Signed by order, and on behalf of the Convention.[27]

TO THE PUBLIC

"The American Convention for promoting the abolition of slavery and improving the condition of the African race," having met for the first time at the city of Washington, deem it proper to address the public in general, relative to the objects and present prospects of the Institution.

We do not consider it necessary to enter into a detail of the history of our proceedings, in this address; neither shall we attempt to adduce any argument to prove the justice of our cause. The first is within the reach of those generally, who take an interest in the success of our undertaking; the last stands undenied and undeniable, among men of the least pretensions to virtue and candor. But having located this Convention at the seat of the National Government, many of our fellow citizens, who have never acquainted themselves with our proceedings, may be desirous to know the objects we have in view, as well as our prospects of success. A compliance with a wish so reasonable, we deem incumbent on us; and we shall frankly state our views and ultimate design.

The sole aim and end of this Convention ever has been, and now is, the abolition of slavery and improvement of the African race, (as its title imports,) in the United States, upon the principles of justice, equity and safety. The means by which it seeks to accomplish this great work, are:

1st. To enlighten the public mind, relative to the actual state of the slave system.

2nd. To concentrate the opinions and labors of philanthropists in every portion of the country, respecting the adoption of measure for its abolition.

3d. To give efficiency to the labors of individuals, and the various kindred associations in different parts of the Union, by petitions and memorials to the constituted authorities, accompanied by such information as may be useful to them.

4th. To point out the best and most practical modes of lessening the evils resulting from that system, during its existence in this republic.

With these views the Convention was originally organized, and upon these principles it has ever proceeded. It has been eminently successful in promoting the cause of emancipation in that portion of the Union, where it was at first located; and we consider it strictly within the bounds of reason to infer, from past experience, that it will exert a salutary influence where it is now established. As the light of liberty advances, and the bright luminary of truth shines through the mists of popular error, the labors of the advocates of emancipation will be duly appreciated and their laudable exertions crowned with success.

If we may be allowed to compare the exertions of philanthropists at the present day, with those of former periods in the history of our country, the most sanguine anticipations of future success may be indulged. Within little more than half a century, few, very few, and most of them possessed of comparatively little influence in the political circles, were known to advocate our cause. Now thousands are enlisted in it, some of whom are among the most influential characters in the nation. Then, the system of slavery was tolerated within the limits of the United States, from the Mississippi to the western confines of Massachusetts, and from the Atlantic to the farthest north-western frontier. Now, the vast extent of country, comprising the states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, in the whole of which slavery was permitted to exist, is almost totally freed from the foul pollution. And further, a law has been enacted and enforced, positively prohibiting its extension beyond the line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, north latitude, in all the territory belonging to the republic. This great and important work has unquestionably been accomplished by the active labors of those who have exerted themselves to show the impropriety of continuing to tolerate the system, and the feasibility of its total extinction.

From this view of the subject we draw the conclusion, that as "like causes produce like effects," we have sufficient ground for the belief, that by a faithful perseverance in the same course of benevolence, the same happy results will follow. We frankly admit that where the evil of slavery is felt to a greater extent than in the states to which we have adverted, not only must greater exertions be used, but even the plans of proceeding must be somewhat varied. Yet we contend that the same grand object must be kept constantly in view, and the same leading principles ever be acted on, to produce the desired result.

In locating this Convention at the city of Washington, we are actuated by the hope that influential men from different parts of the Union, may thereby become more ultimately acquainted with our proceedings, and so far as they may approve thereof, be induced to co-operate with us. From the very nature of the principles which we profess, it will be seen that our success depends wholly on the united exertions of the wise and virtuous. Our plans being entirely of a pacific character and having nothing in view but what is consistent with the welfare and happiness of all, we confidently rely on the wisdom of the patriot and philanthropist, and the good sense of our free, enlightened fellow-citizens, for the realization of our hopes, and the consummation of our important undertaking.[28]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] American Convention, Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1821-1829, pp. 42-48.

[2] Minutes of the Proceedings of the Fourth American Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1797, pp. 37-43.

[3] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1821, pp. 50-55.

[4] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1828, pp. 21-24.

[5] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1828, pp. 25-27.

[6] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1829, pp. 16-18.

[7] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1795-1804, pp. 24-29.

[8] Minutes of Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates, from the Abolition Societies, 1794, pp. 26-27.

[9] Minutes of Proceedings, Convention of Abolition Societies, Philadelphia, 1821, pp. 41-42.

[10] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1821, pp. 46-48.

[11] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1827, pp. 29-30.

[12] Minutes of Proceedings, Convention of Abolition Societies, Baltimore, 1827, pp. 30-31.

[13] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1828, pp. 33-35.

[14] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1829, pp. 21-24.

[15] "The holy fathers, monks and friars, had in their confessions and specially in their extreme and deadly sickness, convinced the laity how dangerous a practice it was, for one Christian man to hold another in bondage; so that temporal men by little and little, by reason of that terror in their consciences, were glad to manumit all their villeins."—Sir T. Smith His. Common, vide 2. Blackstone, p. 96.

[16] Two thousand slaves are said to be now offered to the Colonization Society for transportation.

[17] The slave population in 1810 was 1,191,364; in 1820, 1,531,436. Increasing in the same ratio, in 1830 it will be 1,948,587.

[18] The increase in ten years is about twenty-eight per centum, but as the increase of the latter portion of the period is much greater than that of the former portion, it will be evident that our estimate for a single year is correct.

[19] In 1828 it was $24,789,463. See Treasury Report for 1829.

[20] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1821-1829, pp. 25-35.

[21] Minutes of Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1794, pp. 22-25.

[22] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1801, pp. 37-41.

[23] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1821, pp. 57-58.

[24] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1825, pp. 31-32.

[25] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1825, pp. 33-35.

[26] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1827, p. 19.

[27] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1828, pp. 17-20.

[28] American Convention Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1829, pp. 37-40.



BOOK REVIEWS

The Bantu, Past and Present. By S. M. MOLEMA. Edinburgh, W. Green and Son, Limited. Pp. 398. Price, 25/net.

This is an ethnographical and historical study of the native races of South Africa. The author of the work is a member of the race whose life he has described. To some extent, then, he has told here his own story, "relying somewhat on the life of the people in interpreting the psychological aspect which must be invaluable to a foreigner." As this book, however, is replete with quotations from various works of white men who have seen the country only from the outside, and the work contains no evidence that the writer has extensively traveled in his own native land, it drifts too much in the direction of a summary of what these various travelers have thought of Africa. The book, moreover, is not altogether scientific; and fraught with too many of the opinions of others who should know less about Africa than the native himself, it does not satisfy the need for a definitive account of the life and history of the various peoples of South Africa. On the whole, however, it is far in advance of most works bearing on the achievement of that continent and is certainly a step in the right direction, when the story of Africa will be told as it must be told by the native of Africa himself.

The book begins with an interesting introduction of that part of the work called The Revelation, which consists of an account of the antiquity of man in Africa, prehistoric Africa, the unveiling of South Africa and the distribution of the primitive races. In that portion of the work styled The Past there is a valuable summary of African ethnology, setting forth the various stocks of the southern part of the continent, their manners and customs, moral conduct, religious beliefs and language. This portion of the work is valuable, because it is a brief summary of valuable matter scattered through a large number of volumes.

In that part of the work styled The Present there is much matter which may be found in almost any history of Africa. What is said about missionaries, missions, the South African wars, and the like, may be found in various works, and in some more extensively treated. In those chapters bearing on the education of the Bantu, the relation of the races and the attitude of the government to the natives, there are adequately set forth the race problem in that part of the world and the effort toward its solution as expressed in such strivings of the natives as the Bantu National Congress and the Bantu Press. There is, moreover, the reaction of an intelligent native of Africa to the impressions made upon him by the European civilization there implanted.

The author does not seem to be very hopeful. On the whole, the ring of the book is rather pessimistic. Yet he mentions intellectual possibilities as well as impossibilities, bright prospects for religious developments as well as an unfavorable religious outlook, social and economic prospects favorable and unfavorable, and finally the hope that relations between the races may be amicably adjusted so as to secure to the black and white the privileges of a common government.

