^i~rV -\ TTT^f f^^sc w^ f .-■ /^ -_, f?*sS 0M M^ s &$i8i£ ir^XjQ^ m LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Gift of Professor Harvey M. Choldin L&qrr J^Flsfa:? r 3pg§§J m ^ ] w IPK 0mm ujyjuti w Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/churchesvoluntarOOildrak ANTHRDPDLDGY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY DF CHICAGO CHURCHES AND VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS IN THE CHICAGO NEGRO COMMUNITY B Y ST. CLAIR DRAKE REPORT OF Official Project 465-54-3-386 Conducted Under The Auspices Of The Work Projects Administration Horace R. Cayton, Superintendent SPONSORS: Institute For Juvenile Research Dr. Paul L. Schroeder, Director Prof. W. Lloyd Warner, University of Chicago W. P. A. District 3, Chicago, Illinois H. M. McCullen, District Manager Amelia H. Baker, District Director, P & S Division December, 1940 Cop. 2~ TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER FOREWORD, by Horace R. Cayton, PREFACE, by St. Clair Drake, , 1 Chur ches, As s ociations, and the Urban Way of Life Volun ary Assooiatioris-An Aspect of the "Urban Way of Life"-, 4- Competition and the Urban Way of Life, 6; Competition for Space and the Urban Way °o Li { e * 7; Social Competition and the Urban Way of Life, 10; Secularization and the Urban Way of Life, 11; Needs and. Interests-Biological and Cul- tural, 13; Factors Conditioning Needs and In- terests, Inherited Ideologies-Class, 15; Factors Conditioning Association and Churches-Economic, 19; Occupation and Stratification, 20; Strata in Occupational Pyramid, 21 j Factors Conditioning Associations and Churches-Social Organization, 25; The Functional Approach, 25; Classification of Associations, 2C, II The Institutional Heritage The Slavery Epoch The Pre-Civil War Era, 31; Churches in the Pre- Civil War Era in Chicago, 25; Secular Associa- tions-Pre-Civil War Era, 44; The Anti-Si a very Fight, 45; Summary, 48. The Post Civil-War Epoch The Sixties, 51; Summary, 59; The Seventies, 59; The Eighties, 6 7; Summary, 72; The Nineties, 86; The World's Columbian Exposition-1893, 87. The New Century Epoch Coming of the Chicago Defender , 108; The Broad Ax; Politics, 110; Vice, 112; Chicago "On the Eve," 118; Occupational Differentiation, 120; Churches, 122; Associations, 124; Summary, 132. PAGE v vii 29 in CHAPTER The Migration Epoch The coming of the War, 139; Coming of the Negroes, 141; Why the Negroes Came, 141; The Struggle for Space, 143; Organizing the "New-Comers" - Special Organization - Social Work, 143; Urbanizing the New-comers - Church, 146; Urbanizing the New-comer- Clubs, 151; State and City Clubs, 152; White Insti- tutional Adjustment to the "Invasion," 153; Summary of Chapter II, 162, * III Negroes Live in Chicago, What Negroes? 165; How They Earn a Living, 174; Bigger and Better Negro Business," 179; Churches,' 183; Associations, 185; "Worshipping God," 187^ "Having Fun," 188; What People Value in the Church' 190; Healing, 191; Holiness, 195; Religion-A Rac- ket?, 199; Non-Participants, 203; "Solving Problems". Individual, . 208; Lodges, 209; Cooperative Societies, ell; Professional Societies, 213; Labor Unions,, 213: Summary; The System of Social Classes, 214; The Ipper Class," 216; The "Middle Class," 216; The Shades," 217; Significance of Church and Associa- tional Life. 213, IV Solving Problems, Moderate national 234; Coming of the "Great Racialism, 222; Negroes and the Red Inter- 3; Chicago and the Black International, the "Great Depression," 241; Making Jcbs for che Race, 245; Coming of the Communists, ^bo.; Black Workers and the New Unions, 265; Summary Racial Solidarity, 272; Leaders who Don't Lead, 276* Don't Run to the White Folk," 278, APPENDIXES , I Distribution of Social Club Members by Desirability of Neighborhood, II III IV Distribution of Churches and Church Membership by De- sirability of Neighborhood and Density. Distribution of Church Members in District 10. "The Store-front Church, Asset or Liability?" 165 222? 282 LIST OF REFERENCES iv FOREWORD In November of 1936 a project was started under the direction of W. Lloyd Warner of the University of Chicago, and Horace R. Cayton of the Work Project;- Administration, for the purpose of studying the cultural and social factors surrounding the problems of juvenile delinquency in the Negro community in Chicago. This study financed and completely staffed through the Work Projects Administration, District 3, Chicago, Illinois, and was sponsored by the Institute for Juvenile Research, After bhe project had been carried on for some months it was decided that the situation presented an ex- cellent opportunity to make an exhaustive study of a modern community, and a series of research projects dealing with various phases of the community life was subsequently inaugurated. The present report is of one of the studies which dealt with churches and voluntary associations. This volume was written by St. Clair Drake. We are especially indebted to Mr. Drake as he, for a period of time, while a fellow of the Julius Rosenwald Fund contributed his time in outlining and preparing this study, and integrating it into the larger research in which we were engaged. Later, we were fortunate in obtaining Mr, Drake as a Superin- tendent of the project and the present work is an initial statement of the research which he conducted on this project. The report was edited by Mary Elaine Ogden, A number of organizations co-operated -with this study and allowed us the privilege of examining their records and of using data from unpublished sources, Mr. George Arthur of the Wabash Avenue Branch of the Y.M.C.A., made available data on church membership gathered under the direction of the Y.M.C.A. The National Youth Administration allowed us access to its records, and for the privilege of using their valuable newspaper files we are indebted to The Chicago Defender and to Mrs. Irene McCoy Gaines who has accumulated a file of the Broad Ax . Dr. Samuel Kincheloe, Professor of Social Ethics at the Chicago Theological Seminary supplied us with valuable data and base maps prepared by his research department. Dean H. M. Smith of the Chicago Baptist Institute not only displayed sympathetic interest throughout the study, but also rendered invaluable assistance in a number of ways. Many other persons and organizations in the community co-operated to make our program of research possible. The Board of Trustees of the Good Shepherd Church, and its pastor, Rev. Harold M. Kingsley, made specific con- tributions to the study; and the Citizens Committee For Re-employment made possible the continuation of the project by liberally aiding the sponsor when it was thought the study could not be completed. Mr. Paul Lunt , Professor Earl Johnson, Dr. Louis Wirth, Dr. Robert E. Pari:, Dr. Charles S. Johnson, Dr. Fred Egga , and ir. Leland C. DeVinney gave unstintingly of their time in advising us and guiding us in the many problems which arose during the course of this study. We are particularly indebted to Dr. Paul L. Schroeder, Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research, which sponsored the projects, and to the following officials of District 3 of the Work Projects Administration; Mr. Stanley McKay and Mr. Frank J. Morris, who aided us in planning the projects; Dr. Ferris Laune , who gave us valuable criticisms and suggestions, and who directed the organization of the study; and Mrs. Amelia Baker, Mr. Frank J. Morris, Mr. James Koran, and Mr. Melvin L. Dollar, who, over a period of time co-operated wi/,h us in administering the study. Horace R. Cayton vi PREFACE This study of churches and associations in the Chicago Negro com- munities is presented to the public as an initial report of the work done on a white-collar project of the Work Projects Administration. It is an out- growth of a previous project designed to study "Cultural Factors in the Juvenile Delinquency," and its sponsor has been VV. Lloyd Warner and the Institute for Juvenile Research. This study, however, is not concerned pri- marily with juvenile delinquency per se; rather it is concerned with the social milieu within which children become delinquent. Its contribution to the problem results from giving the remedial worker some conception of the community to which the delinquent must be adjusted. Dr. Robert E. Park, in a suggestive article on "Community Organiza- tion and Juvenile Delinquency," has stressed the effect of the larger com- munity on the emerging adolescent personality: Outside the circle of the family and the neighborhood, within which intimate and the so-called "primary relations" are maintained, there is the ^ larger circle of influences we call the community; the local com- munity, and then tho larger, organized community represented by the city and the nation. And out beyond the limits of these there are boginning to emerge the vast and vague outlines of that larger wor Id -community which Graham Wallas has described under the title, Tho Great Society . The Community, including the family, with its wider interests, its larger purposes, and its more deliberate aims, surrounds us, in closes us, and compels us to conform; not by mere pressure from without, not b y the fear of censure merely, but by the sense of our interest in, and re- sponsibility to, certain interests not our own . "~~~ Only gradually, as he succeeds in accommodating himself to the life of the larger group, incorporating into the specific purposos and ambi- tions of his own life the larger and calmer purposes of" the society in which he lives, does the individual man find himself quite at home in the community of which he is a part. If this is true of mankind as a whole, it is still more true of the younger person. The natural impulses of tho child are inevitably so far from conforming to the social situation in which he finds himself that his ^relations to the community seem to be almost completely defined in a series of 'don'ts.' Under tho circumstances juvenile delinquency is, within certain age-limits at least, not merely something to bo expected; it may almost be said to be normal^ ~~~" Jt is in the community, rather than in the family, that our moral codes first get explicit and formal definition and assume the external and coercive character of municipal law.°/italics, ed.7 VII With the role of the total community playing so important a part in the social orientation of the child, a study of churches and associations becomes important for persons interested in "The Youth Problem." It has been attempted to throw the materials into a scientific framework so that students of city life may relate them to what is already known of associational and church life in the urban environment, and there- fore, certain portions may be of less interest to laymen than others. It is hoped that this study may also be of some value to adult education teachers, group-work leaders, social workers, pastors, Sunday School workers, young people's groups and others for whom an understanding of organizational life among Negroes in Chicago is indispensable, and who have the task of inter- preting the community to itself. Therefore, the treatment, on the whole, leans toward the popular. Special mention should be made here of the work of Mr, Earl Taylor, my assistant, whose untiring labor and most unusual intelligence and tact was largely responsible for the encouraging co-operation of the city's min- isters, and for the smooth working of the collection and analysis of the data. Thanks, too, aro due to Mr. Harry I. Jones, who through his knowledge of the community rendered invaluable assistance; to Mr. George Franklin, who did much of the spadework in setting up the study; to Mr. James L.. Williams, who handled the newspaper analysis with great skill; and to Mr. Leroy Mimms, Mr. Victor Novicki, and Mr. Jesse YJhalen. My colleagues, both on this research project and associated proj- ects, have rendered invaluable counsel and advice, as well as making avail- able their summaries and manuscripts. Manuscripts prepared by the following persons have been used in the study: Mary Gardner, Negro-White Relations in Chicago ; John Given, The Negro Family in Chicago ; Elmer Henderson, Educa- tional and Legal Status of Negroes In Chicago;" Winifred Ingram, Social Agencies in the Negro Community ; Elizabeth Johns., A Study of Migration an d Mobility of Negroes ; George Francis McCray, Occupational Mobility of Ne gro Workers in Chicago ; Mary Elaine Ogden, The Chicago Negro Community — A Sta*^ tistical Description ; Estelle Scott, Occupational 'Changes among N egroes in Chicago ; Samuel Strong, Negro Types of Personality ; Lawrence D. Reddick, A Social History of the Negro in Chicago ; Viola Vanderhorck, Some Aspects of" Negro Life in Chicago ;, The persons who participated in the collection of the data, in the excerpting of interviews and secondary source material, and those who made the block by block survey upon which the tables and maps in the appendix are based, are too numerous to mention. Yet, this study represents the collec- tive effort of a large number of persons, without whose co-operation and in- tellectual honesty this study could never have been made. We are grateful to Miss Hazel Hayes who drafted the preliminary manuscript for the section on "Churches and Associations During the Slavery Epoch," and the "Eighties and Nineties." Vlll Froject 37^9 wishes to express its appreciation to Miss Mary Elaine Ogden, Superintendent of Froject 3591' and to Mrs. Sophia S. Zimring and George Goldstein of the Syllabus of Research, a phase of the Omnibus library Froject, supervised "by Thomas R. Hall. The attractive format of this volume must "be attributed to their painstaking supervision of the publication pro- cesses. From the proofreading of the manuscript, through the mimeographing and assembling, they have, at every point, exhibited a professional compe- tence and personal interest without which a very rough copy would never have become a finished product. Finally, Froject 37^9 is deeply grateful for the wise direction and understanding insight displayed by Superintendent Horace R. Gayton, who whether as a scholar passing criticism on an idea, or as an administrator ironing out a piece of tangled red-tape, is ecmally at home; and who, while allowing perfect academic freedom, has insisted upon the high standard of work that has made the projects under his care, among the best in the State. It has indeed been a pleasant experience to have worked with him. Various individuals not associated with the Froject have given help- ful suggestions, among them being: Mr. 3-eorge Arthur, Executive Secretary of the Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A, ; Mr. Ashby Carter, Director for Religious Ac- tivities of the Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A,; and Reverend Mr. Harold M. Kingsley of the Church of the Good S&epberd. Special mention should be made of Dean H. M. Smith of the Baptist I»s1?itute, whose "Three Fegro Preachers" is the most penetrating analysis available of Fegro church life in Chicago. Par- ticular thanks are due to the hundreds of persons who gave information, but whom space will not permit us to mention. A special word of appreciation is expressed to Professor W. Lloyd Warner to whom the project was indebted for advice and counsel. His wide experience in the study of modern communities was invaluable, and his criti- cisms of portions of the manuscript were particularly helpful. St. Clair Drake -ix- Americans of all ages, nil conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds— religious, moral, seri- ous, futile, general or restricted, enormous or dimunitive. The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes 5 thoy found in this manner hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to inculcate soma truth, or to foster some foeiing, by the encouragement of a groat ox- amplo, they form a society. V/horevor, at the head of some now undertaking, you. sco the government in Franco, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you vail bo sure to find an associations- Herbert Goldhamor, Vol unta ry Associations , quoting Alexis Do Tocqucville 's, Democracy in America (London: lSGE)^ -2- CHAPTER I CRUHCE3S, ASSOCIATIONS, AFD TH3 URBAE WAY OF LIFE Observers of American life have commented frequently, and not al- ways kindly, upon the vast number of voluntary associations to he found in American communities. Some have viewed the phenomenon with levity, jest- ing at a nation of "joiners"; others, more recently, have defended it as a healthy aspect of a free society where people may combine and recomhine at will for purposes of their own choice, unhampered by the strait-jackets of a totalitarian state. Still others have been interested in understanding the cultural and psychological factor? which have "brought such institu- tions into being and maintained them. This study is mainly concerned with the latter point of view, although, at times, the other emphases may ap- pear. The task here is one of defining the structures of the society, of studying the manner in which they were formed, and of analyzing the in- dividual's response to them. It is only upon the oasis of this kind of understanding that social engineers — whether under governmental or private auspices — can plan intelligently for the future. —3— A walk through Chicago's "Black Belt" or a glance at the Chicago De fender . "The World's Greatest Weekly," is enough to suggest the extent and variety of organization among Chicago's 250,000 Negroes* Church edi- fices of some thirty denominations, ranging in sizo from South Parkway's large Catholic Corpus Christ i— inherited by invading Negroes— to State Street's little, recently rented store-fronts, suggest the contrasts in sizo and power of tho churches that claim the community's allegiance. Placards in store-windows call attention to dances, boat rides, picnics, or cabaret parties, and indicate the variety of recreations sponsored by social clubs, lodges, and other organizations. Perhaps, one sees a pickot, with his union sandwich sign, patrol- ling tho street before a Jewish pawnshop or a Negro restaurant} a lad with his colorful ttonogrammod "swoat-shirt" and zipper bag hurrying to somo gymnasium; or a synthetic Moor in his rod fez en route to tho "mosque." And should one wander through Washington Park, tho playground of tho South Side masses, one might see a little knot of Communists, pamphlets in hand, disputing under the trees with ardent Negro Nationalists who still dream of Marcus Garvey and his Royal African Legions. In numerous homes through the community, small groups gather nightly to play bridge} to go through the ritual of entertaining} to discuss plans for the future— giving of a dance, taking in new members, choosing delegates for seme national conven- tion — } or, maybe, just to gossip. And in close to five hundred churches a round of sacred and secular activities is constantly maintained. This study has attemptod to reduce such "acquaintance with" the voluntary social participation of the community, to some systematic stato- mont of "knowledge about" it. — 4_> Voluntary Associations —An Aspect of the "Urban Way of Life"-- The multiplicity of voluntary associations* which casual observers have felt to be characteristic of American life as a whole is most pro- nounced in the metropolitan regions and in those rural areas which are in- creasingly having their "way of life" sot by the city. Dr. Louis Wirth has suggested in a very penetrating article^ that the size of the population aggregate and the density and heterogeneity of tho city are especially con- ducive to the development of associations, while the isolation of tho ur- ban individual and tho diminishing importance of tho family have forced tho urbanite • • • • to exert himself by joining with others of similar interest into organized groups to obtain his ends. This results in an enormous multiplication of voluntary associations directed toward as great a variety of objectives as there aro human needs and interests, • • • • It is largely through the activities of the voluntary groups, bo their objectives economic, political, educational, religious, rocroational, or cultural, that the urbanite oxprossos and devolops his personality, acquires status, and is able to carry on tho round of activities that constitute his life career,^ Summarizing the effects of the size of tho population aggregate on associationql life , Dr, Yifirth states: Characteristically, urbanitcs moot one another in highly segmental roles. They are, to be sure, dependent upon more people for the satis- The term "voluntary associations" as used in this study f-efers only to non-profit groups, and thus excludes businesses although in a strict sense, they too, are voluntary associations. It includes co-opera- tives, however. Churches are included, since in tho modern world pooplo choose to belong to their churches and are not born into them, as in medi- eval society. -5- factions of their life-needs than are rural people and thus are asso- ciated with a greater number of organized groups, but they aro less de- pendent upon particular persons, and their dependence upon others is confined to a highly fractionalizod aspect of the other's round of ac- tivity. This is essentially what is meant by saying that the city is characterized by secondary rather than primary contacts.^ D ensity , ". . . . reinforces the effect of numbers in diversifying men and their activities and in increasing the complexity of the social structure," while the heterogeneity of peoples and manners produces the "sophistication and cosmopolitanism of the urbanite," whose "undivided allegiance" no single group possesses. As I/irth points out: By virtue of his different interests arising out of different as- pects of social life, the individual acquiros membership in widoly di- vergent groups, each of which functions with roferoneo to a single segment of his personality. Nor do these groups easily permit of a concentric arrangement so that the narrower ones fall within the cir- cumference of the more inclusive ones, as is mora likely to be the case in the rural community or in primitive societies. This research has approached the data /ith i/irth* s frame of ref- erence, for By taking his point of departure from a theory of urbanism such as that sketched in the foregoing pages to be elaborated, tested, and re- vised in the light of further analysis and empirical research, it is to be hoped that tho criteria cf relevance and validity of factual data can be determined. In beginning this study of voluntary associations, tho primary problem was on^ of describing a3 carefully as possible the actual associa- tional structure, classifying individual associations, studying thoir ac- tivities and personnel, and attempting to relate associations to other structures in the society. Having secured a clear conception of associa- tions as they exist in the community today, it is possible to trace the processes bj which they came into being. The research worker may then pro- ceed to relato what he knows of associations in tho Negro community to -6- other existing knowledge about the city, particularly knowledge about asso- ciations among other racial or ethnic groups. In order to approach the collection and interpretation of data with economy of time and effort, this research has made use of many of the tech- niques developed by Professor 17. Lloyd War nor and his students in tho study of Nowburyport, Massachusetts and Natchez, Mississippi.* Hero, the major omphasis was upon an analysis of activities and personnel in order to re- late associations to the other structures— business, class, age, and sex— of the society. Techniques of studying the church have been largely thoso developed by H. Paul Douglass, C. Luther Fry, Wilbur C. Hallcnbock, Samuel Kincheloe, Benjamin i.lays, Joseph Nicholson, Edmund do S. Brunner, and tho Institute for Social and Religious Rosoarch. In interpreting the materials and relating them to urbanism, the research has used the conceptual framowork suggested by Mary Elaino Ogdon and Horace R. Cayton in their unpublished manuscript, "Rosoarch on the Urban Negro." One of the significant features of city life as op- Compotiticn and the p:;sed to rural life is its fluidity, and its large Urban Way of Life- amount of mobility, both spatial and social. People do not "strike root" cither in neighborhood or institution, and fashions arc apt to bo more important than inherited folkways. Tho city is a world of rapid change. Such a tempo of life affects even religious bohavior pro- *Tochniquo3 of activity analysis from newspaper sources as develop- ed by Mr. Paul Lunt in working on tho Nowburyport materials woro particu- larly valuable. Analytical methods as developed by Professor Allison Davis, who mndo tho study of tho Natchez Negro community, under the direction of Profossor Warner, have been used in many places. i-7«» feundly, and influences all types of voluntary associations. There is com- petition for members, for control, for prestige. Appeals shift and change in response to fashion. Now associations and churches appear and disappear. One important index to competition is the dominant role of fashion.* New patterns of behavior arc elaborated as the city confronts the individual with now problems and new "gadgets," and those patterns often become crys- tallized in association,.! and church behavior, to last only until some now fashion arises. Throughout the organized life of the Negro community, the role of fashion is tremendously important in both "sacred" and "secular" associations. Competition for Space Sociolo E lsts »»ve »*» interested for many years Urba„"way h of Life ** ° 0rJp0titi "« f ° r •!»» «■ an aspect of urban life, noting that; tion 1 " LH°o7f itiVely ° r f nU ° d 3 ° Ciety ' the distribution of popula- 1 ^' + T econonllc: and cultural functions is integrated around the market where co^oditios and servicos are exchanged between buyers and IworlJV^T^? * "^ * l0h ^ ^^ " B ^ « Out of this interest has grown a vast number of ecological studies, defi- ning the -ideal pattern" of city growth, characterizing distinctive zones within the city, and describing the ecological processes which give the city its structure, for, -the structure of the city is a product of com- petitive interaction b etween people, market facilities, transportation and movement 1^;^^ £. eB UPP0 lt°mu:r S th at T \, tt0raS th ° Patt - n ia »«ata by the ewer Herb rt Blumor™ art icle "OoStl IT " ^ -^ " S pr ° Sti *°' S °° .,,. o^uiuux j arxicie, Collective Behavior," in Robert Park *+ ~i *« g^°_of_the^rinciples of Society ( Now Io » kl B Lnof J^gf^ -8- communication agencies, type of functions performed, and the site."^ Once a "segregated" area of like social and population types or sim- ilar industrial and commercial facilities haa oeen formed by the processes of concentration and c ont ral i z at Ion , the resulting area may be subsequently disturbed by invasion of other population typos or kinds of business and commerce, the end-result of an invasion cycle being succession. This then, is the modu s opjjivndi of city growth, according to the ecologists* City growth occurs either from the center outward, central growth, or along local linos of communication and transportation, axiate growth* Within tho city, the basic distribution pattern is a series of concen- tric zones extending from the center outward. In tho expansion procoss each zone encroaches on the contiguous outer one creating tho invasion- succession cycle." City "zones" can be discerned, beginning with a Retail Business District in tho center (Chicago's "Loop," for example,) surrounded by an Interstitial Area , characterized by old buildings, light manufacturing, delinquency, vice, poverty, and personal disorganization. The Area of V/or kingmen ' s Home s is immediately outside of the interstitial area with tho Apartment House and Residential Zone surrounding it. This latter area is usually fifteen or twenty minutes from the heart of the city with apartment houses on tho main arteries and tho better residences on tho side streets. Outside of all of these zones is a Suburb an zone . Within these broad zones are found "natural areas" or "culture districts." 9 Tho Negro communities of Chicago are of this type.* Students of the city church since tho World TEfar have accumulated a Soo Appendix I for diagramatic representation of city zones for Chicago and the relation of tho Negro community to them. -9- large body of data on ur danism and the church, have developed some general- ly accepted techniques for study, and have drawn tentative conclusions, A definite attempt has been made to relato typos of churches to ecological zones; and tho "downtown church," of the central business district, and the "institutional church," of tho interstitial area, have become definitely established -types." Churches have been proved responsive to tho ecologi- cal processes, "scattered parishes" and "skewed parishes" being moro typi- cal of the city than "compact parishes." a church, it has been found, must adjust to invasion once its members begin to move, by eithers (1) dying from lack of nearby adherents,- (2) catering to stranded minorities; (3) moving with the type of population which has characterized it; (4) mod- ifying its program to care for the incoming population; or (5) maintaining its original location and attempting to draw its members from a distance. 10 Church programs may thus be characterized in terms of their adaptation to the type of community in which they function, or the lack of such adap- tation. Students of secular organizations have also pointed out the effect of the ecological processes on the personnel and property of secular asso- ciations. The influence of the ecological processes is implicit throughout this study, and is summarized explicitly in the conclusions. For those particularly interested in ecology, a set of maps is included in tho Ap- pendix. A study of ecology, i.e., competition for space , is however, in the final analysis only an index to another kind of competition— competi- tion for status* It is because social relations are so frequently and so inevitably correlated with spatial relations; bocauso physical distances, so fre- quently are, or seem to bo, the indexes of social distances, that sta- tistics have any significance whatevor for sociology. H -10- Acting both as cause and effect in relation to corn- Social Competition and the petition for space, is competition for other values Urban Way of Life in the society, both material and nom-matorialj* This competition becomes organised into competition within and botwoen social classos, associations, businesses, and individuals. There are well defined mochanisms and modes of competition, and th.ro aro statuses at which one may "rest" in order to gather means and traits for another move- ment, or to train a child or friend how to maintain his position or move "up." people thus gain status in the city from the attainment of the ob- jectives for which many persons are competing. Dr. park has described this struggle for prestige, as follows: In this social and moral order the conception which each of us has of himself is limited by the conception which every other individual, in the same limited world of communication, has of himself, and of every other individual. The consequence is— and this is true of any society — every individual finds himself in a struggle for status: a struggle to proserve his personal prestige, his point of view and his solf-respoct. Ho is able to maintain them, howovor, only to the extent that h> can gain for himself the recognition of overyono else whoso estimate seems important; that is to say, the estimate of everyone else who is in his set or in his society. From this struggle for status no philosophy of life ha3 yet discovered a refuge. The individual who is not concerned about his status in some society is a hermit, oven when his soolusion is a city crowd. The individual whose conception of him- self is not at all determined by the conceptions that other porsons have of him is probably insane.- 1 -*' Associations and churches not only help to givo poople a sense of "place" in society, but also servo as mechanisms by which they may change "placo," communicate with people in other sections of social space, and widon the whole field of competition. Associations also roprosont tho for- mal crystallization of many of tho values of the society. The bulk of this study deals with the problem of tho manner in which associations in Chicago are rolated to social competition — how they facilitate or retard it, how -11- thoy alter and consorve values, and hoi; they help to dotormino tho placo of individuals in tho socioty and givo thorn thoir sonso of worth. Not only is competition one of the most significant Secularization and the attributes of urban life, but a lessened emphasis on Urban Vfey of Life the "sacred" aspects of life is also characteristic. Dr. Park, in discussing the development of rationality in man has suggested: The reason the modern man is a more rational animal than his more primitive ancestor is possibly bocausc he lives in a city, where most of the intorosts and values of life havo boon rationalized, reduced to measurable units and even made objects of bartor and sale. In tho city —and particularly in great citios — the external conditions of exis- tence are so evidontly contrived to meet man's cloarly recognized needs that tho least intellectual of people are inevitably led to think in deterministic and mechanistic terms. 13 In religious parlance "people become worldly"— a phenomenon noted even in the days of Nineveh and Babylon, peoplo "forget God" in the city.* Secular activities bocomo more important than sacred ones; churches become secularized through the diminishing importance of worship as con- trasted with othor church activities, and tho power of the "sacrod profes- sional" diminishes as that of tho "secular professional" increases.** C. Luther Fry, in his report on Roligion for the president's com- mittee on Social Tronds, calls attention to the fact that "Since 1900, the church has oeon forced to compoto more and more with an over increasing num- ber of secular agencies and activities." Ho devotes much space to Sunday Movies, p. 1012. It xs important to note, howovor, that church membership does not necossarily decrease in the city. Tho important thing is that the functions of the church change. Douglass and Brunnor, commenting on tho popular mis- conception that the church is weaker in the city than in the country, stato s "Engulfed as it is in masses of anonymous and ever-shifting popula- tion and dazed by rapid change which turns recruiting into a desperate at- tempt to fill up a bottomless bucket, the individual urban church — rela- tively a petty institution— -will scarcely credit the statistics which show that city churches, collectively speaking, are succeeding better than rural ones."!^ -12*- The most comprehensive summaries of the influence of the city on associational life are the reports on urbanism prepared for the National Resources Committee under the direction of Dr. Louis Y/irth of the Univer- sity of Chicago, and portions of F. Stuart Chapin's Contemporary American Institutions . The chapter in the latter book on the ••Protestant Church in an Urban Environment" throws much light on the latent processes that go on within the institutional pattern and which are associated with adaptation of the institutional entity to the community; while the chapter on "Measur- ing tho pattorns of Churches," has given many suggestive research loads which have boon utilized in tho present study* Thus, throughout tho study, the influences of urbanization on Negro institutional life will be examined. Such a study assumes two aspects; (1 ) the study of the growth of tho community, in tine, as it has becomo larger, more compact, and highly differentiated! (2) an analysis of tho in- stitutional complex as it exists today. -13- As Dr. wirth has suggested, the multiplicity of urban Needs and Interests —Biological and associations is related to the multiplicity of the Cultural needs and interests of the urbanite. These needs and interests are both biological and social, for The individual is a biological unit whose nature is determined by the organic hereditary process. But he comes at birth into a social environ- ment, lives an associative life, and acquires a heritage and a personal- ity as a result of interaction with other human beings. The subsequent working of tho biological process is conditioned and controlled by the culture into which ho is born, and by the fact of associative life. 15 The "needs and interests" around which associations are elaborated are, in the first instance, biological, since the sheer struggle for biologi- cal survival* in the urban community involves the elaboration of "machinery" by which people may secure the food, clothing, shelter and medical care nec- essary to maintain life. The success of the Negro community in keeping alive can be measured 'oy the demographer, and comparative data can be cited to in- dicate the relative success of tho Chicago Negro community in this competi- tive struggle for existence in the urban milieu. As Dr. Warner has pointed out in his Black Civi lization . 16 a commun- ity may bo viewed not only in its spatial aspects, but may bo thought of also in terms of "levels of adaptation." Thus, at tho first level, is man's adap- tation to nature, a technology for controlling it j thon as economic system for ordering tho tochnologyj next, a system of social organization; and fi- nally, a system of "social logics," tho absolute ideologies and sanctions operating in tho society. Diagrammatically, the relationships might bo por- trayed thuss Samuol j. Holmes, in a recent book, The Negro's 3trueele for qur- vivaO, deals at length with this problem of bioio iic a! survival. ~ -14- Myths Dogmas Legends Doctrines "Economic | System I -+- Machinery Tools Weapons r jL Animate and Inanimate Objects Social Lopics Social Organization Technology Nature These aspects of society are interrelated, and a change in one is reflected in the others. The struggle to keep alive is never the bare process of securing, eating, and digesting food, and reproducing the species, for man's nature is "human" nature, and this implies wishes and urges which though they have an organic baso are culturally expressed, Man has certain "appetites" and • • • • a variety of vague original or instinctive tendencies that predispose him to respond to certain situations without, however, deter- mining the specific nature of the response that is made. 17 Thomas has suggested that underlying human behavior are the "four wishes" — the wish for new experience, the wish for security, the wish for response, and the wish for recognition. Dr. Prescott, in his Emotion and th e Educative Proces s. 18 has discussed in detail the "concept of need," di- viding the needs of developing children into three categories: (l) physio- -15- logicalj (2) social or status needs — relationships necessary for existence in the culture j (3) ego or integrative needs— "needs for experience and for the organization and symbolization of experience through which the individ- ual will discover his role in life and learn to play it in such an effective manner as to develop a sense of worthy selfhood."-^ Associations and churches are predominantly concerned in our society with the "social or status" needs and the "ego or integrative" needs, and these, in turn, are conditioned largely by the inherited ideologies of the society. Associations and churches operate as sanctions for and against specific types of behavior within a value-system. The city may be viewed as a great arena in which people are compet- ing for tho material and non-material values of the society j in which their "accustomed standard of living" is undergoing continuous change, both in re- lation to tho way in which they dof inc. their "needs and interests" and to the ability of individuals and groups to meet these needs. Negroes in Chicago participate in two ideological Factors Conditioning Needs and Interests. systems — a system of racial ideologies, and a sys- Inherited Ideologies — Class tern of general ideologies embodying the dogmas and myths of the democratic-national state, the capitalist economy, and the Christian-humanitarian tradition. Perhaps the most important aspect of the latter ideologies is that concerned with social class. The racial ideologies will be discussed in detail in the summary. The "class" ideologies are discussed in this section. Rationalizing the whole competitive process in American life are the generally accepted dogmas of "progress," tho belief that science and, per- -16- haps, religion have been gradually making this a "bettor world," and that individuals have the inalienable right to "get ahead," to "make money," to "get educated," to plan for the future of their children, and to enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It is generally felt that al- though an individual may be, himself, too old to accumulate money or prop- erty, or to acquire an education, his children may do so, and much of the optimism which has characterized American life has been due to just this be- lief that "the next generation will got ahead oven if ours didn't," and, until recently, the examples wore numerous enough to koop alive the hope. This escape via progeny, constituting a vicarious experience of social mo- bility, has served to content many persons with their lot, especially if they were migrants to the city or immigrants from abroad. Not only are ideologies formed around beliefs in the right to indi- vidual and social "progress," but they are also elaborated around the con- cept of "The American Standard of Living," much publicized by advertisers, although unknown, in reality, to largo segments of the American people. The motive force behind the labor movomont is, to some extent, the pursuit of this ideal. Living in America demands a certain minimum standard of living with- out which an individual or groups of individuals will feel insecure. The general American culture contains "sub-cultures" with their accustomed standards of living based on traditions, ethnic, regional, or class, in ori- gin. Maintaining these accustomed standards of living* in modern Western at The author is indebted to Professor Allison Davis of Dillard Uni- versity for the suggestion that the accustomed standard of living is a sig- nificant factor in studying social changes. -17- European societies demand a certain minimum income, which will allow an in- dividual a sense of freedom* and permit him to moot the standards of what he considers his proper place in society, Thorstein Veblen has made the classic statement of this fact in his discussion of "The Pecuniary Standard of Living," For the great body of the people in any modern community the proxi- mate ground of expenditure in excess of what is required for physical comfort is not a conscious effort to excell in the expensiveness of their visible consumption, so much as it is a desire to live up to t he conventional sta n dard of A e j^ e j2PZ..J~} ill e _ amount 1 1 nd g ra de of goods con- sumed , • • • • Conspicuously wasteful honorific expenditure that con- fers spiritual well-being may become more indispensable than much of that expenditure which ministers to the "lower" wants of physical well- being or sustenance only. It is notoriously just as difficult to re- cede from a "high" standard of living as it is to lowor a standard which is already relatively low J although in the former case the diffi- culty is a moral one, while in the latter it may involve a material de- duction from the physical comforts of life.^0 Karl I'Jarx, another keen analyst of the relationships between biolo- gical and cultural factors in society, commented vividly on this same rela- tionships "Hunger is hunger, but hunger that is satisfied with cooked meat eaten with knife and fork is a different kind of hunger from one that do- vours raw meat with the aid of hands, nails, and teeth, "^1 a more ancient and orthodox source reminds us, too, that "Man does not live by bread alone," and many lands have folk sayings similar to the Persian proverb, "If I had but two loaves I should sell one and buy white hyacinths to feed my soul," ■x- George Simmel alludes to money as "the symbol of modern life," and suggests that one of the great functions of money is to "liberate" the in- dividual by giving him access to a wider range of goods and services thus allowing him more choices, without making his prestige depend on the pos- session of any one type of possession, such as land in a feudal order, (oee N. J, Spykman, The Social Theory of George Simmel « Book III.) -18- Robert S. Lynd has suggested that there are factors which make per- sons contented with, and even concerned to preserve, a "lower" standard of living than a scientifically attested minimum, or one customary in another segment of the society. After mentioning amount o f income and family as factors in determining the consumption pattern, he discusses another, per- sonality factors, as determined by the conflicts between: The lingering Puritan tradition of abstinence which play idleness and free spending sin| and the increasing secularization of spending and the growing pleasure basis of living. The tradition that rigorous saving and paying cash are the marks of sound family economy and personal self respect 5 and the new gospel xvhich encourages liberal spending to make the wheels of industry turn as the duty of the citizen. The deep rooted philosophy of hardship, viewing the stern disci- pline as the inevitable lot of men; and the new attitude toward hard- ship as a thing to be avoided by living in the here and now, utilizing installment credit and other devices to telescope the future into the present. The tradition that the way to balance one's budget is to cut one's expenses to fit one's income 5 and the now "American solution" by in- creasing one's income to fit one's expenditures. The increasingly baffling conflict between living and making money in order to buy a livings and the tendency public and private, to sim- plify the issue by concentration on the making of money. 2 ^ Insofar as classes of the population are dominated "ay the "conser- vative" alternative in the above statements, their standard of living and conception of their "needs" and "interests" tend to bo simple, and their demands on the economy are not aggressively pursued.* *n Che conservative attitude toward consumption is reflected in many religious hymns. For instances "We are oftimos destitute Of the things that life demands, Want of shelter and of food, Thirsty hills and barren lands, But we're trusting in His word, And we're leaning on the Lord, "We'll understand it better by and by." The more secularized Negroes often criticize the race for its attitude of "Take the World and Give Me Jesus. " -19- Fow precise studios have boon made on the probloin of what various groups consider a minimum standard of living for themselves and their fami- lies, although there must be a point for everyone where (1) ho loses his sense of security, and (2) another beneath which he cannot exist without o- ponly revolting against tho society or committing suicide. Various agencies have attempted to arrive at scientific minimum standards of decency, and such attempts have usually assigned large sections of the population to the sub-poverty level. Careful budget studies during a period of economic de- pression could thro.; some light on the problem of what people consider a minimum standard of living, by revealing tho classos of articles in which reductions are first mado, but extensive studios of this typo are not avail- able. President Hoovor's Research Commit too on Social Trends suggested the role of advertising in conditioning people to new consumption habits. The rising trend of money incomes after 1900 meant that millions of families had more money to spend than ever before. The shortening of the working hours meant that these consumers had more leisure in which to enjoy goods. Tho expansion of physical output meant that business men had a larger volume of goods to market. That recently invent od bulked large among th ese products mea n t that manufacturers and merchants had to teach masses o f men and women new tastes and ways . The changes which occurred in consumption habits before the depression soem explic- able mainly in terms of these four underlying trends. 23 /italics, od77 (American racial ideologies are, in tho final analysis derivative and are counter-ideologies to the general ideologies, for they assume that Negroes have the right to "advance," i.e., acquire traits of the Western "Civilized" societies.) The ideologies discussed above are closely Factors Conditioning Associations and Churches connected with, and to some extent, are do- ~ Economic— termined by, the type of economic system -20- which organizes the technology of the modern world. This system of business and industry in America affects associational and church life indirectly at every point. It affects it more or less directly in three ways; (1) by dis- tributing the population in such a way as to make differentials in income, resulting in varied social strata with their characteristic "ways of lifo"| (2) by making it necessary for associations and churches to finance them- selves, thus placing great emphasis on "raising money"? (3) by exercising control over institutions through propaganda and gifts} (4) by the repeated occurrence of economic crises as a regular part of the business cycle. The American economic system, even in a non-depression era, distrib- utes the population into a pyramid of economic and social power and pres- tige. This process and the resulting structure has been well described as follows; Modern social organization bus an occupational basis. Occupation Occupation may be defined "as bhat s, . cific activity with and a market value which an individual continually pursues Stratifi- for the purpose of obtaining a steady flow of income," cation Occupation serves as the link binding individuals to the social order. It creates stout cables which tie each in- dividual to many others in three ways; t e chnol oy; i c al ly— t hr ough the spe- cific manual and mental operations implied in the execution of work- ec onomically — by the income yield of an occupation which provides live- lihood} and socially — through the prestige attached to the occupation in accordance with the mores of the community. The income yield and the prestige attached to an occupation create functional and structural stratification in the social order. Social and economic evaluation of occupations determines differences ins (a) an individual's function in the ecological order} (b) his proportion of the group's sustenance (wealth)} and (c) his social status, plane of living, and ecological po- sition in the community. The division of individuals into definite social strata on the basis of occupational function is universal in modern society. The ecological linkage of individual — occupation— position in social strata is found in all industrialized countries. 3o well balanced are the ecological fac- tors operating in conjunction with the socio-psychological and cultural, that although the personnel of any specific occupational strata is high- ly mobile, the proportions between the principal strata remain relative- ly constant over a long time span. -21- Technological, economic, and social relations which obtain among members of occupational groups Strata in Occupa- bind them into an interdependent ecological unity tionel Pyramid known as the occupational pyramid. Technologi- cally , each class is characterized by an increas- ing specialization of function as we move from the undifferentiated manual labor at the bottom to the highly trained expert at the top. Numerically, a smaller and smaller number occupy each class as one as- cends the pyramid. Psychologically, the classes are characterized by a developing esprit de corps , from the inarticulate, fluid, unskilled stratum up to the closely organized corporate existence found in the higher strata. The broad groups of economic classes in our culture are as follows; Day Laborers and Un s killed Factory i^-nds . They have nothing to of- fer but bodily strength; almost any adult is able to perform the func- tions demanded of this group. Wages arc low .nd work is intermittent; little or no training is needed. This group has the lowest standard of living, and occupies the most undesirable portions of the community's living quarters. In the United States about 29 per cent of the gain- fully employed ere engaged in the performance of coarse, heavy work. Semi-skilled Tenders of Machinery . This class is made up of truck drivers, machine te.nders, oilers, et cetera. Wages ©re usually paid by the week, employment is fairly continuous, wages are higher, living standards better, and the period of productivity longer; and some de- gree of education is found. Approximately 16 per cent of the gainfully employed fall into this stratum. The Skilled Workman . He- re we find carpenters, machinists, masons, radio technicians, skilled mechanics and others, who have undergone a period of training and enjoy a considerable amount of personal respon- sibility. Better wages, considerable education, a long period of pro- ductivity, fluctuating standards of living, and a high degree of con- sensus characterize this class. It comprises 13 per cent of the gain- fully employed. Whit„ Collc-rad Lower Middle Class . Clerks, bookkeepers, stenogra- phers, and other small-salaried groups. Definite specialization of function preceded by some training is representative of individuals in this class. They enjoy a long period of productivity and their social status is much higher than their income warrants. SiAte^n per cent of gainfully employed fall into this category. The Middle Class . Formers, shopkeepers, small businessmen, and small-propurty own: rs. Lach specialized occupation has its own charac- teristics, but on the average this group has a considerable back-log of real wealth, a high standard of living, and a high degree of social re- sponsibility. Twelve per cent of the gainfully employed are farmers; 7 to 8 per cent ^re small proprietors, managers, and operators of busi- nesses. The Professional Classes , — doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, politicians, clergy, higher civil service employees, and other profes- sionally trained people. Here exists a wide range of income, but the period of training and productivity is long. The continuous cultural -H3- specialties are perpetuated ir. these groups. Higher social prestige is attached to them than income warrants. Six per . -ut of the gainfully- employed fall into this class. Financial Overlor ds m and I ndustrial Executi ves . Here is found cen- tralized economic power in the hands of a few. Specialization has reached its highest point, manual skill is almost non-existent; manipu- lation of economic factors is its function. This class generally re- ceives a high proportion of the total sustenance of the community, state, and nation. Numerically, it comprises from .5 to 1 per cent of the gainfully employed. T he Leisure Class . In this class there is enough hereditary wealth to assure its members an income independent of any occupation. Here is found the smallest group ill the occupational pyramid. In general, its members enjoy the largest proportion of the group sustenance relative to size of the group; their prestige and ecological position are su- preme. Less then .5 per cent of the gainfully occupied are in this class. Its prestige depends on biological heredity, education, lack of occupation, seal • of living, and possessions. We do not wish to imply that these broad economic and social group- ings are th only on- s in our culture, nor do we infer that they will be found in every community, for there ere wide variations in the size and complexity of comnunitif-s. All of these classes would certainly be found in a metropolitan center like Hew York or Chicago, where more than £0,000 different occupations are listed by the. census; but a small rural community, for instance in the Tennessee Mountains, might have only four or five occupations listed, such as farmer, general merchant, minister, teacher, and possibly a doctor. 1'h above classification is not meant to be definitive, but indicative of the broad functional classes into * nich tie gen ral population f lis >..>;= it seeks to satisfy its sustenance end cultural needs. 