. Undertakers, Negro, 118. United States, proportion of Negroes in, 51.
University Extension, 232. of Pennsylvania, 1, 349.
Upholsterers, Negro, 119.
Vagrants, 271-72. Vaux School, 84, 352. Virginia, migration from, 75.
Wages, 133. color discrimination in, 139, 449-51.
difference in male and female, 448. of servants, 446-48.
Wain, Congressman, 22. Wards of Philadelphia, 59. Water-closets and baths, 161. Wealth of Negroes, 179-80. Widows, 67, 70. Woman's Exchange, 231, 506. Woolman, 12. Work, color discrimination in, 394-96. Y. M. C. Association, 195, 232. Zoar Church, 22.