* * * * *

An American History. By DAVIS SAVILLE MUZZEY, Ph.D. Revised edition. New York, Ginn and Company, 1920. Pp. 537.

This new edition of the author's former work brings the narrative down to the spring months of the year 1920. The author has entirely recast that part of the book following the Spanish war and has made considerable changes in the preceding chapters to emphasize the social and economic factors in our history. Some illustrative material has been added, the maps have been improved and the bibliographical references brought down to date.

This book follows the line of the most recent writers of American history in giving less attention to the problems of the early periods to treat somewhat in detail movements culminating in our day. It does not contain so much about the discovery and exploration of the new world and gives only limited space to colonial history. The treatment of the birth of the nation, the development of the Constitution and the rise of political parties, is more interesting. The author is more elaborate in his discussion of the sectional struggle between the North and South, the crisis of disunion and the Civil War. The drama of reconstruction, however, is decidedly neglected; but the problems confronting the people thereafter are more extensively treated.

When a reader in quest of the truth has read this text-book of American History, however, he will be compelled to ask the question as to why there appears throughout this volume references to the achievements of all groups influencing the history of this country, and there is no mention whatever of what the Negroes, constituting a tenth of the population of the United States, have thought and felt and done. It is unreasonable to think that such a large element of the nation could be so closely connected with it without having decidedly influenced the shaping of its destiny, and history shows that the record of the Negro race in the western hemisphere is so creditable and far-reaching that it is impossible to write the history of the United States and omit the achievements of this group. Professor Muzzey's American History, therefore, is not a balanced and unprejudiced account of the rise and progress of the United States, but such a treatise as he believes that the American mind will absorb, and such a story as conforms with the biased minds of pseudo-American historians who do not desire to publish to posterity the achievements of all the people of this country.

* * * * *

The Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1918, Volume II. The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren. By JOHN C. FITZPATRICK. Washington, 1920. Pp. 808.

This autobiography of Martin Van Buren was presented to the Library of Congress by Mrs. Smith Thompson Van Buren in 1905, at the same time when the Van Buren papers were presented to the Library. It is a manuscript copy in seven folio volumes, made by Smith Thompson Van Buren, the son and literary executor of the President, from Van Buren's original draft. The editor reports that portions of Volumes VI and VII are in another hand and the last fifteen pages of the manuscript have many changes and corrections by Van Buren himself. A portion of the book was edited by Mr. Worthington C. Ford. The notes of Van Buren himself are distinguished by letters from the numbered notes of the editor of the work.

A study of this manuscript leads the editor of this work to the conclusion that it is written "with engaging frankness, and the insight it afforded to the mental processes of a master politician is deeply interesting." Van Buren's desire to be scrupulously fair in his estimates is evident, and if he did not always succeed, his failures are not discreditable. Mr. Fitzpatrick does not believe that the autobiography compels a revision of established historical judgments, although it "presents authority for much in our political history hitherto somewhat conjectural and records political motives and activities of the period in an illuminating and suggestive manner." On reading this work one must agree with its editor that, "in analyzing men and measures, Van Buren all unconsciously paints a picture of himself."

For students of Negro history certain parts of this work are both interesting and valuable. This is especially true of Chapter XI, in which Van Buren sets forth his own views on the slavery question and discusses the men and their measures proposed for dealing with it. This chapter not only gives a review of the history of slavery in the United States up to the time of the crisis of thirties, but brings out additional facts throwing light upon the situation at that time. In the beginning of Chapter XVIII, and on pages 528-529, Van Buren takes up the question of the concession of Great Britain by treaty stipulation of the right of search to prevent the prosecution of the slave trade under our flag, which he considered merely a pretense on the part of Great Britain for the impressment of our seamen. Near the end of Chapter XXX may be found other interesting comments and facts concerning the action of the leading statesmen of this country during the critical period of conflicting sectional interests. Much of the book has to do with slavery directly or indirectly, but those portions referred to may be of special interest to the reader.

* * * * *

Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces. By ADDIE W. HUNTON and KATHERINE M. JOHNSON. New York, Brooklyn Eagle Press, 1920. Pp. 256.

This is one of the first volumes published since the war to set forth the truth concerning the participation of the Negro troops in that struggle. While their achievements have evoked appreciative expressions from those who learned of the war from afar, this volume undertakes to present the observations of two women of culture who went forth with these black soldiers to war. The story is set forth in an interesting manner, under such topics as The Call and the Answer, The First Days in France, Welfare Organizations, The Combatant Troops in contradistinction to the Non-Combatant Troops, Pioneer Infantries, Over the Canteen in France, The Leave Area, Relationship with the French and the Religious Life Among the Troops. Many of these facts do not strike the reader as new, but the human touch given the story by these authors, who participated in the events themselves, makes the volume readable, interesting, and valuable.

The work is otherwise significant. From chapter to chapter there appear various documents giving unconsciously convincing evidence as to the part the Negro troops played in the war. While the authors make no pretense to scientific treatment, they have certainly facilitated the task of the historian who must undertake the writing of a definitive history of the Negroes' participation in the World War. The book, moreover, is well illustrated and well printed. It will be read with interest and profit by all persons who seek the truth and endeavor to record impartially the achievements of the various elements constituting the population of this country.

The greatest value of this work, however, lies not so much in the interesting facts set forth and the beautiful story told, as in the example set by these women of achievement. They are writing not only to convince the present generation as to the important service rendered by the Negro troops in France, but they would hand down these facts in printed form that coming generations may not be so biased as the present in estimating the character of the Negro and his worth to the nation. It is to be hoped that every Negro who, during his service at the front, received such impressions and had such experiences as to throw light upon the many phases of that world cataclysm will in the near future follow the example of these worthy women. The public will welcome history of divisions and regiments and will certainly be interested in the mere personal narrative presenting the experiences peculiar to those individuals placed in strategic positions to see at close range what was actually happening and had the time and availed themselves of the opportunity to record it.



NOTES

Answering a call to duty a number of persons, chief among whom are Carter G. Woodson, Washington, D. C., John W. Davis, Institute, West Virginia, Louis R. Mehlinger, Washington, D. C., D. S. S. Goodloe, Bowie, Maryland, Mordecai W. Johnson, Charleston, West Virginia, Byrd Prillerman and C. E. Mitchell, Institute, West Virginia, incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia on the third of June, a firm to be known as THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS, INCORPORATED, with a capital stock of $25,000. This firm will publish books of all kinds, but will direct its attention primarily to works bearing on Negroes so as to supply all kinds of information concerning the Negro race and those who have been interested in its uplift. Carter G. Woodson is President; John W. Davis, Treasurer; and Louis R. Mehlinger, Secretary.

The idea in the minds of the incorporators is to meet a long-felt need of supplanting exploiting publishers sending out book agents, who since the emancipation of the Negroes have gone from door to door filling their homes with literature which is neither informing nor elevating. Inasmuch as these publishing houses find it profitable to sell literature which in this advanced age of civilization of the race must be less attractive than it was years ago, it is to be expected that success will come to an enterprise like THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS, INCORPORATED, bringing out more valuable works for which there is an increasing demand.

During the recent years the Negro race has been seeking to learn more about itself and especially since the social upheaval of the World War. The Negro reading public has been largely increased and the number of persons interested in the Negro have so multiplied that any creditable publication giving important facts about the race now finds a ready market throughout the United States and even abroad. To supply this demand these gentlemen have launched the enterprise, THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS, INCORPORATED.

* * * * *

Africa Slave or Free, by John H. Harris, has been published by E. P. Dutton and Company, New York City.

* * * * *

Unsung Heroes: by Elizabeth Ross Haynes is being advertised as a forthcoming publication of DuBois and Dill, Publishers, New York City. This work consists largely of biographical material for average readers.

* * * * *

The following interesting articles have recently appeared: West African Religion, by R. E. Dennett (The Church Quarterly Review, January, 1921); Christian Missions and African Labor, by J. H. Oldham (International Review of Missions, April, 1921); Unreached Fields of Central Africa, by H. K. W. Kumm (The Missionary Review of the World, June, 1921); A Doctor's Experience in West Africa, by H. L. Weber (The Missionary Review of the World, June, 1921); South Africa and its Native Problem, by Earl Buxton (Journal of the African Society, April, 1921); Semi-Bantu Languages of East Nigeria, by Sir Harry H. Johnston (Journal of the African Society, April, 1921); The Fulas and their Language, by Sir Harry H. Johnston (Journal of the African Society, April, 1921); Race Legislation in South Carolina since 1865, by F. B. Simkins (South Atlantic Quarterly, January, 1921); Santo Domingo: A Study in Benevolent Imperialism, by R. G. Adams (South Atlantic Quarterly, January, 1921).