24 Such stratification is very important in study! • the personnel and activities of association, for it is well known that certain churches and associations tend to be "upper class" end others "lower." Students of as- sociational life have also noted significant differentials in the number and kind of memberships by socio-economic levels. The most significant work of this type is found in the unpublished studies of Professor W. Lloyd Warner on Ne-wburyport, Massachusetts and Allison Devis on Natchez, Missis- sippi, and in the work of the Lynds on Middletown, Lundberg on New York, Brunner on rural communities, and the extensive work of Harlan Paul Doug- lass, Fry, Hallenbeck, Kinchelce, and Mays and Nicholson on American churches. -23- 26 Goldhamcr, summarizing all of the available studies on associa- tions concluded that a great proportion of the membership in American asso- ciations is concentrated in the upper and middle, income groups, and that this is particularly true of non-instrumental or recreational associations. V.'hile he was cautious in his generalizations, he felt that ". . . . there exists, in general, a high positive correlation between income- level and 27 the number of associations in which membership is held." Working class m« • mb rship tends to be confinod to lodges and trade unions in the .r; as which havo been studied, for "economically, th^ larger part of the working class population appears unable t) support or partici- 28 pate in organizations whose aim is puraly recreational. " Insofar, as mem- bership in associations and churches is a part of the accepted pattern for a given socio-economic level of the- population, . nd insofar as associations and churches are utilized to secure a larger share or the national income for individuals and groups, or to teach them to adjust at the lower levels this factor of consumption habits and available income is important to this study. Hot only does the economic system affect associations through the distribution of the- population into a power-prestige pyramid, but also by the recurrent economic cycles, which .ire a p..rt of the system. President Hoover's Committee, commenting on these periodic crises stated in lji.2, that: In the halcyon days of 1925-1929, there wore many who believed that business cycles h-d been "ironud out" in this favored land. Everyone now realizes th, t we have been suffering from one of the severest de- pressions in our national history. Those who are acquainted with the past experience anticipate that, while business will revive and pros- perity return, the new wave of prosperity will be terminated in its 24- turn by a fresh recession, which will run into another period of depres- sion, more or less severe. Whether these recurrent episodes of widespread unemployment, huge financial losses and demoralization re en inescapable feature of the form of economic organization which th;. wi stern world has evolved is a question which can be answered only by further study end experiment.* Th.t the severity of the current depression lies be en due in large, meas- ure to non-cyclical factors is generally ..dmitted. But this admission means merely th t besides checking the excesses of booms, we must learn how to avoid errors of other types as well before we cen hope to make- full use of th productive possibilities which modern technology puts at our disposal Probably no other 1 rgf community ever attained so high a level of real income ,s the inhabitants of the United States en- joyed on the 'v rags in, say, 1925-1929. But even i n good times it is clour th t w^ d o not make full use of our lab or pover, our ineu.:,e Lal_ ;guipmcnt , our n.. t ural resources and our technical ski ll . . ^„.^i_ J^ : j/et _ of , y^^rs^HlYion s"* of famili.-s ere lim- ited to a merger living. Th: effective' limit upon production is the limit of what the m rkets will • bsorb at profitable prices, end this limit is set by the purchasing power ft th i spos 1 of would be consu- mers The t «sk of maintaining a tolerable balance between the supply of and demand for the innumerable varieties of goods we make . . . . seem to grow no easier. When these balances have been greatly disturbed, business activity is checked by a recession, which is followed by a depression of indus- try, trade and finance The income of the whole population falls by 10 and 20 per cent And these average losses are accompanied by appalling individual tragedies in millions of cases, scattered through all classes of society, but commonest among those who have few reserves. To maintain the balance of our economic mechanism is a challenge to all the imagination, the scientific insight and the constructive ability which we and our children can muster. (italics, ed. )29 The effect of the depression on associations has been carefully studied by the Lynds and by the President's Committee. 31 The present study was made during a phase of a "depression" which began in 1929, ana there- fore, th. Negro community must be examined in the light of that economic situation. In 1930, the n arest census ytar to 1929, there were 233,903 Ne- The socialist followers of Karl liarx insist that crises are inevit- able under capitalism, and that only a socialist system in which private control of industry has been abolish.- d can "iron out" the cycles. Most American economists, however, propose a "modified capitalism rather than so- cialism as a method of checking the cycle." -25- groes in Chicago, 6.9 pur cunt of the total population of the city. Four years later there were 236,305, an increase of 1.02 per cent. There is some evidence to indicate that migration has continued during the depression years at a high rate due to thi collapse of cotton tenancy in the South, in- adequate relief for Negroes in those regions, aid the availability of WPA employment in northern urb-.n communities. Association^.! end church life re- flect the "Depression." Churches and associations are in functional Factors Conditioning Associations and Churches relationships with all the other structures — Social Organization — in the society — the statu, the school, the family--as well as with the economic system. The politician, the bus- inessman, the parent, the teacher are all functioning in the nexus of lnter-associational activity-- using, and being us^d by, the organizations. Th( most important feature of both the ideological and social sys- tem, to Negroes, is their piece in them, --an aspect of the problem discussed in the summery. It tie final analysis, we are interested in the "func- The Functional Approach tion" of associations ana churches, i.e., the part they play in the total system or social integration of which they are a part, as Radcliffe -Brown has stated; By using that phrase, social integration, I am assuming that the function of culture as a whole is to unite individual human beings into more or less stable social structures; i.e., stable systems of groups determining and regulating the relation of those individuals to one an- other, and providing such adaptation to the physical environment, and such internal adaptation between the component individuals or groups, us to make possible en ordered social life. 2 The mobility of the city end the position of the Negro in it ore not conducive to an "ordered social life" among Negroes, as a whole, but in -26- those segments where order is the rule, end at those times when order is imposed on the disorganized, associations and churches , V ' Q *11 obey God ra- in 1847, Quinn Chapel A. M. E. church was organized. Pierce reports the circumstances as follows: In 1847, the Methodists suffered no schism over the slavery ques- tion? they were in no degree less interested in saving the souls of their colored brethren within the city. In token of this interest, the Sffff Z l^ics F :ur^ lffl ° th ° S ° Clety =3ra * bu£wi * «"^S This association, The Wood River Association, organized in 1838 is he' HZLl ItVr:- f P p iSt , A3S0ciati - * America/ The'colittee on the Destitution of Baptist Preaching in Illinois, of the Illinois Banticf a fon 6 of° n iTc' i0n ^J reP V ed ta 1848 that " TL ™ i3 the'iSorld S ation of 14 cnurches, 9 preachers, 6 licentiates, and 243 members, scattered over the state from Shawn eet own to Galena and Chicago . . ™ . list 112 tho £Si a 1 fUndS ° btain0d '^ '* it0 fri ° ndS » this -soclaUon sent one o/ tilHf + ^ T ^ ag6nCy t0 Lib ° ria t0 examino ^ d ^P° rt on the condi- tions of the colony. He returned to meet the Association last August, made mSfwSft f n h ° C ° + Untry> Wh±Ch is t0 bG Polished." ifnut s eg Illinois Baptist. S tate Convention. 1848 , p. 16. " —^ lows- "™ S mn <¥?, *? X 5 2 ^ th ° Con ™«*i™ memorialized him as fol- and ; ff •+'/ ; Uffa ° 10 ln hls d^ortment, respectable in scholarship, kind and affectionate in his social relationships, esteemed by all." Minutes of Illinois Bap tist State Convention. 1852 , p. 9. Minutos of -37- Fisher relates the history of the founding of the Baptist church as follows: "Tradition has it that John Larmon and Samuel McCoy, v/ho still lives, met April 6, 1850, in the home of Bailie Jackson and organized the Xenia* Baptist Church." 7 The Chicago Daily Journal, on July 29th, 1850, two months after the founding of Soar, commented on the growth of the A. M. E. church and on the remarkable behavior and conformity to the "American cultural pattern" of the expatriated Africans: Our readers may not bo aware that the colored population of this city has a very neat church edifice on Wells Street, and that it is ££ 1% 0V °H Sabbath t0 ltS fUllGSt «P"«7. Wq P^«od it last eve! nmg after the services had commenced, and have rarely seen a better ap- pearing congregation whether in point of apparel or decorum.** Such evidences speak volumes for the enterprise of those whose fathers dwelt long .go, where the v/hite Nile wanders through its golden sands. 8 Five months later, the sumo paper was still impressed by the relig- ious aspirations, and what it considered the laudable behavior of the col- ored people among thorn: The colored people, a largo number of whom are residents in this »?il'i^ r ° ma u lnS „S* eff ° rt » likol y t0 P rovo successful, to procure stated preaching,"*** as the saint of Sandy Hill would say! They have a plain, but neat church edifice, which is thronged whenever opened for lZlt CQ3f ^ a congregation, that in point of decorum and personal ap- pearance will by no means suffer in comparison with other congrega- tions, of greater pretensions in greater houses. 9 During the winter of 1850, "stated preaching" was secured, and the Journal, still encouraging Chicago's some throe thousand Negroes, intimated *Xenia was a corruption, in the document, of the word Zoar. denr«« hTtJ ! * Jf rsons did not al Ws pass the Negro Church by is evi- denced by the fact that newspapers occasionally report white persons as £3 &•&"£?; ChUrCheS ' F ° r inStanC6 > - ^ m °ailY Journal "X'X-'X" "Stated preaching" refers to regular preaching services. -38- that the Methodists wore somewhat stronger than their Baptist brethren*.* The colored population of this city are endeavoring to sustain two Churches— a Mothodist and a Baptist. The former is prosperous— they hayc^ "stated preaching" and ordinarily a crowded house. Their church edifice is neat and sufficiently commodious for thoir prosont congrega- tion. Goorgo Johnson is the pastor. 11 According to Fisher, this Negro Baptist "church" was actually a group of five persons, who worshipped in a private home until 1853, when they organized the Zoar Baptist Church. The Journal , however, indicates that either Zoar was already occupying a building in 1850, or that there was another Ne^ro Baptist congregation in Chicago. In 1853, the African Methodists wore orecting a building. The Jour- nal, over watchful and helpful, appealed to tho white community to bo "lib- eral toward aiding this laudable enterprise." 12 Finally, on a Wednesday afternoon at 4 5 00 P.M., in April, 1853, on the corner of Jackson and Buffalo Streets, the Reverend James E. Wilson, the pastor, laid the corner-stone of the A. M. E. church and School House with "appropriate exercises." The ceremony of laying tho corner stone of the Methodist African Episcopal Church and School House, will take place on Wednosdav next, at four o'clock, corner of Jackson and Buffalo Streets, South side. An ad- dross will bo delivered on the occasion, by tho Rev. James E. Wilson, Fastor of the African Methodist Church, followed by other appropriate oxorcisos. The building proposed to bo erected by their Society, is to be 40 by 60 feet, and constructed at an estimated cost of throe thousand dollars, 1 ^ Thirteen hundred out of the three thousand dollars had already been subscribed. During the next four months, the man and women endeavored Woodson states that the growth of Negro Baptist churches in the North was slow because "noithor the majority of the Negroes nor a largo per- centage of the whites .... belonged to the Baptist church," and Methodism was a "radical independent movement." 10 -39- strenuously "by all honorable means to raise funds to fully complete their house of worship,*' 14 and the ladies "materially aided their brethren in the good causo,"!^ One "Honorable" means of raising money was a Fair sponsored by the Sewing Society, which for throe evenings displayod tho members * handicraft for sale: ", • • . articles that they have manufactured which, for nicety and noatness, will well compoto with articles that have been ex- hibited for sale by any other society in this city, "l^ Tho little commun- ity of threo hundred Negroes and their white friends rewarded tho Sewing Socioty's dovotod labors with $200 ", . • . which they handed over to the pastors, The Rev, A. T. Hall and J. M. Warren, to be oxpendod in completing tho house, "17 The Journal duly complimented the "colored population who were well informed and peaceable citizens," and who "seldom see any of their brethren grace the public calendar or the names registered at Alton, "18 and commen- ted on the edifice .just before it was completed? Among the numerous buildings and edifices in process of completion in this city, there are few that will add more to the character and beauty of Chicago, than the edifice now nearly completed, tho African Methodist church. This building is situated on Jackson streot, cast of Clark, and is sixty feet in length and thirty-eight in width, Tho con- gregation of this church consists of about sixty mombors,!^ The samo year that the Quinn Chapel A, M, E, Church laid its cor- ner-stone (1853), the Reverend Robert J, Robinson, socio time moderator of the Wood River Baptist Association, pastor of the Union Baptist Church, Alton, Illinois, and in 1853, tho G-oneral Agent of the Wood River Associa- tion, said, in his report for that year: -40- I have organized one church in the city of Chicago. This organiza- tion was none other than the Soar Baptist Church which was formed of 11 members in April, 1853, probably on the 6th as tradition has it. During that year, the church contributed 37.50 to the Wood River Association. "*0 During these years, there seem to have boon rather continuous rela- tionships between Chicago and the Illinois hinterland and there was consider- able visiting by ministers. Soar had no pastor for about two years, but the pulpit "was occasionally supplied by brethren of the Wood River Association who endeavored to keep the organization alive," 21 These itinerant preachers, by 1853, had baptized two converts, accep- ted six others and then? "Brother William Johnson made application for mem- bership in the Wood River Association. After satisfactory evidence was given of the soundness of her (Soar's) faith, she was unanimously received j and while ono of Sion's songs was being sung, the right hand of fellowship was given to her delegate." 22 In 1855, Soar's fifty-six members v/ore ready to "call a minister" and the Reverend H. H. Hawkins, pastor of the colored Baptist church in Chatham, Canada, West, came to Illinois. The notice concerning the call is signifi- cant, for among the officers appears the name of an energetic young tailor who later became early Chicago's leading Negro citizen — John Jones.* 23 Something of the religious habits of the times may be gleaned from a description of Soar's church programs .v. Jones appears throughout the early records as the outstanding lay leader in the community, although at a meeting in 1869, called to protect and extend the Negro's civil liberties, an opposition group fought him as being the leader of a "bed-room ring" which dictated policy to the Negro community. -41- The Zoar congregation was developing into a wall rounded church. Preaching sorvices were carried on on Sundays in the morning, and at throo and seven-thirty P. M, The Sunday School was at the close of the morning worship 5 prayer mooting was on Wednesday evening. 24 This little Baptist church by 1857 was attempting to pay for a building at the corner of Harrison and Griswold Streets. The Christian Times for September 2nd, 1857, appealed to the white community to aid it, stating: Rev. H. Hawkins, pastor of the Zoar (colored) Baptist church in this city is now in the country soliciting aid for his brethren in pay- ing for their church lot (located on the corner of Harrison and Gris- wold Streets.) Wo feel so much interest in his success that wo volun- teer the statemont of a few facts which may commend his object boforo- hand to such churches as he may hereafter visit. The colored Baptist church in this city, is made up of very excel- lent and reliable material. Its leading male members are respected and successful business men* and fully capable of directing wisely the fi- nancial affairs of the church. A good stato of religious fooling ex- ists among them and their pastor is an efficient and useful man. Some two years since, with the assistance of other churches, a small house of worship was built upon a leased lot (corner of Buffalo and Taylor Streets). It becoming necessary for the church to have a lot of its own, one was purchased with a desirable location for the sum of $S,000 5 to bo paid in four annual installments. To meet the first payment, $1,250 was borrowed, and a mortgage given in security upon the property of one of tho brethren. In January this must bo paid, together with tho second payment, and tho interest upon both, making about $2,800. Tho church is small, and though, as intimated above, some of its male members are tolerably prosperous in their business, they are not able to assume the whole burden of these payments. Their appeal to the churches is justified by these facts, and by the additional one that while a now location was demanded, a suitable lot could not be obtained as property is held in this city, at a less sum than they have undertaken to pay. We trust that Brother Hawkins will be successful in his offort to intorcst tho churches of this Stato in the object of his visit among them. 25 As mentioned previously, the continuous stream of Southern migrants brought with thorn their pattern of behavior and: Thoro wore throe Negroes in business in 1837. The total number of Negro-owned businesses kept increasing, reaching eighty-four in 1860, just before the Civil War. -42- Some few of the recent immigrants from the South were neither good citizens nor useful church members. The Zoar church had a few of this class. They had brought with them their own ideas of church worship and government which retarded the progress of the Zoar congregation. 26 The intelligent Canadian-freedman pastor of Zoar expelled twenty-one of his seventy-eight mombers. There was a now pastor next year, and the twenty-one mombers woro restored to full fellowship. The character of the internal controversies of this era reflects the social struct uro of tho society and the confusing contradictions within it. The Wood River Association , for instance, discussed the following query in 1858: "If a slavo man is married to a slavo woman, and should they be sepa- rated by tho master, or by making their escape into a free stato, and marry another, is he or she guilty of bigamy." 27 And a resolution was passed, stating: "Resolved, that wo believe the marriage of slaves to bo morally binding, yet wo do not boliovo it to bo legal. Wo would, however, caution tho churchos to look well into the matter before they act." 28 Not only did slave marriages constitute a problem, but, such matters of ritual as "foot-washing"* served to divide the Wood River Association and Zoar Church, for Z,oar»s pastor voted "nay" while a lay delegate voted "yes" on a resolution to continue foot-washing. This issue split tho church and a letter to the Association after the pastor's resignation, states: "Many roots of bitterness have sprung up among tho brothorn, which has marred their poace and hindorod tho work of God, and scattered tho members." 29 This case of conflict was not unusual. Turnover in ministers was high in these years, as has perhaps been gleaned from tho oxcorpts quotod "^cot-washing has at various timos been a part of tho ritual of do- nominations or Schismatic groups who claimed to be following the pattern of Jesus who washed the disciples' feet as an act of humility. See Census of Religious Bo dies. 1926. -43- Church splits over doctrine were frequent, ministers often left for other charges, and an occasional scandal rocked a congregation,* Again, only- three years after Reverend James E. Wilson had laid the cornerstone of Quinn Chapel, another minister was being feted for his services in helping to have the church built; A portion of the African Methodist congregation on Monday night, presented their pastor, Rev. Elisha M. Weaver, with a testimonial of their regard, in the shape of an elegant gold watch chain. It was in- tended to evince to him an acknowledgement for his service in the eroc- tion of their church edifico, and their appreciation of him as a pastor and a man. The ceremony took place at the church on the corner of Buf- falo and Jackson streets, publicly and in the prosenco of a largo as- semblage of white and colorod people. 30 During the year that the Civil War began, about thirty-five or forty Baptists left Zoar and organized a new church, Mt. Zion, leasing a store on Clark Street near Harrison. There were less than one thousand Ne- groes in Chicago at the time} there were four church'. s— two Mothodist and two Baptist — all at least partially dependent upon the good will of tho white community for financial support. The next year, 1861, the two Bap- tist churches were consolidated whon Zoar's pastor roturnod to Canada, and Mt. Zion's pastor persuaded both congregations to unite undor the name of Olivet Baptist Church, Until 1865, 01ivot*s group of loss than throo hun- dred persons worshipped at the corner of Harrison and Griswold Streets, and ^or several weeks in 1859, the newspaper rc^dors in Chicago woro givon a full-orbed gossip story about a Negro doctor's wife who was caught "tete-a-tete with the Reverend upon a sofa in the parlor," and whose hus- band "rushed for his pistol," causing the unseemly flight of "the Reverend Scoundrel." The J ournal closed its final story of the trial with an ac- count of the $100 fine imposed on the minister and stated, "The affair has created the most intense excitement among the colored population, who unan- imously take sidec against him." Chicago Daily Journal 9 March 11, 1859, Vol. XVII, No. 59. -44- "enjoyed peace and prayer meetings Wednesday and Friday, a flourishing Sun- day School, and was embarrassed only in money natters ,/hich compelled them to ask sister churches for aid. "31 The American Baptist Publication So ciety,* a white body, had con- tributed some books to the Olivet church and, in 1862, tho institution boasted a library of 128 volumes. Quinn Chapel A. M. E. Church had her school and Olivet Baptist Church, her library? both combinations being a testimony to tho prevailing belief of the day among white liberals and Ne- gro leaders, that religion and education would prepare the Negro for a place in the total American society as a full citizen. Secular As has been indicated above, educational and cultural Associations— Pre-Civil War interests were closely associated with tho church, but. Era ' ' there wero also othor organizations devoted to these in- terests in tho community. Tho Journal , as early as 1350, reported* "Thoy have also established a Lyceum for personal improvement, ,/hich bids fair to bo greatly prosporous. In this respect thoy are in adv; ico of their paler complexioned neighbors, who have nothing of the sort, except in name. 3 2 Three years later, the same paper appealed to the white public in the interests of the A. M. E. church, as follows; The American Baptist Publication Society, in 1886, became a center of controversy, resulting in the formation of the National Baptist Conven- tion (colored). "After having all but agreed to accept literary contribu- tions of Nogroos to its Sunday School literature, tho American Baptist Pub- lication Society, upon protost from southern churchmen, rocodod from that position. Tho issue was then joinod .... and as the struggle grow more intonso every effort was made so to oxtond it as to destroy the influonco of whito national bodies among Nogroos. Carter Woodson, op. cit .. p. 260. -45- Being united they hold weekly meetings, and schools for reading, debating and singing, and for general culture of the rising generation. And with a little aid and assistance from other denominations they would be placed upon a sure foundation. We hope the citizens will help those who have boon struggling for so long a time to accomplish so good an ob- joct, and one that will bonofit thoir raco so much and add to the honor of our Garden City. 33 In 1359, the Journal reported the organization of a Lodgu, and sta- ted its aims in terms of "uplift" for the people of color, stating as fol- lows: On Friday night last, a lodge was established in this city among our colored citizens in the Order of the Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria. The Order, we learn, has seventy-eight lodges in the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Mary- land, Delaware, Ohio, Virginia, District of Columbia, and Illinois. It aims at the moral elevation and advancement of the peoplo of color. The present head of the order is Edward M. Thompson, of Washington, D. C. 34 Both the secular and sacred institutions served to relate the Chi- cago Negro community to the wider national Negro community, and thus, ox- tended tho area of social controls boyond the local community. Lodgos and churches, with a membership including Negroes in the East and South, and particularly in tho border states, helped to give form to a separate social structuro in Chicago, for not only did white people encourage Negroes to or- ganize their own institutions, but Negroes from other aroas woro oqually as active in founding and sustaining such churches and associations. Much of the associational life of the articulate section of The Anti- Slavery the Negro population during the pro-Civil War period was in- Fight timatoly bound up with tho slavery question. Thoro were fro- quont protest meotings and demonstrations. The churches were used as moot- ing places and there were special groups organized to cepo with tho problom of tho fugitive slave. Ono account state 3 that: -46- Sinco the 40' 3, Chicago had oeen called a "nigger loving" town by southerners* No other city, unless it be Philadelphia, was so kind to the colored man. In it terminated many lines of the 'Underground Rail- road,' that semi-secret chain of Abolitionists who spirited runaway slaves from Ohio up through the midlands from house to house, until they reached Ghicago # 35 Thoro were continual brawls between "jay-hawkers" intent on carry- ing slaves buck to the South and the Negroos and sympathetic whites,* and these were increased by the compromise of 1850 in which the Federal Govern- ment promised to enforce the Fugitive Slave Lav;. Chicago was openly defiant. Not only did the white population ex- press its antagonisms, but the Negro community gave proof of its strong resentment against the law, T./o of the terminals of tho Railroad during the forties and fifties were organized and managed by Nogroos. One of thoso was a Negro church j tho other a private homo. The newly foundod African Methodist Church soon broadened its scope to include organized activity on bohalf of fugitive slavos. Apparently tho most articulate segment of the Negro population attended this church. 36 Four women members of Quinn Chapel, known as tho "Big Four," woro among the most active "conductors'* on the railroad. The other terminal was located in the home of John Jones, a founder of the Olivet Baptist Church. Apparently, however, Olivet Baptist Church •..'as much less active than Quinn in these "extra-worship" activities. In October of 1850, the Reverend George W. Johnson, pastor of Quinn Chapel, called to order a "large and enthusiastic meeting of the colored citizens" at his church who immediat ily organized a "Liberty Associa- tion." 37 Resolutions were passed end the sum of twenty dollars was dis- ^Et has been suggested that the groat immigrant influx during tho fifties and early sixties added to tho anti-slavery s .ntiment in Chicago sinco immigrants brought with them opinions and ideas hostile to slavery and to the South and they settled in the evenly balanced middle counties of Illinois, whore a few votes and a little anti-slavery propaganda countod for much. By 1850, 50 per cent of Chicago's population was foreign born. (Soo Roddick, op. cit .) -47- patched to General tf. L. Ghapin, held in prison in Maryland for "abducting slaves." Over three hundred people were reported as being present at this mass-meeting. They later formod seven "police divisions" whoso members wore required "to patrol the fcity each night and Mccep an eye on' for inter- lopers, 00 that is, persons intent on catching escaped slaves. The resolu- tions passed appealed to "The Supreme Judge of the Social World to support us in the justice of our cause," and stated? "4 . * .it behooves all good and true colored freemen to be as one man upon this subject and that your main characteristic be union, both of fooling and principle, with a view to be a union that will last forovor."^ Chicago's opinion was not unanimous, however, and somo of the Chi- cago police men took the side of the slaveholders. The Methodist church (white) airiest split on the issue of slavery, and there wore sizcablo groups of persons who sponsored pro-slavery meetings. It is significant to note that Negroes living in Chicago were far more militant than Negroes in the rural regions of Illinois who "dwelt in true humility in obscure corners of the towns and cities with their own churches and sometimes separate schools maintained with the assistance of white patrons." 40 This is to be explained not alone by difference of atti- tude on tho part of tho white populations, but partly by the superior chan- ces which tho city gave for organizing resistance.* Tho two churches and one or two societies did not includo ovcry member of the community and there was a disorganized element of the popula- tion. The Journal painted a lurid picture, in February 1860, of "A Negro Dive in Full Blast." -48- On various occasions prominent speakers, including even the great Frederick Douglass, crane to stir the Negro community, until in 1860, the storm broke when southern raiders, accompanied by United States Marshals, swarmed into the city. The Journal advised the Negroes % ". . . , strike for the North for you are not safe until you stand on English soil where you will be free men and women, "*■'■ Many Negroes began to leave and the Journal dramatically stated: The utmost consternation prevails among all classes of the colored residents of the city. .... All day, yesterday, the vicinity of the Michigan southern depot was a scone of excitement and confusion. After the religious services at tho Zoar Baptist Church in the morning which was densely attondod, tho leave taking commenced, .... The colorod clergymen of the city were also among the number, and labored ardently in extending encouragement and consolation to those about to depart, , , • • Here and there, one was in tears and wringing hands, but the majority were in the best of humor and were congratulated by their friends lingering behind that tomorrow they would be free. 'Never mind,' said one, 'the good Lord will save us all in the coming day' , • • • (they were) bidding their friends to write when they got 'to the other side of Jordan' and not forget them in the new country. The minister of the neighboring church where they attended, also went from car to car bidding them to be men when they got to Canada, Then came the Civil War, and as a result of it. Emancipation, During the "Slavery Epoch," church and associational life was Summary taking form among Negroes in Chicago. During these hectic years the church loaders, to some extent at least, tendod to relate thoir church program to broader social movements involving Negroes by actively supporting the anti-slavery movement, by caring for fugitives and aiding them in their escape to Canada, and by providing educational and recrea- tional facilities. The available data reveals an interest in doctrinal questions and proper ritualistic procedures among the Baptists, and the first tendencies -49- toward schisms. It also suggests that the Baptists may have been less ac- tive in "social" movements than the African Methodists, The type of Negro-white relationships is indeed interesting. White congregations and individuals scorned to have been active in rendering fi- nancial assistance, in giving moral support, and in encouraging Negroes to develop a secular leadership of businessmen in addition to the clergy. There was much emphasis on the middle class virtues of thrift, sobriety, and decorum. Finally, the Chicago Negro community was not developing in isola- tion from the larger national community, and there v/as considerable inter- sectional participation. - The Post Civil-War Epoch - The Post Civil War and Reconstruction Epoch, 1866 to 1899, gave new life to Negro enterprises. The N->gro entered into as many activities as were open to him. He was par- ticularly active in politics and educational work but pre-eminently he was engaged in the development of his church. The Negro churches of the time orig- inated especially from the initiative of in- dividuals, groups, splits, or schisms, and as missions of other churches. / Mays and Nicholson, op. cit., p. 29*/ -51- The Post -Civil VJar i!Jpo c h With the freeing of the slaves in the Sooth, tremendous im- The Sixties petus was given to "welfare work" among Negroes. The Feder- al Government established the Freedmen's Bureau for render- ing direct relief, providing "work-relief," resettling ilegroes on the land, and helping them to protect themselves against the aggressions of their for- mer masters, the K. K. K. , and exploitive merchants and politicians. At the same time various private agencies, particularly church boards, such as the American Missionary Association (Congregational), the American Baptist Home Mission Society, The Freedmen's Aid Society, National Freedmen's Relief As- sociation, The Philadelphia Society, The Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, and the Frier ds* Association for the .aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, were active in sending down school teachers as "missionary barrels" and in teach- ing self-reliance as well as bestowing alms. It was from these beginnings that the private school system in the South (-row, end that the groundwork was laid for the "progress" which Negroes have made, and to which Woofter refers in his Races and Zthn ic Groups i n Americ an Life (1935): At the time of the emancipation there wore about 700,000 Negro church members, most of whom belonged to white denominations. At pres- ent there are about 40,000 Negro churches and nearly 5,000,000 church members. Leos than one per cent of these are members of white churches. In 1854, one Negro physician was a member of a medical association. To- day 5,000 Negro physicians ore gradually taking over the practice of medicine among their own people. They have a national medical associ- -52- ation, with eighty state and local medical societies, and they publish the "Journal of the National Medical Association." Similar statements might be made for the other professions. The total number of Negroes in the professions is now close to 100,000. There ere 70,000 Negro business enterprises of various kinds, most of them catering to Negro trade. In 1927, there were 28 Negro insurance companies, with assets of $11,000,000; insurance in force, $243,000,000. In 1926, 33 Negro banks in 14 states had assets of over $15,000,000 and deposits "of $12,000,000. There are now about 400 Negro newspapers, 30 magazines, 80 school journals, and various specialized publications. * In the confused southern situation, however, not all the Negroes decided to remain in the South, and a movement toward the Nortn and West 2 began. An interesting sidelight on the problems raised for the churches by emancipation is furnished by this note from the 1865 minutes of the Illinois Baptist State Convention: The breaking up of slavery has already tended to increase the num- ber of persons connected with these churches, /in the South/ and the probable hardships of the freedmen in view of the restoration to power of those who have been their masters, and whose love for this op- pressed race has not increased by the results of the war, will natu- rally cause others to seek a home with us/ It cannot be expected that these persons will be able to furnish themselves with houses of worship, and such helps in their work as they will need. We therefore earnestly commend them to the kind regard and cooperation of all our churches. Not only should we sympathize with these churches end encourage them, but we ought to extend fraternal courtesy and kindness to in- dividuals scattered among us when their njumbers are n ot sufficien t to justify the forme t ion of colored churches. Let them know that all our churches offer them a home and a cordial welcome. Let them not be tempted to or g anize ch urches ^_the_j3asis of color rat he r than of Christian Fa ith., Let not Baptists be driven to walk disorderly by joining organizations whose doctrines and practice are unscriptural. Let them know that all Baptists, loving our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- cerity and wishing to obey Him, arc regarded by us as brethern, and are welcome to all the privileges of membership with us. 3 ft At the next y ar's convention, it was reported that 10,000 freed- men from the South "had s ught a r. fu^ in this st.,t^ during the war," and that "several churches have been form* d among them, ana we have three mis- sionaries laboring for them the past year. One or two more are greatly needed. Thai, were 27 Negro Baptist churches in Illinois with a total of about 1,500 members." One of these was in Chicago — Olivet, with 359 mem- bers. Too Bad For The Steep' v- v ' -rf ' I i \ c - / At c i> on < vr j \ i/// ^ J«fc ^ Chicago Defender , 1937 Many Negroes express suspicion of attempts to reunite a denomination which split over the slavery issue. The merger was effected by a compro- mise between Southerners who were unwilling to accept Negro bishops and those Negroes who objected to separate Negro and white jurisdictions. -wr- it is evident from even this short recommendation that the pattern of seg- regation was still not set, and that there were contradictory views as to the propriety of having segregated congregations. Yet, at the same time, the statement implies that it is "natural" for Negroes to form separate churches when the;/ have sufficient numbers. There is a record of one church forming in Chicago from Negroes who were worshi i with a white congregation. Inspired by the progress of Olivet, in 1866, twenty-two members of the Union Baptist Church (white) asked for their letters of dismission in order to organize a separate church. For a year they worshipped in the afternoon at the white church with the white pastor as their preacher. Then they called a Negro pastor. The church was first named Calvary, and later, Providence. Upon the committee which framed the above recommendation was at least one Negro minister, the Reverend Mr. Richard De Baptiste, who later became one of the most outstanding Negro ministers in the United States, It was this minister who articulated the Chicago Baptists with Baptists in other sections of the country. Woodson says of him that he .... migrated with his free parents of color from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to the Northwest after the restrictions placed upon the Ne- groes of this class in Virginia became intolerable. His first impor- tant work was that of teaching a public school for colored youth in the Springfield wnship at Jit. Pleasant, Ohio .He-later organized and pastored a Baptist church in Chicago, a charge which he held until 1882. Serving in this capacity, he purchased two building sites at a cost of I'lc', 000 and built two brick church edifices costing respective- ly, |15,000 and $18,000. His work as a minister, however, was in no sense local. He was elected corresponding secretary of the Wood River Association in 1864, was a prominent figure and officer in the Northwestern and Southern Baptist Convention organized in 1865, and was chosen president of the American Baptist Missionary Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, serving it consecutively for four years. He was thereafter elected president at intervals and remained a commanding figure in the convention because of his power ana influence in the church. Manifesting further interest -54- in the work of the denomination, he contributed t > the church litera- ture through the Chicago Conservator t the Western Herald , and the National Monitor . In fact, in his day he was not only the outstanding minister of his denomination in the West, but one of the most influen- tial men of his race. Rev. De Baptist© led the fight for civil rights in Illinois, for the Emancipation Proclamation had not changed Illinois* anti-Negro laws. In 1869, a group of leaders met at Olivet Baptist Church to form a "Col- ored Convention" in order to "present our grievances" and "devise ways and means whereby a healthy opinion may be created." Rev. Richard De Baptiste, was elected president. The objects were stated as being to secure .... every recognition by the laws of our state .... /~to_7 dis- avow any and all imputations of a desire to obtain social equality • • • • Z ^J demand equal school privileges throughout the state, .... to accomplish the objects mentioned, we appoint two of our ablest citizens, capable of creditably presenting our interests to at- tend the coming State Constitutional Convention .... beseech that honorable body to favorably consider our necessities and submit to the people of the State such amendments to the State Constitution as will remove the disabilities under which we now labor. 6 Rev. De Baptiste, in the year preceding the formation of the Illi- nois Colored Convention, had presided at the annual meeting of the Consoli- dated American Baptist Missionary Convention, meeting in Savannah, Georgia. The following extracts from the annual report of this convention afford us a glimpse of the typo of national activities in which local northern churches were interested, and over which Olivet's pastor presided in the sixties. Though our work the past year has been comparatively meagre, yet we have great reason to be thankful to God for His goodness, in that He has permitted us to do what we hove in the glorious work to which He has called us. T here has been a general stagnation in every department of business life, co mpelling almost every body, more or less, to aband on labor for general aood T an d give att^n tjg]iJo^aiiy^ ~ r rsonal, and lo- cal interests. Churches have found ___thj_r^elj/^sJun o~le to send forth their usua l gifts , end benev olent merchant a have Von fo rced to say. "You must excuse iiu fro m giving, this year. " ~ ~~ ANTHROPOLOGY LIP»oa«^ -55- UNIVERSITY DFCHfcA^ This commerci al and co nsequent financial dearth is traceable to po- litical disrupt ions, ar d the -generally 'unsettled _st a te of the country. In this res p_ect ___t he pyil affects" of our Is t e Civ i 1 ~War h ave been fel t by us all in od uc -lA°I^^...i:;l^..i!:i^io n ^r7 t _ ae well s c ommercial and po- litical enterprises. But when wo loo k oyer" the Jjfout! a~id "~see four mi l- lions (4,000,000), of our once_; :j ns lav ed an d" _s o rsl y . b used brethr e n now standing up and re joicing :..igid^r_thjjun^url" : "r"d way'.:'":- "/ "banner of free- dom; building th eir owr> jjhujr^oj^and_d^i ."c" "t in ; \ t] i '"t o God, and o r- daining their own pre_2gh?rs_. a nd choosi ng"'~their m p. legislators and their own governors r "s' j)n^_of^ j g_r*s]^^^ b7s F"c7"~aTT the good effects, of the Civil Wa r, thj if we, ^too^ are constrained "to join with them in the an them of joy and praise, and sa y, "Glory to God in the highest." " " ' As the circulation of money is always governed by the degree of activity in business, and as business has been dull, your Executive Board has not been able to raise one-tenth as much money for missionary purposes as would have been raised by the same effort if it had been made under more favorable circumstances, or without the hindrances men- tioned and yet to be mentioned. Our whole receipts for the year, in- cluding the amount collected at the last annual meeting of the conven- tion, have amounted to not more than twelve hundred dollars ($1200), Our expenditures have amounted, during the same time to $1,500. Adding to this our old missionary debt, gives the sum of $2,800 as our liabilities or indebtedness the past year. Now, in view of our own numerical greatness, and the large gifts of our whit^ friends for the support of missionary and education enter- prises among us as a people, and for our Southern brethren in particu- lar, the amount of our receipts appears shamefully insignificant. Fores ing or apprehending that we would not be able to raise the amount of money absolutely necessary to pay all the brethren employed as missionaries and agents in the several states and districts, and believing it unwise and detrimental to the progress of the Convention to increase its debt, your Board was obliged to m 'e: the appointments T^l l0 r na1 / + Th l main con ^ition was that those accepting appointments should find for themselves local support till otherwise provided for excepting such appropriations, from time to time, as the Board of C on- "nt To S it fil l itSe ' f ^^ t0 make With ° Ut '^ 3 - io - embarrass- ment. To this there has been no objections; and haw faithfully and successfully these good missionary brethren have continued and labored ol Tf 1T f rGS f cti f/ ieldS mider SUCh discouraging circumstances /'their own statements and figures yet to be submitted, will tell in detail They have preached over a thousand sermons, baptized thousands of hopeful converts, and organized about sixty new church;- s. Brother Campbell, of Texas, has reported four hundred forty that he ?ive e hund?ed b0Pt ^ Brothf ' r s - White, of Virginia, has baptized over Work To Be Done Having reviewed what has been done, we now call your attention to the work that lies before us, as a colored National Baptist Convention, and to the methods recommended for its successful prosecution. The field that we are called upon to occupy, embraces every one of the late -56- slave states and includes hundreds of thousands of souls yet to be con- verted. The Baptist influence and interest in these states are already- great, and a decent respect for the faith we hold, and the principles we advocate as Christians, and the messengers of God, sent by His Son, Jesus Christ, and upheld by the Holy Spirit, enjoin it upon us to go forward with renewed zeal, and preach to all and baptize as many as shall be converted to God through our instrumentality. They are of our own family and social household. They have full c onfidence in us, and therefore, con s tantly calls us to 'come "unto the m with the brea d of life, and t e a ch t ho m h ow , and in wh o m to bol ieve, ^nd how to live~"a~s" well as how to d ie • How To Do It The methods recommended for our success are, fir t, the cultivation of a more zealous missionary spirit by the pastors rid churches of the Convention. The churches must be trained to give for the support of missions— domestic una foreign— else we shall be insufficient for the great work before us. The delegates to the Convention usually become deeoly interested in missions during its session, but forget to take up collections, and bid Godspeed to the Board during the year. How can your Board do, unless you furnish it means to do with? To appoint an Executive Missionary Board, and then close your doors and hearts and pockets against it, is to act inconsistently, and, to an enlightened mind, supremely ridicu- lous. No church represented in the Convention should be contented to live through the year without sending up an offering for the support of missions. Let us see, this year, that missionary collections shall be no more neglected than those taken to sweeten our coffee and tea. Next > we most respectfully recommend the adopt io n of such measures as shall secure the be st use of th e means given by our white Baptist" friends o f the North and elsewhere, for religious and educational pur- poses among _us as a p< .ogle. The i r_ gifts are large, and cheerfully e nd hopefully given? but from the re floteneas/ peculiarit ies, and exclusive- £®ss — QQjig_ehanne l or agency, these g ifts do not pro"du"ce th e desired £°°li T :^ 3 X t : J ...:J^^JE£QS£fC_tj3_jh_f',,.^h"im. : 3 of having it said that our whit e frie nds Jiave spent much on us to improve us. but entirely failed.' Therefore^ we urgejgou _to _a d opt me as 'ore sby which the agents of m onies? collected J^gm^urjwhit e __fr i ends for the pro motion of the colored Bap- tist rcigsj£-ie^j,nj^^_3^ be comp3lled to respect the v ;i,^_s_^ t heir appropriationsT Quarterly Collections Your Board would further recommend the taking up of quarterly col- lections by all the pastors and missionaries of the Convention, as the first and most successful step toward the necessary, desirable, and praiseworthy end of self-reliance. The fact that we must become more self-reliant is too plain, and the neglect of it too threatening, for us to stand idle or passive. Our white brethren, with the excep tions already mentioned, a re bound together, as such"; for the defen se~a7d perpetuity of their own distinctive interests. _ The y are true to t hejj£" selves> They not o nly retain all they have, but draw much more from us' than they appropriate directly to us. Thus, in a pecuniary paint of' view, their burden i s greater than their relief, although they profess -57- to help us. It is nec essary, therefor e, for us_to seek and find re- sources among ourse lves; to apply the r ewa rds of our own labor to the developmen t of our own r eli gious and social interests b: the use of our own native ins t r ume-.n t n 1 i t i e s . First, ' We must give more attention to the cause of Ministerial Education." For this purpose there ought to bo a fund created and fos- tered by the Convention or its Executive Board. We recommend, there- fore, that a collection be taken up annually, on the third Lord's Day, in October, in every one of our churches. God is now making... large and promising accessions to our ministry, and calls upon us, as old vet- erans, to drill them and fit them for good captains and generals in the army of the Lord. In order to obey God and do this, we must have money, which these collections will supply. Second . We recommend that the second general and annual collection be the Support of Missions, and that it be taken up annually, on the Lord's Day of Jonu^ry, after preaching by the pastor cr agent on the subject of Missions. Third. We also re commend that there bo created a Church Building Fund to be sustained and increased by annual collections, to be taken up on the third Lord's Day of April. We oun;lit to be more interested, as a denomination, in the accumulation of church property. Our breth- ren in small coun try towns are g.,-ner'. ll y c ompelled to go through the land, begging from house to hou,3. _f or moans to put up a. small church building in which to worship God , _wbe n, if th ' y hod houses of worship, they could soon call togeth er pt ople eno ugh "t o bu ild for themselves, and be more indopend ent. Going from _p lace to plac^ , they are often humbled and insulted", and tire gjk nonin -tion ex pose d__ to the contempt or ridicule of others who have bette r sys tems for bu ildi n g their churches. Brethren, wo beseech you in the name of God, for whom you profess so much love to suffer this no longer, without earnest, faithful effort to stop it. If all the churches of the Convention give annually and lib- erally, for this Church Building Fund, we can stop this disgrace to which we are now so much exposed. Fourth . We further recommend the fourth or last annual collection be taken up as long as necessary for General Purposes to be used at the discretion of the Board. The other collections, being designated and sacred to the ends for which they are designated, cannot be used for anything else. At the expense of about $4,000, your Board could pur- chase lots of ground, and erect suitable buildings and offices in which to conduct the business of the Convention. This is very desirable and economical, and the funds for general purposes could be applied to this and for incidental expenses, including salaries of officers. Report of Committee on Missionaries and Fields Whereas, there are many oppositions to the proclaiming. of- the -gos- pel of" Jesus Christ, many claiming that it should be moulded and turned to suit the tastes and fancies of man, keeping the people in ignorance and darkness, and covering the welfare of the people with a cloud of issues not pertinent to the salvatipn of the soul, therefore, Resolved, that we hereby commend to and request of our pastors and missionaries, to preach unflinchingly, in its purity, the everlasting gospel, without conferring with flesh and blood, for "Woe .unto him .who preaches not the gospel." -58- Resolved, 2d. Tint the destitute places in the following states be occupied as missionary field; viz.; Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, California, Delaware, New England States, and the District of Columbia, also the present mis- sionaries in the field, not necessary to be changed be continued in their respective fields. Resolved, 3d. That we request of our churches to let their pas- tors occasionally go in the surrounding country end perform missionary labor, and the churches aid their pastors in such lebor, but bearing their expenses, end the pastors be empowered to take, up collections on the fields to defray their expenses back home. Furthermore, the said pastors must not only have the permit of their churches, but the sanc- tion of the Board of the Convention. Resolved, 4th. That we hereby urge upon our pastors and churches not to neglect the collections for our missionaries, and further that all of our pastors be required to preach, occasionally, missionary sermons . Resolved, 5th. That agents be appointed in each state, whose duties shall be to collect funds for the Convention, and superintend the fields in their respective states, under the direction of the Exe- cutive Board, Resolved, 6th. That Elder N. G. Merry be appointed missionary and agent for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York; 2d, Elder G. W. Dupee, for Massachusetts; 3d, Elder Themes Jefferson, for Missouri, 4th, Elders Abraham Merry end John Smith, for Mississippi; 5th, Elders John Randall and William Shorter, for -Louisiana. The next meeting of the Convention will be held on Thursday before the third Lord's Doy in September, A. D. 1853, at 11 o'clock a.m., with the Washington Street Baptist Church, Paducah, Kentucky; the fol- lowing are to be the preachers. Introductory Sermon — Rev. John Cox, of Savannah, Georgia; alter- nate, Rev. N. B. Frierscn, of Farmville, Virginia. Missionary Sermon, Rev. Jesse F. Boulden, of Natchez, Mississippi; alternate, Rev. W. J. White. Widow's Fund Sermon, Rev. Sampson White, of Virginia; alter- nate, Rev. A. Henderson. Doctrinal Sermon, Rev, Richard DeBaptiete, of Illinois, /italics, edj 7 The officers of the convention were as follows: Rev. Richard De- Baptiste, Chicago, Illinois, President; Rev. Nelson G. Merry, Nashville, Tennessee, Vice President; Rev. Rufus L. Perry, Brooklyn, New York, Corre- sponding Secretary; Rev. Simon R. Walker, Nashville, Tennessee, Recording Secretary; and Rev. Isaac Bagswell, Brooklyn, New York, Treasurer. --59- The account of the Convention quoted above reveals explicitly Summary several important aspects of church life which were implicit in the local Chicago situation dur'ng the Sixties. It indi- cates the extent of inter-sectional perticipatioi (aSte areas from whence, officers came); the sensitivity of church leaae.es to adverse economic and political conditions; ana the extreme dependence of Negroes on white peo- ple for financial assistance. It also illustrates a trend toward separateness in organizational life, accompanied by a growth in "race pride" and "independence." These sentiments were expressed in approval of freedom, political participation, and in a slight suggestion of antagonism toward white Baptists, both nor- thern and southern. There wes also an expressed desire for the accumula- tion of church property; for the development of businesslike habits of church financing; and for an educated ministry. The boom which came to Chicago as an outgrowth of the Civil The Seventies 7ar attracted large numbers of people. The impetus of in- creased commercial activity on trade routes to the Atlantic seaboard, the expansion of industrial activity to supply war demands in clothing, food and munitions, as well as accelerated activity in banking and finance served as magnets, attracting workmen from all parts of the country and from Europe. The total population grew from 109,000 to 299,- 000 in the ten year period, 1860-1870. The trek to Chicago, "The City of Hope," increased the number of Negroes from less than one thousand in 1860 to more than three and a half thousand by 1870. 8 At the beginning of tho seventies, most of Chicago's 3,500 Negroes -60- lived in the area between Monroe and Sixteenth streets, Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, a not too desirable neighborhood, near the central bus- iness district. When the city was rebuilt after the devastating fires of 1871 and 1874,* the Negro community spread southward to Twenty-second street, and westward across the Chicago River, while a few Negro families moved out into other areas of the city, one snail group settling . -uund 51st and Dearborn. Negroes were concentrated in the economic system principally as personal and domestic servants during the seventies and eighties, although by the mid-eighties there were two colored school teachers, several colored policemen and legislators, and a colored fire department. There were al- so a few businesses, but in the main, Negroes were waiters, coachmen, jani- tors and domestic servants. One observer, writing in the middle eighties, stated that: • at .hotels and restaurants in Chicago employed regularly from 1,800 to 2,000 Negro men with wages ranging from S25 to $30 per week. There were 50 to 75 persons in the municipal, State and government de- partments receiving salaries ranging from §75 to $125 per month. .... There wore 175 Negroes engaged in various branches of prominent busi- ness and professions.^ Lewis and Smith report somewhat humorously anent the fire; "Clergymen made it the subject of sermons for Months, some saying that the heart of humanity was bleeding, some that the fire had been God's way of punishing the sins of the world, many declaring that God had de- stroyed the wicked city, even as he had laid the righteous torch at the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Rev. Granville Moody, Cincinnati Metho- dist, attributed the calamity to the fact that Chicago had recently given a majority vote against the closure of the saloons on the Sabbath.-." Ewn newspapers saw the hand of God m tne fire, too, and according to the same authors,, the Rushville (Ind.) Democrat said; ''God had stricken the Northern city to avenge the wanton destruction which the Union armies had visited on the South during the Civil VJar."^ -61- (The wage levels referred to in this statement seem extremely high, how- ever, for the period.) This decade also saw the expansion of the great packing houses and farm equipment works, and the banning of the titanic labor struggles which later rocked the city. Business control was, on the whole, vested in the migrants from the East, while the heavy labor was done by the foreign- born. It was during this period, too, that the first influx of well-educa- ted German socialists* came to Chicago. That they should take issue sooner or later with the Yankee rulers of Chicago's industrial life was inevitable. They differed with Puri- tans on religion, for while both were protectant by bleed, the German radical faction had long ago dismissed orthodoxy/ and the fundament- alists' idea of Jehovah, I*} They were more interested in bettering the let of man on this earth than in considering the problems of the hereafter. 14 The individualistic "Puritans," however, were also active in "bet- tering the lot of man"-but not by economic or social changes. Their em- phasis during this era was on the anti-liquor crusade, and attempts were made to close up all Sunday amusements, particularly the saloons. Wealth, the Protestant churches and the Yankee aristocracy, backed the Sunday closing, a situation which prompted spokesmen of the masses to declare, "We are not against the arrest of Sunday drunks, but we are against the dictation of men who go to church on Sundays with long laces and then go to the Board of Trade on Monday to swindle their colleagues out of many bushels of grain. 15 By 1873, the liquor issue had become a political one and the "wets" Many of the German immigrants were followers of Karl Marx, the ovrrsh^; r d - lab0rl6aC " r ' - to te ^* ^iaU fla| i.e., the public ownership of factories and natural resources under the control of the work- ing classes ("the proletariat") as a means of abolishing poverty. Marxian socialism was critical of the European Christian churches on the groups that they fought against the workers' interests, and allied themselves with the aristocracy and business interests ("the bourgeoisie") rather than with howe?e 6 r Sa a S th Und c "* * orto »- " conceived of primitive Christianity, however, as the revolutionary force of its historic period. -62- won the election of that year, whereupon the appeal to evangelism was made, culminating in the march of "the praying women" on the City Hall in 18V4, and the later organization of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. 16 But anti-liquor agitation was soon drowned in the noise of labor disputes* There is little data available, at present, as to the part which Negro churches and associations took in these broader social reform move- ments, but the Negro community continued to battle for its own rights, appealing to the American democratic tradition. The "Vigilance Committee," formed in the previous decade, extended its interests beyond Chicago; for in 1872, a white paper reported that "Mr. John Jones and 112 other colored citizens have issued an ill-judged address to the Negroes of the coun- 17 try." The address in question aavised Negroes not to support Greely, Sumner and Trumbull because these gentlemen were "worshipping at another Shrine" by favoring pensions for Confederate soldiers. Although the Negroes did not vote as a racial bloc in the seven- ties, they acted with a great degree of solidarity in the exercise of their newly-won right to vote. With emancipation in the not-too-distant past, it was natural that their allegiance was pledged to the Republican Party,* but in 1874, they and their white friends united to elect John Jones to the office of County Commissioner on the "Fire-proof" ticket. 18 Participation in politics gathered momentum during the decade, and certain appointive and elective jobs began to come to Negroes. Engine Company No. 21, the only Negro unit in the Chicago Fire De- partment, and at the time th< only Colored Company in the Northwest, 19 was Banti-t p^ T, 6 ' V? Ne6r ° Rc P ublicans held a large mass meeting at Olivet Baptist Church to discuss changes in the Illinois Constitution. -63- established in 1372; a Negro police officer was appointed in the same 20 year, and in 1876, a Negro was elected to the general assembly. After a lapse of two terms he was re-elected, and there have always been colored representatives since. This man, J. W. E. Thomas, was a native of Alabama who had run a grocery store in Chicago until it was destroyed in the fire of 1873. At the time of his election to the legislature, he was a teacher bv occupation, keeping a private school near the center of the city. His election was in part the result of his efforts to train his colored constituents to cumulate or "plump" their votes for him. However, as he received 11,532 votes, and the total colored population of the city The Negro community, however, did net rain its fell political strength un- til the nineties, and did not reach the height of its power until after the great migrations of the twentieth century. In the fall of 1876, the Chicago Negroes were stirred by news of outrages against their Southern brethren, 22 ana direct action being imposs- ible, they demonstrated their protest in the more usual manner-the mass meeting. The presence of a .'colored company of Hayes and Wheeler guards" must have greatly reinforced their protective attitude toward the unfor- tunat^ victims of "Southern Outrages." 23 Negroes, from colonial days, have taken a part in the patriotic and military organizations in America; therefore, emphasis on their patriotism has become an important part of the Negroes' appeal for equal rights.* quently^effrr S d t toN e ^ deC ?H e, ° ^^ neWfl P a P«. The Conservator fre- Colonei Shaker tl tlf S ° ldlCrS - 0ne "^Icle, COLORED SOLDERS, q uoted should 1 %£?«£ ^ l0 r C lTr*U?e^ll »^>^ ^y army." The editor commented warmly, tol^l Sha t r°if righ '^ Me°n S are noble enough to mingle their blood upon their country" a»a, should ■64- During the seventies, the first formal Negro military units in Illinois were established. A Negro military organization achieved some prestige and importance at the close of the decade, when the Chicago Light Infantry was set up with a partial subsidy from the State. 25 From its inception it was ignored by the State Guard, however, whoso "commanding officer refused to recognize the company as a part of the regularly organized State Guard, principally on the grounds of the alleged disreputable char- acter of its members." 26 A Negro commentator stated, however, that this unit was considered to be the best drilled military organization in the North West, It was attached to the Seventh Regiment Illinois National Guard and received the highest commendation of the State officials. 27 As early as 1875, an article in the white press captioned "COLORED MILITIA" reported that the "Sixteenth Battalion" held a picnic at Wilmette enter- taining visiting companies from St. Louis and Golumtuo. The "Sixteenth" was composed of two companies which had headquarters at their Armory, lo- cated at the corner of Jackson Street and Fifth Avenue. 28 One factor strengthening the development of a Negro social struc- ture m Chicago was the influence of the larger nation-wide organizations upon the Chicago Negroes. Thus, the fraternal order came into its own among Negroes in the late seventies when Chicago was host to the National cortamly be free from petty, ignoble prejudice The blood of the colored soldier flows as red as that of his Caucasian comrade. In the hour of peril our country knows no color line, but calls for MEN. Colonel Shaft er rightly recommends that the same be done in the time of apparent security." There was also a note, "sad but true," about a cadet at West Point who • • • S revi "tired of relentless persecutions, gave up his position end went home."^' 1 -65- ^0 Convention of Negro Masons."' The musical talent of Negro performers was being harnessed and or- ganized in the late seventies, when Wright's Operatic and Specialty Company achieved great fame by its appearances at the Auditorium, Medinah Temple, 31 and Central Music Hall. A Choral Study Club was founded and directed in 1878, by Mrs. Francis A. Powell, leading soprano in Olivet Baptist choir. 32 But not all the Negro activities were directed along such serious lines, and the close of the Civil War gave birth to the Plantation Min- strels in Chicago, a lively cultural innovation which assumed the propor- tions of an institution by the mid-seventies. Its devotees were persons "of sporting tastes." This theatrical venture enjoyed great success and its manager, Lew Johnson, expressed his certainty of even greater success "inasmuch as the regular minstrel troupes are expected to desert the south- ern circuits on account of the Civil Rights Law. . . . " 33 Churches continued to multiply; at the close of the decade there were three large Negro churches, Quinn Chapel a. M. £., Olivet Baptist, and Bethel A. M. E. Mission, and the Providence Baptist Church. Two of these * The editor of the Conservator felt that Negroes were spending too much money upon lodge trivia, and referred to the Colored Knight Templar of Norfolk, Virginia who ... o have ordered one hundred and thirty-five suits with re- galia costing 135.00 each for their parade on the occasion of the Yorktown centennial. What folly! Here we have an outlay of more than eighteen thousand dollars just for a few hours parade. Perhaps not a half doz-n of these men own a foot of ground or have a bank account. We venture to say that no such instance of supreme stupidity can be found in any other nat- ionality on the American continent. Norfolk needs a fool killer." 29 (Yet membership in a lodge was essential for the Maintenance of status in Chicago. The assistant editor of this paper was the most prominent fra- ternal man in the mid-west.) -66- churches are particularly interesting in that they represent voluntary withdrawals of groups of Negroes from white congr gatioiis. These were the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, and the Provxd3nc, Baptist Church which has already been discussed. The official history of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church relates the circumstances of its founding as follows: A meeting of eight women and two men was held in the summer of 1878 at a private horn, no consider the ad- visability of forming a Protestant Episcopal Church in this city." The group corresponded with several prospective rectors in the East and South, and finally a Rev. Mr. Thompson from St. Louis came up to -look over the field." The Reverend then called on the Bishop who very readily gave his approval of the work and "permission to proceed."* The church remained small, but by 1882 had laid its cornerstone. "After the opening of the church for worship, the congregation and attendance increased and life as a church was assured." 35 The routine statement of an official diocesan bulletin records the event as follows: "A hall was procured on the South Side where about twenty-five. communicants from various city P arishe; were united in an un- organized mission." 36 " is inter esting to note that the Tribune reported that Bishon McLaren of Grace Church (white) was i^isnop +ah1 . . "' Y a i erSe t0 thG pr ° jeCt ' Elding that it would needlessly es- tablish a color line, where none in fact existed, the colored people being welcome to worship in any of the Episcopal churches. " 3 * -67- The newly formed Episcopalian congregation had a difficult The Eighties tine during the late seventies, but the minister: .... still ... . kept up the service and preached his regular sermons with as much earnestness as if the house was crowded from the door to the alter rail. ' He was as bus- as possible .... trying to" get "some friends of the movement among the monied of the church to become interested in his work to substantially aid him in raising means to secure a house that the congregation could call their own. 38 Finally, a friend was found in a Dr. T^lmon Wheeler who gave them eight thousand dollars after they had purchased a lot on Khich to build. A con- temporary account stated, sometime later, that: "Since the death of Dr. Wheeler, God put in the heart of his widow, Mrs. Wheeler to purchase for us a parsonage, thereby securing a home for our Rector and relieving us of the embarrassing necessity of paying rent." 39 The cornerstone of the new building was laid in 1882. This was a period of rapid growth in population, thus making poss- ible the greater differentiation of the occupational structure and the elaboration of a more complex associations! system. The Negro community doubled itself between 1870 and 1380, and then added an additional thousand persons in the next four years, making a total of 7 ,517 Negroes in 1884. {Scarcely enough, however, to fill Chicago's two largest Negro churches of today.) This increase was accompanied by the southward push of the popu- lation, and records of the day make frequent reference to the movement of church buildings following the population. 40 (See Appendix i, Map 3.) At least five of the churches were either house-churches or "store fronts," while for the first time, exclusively Nagro Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic congregations maue their appearance. Soma of -66- the new churches were formed through the process of "splitting," because of arguments arising within congregations over matters of theological doc- trine, social philosophy, and church polity. These conflicts were often simply the ideological forms in which educational and economic differences were reflected and personality conflicts between the leaders and the led fought out. One of the most serious of these splits gave birth to the first of Olivet's many chilaren. A local church historian still resident in the community relates the story, in his graphic way, gS follows; HE: JOHN FHkNCIS TEQMhS, D. D. The subject of this sketch was called to be Pastor, sinister and Leader /sic/ of the Olivet Missionary Baptist Church located then on Harmon Court near *tat Street, in Chicago, ia the pleasant y.ar of our Lord, A.D. 1886. Just after a rift amongst the members, the contention of which was so sharp that it caused a split, and certain had gone out with one preacher whose name was Podd,* calling themselves Bethesda, which has remained until this day. Rev. Thomas who was afterward called "Pan" found this situation on his arrival, set about immediately to brini peace and harmony among the warring factions by advising them to rec- ognize those succeeding members and grant them the band of fellowship His action in this matter gained for him a star in his crown which was never dimmed. Then he set about the task of eliminating those un- scriptural practices, and unBaptistic innovations which had crept into thp church unaware, such as - (1) Blessing infants (2) Receiving P-. do-Baptism as valid (3) Calling young people, a Christian En- deavor Society in the church, and us - ing Sunday School Lit, nature /sic/ of other denominations against all of which he spoke with no uncertain sound, until he had awakened the Baptists of the Western States and territories. A strong interest in doctrinal questions and denominational ex- clusiveness was evident and a year later the new Bethesda was itself selit *, , l^ T ln MS ?*!* °? ° f 01lTet BaDtifit n ' r _ll!-± suggests that Rev. gaJion.^ Personal traits which annoyed many lumbers of his congre- -69- by both doctrinal and social issues. Our account of this schism comes from the Tribune, and suggests that some of ohe Negro ministers wore responsive to the more advanced philosophic end social thought of the day: The Rev. Bird Wilkins, the wall known colored p- stor of the Bothes- da Baptist Church, (about 150 members) Thirty-fourth and ButteTfUId Streets, sent a communication to his congregation yesterday tendering his resignation giving as a reason that he was no longer in sympatny with the Baptist denomination. When interviewed by a Tribune reporter, he said: I believe in the fatherly kindness of God. The old idea of a God of vengeance, ready to burn up the world in hell-fire, is opposed to reason and common sense, and abhorrent to me. I no longer indorse the doctrine of the Trinity. My belief is that the Bible has a divine and human line of thought running through it; there is much rood in the Bibre and a great deal that is the entire opposite. I am also a free believer m open communion— that a Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or a member of any denomination is entitled to the sacrament at my hands as well as a Baptist. I have acted on this belief and this has been a constant cause of dissatisfaction to a minority of my flock They have found fault right along and wanted to restrict me to sermons on orthodox subjects. 1 preached a sermon on "Socialism" some three weeks ago v.hich caused a great stir in my church. ... I am a liberal Christian wi.h a leaning toward Unitarianism. I am going to stay in Chicago ana Duild e large church to be known as Liberty Temple here the liberal minded church people of all denominations will'be gatherea, una I intend to show Chicago and the world a new sight - an advancing and progressing colored congregation. 43 Rev. wilkins at the time was editing a magazine, Pulpit and Desk . He was a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and was educated at Hamilton Col- lege and Shaw Theologieal Seminary; he was ordained a deacon at the age of 19, and became general missionary of the Baptists in Arkansas and Missouri, »h£-re he built sixteen churches. he was "called" to Bethesda from St. Paul, Minnesota, where he P astored the Pilgrim Baptist Church. (Liberty Temple was apparently never established.) The general intellectual climate was one of unrest at the time of Hev. Podd's "heresy," and appeals to the religious tradition were being -70- made to sanction social change.* Two years be-fore Rev. Podd's sermon on "Socialism," August Parsons, the anarchist, deriding a bishop for "baptiz- ing" the cornerstone of the Board of Trade, had said sarcastically: "What a truthful follower that man must be of the tramp Nazarene, Jesus, who scourged the thieves from the Board of Trade of Jerusalem!" 44 In the raid-decade, a depression was in evidence. Labor was crusad- ing for the eight-hour day. uayor Garter Harrison declared that "nine out of every ten citizens wore with the strikers" during th street car strike of 1885. Finally, in 1886, "six men died under volleys of police fire out- side the McCormick works." 45 The next day, the Haymarket Riot took the lives of seven policemen and several other citizens. The trials of the Haymarket anarchists** ensued and it is not strange that Bethesda followed the ideology of the judge v:ho set the hanging for Friday, December third, 1885, rather than that of Parsons, the defendant, who said: "December 3rd ~a Friday— hangman's day: The day our Lord Jesus Christ died to save the world. He ray have died again and the world be saved again." 47 The secular interests of the growing Negro community were giving rise to non-church, non-professional groups during the eighties and Harris' The 3Tear before this, "Pastor" Taze Russell had published »'£he Time is at Hand," a booklet interpreting socialism as apart of "God's Plan." See St. Glair Drake, "Who are Jehovah's Witnesses," Christian Cen- tury, April 15, 1936. ■ Schwab, one of the condemned men, defined anarchy as ". . a state of society in which the only government is reason; a state of society in which all human beings ao right for the simple reason that it is right and hate wrong because it is wrong. " 4 ^> The great fear of anarchists was due to the fact that one wing believed in direct action, using even assass- ination, to remove "tyrants" who stood in the way of the new society. All anarchists were not "dynamiteros," however, as e.g. Tolstoy, the great pacifist author, or Thoreau of Walden Pond fame . It was never proved that tnese men had anything to do with the Haymarket explosions. -71- directory listed 5 clubs in 1885, only one of which i -.■ . church-club: the Autumn Club, the Original Autumn Club, the Young ?. ople's Literary Society of Olivet Baptist Church, the Colfax Social Club, and the Eleventh Ward 48 Social Club. An Old Settler stated that there was also another associa- tion—the Derby Club— which was similar in typo to the Autumn Club, both being "business men's clubs, and very exclusive— they were not at all like the clubs of today," 49 As a probable outgrowth of the loose methods of racial protest, the "Colored Men's State Central Committee of Illinois" was organized in the seventies, and in 1384 it met at the Palmer House to decide which presi- dential candidate to support. At this meeting there was some controversy between John Jones who supported Blaine and others who supported Arthur. 50 The st .r or the fraternal order was in the ascendant and by 1885 there were 21 lodges, 15 Masonic and 6 Odd Fellows, nd 14 Benevolent So- cieties. According to another pioneer resident, an additional social outlet was supplied in the eighties by the "private dancing school owned by M rs. Etta Shoo-craft Randall, where the young people spent much of their leisure 51 time. For the most part, however, if we may trust the memories of living informants: ... .the social life of the early »80's was mostly on a very small scale in the form of dinners and parties among the different families and clubs. These clubs were formed in and around the church There were no women's clubs. °2 Durin,;: the early »80's socializing was in the form of parties and dinners; other than this, the form of social life was found in the church. 00 -72- These persons also mentioned the Prudence Grand- 11 Club 54 and the 55 Manassah Society, a club of white and colored who had intermarried; how- ever, no notice of their activities appeared in the daily papers of this period.* The Seventies and Eighties Summary The Negro community was becoming increasingly self-con- scious during this period, a fact n fl. cted in the estab- lishment of three newspap rs within the twenty years the Conservator , the Chicago Appeal, and the Free Speech. Ihe Conservator be- came an influential organ, while thr others were more or less ephemeral. In 1885, I. C. Harris published Thj^JgoJLored_ jien's Professional and Business Dire ctory of Chicago , which listed all of the important associations, churches, and business and professional people. It was a significant index to the fact that the Negro community, as represented by the articulate edu- cated citizentry, was becoming increasingly self-oonscious. Harris listed six important churches, omitting for some unknown reason, three: Quinn Chapel, Olivet, and St. Thomas, to which we have fre- quently referred. The full roster in 1885, seems to have been as follows: * v See Appendix II for discussion of significance of the Manassah Club. -73- Church* Olivet Bapti, Bethel A.M,E. Q,uinn Chapel A,M,E, Bethesda Baptist St. Thomas Episcopal St. Stephenr l.M.E, Lee -Lion Harmon Court between ■/abash and State 239 Third Avenue Dearborn near Thirtieth Street 634 W. Hubbard Pastor Rev. Henry II. White Remarks G. Rev. W. Read Rev. T.~W, Henderson Morning and evening Sunday services; Sunday School, 2:30 P.M.; Missionary Meeting, Wednesdays; Young Men's Chris- tian Union, Thurs- days; Prayer Meet- . ings, Fridays. Thirty-fourth and Rev. J. Butt erf ie Id d. Podd 'Split" from Olivet. Rev. J. E. Thompson Emanuel Congrega tional St. Augustine's Catholic 2945 Dearborn Wabash and Sldridge Court jxev. R. Knight Rev. G. E. Boo th Father Lounigan Providence Bant 1st Kev. J. W, Polk Later known as St. Monica's, and pas- tor ed by Father Augustus Tolton; "first Catholic Priest of the Ameri- can Negro Family." Churches underlined sti ill in existence (1939), -74- The Chicago Tribun e, four years later, in 1889, mentioned five addi- tional churches; 56 Church Grace Presbyterian Harmon Baptist Date of Location Founding Pasto-j Remarks 1888 LaSalle Avenue Baptis t Christian A.M.E. St. Luke's Chapel St. Paul M.E. Zion M. E. After 1886 Turner Hall Rev. H. M, Jackson 1888 Turner Hall 2320 Stat i Street Rev. G. E. Reed "Split" from Bethel. Englewood Rev. Solomon Thirty members in Nichols 1889. 2862 State " Rev. W. C. Street Trevare Rev. J» Washington Original St. Paul Split and moved here, Other faction stayed at original site and jammed church "Zion." That there were also other smaller churches is suggested by a state- ment in the Tribune, four years later, to the effect that, "a number of mis- sions .... are doing good work among the colored people here . . . ." 57 The following charts prepared from data in Harris' directory reveal the types of secular organizations present in lSSS;^ 8 -75- Society (eOld Line") Lodges Location North Star #1 John Jones #7 MASONIC ..it. Hebron #29 Hiram ^14 326 So. Clark Street 326 So. Clark' S t re et State and Si xteenth St, State and Sixteenth St. Remarks Western ^ight #30 326 So. Clark Street KNIGHT TEMPLARS Grand Consistory 326 So. Clark of Illin ois st r e e t Godfrey Com- mandry #5 George Com- ma n dry #4 326 So. Clark Street Corinthian Com- m.. nd ry #1 326 So. Clark Street "326 So. Clark Street MASONIC AUXILIARIES Heroines of Jericho Eureka Court #11 State ynd Sixteenth St, Hutchinson 248 Wabash Avenue ODD FELLOVS West? rn Star M& Golden Fleece #1615 Past Grand Master's ~~ Council #20 248 Wabash Avenue 248 Wabash Avenue 248 Wabash Avenue ODD FELLOWS AUXILIARIES: Household of Ruth Mt. Mori ah ^44 and #153 248 Wabash .avenue These various Odd Fellows have a large commodious hall at 248 Wabash Avenue, fitted up in grand style with every convenience desir- able. They are the leading secret or- ganization of the city and are in- creasing with great rapidity during the lust several years.* Harris was a prominent Odd Fellow which may account for the lauding of this lodge and the absence of comments on the others. -76- Benevolent Female Societies Daughters of Union Sisters of the Mysterious Ten Daughters of Tabor Love and Charity Daughters of Tabor G. Sons and Daughtrrs of Samaria Daughters of Zion Mothers and Daughters of Israel Sons and Daughters of Moses Lodge Locat ion Remarks ffl Olivet Baptist Meetings: second Church Monday each month at 8:00 P.M. Mount Hope Temple Odd Fellovs Hall Western Light #87 Sixteenth and State Street Western Eagle 621 W. Indiana T abernacle - #127 Olive Branch Odd Fellows Tabernacle #23 Hall Rising Sun Tabernacle ftl Masonic Hall, 326 So. Clark Diamond City #72 Sixteenth and State Street Emanuel Lodge #8 Odd Fellows Hall Golden Gate Temp le #2 Lincoln and Indiana Mount Olive #44 302 So. Clark Street #1 Q,uinn Chapel Q,uinn Chapel Meetings: when called by notice. Golden Temple 302 So. Clark -77- Literary Societies Location Young People' a Literary Society Olivet Baptist Church Social Clubs Autumn Club Original Autumn Club ^50 Fourth Avenue Colfax Social Club W. Lake Street 11th Ward Social W. Lake Street Chicago Light Infantry Armory at 538 So, Clark Strret Activities lighteen "exemplary young men, very prom- inent in social af- fairs." Visiting days, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Special program, speaking, Singing," promenading, and grand banquet . Eighty-six members "well versed in mili- tary tactics." Files of the Negro newspapers of the era are not available, but the Barnett family has inherited a scrapbook, with clippings from the Conser- vator, which was made available to Professor Ralph Davis for his study of 59 the Negro newspaper in Chicago. The Conservator was founded in 1878 by Ferdinand L. Barnett, a young lawyer. Attorney Barnett, referring to the establishment of his paper stated in an interview: -78- At the time the Conservator was started there were about five thou- sand Negroes in Chicago. The Conserva tor was started as a means of ex- pression for Negroes and to aid' in the promotion of the welfare of the Negro group. When the paper was started the behavior of many of the Negroes was characterized by loose living and a lack of proper standards. There were few Negroes of culture ana refinement, and only a few jobs of any consequence were hold by Negroes. The paper .0 d« voted to the idea of stressing the importance of education, social uplift and correct liv- ing. Conflict between the races was not very great at the time the paper was started, consequently there was little cpaee given to the discussion of race relations in the local community. There were, how- ever, occasional clashes between the Irish and the Negroes. When these or anything else occurred they were discussed in the paper. The Con- servator did start a discussion concerning the emoloyment of NegroesTs street car conductors and Motormen />ic/. This did not amount to any- thing, v/e were just talking to hear ourselves. 60 We are able to obtain a glimpse of the society during the seventies and eighties from a study of the Conservator . The picture is one of a com- pact, rapidly growing community, differentiated by community concensus into three broad social groups. The "respectables"— church-going, poor or mod- erately prosperous— often unrestrained in their worship, were looked down upon somewhat by the "refined" people, who because of their education could not sanction the less decorous behavior of their racial brothers. Both groups in turn were censorious of the "riff-raff," "the sinners "-unchurch- ed and undisciplined. The "refined people" conceived of themselves as the defenders of the race and were often embarrassed by tho less cultured Ne- groes who they felt should be whipped into line with riaieule, sarcasm, ed- ucation, and as a last resort --the law. The Conservator inveighed against the shady side of Chicago Negro life in an editorial: GOING TO RUIN We are calling attention to the fact that a number of our girls and boys are on the road to ruin. The boys rioting in the Clark and 4th -79- Avenue dives, laying the foundations for lives of thieves, thugs and murderers, and the girls walking the streets in gaudy attire--attract- ing notice--exciting comment and rapidly linking their lives, «it.h those whose "house is the gate of Hell, going down to the chambers of death." How sad it is to see the girls we have known in their innocent childhood, change their lives, jusv when life's days should be the brightest; change from piety, virtue and happiness to vice, dissipation and woe. Mothers are you blind? Fathers are you deaf? Christians are you asleep? For the sake of God and Humanity, let some one rescue these young lives from dissipation's perpetual gloom. As epposed to this type of life, the Conservator held m as "models," young people who were "improving themselves," and "advancing the race." Four colored students graduated last week from the University of Michigan. Two in law ana two in medicine. In conversation with coir ored students during the past year, we were glad to hear that scarcely a vestige of the "caste" spirit is ever seen. They attend or are free to attend all meetings, educational and. social, and are never made to feel out of place. There has never yet been a colored graduate from the collegiate course. Miss Mary II. Graham whose matriculation in '76 caused such a stir in Michigan circles will be the first to achieve this distinction. She is now a Junior and is notably proficient in mathematics and languages. Mr. C. Williams, a Sophomore and a young man of rare moral worth is winning a golden name at the University He is held in high degree of respect by the citizens ana the Faculty. In languages he is most proficient making them a particular study, as a means of increas- ing his powers when he enters upon his determined profession — The Law. Would there were more such men as he — Ethiopia might well rejoice. 62 The paper was often caustic in its criticisms, and the following quarrel with the clergy and the church seems modern both in content and tone. One of the truest test of a people's advancement is the character of their churches and attendance. As a rule we are a church going peo- ple, but we have- contracted some woefully bad habits, and they are too serious to pass unnoticed. Last Sunday night we attended one of our city churches, and felt like weeping in sackcloth and a&h s over the poor order we witnessed. When eight o'clock arrived instead of the church being full and ready for services, there was hardly a third of the audience assembled, and so the minister in charge very unfortunately indulged the tardy ones by waiting for them to come. •as a result preaching began at eight minutes to nine o'clock— just about the time to sing doxology. The sermon was a good one, but there -80- is not much appreciation in one who goes at a reasonable hour and has to wait till bed time before it begins. When the service was about half through the church became comfort- ably filled; young ladies who had been "billing and cooing'* the entire evening, old people who had been busy chatting about their neighbors and forgot to look at the clock, the young scapegraces who stand upon the street corners and disgrace their parents and themselves by their interrupting the minister, annoying the audience and disgusting every one of sense. One man entered the sanctuary at twenty-seven minutes to ten o'clock and instead of taking the first vacant seat, he had to walk as far down the aisle as possible with a tramp that indicated large 27 Brogans. About this time people were sleepy, who could blame them; it was bed time. One brother in Israel did some nodding, that would make a billy goat hide his face—while about the middle of the church a sober- sided sister leaned up against the soft side of the iron pillar and took a regular old camp meeting snooze. But there is an end to everything, so with the service, but oh what a disgusting close. Of course it was late— three minutes to ten— but that was no excuse. as soon as the choir began the doxology, about one-half of the audience broke for the door, just as they do when the curtain is about to fall at the theatre. All through the doxology a continual stream ooured out of the doors, and deacons stood and looked upon the shameful" conduct without a remonstrance. They should have closed the doors. If people have for- gotten their manners a judicious reminder is always in order. pt last the benediction was pronounced over the faithful few who went early— went to serve and not to be seen. We dislike to show an ugly picture of a Chicago Church but we must look at the facts squarely. In the first place our ministers should begin their services on time. There is no earthly excuse for delaying the sermon. The more indulgence the people get the more they require, especially in warm weather. If once they know that service will begin at eight they will be on hand. Again early service, short sermons and prompt dismissals will obviate all napping in church, and a determined stand taken by the church officials will stop this scandulous unmannerly theater like dis- missal which disgraces our city churches. Let us hope that these thoughts, which however harsh they may seem are candid and with good intent, will cause our people to remedy these existing evils. 00 Davis continues: The text on the "Hebrew Children in the Fiery Furnace" so often in- dulged m by some Negro ministers of past generations did not escape the editor's critical pen. In this criticism the editor points out the purpose and function of the church and urged the ministers in charge of churches to see that well prepared persons are presented to the public- -81- Poor "Shadrack, Meshack ana noednego" caught it last Sunday at the Olivet. Reverence for the good old man forbids any harsh comment upon the "few broken remarks" and it was reverence alone which kept many from walking out of the church before they wore half given. Had the sermon been preached to some audiences there would have been a happy time — heartrending groans, spasmodic cries, upturned benches, fainting females and annihilated water-falls, but Chicago audiences are not giv- en to such backwoods demonstrations. They go to church to learn, they have learned ministers and look for good sermons. Vie hope our minis- ters will either supply their own pulpits or see that they are ably and acceptably filled. This practice of filling the pulpit of a first class church with a fifth class preacher, is a nuisance, and should not be tolerated. G4 Questions of social status which interested the less church-minded "respectables" of the day, as well as the role of the white middle classes as the prestige-bearers of the total society, can be inferred from this sprightly exchange of letters in the Conservator ; PU BLIC KTTERTKfh T LENT3 To the Editor--! presume that there will be few who will question the sincere desire upon my part to improve the morals and respectabil- ity of our people resident in this city. Consequently I have no fears but that a criticism by me of the communication and editorial in the last number will be understood as not courting a discussion of the question of needed social improvement of our Social affairs, but a de- sire to resent the captious fault finding which pr evades both articles, without in either case suggesting a remedy of investigating the cause of the demoralization complained of. I hove not the desire or incli- nation to apologize for the seeming recognition which is complained of as being given to certain characters at such places and I view such contact as highly demoralizing, yet you suggest no remedy that will be efficient. I am of the opinion that the entertainments referred to are given by the various bodies who do give them for the pecuniary benefit of the societies with which they are identified, and as such, are to be viewed from a purely business point of view. The proprietor of a place of business would be deficient in proper business capacity did he allow the character of his customers to become a barrier to the proper prose- cution of such business, provided such customers observed the proper rules of courtesy upon his premises; so in the entertainments referred to, being only a business character it would be insane in the parties interested in their pecuniary success to insist upon a certificate of good moral character so long as the parties maintained the proper de- corum. The inadvisability of such exclusivoness in entertainments of an entirely public character was fully exemplified in the financial re- sult of a 3 lect picnic given by the Masonic Lodge in which they en- deavored to consult good morals and correct taste by issuing invita- tions, with the result of greatly diminished exchequer. The majority -82- of reputable people invited remained at home, and those upon whom they might have depended for a proper sustenance wore not among the elect. It cannot be denied that the contact sustained in these public affairs is, to a certain extent, contaminating /sic_7, but the remedy is as plain as the evil. Let those who feel that they are not sufficiently secure in their respectability refrain from contact with the offensive rabble. Let the proper entertainments be instituted upon a more select basis and for social benefit alone, not to replenish a depleted exche- quer. The desire expressed for a superior class of entertainments is a proper one, and should receive the proper encouragement, but the sanc- timonious cant contained in the communication referred to, is the nau- seating repetition of the objection to young men participating in the amusements provided at these entertainments. This refrain has been re- peated so often, with no suggestion of a remedy or effort to supply the lack of proper amusements, that to one who sincerely desires the im- provement of our society, it is positively disgusting. With a city crowded with young men and but one society of a social character that tolerates dancing, for a person of professed respectability, knowing this deficiency, to censure these persons for indulging in such pas- time, is to present objections so flavored with sanctimonious hypocracy as to be almost unbearable- ■ Why does not your immaculate correspondent institute a series of a- musement for their benefit, and when they show a lack of appreciation, then censure them. They must have amusement why censure them for this indulgence, when you and your compeers in your immaculate and exalted sphere of social exclusive -ness, make no attempt to supply the deficien- cy? I make no objection to their indulgence, as I f .r that I am fully as responsible for the feet that there are so few av nues of amusement open as many others of the older citizens, who have it in their power to cater to the social enhancement of their young friends, yet have studiously avoided all efforts in that direction. The responsibility should be placed where it belongs. Your correspondent objects to miscellaneous dancing, and at the same time censures the interminable oratory indulged in. Would he rob us of all our amusements? Take dancing from the profane, and public speeches from the goody-goody, what will be the result? Such social apathy that we will only have church going as a recreation, and there listen to the, in many instances the senseless tirades which you so fitly characterized in a late number of your paper. How many citizens are there who offer these young men the amount of hospitality which should be extended to them to prevent their seeking questionable amuse- ments? How many social clubs ar^ there in existence which are not per- meated with the religious cant that pervades our social structure at not to view the holy horrors the crime of dancing, while at the same moment crimes against society are committed and screened, which those whom they censure for public dancing would shudder to tolerate, much less commit. Place the responsibility where it belongs. Upon one hand we have a religious element which affords no amusement for the young, save that afforded by some of the grotesque, fanatical church perform- ances, and on the other, highly exclusive element which can, but will not, provide the recreation which should be given the younger portion of our social world. -83- I accept whatever responsibility I nay be under for any over ex- clusiveness in the matter considered, and scorn to censure these per- sons for indulging in such amusements as myself a .ci others should af- ford them upon a more exclusive and refined basis; which provision would remove the probability and excuse they now have for committing the great social outrage which has so excited the sensibilities of your correspondent. Lewis B. White. ANSVJSR Our correspondent says it is captious fault-finding to raise our voice against associating ourselves, our wives, and sisters with the most degenerate inmates of prostitution. Chicago society has so long tolerated this festering evil that it now finds excuse and palliation. What greater proof do we need of its degenerating influence? Talk of finance! Better that all societies in our city go into bankruptcy than our sensibilities be so blunted as to tolerate the presence among re- spectable people of pimps and prostitutes. The gentlemen cites the Masonic which proved a financial failure. We refer him to the picnic given by the Sunday Schools where no invita- tions were sent, and still no improper characters allowed, and which was a marked financial success; also to the first of August picnic, where his theory was fully carried out, and as a result the disreput- able doings of the day have been published to the world, and brought shame to every colored person in the city. From his argument one would infer that our society finances must be furnished by these poor unfor- tunates. The cause of this seeming necessity is that societies cater so much to their wants that they alienate respectable people, and that Christian societies often do harm by their over zealous endeavors to do good. We can see no reason for refusing to allow ladies and gentlemen to dance when they feel so disposed. It is a precaution rarely taken in white circles, and their social status is a good guide. But because we cannot have our enjoyment as we wish, is no excuse or palliation for the association of good and bad, as we have mentioned above. When do we ever find the residents of the Avenue mixing with deni- zens of the gilded hells of infamy. Did our correspondent ever see a white gentleman publicly recognize a fast woman? Bid he ever see a white gentleman introduce his wife into their presence? Did he ever see him leave his wife and lose himself in the whirl of a merry dance with a "soiled dove" in his embrace? Can white gentlemen do so and maintain their social position? Certainly not. Can we afford to lower our social status? What respect will white people have for us, if they know that we mingle freely, good, bad and indifferent all in one motely mass for the sake of money? Is not morality above money, money gat- ing? Must decent people become the- consorts and associates of prosti- tutes that a society may prosper? We answer, no. If societies cannot give entertainments and protect their respectable patrons from the jeers and elbowing of street walkers, let them come out squarely and give fast balls, and respectable people will protect themselves by staying away. As it is they carry on a perfect imposition. They ad- -84- vertize a "grand entertainment" have half a dozen speakers and thus draw a respectable audience. Speaking over, this audience should be allowed the pleasure of dancing - but no; at 12 o'clock the scene changes. As if by magic the house is filled with white and black pros- titutes, and the grand entertainment degenerates into a fancy house ball. The gentleman asks for a remedy. There is no remedy save in prevention. There is only one piece where decent people end outcasts can mjet on a level and that is the grave. Elsewhere there is a gulf unalter- ably fixed between them and all financial sophistry and policy schemes cannot bridg* it. The invective of our immaculate correspondent (truthfully so cell- d for she a lady of the first circle in our city) may be "sanctimonious cant." We nay be guilty of "captious fault-find- ing." Our objectors may be flavored with "sanctimonious hypocracy" but we are proud of our "exalted sphere of social exclusiveness," and we will labor to create a public sentiment that will scorn to tolerate the presence of prostitutes and their paramours among decent people. We will endeavor to tear the gildud sophisms from vice end. show its gilded mein and to establish s social line, on ore side of which is purity, virtue and happiness, and on the other certain death. Although lines of social class were evident in the community, soli- darity in the face of the white world was also evident, and intra-racial criticisms were excused as follows: "Let us hop th ( bhesi thoughts, how- ever harsh they may seem, are candid; and with good intent, will cause our people to remedy existing evils." ° It was only natural that thoughtful individuals would see an opportunity in the political world to both "ad- vance the race" and gain some individual prestige and emoluments. Editor Barnett about 187S wrote an editorial, POTENT YET PACIFIC, in which he sta- ted that the colored people of Illinois though "compcratively few in number .... hold the balance of power." 57 However, he allayed the fears of the Republicans, but at the same time threatened a split vote in these words; We are an important factor in tho body politic and we know it, but we have novt r once used our power to defeat the p^rty which lays claim to our gratitude and support The Republican Party need not fear a loss of eur votes se long as a due regard is p-^id to our ac- knowledged rights, but when it counts upon us as e matter of course, and refuses to consult our wishes there will be exercised that potent influence we are known to possess and which so far we have held in peace. ° -85- Th e maintenance of racial solidarity was necessary to preserve the institutional structure which had arisen and the position of the business and professional classes within it, as well as the positions in the vari- ous associational hierarchies. It was an inevitable reflection of a bi- racial social organization, particularly when such organization implied super and sub-ordination* There was much confusion over the apparent con- tradiction between the struggle for equal rights and the defense of bi- racialism— as for instance Harriett's appeal: "As a race let us forget the past so far as we can, and unite with other men upon issues, liberal, es- sential, and not dependent upon color or skin or texture of hair for its political gravamen," and his consistent attempts to foster solidarity as in the editorial, "SPELL IT WITH A CAPITAL": We have noticed an error which all journalists seem to make. Whether from mistake or ill-intention we are unable to say, but the profession universally begin Negro with a small letter, 'it is cer- tainly improper, and as no one has ever given us a good reason for this breach of orthorography /sic/, we will offer one. White men be- gan printing long before Colored men dared read their works, had power to establish any rule they saw fit. As a mark of disrespect, as a stigma, as a badge of inferiority, they tacitly agreed to spell his nane without a capital. The French, German, Irish, Dutch, Japanese and other nationalities, arc honored with a capital letter, but the poor sons of Ham must b^ar the burden of a small n. To our Colored journalistic brothers we present this as a matter of self interest. Spell it with a capital. To the Democrat journals we present this as a matter of good grammar. To the Republicans we present this as a matter of right. Spell it with a capital. To all persons who would take from our wearied shoulders a hair's weight of the burden of prejudice and ill will we bear, we present this as a matter of human charity and beg you SPELL IT WITH A CAPITAL. But it was a contradiction that did not impede action. When the nineties came, the pattern of relationships between Ne- groes and whites, and within the Negro community, was fairly well set. In 1874, Negroes were admitted to the public schools, after a decade of pres- sure by the community; and in 1885, a Civil Rights Bill was passed, guar- anteeing Negroes legal equality of status. Theii emancipation was complete 16- The nineties were hectic years in the life of Chicago. The Nineties Incluaed in them were: a great World i n air, a titanic la- bor struggle, the assassination of the mayor on his door- step, and the launching of a rousing crusade against vice. By 1890, Chi- cago had become America's second largest city. Although 68 per cent of its population was foreign-born, it was not Europe alone which gave its sons to the city, for according to the colorful historians, Lewis and Smith: Each year thousands of young men set their faces toward the adven- turous city while their mothers wept for fear of Chicago's contaminating sins. Chicago was known as a young man's tow*i. Among them were such up-and-coming young men as Adelbert Roberts, who later became the first Negro State Senator, and Dan Jackson, university trained gambler-politician who died thirty-soven years later with a reputed fortune of a -aart r of a million dollars. But the great black masses a- long the routj of the Illinois Central Railroad— running south— had not yet been stirred. Negroes were scattered all over the city, but by 1890, "an almost continuous belt of Negro occupancy had been formed from the edge of the downtown business district to Thirty-fifth Street between State and Went- worth. In this ar^a, Negroes formed a largo percentage of the popula- 70 tion." Negroes had also begun to settle on Forty-seventh Street. The area of Negro concentration was contingent to the so-called "vice area" of the city, and therefore, the more prosperous and successful Negroes tended to move East of State Street and South of Thirty-fifth Street when property could be secured, while the wealthy whites who had lived in the "thirties" on Prairie Avenue were moving to the Gold Coast on the North Shore. -87- Tho bulk of the employed Negro population was engaged in domestic and personal service and unskilled labor, although bj e professional and business classes were steadily growing-, and opportuniti a in federal civil service arose after 1895» In 1893, there were 78 postal employees but by 1900 there were 135. With a liberal political administration under w^ayor Vi/ashburne, a number of policemen were appointed anu by the middle of the decade there wore 23 in uniform. 71 Perhaps the most important event for Chicago during the nineties wus the famous World's Columbian Exposition of The World's Columbian Sxposit ion — 1893 1893, aubbea. by President Cleveland, "stupendous results of American enterprise .... magnificent evidence of American skill and in- telligence " 72 The relationship of the Negro community to this event throws some light on Negro-white relations and the strength of Negro institutions during- the nineties. In 1892, Negroes were demanding representation at the Fair, and the Tribune carried a news article about their demand: COLORED CITIZENS' JtdTD THE FAIR WILL .. shing ton. After an organ voluntary and prayer, Lloyd G. Wheeler, President of the Club, made a brief opening address. Longfellow's "Psalm of Life" was sung, and Dr. Che rles E. Bent ley followed with a paper on "The Men of the Anti-Slavery Movement." 74 When Douglass spoke, he did not forget Chicago's stormy forties and fifties, stating that: Th: - Prudence Crandall Cl ub apparently represented the intellectual elements of the nineties. Among other things, its members "discussed, at several meetings, the 'Evolution Theory'". 