THE JOURNAL

OF

NEGRO HISTORY

VOL. VI—OCTOBER, 1921—NO. 4



THE NEGRO MIGRATION OF 1916-1918[1]

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In accordance with its title, this essay is intended to be an interpretation of the recent Negro migration in the United States. Its object is to sift out from the mass of writings the most salient facts pertaining to this movement and to present them in such a manner as to give a correct impression of it in its entirety. In this regard, however, it is not a mere narration of events, but, as far as possible, a sort of scientific analysis of the facts therein contained. Thus, it aims to treat in a systematic and logical manner the various aspects of the movement, to show the relationship between them, and to try to understand and account for the economic and social forces involved. In pursuance of this it has, therefore, seemed fitting to include in this study a brief survey of migration in general, the origin, nature, and scope of the recent movement, its relation to previous movements, its causes and effects, and some conclusions regarding its meaning and significance.

In the preparation of this essay, moreover, the writer has drawn very freely from the material contained in a report of the United States Department of Labor. Accurately described, this source is rather a compilation of reports based on investigations of this movement during the summer of 1917. These inquiries were authorized by the Secretary of Labor and were supervised by Dr. James H. Dillard, formerly a professor and a dean of the faculty at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, and, at present, Director of the Jeanes and Slater Funds for Negro education in the South. The actual investigations were made and reported on by the following: Mr. T. J. Woofter, Mr. R. H. Leavell, Mr. T. R. Snavely, Mr. W. T. B. Williams and Professor F. D. Tyson of the University of Pittsburgh.

This essay, however, views this movement as the Negro Migration of 1916-18 instead of the "Negro Migration of 1916-17," as some have termed it. This position is taken on the following grounds: The Negroes were attracted to the North largely through the great demand for labor which had been made a fact by the departure of thousands of aliens to serve their respective countries in the Great War. The Negro migration stream began flowing in the spring of 1916, reached its highest mark in 1917, and, even though much diminished, coursed on through 1918 up to the signing of the armistice. With the occurrence of this event the need for Negro labor became considerably less acute, thus causing a decided dwindling of the movement, but not a sudden stoppage of it. It drifted on, however, but with an ever-decreasing volume. Even during the latter part of the summer of 1919 signs that this movement was still in progress were evident, as Negroes were found moving North, though in very small numbers.

A study of the movement of any group of mankind almost of necessity reverts to the consideration of the relation of man to his environment, both natural and human. In the first place, it is known that man, like the plant or the animal, is greatly influenced by his natural surroundings. It is the policy of nature to allow an unlimited number of individuals to be born, while at the same time the amount of food and space upon the earth is limited. This results in a perpetual struggle for survival, or existence. In this struggle, through the process of natural selection, the individuals possessing those qualities suitable for life in their environment are allowed to survive and to transmit these favorable qualities to their offspring, whereas those having the less fit traits are weeded out. In a word, the battle is to the strong, the race is to the swift.[3] The chances of survival of all organisms, therefore, depend on adaptation or adjustment to external conditions.[4]

Besides adaptation, however, nature also presents to the plant or animal other alternatives whenever any fundamental change occurs in the environment which affects the life of these individuals. These alternatives are death, degeneration, and flight. These have all had their effects upon man as well as upon plants and animals. "It is well known that men die when natural conditions become favorable enough; famines recurrently sweep many from the earth. Again, they degenerate when they are forced to live a life that it is possible to live but only in a miserable way. Some of the lowest tribes of men, like the South African Bushmen, or the Digger Indians, have been forced by stronger tribes to withdraw into the desert and to exist upon a lower plane of life. The physique of such peoples betrays the hardships which they have suffered. Men also flee from an unfavorable environment, thus escaping death or degeneracy, if the way into a more favorable locality lies open to them. Much of migration and colonization comes under this alternative."[5] This topic is well illustrated by those farms of New England which have been abandoned by their former owners, and have been occupied by immigrants from Europe.[6]

As man is compelled to adapt himself to his natural surroundings in order to survive, so he must do in regard to his human or social environment. This external situation is due to the fact that man lives his life in a group, or a society, composed of numerous individuals like himself. In this society are laws or conventions which are imposed on all by the group, and which all are required to obey.[7] Often, however, it happens that in various ways the acts of large numbers of the group come into conflict with these laws, and the result is the maladjustment of those who have behaved thus. Society then takes steps to compel these individuals to bring themselves back into harmony with the life of the rest of the group. During this period of compulsion, however, all do not comply with the commands of society, for many avail themselves of the alternative of flight or migration to another place where conditions of life seem more favorable. The numerous historical accounts of men and women leaving their native lands in order to escape discomforts, dissatisfactions, punishment or persecution for various reasons, are examples of this state of affairs.

Migration then is an important element in man's environmental relations. It is the means by which he is enabled to escape the pain of an unfavorable environment and to find the pleasure which might result from adaptation in more favorable surroundings. Through flight or migration man simply adopts the course on which his efforts meet with the least resistance, because, instead of remaining in the unfavorable locality to struggle against the most adverse circumstances, or to run the risk of suffering death or degeneracy, he moves elsewhere, where the obstacles appear to be fewer, and where adaptation seems a matter of easier accomplishment. Now, should this same principle be applied to this specific subject under discussion, it would, perhaps, be demonstrated that the Negroes, likewise, simply used migration as a means of escaping the intolerable conditions in their home environment and of making their way into another accessible locality, where the chances of winning out in the struggle for existence seemed more certain.

In this view of migration as a means of escape from unfavorable environmental conditions we must distinguish it, however, from those earliest movements of primitive men. These were, perhaps, instinctive and differed little from the movements of animals. They were mere "wanderings"; but they were the necessary forerunners of the more recent movements.[8] Migration, in its truest sense, is a reasoned movement which arose after man had progressed far enough in the scale of civilization to have a fixed abiding place. It is a definite movement from one place to another. It involves an actual and permanent change of residence. Migration, therefore, occurred only in the most rudimentary form among people in the hunting stage; more developed forms of it occurred among pastoral peoples, when they, for instance, changed their base of operation; but in its most complete form migration occurred only after man had reached the stage of agriculture.

If migration is a reasoned affair, it then follows that for every migration there must be some definable cause. This cause must be a very powerful one, because man is inclined to become attached to the locality in which he finds himself placed. There are formed ties of various kinds which tend to hold him to his home. These are the ties of family, friendly associations, customs and habits of the community, politics, religion, business, property, and superstitious reverence for graves. His life is, therefore, closely bound up with his surroundings, and the changing of it for that of another locality is a matter of serious concern. Thus, "there is a marked inertia, a resistance to pressure among human beings, and the presumption is that people will stay where they are unless some positive force causes them to move."

Furthermore, the force which operates in causing men to move generally presents one of two aspects, viz., attractive and repellent. "Men are either drawn or driven to break the ties which bind them to their native locality." Again, the causes of migration are classified as positive advantages and satisfactions, and negative discomforts and compulsions. The causes of the repellent or negative type exist in the environment of the locality to which man is already attached. They, therefore, are much more important than the others, because, despite the inducements of another locality which may be opened to him, it is the tendency of man to remain where he is, if he is contented. These forces must produce dissatisfaction with existing conditions in order to induce man to move. The causes of the attractive or positive type, on the other hand, are in a foreign environment, and operate often by stimulating dissatisfactions through comparison. They must, before movement can be induced, show that conditions in the new locality are superior to those in the home environment. "Thus, in almost every case of migration one is justified in looking for some cause of a repellent nature, some dissatisfaction, disability, discontent, hardship, or other disturbing condition;" and, likewise, some positive advantage, satisfaction, prospect of contentment, or other favorable condition. Therefore, it goes almost without saying that the study of this subject of Negro migration will show that these two types of forces or causes were also present in this recent movement.