175 This was the only club which wee sufficient by importance to re- ceive mention in the daily press. -89- In this city, too, there were men. Let us not forget James Col- lins, John Jones, and Freer, who were staunch.' friends. Forty years a- go there were always here a roof, table, and house for the most abject abolitionist. ' ° When he was ready to leave the city a meeting was held in his honor at Q,uinn Chapel : FREDERI CK DOUGLASS HONORED BY B01H ■tu-il/ajQ ill xilO ixiiirtVili j-J-iltliiLr. Q,uinn Chapel , at Twenty-fourth Street and Indiana Avenue, was the scene of leave-taking between Frederick: Douglass ana the colored people of Chicago last night. The church was filled with an audience of white and colored people. .... In speaking of the prejudice a- gainst men of his race in the SvUth, he said fcho people of the South had better beware as to how they aroused th' strength in the black man's arm. When he made this ref- rence he was chorea/'' 7 Among the features of the Fair were the great "congresses": Now was the time to solv. everything. There w- s one congress of "strong-minded women," as they were then known. Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Elizabeth C_dy Stanton, the- Countess of Aberdeen, Mrs. Julie Word Howe, and many others whose names still mean something, were on the program. Temperance reformers had a big time with Frances Willard ^nd Archbishop Ireland as leaders. Social reformers followed suit, dis- cussing such things as pauperism, juvenile delinquency, prevention of crimes. Bankers met, but Chicago bankers, preoccupied by the panic had to stay at their desks. And th' re were other meetings, culminat- ing in the vast Parliament of Religions, an assemblage of all faiths, of all the greatest religious leaders - except the Archbishop of Can- terbury, who c mid not convince himself of the "parity" of other faiths with his. He w s not missed. Under the Rev. Jvhn Henry Bar- rows, Chicago silver-tongued preacher, all races, creads, and tradi- tions got a hearing. Ail seemed to expect the millenium which did not arrive in 1893. 7y Indeed, instead of the inillenium came the Fear Horsemen, — The Panic of 1893 — and the Spanisli-Americaa War! In September, the ■«.. M. E.'s met; Delegates from all parts of the United States to the African Meth- odist Episcopal Congress gathered yesterday morning in the Hall of Washington. The interest taken by the colored people of Chicago was apparent from the large audience present. The combined Choirs of Q,uinn and Bethel Chapels furnished excellent music during the session. -90- .... After being welcomed by President Bonney, Prince Walkonsky of Russia made a short address One of the features of the session was the presence of the Rev. Daniel A. Payne of Wilberforce, Chic. Bishop Payne is the oldest living Bishop of the African Methodist Epis- copal Church in America. Hampered with a feeble and aged body his mind is as bright and clear as though ninety years had not rolled over his now snowy white head. His words were received with great conviction and enthusiasm. The topics discussnd dealt with the history of this, the oldest Negro de- nomination. Among them were; "The Philosophy of the Episcopacy of the Af- rican Methodist Episcopal Church"; "The Origin, Rise and Progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church"; "What are the Needs of the Hour?"; "The Heroines of Methodism Before the War"; "The Religious Press, Its power and Influence"; "The Literature and Authors of the African Methodist Epis- copal Church." 80 In February of 1893, the Methodist Freedmen's Aid and Southern Edu - cation Socjpty met at the First Methodist Episcopal Church (white). Prom- inent clergymen ana laymen were present, and .... several noted Methodist Ministers delivered addresses on the right of the Negro in the Church. .... Among other remarks_ concern- ing the Negro and his value as a citizen and Christian, /a speaker/ said that the effort now made to create the imprassion that the Negro is a vicious and dangerous element of society was astounding. "The ef- fort," he said, "expends itself in making the most of every occasion of crime on his part, and so putting him in the position of the unfortu- nate animal who is pursued by the cry of a mad dog and who, whatever his condition may be as to health or otherwise, is destined to a tragic end." During his discourse, he endeavored to prove that the assertions a- gainst Negroes' usefulness were without foundation, stating as an ex- ample the immense cotton crops wrought by the hands of the black men. His closing remarks were to the effect that the colored man will prob- ably have to fight his way by patient, toilsome, and long suffering ef- forts, much the same in the future as in the past, for the next gener- ation or two. Dr. J. C. Hartzell of Cincinnati dwelt .... upon the disfran- chising of the Negro by legislative legerdemain in the State of Missis- sippi, and the idea that the Methodist Church should be divided into separatb sections one for the black and the other for white people he -91- denounced as unmet hodis tic and unchristian. In conclusion he said; "Let the Methodist Episcopal Church stand by its colors and preach the gospel.". . . . A mass meeting was held in the evening at the Church The program consisted of stereopticon representations of the schools, churches, faculties, etc, of the Methodist Church in the South, to- gether with representations of plantation life costumes, habits, work, and worship of the colored and white people, by the Rev. J. C. Hart- zell, accompanying it with a descriptive lecture. Bishop Samuel Fallows of this city addressed .... himself almost wholly to a review of the reasons why the Methodists are making so much greater headway in the South than the Presbyterians. The union of the Freedmen's Aid Society and the Educational Society he characterized as a particularly happy combination. Bishop J. W. Joyce followed with a ringing plea for more money and greater enthusiasm in prosecuting the work of the society. In presenting his subject, "The Present Status of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the South," he said: "We have 33 conferences south of the Ohio River in what was slave territory, 17 an- nual conferences among the colored people and 16 among the white peo- ple. We have 6,008 churches and 700 other places in which Church meet- ings are held, a total of 6,778. Since the beginning of its existence the society has spent $4,700, 709 r . The Church Extension Soceity has built 6,000 Churches, and the Freedmen's Aid Society has put up forty colleges which have 10,000 students. We have 246,174 colored members and 253,076 white members a total of 499,250. As each actual member represents two additional attendants, we have a constituency of 1,479,- 750. We have given back to you $1,580,000." He also laid special stress on the statement that the people of the South are Protestants. ox The Catholics met in September and the "Colored Catholic Congress" issued a statement to the church: In the name of our brethren throughout America we desire to thank the church for the many charities conducted North and South by Catholic philanthropy distinctly for our people. We heartily indorse the mag - nificent effort our church is making in educating our youth in indus - trial lines . We are proud of our parochial schools, our orphanages, and higher educational institutions, but above all things we rejoice that our church, the Church of our love, the Church of our faith, has not failed to stand by its historic record. And at this time, notwith- standing race antagonism is at its height, notwithstanding, after only thirty years of freedom, the Negro has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the reasonable, intelligent, God-fearing, and Catholic that the Ne- gro is a man and brother, public opinion has molded the sentiment that a Negro could not be a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. The Cath- olic Church has rebuked this sentiment by ordaining the Rev. Father A . Tol ton,* the first lMegro priest in America, and the Rev. Father C. R . Uncles to the exalted esta te of Catholic priesthood . We desire to say, every encouragement, every fraternal greeting extended the priests »f *°>ee p. 73 -92- our race are in our opinion so many more proofs of the divine truth of Catholic Religion. The Catholic spirit we ask for in the future is that exemplified by the Columbian Catholic Congress __in making the Colored Catholic Congress a part of itself, /italics edV 82 This expression of appreciation reveals the acceptance by this body of Book- er T. Washington's philosophy of education, as well as a keen sensitiveness to racial discrimination. At one meeting of the Parliament of Religions, Bishop Arnett of the A. M. E. church presided, and the account of this meeting is quoted in its entirety, in that it gives the contrasting attitudes toward racial advance- ment of a white Catholic and a Negro Met nodi st, and reveals some of the myths held by Negroes and whites respectively, viz., the beliefs in the in- feriority of Negroes on one hand, and the exaggerated claims of a "racial history," on the other. Bishop Arnett 's address reveals the typical florid oratory of the period, reminiscent of the Bryan and Ingersoll tradition, and states the case for the Negro as it was presented by the more conservative leaders of the North. It appeals to the democratic -humanitarian tradition, and the ideals of Christian brotherhood, as well as to the ideals of the white mid- dle class. The position is essentially that of Booker Washington, modified to fit a northern situation where to request political power was neither heretical nor dangerous. Professor 'Gorman's paper presents the Catholic view of the '•'Mystical Body of Christ" and the "Order of Nature" as the com- mon denominator of humanity, but does not suggest disturbing the hierarchial order of races and classes. Bishop Arnett 's emphasis was on "The Heights We Have Reached"; Professor 0' Gorman's paper was on "The Deaths From Which We Have Come." The former view tends toward exaltation and enthusiasm; the latter toward caution and patience. Both accept the ideal of the eventual "equality" of all men: -93- TO UPLIFT the iiegro Siarnest Pleas Hade For the Colored Hen's Slevation, Relation of the Catholic Church to the Dusky Race Ably Stated in a Paper Read by Prof. 0' Gorman—Bishop Arnett Speaks Encouragingly of the Progress of the Negroes and Asks for the Full Rights of American Citi- zens; Prejudice Should Not Prevail, More enthusiasm prevailed at last evening's session than at any yet held during the Parliament. The words of Bishop Arnett of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as he pleaded for justice and fair play for his race aroused the audience to prolonged applause. Bishop Arnett was the presiding officer, and introduced Prof. 'Gorman of Washington Uni- versity, who read a paper prepared by the Rev. J. R. Slattery of St. Joseph's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, on "The Catholic Church and the Negro Race." He said: "In the eyes of the Catholic Church the Negro is a man. Her teach- ing is that through Christ there is established a brotherly bond between man and man, people and people. Just as in the order of nature we have a common origin, so in the order of grace we have a like source and the same channels of salvation. If, then, the Negro may be called a man a- mong men, and an heir to all the glorious privileges of humanity, and also of Christianity, what, we may ask, are the means to be employed to place him in possession of his divine heritage? There is, I believe, one true means for his advancement, and that is the Negro himself, guid- ed and led by Christianity. The first element in the elevation of the human race is the black man himself. To attempt anything for the black man without making the black man himself the chief instrument for good would be to attempt the play of "Hamlet" with the part of Hamlet left out, "His future demands the building up of his character, and this is best done by the mingled efforts of brotherly white men. In the forma - tion o f his charact er, which is his weak spot , chief stress should be laid on moral training and education. External influences controlled by noble men and women of both races will count for more with him than with us • Neit her by natu re nor by tr a ditional training can the colored peo - ple, t aken as a b oo.y , sta_ad_ as_yet upon the s ame footing of moral inde - pendenc e as their white brotJnern, The careful, patient, and Christian intervention of the whites and the best of the blacks, working together, in using all the means demanded for the formation of manhood and woman- hood is their right, as well as their need, in the present hour." The next paper was by Bishop Arnett who said in substance: The Negro is elder than Christianity. I n som e way or _other he has been conne cted with t h e history of every sg e a nd every work, so that no history of the past is complete y/ithout so 'tiq "referen c e to the Negr o or his home , Africa, whose soil has been abundantly fruitful in some of the -94- best and many of the worst of human productions. Standing in the pres- ence of the chosen representatives of the culture, intelligence and wealth of the civilization of sixty centuries, the legitimate heirs of at least 180 generations of men, there is a grandeur and sublimity in the occasion, which makes me feel the more the weight of the hour, and the importance of my message from a people who have suffered in the "iron past" so much .sorrow, shed rivers of tears and. foundations /sic/aT blood, while the winds of heaven bore aloft their petitions to the Most High. Tuey prayed and their prayers were answered by the Christian's God. The "doors of their prison" were thrown open by an invisible hand. That hand still holds the door open, and says to us and to you, "I can open and no man can shut. I can shut and no man can. open." We are enjoying the silver present, constructing and reconstructing the family altars, furnishing our homes, accumulating property, culti- vating the spirit of the hazarene towards our foes, laying a foundation broad and deep in goodness, intelligence, and usefulness, so that the future generations may complete the temple of universal liberty and jus- tice — a temple before whose altars all men shall be equal, and every race, kindred, and tongue shall furnish an Aaron to administer before its altar, and Levites to sing the songs of freedom and redemption. I have an abiding faith in Christianity and believe that we are on the threshold of a golden future , that the future home of every Negro will be a temple and a sanctuary, dedicated and consecrated to religion, mo- rality, and education, with the father the preceptor in Art, science and literature, ana the mother the teacher of domestic economy* All we ask is the right of an American citizen, the right to "life, likerty and the pursuit of happiness," and that we be given the rights and privileges that belong to every citizen of a Christian Commonwealth. It is not pity we ask for, but justice; it is not help, but a fair chance; we ask not to be carried but to be given an opportunity to walk, run, or stand alone in our own strength, or to fall in our own weakness. We are not begging bread, but craving an opportunity to earn bread for our wives and children. Treat us not as wards of a nation, nor as ob- jects of pity, but treat us as American citizens and Christian men and women. We do not shun judgment, but we do ask to be judged justly and without prejudice. Hear both sides of our case before you render a verdict and then render it according to the testimony given. J". M. Bell, a colored man, then recited an original poem. The ses- sion was concluded by the little son of Bishop Arnett presenting a hand- somely bound volume of "Ashley's Orations and Speeches" to the author, ex-Gov. James M. Ashley of Ohio, one of the pioneers of the Anti-Slavery League. ... .83 Newspapers discussing Negro participation at the Fair emphasized two aspects of Negro life: (1) unique "Negro" traits, and (2) the Negro's abil- ity to acquire the values of "civilization." A long article in the Tribune ■95- in 1893: "PRIDE OF THE RACE— THREE DUSKY POETS," revealed the outlines of these beliefs. "Primitivism" was already accounted a fact and a virtue by- friendly white critics, and Negroes had long since acquired the reputation of being "good singers": In literature as well as music the presence of the Negro is assum- ing a distinct phase of development. It is being asked on every hand, what means this strange growth? Emotional, florid, intense, tropic, if you please to name it so, it gathers life and strength with the growing years and takes hold with fascinating charm the thought of the whole people. In Chicago at this time there are three Negro poets of positive power - Albany A. Whitman, William H. A. Moore, and Paul Dunbar.* Al- bany Whitman is the oldest of the three, Moore the next, and the young- est Dunbar, having just reached his majority. They stand as three dis- tinct types of the American Negro. Whitman has few of the physical characteristics of the Negro, There are many places in the North where he could easily pass for a well-to-do white Southerner, his manner of speech and dress, the contour of his head and the cast of his features betraying scantily his Negro origin. Moore is of that deep full brown which has been made familiar to us by the distinguished Hindoos, who visited tiie World's Parliament of Religions, His hair and features, however, disclose.: his origin, ana it can be told at a glance that the African is dominant, if not wholly in control, Dunbar is a pure speci- menof the African. He is dark complexioned and the cast of his fea- tures point unmistakably to his unmixed blood. Whitman's early life was spent in Kentucky a At the close of the war he came North and sought the means of an education. It was a struggle beset with many difficulties. He secured the bulk of his edu- cation at Wilberforce University, of which Bishop B. W. Arnett, who was one of the most popular figures in the Parliament of Religions, is a controlling spirit. He afterwards became a minister of the African Methodist church, and is still numbered among the organization's most influential and able divines* Mr. Whitman began writing verse about 1877. Mr. Dunbar has, undoubtedly, a great future and it is not expecting too much to look for some work from his pen which will arrest the at- tention of all the people of the land. His poem read by himself on "Colored Americans Today" at the Fair grounds has made him well known to the people of Chicago* This sketch is not for the purpose of giving a place to these Ne- Of this trio, Dunbar, alone, is now considered among the more ;ifted Negro poets. -96- gro poets in our literature, but simply bo acquaint the readers of the Tribune with the fact that we have had among us this summer colored men and women who are not only students of the literature of our language, but are also making creditable effort to play a part in the development of what might be called American literature. ^ During the summer of the Fair a financial panic struck the country, followed by a winter of extreme misery. Thousands of homeless men, victims of the Panic of '95 were sleeping in the parks, in the lobbies of the City Hall, and in police stations. The population of the poorhouse increased by four hundred in one week! Evictions ran to hundreds per day, and beggars were everywhere. Chicago rallied to meet the crisis, and "It was declared by a reliable newspaper that during the worst of the crisis sixty thousand men a day were fed free by saloon keepers. . . , ,"°° One observer charged that "The only place where the poor man can exist free now is the sa- loon." 86 A Negro Baptist minister, however, looking back on this period, as- signs a more important place to churches as agencies of relief, in this vi- pn vid description of the crisis: In those days a mighty revival of religion had been moving since the World's Fair, about the close of which our great Mayor had been as- sassinated at his door.* The city was thrown into the deepest mourning and there followed one of the worst money panics seen in many years. Church doors were opened wide, missions houses were crowded, soup sta- tions were erected all over the city. Mr, Moody had organized a mis- sion band and toured the city, and I tell you to have seen and heard what was going on by and among the people would have made the days of Esther look very calm in comparison, indeed. Then troubles of all kinds arose with amazing swiftness and pre- sented formidable new perplexities -rid problems in our individual home life and in the national economic life. Industrial and manufacturing establishments and kindred activities, supplemented with products of the arts and crafts and trades had closed their plants and laborato- ries, work rooms and shops. Skilled and common laborers by the millions Mayor Carter Harrison was assassinated near the close of the Fair by a disappointed office-seeker named Prendergast. -97- were idle ana their families daily begging for bread. Banks and other kinds of financial institutions were hard hit, and failures of same were many. Fortunes great and small were sv/ept away, leaving hundreds of thousands of the people penniless. Credit in all channels of human progress was next to impossible to get. Hardest hit of all in the great melting pot of American citizen- ship, ttie Negro was it. And for reasons perfectly obvious to the wise and the otherwise, it was perfectly plain to know and see why our peo- ple had little or no money at all. It was clear to all, why it was, of all the great institutions in existence dedicated to human uplift work and giving spiritual comfort to the distressed, and in keeping up a sustaining morale, our churches of whatever denomination they were suffered most, in the woeful money drought. The several Baptist institutions located at various points in the United States, supplemented with homes for orphaned children and for aged people, which had received regular and substantial support by the Wood River Baptist Association, were among the vital fixtures denied, because cruel circumstances had enforced curtailment of such contribu- tions. Financial support to the Evangelist and to the Home and For- eign Missions in likewise manner suffered in the blight on our Nation- al prospi rity. Collections at the Sunday services became almost extinct, and scarcely any money at all fell into the collection plate at the weekly prayer meetings and other special services. The rallies held period- ically yielded only small sums. The cash contributions from friends and well wishers were well nigh nil. The ever popular church suppers and entertainment festivals which are chief social features of the several Christian denominational churches and generally contributing substantial sums to the church treasure were sparsely attended. Al- most all money raised for the support of the churches wes secured in real devoted Christian sacrifices. Many of the churches in the Wood River Baptist Association were burdened with mortgages and unpaid bills incurred • in rebuilding or making urgently needed repairs. in many instances the pastor's sala- ries were months and months in arrears. Sometimes the sexton's pay long over due. The several pastors in the Wood River Baptist Association and the church officials besieged on every side by the present day needs, and seeing future demands, just in the offing, were hard put indeed, as the "hard times" conditions continued. An army of Christian leader heroes was made in that great panic. Pastors in the Wood River Baptist Association shone in the galaxy of sturdy resourceful headsmen who under Christ, carrying His banner, em- blazoned with the cross strove valiantly and faithfully in the Mas- ter's Cause. They worked successfully to save the encumbered church edifices from impending mortgage foreclosure. Debts of long standing were cleared. As normal economic and industrial conditions returned in a new era of National prosperity the Wood River Baptist Association was enabled gradually to resume the contributions in proportion. One of the outstanding admirable features in the beginning of the new progress of the Wood River Baptist Association was seen in relief, -98- then engaging the united co-operation of all possible agencies in the country, in administering suc-cor to the millions of victims of the great depression. The good work done in the National crisis was all the more remarkable when it is remembered that the several churches in the association were staggering under the load of our own peculiar troubles and urgent demands, and high pressure on perilously slender, hard, gotten income. "88 The idealism of the "Congresses" at the Fair, coupled with the re- action to the shattering impact of an economic crisis, combined to produce a movement for civic reform which extended into the next decade and pro- foundly affected municipal life. An important factor in initiating the re- forms was the sweeping condemnation which a British journalist, William T. Stead, made of Chicago's municipal life. The result was the organization of the Civic Federation, a body pledged to "do something about it." Be- ginning his attack with a speech at the Fair, Stead, a year later, threw a bombshell into Chicago by publishing a little red-bound, four hundred and fifty page booklet, "If Christ Came to Chicago," with a frontispiece show- ing Christ driving the money changers from the Temple. It "... . spared no millionaire's feelings, glossed over no single foul fact. Mothers beg- ged their children not to read it." 89 Stead gave name and address of own- ers of property where prostitution prevailed, exposed the tie-up between -police and racketeers and indicted the community agencies for their com- placency in the face of a situation which needed ". . . . the application 90 of every known device of sociology or religion to save it." The chapter titles were appealingly colorful, "The Boodlers and the Boodled," "The Scarlet Woman," "Casting Out Devils," "Who is my Neighbor," etc. Stead was critical of the Protestants, who, he said, ". . . . judg- ing by the complaints which are heard from inside the church rather than from outsiders," have succumbed largely to the temptation of "being at ease -99- in Zion." He said men were needed .... who would do more than "make fac- es at the devil from behind the pulpit." ^ Catholics received their share of condemnation, ". . . . the greatest of all his churches doing ecclesias- 92 tical goose-step " He told the horrified church people that ". . . . the devil his a mortgage upon many of the pulpits in Chicago . . . . ," and accused congregations of having "a tendency to regard themselves as mem- bers of a select cIud meeting together for their spiritual edification and 94 for harmless aesthetic indulgence." "I do not know of any church in Chicago which utilizes the whole of its ecclesiastical plant as vigorously as do some of the leading church- es of England. Two services a day on Sunday and a prayer-meeting, pos- sibly once or twice a week, can hardly be said to be making the best use of an investment in real estate which is estimated to amount to at least $13,000,000. All money sunk in church buildings is God's trust money." The Civic Federation was led by a socially conscious banker, Lyman J. Gage, and included on its committees such persons as Mrs. Potter Palmer, Marshall Fieldj Cyrus Mc Cormick, Jane Addams. (Apparently only one or two Negroes were included.) It had a central council of one hundred, and branches in each ward.* There were special city-wide committees for special problems. The Federation got to work immediately, put through the city's first civil service law, fought against grafting garbage collectors, and made an "axe and crowbar assault on gambling," breaking up several downtown gambling places, and organizing the Municipal Voters' League. The latter * The object of the organization was ". . . . the concentration into one potential, non-political, non-sectarian center all the forces that are now laboring to advance our municipal, philanthropic, industrial and relig- ious interests, and to accomplish all that is possible towards energizing and giving effect to the public conscience of Chicago Especially do we believe it opportune that such a movement should begin while our people are yet filled with the new ideas, new ambitions, and inspirations drawn from the great Exposition and its most valuable adjunct, the World Congresses. "96 Not one of the outstanding Negro ministers was a member. -100- organization began a give-no-quarter fight against crooked politics and within ten years had placed ten of its men in the City Hall, During these stirring days of civic reform and labor struggle, evangelism went on apace. One commentator states: . . . c how the great preachers drew I It was a thrill to hear John Henry Barrows, Hiram W, Thomas, (awful heretic though he was) Bishop Samuel Fallows, and the like. Billy Sunday had quit playing fielder for Anson's "Colts" and was about to launch his evangelistic career. The churches little or big, wort on the list of drawing-cards. ' While the middle-classes and upper-classes were initiating their reforms via the Civic Federation, the forces of a vast labor upsurge were germinating. During the Fair there had been a strike of waiters at the restaurants. Their wages were raised to $15,00 a week. Now, in the spring of 1894 came a reduction in wages of thirty to forty per cent in the Pullman shops and the discharge of a third of the force. There was no low- ering of rents in the Pullman owned houses, and the makers of the sleeping cars downed tools. *There is evidence of at least one Negro organization designed to protect the economic interests of a section of the Negro working class, for in 1893, it was reported that: "The American waiters held a mass meeting yesterday afternoon, at- tended by 800 strikers and delegates from the German and Colored Wait- ers, An offensive and defensive alliance was formed between the three unions end an agreement made that no member of either union should take the 'plaCb of a striker of any other union.'" 9 In less than a week after forming this "alliance," the German, American and Negro waiters went on strike, the Negroes subsequently claim- ing that they Were "sold out, "99 -101- Supported by the American Railway Union, the 3trike became nation wide, railroad men refusing to handle trains with Pullmans attached. Vio- lence broke. There were fires that seemed like arson. Vagrants were blamed by the union. The union was blamed by the owners. Finally, President Cleveland rent in troops, and the strike was broken. Clarence Darrow de- fended Eugene Debs, and other leaders, but they received heavy jail sen- tences and fines.* i 'oes were not ■•• atly concerned with these labor con- flicts at the time, since the^ h I yet entered the "railroading" field in great numbers . Within the framework of the ra Ldly growing city, the Negro communi- ty continued to develop, responsive 1 b irrents : work in the larger community, and at the same time developing its own institutions. The issue of unionization of Negroes had already arisen, however, and an item in the T ribu ne, May 12, 1093 reveals th; ' ■ ■• ?t exclusiveDess of the machinists was being attacked by the head of the American Federation of Labor: MACHINISTS REFUSE COLORE ■ sffiB POI-KJTITUTIOH OF THE OlffiER SEJI/LIMS UNCHANGED "The International Association of Machinists, which adjourned yes- terday from its i mal convention, refused to strike out the word 'White' from its constitution," said William F. Leonard, Chairman of the Chicago delegation tc ! I t body. "Though the association does not belong to the American Federation of Labor we invited its President, Samuel Gompers, out of courtesy to address us. he spoke long and earnestly for the admission of the colored men. lie was not hissed, as press dispatches stated. He was given a fair hearing , but the association had nothing in common with his views. Our body has 378 unions, is five year,:- old, and will soon swallow up the little: isin bod: oi 1,000 members. We have increased numerically 40 per cent during the last year, Orlie Vo; el of Chicago was made a member of the Executive Committee, Headquarters r ere established at Indianapo- lis. "100 Since there were less than 23 Negro machinists in the city, the issue must have ari en in regard to other areas. -102- On May 4, 1891, Provident hospital* was officially opened to the public at Dearborn and Twenty -ninth streets, in a small brick structure, with both Negroes and whites serving on the medical staff and as members of »-. ; e Advisory Board. Designed as it was to accommodate Negroes and to train Negro nurses, it reflected a certain amount of segregation and prejudice against Negroes in the society at that time. The hospital soon became an object around which much of the charity in the community was organized. It also became a symbol of the Negro professional man's advancement. A con- temporary account reports the opening, as follows : It was opened last night with singing and speeches. .... Nearly all the prominent colored people of the city were present during the evening. .... The opening address was delivered by Dr. J. T. Jenifer of Quinn's Chapel He was followed by the Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who congratulated the colored people. .... The Rev. D. J. H. Magee and Frank A. Dennis on made short addresses, .... Twelve cots, established by private subscription and by the contributions of the colored people's churches are ready for patients. ^1 A white minister, the Right Rev. John M. Brown was president of the Board; a Negro minister, Dr. J. T. Jenifer was treasurer; and another white minis- ter, Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus, was on the Advisory Board of eight persons. The community was still small enough to be rallied around a Home for Aged Colored Pe ople (incorporated in 1898), and as late as 1910 this insti- tution was one of the most important objects of community charity, although it cared for less than one hundred persons. A group of popular young girls formed a "Girls' Committee for the Colored Old Folk's Home" and the same group also functioned as the "Girls' Provident Hospital Association." A detailed analysis of the function of the Provident Hospital in articulating the Negro and white communities, and giving expression to in- tra-racial solidarity, has been prepared for this research by Miss Winifred Ingram, Research Assistant, and is available in manuscript form as a part of her "Analysis of Social Agencies in the Chicago Negro Community*" -103- One significant trend during this period vras the multiplication of women's clubs which later became the nucleus for the influential "Federated Clubs." Among the most active of these organizations was the Phyllis Wheat- ley Club (1896), which, along with the Ida B. Wells Club (1893), the Civic League of Quinn Chapel, The Progressive Kings Daughters of Bethel A. M. S, , the Julis Gaston Club of Svanston, and the Ideal Women's Club, and the G-.O, P. Club, formed the Women's Conference in 1S97 to entertain the two year old National Federation of Women's Clubs. The Junior Half Century Club and the Prudence Crandall Club were in existence as mixed male and female "Social and Charity" clubs. Among the purely social clubs were the Autumn Club , founded in the previous decade, the Columbia Club , and the lotus Social. Club of which a commentator said: .... composed of the leading colored people of the city, has a handsome club house at 1165 Washington Boulevard. The basement is de- voted to billiards, pool and buffet. On the first floor are the parlors and the reading and lounging rooms. The card rooms are on the second floor. It is purely a social club. ^2 Among the miscellaneous organizations existing during the nineties was a "club of colored wheelmen" founded when Negroes were barred from com- peting in the Pullman road race held on Decoration Day, 1893> and the La- dies ' Minstrel Group and a Girls' Drill Corps . There was a rapid growth of Negro churches in the nineties.* Be- tween I89O and 1900, seven new Baptist churches were organized and five A.M. H 3. churches, as several of other denominations. A wag remarked that among the white people, "there was a church for every two-thousand inhabitants. This was somewhat offset by the fact that there was a saloon for every two hundred. ''103 ■104- Something of the relative importance of these churches maybe glean- ed from a summary of an article which appeared in the C hicago Tribune , in 1393: _ Church Oli vet Bapt ist Harmon Court, directly under the tracks of the South Side Elevated. Have purchased lot at Dearborn and Twenty- sixth to escape the "ceaseless rumblings" of the elevated. Eethesda Baptist Thirty-fourth and Armour Avenue. ". . . . pleasantly sit- uated within easy reach of members ." Quinn Chapel Jn.il . . jJj . Wabash and Twenty-fourth Street, Expect to complete new church building by Jan- uary 1, 1304. Pastor Rev. J. F, Thomas "Pulpit orator of much Y>ovjer, u Pythian in high standing. President of West- ern States African Ean t i s t C on ve nt ion. Remark! "One of the largest and most flourishing of the colored con- gregations," 2,000 members . Rev, Dr. Birch, "One of the best edu- cated ministers among t he c o 1 o re d : i e o p 1 e here," Interested in Civic affairs. Rev. Towns end. Oberlin graduate. " . . . . Congrega- tion includes many of the best of Chicago's colored citizens." "Scholarly and elo- quent ," Has traveled all over the to rid. Member of Indiana State Legislature, 1888. Recorder of Deeds, Washingt on , 1891 . -105- Church Bethel A.M.E. Thirtieth and Dearborn. ! 'A handsome church edifice ," i -.'tor Dr. Graham "Not yet ['33." Ran on prohibition ticket in Michigan in 1888. Remarks Debt has been re- duced since Rev. Graham came one year ago (1892) , St. Stephens, A. II. 13 . Rev. D. P. Brown, Son oi* a Bishop. Largest and oldest i gregation on './est Side. St . Lion ica |_s_ Rom a n Ga t ho lie Thirtieth and Dearborn "One of the abl st of the , in er men of the church," Father Augustus Tolton, Now erecting a building for which Mrs. Anne O'Neill has donated $10,000.. First Catholic N< ■ priest in the Uni States. Gave contrs :1 i G, \~ , Brown, a colore i contractor. Expect to move in, Spring of It 94, Studied at St, Francis College, Qnincy, Illi- nois , and in Rome, St . Thomas i '0t©s1 Episcopal Dr. The m, " . . . . doe s not by any moans possess the handsomest edifice." St, Paul's College, Nov; Turk. "Said to be most fashionable colored church in Chicago," In city 17 year;:, founded St. Thomas, "Not a great orator but i '. cnest and sincere ." Eiigh church service: -! i6- Church Grace Presb y terian Has built a substantial structure and. paid for it . Aided by Mrs . David Brown of Princeton, New Jersey. Pastor Rev. Hoses ^, Jackson, founder. Linco In dniversit y , Pennsylvania . Remarks "Atong the newer congregations." Membership in- creasing. Miscellaneoi is Churches "There are a number of mis::; ions that are also doing good work among the colored peo- ple here, but there is only space to men- tion those men who have the widest influ- ence and hold the firmest place in the popular " ind«" Five years later, the Morri s Dictionary of Chica go Churches listed Herman Baptist, the Fr • 111 Church, Hyde Pari P< pie's Church, A.M.E., St. Mark's A.M.E. , 3t, John's A.M. I., St. Mary's ission, .. [,E. , Way man Mis- sion, A.M.E. , and Walter's Metropolitan Zion, A.M.E. , in addition to those listed on the chart. Among the distinctive organizations associated with churches were the ''Bible Bands" founded by a missionary of the Baptist Home Mission Soci- ety, who .... during eight months in 1897 .... lived in Chicago and or- ganized a Bil le Band with a membership of forty women. There were two other bands, .... Many bibles /sic/ and other books were sold or do- — 1 04- nated, and "Sunshine Bands" oi children reve formed. The at influx of I ' Lng to the World's Columbian Exposi- tion served to introduce the Negro community of Chicago to Negroes in other areas, resulted in sc y ersons staying in the city, and increased the in- terest in chu ' . sociational life. The trends originating during this period found their full expression in the "New Century Epoch" which followed it. The New Century Epoch 1900-1914 In the Reconstruction epoch, 1866- 1899, the Negro entered vigorously upon his newly-gained freedom. During the first years of this period, the evidence tends to show, there was great activity in the fields of politics, education, and religion. But as time passed, the vigor and consuming passion of Negroes for independent achievement ap- parently lessened, and the glamor of the early accomplishments waned. The No j Century Epoch, 1900-1914, was therefore quite ordinary. In politics, and in educational pursuits the Negro's in- terest was not expressed or reflected by striking movements. There were no exciting events, no clashes or loyalties and as a result, the history of this period is com- paratively dull. In the church, likewise, there were no stirring changes, although there continued a solid and steady growth during these periods . ^Mays and Nicholson, The Negro's Church, pp. 32-33^ - 108 - In 1897, a young graduate of Hampton Institute had arrived in Chicago to begin the study of law by night Coining of the Chicago Defender whnQ Qarning a living setting type by day. By 1905, the young printer-lawyer was ready to realize one of his dreams, and as editor, advertising manager, and newsboy, ho launchod the Chi cago Dofendor. From the beginning, Robert S, Abbott set himself the task of reporting associational and church news as well ae news of a more general character. Having been a member of the Hampton Institute Glee Club, he joined the "Choral Study Group* on arriving in Chicago, and it was among his fellow song-lovers that ho received some of his earliest support. Also, as a member of the choir of Grace Presbyterian Church, he was in contact with an important segment of the business and professional world and the "stable middle class." Soon after founding the Defender, Editor Abbott employed one Julius Avendorph* as his society editor, and accounts of prominent per- sons and their affairs began to appear in the paper. From 1905 on, there- fore, the major activities of the Negro community can be fairly well docu- mented, although the early issues of the paper often had more "boiler- plate" than local news , The Defender , however, was not the only Negro paper func- The Broad Ax tioning in the early days of the century, for in 1889, Julius Taylor had founded the Broad Ax , a frankly politican sheet, which according to Mayor Carter Harrison was designed to " . . . . disseminate Democratic principles and contend for the higher intellectual development Julius Avendorph was a respected private messenger for the offi- cials of the Pullman Company, and enjoyed high status in the Negro communi- ty, partially because of his wide contacts with prominent white persons. i09- of the Afro-American race and mankind in general " 106 The editor not only stated that he would ". . . . strive to infuse a spirit of liberal independence into the. Afro-American voter " 107 (i.e., teach him to vote Democratic), but also felt that ". . . . it is the duty of those com- 1 OR prising the white race to read and support Afro-American publications." He gave them an interesting neper to read, for the Broad Ax adopted a satirical, preacher-ftaiting tone, and a general muck-raking point of view. Personal accusations were its stock-in-trade, ana were usually defended as a means of improving the quality of racial leadershi] . One popular column was dubbed, "Hew To The line— Let the Chips Fall Where They May." The Broad Ax , while not over-useful for factual data, gives some valuable insight into the standards of behavior of the era. For instance, an important question of the day was "vice," and the Broad Ax often had items such as the indictment of "a famous ana. aristocratic club" for re- ceiving into membership- a man who ran a gambling game at the Keystone Hotel, stating that: ". . . .at the reception given by the club at their club rooms on Hew Years' Day (1903), the person referred to assisted in re- on • i»109 Tin a ceiving the best Afro-American men and women in Chicago -i- Iie paper also attacked "vice blackening the vestments of the church, ,,110 e and kept up a running fire of criticism directed at 3 prominent preacher-poli- tician who was accused of too frequent contact with the " Wet Holy Ghost." Many of these charges can perhaps be discounted when we realize that the Broad Ax was political and required frequent grinding. That Editor Taylor was not opposed to all ministers is indicated by Ralph Davis' statement that: "In the midst of the attacks and accusations regarding the minis- ters, it is interesting to note an article in praise of the Clergy, in which the Broad Ax calls attention to a banquet in honor of the eloquent and popular pastor of the Baptist Church." 111 Politics -110- There was a lively interest in politics during these years, and Davis, commenting on the role of the churches, stated: During the period under discussion the Negro Churches served pur- poses other than religious worship. Entertainment and concerts were given in the churches. Along with the other purposes the churches were places of assembly for the political parties and sometines the ministers in charge of the churches had some political affiliation, direct or indirect. This connection of the churches with politics was sometimes discussed in the Broad Ax . « These discussions are revealing from the point of view and interpretation of the Broad Ax . On one oc- casion the paper stated, "the Rev. came very near preaching him- self out of his unclean shirt and breeches." The practice of holding political meetings in the churches was discussed in terms abusing the preacher and the Republicans. "The Negro race is the only race in the world to have their churches turned into political halls for faking preachers and the small-headed base White Republican politicians who contend that they can buy any 'Darkey preacher and a whole church full of Niggers for ten dollars.'" The Appomatox Club also became an important political ftctor, as did the lodges. Cosnell, referring to their role, states: According to the available information, it appears that the Ne- groes who have been elected to public office are almost invariably members of one or more of these societies. The Elks, the Odd Fellows, the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Foresters are the orders which th successful candidates most commonly list in their biog- raphies. County Commissioner John Jones founded one of the Masonic lodges. State Representative Morris was the Grand Master of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, State Representative Kersey was Grand Chancellor of th. Knights of Pythias, State Representative Lucas was the Stat,. Grand Secretary of the United Brotherhood of Friendship, and Alderman Jackson was a Major General in the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias. Alderman Jackson was especially noted for his ac- tivity in the fraternal orders.* He belonged to practically all of the secret societies and he was also the president of the Appomatox Club, an exclusive social orgainzation founded by County Commissioner E. H. Wright in 1900. 113 *He was an official of the Fraternal Press which printed laws and constitutions for lodges. In addition to being an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow, and a Mason, he belonged to at least fifteen other clubs . -111- The Broad Ax had a battery of headlines in November, 1914 indicat- ing the role of churches and associations in the DePriest campaign: HE IS INDORSED FOri THAT POSITION BY REV. E.J. FISHER PASTOR OF OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH AND THE CHICAGO ' COLORED BAPTIST CHURCHES !HE A.M.E. PREACHERS' UNION LOOK UPON HIH UITH FAVOR AND HAVE INDORSED HIS CANDIDACY THE PHYSICIANS, DELISTS, PHARMACEUTICAL CLUB THE HOTEL WAITERS' ASSOCIATION, THE CHICAGO COLORED BARBERS' ASSOCIATION ARE ALL ADVOCATING HIS NOMINATION FOR ALDERNANH4 At the turn of the century, Dan Jackson was nominated for County Commissioner by the Republicans but was defeated, partly because the white newspapers raised the race issue. Other Negroes began to try for jobs not heretofore held-Colonel Marshall for the County Board, Ferdinand Barnett for judge, Dr. George Cleveland Hall and Colonel Frank Dennison for County Commissioner-all of them lost. A fight for an alderman in 1914 was like- wise unsuccessful. But although these "test-campaigns" came to nought, the Negro community made some important gains during the early pert of this fifteen year period. Oscar DePriest served two terms as County Commission- er, to be succeeded by Frank Leland, another Negro. Dr. Alexander Lane was appointed assistant county physician, Adelbert Roberts became clerk of the newly created municipal court, and in addition to the traditional one state representative, the community became strong enough by 1914 to elect two. et, all in all, it was not until after the great migration that real po- -112- litical power cairie to the "Black Belt." The tie-up between "vice" end politics wac Very close, and the ViCe influence of men like Dan Jackson and .Boh Notts , .both .of whom "ran games," was felt as strongly in the Negro community as that of more afflu- ent and more vicious "vice lords" in the larger community. The Broad ax made frequent reference to vice conditions. In critical vein without any abuse or accusations the vice condi- tions were uiscussed as "Dearborn Street Public Scandal." Emphasis was placed on the offensive and distressing conditions, and the rum of young people, a? viewed from the point of respectable people, the pas- tor of the Berean Baptist Church and the B road Ax . 11D In subsequent issues of the Broad Ax direct statements were printed connecting minis- ters (who were~aTte7ding, a General Conference in Chicago) with partici- pating in and increasing the business in "one of the leading houses m the Red Light District." 116 A typical Broad Ax broadside follows: PJV3. _, , AND ARE INACTIVE ' OR STILTING' 7JHILE VICE, GRIME, SINK-HOLES OF IN- IQUITY ALL SALOONS ARE FLOURISHING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR RESPECTIVE CHURCHES t ATTORNEY FOR TIE GAMBLER'S TRUST, I.IAY NEGOTIATE ' A TViENTY YEAR LOAN ON CHURCH Admitting that this is the true mission of the shurch (i.e., for bettering of morals) what shall we say in relation to _ _, , 'and churches? Is not a fact that one. saloon is running Ti 4- and i WhlCll IS night and day on the corner of . ana > within a few feet of ? And can any member for old __ come forward and honestly state or assert that its pastor, , has ever made the slightest effort to close it up? Those who ItteTd or who belong to know very well that the saloon is directly opposite the church. There is a city ordinance to the effect- that no saloon or saloons shall be located within three hundred feet of any church or schoolhous. '. Rev. has never been heard raising his lordly voice in his pulpit in condemnation of the saloon. *«The period of seven years from 1908 to 1915 was one in which the political fortunes of the Negroes in Chicago advanced slowly. Republican factional quarrels, the Progressive split of 1912, democratic _ victories in national, state,, and local elections, and personal jealousies in the color ed community retarded the development of Negro politics." -113- R ev . at the present time does not seen to be opposed to having saloons so close to that it is no trouble to hear the clinking of glasses and the cursing and swaring (sic) which floats out in the streets from them, while sitting in for the saloon on the corner of street is within less than one hundred feet of the door, and Bob Motts' notorious joint, where many young girls are led to the brink of ruin each year, is within 200 feet of , which seems to please Rev. , for quite frequently, while stand- ing up in his pulpit, he refers to his friend Bob Motts in glowing terms. Kotts is being boomed for the legislature so it is said by , attorney for the 'rambler's Trust, and Deacon is the attorney for , and if Motts should be selected to go to Springfield as one of the lawmakers, he would experience no trouble in being permitted to deliver political speeches in , if Motts would be unable to shout or pray unto the Lord, and paint or picture the beauty and the grandeur of the G. O'Lily White Party, of plunder and greed, he could inform the brothers and sisters as to the number of our seemingly prom- ising young girls who have lost their virtue in his hell-hole of in- iquity. 119 The fight against vice begun in the nineties gathered strength in the early days of the century, and around 1909, community forces began to mobilize for a concerted attack on "segregated vice areas." In that year, "Gypsy" Smith, famous evangelist, led a march on the South Side vice area. Twelve thousand people it was estimated (though .the estimate m^y well be cut in half), fell into line behind him as he strode along his glorious path, clad as for the pulpit. The marchers were somberly at- tired also. Long black gowns trailed in the mud. Black neckties were worn. From all throats issued the strains of "Nearer My God to Thee" and "Where is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" Gypsy led the crusaders to the Alhambra Theatre where he addressed them, and with his dark, shining face upturned, prayed for the souls of the fallen. The hour was late. Even as the evangelist prayed, the red lights were piercing the darkness again, dancing and music were re- sumed, corks popped in honor of the crusader. He told his ftudience, "This will do vast good. We have struck a blow for Jesus." But, Gypsy Smith's dramatic glow had to be implemented by political action and this was a slower, more tedious process. This orgainzed attack on vice was initiated by an Episcopal minister, Dean Sumner and the Chicago Federa- tion of Churches, who asked Mayor Busse to appoint an investigating commit- tee to survey the vice problem. A vice commission was appointed with Rev. -114- Sumner as chairman and such persons as V. I. Thomas, University of Chicago sociologist, and Julius Rosenwald upon it. It vjorked for a full year, and "the data were assembled at great rains end published in a volume as thick as an astronomy text-book.'' 120 No one was spared. Business men, politi- cians, apathetic community leaders, all came in for their share of blame. And there was on? section which pointed forward to a nighty problem of later yeers. It described the establishment of vice-areas within or adjoining, the settlements of Chicago's growing population of Negroes. These poor and bewildered people were represented as about one jump ahead of the spreading line of red lights. It was shown that a great majority of the employees in resorts were black. And the children-- 1,475 boys and girls were counted in the Negro settlement, polluted by unsought contact with "the worst forms of bestiality." What should be done about it all? Segregate or not? The Mayor, remarking, "These conditions are with us; to pretend they donot exist is hypocrisy," had called for a scientific study, and for recommenda- tions as to the best method of control. 3o the fifteen men and women of commission gave then to him. They declared for a rigid suppression of the evil. Not only did they urge breaking up the segregated dis- tricts, but they called for an end of "protection," and an enforcement of the law, which was clear enough— $200 fine for each keeper, the same for each inmate, the same for anyone renting property for prostitution, the sane ^or anyone found in a resort. The commission asked the esta- blishment of a florals Commission of five members to deal exclusively and intelligently with persons arrested under these ordinances. But b fore the slow whe< Is of city legislation could turn, one four year mayor had gone out. . . . and another of the opposite party, had come in. Chicago's open brothels, so powerful a factor in its reputation from the first, were beginning to go. In 1911 the Mayor closed the *The Crisis , organ of the militant National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People, published an article in 1912 criticizing Book- er T. Washington for implying that it was the Negroes' "duty" to eradicate vice in their areas of the city: _ ". . . .a good deal of the vice in the 'colored belt' is white man's vice, thrust 'there by the authorities against the protest of the colored people. But the thin/' runs deeper than that. Vice and crime are in large measure the result of idleness, of irregular employment, and even of regular employment that is underpaid ana exhaustive. It would be fatu- ous for the white community to deny its responsibility, in very large mea- sure, for the economic conditions under which thousands of Negro men and women struggle right here in Chicago." ^ ■ , -115- Everleigh Club, the most elegant and ir famous bawdy house of ^nty- second Street and probably of the whole vorld as well. ' ' ' ' l nn+or _ na Hotel too disappeared Other "houses" somewhat less notor ious across the world winked out as Chicago cleansed its name. ine major work however was yet to cone. The Autumn of 1912, tne Vice Re- port having been doing its propaganda work for more tnan a year found Wayman* in a quarrel with a good man;; of the people who had bought him a white hope. He was seeking e renoruination, and his actions were puz zling indeed A storm came down upon his head. Part of it came from the Committee of Fifteen Now they made it hot for dayman. .... It was a sultry summer for Wayman, nor was it improved by tne fact that Virginia Brooks, a young woman leading a crusade in a tougn southeastern corner of the county, was calling hi names that hurt. .... Wayman, harassed, bristling ^rom a colloquy with Chief Justice Olson. . . . threatened by a special grand jury, compelled to withdraw from a fight for renoninetion, and peeved at the millionaire committee, .... suddenly swore out warrants in the municipal court for a hun- dred and thirty-five dive-keepers, owners, and agents of property. There followed, at once, the most spectacular raids ever seen m Chica- go's Levee. Battalions of detectives invaded the districts, especially on the South Side, where the most powerful resort owners reigned. Keepers and inmates were jammed into patrol wagons, except when favored ones-among them a riant Negress named Black Mag-were allowed to ride to the police stations in their own shiny autos. A terrific clamor and a midnight orgy filled the streets; "good folks" who watched it looked on in dismay. Curiosity seekers parked their cars near enough to see the grinning or weeping sinners being herded into Black Marias. Gangs of young men rushed up and down the streets breaking into empty houses or cracking the door, of nieces that haa just put out their lights. The boom of Salvation Army drums, the gleam of their banners under flickering lights, amid the yelping crowds, added a strange touch to that Hogarthian night picture. Next day, the ouite will behaved Chicagoan had another shock to his feelings. From some central headquarters of the under world went out an order to the "slaves" like this: "Get oxi your loudest clothes and more paint than usual and paxade the streets." , -,-, i„ ^~-~ "Go to the residence districts, ring every door bell; apply ior lodgings." "Get rooms -only in respectable neighborhoods. ' ' Not one 'was "taken* in; * but on'tne'oiher' hand' 'when lodgings were offered by committees hastily formed, scarcely one would accept the in- vitation. f.V The vicelords watched the turmoil unperturbed, with sneers, filed bonds and waited. dayman was prosecuting attorney, -116- Barrat O'Hara, lieutenant governor under Dunne (the former mayor, now head of the state) headed another body which investigated vice and low wages together. A decided change in wagos of women resulted; unions of department store employees were formed. The Morals Court recommended by the Sumner group was established in the spring of 1913 and heard some five thousand cases in a year. In 1915 Harrison named the Morals Commission. Confronted by the Committee of Fifteen with list after list of owners of resort-property, he gave the migrant rosort owners little rest. As his term drew to a close, it seemed that he discerned a change in public sentiment since the '80' s, a revulsion against restricted vice districts under police supervision, and he declared, "Chicago is through with the sogr^f ted vice idea." And all this t^ne th-. city grew larger, more generous, more favored of the Gods, no: e stately. 122 The Broa d Ax carried an article in 1907 dealing with the effect of extending the area of segregated vice. It showed a ke^n awareness of the ecological processes at work on the South-Side: THE SEGREGATION OF VICE AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE RESIDENTIAL AND RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF THE NEGROES ON THE SOUTH SIDE BY REV. W. S. BRADDEN FASTOR OF BEREAN BAPTIST CHURCH Within the last fortnight Chief of Police Shippey hcs iasned his first "Official Bull" to the effect that vice on the South Side must be segregated, and to assure the import of this edict, he has turned the S2nd Street Police District upside down, changing the personnel of that famous or infamous district from the captain down to the one-eyed Mal- tese cat. The new officials are to constitute the water gate of the "Dike" beyond which the surging pool of vice may not pass. According to the "Bull" referred to, the boundary lines of the new Red Light district will embrace Wabash Avenue, on the east, 18th on the north, Clark on the west and 22nd on the south. To my mind, or to the mind of any one who has taken the time to study the under element of the South Side, this boundary is wholly inadequate and it will be only a comparatively short time, say two or three years before the boundary will be broadened out until it embraces Wabash Avenue, on the east, Clark on the west, 18th on the north and 30th on the south. I make this tentative boundary because of the fact that Rev. John- ston Myers and his crusaders, has slowly but persistently pushed and shoved the "red lights" until they have all but disappeared from th»it district lying east of Wabash. I am a firm believer in the segregation of vice, but a blind man can see the method in the madness of Dr. Myers, and his modern crusa- -117- ders, i.e., his church is located on the corner or near 22nd and Michi- gan Avenue, and no one knows better than he does that his iignt keep the "red light" from the said district was a matter of the survi- val of the fittest. . For unless he could succeed in dishing the boundary lines 01 vice beyond his bailiwick it would result in a large exodus of his parish- ioners to a locality less honeycombed with dance halls, brothels ana saloons, hence his struggle, for with the exodus of his ultra fashion- able parishioners, his meeting nous ■ would become deserted and the field so long ago pre-empted and sustained so well and at such a sacri- fice, woul . come to naught. So like Aja:: of old, "All through the long and bitter night, the prayer of this learned divine was for light to see his fo nan's fell." And when he aid, he gave them no quarters un- til he has succeeded in driving these unfortunates to the very doors oi Quinn Chapel, the Olivet Baptist and Bethel churches. While this segregation of vice does not effect the Rev. Myers in the same wey as it does the churches referred to, it nevertheless, has a direct bearing upon his work. All religious work rs must soon r or later awate to the lact tnax the present 'end ultimate boundary lines of he Red Light district has and will completely change (to coin a phrase), the religious geography of the South Side; this is especially true as far as the Negro churches are concerned. Hitherto the strategical points of religious operation amongst the Negroes have been occupied by quinn Chapel, Olivet and Bethel churches. But with the segregation of vice in the present end future districts referred to it will only be a matter of time before the churches men- tioned will be forced to abandon their present fields. As they were forced to leave old Fourth avenue and Harmon Court, because of the exodus of their worshippers from such close proximity with vice and crime, for th< Negro, like the whites, does not care- for his wife and daughter to ;lbow the Rod Light denizens. Now 'tis v ry patent that this shift will completely change the re- ligious geographical complexion, as well as the residence, of the Negro on the South Sid., as the moving of the aforesaid churches from their former fields did years ago. What district on the South Side is to constitute the future resi- dence and necessarily the religious ganglionic centre? Every year notes the Negroes moving south of 39th street and east of State street as far south as Sixty-fourth and east, as far as Vin- cennes ' venue . St. Thomas church, end Bethesda Baptist, if their present plans do not miscarry, will hold the keys to the religious problem east oi State street, because of the vast number of Negro residents on Wabash, Ver- non, Rhodes, Calumet, Langley end Vincennes avenues. Now the housing md spiritual ministration of this increasing num- ber of people who are moving south of the Red Light district will de- volve largely upon those churches, already on the field, occupying strategic positions in the midst of the future Black Belt. The Berean Beptist church, located at 4833 Dearborn street, has already felt the effect of this influx i nd finds that its present -118- facilities are inadequate to handle its every growing congregation. One year hence it will have outgrown its present quarters. Now it's left with the people who arc purchasing hen : .; moving south of 39th street to say whether or not we shall i prep; ' 3 within the next eighteen nonths or two years, to meet the exig >ney l , -ought to our very doors.- 1 - 23 The break-up of the segregated area, however, did not entirely re- move either the reality or stigma of "vice" from the Negro community with its low rent districts and a police force not ovor zealous about its "duties." But there was no evidence of a large scale ring dealing in pro- stitution, and as the years passed, gambling became far more important as a community problem than organized prostitution. Chic ago "On the Eve" In 1910, tare wore 44,103 Negroes in Chicago. Th»y were only 2 per cent of the total population — a a la drop in Chicago's bucket of 2,185,283 Persons. The vi I of increase hrd slowed up ? f tor the World's Fair, Lewis and Smith, commenting on thf jrent influx of "dark people" after 1900, stated the t : The "Nordics" had by no means ceased to cone; indeed the newly arrived Scandinavian people were almost as rrum reus as the Italians, while those listed from G rmany a re more than doul ; the Gr^ek popu- lation. Still the current was growing brun.it., ■ nd had in it, too, the ebony streak of Negroes— 14,000 oT them, whose movement from the South to the North would, though, hardly yet st« rted, seem someday more 1 PA startling than any. ^ The rate of migration did not increase appreciably between 1910 and 1914, but between 1914 and 1920, migration was so heavy that the census of 192C found 109,458 Negroes— an increase of 148.2 per cent. The increase in whites was only 20.4 per cent. The growth of the Negro community up to this point hrd been gradual and the newcomers had been accommodated into -119- the spatial and social order of the city in much the sane fashion as the immigrants from Europe, except that the stigma of a recent slavery and the weight of racial prejudice had slowed up the process considerably. The following graph indicates the growth of the Negro community: ( 300 800 100 K3G-R0 POPULATION OF CHICAGO: 1850-1924 I : ! ! CO CO o 10 L to p I The concern of this summary is to give some picture of the Negro community on the eve of the great influx, when the sudden introduction of thousands -120- of Negroes from the South began to modify the slowly changing social struc- ture giving rise on one hand to a series of "problems," and on the other hand serving as the base for the development of the Negro community as it exists today — with its potentialities for development. Estelle Hill Scott's study of "Occupational Changes Occupational . Differentiation 125 Anong Negroes in Chicago" reveals that during this period : .... the proportions of Negro workers who were employed as semi- skilled workers, as skilled craftsmen, in clerical positions and in proprietary positions* increased, as well as did the servant classes. • • ♦ • There were, in 1910, 962 professional persons, however: According to the census, Negro physicians had increased. from 45 to 109 (less than 50 of these were listed in the American Medical Direc- tory , however) , clergymen from 63 to 76 - The number of lawyers and school teachers had decreased, the former from 46 to 44, the 1- tter from 20 to 11. The number of women had increased in every profess i uial category. The most significant thing about these "pro- fessional" people, however, was that the largest single group was made up of "musicians and music teachers." One informant reports that: "The first Negro department store, conducted in the city of Chicago was opened at 2918 South State Street in 1905. This came as the outgrowth of the efforts put forth by Sandy W. Trice and Frank Williams, who five years previous to this time, had conducted a lucrative and well appointed haberdashery business at the same address under the firm of Trice and Williams. The department store was organized by Trice as president, Rev. A. J. Carey as treasurer, and attorney Walter M. Farmer as legal advisor. The Board of Directors consisted of ex-congressman George W. Murray, John Scott, later lieutenant of Police, Edward Henderson, A. Watson and James Lee. "Under the conduct and supervision of these men this institution became a successful business enterprise in the community. * -121- The professionals were as follows: Occupation Men Women Total Musicians ...... Physicians Actors Clergymen Teachers Lawyers Artists Showmen Nurses Photographers .... Dentists Editors and reporters Chemists Civil Engineers . . . Architects. . . . . . Designers Draftsmen ... 216 109 78 76 11 44 15 30 136 25 54 • » c 53 ... 13 16 14 10 9 5 1 1 1 636 • * 323 352 134 132 76 64 44 28 30 42 16 14 10 9 5 1 1 1 959 There were thus less than a thousand persons classified as profes- sionals in 1910, and of these such groups as showmen, artists, musicians, and actors car.; hardly be called professional in any sense which takes into it ion the a tount of training and prestige usually associated with aunity. It was not possible, therefore, considerati these positi ns in bhe Negro community, f social class to be drawn on the basis of professional for rigid liner o status. The increasing population and the rapid occupational differentia- tion laid the base for a more elaborate church and associational structure, and by 1914, a definite system of associational and church life had arisen, closely related to a simple "class" structure. There were certain large associational groupings that by now had become accepted as stable portions of the community structure. By 1912, all of the major denominations were represented in Churches the Chicago Negro community,* Denominations listed in the C hicago De^end ^r in that year being as follows:** Denomination To. of Churches Baptist 9 African Lethodist Episcopal ... 3 Presbyterian 2 Methodist Episcopal 2 Colored Methodist Episcopal ... -2 African Methodist Episcopal Zion 1 Congregational. .... 1 Episcopalian 1 Catholic 1 Christian 1 There had been a steady growth since 1900. One significant addition to the church life of Chicago during the decade was the founding of the Institutional A.M.E. Church in 19C0, at 3385 Dearborn Street by Bishop Heverdy C. Ransom. In the same year, a small A.M.E. church was founded at Fifty-sixth an4. Harper where there were a few 1 pq*** Negroes living in a white neighborhood. The A.M.E. church also fell heir in 1914 to a church founded two years before as a C.M.E. group and 1^0 which later changed its affiliation. In the fall of 1914, a Defender headline read: BETHEL ONLY A.M.E. CHURCH IN Tr% CITY FREE EEOM DEBT Fisher attributed the increa.se in churches during this era to "the increasing Negro population and the assertion of independence on the part of the people occasioned b: the lack of a strong dynamic leadership." 1 ^ 1 In 1919 there were 20 Holiness Churches. Since the Church of God and Saints of Chri.-t and the Church of the Living God had been organised by 1900, it is reasonable to suppose that some holiness storefront or house 3hurches "were in existence at the time. The researchers have not been able to identify them, however, and no informants seam to remember any such ohurchej before 1014. 2*c *r x It is interesting to note that this "Hyde Lark A.M.E. Church" is now located in a store front on State Street, although it retains the same name . -123- and informed the public that they had just burned a 42 year old mortgage, the pastor commenting as follows: We have paid every penny vie owe to anyone as well as both the principle and interest on the church, and kept up current expenses. Je have given to charity during the year $1,300. We have raised for the connection, ^15,000; we have put one person in the old folks home and paid |1 0.00. We have taken care of the sick and buried those who died, and had nothing. We have provided lor those who have been out ol work. 132 The size of Bethel' s celebration might be gauged by the fact that 25 gal- lons of ice cream was served. The same year* that the A.M.E. Church instituted its progressive program as Institutional, nine Olivet members received their letters of dismission and formed the Berean Baptist Church now located at Fifty-second and Dearborn. 132 In 1902, another snail group left Olivet and began to worship in a hall. 134 They soon bought a piece of property, however, at Thirty-fifth and Dearborn and remained there for eighteen years, afterwards *_ "Two years later, the president of the Baptist Ministers and Dea- cons Union, stated at the annual meeting that: "There seems to be contagion of church building in and around Chi- cago. Our Bishops are vieing with each other, not wrongfully, but in a pleasant spirit in the erection on houses of worship. God help the work of Shiloh, Second Evanston, Hermon, Bethesda, Berean, Mt. Carmel, First Lake Forest, Chicago Heights, Second Harvey, Providence, Friendship, Mt. Zion, Evanston, Hinsdale. ,,lo ° **The Wood River Baptist Association passed a resolution bearing on Olivet's troubles as follows: "We deplore very deeply the seeming sad condition of the Olivet Church and P r a y that a speedy relief may soon come to their rescue ana their troubles be banished." 1 ^ 6 In 1908 the association itself was faced with a split, '».... a committee of seven was appointed to meet at Olivet and see what steps could be taken to prevent the organization of^another association. The committee were completely turned down. ... -124- moving to thoir present site. A colorful account of this schism is given by a Baptist historian: Bought and built at 27th and Dearborn Streets. Contractor and Dea- cons and Building Committee fell out over bill of extras. Church moved out, vent to hall at 31st and Indiana A committee was ap- pointed They immediately procured sr old church house at 35th and Dearborn Streets, and set sail and marched in. It was a grand sight to see "Pap" (affectionate name for the pastor) heading that mighty procession riding a fine and noble looking white horse with Bob Berry's Brass Band A mighty day in Ziont After some years they numbered their membership. They counted the cost. They found that they were able to rise. So they turned their eyes eastward (1920) and viewed a lews' tabernacle, 45th and Vincennes Avenue. Fap Thomas pointed cast, and the people had a mind to work and they obeyed his order to march over there. 138 The National Federation of Women's Clubs had been founded Associations in 1895 139 and with Mrs. Booker T. Washington as its pre- sident had spread all over the United States. In 1897, seven Chicago clubs organized the Women's Conference in order to entertain the National body and later organized the Illinois Federation of Colored VJomen's Clubs. The more serious mindod end stable women, interested in charity and racial ad- vancement w,;ro members. In the fall of 1914, the City Federation held its Quarterly Meeting at Quinn Chapel. 140 Delegates returning from the Notion- al Federation convention made thoir reports; the Federation decided to join the United Charities of Chicago; and stated that "The Federation was glad to learn of many young men of the race who had entered into business and promised to support them." While Mrs. Washington's group was busy organizing the women, Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League was attempting to encourage Negroes to enter the business world. In 1912, the League met in Chicago, and was reported in one journal as follows: In Chicago, the National Negro Business League held its thirteenth -125- annual session with a very large ut tendance. This session was held at the Institutional Church, and Junius Rosenwald was anoog the speakers. The next meeting will be in Philadelphia in August, 1913. Mr. Booker T. Washington was elected president* Mr. Charles Banks, first vice- president; the Honorable J. r . Napier, chairman of the executive com- mittee. The interest o^ one newspapers was largely centered on the re- ports of rich colored men. E. W. Green of Fayette, Miss., said he was worth 080,000; David Nelson of Little Rock, Ark., :50,000; Watt Terry reported an income of $7,000 a month from ?500,000 worth of real es- tate. 141 Evidently Dr. Washington stressed, as was his wont, the Jegro's responsi- bility for his own advancement, for The Chicago Evening Post , commenting on the event said: While it is a very useful thing to have Mr. Washington preaching free will and full responsibility to the colored people, it would be a very great mistake for the white community to regard this as the last word on the subject. For it is not true in any sense whatever that the colored community is wholly and entirely responsible for the vice and crime which appear now and then in its midst. But these are disagreeable truths and we all shirk them when we can. If Dr. 'Washington rather encourages us to shirk them by putting the emphasis where he does, there is another great leader of the color- ed people who does not. Professor W. E. 3. DuBois in his books and his journal, HIE CRISIS, holds up courageously, month in and month out, the other tide - our side - of the picture. Forcefully and yet with a quiet re; erve which is granted to few polemicists, Dr. DuBois thrusts home upon the conscience of the American people the conscience that the colored problem cannot be solved by tho colored man alone.-'- 42 Interestingly enough, the Chicago middle and upper classes did not seem- to be caught on the horns of the DuBois-Washington dilemma, and sup- ported a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch* as well as the Business League, while the same people who entertained Mrk Washington when he visited entertained Mr. DuBois. In the summer of 1914, A note in the minutes of the Women's District Convention (Baptist) indicates that the N.A.A.C.P. also triad to interest the church people: "Mrs. Sarah Brown, member of the Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and agent for "Crisis" in Illinois made a fine address covering the scope of usefulness into which so many of the Baptist "women are coming. "14-3 -126- the N.A.A.C.F. gave a carnival at thirty-sixth and Wabash, at which the Eighth Regiment Band played and from which "five or six hundred persons were turned away." "Eight clubs were mentioned as co-operating (see' pp. 127-128), and at the meeting ". . . . pleasure was succeeded by serious speech wherein stalwart advocates of right, justice, and equal opportunity told of the associational work,"* As a feature of the carnival, a diamond ring was presented to the most popular girl,' 144 In the summer of 1914 the Defender ran as a banner headline: MASONS CONVENE AND HAVE LIVELY WEEK IN 0MICAG0 145 In the fall of the same year, the Ancient United Knights and Daughters of Africa, organized in 1905, and devoted to "uplift of Race'' and reciprocity among members" held its national convention at the Insti- tutional A.M.E. Church. The Defender spoke of the order as "doing great work in caring for the sick and burying the dead." The order boasted of six thousand members scattered through fifteen states, and of $12,500 in the bank and $1.7,525 paid out in death claims. 6 >fc One minister took the position at a meeting, however, that Ne- groes should be less lawless, and stressed the need for "constructive work," inferring that the N.A.A.C.F. was doing the opposite. 14 8 **It is of interest to note that 1914' s most popular girl was in 1939 the leader of the largest organization in the Negro community, the Council of Negro Organizations and has been president of the Federation of Women's Clubs — Mrs. Irene McCoy Gaines. ^*The Daughters of Tabor, another strong "society" in Chicago, was 147 explicit as to what it meant by "uplift" :■"' 1. Encouragement of Christianity 2. Education 3. Morality 4. Temperance 5. High ideals of manhood and womanhood 6. Getting of homes and acquiring wealth 7. Recognition of greatness, goodness, and mercy of God -127- so In 1914, on the eve of the great migration, the following clubs and 149 cieties were auong the more active in the community. Association Cooperative Action SOCIAL CLUBS Afternoon Pleasure Club Junior LeE ue Social Club The lolly twenty Club The Mystic Social Club Chicago Syndicate Club Appomatox Club Phalanx Club Half Century Club EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL Bethel A.M.E. Literary Club Standard Literary Club of Olivet Eureka Fine Art Club Choral Study Club Young liatron's Culture Club Coleridge Taylor Club Chicago Armstrong League of Hampton Students N.A.A.CP. 1 .A • A • »P • Remarks Dancing club. Male-high prestige Post Office men. High prestige CIVIC CLUBS Men's Civic Club Civic Protective League Alpha Suffrage Club The Progressive League N.A.A.CP. N.A.A.CP. N.A.A.CP. WOMEN'S CLUES AI ' D CHARITY CLUBS Giles Charity Club Chicago Union Charity Club Volunteer worker's Charity Club North Side Women's Club Ida B. Wells Women's Club Fred Douglass Center Women's Club Cornell Charity Club "Some of the most intelligent men in city." O.G.H. O.F.H. -128- Association PROFESSIONAL ASSOC IATIONS Chicago Dental Club PATRIOTIC ASSOC IATIONS Eighth Regiment Band MISCELLANEOUS Euterpian Club Phyllis Wheatley Girls Chevalier Club Sawolka Club Poinsetta Club Colonial Club Pandora Club Entre Nous Club Epsilon Delta I i Epsilon Sigma Kappa Matrimony Club Cooperative Action N.A.A.C.P. N.A.A.CP. N.A.A.C.P. Remarks An examination of the available issues of the Chicago Defender for 1908, 1910, 1912 gives a sampling of associational behavior and church ac- tivities during this period: Date 9-5-08 Activity (all items appeared on front page) Mrs. G-oggins of Working Girls Hone in Grand Rapids, Michigan, spoke at Ebenezer, Zion, and to Rev. Wood's congregation in Englewood. She teaches hair dressing and massaging. Ebenezer arranged for excursion of Baptists to Louisville, Ky., for National Convention. Mention of Walters A .M.S. Zion Church 9-12-08 Rev. H. E. Stewart to preach "great sermon," "Has the Negro Any Reason to Expect Special Favors from God?" Mention of National Women's Club. -129- Date Activity (all items appeared on front page) 9-17-08 Hope Presbyterian concert a huge .success Masonic lodges dedicate a building Rev. Stewart preaches Elks annual sermon; Junior Choir sings Standard club elects officers 11-14-08 Secretary of Lady Elks breaks leg skating 11-21-08 "Manas sah Ball a Great Success"; 1,500 persons present — grand march Eighth Regiment Orchestra; "Everyone waiting for next one."* Triangle Inner Circle Club giving New Year's Ball for Old Folks' Home "The Peerless Club Live Up to Their Name" — gave a real first class ball Afro-American Historical Society organized among Grace Presby- terian Sunday School Hen by Mrs. Ida Wells Parnett, presenting Professor R. T. Greener, first 3olor< d graduate of Harvard University. "The learned gentleman lectured informally on the race- pride he had noticed in all others but the Afro-American. He deplored the lack of unification among our people and decried the time when we would be entirely undone without it. His remarks were as manna to the Children of Israel and we are glad to know that Professor Greener kindly con- sented to come to our meetings to assist us in our feeble incipient attempts to secure "the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" which we are entitled to by virtue of having fought side by side with the Caucasian to preserve the Constitution of which liberty is the watch- word." * See page 134 for significance of this event. -130- Date Activity (all items appeared on front page) 12-26-08 Chicago "Lady Elk" commissioned to set up lodges in the South LADY ELLIOT CIRCLE, 199, A.D. OF FORRESTERS ELECT NEW OFFICERS —A Few Black Balls Thrown Through the Air, That's All— — Now There is keeping and Gnashing of Teeth — (A chatty informal article stating, "The ord-.r has done much good during the year and besides a neat bank account, they have administered to their sick and needy and have established a record of standing for high morals.") Large picture of Quinn Chapel THE GRAND LADS CLUB GIVES A SOCIAL— "recently organized by a number of musical gents." Gave a social to defray expenses of two men going to Hot Springs. Choral Study Group announces Sullivan's oratorio, The Prodigal Son to be given at Institutional Church The Basketball League announces games for 1909 * CLUB AT LAST— a club of popular young married ladies, no member to have been m rried over three years. Oldest member 25 years of age. L ot every Thursday to sew and lunch. Entertained husbands New Years, 2:30-5:30 A.M. "The Triangle Inner Club intend giving the Old Folks' Home a New Year's present and to make it worthwhile they have com- bined charity with pleasure." Plan to hold dance at 1st Regiment Armory, 6th and Michigan, 50$* admission. Proceeds for "those dear old folks at 610 Garfield Boulevard." Clubs cooperating in ticket sales were: Cornell Charity Des Jeunes Aspirants I.B.Wells Women's Club Grende.nborg Club Centennial Club Nogales Club *. Paper too badly torn to distinguish name -131- Among the banner headlines in the Defender for the period 1910-1912 were the following ones dealing with associations and their activities: Nov. 5-10 BIG COLISEUM XMAS NIGHT BALL - First Regiment Uniform Rank K of P. Nov. 12-10 " Dec. 17-10 Nov. 19-10 White Southern Editor Praises True Reformers for the Good They Have Done in Past Decade in the Uplift of the Race. Apr. 20-12 Pythian Nay Ball First Regiment Uniform Rank Coliseum Annex, Monday Evening, May 6. July 6-12 Danville Prepares for Knights. P atriot ic Group s_ Feb. 12-10 The 8th Regiment Ball, Monday Night May 21-10 Eighth Infantry Illinois National Guard - The Pride of Chicago Will be Honored for Faithfulness. May 25-12 Dead Comrades Honored in Memorial Services - 8th Armory. Cultural Associations May 7-10 Umbrian Glee Club's Big Concert Makes Great Hit. Group Work Agencies Aug. 3-12 Corner Stone of Y.M.C.A. Building Laid Sunday Church Sept. 7-12 Grace Presbyterian S. S. Basketball Team Wins South Side Pennant . Cha rity Balls, etc . Nov. 14-10 Look Out for the Great Charity Ball on New Years. Jan. 1-10 Charity Benefit 7th Regiment Armory New Years Evening, May 25-12 Grand August Carnival and Fair on State Street. Aug. 17-12 State Street Carnival Opens Tonight. Aug. 31-12 Miss Mattie Holliday Crowned Queen of State Street. -132- Summary The post-Civil War period, which, in the South was characterized by the development or the share-cropping system, and the forcible redefinition of the Negro's status in terns of a caste-system* with legal sanctions, was characterized in the mid-west by an intense industrial development. First came German, Irish and Scandinavian labor; and later, Italian, Polish and Russian workers. During this period" there was a strenuous fight on the part of the articulate section of the Negro population to secure full rights as citizens. *"Caste," as used here, refers to a system of social relations in which "upper" and "lower" groups are recognized in the society; in which persons cannot rise from the "lower" into the "higher" group by any socially approved means, and in which intermarriage between the groups is definitely prohibited. This is substantially the definition given currency by Professor W. Lloyd Warner (see article, "American Caste and Class," American Journal of Sociology , September 1936) of The University of Chicago, who has been largely responsible for sharpening the concept. This article distinguishes between a caste system as defined above, and a class system where mobility is allowed and marriages are not prohibited. It emphasizes the fact that the American caste system is unique in that each caste has classes within it. The term, caste, has been very loosely used in both scientific and popular literature, although Mclver and Donald Young made significant attempts to clarify the concepts. Young ap- plied the terms specifically to Negro-white relations in America. In 1933 and 1934, Professor Allison Davis and Dr. Burleigh G-ar diner, students of Professor Warner, made a detailed field study in a southern community, using these concepts for analysis. Sections of the study were presented at the Swarthnore Institute of Race Relations in 1935, and the concepts were also used by Buford Junker in 1934, in writing up his field notes on Houston County, Georgia, for the "Rosenwald Exploration" of the southern educ; tional system. During the interim between the Davis-Gardiner field work and the publication of the study, three other students of southern life published the following works using a caste-class framework: Charles S. Johnson, "Conflict of Caste and Class in American Industry," American Journal of Sociology , July, 1936. -133- From 1865 to 1900, Negroes in Chicago were predominantly personal and domestic servants, though the first outlines of a differentiated occu- pational structure had taken form by 1914 and a sizeable professional and business class was in existence. With n -v~/v ing population, the social organization became more com- plex and in Chicago, as a part of the national Negro community, organiza- tions whose centers of dominance were in the East and South began to make their appearance. Indigenous organizations also arose. Between 1365 and 1910, while the caste system was taking form in the deep South, a system of Negro-white relations was developing in Chicago which was definitely "bi-racial, " but in which the status of the Negro tended to approximate that of European immigrants rather than that of caste-bound Southern Negroes. In the political world, Negro* s participated freely and Negro politic iaRn were prominent in civi^ affairs. In the eco- nomic life of the city, Negroes found it somewhat more difficult to rise, John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town , 1957. Buell Gallagher, American Caste and t he N egro College , 1938. The most recent definitive statement of the caste-class conceptual scheme as applied to the Southern United States is Warner and Davis' "A Comparative Study of American Caste" in Race Relations and the Race Problem , ed. by Edgar T. Thompson. Horace R. Cayton, as a result of empirical researches which he directed in Chicago, suggests that while the term may be applicable to certain areas of the South, it does not adequately describe the system of Negro-white relations in Chicago. The competition of the city and the forces of secularization and industrialization, as well as the ebsence of a slave tradition are factors which have produced the present system there. Cayton suggests, further, that because the term "caste" is so intimately associated with the "sacred" system of India, with ritual pollution and ex- treme taboos, it night clarify the analysis of American social systems to eliminate it altogether, viewing the societies in terms of two general organizing principles, free competition end lack of competition , applying the concepts to ecology, economic, political and social life. Social sys- tems could then be arranged on a continuum from a pole where all people are allowed to compete freely for all values to one where no social competition is allowed and status is assigned by birth. At one extreme social competi- -134- but were by no means confined to the bottom level of the occupational hier- archy. They were guaranteed equality before thy law and full civil liber- ties. And in one of the most crucial aspects of "caste," - intermarriage - interracial unions, though not the rule, were sanctioned legally, and enough of them were consummated to allow the establishment of a group like the Manassah Club, a fraternal organization of mixed couples. This club has a dual significance, however, for on one hand, the Chicago society was not so rigid that intermarriages were taboo, yet, on the other hand, such couples were sufficiently "alien" to both the Negro and white communities as to make it desirable to organize among themselves for mutual aid and recreation.* . Throughout the South, however, the Negroes' social position was to a large extent being "fixed," and attempts to change it were compelled to proceed by oblique means, paying a measure of deference to the caste sys- tem, and not attacking the fundamental taboos of the society, "social intercourse" =u" Institutions ministering to a specified racial or White Institutional Adjustment to the class clientele, when faced with the invasion of a "Invasion" different group may adjust in either of several ways, viz., (1) by catering to both the original group and the new group, (2) by remaining at the same site and catering to the population which has moved out, (3) by remaining at the same site and catering to the popula- tion moving in, or by (4) abandoning the site to the new-comers. The rate at which either of these processes takes place, will of course, vary with -154- the type of institution, the rapidity of the invasion and the complex of power and prestige factors involved. By far, the most common pattern in the Chicago Negro community has been the sale of the non-business property of the institutions to Negroes, with the consequent withdrawal of the institution from the community. This has been particularly true of churches. There are now less than a dozen white congregations still worshipping in predominantly Negro areas, including Sinai Temple, which several congregations wished to buy but whose price they could not meet, The Christian Science and Catholic churches have very gradually changed from all-white to all-Negro congrega- tions. The Christian Science Church on Michigan Avenue is now The Eighth Church of Christ Scientist (colored). In the late twenties Cardinal Mundelein wrote the following words in a pastoral letter: But now I desire St. Monica's to be reserved entirely for the> colored Catholics of Chicago, and particularly of the South-side; all other Catholics of whatever race or color are to be requested not t<-» intrude. It is of course understood that I have no intention of ex- cluding colored Catholics from any of the other churches in the dio- cese and particularly, if they live in another part of the city, but simply excluding from St. Monica's, all but the colored Catholics. It would be puerile for us to ignore the fact that a distinction as to color enters very often into the daily happenings of our city. I am not going to argue as to the reasons for or against this line of distinction which causes so much bitterness, nor will I say anything as to the justice or injustice of it. It is sufficient to say that it does exist, and that I am convinced that I am quite powerless to change it, or that I believe the underlying reasons to be more econo- mic than social. What I am concerned about is that my colored child- ren shall not feel uncomfortable in the Catholic Church. .... because of the circumstances that exist in this city, I am convinced that our colored Catholics will feel themselves very much more comfortable, far less inconvenienced and never at all embarrassed if in a church that is credited to them, they have their own sodali- ties and societies, their own church and choir, in which they alono will constitute the membership and for ever stronger reasons the first place in the church should be theirs just as much as the seats in the rear benches a re. ^8'-- -155- St. Anselm Catholic Church at 61st and Michigan is now in the last stages of becoming all-Negro, While churches tended to move immediately, settlement houses and other recreational agencies tended to adjust. Certain agencies owning non- taxable property in the Black Belt or having low prestige-value also tended to stay. The Baptist minister quoted above has given a very detailed picture of the effect of the "invasion" on the oldest white Baptist church in the city, First Church. It also indicates the values which are in competition with the values espoused by Christianity: The ninth decade tested the temper of the First Church as no other decade in its history had done. Four ministers in this brief period struggled against the adverse forces that threatened the very existence of the church. To stay by a sinking ship is contrary to the prudential motive that actuates many saints as well as sinners, and the granting of church letters to not a few people of wealth and ability to unite with other churches could not help but weaken the resistive powers of the church against an environment that was becoming increasingly hos- tile. In the golden days of Dr. Everts' ministry presidents of rail- roads, bankers, manufacturers, merchant princes, men eminent in law, medicine, and journalism, were active members. Membership in the First Church carried with it something of the prestige found in the boast of the ancient Roman, "I am a Roman citizen." That day is past. The church auditorium no longer seats a congregation many of whose names were to be found in the society columns of the Chicago newspapers and listed in the commercial register of Bradstreet. In the local church paper of June, 1914, attention is called to the fact that twenty-five nationalities are now represented in the church membership, or in borne affiliation of the church: Japanese, Chinese, Corean, Hindu, Cuban, Negro, French, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Swedish, German, Norwe- gian, American Indian, Spanish, Bohemian, English, Irish, Scotch, Greek, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Austrian. It is also further noted, out of two hundred and ninety-six children enrolled in the Kindergarten who come from a radius of one-half mile of the church there are sixteen nationalities represented,^-"'* See Appendix for tables. -156- But in 1915 the cry was heard, "The Negroes are coming" and Mr. Adams in October of that year reported, "Our Negro brethren will soon have a large majority in our community." The church reported in its letter to the Association in 1918, "Our church has been greatly handicapped during the past year by the great influx of colored people and the removal of many whites. Outlook for future bright and promising." After stating the fact that Negroes were moving in and white people moving out and also reporting a membership of 421 as compared with a reported membership the preceding year of 780, where the church could find evidence of a future that was bright and promising baffles the mind of the writer. Possibly it was intended to be taken as a pious hope, the expression of the thought that if C''d be for us, who can be against us, rather than as a sober- statement r,f fact. In 1918 the Negroes coming from the South by tens of thousands, lured by the promise of high wages in the packing houses, mills, and railroad yards of Chicago, swarmed to the blocks surrounding the church building. Beautiful homes occupied by families belonging to the church for generations were sold for whatever price they could obtain. The membership declined to 403 and only 10 persons united with the church that year. The church was face to face with catastrophe. No eloquent preaching, no social service, could save a church in a community that was nearly 100 T 16 ^ ce ntJ-Jegro, Meanwhile the Negro churches in Chicago with inadequate church buildings were swamped by the rising tide of color. Conspicuous among them was the Olivet Baptist Church, a former protege of the First Church, It was Dr. Main who conceived the idea of selling the property to the Olivet Church and on May 29, 1918, the building entered into the possession of the Olivet Church for $80,000. The church in its letter to the Association states, "The sale of the church property to the Oli- vet Baptist Church was brought about through the tireless efforts of our p.stor and must prove of vital importance to both civic affairs and Baptist Missionary endeavor." That prediction was fulfilled. Under the sane and efficient lea- dership of Dr. Williams the membership increased to ten thousand and probably has accomplished more in promoting the physical, moral, and spiritual betterment of the Negroes in Chicago than any other 'institu- tion. The church held its last service in the old building on Sunday eve- ning, September 15, 1918. For nearly one-half a century they had wor- shipped God in that sanctuary. It was filled with sacred associations. They recalled the happy days of Everts, Lorimer, and Henson when the seating capacity of the great building had been taxed to accommodate the crowds that gathered; of gracious revivals in which scores of peo- ple had been born again; of anniversary seasons in which the tribes had come up to conduct business for the denomination; of marriage vows that had been uttered within its walls; of services for the sainted dead who had been called up higher. On that last Sunday evening they prayed to- gether, listened to a sermon, no doubt shed a few tears, and having sung a filial hymn, that remnant of a great church went out without a church home of their own and without a field for a new ministry. -157- The problem of a temporary dwelling place was solved by the Memo- rial Church of Christ located on Oakwood Boulevard near Cottage Grove. Through its minister, Dr. H. L. vVillett, it extended a cordial invita- tion to the First Church to join them in union services during the pe- riod of the war.* The invitation was most gratefully accepted. The first united service was h^ld on Wednesday evening, September 18, 1918, and the gracious hospitality of the Memorial Church people was greatly appreciated by the members of the First Church. The two ministers worked together harmoniously and there was some agitation as to the ad- visability of uniting the two churches. But the Memorial Church build- ing was not far from the colored section and the tide was still flowing southward and the church was fearful of the permanence of the community as a white community. The First Church people felt that they must go still farther South. How well justified their fears were is evident in the fact that less than ten years later the neighborhood of the Memo- rial Church was captured by the Negroes, their building sold to a colo- red church, and the membership so scattered that the church became ex- tinct. The problem of a new location was serious and perplexing. The church did not wish to intensify the competitive struggle for existence by locating in a community that was well served by other churches, and at the same time it was highly desirable not to go too far away from the homes of its members. It was discovered that a beautiful Gothic church building located at 955 East Fiftieth Street, near Drexel Bou- levard, was for sale. It had been the former home of the Plymouth Con- gregational Society which had occupied it for only a few years, but, finding it impossible to build up a congregation, had amalgamated with the Kenwood Evangelical Churdh. The fact that one church after spend- ing $100,000 on the property had abandoned the community as hopeless was not encouraging. The church was divided on the question, but it was realized that what had to be done must be done quickly if the church was to have any future. The building which was said to be one of the finest examples of pure English Gothic architecture in the city was offered to the church for the small sum of $28,700, and at a meet- ing of the church held on May 18, 1919, it was decided to accept the offer. In June, 19,-1, the church extended a call to Rev. Perry J. Stack- house, minister of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, of Utica, New York. Mr. Stackhouse began his ministry at the First Church the first Sunday in October, 1921. The Church at this time had a nominal membership of 400, but there was an unusually large number of non-resident and inac- tive church members due to the fact that in the transitional period names were retained with the hope that the wandering members might ral- ly to the church in the new location. The drastic pruning of the mem- bership roll occupied the attention of the church for several years, 75 *. K This edifice seems fated to serve as a co-operative venture. At the time this study was made, both the Monumental Baptist Church and the Bethel A. M. E. Church were worshipping there, the former church owning the building and the latter making use of it due to the destruction in the twenties of its building by fire. -158- being dropped at one time and 134 at another. At the annual meeting in January, 1922, the church reported 150 contributors to current ex- penses. The church had been tested as few churches are tested and those who remained were the finest of the wheat. The church was happy in its new field. Congregation crowded the auditorium and the increasing attendance at the Bible school taxed the inadequate facilities of the building. The pastor early in 1922 began to agitate the question of a Community House. The church in its letter to the Association of 1922 writes: "The First Church has much cause for gratitude for having been so wonderfully kept and guided the past year. Since the coming of Dr. Stackhouse many indifferent members have become interested. Fifty-two have be in added to the church, the majority by baptism. Contributions • to missions have greatly increased. The future is bright with promise." The sentence seems to have become a hibit with the writer of the church letter, The decade closed with a spirit of enthusiasm and hope- fulness concerning the future. Meanwhile the Negroes are steadily pushing down the alleys southward with their carts of furniture, but Forty-seventh Street running east and west still stands as a breakwater against the economic tide. If it crumbles there T «ill be some new his- tory for the First Church* 1 - 85 ' It had crumbled, and the breakwater has now become the Illinois Central tracks from Sixty-third to Seventy-first Street, Not all adjustments were so easily made as that of First Church, however, and First Church's pastor comments further: The conquest of a large section of the South Side by the Negroes stirred up a good deal of resentment and racial hatred. The bombing of houses occupied by Negroes in a White neighborhood and of White land- lords who rented to Negroes was extensively practiced during the de- cade.* White parents objected to their children being forced into as- sociation with Negro children in the public schools. The Negroes swarmed in the parks and the bathing beaches much to the displeasure of the Whites. There was a good deal of irritation caused by the presence of large numbers of Negroes in the State Street and Cottage Grove Ave- nue cars and the whole race had to suffer because occasionally a bois- terous, bumptious, and overassertive Negro made himself obnoxious. This spirit of race hatred which had been growing in Chicago since 1916 came to a head on Sunday, July 27, 1919, on a bathing beach at Lake Michigan at Twenty-ninth Street. A part of the beach had been reserved for 'Whites and a part for Negroes. Someone crossed the line separating the two races, The riot began with stone-throwing and a Negro boy was drowned, a free fight in which knives and guns were used started, and there were 34 casualties — 4 killed and 30 maimed.-, For four days the riots swept uncontrolled through certain sections of the South Side. *There were at least 63 bombings duxing 1919. As recently as 1925, a Negro "church was bombed when it bought property in a white neighbor- hood.- 186 -159- The governor of the state sent 5,000 soldiers and by August 2 the for- ces of law and order had prevailed. On August 8 the state militia withdrew. The casuality list numbered 38 persons killed, 537 injured, and about 1,000 rendered homeless and destitute. * Various social agencies took steps to help in the emergency and to restore order, The American Red Cross had a branch at Thirty-fifth Street and Michigan Avenue. As soon as the rioting became serious a special relief headquarters was established here, and food was distri- buted to needy families cut off from work. The Urban League was used as headquarters for the distribution of food. The Urban League had for several years, through its employment bur- eau, handled a large proportion of the city's Nt.,..ro labor supply and was conversant with difficulties likely to arise fr-m the rioting. It made food surveys of the entire Negro area, printed and distributed thousands of circulars and dodgers urging Negroes to stay off the streets, refrain from dangerous discussions of the riot, and cooperate with the police in every way to maintain order u The League sent tele- grams to the governor and mayor suggesting plans for curbing disorder, organized committees of citizens tc aid the authorities in restoring order, and served as a bureau of information and medium of communica- tion between the white and Negro groups during the worst hostilities. The Young Men's Christian Association was similarly active within the area of its efforts. Religious bodies, minister's associations, and individual ministers exerted their influence over their respective groups by advising the citizens to "keep cool," "hold their heads" and generally to let the authorities settle the riot. Negro business men and one Negro alderman sent wagons through the streets bearing large signs which advised Negroes not to congregate on streets, engage in arguments, or participate in any way in the disorders. The signs fur- ther stated that people would be advised when it was safe to return to work, .... -L87 While the rioting was in progress many Negroes were unable to get through to the stockyards and special pay stations were set up at the Y.M.C.A., the Urban League, the South Side Community House and the Binga State Bank. The unions were anxious that organized labor should not have the onus of participation in a riot upon it, and the official organ of the Chicago Federation of Labor published the following statement: The author did not mention that of the 537 injuries 342 wore Ne- groes. Of 38 deaths 23 were Negroes, -160- FOR WHITE UNION MM TO REaD Let any white union worker who has even been on strike where gunmen or machine gun have been brought in and turned on him and his fellows search his memory and recall how he felt. In this critical moment let every union man remember the tactics of the boss in a strike when he tried by shooting to terrorize striking workers into violence to pro- tect themselves. Well, that is how the Negroes feel. They are panic-stricken over the prospect of being killed,, A heavy responsibility rests on the white portion of the community to stop assault on Negroes by white men. Violence against them is not the way to solve the vexed race problem. This responsibility rests particularly heavy upon the white men and women of organized labor, not because they had anything to do with starting the present trouble, but because of their advantageous posi- tion to help end it. Right now it is going to be decided whether the colored workers are to continue to come into the labor movement or whether they are going to feel that they hove been abandoned by it and lose confidence in it. It is a critical time for Chicago, It is a critical time for organized labor. All the influence of the unions should be exerted on the community to protect colorea fellow-workers from the unreasoning frenzy of race prejudice. Indications of the past have been that organized labor has gone further in eliminating race hatred than any other jilass. It is up against the acid test now to show whether this is so,- 1 "' The whole community cooperated in an effort to halt the violence and miti- gate the suffering: » , . . persons went about speaking on street corners urging co- operation with the police and militia. Appeals by officials and lead- ing citizens were published in the white and Negro papers carrying similar advice, luring the riot a committee of citizens representing forty-eight social, civic, commercial, and professional organizations met at the Union League Club end petitioned the governor to take steps to quiet the existing disorder and appoint a commission to study the situation with a view to preventing a repetition of it. As a result of this appeal followed by similar urgings by many committees, the present Chicago Commission on Race Relations was appointed and began its work, 133 Upon the committee were outstanding leaders in both the Negro and white community including from the Negro community, the editor of the larg- est Negro weekly in the city; the pastor of the largest Negro Baptist -161- church in the city; an outstanding physician and surgeon, the national Grand Master of the Colored Odd Fellows of America, also a prominent state politician; a prominent lawyer and member of the Illinois General Assembly. Representing the white community were three outstanding lawyers, a promi- nent manufacturer and philanthropist, two outstanding business men, and the former director of Registration and Education of the State of Illinois. The Baptist pastor quoted above, says of the Committee and its re- port: The clash between the races forced the Chicago public to face some problems that were vital and menacing. a Commission was appointed to make a study of race relations. Before that Commission appeared prin- cipals and teachers in the public schools, physicians, police offici- als, lawyers, nurses, clergymen, newspaper editors. and social workers who presented testimony that was valuable, if somewhat contradictory In 1922 a full report of the study was published. It is a human ment that throws a good deal of light on the psychology of the Negro and of the causes and effects of racial hatred. Since the riot rela- tions between the races have shown considerable improvement, but there are still vexing problems closely related to the question of social equality for which there seems to be no present solution. 