Again, these repellent or negative conditions which cause men to move may arise in any of the various interests of human life, and may be classified as economic, political, social, and religious. Of these "the economic causes of migration are the earliest and by far the most important. They arise in connection with man's effort to make his living and concern all interests which are connected with his productive efforts. They are disabilities or handicaps which affect his pursuit of food, clothing and shelter, as well as the less necessary comforts of life. These are vital interests and any dissatisfaction connected with them is of great weight to men."

Inasmuch as the economic causes of migration are primal and most important, and since like causes played such a large part in giving rise to this recent movement, it might be well to pause here to enumerate some of these causes, and to note briefly the nature of the same. In the first place, a migration may occur because of permanent infertility of the soil, harsh climate, or a dearth of natural resources which may perpetually intensify man's struggle for existence. In the next place, it may be due to temporary natural calamities such as drought, famine, flood, extreme seasons and so on. This latter set of causes, as will be seen later on, were prominent factors in the recent Negro movement from the South to the North. Again, people may be forced to move because of serious underdevelopment of the industrial arts which may make living hard by limiting the productive power of the people or by retarding them in the struggle for trade. Finally, migration may be due to overpopulation—a condition in which the population of a country has increased to such a degree that there are too many people in proportion to the supporting power of the environment.

As has just been intimated, the causes of migration are fourfold, namely, economic, political, social, and religious. Because of this it must not be thought, however, that these causes are separate and distinct; but it should be understood that they overlap each other and exist almost always in conjunction. In any migration two or more of them will be found present. For example, it is very difficult to find cases in which social causes alone account for a migration. They often, nevertheless, act as a contributory factor to a movement. The economic causes are by far the most important and universal; but behind them are frequently other causes. "Political maladjustments often express themselves through economic or social disabilities, religious differences through economic and social limitations, etc." In short, it may be said that the motives of migration may be due to a complication of causes. This may be well illustrated by the study of the recent Negro migration in which it will be found that this movement was occasioned by a number of interacting economic, social, and, to a small extent, political forces.

As there are types of forces or causes giving rise to migration, there are likewise types of migration. These are the following four: invasion, conquest, colonization and immigration. Besides these four main types of movement there are other less important forms which deserve notice. They are of two kinds, namely, forced forms of migration, and internal or intra-state migration of peoples. The former occurs (1) when people are expelled from a country because of non-conformity to the established religion; (2) when they are compelled by actual force to leave one place and go to another, as in the case of the importation of Negroes from Africa to the United States to become slaves; and (3) when people are subjected to banishment from a country as a form of punishment for crime. The internal or intra-state movement is that which is going on all the time in most civilized countries, and which is usually a phenomenon of non-importance; but when it involves large masses of people, moving in certain well-defined directions, with a community of motives and purposes, it becomes of great interest and significance and deserves to be classed with the other great movements of peoples. One good example of this is the westward movement of the people of the United States during the early decades of the past century. Another which might be rightly classed as such is the recent large Negro migration which is under consideration in this essay.

The subject of migration in general is capable of very lengthy treatment, but as this is not our purpose here we shall terminate this discussion at this juncture. In this preliminary survey the aim has been to try to show, though in an exceedingly brief manner, the meaning and significance of migration as a factor in the human struggle for existence; the distinction between migration and the earliest movements of primitive man; the types of forces which figure in any migration; and the various forms in which a migration may occur. This has been done with the further intention of endeavoring to imbue the mind at the outset with the idea that this Negro migration is not very radically different from the past movements of civilized man, and that, like them, it occurred in obedience to certain laws which were operating in the environment of the migrants. If this object can be accomplished, little doubt is entertained that it will do much toward affording a clearer and more comprehensive view of the movement than could be otherwise obtained.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This dissertation was presented by Henderson H. Donald to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in candidacy for the degree of Master of Arts, May, 1920. Since then it has been considerably revised and augmented.

In the preparation of this work the following books were used: James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, Volume II; F. S. Chapin, Introduction to the Study of Human Evolution; H. P. Fairchild, Immigration; H. E. Gregory, A. G. Keller, and A. L. Bishop, Physical and Commercial Geography; A. G. Keller, Societal Evolution; R. F. Hoxie, Trade Unionism in the United States; E. J. Scott, Negro Migration during the War; W. G. Sumner, Folkways; F. J. Warne, The Immigration Invasion; C. G. Woodson, A Century of Negro Migration.

The following magazine articles were also helpful: Ray S. Baker, "The Negro Goes Forth" (World's Work, 34: 314-17, July, 1917); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Migration of Negroes" (The Crisis, 14: 63-66, June, 1917); B. M. Edens, "When Labor is Cheap" (Survey, 38: 511, September 8, 1917); H. A. Hoyer, "Migration of Colored Workers" (Survey, 45: 930, March 26, 1921); G. E. Haynes, "Negroes Move North" (Survey, 40: 115-22, May 4, 1917) and "Effect of War Conditions on Negro Labor" (Academy of Political Science, 8: 299-312, February, 1919); T. A. Hill, "Why Southern Negroes Don't go South" (Survey, 43: 183-85, November 29, 1919); H. W. Horwill, "A Negro Exodus" (Contemporary Review, 114: 299-305, September, 1918; Literary Digest, 54: 1914, January 23, 1917); "The South Calling Negroes Back; An Exodus in America" (Living Age, 295: 57-60, October 6, 1917); "The Negro Migration" (New Republic, 7: 213-14, January 1, 1916; New York Times, November 12, 1916, 11, 12: 1; September 4, 1917, 3: 6; October 7, 1917, 111, 10: 1; January 21, 1919, 3: 6; June 14, 1919, 3: 6; June 16, 1919, 12: 5; June 11, 1920, 18: 1; December 12, 1921, 14: 1); H. B. Pendleton, "Cotton Pickers in Northern Cities" (Survey, 37: 569-71, February 17, 1917); W. O. Scroggs, "Interstate Migration of Negroes" (Journal of Political Economy, 25: 1034-43, December, 1917); "The Lure of the North for Negroes" (Survey, 38: 27-28, April 7, 1917); "Reasons why Negroes go North" (Survey, 38: 226-7, June 2, 1917); "Negro Migration as the South sees It" (Survey, 38: 428, August 11, 1917); "Health of the Negro" (Survey, 42: 596-7, June 19, 1919); "Negroes in Industry" (Survey, 42: 900, September 27, 1919); "A New Migration" (Survey, 45: 752, February 26, 1921); F. B. Washington, "The Detroit New Comers' Greeting" (Survey, 38: 333-5, July 14, 1917); W. F. White, "The Success of Negro Migration" (The Crisis, 19: 112-15, January, 1920); T. J. Woofter, Jr., "The Negro and Industrial Peace" (Survey, 45: 420-421, December 17, 1921); J. A. Wright, "Conditions among Negro Migrants in Hartford, Connecticut" (a letter).

The following pamphlets and reports were also valuable: Branson and others, Migration, Minutes of University Commission on Southern Race Questions, pp. 48-49, 1917; Bureau of the United States Census, Negro Population in the United States, 1790-1916, and Negroes in the United States, Bulletin 129: A. Epstein, The Negro Migrant in Pittsburg; G. E. Haynes, Negro New-comers in Detroit, Michigan; Home Mission Council, The Negro Migration; E. K. Jones, The Negro in Industry, Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work, pp. 494-503, June, 1917; United States Department of Labor, Negro Migration in 1916-17, and The Negro at Work during the War and Reconstruction.

[2] A full list of these occurs in the bibliographical section of this essay.

[3] Chapin, F. S., Introduction to the Study of Human Evolution, pp. 30-31.

[4] This law, of course, does not fully operate among men in a highly civilized state of living, for in this state its force is much diminished by various uplift, or counter-selective, agencies.

[5] Gregory, Keller, and Bishop, Physical and Commercial Geography, pt. II, p. 126.

[6] Gregory, Keller, and Bishop, Physical and Commercial Geography, pt. II, p. 126.

[7] Keller, A. G., Societal Evolution, pp. 24-37.

[8] What is said here, and also in the remaining pages of this chapter, are for the most part reproductions of parts of Chapter I of Immigration, by H. P. Fairchild. In some cases quotations and paraphrases from this source are also given. The acknowledgment here, however, is once and for all.



CHAPTER II

PREVIOUS NEGRO MOVEMENTS

Among the many who have written concerning this exodus one finds that not a few of them have been prone to emphasize the fact that in this recent movement the Negroes suddenly developed within themselves a desire to move, thus implying that migration is not controlled by certain economic and social laws, and that this movement was an entirely new social phenomenon. Disregarding for the present the first assumption, and directing attention to the second, the writer holds that the latter must have sprung from the fact that no account was taken of the past economic and social history of the Negroes; for a study in that direction would have shown that ever since the time of their emancipation the Negroes have shown a tendency to migrate.[9] That this has been the case a number of instances will demonstrate.

Shortly after emancipation there occurred slow and confused movements of the Negro population which covered a period of several years. During his enslavement the Negro could hardly do anything without the will and consent of his master; he had not the liberty to order and direct his life as he chose. When, therefore, he was suddenly transformed from this state to that of freedom, the first thing he did was to put this freedom to test by moving about. Consequently he drifted from place to place and at the same time changed his name, employment, and even his wife. Many also devoted much of their time to hunting while they were awaiting Federal Government assistance in the form of land and mules. Emancipation meant to them not only freedom from slavery but freedom from responsibility as well. Thus during their early years of liberty large numbers of Negroes moved about almost aimlessly and thoughtlessly and made their way especially to the towns, cities and Federal military camps.[10]

There was, moreover, a considerable movement of the Negro population toward the southwestern part of the United States. It was very slow and was in operation between 1865 and 1875, when the expansion of the numerous railway systems gave rise to a great number of land speculators who did much to induce men to go West and settle on the land. Their appeals greatly aroused the Negroes who had reasons for a change of abode. This movement was at first composed of individuals; but later on it became a group movement. In this migratory stream which flowed southwestward were 35,000 Negroes, who came largely from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.[11]

Again, in 1879, a large number of Negroes made a rush to Kansas.[12] This movement was due for the most part to agricultural depression in parts of the South, but was precipitated greatly by the activities of a host of petty Negro leaders who had sprung up in all parts of the South during the Reconstruction period. This exodus began early in March and continued till May. The estimated number of migrants was between 5,000 and 10,000; but there were thousands of others who had planned to migrate, but were deterred from doing so because of the news of the misfortunes which befell those who actually moved. The majority of those who left the South were from Louisiana and Mississippi. In this migration the Negroes left their homes when the weather was growing warm, but on reaching their destination found that spring had not yet arrived, the country being still bleak and desolate. Most of them were poorly clad and without funds. Consequently, many suffered from want and disease and consequently became public charges. As soon as it was convenient for them, however, large numbers returned to their homes where they scattered such discouraging reports that others who had planned to move declined to do so. Nevertheless, about a third of them remained in Kansas and of this portion a fairly large number attained a creditable degree of prosperity.

The years of the later eighties and the early nineties also witnessed a few small interstate movements of Negroes.[13] For a long time it was the custom of employers in the mineral districts of the Appalachian Mountains to hire only foreign labor to do their work, but during the time just referred to this labor failed to satisfy the demand. In order to meet this emergency the employers at once dispatched their agents to different parts of the South to appeal to the Negroes for their labor. The efforts of these agents were not without effect, because many Negroes soon flocked to the mining districts of Birmingham, Alabama, to those of East Tennessee, and to those of West Virginia. Also, large numbers went to southern Ohio, where they were employed in the places of white laborers, who were on a strike, demanding higher wages.

As is evident in the preceding citations, the Negroes of the South are inclined not only to move to the North and West, but are also prone to move about freely within the South. This can be further substantiated by a brief study of the interdivisional movements of the Negro population of the South. In 1910, according to the Federal Census, it was found that 1.4 per cent of the Negroes living in the South Atlantic Division, 5.8 per cent of those residing in the East South Central Division, and 13.1 per cent of those in the West South Central Division, were born in places outside these respective sections. On the other hand, it was shown that the South Atlantic Division registered a loss of 392,927 from its Negro population, the East South Central a loss of 200,876, whereas the West South Central Division revealed a net gain of 194,658 in its Negro population. Thus, while two divisions lost, the third gained heavily by interdivisional Negro migration.[14] This tendency toward interdivisional migration on the part of Negroes is, however, exhibited in a less degree than is the case on the part of whites. In 1910, 16.6 per cent of the Negroes had moved to other States than those in which they were born, whereas 22.4 per cent of the whites were found in States other than those in which they were born.[15]

Likewise, the Negroes are inclined to move about freely from section to section within the bounds of the North and West. In 1910, 47 per cent of the Negroes living in the New England Division, 52.3 per cent of those in the Middle Atlantic Division, 50.4 per cent of those in the East North Central Division, 32.1 per cent of those in the West North Central Division, and 80 per cent of those living in the Mountain Division and 77.7 per cent of those living in the Pacific Division, were born, in each case, in places outside of these sections.[16] Each section showed also a loss of a certain per cent of its total native Negro population through migration to some other division. In this respect, New England showed a loss of 18.5 per cent, the Middle Atlantic States a loss of 10.5 per cent, the East North Central 16.2 per cent, the West North Central 18.2 per cent, the Mountain 43.9 per cent, and the Pacific 26.4 per cent.[17] While this was the case, each division, nevertheless, received in turn, through migration from other places, enough newcomers to show a decided gain in its total Negro population. These gains in numbers were as follows:[18]

New England 20,310 Middle Atlantic 186,384 East North Central 119,649 West North Central 40,479 Mountain 13,229 Pacific 18,976

While much of the Negro migration has been interdivisional movements within the three major sections of this country, yet a very considerable amount of it has been directed from the South to the North and West. Between 1870 and 1910, a period of forty years, there was a marked increase in the number of Negroes who were born in the South but who had migrated to the North. In 1870 the number was 149,000, but in 1910 it had increased to 440,534.[19] This latter estimate is undoubtedly much less than the actual number of migrants, for it does not account for those who might have died or returned to the South or elsewhere before the taking of the Federal Census. Moreover, it is a fact that since the Civil War the Negro population of the North has been increasing faster than that of the South. In 1860 there were 344,719 Negroes in the North; in 1910 there were 1,078,336, an increase of 212.8 per cent for the fifty years' period. In 1920 there were 1,472,448 Negroes in the North, an increase of 43.8 per cent in ten years. In the West there were 78,591 in 1920. In the South, on the other hand, during the period from 1870 to 1910, the rate of increase was only 111.1 per cent. From 1910 to 1920 there was an increase of only 1.9 per cent whereas there was between 1900 and 1915 an increase of 10.4 per cent in that section in the Negro population in the South. During the past fifty years, therefore, the relative increase of Negroes in the North has been more than double that of the Negro population in the South. Before 1860 every census, except that of 1840, showed a greater relative increase in the Negro population of the South than in that of the North. Since that time, however, this condition has been reversed.[20] This increase of the Negro population in the North is undoubtedly due to migration from the South, and not to natural increase, because the vital statistics of Northern communities show that the Negro birth-rate is barely sufficient to balance the death-rate.[21]

Not only have Negroes been moving from the South to the North and West, but they have also been migrating from these latter sections to the South. Immediately after the Civil War a small number of Negroes left the North and made their way to the South.[22] This movement was composed of intelligent Negroes who had been fortunate enough to enjoy some of the educational opportunities of the North and who, because of this equipment, felt that they might be of service to the race during the Reconstruction period in the South. They were the ones who became the antagonists of the Carpet-baggers—the arch-corrupters of the governments of the Southern States. There were, however, other reasons why these men went South. In the first place, some had found northern communities so hostile to them that their progress was impeded; in the next place, many desired to reunite with their relatives from whom they had been separated by their flight from slavery; finally, others moved in response to a spirit of adventure to enter a new field which offered opportunities of all sorts.

The Federal Census of 1910, moreover, furnishes evidence of Negro movement from the North and West to the South.[23] This report shows that during that decade 41,489 Negroes who were born in the North and West were living in the South. This migration from these former sections to the South, though less considerable in volume than the migration from the South, is, nevertheless, proportionately greater when considered in relation to the Negro population born in these two sections than the migration from the South when the latter movement is, likewise, considered in its relation to the total Negro population born in the South. Thus the 41,489 Negroes born in the North and West but living in the South in 1910 constituted 6.5 per cent of the total Negro population born in the North and West, whereas the 440,534 Negroes born in the South but residing in the North formed only 4.8 per cent of the total Negro population born in the South.