190 SUMMARY The social order which the race riot shattered temporarily A Social was a remarkably fluid one, but there were certain fixed Structure points in "social space'* which were stable enough to maintain their existence even to the time of this present study . Set within the larger urban world was a "Negro world." In the first place, there were certain "community institutions" such as the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., and the Urban League, which because of their access to financial and moral as- sistance of the more prosperous part of the white community were very sta- ble. Then, there were the strong "racial" organizations --the lodges, the Federated -./omen's Clubs, the H.A.A.C.P., which by this time had won a per- manent place. There were the older churches, property-owning and stable. There was a structure of social classes, maintaining its identity by a mea- suring scale of prestige applicable to associations and occupations — so that a person knew what was considered "upper class," "dicty," "hightoned," and what was "lower class." There were social clubs, old and respected. Around this stable structure floated a constantly swirling group of short-lived clubs, store front churches, and other organizations— meeting the needs of the moment, of a small group here or there, and sometimes striking deep their roots and growing into new increments of stable organi- zation which have existed down to the present. And within it all, individ- uals and families pursued their daily round, enjoyed the moment, and some-: times planned for the future— played upon not only by the same urban forces -163- that through movies, newspapers, etc., affected everyone, but also partici- pating in a set of beliefs about race that had long since become tradition- al and whose genesis we have traced through vat this chapter. We shall leave the historical treat Lent at this point, and the next chapter will deal with the contemporary scene, giving a general description of the Negro co mil ■■ ■ t the time of the study. It will describe the eco- logical and social irder irithin i/rhich associations and churches function. The two succe lin cha hers, "Spending Leisure Time" and "Worshipping God" also deal lar ly with the ''birch and associations at a moment in time. The last chapt .-r, "Solving Problems" will resume the historical method, taking up the story fr< in the close of the riot in 1919 and sketching brief- ly the approaches which the community has made tc ■ rd ■ rtain social prob- lems. Throughout the chapter the role of the church and associations in the solution of community problems will '■ Lisc ., with emphasis upon the manner in which community loaders "mobilize the community." The final section is an appendix relating certain of the social data to ecology. It is suggested thai the reader, in approaching the appendix, should first re-read the introduction to this study in order to relate the material to the general frame of reference. The migration has continued throughout the depression years at a reduced rate, and the material in the next chapter represents an arbitrary end point of a mi ;ration process. The entire community up to 1939 has been characterized by an increa: Lni dation a gregate becoming more dense and more heteroge] , Within this community, the individual growing up has been faced with ■ ;hai ing environment making ever increasing demands upon him. "We are convinced by our inquiry: that measures involving or approaching de- portation or segregation are illegal; impracticable and would not solve, but would accentuate, the race problem and postpone its just and orderly solution by the process of adjustment," /Report of Commission on Race Relations . VjZOJ ". . • . Judge of the Chicago Real Estate Board, before the Kiwanis Club of Hyde park at the Windemere East, in summarizing the earnest and consci- entious work of the Board for the last twelve months .... proceeded to ex- plain the fine network of contracts that like marvelous delicately-woven chain armor is being raised from the northern gates of Hyde Park at 35th Street and Brexel Boulevard to Woodlawn, Park Man- or, South Shore, Windsor Fark, and all the far-flung white communities of the South Side, And of what does this armor consist? It consists cf a contract which the owner of the property signs not to exchange with, sell to, or lease to any member of a race not Caucasian," /Hyde Park Herald . ' March 30, 1928/ CHAPTER III NEGROES LIVE IN CHICAGO Some months ago, Opportunity ^- carried a series of articles by Horace R. Cayton, entitled "Negroes Live in Chicago" — an elo- quent reminder of a fact which busy or uninterested city people often forget when uiscussing public policy and do not remember un- till a non-too comfortable life among Negroes has taken its start- ling toll in disease and breaches of the social peace — thus awak- ening buried memories and stirring uneasy consciences. We shall begin this second section — the contemporary scene — with a reminder that NEGROES LIVE IN CHICAGO. What Negroes? About 236,000 of them — varied in color and circumstance, about 80 per cent born elsewhere than in Illinois, (predominantly in the South) and drawn to the city by the forces we have already described in the previous chapter. Their rate of entry and the absolute number of migrants has varied from decade to decade as indicated below: TOTAL AND NEGRO POPULATION WITH PERCENTAGE CHANGE, 1850-1934 2 Total Percentage Negro Percentage Year Population 29,963 Change Populati6n Change 1850 323 1860 109,260 264.6 958 196.6 1870 298,977 173.6 3,696 285.8 1880 503,185 68.3 6,480 75.3 1890 1,099,850 118.6 14,271 120.2 1900 1,698,575 54.4 30,150 111.3 1910 2,185,283 28.7 44,103 46.3 1920 2,701,705 23.6 109,458 148.2 1930 3,376,438 25.0 233,903 113.7 1934 3,258,528 -3.5 236,505 1.0 ^e^^^ ^\^j^!!^^^ -■^=3 \ (r oppo 51 Tl0fs/ .VVVi.^/.; PROMISE tO \y as ** Chicago Defender, January 1, 1957 WHAT THEY LEFT BEHIND The masses of the Chicago Negroes left behind them the insecurity of Southern life. The more articulate portion of the Negro community has not forgot "the folks back home". -167- Earlier in the period of migration there was an excess of men over women in the active age-range, but men and women are now present in approximately- equal proportions, although the number of women slightly exceeds the number of men. NEGRO POPULATION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO UNDER 10 YEARS, AND lOYEARS AND OVER: 1920-193Q3 Population 19 £0 1930 Total Negro Population 109.458 233,903 Male 55,943 115,488 Female 53,515 118,415 Total 10 years and over 96,961 199,233 Male 49 , 811 98,415 Female 47,150 100,818 Total under 10 years 12,497 34,670 Male 6,132 17,073 Under 5 years 3, ,116 8,731 5 to 9 years ,016 8,342 Female 6,365 17,597 Under 5 years 3, ,288 8,798 5 to 9 years 3'i ,077 8,799 The Negro population is not a predominantly unlettered one, the il- literacy rate being only 2.2 per thousand, rather it is a community of "six- th graders," to which each year a larger and larger number of persons who have finished grammar school is added. Almost a fourth of the population has had some high school training, but less than one out of every twenty- persons had had any training beyond high school. (A slightly larger propor- tion than among the foreign-born, however.) Among the native whites over 10 per cent of the population has had some training beyond high school. Only 3 per cent of the Negroes report no education, while 14 per cent of the foreign-born are in this category. -168- The following table compares the educational status of the Negroes and the f ore i pin-born. PER CENT NEGRO AND FOREIGN -BORN POPULATION, 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER 3Y GRADE COMPLETED IN SCHOOL, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: 1934 4 Negro Per cent Foreign-born Per cent Population (Negro) Whit e Foreign-born Grade 18 years 18 years 18 years White 18 years Completed and Over and Ov-jr and Over and Over None 5,856 3.3 90,163 14.0 1-4 22,628 12.9 100,120 15.5 5-8 93,608 53.3 358,357 55.6 9-10 20,464 11,6 30,972 4,8 11-12 22,408 12.8 38,402 6.0 13 and over 8,671 4.9 19,467 3.0 Unknown 2,077 1.2 6,775 1.1 TOTAL 175,712 100.0 644,256 100.0 Many migrants said they came to Chicago to secure better educational ad- vantages for their children, In this regard, it is interesting to note al- so that a slightly larger proportion of eligible N< gro children attend school (98,2 per cent) than is the case among the foreign-born (84.4 per cent) and the native white of mixed or foreign parentage (88.3 per cent). The Negroes' proportion is the same as that of the native white of native parentage. 75 Years Of 'Freedom' -'',1/ * ; ^S I ! />) ^^aP& •ran HJ^S^uSi ',# :Jlct{ow r WHAT THCY HOPED TO FIND (CD., Oct. 2, '37) The Road to Freedom, which the artist depicts on the left, but not marked "For Whites Only" as in the South from whence thoy came. Escape from the balls and chains, and the highway of horrors. In the distance "Real Freedom" to work and enjoy the fruits of their labor as guar- anteed them by 13, 14, and 15th Amendments and as their part of the "A- merican Promise 9 " and a chance to travel that road. -170- VfflERE THE NEGROES LIVE USk c "1 Y."7?; { f F "The &22Nj8f V Loop" '.V s ! 6* y\ Negroes in Chicago, as in most nor- thern cities, tend to be concen- trated in a "Black Belt." This area of greatest concentration in Chicago accounts for at least 85 per cent of the total Negro popula- tion, while 5 "satellite areas" represent other census tracts over 50 per cent of whose residents are Negroes. There are, of course, Negro families scattered all over the city. This concentration has P n i ■M r /■ been partly voluntary, but the more important factor has been the oper- ation of "restrictive covenant s"^ which bar Negroes from living free- ly in all parts of the city. It has been estimated that 95 per cent of the available living space outside of Negro areas is covered by such contracts. The net result of this enforced concentration has been to raise rents in the Negro communities to an abnormally high level, often accompanied in the northern end of the "Black Belt" by an unconcern on the part of absentee landlords with "keeping up" property, which, in this area of potential bus- iness expansion, is doomed to the more lucrative process of demolition. But the Negro area is not a homogeneous unit, and to understand the distribu- tion of property and personnel of associations, it is necessary to view -171- briefly the major ecological divisions of the Negro community. Over 90 per cent of all the Negroes in Chicago live in areas 50 per cent Negro and over. For purposes of convenience, the census tracts in- cluded in these areas have been grouped into P3 ''districts" more or less homogeneous in their social characteristics. These in turn have been des- ignated "Best," "Mixed," and "Worst" in terms of their desirability as res- idential areas, (See Appendix II for a detailed discussion of the method used in classifying these areas,) The map on the following page indicates the extent of these areas and relates them to the distribution of churches, It will be noted that the "Best" areas (red on the map) tend to be south of Forty-seventh Street and in the southern satellite communities, Englewood, Morgan Park, and Lilydale, with one district in the Lake Street Area on the West Side f The "Worst" areas (blue on the map) tend to be west of State Street and north of Thirty-first Street, all areas of poor housing and close to the central business district, Tht "Mixed" areas (yellow on the map) represent an area in transition--' r spotty"-with very good areas here and there, . (See Appendix for a detailed discussion of the relation of these areas to clubs and churches,) There has been a constant movement of people toward the southern tip of the community, due partly to the demolition of houses in the northern end, although this trend is to some extent being re- versed, and partly to the desire of the higher income groups to move into more desirable neighborhoods. *Miss Mary Elaine O^den has prepared an exhaustive analysis of the social characteristics of these twenty-three districts and the groupings. This is available in mimeographed form ? "The Chicago Negro Community— A Statistical Description," • -> Roosevelt Road DENSITY OF NEGRO CHURCHES BY DESI- RABILITY OF NEIGH- BORHOOD FOR 23 NE- GRO DISTRICTS: 1938 Kinzio 126 St. u o •h e a a O Eh i a ..ashington Blvd M Mr id is on TYPE OF AREA Best Mixed I J Worst NUMBER OF CHURCHES PER THOUSAND NEGROES, -^ 13 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER ES§3 r. £S High — 6-9.99 Medium — 3-5.99 Low — 0*-2.99 13 d rH o -p '"> 3 to i- £_ rH 107 St.-S M0R ^ K , P ^ K 115 St. Lr.viuii 91 St.F 97 St. ENGLE/OOD 59 St. ?/j CO •H /rJ in /jf o ' yy , o *// 03 Pi rH O d St. 71 St} NUMBER CF CflURCHES PER 1000 NEGROES 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER AND PER 1000 NEGRO FAMILIES a FOR 23 DISTRICTS SO PER CENT NEGRO AND OVER: 1938 b Number of District Churches 12 25 18 15 9 38 1 17 15 23 4 7 8 7 7 8 10 41 . 1-7 6 19 22 10 21 3 14 52 11 36 2 16 23 4 6 8 13 "A 17 15 16 22 19 15 20 5 5 _- Churches Per 1000 Negro Families _ Rate Rank 26.8 20.7 20.6 20.5 18.4 15.9 11.9 11.6 11.1 10.9 10.8 10.5 10.4 10.4 10.1 3.4 7.9 6.7 3.9 3.5 2.7 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 13 14 15 16 17 13 19 20 21 22 23 Churches Per 1000 Negroes ' Rate Rank 9.77 1 6.87 4 7.58 3 7.61 o 6.70 5 6.45 6 4.13 7 2.88 17 3.03 15 4.12 8 4.00 9 3.91 10 3,07 14 3.24 12 3.60 11 3.17 13 2.96 16 1.83 18 1.08 19 .96 20 .86 21 .77 22 25 Population data compiled from 1934 Census of Chicago. b Church data compiled from field survey, 17. P. A. Project 3789. Correlation coefficient between churches per 1000 families and churches per 1000 Negroes 18 years of age and over, .92. NUMBER OF CHDBCI3ES BY DENOMINATIONAL GROUP, AND NUMBER OF CHURCHES PER 1000 NEGROES, 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER, AND PER 1000 NEGRO FAMILIES, FOR 9 SECTIONS OF TIE NEGRO COMMUNITY: 1938 a Section of the Negro District Total Denom 94 48 inat 2 io.ua] .J 1 L Groups Churches Per 1000 Negroes Churches Per 1000 Negro Community 4 1 5 1 18 _6 14 5 Families West of 7 6,54 17,8 State St. 5 6 9 12 15 8 5 . 8 20 25 12 23 11 33 1! 17 8 16 7 * 26 13 19 11 7 2 1 2 o (■J 2 4 1 3 o 1 1 1 * 2 2 "T~ i 1 7 6 1 4 5 4 5 4 1 2.96 7,58 9.77 6.70 7,9 20.6 26.8 13.4 Lake St, Area Total 1 2 9 - 5 4 6 4 3 3 L - 4,94 7.61 2 . 60 13.7 20.5 10.1 Near West Side Area Total 3 4 4.56 4.12 6*45 11.9 10.9 15.9 North of Pershing Road Total 7 8 10 11 Total 92 38 8 4 7 4 41 13 36 17 10 4 5 1 2 2 1 4 1 o 1 1 2 24 1 1 2 1 12 9 2 1 5 26 1 6 1 10 3 2 1 5 2 11 1 6 4 1 19 8 5 3 1 2 8 5 3 1 3,16 2.88 4.13 3 . 03 3.24 10.9 11.6 11.9 11.1 10,4 Morgan Park . 4.00 10,8 Lilydale 21 3 2 1 9 2 3 2 2 3.91 10,5 Englev/ood 23 4 2 15 6 3 2 1 3 1 1 13 r? O 1 2 2 5 3.17 1,66 1.33 3,07 ,96 1.08 6.87 ,86 8,4 Center of "Black Belt Total " 13 14 16 17 18 19 153 66 34 14 52 26 22 9 15 7 15 7 15 3 5,8 6,7 10.4 3.5 3.9 20.7 2.7 Wood lawn 20 5 2 2 - 48 23 .77 2,64 2.3 TOTAL 420 188 38 25 8 90 8,6 a Church data compiled from a field survey of churches, VJ.P.A. Project 3789, 1938. Population data from 1934 Census of Chicago ^ -173- Just north of Fifty-first Street is Washington Park, perhaps one of the most popular spots in the city among Negroes for summer activities, with its well appointed field house and swimming pool. Between Washington Park and Sixty-third Street is the so-called "contested area" — a neighbor- hood into which the Negro population might naturally be expected to move, but which has been barred to them by restrictive covenants, A few families are now gradually filtering in. To the East are Hyde Park and Kenwood, the property owning interests in both of which have been opposed to Negro resi- dents. Many of the major institutions, such as the Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A., and all of the largest churches are still north of Forty-seventh Street, although the population trend is southward. The whole Ne gro area suffers from extreme overcrowding and doub- ling-up, and a much criticized phenomena is the kitchenette apartment, typ- ical of Districts 16 and 18, where large flats have been cut up into one and two room apartments rented at excessively high rates. District 18, at present represents an area in a rapid process of deterioration due to the "kitchenette menace. "^ One significant index to desirability of housing is revealed by the percentage of unheated homes. In all eight of the worst tracts, over a third of the homes are unheated, while in only three of the nine best tracts, do as many as a third of the homes fall in this class. Assuming central heating to be a value in an urban community, this would mean that the majority of the persons in these worst tracts are still in the "coal wood" stage. -174- In 1939, one-third of the Nef.ro population was on relief, How They Earn 32.4 per cent on W.P.A. , and about 40 per cent of all the a Living 6 cases of direct relief in the city were Negro. As usual, they had been "Last to be Hired and First to be Hired," partly be- cause of prejudice and partly because they were concentrated in insecure occupational groups. The following table indicates the distribution of idle skills among Negroes in 1935, ranked according to proportion which Ne- groes constituted of each class of workers on relief. ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE bORKERS, 16-64 YEARS OF AGE, ON RELIEF IN CHICAGO: FEBRUARY, 1935 a Occupation Total Negro Per cent Domestic and Personal Service 22,380 11,430 51.07 Unskilled Laborers 24,325 6,755 27.77 Farm Operators and Laborers 1,090 245 22.40 Semi-skilled Workers in Building Manufacturing 36,555 7,765 21.24 Professional and Technical Persons 2,440 460 18.85 6 ,755 245 7 ,765 460 1 ,400 3 ,290 670 750 Semi-skilled Worker.-: in Building and Construction 8,300 1,400 16.86 Inexperienced Persons 20,930 3,290 15.71 Proprietors, Managers and Officials 4,765 670 14.06 Salesmen 7,275 750 10.30 Skilled Workers in Manufacturing and other Industries 8,910 865 9.71 Skilled Workers and Foremen in Building and Construction 13,175 1,120 8.50 Office Workers 11,890 800 6.73 TOTAL 162,135 35,550 21.93 Confidential Report to the City Council by the Chicago Housing Authority, 1937. -175- The distribution of Negro workers as revealed in the census of 1930 (in the early days of the depression) reveals certain significant facts about the manner in which Negroes earn their living, and gives an index to the "normal" distribution of Negro workers. PER CENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE GAINFUL WORKERS OF EACH NATIVITY AND COLOR GROUP BY SOCIAL-ECONOMIC CLASS: 1930 7 Foreign Native Born Other Social -Economic Class Total White White Negro Races TOTAL 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Professional persons 6.7 8.7 4.0 3.1 3,0 Proprietors, Managers and Officials 8.4 8,0 11.0 2.3 4.4 Farmers, (Owners and tenants) - - - - - Proprietors, managers and officials (except farmers) 8.4 8.0 11.0 2.3 4.4 Clerks and kindred 25.8 36.2 11.5 5.7 5.8 Skilled workers and foremen 15.7 14.1 21.7 6.4 3.7 Semi-skilled workers 19.0 18.2 20.3 21.2 14.1 Unskilled workers 19.4 9.6 26.5 58.1 66.4 Farm laborers .2 .1 .3 .1 ,2 Other laborers 10.5 5.5 15.9 22.4 50.0 Servant classes 8.7 4.0 10.3 35.6 16.2 Unknown 5.0 5.2 5,0 3.2 2.6 A study of the pyramids on the following page indicates a concentration of Negro men and women in the lowest brackets, a fact likewise true of foreign born women, Foreign-born men, however, are very well represented in the skilled labor categories. Negroes have a larger proportion of their work- ers classified as "professional" than one might expect, but it is important to note that preachers and musicians make up an important part of this GAINFUL VJORKERS BY SOCIAL-ECONOMIC GR0UP-1?30 Native White For. Bern Whit Total 1 2 3 i — i H r* — J — ' 1 A 4 5 6 L J Negro 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 A L U □ i i ! ":.iale Female s J t t D ~3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 1 Jhr 3 J 4 1 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Professional -arsons 2. Proprietors, managers and officials 3. Clerk.: nd kirdred worl i cs 4. Skilled workers and foremen 5. Semi-skilled workers 6. Unskilled workers .177- group, and many of them are not really "professional" from the point of view of actual formal training.* The large number of women in unskilled and semi-skilled pursuits is partially accounted for by their significant absence among proprietors, managers, and officials and skilled laborers. This, though, is true of white women, too, and the really significant dif- ferences are in the very small number of Negro women employed as "clerks and kindred workers." The manner in which people earn a living is significant for this study since it limits the amount of time and money available for associa- tion and church participation, and tends to control, to some extent, the type of groups in which people participate. Professional associations, trade groups and labor unions, for instance, are founded definitely on an occupational base, and tend to be "closed groups" interested in advancing the interests and protecting the prestige of the members. Even purely so- cial clubs may be related to occupation as in the case of the Rexall Boys , 8 the Palmer House Boys , and similar aggregations. The following chapters will reveal the influence of occupation and income as determinants of the amount and kind of participation which indi- viduals are able to maintain. Economic factors, alone, do not determine amount and type of participation, since training, previous educational back-ground, and interests which have been developed influence, to a great extent, the organization which people join. *The differing values attached to certain occupations in the Negro community and the fact that equivalent training is sometimes not demanded for a given profession, tend to weight this category too heavily. -178- UAL )I . ..: IBUTION OF NEGRO WORKERS COMPARED WITH HIEOSETICAL "IDEAL" DISTRIBUTION 9 PROPORTION OF ALL WORKERS H< I CTEGRQ 1. Servants 34.1 2. Other Unskilled Workers 20.7 3. Semi-skilled Workers. ...... 9.2 4. Professionals 3 « 8 5. Skilled Workers and Foremen ... 3.4 6. Proprietors, Managers, Officials. 2.3 7. Clerks and Kindred Workers. ... 1.8 All Workers 8 « 3 (4) mk (6) W7^ (7) JZZZZZ3 The above chart indicates the actual proportion which Negroes are of all workers in certain fields as compared with an "ideal" proportion which would theoretically obtain if there were no factors of racial preju- dice and "tradition" operating to limit the free mobility of Negroes in the economic system (assuming, of course, that Negroes are equal in capacity to whites, desire better jobs, and are given sufficient time to allow for mo- bility. The latter is an important proviso, for the very fact that Negroes as a whole are among the more recent migrants means that they, in the mass, had to start in at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy). The low pro- portion of proprietors, managers and officials, and clerks and kindred workers is one objective factor which rives rise to the great emphasis on "Bigger and Bettor Negro Business" in the Negro Community. -179- It is only natural in a commercial society such as "Bieper and Better .,, Negro Business"* that of the western world, that minority groups will tend to measure their "progress" at least partially in terms of their positions of control in the business world. This becomes doubly true when such a small proportion of Negroes are employed in offices in the city and when white Merchants do the bulk of the business within Ne- gro communities. Our historical sketch has indicated that the drive toward development of Negro business began early in the history of the city. (See chart on following page.) VJhen Chicago was small, individual Negro busi- ness men had stores in the "Loop," but today, the majority of the Negro enterprises are in predominantly Negro areas, although, even there, they ■, x. 10 control less than 20 per cent of the total volume of retail business. The present shopping center of the Negro community is Forty-eeventh Street, having moved south through the years from Thirty-fifth Street until it is now at the center of density of the "Black Belt." On this street is the largest retail business owned and operated by Negroes. , Institutions such as insurance companies, however, tended to stay toward the northern end of the area. Small retail stores are scattered throughout the community. In addition to the regular businesses, there is a special class of enterprises which should be mentioned, "protected businesses" which, al- though nominally illegal, operate with the tacit consent of public offici- als. Dominant among these is policy, an intricate lottery system based on small bets, with the reputation of being "on the square," and, therefore*, *Motto of the P hi Beta Sigma Fratern ity, a college fraternity which has adopted this as its civic program. RELATIONSHIP BETVJEEK TOTAL NEGRO POPULATION AND TOTAL NEGRO BUSINESS FROM 1859-60 TO 1937 -CHICAGO -p •H U3 VI 1859-60 ± 85 1905 08 12 16 POPULATION TOTAL BUSINESS SERVICE '" RETAIL " WHOLESALE " **■ "" X - NO DATA NOTE: POP. SHOWN IN" HUNDRED: '21 '23-'24 '27 . * — * • — ■* 30 '35 '37 (Drawn by Lav/rence Langf ord. ) Data compiled under direction of Joseph Semper, -181- very popular. The policy business is reputed to employ about twenty-five hundred persons in every capacity from C.P.A.'s to janitors. Because policy is a distinctive feature of Negro life in Chicago, it night be illuminating to examine it a little more closely. In Chicago, policy playing is almost completely confined to the Ne- gro communities. Very few white persons are either connected with the game in an official capacity, or play it. (Race horse bookies are far more pop- ular in the white community.)* In fact, it is a common belief that at one time Al Capone pledged himself not to "muscle in" on the policy racket in return for the South Side beer monopoly. The method by which the bets s.re placed and pay-offs made requires, in addition to "walking writer,"** a definite place of business—a "sta- tion," and there were, in 1938 at least four hundred and eighty-three of them in the area between Twenty-sixth Street and Seventy-first Street, Cot- tage Grove Avenue, and Went worth Avenue. (This represents stations located by actual count. People "in the game" report the number as close to two thousand. ) Fanv s+ptions are operated openly and are easily recognized by even the uninitiated, with their "4-11-44," "DOING BUSINESS," "ALL BOOKS," and similar signs. People can be seen constantly going in and coming *Pari-mutuel betting is legal in Illinois, but the status of race horse betting in Chicago is still undetermined* An ordinance was passed in December, 1937, licensing brokers who would be permitted to forward money to the tracks. It is inoperative, however, pending judicial decision. Policy is illegal. (See Chicago Recreation Survey , Vol. I.) ** "A vocabulary has developed around policy, as well as an elaborate symbolism. A "walking writer" is a person who sells lottery tickets on the streets or from house-to-house; "4-11-44" means "Holiday Row"; a "book is a specific lottery company; "drawings" are slips of paper on which winning numbers arc printed; a "gig" is a series of three numbers played. Catch means "to win." -182- out some timer, with the "drawings" in their hands, perhaps muttering and'shaking their heads if their "gigs" didn't "fall," or chuckling and smiling if they "caught". There arc throe drawings a day, and at busy stations, players form a regular queue—- people getting results or placing bets. Many stations, however, arc behind blank doors, in rear basements, or in homes and are known only to neighbors. The majority of the persons who play policy use stations, for in the early days of the game, the player had to depend on the honesty of a writer who very often betrayed this faith. Today, only those who wish to conceal the fact that they are placing a bet, or who live in neighborhoods which have been able to keep stations out, or who for other reasons find it inconvenient to get to a station, use the "walking writer." One observer described a station as follows: The station is located in the basement at , an apartment building. On entering the station, you notice, to the right, a press- ing shop. Along the walls in front of the basement are three trough- like racks built in sections with signs reading A.M., P.M., and M.N, These are the receptacles for the drawings for the morning, the evening and midnieht. These troughs have a section for every "wheel" for which the station writes. There are small blackboards on each side of the wall where lucky or "hot" numbers are placed. Each week, or every two or three days, as the caso may be, advertisements of all the important wheels an placed in a conspicuous place. On a table is a large wall- paper boo 1 - with "drawings" pasted in for months past. These drawings arc for reference and are often used by patrons in determining their daily plays. In the rear end of the station, behind a barred cage, re- sembling a tell; ,.-' s window, the writers arc stationed. A tailor's sign camouflages the station, the only sign in evidence on the outside of the building. Policy stations are located in almost ew y/ I lock between Thirty- first and Sixty-third Streets, Cottage Grove Avenue and State Street. As the northern and southern ends of the "Black Belt" are approached, however, the number of stations decreases. A detailed analysis of one census dis- trict reveals the fact that almost half of the stations are "fronted" by other kinds of businesses. Some business men will rent the rear of a store to a policy station for a sum approximating the monthly rent bill of the store hoping, too, that those who come to play may stay to purchase. A store-station combination may also, sometimes, be the result of the neces- sity for securing a "front" in a neighborhood where community sentiment is strongly against the game. -183 - A very prominent feature of the Negro community is the group Churches of 475 churches, some of which still bear upon them the marks of previous ownership — six-pointed Stars of David, Hebrew or Swedish inscriptions, or names chiseled on cornerstones that do not tally with the names on the bulletin boards. And on many of the business streets are "storefronts" betraying such indices of low economic and educational status as, perhaps, a misspelled or crudely lettered sign. There are also numerous quasi-religious institutions, such as "healers" and "spiritual- ists" offering "messages" ana "readings," The bulk of these churches are Baptist (claiming over 150,000 mem- bers), with Methodist and Holiness groups ranking next in order. (See fol- lowing page for table/) Chapter V will discuss "Churches" in detail. *The groupings used in the table are those devised by R. L. Suther- land for his "Analysis of Negro Churches in Chicago" (1928), and are as follows: Group I - Baptists (all Negro control) Group II - Negro Methodists (all Negro control) Group III - "White Bodies" (predominantly white "orthodox" with some measure of Negro control) Group IV - Community churches (all Negro control) Group V - Holiness Groups (joint Negro-white control in some cases; all white in others) Group VI - Spiritualist (all Negro control) Group VII - Miscellaneous (all Negro control) -184- NUMBER AND PER CENT OF NEGRO RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS IN CHICAGO BY DENOMINATION AND DENOMINATIONAL GROUP: 1928 and 1938 I. Baptists _ Denominational Group . . 1928 _„i£\38 — _ and_ Denomination J^ W ^evCe^_mm^^_leTj^^^ TOTAL 295 100.0 475 100.0 133 45.1 215 45_.j3 Baptist (No special designation) 90 33.2 141 29,7 Missionary Baptist Primitive Baptist II. Negro Methodists African Methodist Episcopal African Methodist Episcopal Zion Colored Me th od 1st Ep i scopa l III. White Bodies Methodist Episcopal Episcopal Presbyterian Congregational Desciples of Christ Seventh Day Advent ists Catholic (Roman) Lutheran Church of Christ Scientist 30 10.2 68 14.3 5 1_._7__ ?_ 1.5,. 55 11.9 42 8.9 , 24 8.2 27 5.7 5 1.7 8 1.7 6_ _2_.0 _7_ 1.5... 22 7_A 27 5.6 "V 2.7 6 1.3 3 1.0 3 .6 3 1.0 4 .9 2 .7 2 .4 2 .7 3 .6 2 .7 3 .6 1 ,3 3 .6 1 .3 2 .4 1 .2 IV. Community Church Community Incorporated 3 _ 1,0 . i°_ 2>1 V, Holiness Bodies 56 19.0 107 22.6 Church of God in Christ 24 8,2 27 5.7 Church of Christ (Holiness U.S.A.) 3 1.0 3 .6 Church of Christ (No designation) 5 1.7 1 .2 Church of the Living God 2 .7 4 .9 Church of God (Holiness) 1 .3 7 1.5 Church of God (No designation) 6 2.0 10 2.1 Church of God and Saints of Christ 1 .3 4 .9 Apostolic and Pentecostal 11 3.8 27 5.7 Pentecostal Assemblies of the World .7 3 .6 Old Time Methodist 1 - 3 1 ,2 20 4^2 __ _ 51 1.0.7 Holiness (Miscellaneous VI. Spirituals and Spiritualists Spiritual and Spiritualist I.A.M.E. Spiritual 47 9.8 4 .9 VII. Miscellaneous 29 9.8 23 4.8 Cumberland Presbyterian African Orthodox Christian Catholic Liberal Catholic Others .7 1 .2 1 .3 1 .2 1 .2 1 .3 1 .2 25 8.5 19 4.0 -185 - Over 3,000 associations, indigenous to, or with branches Associations in Chicago, exclusive of church clubs, were referred to in the Chicago Defender during 1937. 14 Approximately two- thirds of these were small clubs for recreational purposes, while the oth- ers were distributed among various types of civic organizations, college and high school alumni groups, lodges, professional and technical groups, co-operatives, labor unions, athletic associations, political clubs, fo- rums, study groups, youth organizations, neighborhood and community clubs, musical units, etc. They ranged in size from lodges claiming over a thou- sand members to small clubs of four and five persons. In order to study these associations within some meaningful frame of reference, they have been classified into two large groups: (1) those whose orientation is to- ward satisfying the needs of its immediate members, who usually form some small in-group or segment of the society, such as a group of friends, a family, a profession, or a trade group; (2) those whose orientation is to- ward the larger society, as e.g., the total Chicago Negro community, "the race," the nation. These, in turn, have been subdivided according to the predominant type of activities pursued— instrumental or expressive. The following chart indicates associations which clearly fall within the divi- sions: *It is evident that many associations will be on the borderlines if this classification is used, but is possible by a study of the manner in which the group spends its money and utilizes the member's time, to classi- fy most associations. Names of associations are very deceptive, as are statements of purpose. The tables in Appendix I give the results of the detailed analysis upon which the classification are based. -186- TYPES OF ASSOCIATIONS IN THE CHICAGO NEGRO COMMUNITY GENERAL ORIENTATION* "Secular" "Sacred" Types o£ Behavior Sanctions: Sanctions: ;_ ge Nation "Race" Sex Community "Humanity" Clique Class (Absolute demands on in- limited demands on individual) dividual) Unions Lodges Co-operative Societies Professional Societies Trade Associations Saving Clubs Instrumental Organizations for Racial Advancement I, itionalistic sects Revolutionary sects Military and Patriotic Societies Money Raising Clubs of Churches Neighborhood Clubs Parent-Teachers Associa- tions Missionary Societies Federated Clubs Junior League "Solving Problems" -Individual- "Solving Problems" -Social- Ex ores si ve Social Clubs Social and Athletic Clubs Social and Civic Clubs Social and Charity Clubs Literary Societies Art and Drama Groups Music Groups Churches; Gospel Choruses Choirs Young people's Groups Usher Boards "Having Fun" "Worshipping God" ^Arrows represent tendency for activities and sanctions to incorpo- rate elements of another type-association. Absolute demands on individual imply that the ends served by the group tend to be unquestioned, i.e., they are "sacred," and are phrased in idealistic terms. Limited demands on an individual are not considered as binding and unquestionable. -187- The large number of churches indicates that for many "Worshipping God" people in the community, "worshipping God" is an important part of their scale of values. The feature which primarily distinguishes the church from other associations is its orientation toward "God" - a fact expressed by the placing of worship at the center of church activities, no matter what the additional educational or social service features may be. About a third of the churches studied had only worship as an activity, although the overwhelming majority had some associated activities if no more than Sunday School, an usher board, or money raising clubs (popularly called "circles"), 14 It is probably that an average Sunday morning finds at least 65,000 of the nearly 300,000 persons in the community in some church, 15 and people who do not attend church themselves frequently send their children to Sunday School as an integral part of their "right raising." 16 Church attendance is not an in- dex, however, to church membership in any meaningful sense, and careful analyses of churches which carry a Sunday morning attendance of between two and three thousand persons, and which claim ten to twelve thousand members, indicates that their "sustaining memberships" are between 1,500 and 12,000 17 persons. xr The largest proportion of people who maintain relationships with the church, probably do so, except in very small churches, through sub- organizations, and many persons have their only relationships through them. 18 These range from purely social clubs affiliated with churches to cooperative stores. Yet, were it not for the primacy of the worship ser- vices, and for the "sustaining members" whose orientation is toward religion itself, the institution would not maintain itself. ..-■!•■♦ , I -186- It is this group that gives its time and money to the church, supporting rallies and drives, special efforts and "causes" with which even many of the smallest churches have been able to provide attractive atmosphere for worship, and with which the larger churches have beautified their interiors to an extent often unsuspected if one looks only at the outside of the 19 building. Over three times as many women as men are sustaining members. Living in Chicago is not a mere matter of earning a liv- "Having Fun" ing, (or receiving a relief check), for making money is only a means to an end— and one of these ends is what the people call "having fun." 20 The city offers a wide range of recreational patterns, and the selection of leisure time pattern can become a compli- cated process. It is further complicated by the fact that most pleasures involve the expenditure of money, and a given "pay check" has many prior claims upon it. The actual recreational behavior is further determined by education, habit, advertising, and the individual's conception of his role in society. It seems certain, that the major recreational needs of the community are met by commercial institutions such as the movies, ball parks, taverns, pool rooms, barber shops, and policy stations where for a small sum one may find both internal and external stimulants. A tabu- lation of leisure-time interests using a large sample, indicates that movies are mentioned most often with athletics and reading following next, and then dancing and cards. There are certain variations with social and economic status, opera, lectures, and "good" shows often appearing among 22 responses of groups within the higher occupational and income brackets. These activities usually involve participation in informal cliques- l.o. , groups -of people who "run around together," but who lack formal -189- organization. Among young people these are often courting groups. One of the prevailing tendencies among young people in their teens and among women in the middle income groups is to formalize these clique relations by or- ganizing "social" clubs, "social and civic" clubs, and "social and charity" Clubs (all really social clubs), and among boys by forming "social and athletic" clubs, 23 In addition to social clubs whose major activities are cards and dancing, and raising money for more cards and dancing, there are a large number of "culture" clubs, devoted to art, the study of languages, sewing and other crafts, Negro history, discussion of current problems, etc, ad infinitum. These are often sponsored by churches, social agencies, and other larger community institutions, such as the Y.M.C.A. , Y.W.C.A. , and Federated Women's Clubs. 2 ** Church sub -organizations, for many older people and some younger ones , tend to organize activity within a "sacred" mold. Thus, one woman states : I am very active in church now, I am the president of the Sewing Circle. We meet once a week and sew things like pillow cases, men's work shirts, dresses, scarfs, ladies handkerchiefs, and a lot of small things like that. We sell those things and put the money in our treas- ury and help with the expense of the church. Yfe do not have many men in our church „ They just won't join like women. My husband is the man that beats the drum. He used to beat the drum in an orchestra before he was sanctified^ Now he plays for the church. Our sewing circle is giving a program this Sunday. The subject of the play is, "Tempted and War." There are four features to this playj they are as follows : Beauty, Fame Wealth, Religion, The play is about a girl just entering womanhood and all of these things. 25 -190- An elevator operator with a grade school education demonstrates the possibilities of securing prestige within church sub-organizations, as well as the secularizing influence at work on church members: The church takes all of my time. You see, when I have a little time, I write songs for the church. I do not have much time for plea- sure. We have two rehearsals every week and one prayer service. The young men's Bible class — by the time I finish with that, the whole week has passed but I think I will join the Young Democrats' Club here in this ward. It is just getting started and I think I should join. I have many friends in that club and they have been trying to get me to join. I can afford to join some other club now as everything is going along swell at the church, I have been told some members drink a little and play a few cards, but I do not think it goes to the extreme. Before we got re- ligion, one of the members of the church who was a friend of ours asked us to come to that church; that they were in need of people who could lead the work, but I did not have religion, so they convinced me that I should get religion, so I started out when I was convinced that I had religion, I joined the church, I was immediately put into the gospel choir as I could sing. After a while they elected me director of the group. When I first started with this group, it was very small and they did not sing with one another, so my first job was to train them to sing together, then to get new songs. Many of the songs that we sing I composed myself and after a few rehearsals we sing very good to- gether. We have about 40 people in the gospel choir. I help with that group too. The reason that I am able to help effectively with this work is because I took voice culture for about two years, not regularly but whenever I had time, and I can sing very well, they say. Most of them are middle-aged people - about thirty women and ten men and myself. Most of these women are housewives, but they work for the church, as much as possible. They arrange their business so they can be at rehearsal about once a week and Sunday afternoon. All this group seems very much interested in helping to put things over and another thing that makes them all work is the fact that the pastor appreciates their work and he will speak about it in the church. This makes them all want to do something so they will be mentioned. 26 One of the most striking phenomema in the Negro com- What People Value in the Church munity is the evident fact that denominational ties are weak, a fact attested by the great mobility from denomination to denomination and the wide range of memberships apparent within specific family groups. Yet despite this fact, and the rather ready -191- criticisms of the church which both members and non-members continually pour out to interviewers and spontaneously among themselves, the church does continue to exist. There are things which peo P l value in the churcn. The following comments by persons from various denominational groups are typical of those who defend the church : T am a member of A-M.E. Church. Churches are quite a neces- sitv for I believe that it is through them that the people first got fide^ thaf we must cooperate with each other gf^^oSS n-*, < + q tA-phinss and I'm afraid we would not be able to live, oecauot with its te. cnings anu j- w ^ 4.v,j„i, ~-p mp fellow man it is fear of the beyond that causes one to think of his leliow man and respect his feelings. 2 ' My opinion is, that the church is a good influence in a °°™nity. People L te have a certain amount of respect for the oh urch that no are very seldom in the clutches of the law. , My Kif % a " jr«rr^r..~Tr*£ thfcnurrifi u:: *t teiiw, ^iflToXf^iziu «-- <»* is restine and sives them a feeling of peace « c My family and I are members of — A-M.E. Church. I think the church is a good influence. The store-front churches are all rfght' and I am sure they will be able to interest some people that otherwise would not go to church at all. My »hole family are members of B. Church . I am of the opinion that the church is a ereat need. It is hard to picture the lount of evil that «uld take hold ^ ** ^ / h 7mTy E* have l^nedT^ tL"^^*^^ ™ can ^accomplished only hy the joining of forces of a large group of people. Sr iritualist -one of the most recently developed oenonina- ti5^ STaddition to the usual evangelical hymns ^d preach- Healing ing, has added use of altar, candles, and saints. o r o S8o 6 healing and the "giving of messages." Many very smal house churches. Only one large church, which in eight grown from a store-front with a very localized membership to a congrega Won of several thousand scattered over the entire "Black Belt. (See maps on two following pages.) Roosevelt 2c s sf frmryrr^fT^ i •H rH H £ o >A Rd. 5 -DISTRIBUTION OF THE SUST , .IN IK G MSI BERSHIP OF TrlE FIT- ST CHURCH OF DE.lIVLR;nCE BY DENSITY, 22 St. 7 J lb- £ 26 St i35 St. /'. 23 59 St. 63 St 16 x £*- *~±± 39 St. 19 47 St. 51 St. 55 St 22 60 St, 63 St. 71 St. -194- Persons in the upper educational brackets tend to be very critical of the spiritualist churche . Adherents, however, aefend them on the grounds that they meet their emotional needs. The following testimony of a woman at a healing service is a typical statement: I have listened to the Broadcast, but I have never been here . ^ To- dav, I promised myself I would come to the meeting today. I didn't feel well as T have' an annoying in my ears. My landlady didn't want me to come, but I felt I would get a great help. I desire the prayers of all. 3 2 ' The orthodox churches do not stress healing (it is mentioned occasionally in sermons, and one Community church, one Baptist church, and perhaps a few others have made it a part of their program. Holiness and Spiritualist as well as Catholic and Christian Science churches do. There is some movement from the older orthodox churches toward these groups, al- though how much movement in the reverse direction goes on we cannot say. A random sample of the membership of the largest Spiritualist church re- vealed that almost half of the members had been Baptists, a third Metho- dist, and only a third had been converted to the Spiritualist church originally. 35 Host of th e people had been in the city over ten years and tended to be beyond thirty-five years of age. Chris tian Science -One large church with well-appointed reading room is located on fashionable Michigan Avenue, and tends to appeal to a higher educational and economic group than the Spiritualists. It was formerly a mixed church, but is now designated "colored.'- Testimonies recorded at the Christian Science church were similar in con- tent, though not in phrasing, to those from the Spiritualist churches. Individuals express the value of the church to them, as follows: We think of men as spiritual and perfect. You know yourself that Jesus destroyed sin, b aled sickness and disease and raised the dead^ so with the correct understanding of Truth, why can't it still be done? -195- A prominent social worker states another inviting feature: I don't care for all the emotion one finds in the average Negro church. I had never been so disgusted as when I went to Rev. ------- b church and saw him clown and carry on. g have a liking lor Christian Science. The services are what I like. A seamstress "doesn't understand the teachings very well* but is "ardent in carrying out the ideas," while another woman "in ordinary circumstances" "attributes whatever success she has had to that religion." A recent convert states with pride: A friend insisted that I read Science and Health. .... In a year I became a member I enjoyed the manner in which the services "ere conducted, now it seems to be the only place I can worship. You can't just come in off the street and join our church. You must study nine months and pass an examination. Holiness Churches — These churches emphasize "perfectionism," i.e., living a "holy life, free from sin, a movement which Holiness began originally among the white Methodist churches. They are on the whole a low income group* They are older than the Spiritualists and have several large churches. They are popularly re f erred to as "sanctified." Their influence can be noted in references to "holi- ness" n Baptist and Methodist sermons. They tend to be more highly or^ani-ed than Baptist churches. One Pentecostal church is now in the process of biding a modernistic structure on Oakwood Boulevard, although He majority of the churches are store -fronts. These churches believe m "gifts": healing, "Holy Ghost," "tongues," The following cements illustrate the significance of the church to its members : was raised baptist. a«u ± ^ ~~- vices so I went from church to church, but they was all the same lady invited me to her church, an' when I saw Elder ----- healing a ,! y t -™ it ™« B work of God. I Joined the church in 1928, but I was raised Baptist. i*en I came here I didnH like ^heir ser- .ng a lady? rknew~itTwas a work of God. I oined the church in **», but did not get the Holy Ghost until four years ago, oweet Jesus. I happy to be a Child of God, He'll never let me suffer for bread. An adolescent girl stated: I like to ,'0 there, but I'm not sanctified. I like to play ball, they don't want you to do that or smoke, drink, dance or play cards. -196- Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeoise epoch from earlier ones. All fixed, fast frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions are swept away, all new formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into thin air, all that is holy is profaned, -Selected- -197- The people in any community are continually responding to, and evaluating the social structure, and in doing so, they often express their reactions verbally. Many persons, members and non-members, who were inter- viewed in the co iree of the present study expressed critical opinions*af the church. The major criticisms in order of their frequency of mention were: (l) "Church is a racket," (2) "Too many churches," (o) "Too much emotionalism," (4) "No real religion among members," (5) "A waste of time," (6) "Ministers don't practice what they preach," (7) "Ministers and church won't preach against evils," (8) "Too much emphasis on money," (9) "Negro is too religious." Criticisms (o) , (5), (6) and (9) are more frequent among the groups with a higher educational background. There are frequent statements to the effect that churches are too emotional, especially from those persons who have joined Presbyterian, Con- gregational, Lutheran, and such similar "white bodies" where there is a tradition of a more formalized and restrained ritual. Not all of the per- sons who belong to these churches have received a great deal of formal ed- ucation, but they tend to identify with what is considered the proper way for people who have been "educated" to act. A large proportion, however, of the more successful business and professional people tend to join these churches and many socially mobile people send their children to them. One of the frequent criticisms of the church is that it "ties up" too much money in non-productive property, and that this money should be 4£ spent to provide jobs for the "Race" by the establishment of businesses. *These comments have been presented, not as an indictment of the church, but as a representative sample of public opinion in the Negro com- munity. Whether they are justified or unjustified, is not a question for this research to answer. The probabilities are that in many cases people are generalizing from a single instance of a bitter experience, resulting in, a stereotype . -198- A typical informal comment of the older unchurched age-group re- veals the manner in which several of these criticisms may be expressed in one conversation. Mien the writer approached Mr. He was sitting on the steps of a Baptist church. This church is located on State Street. Mr. ----- inquired of the writer as to the purpose of my quest. I informeu him that I v>as making a survey of ITegro churches. He said, "Young man, you will not find the church of today like the church of years ago. I have seen the time when a minister would walk 10 or 15 miles to preach and maybe get ,,1.00 or maybe nothing. The church was a house of worship and not a money inst itution as it is today. I have not enjoyed a good service since I left the oouth- 1Snd The meetings down home was soulL-stirring and when the people would eet happy they were happy. In Chicago the preacher's subject is money, he must have an au*>- mobile, a swell flat and fine clothes before he can preach and then he The trouble is that there are too many churches and too many different religions. Of course, I am a Baptist and I think that the Baptist is good enough for any man. Every little "jack-leg" preacher you see wants a church ol his own and if not his own denomination he will call it anything. Just so he "n exploit his people. "First, he tells them of the beautiful church that he is going to build when 'we leevo this store-front' and the trulh is that he will never lea v.; the store-front ." At this point I asked Mr. what he thought of our larger churches. He said that they, too, had their many faults. First, be said that tn : larger churches are too high-toned to serve God. Th y all want big name and want to do everything on a big basis and don't have time to serve the people. They even have all high-class siting and not th, old time soul-stirring songs that furnish the soul 5S happiness. The whole truth is that th. people of today don't have religion. They ,nly join th, church. Th, big pasto J i« m la xury, fine cars, expensive clothing and all the comfort of life It is said that some of our pastors have yearly incomes of 3 to ^4,000 a year. That's too much money for any preacher. This just about ended the conversation as Mr. - bad. to leave for his dinner.