The fact that this recent Negro migration, as has been stated, was a movement to the large cities and industrial centers of the North and West should give no occasion for surprise, because this has been in progress for more than three decades. During this period the Negroes have shown a decided tendency to flock to the large cities of the North and West, and also to those of the South. This is verified by the discovery that since 1880 nine cities of the North and West have shown considerable increase in their Negro population. These attractive cities thus popularized are as follows: Boston, Greater New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Evansville, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. The increase for these nine cities between 1880 and 1890 was about 36.2 per cent; between 1890 and 1900 it was about 74.4 per cent; from 1900 to 1910 about 37.4 per cent; and from 1910 to 1920 about 50 per cent. In the first decade the increase was more than three times the increase of the total Negro population; in the second it was more than four times as large; in the third the increase was nearly three times larger; and in the fourth nearly five times as large as the increase of the same population. Likewise, during the same period there was a great Negro influx to the larger cities of the South, but the rate of increase was less than that of the Northern cities. In fifteen Southern cities the percentage of increase was about 38.7 per cent during the first decade; during the second about 20.6 per cent; and from 1900 to 1916 the increase (based on figures for sixteen cities) was about the same as that of the preceding decades.[24]

These numerous instances of previous Negro movements show that the recent migration is no new and strange phenomenon, that Negroes, like other elements of the population of the United States, have shown a tendency since their emancipation to move from place to place. This recent exodus was simply a part of a long series of movements which have been in progress for more than half a century. It is, therefore, much like the others and differs from them only in its immense volume. In the course of this migration, as we observed, the number of Negroes who moved to the North and West was probably a half million—a number which perhaps exceeds or certainly equals that which resulted from all other movements from the South to the North during a period of forty years. Herein alone, if such a view of it can be held at all, lies its strangeness and remarkability as a social phenomenon.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] Scroggs, W. O., Jour. Pol. Econ., 25: 1034, Dec., 1917.

[10] Woodson, C. G., A Century of Negro Migration, pp. 117-20.

[11] Ibid., pp. 120-21.

[12] Scroggs, W. O., Jour. Pol. Econ., 25: 1035-37, Dec., 1917.

[13] Woodson, C. G., A Century of Negro Migration, p. 146.

[14] Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915, Bureau of Census, pp. 69-70.

[15] Journal of Pol. Econ., 25: 1040, D. '17.

[16] Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915, Bureau of Census, pp. 69-70.

[17] Negroes in the U. S., Bulletin 129, p. 17. Census Bureau.

[18] Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915, Bureau of Census, pp. 69-70.

[19] Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915, Bureau of Census, p. 65.

[20] Scroggs, W. D., Jour. Pol. Econ., 25: 1038, D. '17.

[21] Ibid., D. '17.

[22] Woodson, C. G., A Century of Negro Migration, pp. 123-4.

[23] Negro Population in the U. S., 1790-1915, p. 65.

[24] Haynes, G. E., New York Times, Nov. 12, 1916, II, 12: 1.



CHAPTER III

SOURCE, VOLUME, DESTINATION, AND COMPOSITION

The exodus of the Negroes during the years from 1916 to 1918 occurred with such suddenness and attained such an immense volume that for a time it appeared to many observers that the whole "Black Belt" was shifting itself northward. Inasmuch as at the very time this migration reached its zenith this country had just entered into a state of war with Germany, it attracted almost nation-wide attention, and from some quarters the fear was that it would have the effect, either directly or indirectly, of obstructing the National Government in its prosecution of the war. Numerous also were the apprehensions of the economic, political, and social problems that might follow in the wake of this movement. On almost every hand, therefore, the discussions concerning this migration became legion, and varying were the opinions expressed regarding its causes and its probable effects upon the sections of the country involved and upon the migrants themselves.

It is uncertain as to the exact time when this movement began, because it was going on some time before any notice was taken of it. It is known, however, that conditions favorable to its beginning were manifest shortly after the outbreak of the European War, when, on account of this catastrophe, immigration practically ceased and thousands of alien laborers departed for their native lands. This caused a serious labor shortage in the Northern industries, and in order to obviate this employers, during the spring of 1915, sent agents into the South to seek Negro laborers. If, as a result of the efforts of these agents, Negroes were induced to go North, then the number of those who moved was so small and in such scattered instances as to make it unworthy of being called a migration. This view is taken because it was not until nearly a year afterward that Negroes began to move in numbers sufficiently large to attract public notice.

The Negro migration in its truest sense, therefore, had its beginning in 1916 and was precipitated as follows: "A national philanthropic organization arranged with some Northern tobacco growers to import Negro students from some of the Southern private institutions for summer work and early in May, 1916, brought the first two trainloads from Georgia. Then the agent of a large Northern railroad, taking advantage of the publicity given this venture, used the name of this organization to get migrants to come North."[25] Other railroads and steel mills were also in great need for laborers and thus sent their agents in the South to solicit labor. These agents moved about through the States of the South and offered at first free transportation to the prospective laborers and pictured to them in very glowing terms the high wages and advantages of the North. This they did not have to do very long, "for the news spread like wild-fire. It was like the gold fever in '49. Negroes sold their simple belongings and in some instances valuable land and property and flocked to the Northern cities, even though they had no objective work in sight."[26] Regarding this same point, Mr. Ray Stannard Baker holds that during the spring of 1916 "trains were backed into Southern cities and hundreds of Negroes were gathered up in a day, loaded into the cars and whirled away to the North. Instances are given showing that Negro teamsters left their horses standing in the streets or deserted their jobs and went to the trains without notifying their employers or even going home."[27]

The next question which seems in order is whence came these migrants. As far as is known up to now they came largely from thirteen of the Southern States and from those lying mainly east of the Mississippi River. These States are as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia—the cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane regions of the South.[28] Of these the States which paid the heaviest toll in the number of migrants are Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. In this respect Mississippi stands first, Alabama second, and Georgia third.[29]

When we come to the consideration of the number of Negroes who left the South during the course of this movement we find here much uncertainty. This state of affairs is due partly to the fact that the very beginning of the movement was unknown to those who might have been interested in taking a census of those departing and partly to the fact that perhaps after the movement was known to be in operation no counting was resorted to because no one believed that the exodus would amount to anything of importance. When, however, the exodus reached such proportions as to demand serious attention, steps were at once taken to ascertain its volume.

Numerical estimates regarding the size of this migration have been made in different ways.[30] In one case they have been based upon the statements of observers who have watched trainloads leave the South, in another they have been based upon the growth of numbers in different Northern cities, in still another upon records of insurance companies, and finally upon the number of railway tickets sold to Negroes. On these bases estimates have ranged from 150,000 to upwards of 750,000. To illustrate this, a few examples will be cited. Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois estimated that 250,000 Negroes had migrated to the North during 1916-17.[31] The estimate of the Colored Citizens' Patriotic League was 300,000,[32] and that of the Chairman of the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was 350,000.[33] Dr. James H. Dillard set the minimum at 150,000 and the maximum at 350,000,[34] and Mr. Ray Stannard Baker put the number up to 400,000.[35] From these various estimates given it is at once obvious that no accurate statement as to the number of Negroes who left the South can be made. It is known, however, that a very large number must have moved, because in many instances the Negro population in villages, towns and counties in some of the Southern States was greatly depleted, while the same population of Northern urban communities increased from one to four-fold. The census shows that in 1920 there were in the North and West only 472,418 more Negroes than there were in those sections in 1910. It is clear that a smaller number went North, for there was some natural increase, and we have the fact that many have returned[36] to warrant the conclusion.