*' -199- The charge that "The church is a racket" is the most f re- Religion— quant one encountered. "Racket" is a typical "city-word" A Racket? expressing a skepticism of motives which does not necessar- ily mean that a person absolutely refuses to cooperate with the church, but which allog.. either directly or by implication, disapproval of undue con- cern with money, and dishonest or unproductive use of it by church offi- cers. This, a West Sidor makes an exception of her church and preacher, while condemning the others: Do you go to the South Side to church? I go to Rev. X's church. It's a small church but he is sincere and not like the pastors of the big churches and most store fronts. I don't have much faith in any of them. 44 Non-members used the term most frequently as in the case of a "sporting house proprietor" who observed "The church is getting to be too big a racket for me. I'd rather support my own.» 4 5 Another infrequent attendant at a Baptist church, a janitor, stated, "You know churches are nothing but a racket. »<^ while a business man chanted the sarae refrain, "I just don't care anything about the churches because I think they are rackets." 47 An optometrist was very bitter, "I was baptised in a Baptist church, but I don't go regularly It's just racketeering on people's emotions anyway." 48 A young business woman likewise bandied the term, "I used to be a member of Baptist Church, but have dropped my membership. One of my brothers is a deacon, the other brother, like myself, thinks the church is just like a racket. " 4 9 A housewife in the lower income brackets admitted conversion by her husband, "my husband does- -200- n't like for me to go to church, he says its nothing but a racket, that nobody gets anything out of it but the preachers. I'm inclined to agree with him now, but didn't at first." 50 One man dressed the racial balance by saying, "I think its a racket—just like a lot of the white people's churches." 51 Even active church members sometimes use the ugly word as in the case of a dentist, who said, "I'm Episcopal— I believe churches are still useful—like everything else, there's a lot of racketeering going on in the church. ^ Church members, on the whole, did not use this harsh term, but both by direct charges and by implication touched on the subject making the same type of criticisms, samples of which follow: They want to line their pockets with gold and don't care how they get it. Preachers are supposed to be leaders of the people but they are fake leaders. 5 ^ Ministers art not as conscientious as they used to be. They are money mad nowadays. All they want is the almighty dollar, and that is all they talk about. 54 When you are making plenty of money and share it with them /i. e., preachers/ you are all right — you are a fine fellow. When the crash comes and you art; not doing so well, they forget all about you. J ' A former deacon, commenting on the practice of tithing stated, "It looks to me like a lot of graft, wanting people to bring in one-tenth of their earnings to the church. 5 " Many non-members charged "racketeering" by implication also. Thus, a hotel maid, states: .... I just haven't made my mind up to join a church. Of course, I was a, Baptist at home. I attend church, but most of these churches are full of graft. You pay and pay money and the church is still in debt. 57 -201- Another informant, after pointing out his disgust at confusion of doc- trines, stated, "I air/ays think there's only one heaven The big- gest thieves run churches so what could it do about anything? Nothing i" Other comments varied in emotional intensity, but reflected the same gen- eral idea. WPA Emp loyee, male ; "I don't go to church and 1 don't belong to any other club or organization, they don't help anybody. All they want is money to keep the 'big shots' going." 58 McC ormick Tractor Plant v;orker : "Preachers are nothing but blood- suckers^ — They'll take food out of your mouth and make you think they're doing you a favor. 59 A former Garveyite : "I used to be active in the church. I thought we could work out our salvation that way but I found out better. Those Negro preachers are not bothered about their race. About all they think of is themselves." 60 .... our minister sported a new automobile, fashionable clothes, and built a beautiful home. I could never understand why the members never insisted on him enlarging the church. 61 Closely related to the criticism that "churches are a racket," and used sometimes to substantiate the former charge, is the position that there are too many churches . A business man stated: I am a churchman and I believe the church occupies an important place in the life of any community. I am also positive that there are too many Negro churches in Chicago and too many fake preachers • The criticism often becomes focussed directly on the preacher's standard of living, as in the two cases cited below: You take some of these preachers— they're living like kings— got great big Packard automobiles and ten or twelve suits and a bunch of sisters puttin' food in their pantry. Do you call that religion? Nawi It ain't nothing but a bunch of damn monkey foolishness. WHERE THE CHURCH DOLLAR GOES C3 Salaries $1,289,818 CZ3 Amount Per Cent 43.2 Interest and reduction oi Church debt . . . 683,866 22.9 *i » IWH *J Benevolence and Miscellan- eous items such as Insur- ance, Light, Heat, Rent, Publicity, Balance, etc. 627,395 21.0 Church Overhead, includ- ing Education and Missions 196,478 6.6 V— . m+,mJt Summation: Repairs and upkeep . . . 187,418 6. 5 Total . $ 2,984,965 100.0 (From Mays and Nicholson's 1 Hero's Church , p. 171) 1. That the average member gives little to the church in that the aver- age expenditure per church totals sixteen cents a week for each reported member. 2. That 386, or 71.3 per cent of the churches have indebtedness; and that on the basis of the payments in 1930, it will take 13| years for these churches to free themselves of debt. 3. That debts are high when compared with property evaluations and with church indebtedness for the country as a whole; that debts are high, in many churches, when considered in the light of the memberships' earning power; that section (North and South) makes a difference relative to church indebtedness and the amount of money raised; that salaries vary according to the region of the country; that a few of the outstanding churches are free from debt. 4. That the buying of ready-built churches in the Korth during the migra- tory period strained church race-relations and hobbled the congregations with excessive debts, 5. That the larger the congregation the greater are the probabilities that the contribution per member will be less. 6. That the necessities of the church for salaries, interest, debts, heat, light anu the like, consume so much of the money raised that little is left for a church expansion program, 7. That Negro pastors, in the main are meagerly paid, - 8. That the vast majority of churches have no systematic way of raising funds . 9. That church records are poorly kept in the majority of the^ churches, almost wholly because paid secretarial help is inadequate; but in those churches that pay secretaries fair salaries and have their books audited, the records are better kept, 10. That the Negro church, on the whole, is a self-supporting institution. -203- It might be well to recognize, however, that a large Non-Participants proportion of the people in the community do not par- ticipate in organized social life. Varied reasons for lack of participation are given, and an analysis of a sample of persons who do not participate 61 reveals reasons for non-participation in the following order of frequency: (1) No reason given (4) Dislike for social life (2) Lack of time (5) Disillusioned with associations (3) Too expensive (6) Activities are not worth while (7) Moral disapproval of drinking, gambling cards, dancing (in case of associations having such an activity-pattern) There was a tendency for business and professional people and do- mestic servants to cite "lack of tine," and for church people to cite "moral disapproval. " u The most striking set of responses was that of adults in the lower income groups, where there was a noticeable tendency to blame lack of par- ticipation upon economic factors. 7/ithout positing this as the only fac- tor, or as necessarily the most important one, we shall let them tell their story. Typical comments of a group of married women on relief who cite lack of money for club and church life, are as follows: I belong to church. I don't know who is the pastor, now, because I haven't been to church in over a year. The main reason I haven't been to church is because I don't have sufficient clothes to wear. They (the relief authorities) won't give me no clothes and shoes. I don't know just why they have been so hard to get things from here of late and as bad as things have been, seems as though they are going to be worse. 66 -204 I told you it is herd for mc to tell now: of the trials and tribu- lations that I have had to go through, no one really knows what I have had to go through but Jesus. They just give me a decent mattress to sleep on about three weeks ago. 07 I am not able to attend church, but I call myself a Christian, end have plenty of hope, and faith enough to believe that as long as there is life there is hope and I believe there are better things for me in this life. 58 I am interested but I don't belong to any clubs. I don\t;h ve the money to join clubs. I think clubs arc for people who c-n afford to join them and pay dues. I go to the Parent-Teachers meetings at Doug- lass School sometime. I enjoy these meetings. I used to belon;' to Baptist church, but 1 don't go there now. I can't go anywhere locking like- this.' u I don't attend church as often as I used to. You know I am not fixed like I want to be--haven't the clothes I need. ' 1 At one time I was active in church, but now I can't dress well, so I don't go to church, only at night, because I haven't got anything to 72 ° Y/ear. ' ^ I'm a lone woman and I have a hard enough time keeping a roof over my head without paying dues here end there.' A woman who once belonged to two clubs, stated? "Jell, I got so I wasn't able to pay my dues, you know how it is. most of the people who attend the store-front churches ..re not able to keep up the dues in the big churches and to keep from being embarrassed they attend the store-front churches. They have to worship God some- where, I am a member of church but I don't attend very regularly, be- 74 cause they want too much money. One woman said she didn't belong to any clubs now; I plan to join a whist club in the fall. I don't have the clothes 1 -75 or place to entertain. Another, commenting on lodges, observed^ I have been asieed, but not since I have been so down and out. You see, when people don't see that you can spend money and do things then they don't bother with you so much. I have good clothes but they are not the very latest fashions, but I try to keep clean and look nice all the time. ^ 6 -205- Commenting on the Y.W.C.A., the Y.M.C.A., the Urban League, and the N.A.A.i C.P., a woman observed: I know about these things what they do and when I made money I used to give to all of these organizations, I have been asked to come to the Y.W. to meetings but I can*t walk there and I don't have the money to spend. I walk to church. 77 Older women often cite the church as their only avenue of participation, as in the case of a person who stated: I don't have the money to attend these things. All of my life I have enjoyed being around good people. I like to go to meetings but when you are broke and having all kinds of trouble you are just not in the mood to go to anything unless it is church. There is something about church that lifts me up and that is why I go. I don't belong to any church clubs. 78 Even church, however, becomes a problem if there are several persons to be fed and clothed, as in the case cited below: I belong to Baptist church. My husband does not belong to church. I have been trying to get him to make up his mind to join some church but I haven't been able to get him to join any church. I don't belong to any church clubs. I haven't been to church m a long time. I let my children go to Sunday School. My children need shoes but they won't give them any shoes for some reason or the other, sol just have to do the best I can with the little money I get and buy second -handed shoes so that they can go to school and church. I re- ceived shoes the last time for my children year before last. It is hard to get seoond-hand shoes to fit the children. I tell you it is a shame the way we have to try to get along with the little money 7 9 we get. And in some cases, at least, a mother may adjust by sending her children to a larger, more fashionable church, while she retreats to a store-front. Well, I prefer going to (small church), because it seems like I can go there without wearing the finest of clothes. See, I can wear a little wash dress to (small church) and feel good, but at (large church) it seems like all of the members put-on-the-dog (dress up in the latest fashion). (small church) is a little more closer than my church, and the people are not quite as dressed up as they are at my church. I used to g to (large church) regularly, but lots of things have happened since that time. I started the children when they were real small. They started in Sunday School there. They go every Sunday, too. Some- -206- times the girls have a run in their stockings and they don't want to go. They are getting large enough to not want to go unless they are looking just right. I mean the girls* I don't "blame them. 80 Two West Side housewives state the necessity for limiting their participa- tion to meet the financial demands, as follows: I "belong to the Baptist Church. I am not an officer, "but I once jnged to the Pastor's Aid CI (Dues were ten cents per week.) I Belong uo tne .tsapT.isT< onurcii. ± aui iw u an uxxaooa, ^« - ~^~w "belonged to the Pastor's Aid Club, hut I got unfinancial and got out, \81 I don't "belong to any clubs, hut I am a memher of the Pentecostal Church I stay home most of the time. It takes money to stay in clubs and I am not ahle to make the proper appearance as far as clothes are concerned. My daughter is a memher of some club. I don't know the name of it. She worries quite a hit when she can't get the things she wants most of the time. Young people worry ahout things more than we old people do. I don't worry "because I have learned to take things the way they come. 82 An analysis of the participation of children receiving aid from the Nation- al Youth Administration indicates a much wider range of participation than their parents have. 8 3 Even men feel that inahility to keep up duesanl ap- pearances limits their participation, as in the case of the two men cited "below, who said: I don't have any interest in any of those organizations now "because I have no money to make the appearance and keep up the dues^and what not. My wife is a memher of church and she goes quite often. I don't "belong to any. I don't have the money to keep up appear- ance in any cluh or organization. You need money for everything, you know. 8 5 Other men also "blame the state of the exchequer: I used to "belong to the Knights of Fythias, hut when times got hard I had to get out, 8 ° I don't care for that stuff (organizations). They are just some- thing to get money out of you. 8 7 Mr. X is a deacon at church. He doesn't "belong to any clubs or or- ganizations, (interviewer's comment) 88 -207- I used to belong to a club a long time ago, but money is too scarce now to belong to any club. ^ It is impossible to ascertain how far these responses represent actual causes, but they are significant indices to the popular mind. There are several checks on the amount and type of participation of persons in low income groups, however. The most important of these is an intensive analysis made by Joy Schultz of an area on the West Side with most of its population on relief and W.P.A. Her conclusion was : A very large proportion of both adults and sub-adults take no part in any sort of organized recreation, although, among adults there is much emphasis upon church activities. In fact, of the people who ex- pressed their preferences in the matter of leisure- time pursuits, over half said that church work occupies all of their spare time, Associa- tional participation is very limited, and so is attendance at dances, taverns and cabarets. "Going to movies" constitutes the second most popular diversion .... of a group of 34-5 people who were interviewed on the near West Side, only 23 reported affiliation with social clubs .... The scarcity of social clubs, or in fact clubs of any kind (ex- cept church clubs) is indicated bv the comments of residents, some of which were as follows : VKJ Elizabeth Johns, as a part of her study of migration and mobility, however analyzed the responses' of 331 relief clients and found that seventy per cent claimed church membership, indicating that many non-attendants still consider themselves church members. ■*- In summary, our data seems to indicate there is an actual lack of organizational activity among the lower income groups and older relief pop- ulation, except for church attendance, and this, too, tends to be affected* Younger people participate to a somewhat greater extent than older persons, but perhaps not so freely as at upper income levels. A further check on this phenomenon was secured by an analysis of place of meeting of all social clubs reporting to the Defender in 1937 See Appendix II. This analysis showed an almost total lack of social club, activities and members in the "worst" areas -208 Living in Chicago, for many people, constitutes a "problem" — securing food, clothing and shelter and "Solving Problems" -Individual- enough money to maintain their expected standard of living and a decent burial of the dead. Insofar as people associate them- selves together in groups based on economic statusj occupation, or a coiaaon interest in solving economic and social problems for a group smaller than the "race as a -;/hole," "the nation," "humanity," or similar large aggre- gate | this research has considered such an association as one devoted to "solving problems— individual." '.There the emphasis is on some very large aggregation, the problem is referred to as a "social" one. Social problems will be discussed in the last chapter. "Solving individual problems" i3 briefly referred to at this point. A population of predominantly low income workers might be expected to develop certain organizations whose major emphasis is upon mutual-aid. Negroes in America very early developed such organizations in the form of lodges and societies, and these have persisted to the present day, although their influence has been greatly weakened in the last decade and the mutual aid emphasis has been overshadowed by other interests. There is some evidence to indicate that in an urban milieu with a strong political machine, ho-./evor, there is a much greater tendency to rely upon the assurance valuo of the politic-. 1 machine rather than on various types of voluntary co-opcr. tion and on the insurance value of burial societies and insurance companies. ^ This is doubly true when under the impact of re- ported crises the financial structure of such co-operative enterprises is seriouslv weakened. -209 Nearly all the prominent politicians and professional men, and a large proportion of the business men report lodge affilia- tions which were mentioned in the following order of frequency; fesonfl, Elks , Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, 7/oodmen of the "Jorld, and scattering of other organizations. Despite this tendency to maintain affiliation with lodges, feu of these people were Very active. 94 The gen- eral comments en lodges indicted a lessening of influence in the community, a fact confirmed by the diminishing space allotted lodges in the news and the difficulties in maintaining lodge property. J * very v/ell-inf ormod undertaker, commenting on the rise of the commercial "burial society," described lodges as follows. Tno funeral system grew out of the failure of the Negro lodges to pay their death claims. The Negro was remembered as the man unable to bury his dead. Undertaker files were cluttered u P with promissory notes in the form of death claims of lodge members. Small payments were being paid monthly on these debts of two or three years standing. A few remained in the vault until in some instances the entire lazily was wiped out." 57 * 96 *Lodges are complex organizations with a program of racial advance- ment and social and recreational features as well as mutual aid. A recent addition to the fraternal field has been the interracial International •Yorkers Order offering sick benefits and a semi-political adult eduction program. **7e have not, in this study, made any attempt to evaluate these charges of non-payment of claim. Our primary interest is in joopular re- actions to the associationoj^trugrtur. - i.e. the meanings (true or false) whlcTthTf haTTtTFo"^. These meanings affect benavior whether tney are misunderstandings or not. One undertaker felt that the lodge to which he belonged was an exceptionally good one. I belong; to one of the ric hest and mo_sgt_s _ubstant ial Negro or^ani- zations in this country . jThavc never failed to pay a claim to our mc'mbers foTthere is always plenty of money in the treasury and claims are usually paid within three days after they are filed. The death benefits are $150,00 burial. Sick benefits |5. 00 for tno first three weeks and $3.00 for the next thirteen weeks. -210- A former "Most Worthy Matron 1 * of a woman's auxiliary claimed over two thousand women members for her order in 1938, "but commented: The organizations aren't anything like they used to he. Why before I joined, and when I first came to Chicago, they were very popular. If it wasn't one lodge turning out on a Sunday, it was the other one. Nowadays, you hardly hear anything about the various societies. It is only the members that are keeping it alive and boosting it The depression had something to do with it," for so many of the chapters got so weak until they connected with other chapters. At one time we had forty- eight chapters in the city. V.ovr we only have thirtv- two.98 She said that the young people were "not taking to lodges very fast," and that "These Fegroes in Chicago are too busy to take time to join anything that will enlighten them."99 Another informant stated: I am a member of the and have been for about twenty years. I was Exalted Ruler for five years. At the present time the lodge has lost a large number of its members, because they could not afford to pay the dues. 100 Lodges like most of the other enterprises have felt a drop in their membership, because the lack of work and the poor pay make it impos- sible to meet the expenses. 101 An old age pensioner stated that he used to belong to several lodges: "I never cared to join any of them here. Down South, we carried an endowment on them. They don't give you anything here. They come and see if you're sick, that's all. "102 Another former lodge man stated: .... I haven't been active for a long time now. *, Phis former lodge official castigated the ministry for their opposition to lodges, "I have heard them stand up in the pulpit and de- nounce secret orders. They say plenty against them— 'If the people would contribute half as much to the church as they do to the lodges, we wouldn't need those secret orders. We would take care of all our members. "97 -211- There was some financial trouble when I stopped being active, "but that's been cleared up, J am not able to take part now, but I am still a member. I have all of my papers and everything in that trunk over there, but it would be too much trouble getting them, "103 Despite these comments on fraternal orders, all the "old line" lodges and several smaller groups are still strong, and have an aggregate membership of over ten thousand persons, mostly in the middle income groups. Their insurance value has tended to become less and less important but their assurance value is still evident,* and they serve as recreational outlets. There were at the time of the study three ^ functioning co-operative stores in the corn- Co-operative Societies munity as well as several study groups. All of these except one were based upon a membership of relief clients, and two store managers gave this as the primary reason why they were relatively unsuccessful. The only successful co-operative, The Feoples Consumer's Co-operative 5 wag supported largely by persons with assured incomes, 3k One loyal lodge member observed: One thing I belong to is the K.F. You know, once you'r a Knight, you're always a Knight. Yup, when you put on this "ern'ral" you're a Knight for the rest of your life. Vo matter whether you go up or down, you're still a Knight. 104 *# Considerable interest has been manifested in co-operatives. The Fegro press has carried editorials pointing to them as "a way out" and praising a very successful co-operative in Cary. The Cood Shepherd Con- gregational church in 1938 presented Dr. !7, 5. J3. DuBois along with several other persons in a symposium, "Cooperatives — A Way Out for the Tegro?", but even Dr. DuBois, a staunch protagonist of the movement, felt that its best chances of success lay in basing it in the middle income group. The Chicago Baptist Institute gave a course in co-operatives for church workers during the fall and winter of 193S, and several ministers stated their de- sire to begin buying clubs, but apparently no new ones have been started. The Urban league has placed the sponsorship of co-operatives in Chicago on its program of activities for 1939. -212- although the manager was attempting to extend the membership to other group Si It numbers 17 b' members, hires three clerks and a manager. One of the co-operative stores, The Open Lye Consumer's Co-opera- t j ye t is connected with Pilgrim Baptist Church, and 90 per cent of the members are from that church. The manager, however, feels that the persons able to buy regularly and in quantity live too far away from the church, (see Appendix II, Sustaining Membership of Pilgrim Baptist Church) and the people in the immediate vicinity are too poor to support the store. No member spends as much as fifteen dollars v-r month with the store. 106 The Citizen's Non -P artisan Co-oper ative Orga n ization of Olivet Baptist Church was started by eight unemployed people in 1936 under the sponsorship of a teacher of Workers Education, and had 65 members in 1938, three-fourths of them being relief clients. They do not have a store, but function as a buying club, purchasing from the Central States Co-operative Wholesale in small quantities twice a month. They have formed a study 1 r\n group for almost two years. v ' Chain store competition killed Woodlawn's Speed Consumer's Co- operative , and low incomes are keeping the Ogden Park Co-operative in a 1 OR very unpromising condition despite the devoted efforts of its founders . Associations of business men, as might be expected exist in the Negro community, and their major empha- Trade Associations sis is upon trying to stimulate Negroes to trade with colored business men, but the bulk of the small retailers are un- organized. A Negro Chamb II » *$ M A, gsS?/«. j^^ 5 ^ Vufe^ J -jj^ty C hicago Defender ; August 23, 1937 Like all 'immigrants they entered the wage structure at the bottom and the city gates at the slums. The combined prussuro of economic and social factors has kept the masses of them still there. A few have wound their way out. As more learn the "ropes" of the city— who arc friends and who are enemies, how to use power to get both material gains and prestige, how to co-operate with other groups of "the disinherited," they are able to resist the forced pressure against their "advancement." .... if wo want something to which the name "social science" may be given, there is only one way to go about it, namely by entering upon the path of social planning and control. Observ- ing, collecting, recording, and filing tomes of social phenomena without de- liberately trying to do something to bring a desired state of society into existence only encourages a conflict of opinion and dogma in their interpreta- tion. - John Dewey - -222- CHAFT1R IV SOLVING PROBLEMS Whether a person recognizes "social problems" in society, and the form such problems take where they are seen, is directly associated with the values which the individual accepts. To some persons there are no "social problems" — contradictions of their scale of values upon which human intelligence and will can be exercised for a solution. Such are the religious escapists who see salvation only in an act of divine interven- tion; the fatalists who visualize only some ultimate collision with a far- off star; or those who take escape in the whirl of "policy wheels" "swing," or alcohol. Other persons feel that as man has muddled through in the past, so will he in the future, meeting the coming days as they appear. Others share an integrated philosophy of social change with its programs and activities. Some "just vote." All persons, however, whether they "believe" in the possibility of control or not, ACT as though they did, and this action leads either to the formation of associations with instrumental aims and activities or to the employment of associations with non-instru- mental aims for instrumental purposes. Most people interviewed in the Chicago Negro community felt that something was "wrong" with the world — even those religious persons who felt that the wrong was their own sin, or the sin of some group to which they belonged.* The specific content of this "wrong" varied with many factors and was directed in many directions ~ either outward at white people, other Negroes, the "government," the "devil," or inward at the "unredeemed" self, It is evident that on the whole the value -system of the Negro community tends to be concerned with (1) securing the moans of subsistence in order to obtain a minimum standard of living (2) obtaining the traits of the Western European civilization which give status to the individual and the group (3) elaborating compensatory myths when either (1) or (2) are not immediately attainable or when actual and progressive deprivation exists. It might be suggested further that the present position of the Negro in the spatial order and the social system, as well as the memories of the past, The most general behavior among religious people is to state a belief that only God can save the world, but to act as though human control is possible: Thus a Community church pastor, states, "People go to mediums and fortune tellers trying to find out what they should do to gain health, wealth, and love and other things but what they need is 'to be filled with the spirit of the Holy Ghost, God can do anything. Nothing is impossible and we need God in our lives more abundantly. We not only need God as Negroes but all people need God. If we had the spirit of God in us there would be no prejudice in the land. There would be no religion of the whites and blacks as we seem to have today I haven't exactly been a member of the "Y", the Urban League and the N.A.A.C.P., but I have contributed to all of them. My work here keeps me veiy busy but I am absolutely in accord -with anything that these organizations attempt. I will give more when the opportunity permits mo to do so. You see I have the whole responsibility of the church and house on my hands. It is a job I'll tell you."^ Even a Holiness preacher combined the two points of view "Men have strayed so far from God that they can't find the way back and the church must help them to get back I think that a good neighborhood organization would go far in helping to solve this problem but we colored people will not do that. The church could do much in helping solve such problems if all the colored churches would ask thuir membership to contri- bute one dollar. Some would give more, then wo could pool all the money -224- tend to make all Negroes think in terms of "Race" — of advancing it, pro- tecting it, loving it, and hating it. A sort of "racial patriotism" is in existence, which is fostered by voluntary organizations and the press. But although all Negroes share the disabilities of being Negro, as well as, whatever gains may accrue from the position, the individual may also be a member of a family, a church, associations, a work-unit, an age-group, a sex group, all of which compete for his loyalties. And most important of all, thore are definite cultural-economic divisions based on jobs, wealth, education, etc., which divide the community into social classes with differ- ing ways of life, value systems, interests, and attitudes toward the fact of "Race." Out of a dual contradiction, viz., democracy vs. race preju- dice, racial solidarity vs. segmental interests, grows an almost unanimous demand in the Negro community for the most prized (and most necessary) value, UNITY — the unity which will permit Negroes to present a united front to an assumed hostile white world and to "advance the Race." The dominant idoalogy in the Negro community is what one might call moderate ra ci alis m. It is the prevailing set of verbalizations used by the professional and business classes in their "public" life — i.e., through their associations and churches, their newspapers , literary pro- ductions, etc. Connected with these beliefs arc certain overt behavior patterns which sometimes coincide with the beliefs and often do not. Mod- erate racialism accepts all the basic assumptions of American life as and open up any kind of store and tell all of our members to trade at that store and then if such a thing was done in one year, we would have a lot of money and maybe wc could open up a factory and employ a lot of colored people You look at the children that are coming out of school nowadays — they have no place to go and look for a job but wo do not think about the future at all, I have spoken to many people in this neighborhood about that line but thoy have not come around yet so I am just waiting. -225- embodicd in the Dccl aration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, the dornocratic-humanitarian-Christian tradition, and the folklore of nationalism and capitalism. Thus, Negroes arc entitled to all "rights," there has been a progressiva extension of their liberties through the joint fight of Negroes and sympathetic white people (usually philanthropists and capitalists who have given to Negro schools, Y.M.C.A.'s, etc., but whose interest is now tending to wane duo partly to the feeling that Negroes are getting able to stand on their own feet, and partly to taxes and the depression, )* Moderate racialists believe that this seventy-five year old fight has had two aspects— (l) the successes of individuals who took advantage of their opportunities, educated themselves, acquired property, and thus became of service to the "race," and (2) the collective effort of Negroes in their various organizations, through wise political and economic action and the support of Negro business.. There has always been a large number of Negroes who have been a "drag" on the race partly because they've been unable to get a chance to "rise," partly because they have preferred to remain in a state of ignorance and vice. The duty of the Negroes who are "up" is to try to help these people to advance themselves and to secure their support for Negro professional and business men,, who are able to pro- vide employment for them, and who can serve as symbols of what the "Race" *A minister expressed this prevalent idea in the following form: We must make better use of our resources. No are wasting time and energy. Another thing, the Negro can not depend on the white man for aid and assistance as he once could. Now, Negroes are driving fine cars, and opening businesses, and the white man is saying, "Let the Negro carry himself." Because of this, we have lost things due to our bragadoccio. No have lost friends. 4 A. Gmd Men, Umt It Will fake Time ■ 'I " ,'" v. BETOUliXNT' BE PAlC ^V^ 1 "''' ^J C AT,ofl J A 2 i%\h / vV & /v " HS<§)W LET'S j 6U l ID A I SETTER. COUNTRY) /^fi .aw n 4 TS/ J ERlCANSJ -/«-, /^** Chicago Defender , 1937 THE AMERICAN WAY The more articulate section of the Negro community has not lost faith in "The American Way." They express belief that "education" for Negroes and "whites" — all along the line, in school, on the job, in the political arena, in labor unions, in churches— education broadly inter- preted to mean profiting from experience will teach Negroes and white people patience, tolerance and fairness, not the caste virtues of an imposed patience, an amused tolerance, and the fairness of "noblesse oblige," but the democratic, comradely expressions of equals confront- ing equals. -227- can do,* To carry out such a program race pride must be stimulated — not excessively--but enough to provide sanctions for individual and collective action. The Race Riot of 1919 and several subsequent disturbances, repre- sented attempts to secure what Negroes considered their "rights". There is a definite non-political machinery for "solving the race problem," based on a struggle for "equal rights" under the constitution, and for "racial ad- vancement" through education, morality, etc. It is only in extreme crisis situations that this accommodation mechanism is abandoned (on a widespread scale) for violence or Utopian solutions. As has been described in the preceding chapters, the early method of "problem solving" in the Negro com- munity was to entrust it in a somewhat informal manner to the politicians, the business men, the preachers, and persons having contact with influen- tial white people. Churches, lodges, societies, clubs, in the meanwhile, %ome social club mottoes express those ideals, as, the following: F = FEMALE; M = MALE Cat's Paw Social Club (F), "It Can Be Done." Clique Club (F) , "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." Dictators Club (M) , "Be A Live Wire." Exclusive Twelve (F) , "United We Stand." Rocking in Rythm Queens, (F), "Together We Stand, Divided We Fall." Gay Vogues (F) , "To be the Better of the Best." Les Jardin des Roses (F) , "Forward." Mamenka Social Club (F) , "Lift as We Climb," Thirteen Bella Donna's (F), "Don't Dodge Difficulties, Greet Them, Meet Them, Beat Them." Sunshine Club (F) , "We Build A Ladder by Which We Climb." A study of the mottoes of over one hundred and fifty social clubs reveals emphasis upon "virtues" in the following order of frequency: (1) Aspiration (2) Fidelity (3) Aid to the unfortunate (4) Co-operation (5) Conviviality (6) Sincerity. Others indicated were peaceablenoss, service, sophistica- tion, industry, humility, punctuality, unity, dignity and courtesy, and in one or two cases, thrift. -228- all conceived of themselves as contributing to "racial advancement" by- training Negroes in the virtues of sobriety, thrift, and ambition. For the recalcitrant minority lacking "race pride" there was always the Law in this world and Hell in the next. When rights were infringed upon, the respected leaders of the community called mass meetings, petitioned, protested, mobilized political power and in many cases achieved their objectives. The newspapers served ss the racial watch-dogs and an editor-politician could usually "fix things." Before the migration neither naked power nor strong political pressures were necessary to secure sufficient adjustments to make living tolerable, except in the Ire-Civil War days. It was assumed by thoughtful white people that Negroes were trying hard to "advance," that they should be helped along. It was assumed by Negroes that there were possibilities of advancement. Then came the migration and the Riot, It was imperative that something be done to re-define the working relationships between Negroes and whites, and to that end the Commission on Race Rela- tions was appointed at the suggestion of the Urban League . The result was a definitive statement of the Negro problem in Chicago and a statement of a n modus viviendi for amelioration. All of the accepted leaders in the community adopted this as a working program, whatever their private reactions may have been, and it forms the core of what might be called "moderate racialism," as contrasted with the "extreme racialism" of the Garveyites, There was a certain divi- sion of labor in the implementation of this program, such groups as the Urban League and the Federated Clubs concentrating on "welfare," "uplift" and social work, and the N.A.A.C.P. on the more vigorous defense of civil liberties. The ten years between the Riot and the depression represent a period of relative racial "peace," during which there was no serious break- down in inter-racial relationships. Most of the natters exercising the attention of the Negro community during these years might be subsumed under the following broad headings: 1. RACE-RELATIONS - maintaining and extending areas of inter- racial co-operation 2. HOUSING - securing adequate housing and housing services at reasonable rentals for the Negro population 3. EMPLOYMENT - placing Negroes in all occupational cate- gories for which they were trained, and secu- ring further opportunities for training 4. EDUCATION - securing adequate educational facilities in areas predominantly Negro, and protecting the children from exposure to prejudiced instruct- ors 5. SOCIAL SERVICES - securing adequate facilities in all are- as predominantly Negro 6. COMMUNITY MORALE - mobilizing all community forces to con- trol "vice," "improve neighborhood," prevent juvenile delinquency, etc. 7. CIVIL LIBERTIES - defending the right of Negroes to exer- cise all their privileges as American citizens, and securing favorable special legislation where it does not now exist The following charts indicate the manner in which the Urban League, cor- relating the efforts of Negro and white moder ate racialists , attacked two of the important problems during these years. ' 1 1 I « l J 1 1 1 II ■■ > Wksrt Fffiois S@o3.oe M®rtalis Be 'X'~r. iR ««^««H JU9 cii;-wg 'j \\ -, n <-£:. ?^Am! h ^Ffj I I illUi djjk k|i jug 8b o »F 4 life --I-fv J?? Chic ago Defende r, 1937 Negro leaders and community institutions often use satire and ridicule to bring the less civic conscious "elements" into line. Sou- thern traits ' ("chitt^rlir-gs und nockbonofi" sold on tho stroots, for instance) are condemned in the cartoon as well as street walking, ju- venile delinquency, general untidiness and tho "kitchenette menace." -230- "SOLVING PROBLEMS" - 1919-1929 9 Employ] Lent' Year Activity- Migration still heavy according to Defender . The Leaf rue placed a total of 15,000 persons — 1200 girls 1919-20 with Sears, Roebuck as white collar workers; 600 with mtgomery-Uard ; 100 with Rand, McNally; 250 Chicago (Boom) Lamp; 200 Alter Lamp; 100 Sopkins Dress; 200 Nachman, Springfield; 75 Gage Hat works. "Heavy loss of above positions." Many small businesses 1921-22 spring; up in Negro community manned by these girls. (Depression) 1923 Peak of Negro employment in stockyards, 33.6 per cent of total. 1924 "New era in employment field for Negroes." Uj»_L«_ se- 1925 cures employment of Negro clerks at South Center De- partment Store and Neisner Brothers in Negro com- munity. 1926 (Depression] 1927 Urban League begins detailed study of industries employing Negroes. 1928 1929 Heavy loss in employment of Negroes and whites begins. (Depression) -231- "soianas pbdblijm5" - 1919-1329 10 Community Morale Year Activity Began "agitation for cleaner streets and alloys, 1919-20 began organizing neighborhood improvement clubs." (Boom) Emergency relief during Riot. " . . . . called together the pastors of the leading churches and organized for emergency relief .... 1921-22 scores of churches served food to hundreds of men, women, and children." Packers and wholesalers sup- (Depression) plied food; Ur ban League coordinated relief ". . , . there was practically no duplication of effort, and yet no one in the community went without food and shelter." 1923 1924 1925 1926 Organized relief. Set ujj emergency lodging house* Worked closely with relief agencies in city. (Depression) 1927 Dr. S, Franklin Frazier makes study of "The Negro Family in Chicago," under direction of University of Chicago . 1928 Earl Hoses makes study of "Community Factors in Negro Delinquency." 1929 Churches and other community institutions begin to give relief. Co-ordinated by League . (Depression) Through The Wringer* Chicago Defender , 1937 "Tl, J'accuse" &NTHROPOL nrv . . UNIVERSITY OF CHfc RARY The Riot also rcvealod that in addition to tho "sane" Negroes and the leadership in the Negro community — the moderate ra- Re d Int orna t i c na 1 cialists — there wore at least two other types of loaders appealinj for the support ox the unadjusted urban Negro mass, viz., the revolut ri >nary; radica l s and the extreme racialists . The revolutionary radicals of i 'ore the 1. .U.'s — Industrial Uorkors of the World, who with their motto, "Ho who rould be free himself must strike the blow," painted the dream of the disinherited* e industrial commonwealth, the . . . , world of the workers, by the workers, and for the workers, a world i There there vail bo no poverty a, id want among those who feed and clothe and house the world; a world whore the word "master" and "slave" shall be forgotten; a world whore peace and happiness shall reign and where the children of men shall live as brothers in a world- wide industrial democracy.* 11 They addressed pamphlets in 1919 to the "colored workingmon and women": To the black race, who, but recently, with the assistance of the white men of the northern states, broke the chains of bondage and ended chattel slaver:, The Negro is oppressed The workingmon are oppressed. .... Race hatred is played upon by capitalists to keep the two races apart end thus thwart their efforts at improving their condi- tions. The I.YJ.U. union will unite all of the oppressed of all colors and all 1 cs. One big union of defensive brotherhood, not only in America Ipul tho ughout the world. 1 * 3 But, the sum a "oil on deaf ears, for another -powerful voice speaking a much more familiar language an : unembarrassed by a white skin, was sounding a call for 01E GOD, OIE RAGE, 0113 DLGTINY, and those Negroes whose depri- vations and insecurities were oronounccO enough to make them unsatisfied and anxious to act, turned their eyes to Africa. *The average person felt that there wai • tindamontal inconsistency between this dream and the violence which they wore willing to use to ob- tain it. The I.W.y. felt that their "oppressors" would not give up without a struggle. -234- The surge of the folk to the city had its disillusioning Chicago and the Black aspects — rebuffs, on the one hand, by the white comnu- Internat ionale Eiity which sometimes fled from Negroes as from the plagues, which struck back at then savagely in race riot and labor strug- gle, and which often segregared them and discriminated against them; and on the other hand, by the Negro upper and middle classes, the small group of lawyers, doctors, school teachers, postal workers, and semi-professionals which, because of its economic security, and superior training, its longer time in the city, and sometimes its color, had been able to build its own world aloof from the great untutored and poverty-stricken mass — treating them when sick, getting them out of jail, selling to them, meeting the more organized segment of then in church on Sunday but unable to associate with then socially due to a wide educational and economic gulf; a group which often scorned them despite its talk of race-pride and race solidarity. There were also the depressions of 1920 and '21. Thus, alone in the city, where the acids of modernity had begun to weaken the other-worldly faith brought from the South — there came to them a new evangel, Black Nationalism, with its African Zion, and many embraced the faith as delivered to Marcus Garvey, whose stirring call to "The Be- loved and Scattered Millions of the Negro Race" found its response in the thousands who between 1920 and 1925 joined the Universal Negro Improvement Association dedicated to FREEDOM, MANHOOD and NATIONALISM. A few even more militant souls raised the flag of race war on the streets of Chicago. -235- Marcus Garvey, Jamaica born and English bred, had begun his move- ment in 1919: He conceived the notion of establishing trade relations with Afri- ca, and accordingly organized a steamship line. It was a large under- taking. There were few large Negro investors, and if money was to be raised it had to come in numerous small amounts rather than in a few large ones. Again, if commercial relations were to be established, there must be intelligent Negroes at the African end. The effort grew into another "Back to Africa"* movement. To increase interest it was necessary to campaign actively, using appeals calculated to arouse the great mass of Negroes, This Garvey did with such success that his "Back to Africa" slogans created e far larger movement than his orig- inal commercial proposition.-'- The movement reached its apogee in Chicago around 1925 when there were, according to an officer, two "divisions," one on the Nest Side and one on the South Side. The South Side division was the largest and really represented the U. N. I. A. in Chicago. Each division was chartered by the parent body in New York. The above named officers were called the advisory board, but really func- tioned as an executive committee, received 037.50 per week. All other officers served without remuneration. A factional struggle split the (-roup after Garvey's arrest and imprison- ment in 1925, and according to a former active member, ^ one group .... withdrew from the division ana organized the Garvey Club with headquarters at 4600 South State Street, Desperate efforts were made to revive interest in the organiza- tion* Parades and picnics were planned but when the parade did not turn out so well the picnics were abandoned. Nithin the official group directing the division a struggle started over retrenching on salaries and rent and publicity expenses. Failure to adjust these fiscal matters led to half dozen resignations from official positions* A W.P.A. researcher, reporting on the U.N. I. A*, in 1937, stated: The U.N. I. A. has not, however, disappeared entirely, and as far as the number of divisions is concerned it is very much alive. There were six divisions in Chicago in 1930; Paston Research Society; Garvey -236- Glub; Division No. 217; Isaiah Morter Division;* Division I T o. 172; unci Peace Movement of Ethiopia. (All of these, together, include less than a thousand persons.) " A very active Chicago leader says of the U.N.I.A. program at present: The program is fundamentally the sane. Of course, Mr. Garvey does not take snyoiie into his organization now* He accepts only trained people now. It doesn't natter how nuch schooling or degrees one has, he must graduate fro:.: Mr. Garvey ' s School of African Philosophy. Last sumner, Mr-. Garvey held his school at Toronto, Canada*** The U.E.I. A. does not pay high salaries as it once did. You have to earn what you make mow. Most of tl Dple i' the Peac e Lo venent are former members of the U.N. I. A. T he 49th State lio vement was carried on by former U.N. I. A. people. All this stuff sprang up out of the Garvey movement. The Garvey movement divorced the Negro from the traditional. Garvey was sent away. Some Garveyites became communists. Some became other things/' Among the more important "splinter" groups was the Peace Movement to Ethiopia (now, itself, split) designed to aid Ethiopia in the Italo- Ethiopian conflict of 1935-36. Other groups with this nationalistic orien- tation were also active in the community during the years of this study, and Winifred Ingram, research assistant, commenting on them, has stated: The Defe nder , in November, 1939, carried ar: article under a four column headline referring to Isaiah Morter, fror: whom this division was named: 15-YSttH COURT BATTLE CE GARVEY PACTIONS OYER $300,000 IS AT END Morter was a wealtlry ni fcive o 1 "' British Honduras who died in 1924, leaving ?25.00 to his widow and 300,000 to the U.N. I. A. The widow sued. The U.N. I.E. split. Fift sen ye cs later, the courts awarded the money to a faction he; (i by a hew York physician, to Mr. Garvey' s great chagrin. 15 * The "Black Man," Garvey* s magazine carried an ad in the December, 1937, issue: 18 1,000 Students EantedU 'The School of African Philosophy (Marcus Garvey, D.G.L., Principal) 2, Beaumont Crescent, H. Kensington London, E, 14 - England -£37- Race pride, in its extreme manifestations, forms the idealogical basis of such associations as the highly n« tionalistic Universal N egro Improvemen t Association with its "Back to Africa" longing The l^ -on Defense Legion with a score of uniformed black Facists; the Forty-Nin th State movement, with its desire for an all black state; the Fan-Pacific Movement with its dream of an eventual day of decision between the dark-skinned races and the white.; and the Moors who teach that black men in America must "regain" their Arabic language and their lost faith in Islam. These picturesque organizations with their highly sym- bolic concept of blackness are one result of the system of Negro-white relations existing in America and, in some cases, 'are splinter groups of the U.N. I. A. Some of those organizations such as The Ethio pian World Federation,, ... jnc_. , are the result of Italy's aggressive war against Ethiopia and. express black nationalism in the form of organized sympathy for and cooperation with Ethiopians. One purpose of the Fed- eration is "to promote love and goodwill among Ethiopians at home and abroad and thereby to maintain the integrity and sovereignty of Ethi- opia and to disseminate the ancient Ethiopian culture among the mem- bers." J Joi; a11 these organizations are interested in establishing a nation for Negroes ^ in Africa, however, but some stress "reviving the moral and spiritual lives of the sons and daughters of Ethiopia in America." The Iron Defense Legion sets up as its program the' establishment of commer- cial ent rpris s in "Afro-American" communities, the teaching of mili- tary science • no tactics and Negro history, protest against lynching and discriminatory practices, full repr sentstion of "our noble race" in all branches of th- American government end the consolidation of all religious denominations. The Forty-Ninth State Movement does not visu- aLiae a home in Africa, but in the United States. The founders say: It is immediately imperative that the entire Negro population in the United State* b organized for aggressive action in a definite pro- gram to make possible the moving of millions of Negroes to a new area where they can avoid impending death and have a chance to LIVE; to work together in a conscious m'fort to get and keep jobs for Negroes wher- ever they may reside; and to build up for tho Negro a solid front to withstand the atoms of life that face him." ^ These programs can be classified as political, but there are other nationalistic organizations whose purposes are largely religious, i.e., they predict the salvation of the Negro through the adoption of a par- ticular religion, sometimes accompanied by language and dress qualifi- cations. These; appeals are evident in this soap-box oration made by a member of the U.N. I. A. branch on Thirty-fifth and State: "Talkin' about a heaven above th.. moon and stars. Fool, how yah expect a d^ad man to go to heaven when a live man ain't never been theah. Fool, how in the worl' can a dead nan ,at honey and drink milk? —J 38- "The Lawd ain't tol* you that you goin' to inherit the earth! Read youah Bible careful and check up on me* If you'd only read careful. "He tol' youah that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. But you go around heeh expecting to go to heaven. Ain't nobody going to heaven' 1 "The Eyetalians done made themselves e heaven in Ethiopia, and the Japanese are trying to make themselves a heaven in China.. No, but heah we are planning to go to a heaven in the sky. "Talking about you don't want to go to Africa, Why don't you want to go? The white race goes there and sheds blood to win a little bit of it— and ^ the whole country rightfully belongs to you! You got these W.P.A. jobs now, but what 'cha going to do when that's over? Then, you talking you don't want to go to Africa, that you don't know nothing bout this country. "Yes, lluss-olena done made a heaven for hisself, and Hitler is try- ing to make Germany a heaven for Germans. But what we doing?— trying to go to heaven. "You don't want to go back to Africa, huh? Well, let me tell all of you something — the white nan don't want you except I'or his convenience. Why don't you want to go back to Africa?— because you believe what the white man tells you about the natives being crazy over there. Fool, if the natives over there are crazy and wild why does the white man go over there? Wake up, we been sleeping too long, praying to go to a heaven above the moon and clouds. Your heaven is over there where your ances- tors car;;., from." Others may focus their attention on oho objective only, for example, the Mo s i ms seek freedom through cultural unity with Arabic speaking Ifoham^-ju:, while the; originators of tim Forty-Nin th State ibv enent place emphasis on territorial acqui it ion,, md the Xroa Defense Legion emphasizes political and economic equality.'' 