In this discussion of the volume of the migration it may not be out of place to show how the various States of the South furnished their quota toward making up this total number of migrants. In this regard our data are incomplete in that they were compiled some time before the movement was checked. The following table,[37] however, will give one some notion as to the number of Negroes who left each State affected by this movement:

Alabama 90,000 Tennessee 22,632 Virginia 49,000 Kentucky 21,855 North Carolina 35,576 Louisiana 16,912 Mississippi 35,291 Florida 10,291 South Carolina 27,560 Texas 10,870 Arkansas 23,628 Oklahoma 5,836 Georgia 48,897

It has already been indicated that this movement was directed northward, but for the sake of accuracy it is better to say that it was directed toward points in the North and West. The movement was on the whole a great rush on the part of the Negroes to the large cities and industrial centers of these two sections of the country. Within these two divisions the Negroes widely distributed themselves, going as far north as Minnesota and as far west as the Pacific Coast States. In general the destination points of the migrants were found in the following States:[41]

California Missouri Connecticut Nebraska Delaware New Jersey Illinois New York Indiana Ohio Iowa Oregon Kansas Pennsylvania Massachusetts Washington Minnesota Wisconsin

In this connection there might be raised the question as to the distribution of these thousands of migrants in these States of the North and West; and here again it must be stated that complete and accurate data are lacking, because no thorough study in this regard has yet been made. We have, however, some partial estimates which will go to show something of this distribution of the migrants in the various States. These estimates are for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Connecticut.

The number of Negroes who migrated to Pennsylvania is estimated at 84,000. Of this number 33,500 were in Philadelphia and 18,500 in Pittsburgh. The other 32,000 migrants were scattered in various numbers in Steelton, Harrisburg, Coatesville, Chester, Johnstown, Altoona, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Easton, Reading, Erie, Oil City, Franklin and Stoneboro.[42] As many of these returned home or migrated to some other point in the North, even the census of 1920 does not enable one to make an accurate estimate.

The estimated number of migrants in Ohio was 37,000, 10,000 of whom were in Cleveland and 6,000 in Cincinnati. The other 21,500 were located in the following cities and towns: Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Canton, Akron, Middletown, Chillicothe and Portsmouth. More than 3,000 of them were settled in camps of the Baltimore and Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads, and with contractors and traction companies in different places.[43]

The total number of migrants received by New Jersey was 25,000. Of this number 7,000 were in Newark. Jersey City, Trenton, Wrightstown, and South Jersey had each 3,000. Bayonne, Paterson and Perth Amboy together received 4,000. The rest were scattered in Camden, Carney's Point, and in the railroad camps in Jersey City and Weehawken.[44]

Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Connecticut have the following estimates: Between 1916 and 1918, 23,320 migrants went to Indiana, most of whom stopped in Indianapolis and Evansville;[45] 24,390 found their way to Michigan and settled for the most part in Detroit;[46] in Illinois, 24,000 were in Chicago alone;[47] and in Connecticut the city of Hartford reported 3,200 newcomers among its Negro population.[48]

In order to obtain a comprehensive view of any migration something should be known about its composition as well as its volume. As regards this particular movement it can be said that first of all it was a mass movement and not a movement of Negro leaders. It was composed of the large numbers of Negro laborers and artisans who, being very sorely pressed by adverse economic and social conditions, as will be shown later on, refused to seek the advice of their leaders, but pushed forward of their own accord with a determination to find the way for themselves.[49] This great mass, from the standpoint of habitation, was made up of two separate and distinct classes,[50] namely, rural and urban. The rural class was by far the most ignorant, owing to the lack of educational advantages in the rural districts of the South. They were for the most reared upon farms and their occupation was that of farm labor. It is said also that from this class came the majority of the Negroes who migrated from the South.[51]

On the basis of the economic, social and moral status, moreover, the members of this movement were composed of three types.[52] The first type consisted of the less responsible characters, the younger men, mostly single, who immediately responded to the promises of high wages and of free transportation made by labor agents. It was undoubtedly the presence of this type in such large numbers in the North that led Professor F. D. Tyson, of the University of Pittsburgh, to the conclusion that the outstanding fact of the Negro migration from the South was that it was preponderately a movement of single men; and certainly 70 or 80 per cent of the migrants in the Northern States were without family ties, as is evidenced by the advanced reports of the Bureau of the Census showing a change of sexual ratio of the population of some Southern States.[53] Thousands of this type were imported by the railroads to the North, but they proved to be very unreliable workers. They did not stick to their work but moved from place to place, thus furnishing in industry what some have termed the "floaters" or "birds of passage."

The second type was composed of industrious, thrifty, unskilled workers.[54] These for the most part were men with families or other dependents. It was the custom for the men to go ahead first, earn money, and at the same time observe conditions to ascertain whether they were favorable enough to warrant their sending for their families to join them in the North. If things were favorable, their families soon followed. Many of these, because of hard working and living conditions in the South, were forced to accept, ready, free transportation and promises of work and of high wages just as did the members of the first type. A good many of them, however, had small savings which they used to pay their travelling expenses. In some cases, in leaving their homes, the migrants departed from the usual custom of the men going ahead and leaving the families behind, by taking their wives and children to the North with them in the beginning; in others, only the wives accompanied their husbands, while the children were left behind with relatives or friends to be sent for at some future time.

In the next place, the third type of migrants consisted of a rather small group of skilled artisans, business and professional men who shared the dissatisfaction and restlessness of the common laborers.[55] For this group, moving from the South became a necessity because the migration had deprived it of the patronage of the rank and file from which its means of subsistence had been derived. Many of these, however, were in good circumstances, having been in possession of good positions, cash money and considerable property. That this was the case the following citations will show: In regard to the economic condition of the Negroes leaving Alabama, the Birmingham Age-Herald said, "It is not the riff-raff of the race, the worthless Negroes, who are leaving in such large numbers. There are, to be sure, many poor Negroes among them who have little more than the clothes on their backs, but others have property and good positions which they are sacrificing in order to get away at the first opportunity."[56] It is also reported that highly skilled Negro workmen went to Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts with fairly large sums of money from the sale of their possessions in the South.[57] A study of the financial conditions of 2,500 Negro migrants upon their arrival in Coatesville, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, furthermore, revealed that many had brought with them sums ranging from $50 to $150, realized from selling their homes in the South. Their desire was to purchase new homes in Philadelphia, but in this they were disappointed, because very few houses were available for sale or rent.[58] Migrants of this type gladly sacrificed their means and earnings to leave the South, feeling that by so doing they were making an advance to a life of greater freedom.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] Tyson, F. D., Negro Migration in 1916-17, Rep. U. S. Dept. of Labor, p. 121.

[26] Pendleton, H. B., Survey, 37: 569, Feb. 17, 1917.

[27] Baker, Ray S., World's Work, 34: 315, July, 1917.

[28] Lit. Digest, 54: 1914, Jn. 23, 1917.

[29] Dillard, James H., Negro Migration in 1916-17, Rep. U. S. Dept. Lab., p. 11.

[30] Haynes, G. E., Survey, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[31] The Crisis, 14: 63-66, June, 1917.

[32] Horwill, H. W., Contemp. Rev., 114: 299, Sept., 1918.

[33] Ibid., p. 299.

[34] Negro Migration in 1916-17, Rep. U. S. Dept. Lab., p. 11.

[35] Baker, R. S., World's Work, 34: 315, July, 1917.

[36] Haynes, G. E., Survey, 40: 116, May 4, 1918

[37] Lit. Digest, 54: 1914, June 23, 1917.

[38] Dillard, J. H., Negro Migration in 1916-17, U. S. Rep. Dept. Lab., p. 11.

[39] Ibid., p. 11.

[40] Ibid., p. 11.

[41] Scott, E. J., Negro Migration During The War, p. 71.

[42] Tyson, F. D., Negro Migration in 1916-17, U. S. Dept. Lab., p. 157.

[43] Ibid., pp. 157-8.

[44] Ibid., pp. 157-8.

[45] Negro Migration, Rep. Home Missions Council, Jan., 1919.

[46] Ibid.

[47] Tyson, F. D., Negro Migration in 1916-17, U. S. Dept. Lab., p. 117.

[48] Wright, J. A., Letter on Conditions Among Negro Migrants in Hartford.

[49] Du Bois, W. E. B., Survey, 38: 227, June 2, 1917.

[50] Edens, B. M., Survey, 38: 511, Sept. 8, 1917.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Haynes, G. E., Survey, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[53] Negro Migration in 1916-17, Rep. U. S. Dept. of Lab., p. 145.

[54] Haynes, G. E., Survey, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[55] Ibid., May 4, 1918.

[56] Survey, 38: 227, Je. 2, 1917.

[57] Ibid., 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[58] Ibid., 38: 28, April 7, 1917.



CHAPTER IV

CAUSES OF THE RECENT NEGRO MIGRATION

In the study of the migration of any group or groups of mankind a consideration of its causes is highly important, because it seems that therein largely lies much of the significance of the movement. It has already been seen that for every migration there must be some definite cause, since man always moves in response to a rational impulse. Moreover, we saw that the cause must be a very powerful one, because it is the tendency of men to become attached to the locality in which they find themselves. In the investigation of this particular movement under consideration, we are, therefore, justified in seeking to know its causes; and this seems the more legitimate because we desire greatly to know why it was that at this particular time, perhaps more, or, at least, as many Negroes left their Southern homes for points in the North and West than did through a series of migrations which had been in progress for forty years.

The fundamental and immediate cause of this Negro exodus is economic, the basic and predominant cause of most of the movements of modern times. Its sudden occasion had its origin in the great labor shortage at the North, which was due to conditions growing out of the European War. This great war had the effect of cutting off the large and accustomed immigration stream from Europe and of withdrawing from this country thousands of foreign-born residents who were needed in the service of their respective native lands. Northern employers who had been dependent on them for their labor soon faced a serious shortage of labor, on the one hand, while, on the other, they saw their contracts with European concerns for war supplies increase tremendously. Being hard pressed for labor, these owners and operators of the various industrial enterprises, as a last resort, turned to the South and began to solicit Negro labor in order to meet their demands. Thus a Negro exodus from the South was started, and we say that the cause of it was economic. This statement, however, does not adequately cover the ground, because, as has already been seen, a migration is usually the result of the operation of a complexity of causes and not the result of any one cause. Therefore, we shall say that this Negro movement was due to the workings of a complication of economic and social causes, but that of these causes the economic were overwhelmingly predominant.

In studying the forces or causes which were behind this movement, we find that they group themselves under two categories, namely, attractive and repellent. In this migration the Negroes were to a large extent both drawn and driven to break the ties which bound them to their respective localities. One has said that these causes may be grouped as beckoning and driving causes, the former arising from conditions in the North and the latter from conditions in the South.[59] The beckoning causes are as follows: high wages, little or no employment, a shorter working day than on the farm, less political and social discrimination than in the South, better educational facilities, and the lure of the city.[60] On the other hand, we have these given as the driving causes: "General dissatisfaction with conditions, ravages of boll-weevil, floods, change of crop system, low wages, poor houses on plantations, inadequate school facilities, unsatisfactory crop settlements, rough treatment, cruelty of the law officers, unfairness in courts, lynching, the desire for travel, labor agents, the Negro press, letters from friends in the North, and finally advice of white friends in the South, where crops had failed."[61] At this juncture a specific consideration of these latter causes as they were operative in three of the Southern States will now be made. These States referred to are those which were foremost in contributing to the movement and are, namely, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

The causes of migration from Alabama[62] were in the main economic. In the first place the opportunities afforded Negroes to earn their subsistence were greatly curtailed by the boll-weevil pest which swept over the State a few years ago. In the black belt counties cotton had been for several generations the sole crop, and its cultivation wholly dependent upon Negro labor. On the other hand, the Negroes were dependent upon the landowners or overseers for money for their subsistence. In the meantime the Negro farmers and laborers were never taught or encouraged to raise any crop other than cotton. When the boll-weevil pest came and made the raising of cotton an impossibility, it became necessary to shift from the cotton crop to another which was not liable to be troubled by the weevil pests. While the transition was being made, however, the prices of cotton fell considerably and thus made it very difficult for landowners and Negro farmers to borrow money at a reasonable rate of interest. The outcome was that the Negroes suffered much in their struggle to maintain themselves.

Secondly, in 1916 there was a serious crop shortage due to floods. During the spring and summer of that year the rivers overflowed their banks and the water therefrom destroyed the crops throughout a large portion of the state. This made it necessary for both farmers and tenants to find other means of livelihood. The customary advances in money and provisions to the Negro tenants were cut off and in many cases the owners of large plantations were compelled to advise their Negro laborers to move away. In other cases Negroes were so deeply in debt for provisions furnished them during the past winter, for rent and other causes that they were forced to forfeit their mules and other property in payment of these debts. These conditions brought on so much suffering among the Negroes that some sunk to the depths of starvation and had to be given food by the Federal Government, through the Department of Agriculture, and also by the Red Cross organization.

In the next place, shortage of railroad cars was another prominent factor in causing migration from this State. Officials of railroad companies reported that fully half the miners who left the Birmingham districts did so because the companies were unable to obtain cars. In June, 1917, the chairman of the Birmingham District Subcommittee on Car Service stated that more than 7,000 cars of manufactured products had accumulated for shipment in the district.[63] Also, certain lumber companies were forced to reduce the number of their employees on account of the impossibility of getting their lumber products removed from the yards. The shortage of cars, therefore, necessitated the discharge of many men and at the same time prevented the employment of additional laborers.

There was, moreover, a great demand for labor in the North, rendered effective by offers of higher wages than those paid in Alabama. There was at this time too a great surplus of labor throughout those sections affected by the boll-weevil, floods, and shortage of cars, which was ready to respond to this demand. This demand was made known to the migrants by Northern labor agents who played the part of middlemen in this exodus. The migration, through them, was made easy by the furnishing of free transportation and by the making of glowing promises to the Negro migrants.

Another potent influence was that of the persuasion of friends and relatives already in the North. In 1917, when an investigation of the movement was made, it was found that this was the principal influence operating to move the Negroes to the North. Former residents of some of the rural districts of the South who had gone North and secured a foothold wrote letters back to their friends and relatives telling them of their success in the new environment. They depicted in these missives wages which seemed fabulous sums when compared with those received in the South, told of the good conditions of their surroundings, and of numerous advantages and opportunities which they were enjoying, but which had been impossible for them to enjoy while in the South. Negro men, moreover, frequently sent large sums of money to transport their families to the North, and frequently sons in the North sent neat sums back to their parents in the South. These letters containing glowing reports concerning Northern conditions, and the large remittances to relatives and friends, played no small part in inducing thousands to move to try their fortunes in the new environment.

In Georgia[64] we find that the migration was due to a complex of economic and social causes in the form of low wages, poor conditions of labor, lynching, minor injustices in the courts and dissatisfaction with educational facilities. In regard to the first cause, it is known that at the time of the migration wages in this State were extremely low. In 1916 some counties paid only $10 and $12 a month for farm labor; others paid $13 and $15 a month for the same kind of labor. After the movement got well started, however, there was a tendency on the part of most of the farmers to advance wages a little, so that some counties showed an average of $14, others $17, and not a few others as much as $20 a month. It should be added that these wages were in most cases supplemented by free housing and sometimes by food.

In another instance it was found that many Negroes left the farming districts because of unsatisfactory labor conditions due to failure on the part of the planters to keep in close touch with their laborers. There was utter neglect on their part to look after certain details of plantation life as they particularly affected the single men. For example, in many cases, no provision was made to have their food properly cooked, their clothes mended, to keep them supplied with fresh meat, to repair the houses in which they lived, and to furnish them with gardens. On the other hand, it was noted that those planters who carefully looked after these details had no difficulty in holding their laborers.

In regard to lynching as a cause of migration from Georgia, it is not easy to state exactly its effect on the movement, because the lynchings which occurred immediately before and during the migration were in the boll-weevil section where the economic conditions were also at their worst. Nevertheless, several planters whose premises were crossed by lynching parties held that their losses in regard to labor were heavier than those of the surrounding plantations because of the state of terror into which their tenants had been thrown by these lawless bands. In two instances occurring respectively in 1915 and 1916, in the boll-weevil section of this State, moreover, lynching parties killed not only the guilty Negroes but also others who were innocent. In another instance the mob, after murdering the criminal and terribly beating and terrorizing many others not implicated in the crime, proceeded across the county and killed the mother and another relative of the accused. These bloody deeds had the effect of developing in the Negroes a feeling of insecurity of life and thus caused them to seek the North as a place of refuge.