1 " i ^^" The majority of the people in the Chicago Hegro community were never unrolled in the Black International,;, but there is little doubt that a large segment of the community was sympathetic with the movement and followed it with interest. While the established leaders in the community fought and ridiculed the movement, its influence has been manifest in many indirect ways, and at one time it had some political power. For instance: In the 1924 primary, in the First Congressional District, the move- ment was active for the Negro candidate, who later said: "But the U. N. I. A. did help me. One of their leaders heard me speak. He was impres- sed with what I had to say and so he made it possible for me to speak before thorn. They liked my talk and they voted to support me. Some people say that I bought them off. But, I didn't give them a cent and they didn't ask for a cent either. They worked like Trojans for me. -339- They were bold and fearless. They were a material factor in my cam- paign. I don't know how many were in the organization but it was very powerful and I got every one of their votes. Five thousand is a very conservative estimate of their strength*"*^ One measure of the U.N.I.A.'s present strength was its appeal to the Negro community in 1938 to support a suggestion made by Senator Bilbo of Mississippi that Negroes who wished to go to Africa might receive Federal aid. The U.K. I. A. was able to round up about 300 lobbyists to go to Washington, via truck, in favor of the bill, A Chicago leader even took credit for initiating the idea, telling an interviewer that: You know that speech that Senator Bilbo made in Washington? We sent him that. I didn't know he was going to use it. I sent it to Fresident Roosevelt President Roosevelt gave it to a Senator, who didn't have any Negro voters in his district and was not afraid. 2 Now, a small, isolated "sect,"* the Garveyites meet to sing and talk of old times, and to read the still stirring words of the exiled "leaders": THE WORLD CRISIS IS COMING The Negro Everywhere Should Be Prepared Leader Speaks Out To People *Editor Abbott of the Defende r had Garvey arrested upon his visit to Chicago, an incident described by Garvey in his "Fhilosophy and Opinions," in an article "'Wiy I have Not Spoken in Chicago Since 1920." A Chicago leader told an interviewer that: The big preachers are opposed to the U.N. I. A. We could meet in their churches, but they managed always to have the congregation gone when we held our meeting. Another leader stated; "The ministers in the larger churches are so afraid that they'll lose control of their members if we get them, that they always preach against us." A prominent Negro minister in New York, himself able to pass for white, evaluating Garvey, has recently stated: "I an not writing a brief for Marcus Garvey, but it is recording the truth and perhaps for the first tine, to say that he is the only man that ever made Negroes who are not black ashamed of their color."- -240- Fellownen of the Negro .Race, Greetings^ The world is dragging on its now upset to a vital place The world is" bound to be re-organized. The nighty forces contributing to this have been maneuvering for some tine, but it is indicative that ■ sooner or : later the end will cone. The worry is, where will the Negro find himself when the tine cones Thoughtfully, therefore, the Negro must look forward toward this turning period with nuch concern. The Universal Negro Improvement Association' as always, now offers the Negro the opportunity of organization. He must make organization effective. He nust be' prepared through organization to take care of ■ ■ himself. The high sounding notes of alien statesmanship mean nothing to us particularly, : because all that man says and does ultimately can be attributed to his own self-interest. The Negro must have his own self -Interest. He must think it, he must act it. His own self-inter- est must lead him into those channels of racial and national co-oper- ation and behaviour that must bring him the conveniences he needs . From a nationalistic, point of view we have to travel with certain nations, we have to support ■ them, but in supporting them we must exact from them all that we are entitled to as a people * It is in this re- spect that we nust carefully take sides when the' crisis cones. This crisis that we talk of is only being postponed day by day, but sooner or later it will cone." It will come with a nighty rush — a sweeping rush that will take men .off their feet everywhere, but after it has ;,: passed over and the re-adjustment is to take place then the Negro will find if he was not ready for the crisis how difficult it will be for him to stand the entire trend of world politics and world confusion.^ 5 The Influence of Garvey on Chicago cannot be measured by the num- ber of present members, - but nust be sought for in the leadership" it threw up in the twenties, and its' indirect influence in stinulating "race con- sciousness-" and '-'race pride" among the Negroes. * ; *A forner Secretary-treasurer of the national U-N.I.A, is now a state senator in Illinois; another important official is a popular poli- tical organizer; several persons who in their youth . were Garveyites are now important figures in the local labor movement', and several others are leaders in the National Negro Congress. Many persons attribute the vogue for "colored angels," "Negro Saints," etc., in some churches to the Gar- vey influence. Incidentally, the Black Iian still advertises a picture wall motto "with the design of a Negro angel— something sweet to look at." -241- Both the optimism of the Negro business and profes- The Coning of the sional classes and the temporary adjustment of the "Great Depression" urban masses to an ascending curve of production were suddenly shattered in 1929 by the advent of the "Great Depression." The workers of Chicago were very hard hit by the Great Depression which followed the stock-market collapse in 1929. Of the ten largest cities in the U.S., Chicago suffered among the most from the recession of economic activity. Over half of the employees of the electrical industries, and a large proportion of those engaged in furniture, packing, clothing, printing, and transportation were discharged. However, the Great Depression struck Chicago after a prolonged period of improvement in the money wage (and the real wage) of factory workers. . . » ♦ The yearly average wage (in dollars) increased be- tween 1919 and 1929 in the principal Chicago industries, save -only slaughtering and packing . (Italics, ed # )^° Wages in slaughtering and packing decreased about 10 per cent and mechanization in the industry increased by about 3 per cent, both pro- cesses which profoundly affected a community, a sizeable proportion of whose workers were in the industry. The reduction in earning power of the white middle and upper in- come groups was felt particularly by Negro domestic servants who now faced reduction in wages and the increased competition of white women who had had more desirable occupations. Sixty- two per cent of the Negro women and 25 per cent of the men who entered the field of employment between 1920 and 1930 were in the "servant" categories. Thirty-five per cent of all Negro workers were in this grou'j in 1930, In January of 1929, the Urb an League began to prepare the Negro community to face the third depression in a decade, and the Defender com- menting on the League's role stated that it was advising Negroes not to flock to Chicago even though the Fair would absorb many of them. -242- ^ ne ^6 , fGn r Jtr ulso reported that* Something is happening in Chicago and it should no longer ^o un- noticed. During the past three weeks hardly a day has ended that there has not been a report of another firm discharging its employees, many of whom have been faithful workers at these places for years. By I-arch, a conference was contemplated; "The unemployment situation amon , the Race is becoming more and more acute," reports "i. N. Robinson, industrial secretary of the Urban Lea ue. "Every week we receive infer. a lion regarding the discharge of additional Race workers who are being replaced by workers of other races. ,! In addition to the ministers who will attend this conference, in- vitations have been sent, to prominent business men and workers in the soci .1 and civic field, hen who are interested and would like to attend the conference should got in touch with the industrial department of the Uroan League at oklcg. 60 ^ e Defender in January had advised Negroes to "toe the line" if they would keep their jobs. By i'viarch, the paper was thoroughly aroused, although some- what confused, and tend-, to revert to one of its oldest "lines" — anti-for- - . . . 29 sign attac ;s-- in an article, Arrest Foreign h'orkers Witno'ut Gitizensmps, "who arc apt students ox segregation and discrimination and will not work side by side with them (negroes)*"* It './as not until a year later, however, that the Urbi.n League found it necessary to mobilize the entire co munity, virion a meeting was then held at the ^ p p om a t o x CI ub for the purpose of cc-ordinatin_ private relief activ- ities, i-rivatc organizations, including churches, wcr: called upon to as- sist in ivin • relief to the unemployed, and many churches organized special ^'Commenting in the November 13, 1932 issue, on the Defender Platform f or Am rica , plank ,,-5 of which states, 'Vovornm nt schools open to all American citizens in pr f .r nee to foreigners, " an editorial insists that ''Th.r. is no f .cling of prejudice, no desire to discriminate against those of foreign birth in this plank of our platform and explains that it meant this as an agitational slogan and for situations wher. facilities are limited* ;l -.. -3 relief activities,^ But this was no simple depression, sucxi as th-os-e of '21 and ' 26» Two years passed and it vTas still here with its increasing misery and para- lyzing uncertain y. In July 1930, Binga's State Bank closed its doors, to be followed by every other Negro bank in the community, >Jith tne symbols of the Negro business group falling, and with un- employment incre sii , the Negro masses began to move partly with spon- taneity, and rtly under T e manipulation of the Negro business and pro- fessional men who " c z with tne threat of extinction by an unem- ployed, non-purchasing mass on one hand and by the competition of the white business man on tne other. Out of their interests and those of disillu- sioned, unemployed young Negroes came the famous "Spend tour Honey './here You Can Work Campaign" of 1929. It was not until 1931, however, that Chicago became aware that its problem was not one of an emergency which could be handled privately. It took a catastrophe to awaken the city, and as a result of spontaneous collective action by the unemployed, the fact burst upon the public consciousness that unemployment and the ills occasioned by it were public rather than private responsibilities. The breaking-point was the bloody riot of August 3rd, in which three Negroes were killed. From this point on, unemployment was never viewed as a purely individual responsibility* 32 In February of 1932, a ,,.,000,000 appropriation bill was passed and the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission was appointed. In July, 1932, the I.iv.R.C. borrowed $3,000,000 from the Recon- struction Finance Corporation over tne protests of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce-, who opposed government interference. I -244- In September, 1932, Mayor Cermak -was forced to request an additional $8,100,000 of which he received $5,000,000 o The number of families on re- lief rose to 168,000, but evictions dropped 43 per cent, due largely to the adjustments made after the 1951 demonstrations. In November, 1932, Roosevelt -was elected, and for the first time in Chicago the Republican* s solid "Black Belt" was broken. The development of the New Deal program tended to stabilize the community and give form to a new type of "social order" involving new forms of cooperation with the Government. This was particularly true among Negroes, where due to differential treatment in industry and their concen- tration in insecure jobs, the number of Negroes on direct relief rose to about 40 per cent of the total relief load by 1939, About one-third of all Negroes were on relief by that year, while 32©4 per cent of the persons employed by Vif.P.A. in 1939 were Negro. The first reactions to the crisis were naturally in terms of "race"— the familiar omnibus category. There was a tendency to see the problem as one which Negroes could solve alone, and an important movement crystallized around the slogan "lake Jobs for the Race." As the crises wore on, however, many Negroes began to see the problem in terms- of class, aggra- vated by race, and out of this awareness emerged two movements— a small rev- olutionary movement symbolized by the Communist Party; a larger and more significant labor movement symbolized by the C.I.O. -245- "Making Jobs for the Race" assumes two aspects, viz,, (l) "Making Jobs securing a larger share of employment in the industries, for the Race" offices and homes of the American economy, (2) developing exclusively Negro enterprises, particularly in those realms where the mar- ket can be restricted as in insurance, retail business in the Black Belt, restaurants, and similar service and retail enterprises. The first aspect of this problem has been faced traditionally in the Negro community by the Urban League, which has attempted to induce individual employers and groups to hire Negroes, a task made increasingly difficult with the advent of the depression. Other agencies such as the Industrial Departments of the Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. have rendered similar services to the community, in the face of objections on the part of many employers and some unions teethe hiring of Negroes. Particular resentment has been manifested in the press and in in- terviews toward businesses doing the major portion of their business with the Negro people and refusing to hire Negroes,* Aside from requesting em- ployment, the only available mechanisms for increasing the areas of employ- ment seemed to be (l) working more cheaply than white people (suggested by Marcus Garvey) and its associated behavior— deliberately breaking strikes in order to force acceptance of Negroes by unions or unconsciously doing so through the operation of the labor market; (2) disciplined pressure on in- dustries and businesses which do an appreciable amount of business with Negroes, The Defender praised the South Center Department Store on Forty- seventh Street, in 1928 for employing Negroes along with white people in managerial and clerical capacities, 33 The V«© llll / jRCHftNfr »k AU THf WARS li>*v V\a\\~ \ S.-sJl AMD AOWH* M««^ to the ANY OTHER KAC£ WE F£EL THAT W£ 5^0ULP At i-f&T $£ /W Ll SIT ?OfZ THIS ONE B0^6" vVMiCH £U££Y OkJ£ KKOW5 IS 6I6H T^OM-Y Ou(?5 P Ch icago Defender , 1937 Increasing labor consciousness during the depression resulting in the guarantee of labor's right to bargain collectively caused wide- spread comment in the Negro community. The press voices the demand of "Race Labor" to share in whatever gains accrue to labor. -2^7- The first widespread use of this latter method was made in 1929 when the Chicago Whip began its "Spend your money where you can work cam- paign."* A year before the opening salvo a Whip editorial had stated: Unless employment of a more diversified nature is given the black people in this country, the white investors who have established their businesses in so-called Black Belts will he driven to the wall. There is widespread complaint that business is not good The white man will he driven by sheer necessity to open up the avenue for earning a^ living to black people so that their own holdings will not shrink and disappear. There is a dove- tailing and overlapping of white and black in this nation that must work out for the best interest of all con- cerned. J b The Whi£ intimated that the economic forces of white self-interest, unaided, would do the job. By January 1929, however, the Whi£ was incensed It should be noted, however, that as early as I91U, the Chicago Defender , referring to the deplorable necessity for "passing" to secure employment in downtown stores, advised Hegroes to "patronize the store that oilers the most to you and yours and you will be aiding materially in the movement" to break down discrimination in hiring clerks, 3^ Preliminary "skirmishes" had been made such as the one mentioned in a Defender article in the fall of 1927:35 September 10, I927 CHURCHES TAFS THE LEAD IE WAR OV. PREJUDICED STORES "Merchants, business men, and all keepers of public places who open u P> their places in neighborhoods inhabited largely by our people, are real- izing that the day is past when we are content to pour our money into their pockets and get no representation. "We are demanding that our boys and girls be given a chance not only to spend their money with them, but a chance to share a little in the vast profits that they take in from their own people. »0ne of our progressive churches called a meeting of more than UOO members, and it was decided that all stores which would not employ our people should be boycotted. It was decided that every merchant would be warned that unless they gave jobs to our people they might as well close their stores. This meeting will be continued every week. "Particular concern has been manifested over public utilities which refuse to hire Fegroes." -2Ug- and had abandoned hope that economic forces unaccompanied hy pressure would "do the trick, "37 The first drive was made on the Metropolitan Insurance Company he- cause it did not hire colored collectors and treated Negroes differenti- ally 4 The Whip t called on llegroes to withdraw their policies, ^ distrihuted handhills telling Negroes "why colored people were in poverty and need" and dispatched speakers to various churches. The Metropolitan Company did not change its "behavior, hut l!egro insurance companies took advantage of the situation and a paper reported in 1929 > that , ... in conspicuous places on the South Side there are ahout a dozen large painted signs, paid for "by an association of the Fegro insurance companies of Chicago. 39 The President of a Fegro insurance company commenting on the matter states: When the issue of a new policy is in question our agents use the joh argument for all that it is worth, and usually with telling effect.^O The "hall had "begun to roll" and a "bureau was set up. The Commercial Ser- vice Employment Bureau, to push the issue. In the meanwhile a private individual near Jorty- seventh and Evans started a boycott of a Consumer's Store: Re and Mr. X secured the co-operation of the nearest Fegro Church, and in it they held mass meetings for the purpose of impressing upon the people the principle of "buying only in stores that employed l?e~ groes as clerks, with special emphasis upon the Consumer's store in the vicinity. The first effort at picketing was very crude. Mr. X worked during the day and in the evening after work he walked before this store asking Tegroes not to patronise it, hecause it was unfair to colored lahor. He also distrihuted to the Fegro customers printed cards to the same effect. Once, Mr. X was apprehended hy the police as a public nuisance, but was released on the same night. At another time he was searched. Altogether the store was picketed intermittent- ly for sixty days. In April 193°> after a systematic "boycott of all the Consumer's stores located in the Tegro districts, the policy of not employing Hegro clerks was abandoned. Thereafter, the general manager "became a "warm friend" of the leaders of the campaign. The following is a letter to the Chicago Whip : -249- Gentlemen : This is to confirm our conversation in which we agreed to place colored girls as clerks in our south side stores where there is a large trade. We wish you to know that we are in accord with your drive for employment, feeling that we and oxner large corporations must take an active part in lowering unemployment if business is to be established, particularly neighborhood business. We want further to assure you that we are convinced that your pro- gram is sound, just and fair; it should be supported by the neighbor- hood stores to the fullest extent. We have already placed three colored girls at 224 E, 47th Street, and will place others in all of our south side stores as soon as we can train them. We will select the best girls from the applicants and make every effort to give the buying public the highest type of ser- vice in our stores. We will thank you if you will send us some girls who have had store (grocery) experience, if you know of any, (Signed) Gen'l M«g»r. 41 Within a few weeks another Negro individual forced a fruit store to give in by a one man picket line resulting in his arrest three times in one day. Then came the major drive against the Woolworth Stores, On June 7, 1930, pickets with sandwich signs began to walk in front of two Woolworth Stores on the South Side, On October 4, 1930, twenty-one colored girls helped to open the new Fifty-First Street store,, and within a year 25 per cent of all the Wool- worth girls on the South Side were colored. The four month fight against Woolworth was a strenuous struggle involving the use of paid pickets, cruising loud speakers, soap box ora- tors, and relentless publicity through the press. The N.A.A.C.P, co-oper- ated by dispatching a strong litter to the national office of the Wool- worth Company, accompanied by a petition from 162 of the Forty-seventh Street business men, stating: We are sure that you will appreciate that your stores are in open competition with these merchants, inasmuch as your stores sell for ten cents articles which for the most part they charge more. Yet, those •250- merchants whose business has increased since the beginning of the picket still ask that you consider the matter of hiring colored clerks for the general good of all. All of the merchants who have signed this petition with the exception of one, hire Negro clerks and there- fore they are in a position to speak authoritatively on the effect on their business in the community. 42 The N.A.A.C.P. also assisted by assuming responsibility for paying the pickets with a fund raised by Negro business and professional men, a total sum of over one thousand dollars. Cox states that the churches were "the most important means of reaching the socially organized Negro." An attempt was made to impress the principles of the boycott not only upon ohurch congregations but also upon the preachers. To this end, picked men selected to lead the attack, were appointed to go before certain ministerial organizations, such as the to pre- sent the problem. After the various phases of the program were des- cribed, the very evident though decisive argument was used, viz., that the more Negroes have jobs, the less charity the church will be asked to give, and the larger will be the offerings. Therefore, it was to the direct interest of the preachers to fall into line with the forces of the campaign. .... The majority of them did so. ... , In many instances ministers entreated the Whip to send them speakers. 43 Some ministers approached local merchants demanding jobs for Negroes. Blocks were organized, speakers circulated among all types of clubs, fly- ing squads visited stores inquiring in a loud voice why no Negroes were hired, and the South Side was flooded with literature. Soap boxers whip- ped up the campaign: Some cowards say they are not with us in this fight because thc V are afraid of losing their jobs No race is entitled to jobs far away (e.g., Gary, East Chicago, Hyde Park) until it has sense enough to fight for jobs nearby. If we win we will have permanent positions for our girls and for the first time on earth we will really establish the fact that we love ourselves just the same as other races love themselves. I have been connected with pugilism for over nineteen years, but this is the greatest fight I've ever witnessed. -251- Eo race wants to love a race, or "be loved by a race that does not love itself. All J. want and all I hope to get out of this fight is the glory of victory. 44 There were some recalcitrant Fegroes who had to "be whipped in line —verbally. Pickets were absolutely forbidden to use violence and were instructed that "they should rather take a blow than start a physical com- bat that might result in shedding of blood and probable discredit to the work." Sanctions of "race pride" were used: Any Eegro woman who will pass that picket and go into a Wool worth Store, is absolutely incapable of being insulted by a white man. 4 5 And one Eegro minister, a master of invective and humor addressed: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and fellow citizens, employment agents, private detectives, traitors, trapsetters, and stool pigeons, I am pleased to speak with you this evening. Years ago when teamsters, truck- drivers, coal miners, steel work- ers, railroaders, and all were carrying signs and picketing unfair places, not a single Jlegro said it was wrong. But as soon as progres- sive Afro-Americans started to picket three south side Wool worth stores, Eegro traitors said that it was not right If I were base enough to go into these Woolworth stores, I would deserve to be burned in a wilderness of worms, with rats for my relatives, lizzards for my lodge members, and bats for my beneficiaries. I would deserve a python for my pillow, .fiink-weeds for flowers, maggots for mourners, pole cats for pall bearers . a crocodile's carcass for a casket, and a cesspool for my cemetery. 4 " Even the Urban League , despite its own more individual approach .... not only gave its sanction to the movement, but also plac- ed the facilities of its office at the disposal of the leaders Throughout the period of the active struggle for employment, the Chi- cago Urban League was in communication with the editors of the paper. .... The protagonist of the movement was invited by the Leag ue to speak before audiences of prominent persons. Beyond this wholehearted support and encouragement, however, the League took no active part in the campaign. Its organization was such that it could not co-operate directly in the use of coercive methods. ... . .On October 9, 1930, Mr. Joster wrote the following to T. Arnold Hill, Director of the De- partment of Industrial Relations of the rational Urban league : "The time has come for a more aggressive attitude on the part of Fegroes. We of the Chicago Urban League realize that fact, and our -252- future programs will "be far more aggressive than they have in the past «^7 There was one organization at the time of this study, devoted pri- marily to the task of widening the area of employment for Fegroes, The Fe- gro labor Relations league . The enterprise is essentially a young peo- ple's movement following in the tradition of similar movements in Durham, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and Few York City, and the dramatic cam- paign of the Chicago Whip from 1929-1931 which began the national move- ment, ^-8 An official publication of the league describes its origin and ac- tivities as follows: ^"9 Because of the increasing number of Fegroes on direct relief and W,F,A. rolls and the decreasing number of them in private industry, a group of young men, in the month of December, 1937 m ©t in the office of Joe Jefferson, then Boys Work Secretary of the Wabash Avenue Yii.CA. Realizing the importance of JOBS in the secure wage brackets they decided to help a group of struggling senior paper carriers for the Herald & Examiner who had reached the age and experience to qualify for Branch managers. With the assistance of Mr. Howard D. jould of the Chicago Urban league and Mr. Charles Johnson, President of the In- ter-Council of Clubs , several conferences with the company officials were held at the office of the company and one at the Wabash Avenue Y.M.C ^A,, where all of the paper boys and officials met. The result was that eight young Fegro men were immediately appointed Branch mana- gers for the H e r aid _ & Examiner at salaries ranging from $35 to $50 per week. Since that time five solicitors have been employed whose sala- ries range from $27*50 to $90.00 per week. Then in the summer of 193^ we realized the need for an organiza- tion similar to the Few York Coordinating Committee to mobilize mass pressure and action. So, with the help of William 1. Dawson, then Alderman of the Second Ward we organized the Fegro lab or R elations League, On Wednesday, August 3> 1938. vrith handbills and the assis- tance of "Dynamite"* edited \>y E. G-eo. Davenport, we launched our cam- paign to open up opportunities of employment in jobs heretofore held * Dynamite was a militant "race" journal with a distinct anti-Semitic slant. The League was never anti-Semitic, and while it was appreciative of Dynamite 1 s help, did not endorse that paper' s full program. -253- tightly against Negro men and women. At a large mass meeting held at the DuSaihle High School, and attended "by over three thousand persons, a report was made of the year's activities. The main speaker for the occasion was A. Clayton Powell, Jr., young New York Baptist minister who had led a similar campaign in New York. As a part of his speech, he castigated the ministry for its "other worldly" attitude amid the applause of "both the ministers (some thirty of whom were on the platform) and the audience. ACCOMPLI SHMENTS OF THE NEGRO LABOR RELATIONS LEAGUE 1. DAILY TIMES Secured the appointments of six Branch managers for the Daily Times at salaries averaging $25.00 to $35.00 per week. Campaign launched August 10, 1937 - JOBS secured August 17. Cost of Campaign, $109.50. 2. EVENING AMERICAN Secured the appointment of eight Branch managers for Evening Anerican without having to resort to a pressure campaign. A confer- ence was held at the Company office and the officials attended our meeting at St. Elizabeth's Hall. The branch managers' salaries range from $35 to $50 per week. 3. DRIVE FOR NEGRO MILKMEN On August 27, we joined with the Council of Negro Organizations in the fight for Negro milk wagon drivers. At present the Negro Labor Relations League is the only organization actively carrying on the fight. We have sponsored a number of milkless days which have been successful. Cost of Campaign, $428.00 4. CAMPAIGN FOR MOTION PICTURE OPERATORS On Septemher 8, 1938, we initiated the campaign to secure more Ne- gro motion picture operators in local theatres. Handoills were dis- tributed and theatres picketed. As a result 10 men were assigned to -254- jobs; four of whom were the first Negroes to receive city motion pic- ture operator licenses in twenty years, A motion picture operator's salary is $90 per week. Campaign ended October 25th. Cost: $800.00. 5. OFFICE In January our steering committee voted to establish offices in order that our many workers and friends could more easily contact us. The expense of maintenance has been carried by the members. We pur- chased an automatic multigraph machine with which to print our ma- terial, Sine© the purchase we have greatly reduced our printing bill. .Each member volunteers to be in the office a designated number of hours each week. All services rendered are voluntary. No one is paid. Cost: $321.77. 6* JOB CRUSADE MASS MEETING ■iwi.«-y w i rf *> '• " • — '■ ■ ■■■■■»■■ n w ■■■ Promotion Cost : $210.00. Thus you see in the last eight months, with the sum of $1,768.27 we have been able to keep our organization going and also have been able to make or secure jobs for Negroes totaling $87, 560.00 per year. At the time of writing, the League was waging a campaign for the employment of Negroes by the Illinois Bell Telephone Company and was uti- lizing the technique of having Negroe to remove their telephones as a pro- test against discriminatory policies. This movement has been widely en- dorsed by some of the more prominent ministers and oivic leaders. Without a doubt, "job campaigns" strike the most responsive chord in the Negro community and many non-instrumental organizations co-operate. by petition and protest, while a few smaller "problem solving" groups have made it an integral part of their program* Among these are the John Broxvn Organization and the Woodlawn Co-operative Society, 50 6 ^w History h Ahmt T© Rrpttit* .99 f~ m ^^ T ^T su - j3P IB& jl5 ^7 / ^Afc ^ Yo°^!t?^r™w«ix '■h \'teo Chicago Defender , 1937 With war clouds gathering, it is suggested that real patriotism and democracy should mean "a square deal" for Negroes. -256- The Coming Radical activities previous to the Depression had never of the borne much fruit among Negroes in Chicago. There were Ne- Communists gro radicals here and there— members of unions, Marxist dis- cussion groups, and the I.W.W., the Socialist and Communist Parties, but the broad masses for whom Utopia would exist and through whom it would come— both white and black— had never before the Depression, been set in motion by the radicals. Then came 1929 and with it the shattering of "The Dream". * The Negro masses did not respond at first— "always depression for us," they said. Then they began to complain that they were "First to be Fired and Last to be Hired." The Negro middle classes and the young race-conscious unemployed rallied them for a brief and powerful drive for employment in the "buying power campaign," to the caustic criticism of a weak new voice— the Communists , who said of the drive » The triviality of this proposal is obvious on the face of it. it is indeed possible to organize boycott actions to compel petty shop- keepers in Harlem to hire Negro clerks, and it is even possible on oc- casions to kick up a row big enough to force a -./oolworth Store in Chi- cago to make a promise. But what has this to do with hundreds of thou- sands of Negro workers in the coal, iron, steel, oil, automobile, and packing industries. - — in the basic industries of America? Can the Ne- gro people use their "buying power" to refuse to buy locomotives or automobiles so as to compel the big trusts to end discrimination a- gainst Negroes? Or shall the Negro people refuse to buy meat or coal to the same end? There is no substance to the "use our buying power" proposal; it can only be raised by those whose social vision is bounded *Negro leaders in the late twenties had talked much of "salvation via Negro business," and at one time the Colored Merchants Association had begun to organize a nationwide chain of grocery stores, designed to corral the Negroes' wayward dollars, astray in white pastures. -257- by petty industry and petty trade, who see everything not from the view-point of Negro workers, (the great mass oX Negro people), but ra- ther from that of the Negro small businessman. jl The Communists had begun organizational work among the Negroes in Chicago as early as 1924, when they distributed hundreds of copies of the Daily Worker carrying special articles on Negroes in Chicago, headlining "Firetrap Schools for Worker's Children" (attacks on the buildings housing the Mosely, Fester, and Skinner Schools) and the showing of the "Birth of a Nation"— "a vile kian film".* Police brutality was also discussed, as well as the 1924 unemployment problem— NEGROES HARD HIT AS JOBLESS CRISIS GROVE. Street meetings began in 1924 as well as regular meetings at the community house on Wabash Avenue near thirty-second Street. A Worker's School was started and interracial socials were held. On at least one occasion, a vigorous attack was made on the Garveyitos, the Daily Worker reporting tho incident as follows; NEGRO '70RK3RS CHEER MINOR IN OPEN AIR MEET Communist Hits 3ack-to-African Movement Declaring that the problems and interests of the Negro workers were identical with those of white workers. . . . Bob Minor receivod an in- spiring ovation from a large crowd of colored workers .... at the Workers' Party open air meeting at 30th and State Streets. . . . Minor brought with him to the meeting a large map of the African continent which he put to good use in exploding tho Gnrvcy Back-to-Africa pana- cea All workers must unite .... explained the role of the Workers' Party .... at the close of tho meeting announced tho next meeting and askod for a show of hands of all those who would attend. Several score responded. .... Minor surrounded by an enthusiastic group of men who insisted on shaking his hand .... many expressed intention of joining the party ..... 500 copies of tho Special Chi- cago Campaign Edition of the Daily Worker were distributed. -* . lhis was a never failing agitational issue for tho Defender be- tween 1910 and 1925. -258- In 1924, an "ALL RAGE CONGRESS" had boon hold, and the Communists had tried to capture it, ". . . . but dospite thos3 evidences of party influence, the Congress of 1924 had ended (as indeed it had begun) with capitalist Negroes leading the movement. Not a single represen- tative of labor or the farm hud been placed on the executive ppmmit- tee, but only representatives of business and religious groups. Dr. Gosneli states that- In general those Negroes who had jobs in Chicago were afraid that they might lose them at any time on account of their color and they were not willing to run the additional risk of being classed as "red," "socialist," "bolshevik," or "communist." 53 In the fall of 1925, the Communist Party sponsored its own Ameri- can Negro Labor Congress which created widespread comment, although the consensus of opinion was that "the Chicago pow-wow, with its orations and resolutions will have no influence on the Negroes of the Country." For the next three years, although the South Side branch met regu- larly, there was no outstanding act iyity —only occasional interracial dances, money-raising for Sacco and Vanzetti, and a diminishing amount of space in the Daily porker , until reyigorated by the Sixth World Congress of the Third International in 1928, the American Communists once more be- gan the drive for the Negro, The Daily Worker stated in that year? The Party should carry out a merciless struggle against all mani- festations of chauvinism. In the future, a full time Negro organizer must be maintained. In approaching the Negro problem, the Communists, from the begin- ning, not only attempted to recruit members, but worked in other organi- zations for specific ends; for instance, the Negro Tenants' Protective League of Chicago was organized in 1924. A drive was instituted against Congressman DePriest who was accused of "fleecing his own race" and -259- against the Urban League which according to the Daily Worker " .... in its plans for 1924 .... makes no mention of the housing problem .... shows itself to be a go-between connecting the industrial oppressors with a cheap Negro labor market." 56 These attacks on the respected symbols of the Negro community, often by white people, tended to alienate many Ne- groes and aroused the ire of both the moderate racialists and the extreme racialists. Yet, at a mass meeting at the Odd Fellow's Hall on the hous- ing problem in 1925 "The Reds" drew an overflow crowd and received round 57 after round of applause. it was announced at this meeting that the next meeting "was to be held in a large church \?hich had been donated for that purpose by a South Side minister."^ 8 There was no mass response however. The International Labor Defense and the Council of Progressive Unemployed . though in existence, during the twenties, likewise exerted little influ- 59 ence on the community. In January 1930, a new recruiting campaign began and so successful was it that within a month, the number of Negro members totaled 113 out of en 605 (18.68 per cent of the total). Then in March, the "Red Squad" began ten days of terror, breaking up meetings of the unemployed, arresting leaders , and raiding headquarters and seizing records. Las swell, in his careful study of the Communists in Chicago states that* Despite this onslaught of the law, 3,000 workers rallied on the night of March 5th, at a mass meeting for the defense of the unemploy- ed and the Communist Party at the Ashland Auditorium. And on the fol- lowing day, thousands assembled at Halsted and Lake Streets, and with an army two miles long, marched through the working class and factory sections south of the loop, ending with an open air meeting near the Stockyards. Another mass meeting protesting police brutality of this "reign of terror" was called by the I.L.D., in the Negro district. -260- This meeting, hold March 28 ... . was addressed by speakers fron the Nat Turner* branch of the I.L.D. as well as by party speakers. 61 Meetings were held throughout the spring and summer of 1930, on lynching and segregation at the Royal Circle Hall, the Odd Fellows Hall and in Wash- ington Park. At one large mass meeting, a Negro speaker declared; It is up to the white workers to demonstrate to their fellow workers that they will really take up the fight for the Negro v/orkers and fight against lynching and segregation. 7/s want no race riots, but united class war against the bosses and boss lynch terror, and this fight must be crrriod on not only by Negro but by white workers as well. 62 There was little active opposition to the Communists on the part of the churches, although the assistant pastor of one large Baptist church had three white workers arrested for distributing ,;nti-lynching leaflets in front of the church, telling the police that "white folks should mind their own business and Negroes neither wanted nor needed their aid." Then came the cause e el ebre that rallied a large section of the community around the Communists — SC0TTS30R0. A United Front Scottsboro Defense Committee was called and 285 elected delegates representing 118 Negro churches, 16 Negro clubs, and 17 unions were present, and one speaker said, "The Negro Race owes thanks to the Communists Rally bohind them despite all." An executive committee of twenty-five was chosen 64 and began to systematically contact all Negro organizations. Churches throughout the district, from the small store-front con- gregations to the largest church in the district took up the cry of -* Nat Turner was the leader of a Negro slave insurrection in Vir- ginia. A typical attitude was expressed by a minister who said, "I can' reed tno people. If they can feed them, let thorn." Only in the face c direct attacks on the church, did the Negro ministers retaliate in kind. -261- protost and took up collections to help the Inter-national Labor Defense carry on its fight. Of ton party members as representatives of the Defense Committee or of the I.L.D. were allowed to address church congregations. Mrs, Ada '/right, mother of one of the boys, spoke at the second largest Negro church in the city and drew : n enormous crov/d. • • • ■ The whole campaign ere: 'ted a feeling of general friendliness toward the communists, o friendliness which had not hitherto existed 65 Simultaneously with the Scottsboro campaign, the Communists had been championing the cause of persons who were evicted for inability to pay rent, a very live issue in the Negro community, victim as it was of bad housing and excessive rents. Hundreds of evicted Negroes were restored to their homes by crowds which were led by members of the Unemployed Councils and the Communist Party often to the tune of the transliterated spiritual, " T ,7e Shall Not Be Moved." In August 1931, two thousand persons led by the Unemployed Councils, after a meeting in ',/ushington Park, marched to 5016 South Dearborn Street to replace the furniture of an unemployed woman. By the time they arrived there were close to five thousand persons in tho group. Reports of the marchers brought officers from the Wabash Avenue po- lice station and several men were arrested. V?hen the crowd showed signs of becoming difficult to handle, the police drew their guns, fired into tho crowd and killed three Negroes, wounding others. Immediately fifty thou- sand leaflets wore distributed? HOLD SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE CHICAGO MASSACRE OF OUR UNEMPLOYED COMRADES These demonstrations must mark tho crossroad at which tho millions of unemployed workers, under our leadership, must break the fetters of capitalist illusions (prosperity over the hill) and must forge, in struggle, a powerful mass unemployment movement to force the ruling class to grant immediate relief and /^Tic/insurance, -262- Tho city concentrated police on the South Side. Finally the bodies wore moved to the Odd Fellows Hall where thuy ley in state with a Negro and white guard of honor, "to give the outraged masses an opportunity to view the bodies," Eighteen thousand people viewed the remains I Mass meetings were hold in Washington Park every day for a week, at one of which a speaker announced "that the fatal riot of Monday had resulted in dearly bought vic- tories for the jobless masses in that the Renters Court had temporarily suspended all eviction orders .... hundreds of poverty-striken families, white and black, in all parts of the city are now relieved of the specter of 67 being heartlessly shoved out into the streets." "World Revolutionary Propaganda" began to subside as the Communist Party, under the stress of growing fascist tendencies, threw its energies behind the building of the "Democratic Front," and as the Federal Government began to give assistance to the unemployed, thus stabilizing the economic and social sys terns • There were in 1937, less than six thousand Communist Party members in Illinois, and of this number, about two thousand were Negro, 90 per cent of these living in Chicago. The only "official" subsidiary organization active in Chicago is the Young Commu n ist League of which a young Negro man 68 is State President. Communists took a very active part in community move- ments. The municipal election platform of 1939 consisted of 14 "progress- ive" planks including; Equal rights to Negroes; outlaw discrimination. Immediate govern- ment low-cost hou sing pr ojects on the South Si do, 69 The Party commented that? -263- Reactionury forces will side-step fchoso issues, or attack thoao re- forms and progressive measures as Communistic or Socialistic. Clearly, they are not. Today, as many times before in the history of our coun- try, the struggle is botwoon the forces of progress and tho forces of reaction. Of course, wo Communists believe that only a socialistic sys- torn of society would finally and for all time eliminate unomploymont , crises, and tho waste of capitalism, would abolish war from tho face of tho earth, would make full use of tho achievements of scienco, would se- cure a comfortable standard of living in our rich, highly dovelopod country, for all, almost overnight. But socialism is not the issuo bo- foro the American peoplo today. Today the task is to defeat reaction and to maintain and extend doinocracy. As an intogral part of the groat front of democracy against reaction, f ascism and war which is being forgod out of the daily struggles of the American pooplc, wo Communists take our place, '^ At the time the field work was done upon this study, there was no groat opprobrium either in Chicago or tho nation as a whole attachod to being a Communist, and both the party and individual Communists v;ere tolerated and cooperated with on spe cific issues of benefit to Hegroos, This was true, oven of "moderate racial" loaders , At one convention of tho Communist 71 Party in 1939, a Baptist Church choir was actually programmed and sang I With tho outbreak of tho European war, however, and tho signing of tho Soviet -Gorman non-aggression pact in 1939, many Nogroos who had sup- ported tho Communists in their fight against fascism began to :havo doubts. With the further clarification of the Communist "lino" it became evident that the Soviot Union was pursuing a policy of "revolutionary neutrality" which meant for American Communists a drive to koop America out of war, to raise now slogans of "a quick transition to socialism," and to froquont criticisms of the Now Deal as being pro-ally in foroign policy and "not radical enough" in domestic policy. It is too oarly to estimate tho ropor- * Such specific issues wore Scottsboro, evictions, dofenso of Spain, -264- cussions of the inter-national situation on the Chicago community but it is significant to note that in line with the recrudescence of red-baiting throughout the country, at least one Negro paper carried a front page edi- torial; NEGROES MUST STAND FOR AMERICANISM* advising Negroes to abjure communistic leadership. Another outstanding Negro paper, the same week, carried a eulogistic editorial on the Daily Rec_ord, a periodical also reputed to be "Communist dominated," lauding it 73 for its espousal of the Negro's cause. ' The attitude of Negroes toward the Communists, has on the whole been opportunistic. The following types of attitudes are frequently expressed by people of all class levels. I'm thoroughly opposed to anything like it. There have been people from time to time who've tried to interest mo in the Rods but I have no use for a bunch of people who do nothing more than try to overthrow a government and have no program or loaders who have strength enough to get more than a handful of followers. I think they all should be given a good whipping and run out of the country back to Russia where they be- long. 74 I won't go so far as to say that, but you know as well as I that if it wasn't for them the Scottsboro boys and Angelo Herndon would be "6 feot under." I hear a lot of talk about them at work and I kinda sym- pathize, but as to saying whether we oughta all jump right in, I don't know, '5 *This editorial must bu viewed in relation to the fact that it pro- ceded by throe days a Notional Labor Relations Board vote at one of tho packing plants. The C.IoO. union had boon charged with being "under Communist domination" which explains the tenor of tho editorial, one sentence of which stated that Negroes ". . . . cannot afford to cast their lot with any institution which appears to be shadowed and directed by communistic influences ."72 -265- The Negro community traditionally has been skeptical of Black Workers and the labor unions. The working classes have been so because New Unions of the hostile attitude so often displayed toward then by white workers, id the competitive advantage Lao-/ enjoyed by being un- unionized in a society where uanufacturers were interested in preserving a "docile 1 ' surplus labor i ricet. 'h liddle and upper classes have tended to share the - 1 Ltud P coj o hiti c u s even when they have been em- ployed in "working cJ s •■ .■■■■ 3, while the Negro press has given con- sistent ar1 Lculai on to th: is Lcism, 0] ly a minority of Negro workers and leaders, up 1 I I29, i ■ s it her in unions, or conscious of them as friends rather bh< emies. Then came Lb : . .A. king unions respecta- ble and re-affirmin i . ■ ■■ 1 ality. The dominant union in the Chic . stocky -ds in 1935 was The Amal- gamated Meat Glitters and Butcher oris en of North Anieri :a, of which Horace Gayton states: Before the N.R.A. there had been .loss than 200 Negro members in the entire international o: anization of the Anal am ted Heat Cutters and Butcher Uorkmen of North America, in the union campaign which fol- lowed the pa 1 ' : of the Blanket code, Negroes came into the union with the rest of the packj l, -house wor] n-; . In January, 1935, there were "over 5,000 ; v •■ \ enrolled in /the/ Chicago locals alone." 76 The companie; to organize "company unions," however, and Negroes be- gan to drop out. cion of white wor ■ rs who, in many cases, did not wish to coo hole -lie j ■ lly with Negroes, also helped to deplete their ranks, as c'id h< -clue of union officials to take a stand linst projudic . his ;/as tici s< 'u in Chicago as in other areas, .... but oven there the number oj Mi roes holding elective po- sitions was c oiler than would be 0: • 3d from an organization whose off ctr< :isl c< ended upon bin or, inization of Negro work- ers. " ■266- The present C.I.O. union in the stockyards resulted from the work of a rank and file "Committee of Seventeen" which asked the C.I.O. to organize the industry. By May 1936, the Committee of Seventeen had organized one of the smaller plants and the C.I.O. sent in its organizers to set up the United Packinghouse Uorkers Industrial Union. Cayton, writing in 1938, while deplorim the A.F.L-C.I.O. split, concluded: Of the two unions, there is little doubt that the United Packing- house 17 •■ ] L d trial Union is the more liberal. Not only has it made a very definite offer; to guard again- t any form of race preju- dice, bir not have to overcome the disadvantage of prejudiced acts towa ■ gross in the past or the racially conservative attitudes of its national leader . s is the case with the Amalgamated. The entrance of the United Pacini house Workers Industrial Union into the field has done much to liberalize r cial attitudes in the industry. .... Negro workers can by their numbers importance determine whe- ther the A.F.L. or the C.I.O. will be victorious and even whether the industry can be or; ni ed at all.* 73 The same author commenting on the steel industry, which employs a large number of Negroes stated: Every movement among -tool workers to organize themselves into unions since 1890 has been fought relentlessly by the management of the industry. ™ Among the devices, most commonly used were v ' ; >us plans of "employee repre- sentation" within a given plant—called by labor unionists, "company unions." Negroes were introduced to the company union during the period im- mediately following the war Migrant Negroes from the South proven | Lliarly susceptible to this fori;; of organization, since the idea belli lc company union (of maintaining a personal relationship between tin ] yor and the employees) duplicated a southern pattern with which the I c ■ I 1 ■: Miliar. The attachment which the Negro had been aughl i r t i loyer in the South was quickly sensed and exploited by en industrialists. A aersonnel manager The assistant nation;:'! organizer of the United Packinghouse Work- ers Industrial Union is a coll train-; .-. < ., j \ s very popular speaker at Negro gatherings. He Ls also p. | il r among white workers 1 groups. At a large labor mooting in the Coliseum, th audience of some five thousand persons, mainly white, ave him an ovation exceeded only by that accorded John L. Lewis, and more hearty than one extended the very popu- lar Bishop Shcil of the Catholic Youth Organization. 167- of a large northern plant stated in connection with one of the comnany clubs for Negroes, started in 1919: "We have found these clubs to bi very beneficial inasmuch as they help to build ui the family spirit in the shop, and on numerous oc- casions these clubs have on their own volition taken up general prac- tice and taught the others with a view of making them' more efficient workmen. In this w y the Em] I . lent Department has been helped very materially in bringing abetter class of b Lp into the organization. It is nothing uncommon to hear the colored man refer to it as 'our shop,' 'our baseball team,' 'our football team, « 'our lunch room,' etc. He naturally or unconsciously assumes this attitude because 'of the pride and interest lie has in the place where he works." 80 In 1919, the A.k.L. started a drive to "organize steel" asking for: (1) right to collective bargaining, (2) an eight hour day, (3) a pay in- crease, (4) seniority rights. It was necessary to call a strike. .It was lost. Again in 1923 an attempt was made to organize the industry, and .... In spite of the lessons of the 1919 strike again no great ef- fort was made to interest the Negroes. Cooperation was offered by the Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but nothing was done b y the Co niittee to take advantage of this offer. Bccause^the con- ditions I c which Negroes were forced to live were so deplorable, many Negro 1- < avc their attention to the industrial problem dur- ing that : eriod. From ; ■ until the passai c of the N.H.A. the Amalgamated continued "largely by - > sufferance of a few employers .... as a conservative relic with a decli. mei I rship." In 1929, The Metal Workers' Industrial League was organized, and "opposed the craft union 'milk and water* poli- cies of the American Federation of Labor" and in 1932 reorganized as the Steel and Metal Workers' Industrial Union. It took a liberal position in relation to Negroes, as did its successor, the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee: .... one can say that on the whole the officers and members of the new lodges realized the necessity for organizing Negroes into the white lodges and forced the national officers to modify their position. In social ■- there was little doubt that the Negro was accepted be- cause it war; expedient, in view of his distrust and the absolute nec- essity of gaining his allegiance. 82 v Hc[pirjg The C.I.Q. W in Popular it/ ^H®Wii i iv^r^/A Ll - & l6 wi all. rich jA .:r=^0 li'ljfcpSl S*NCG YOU ; ; iVfe^V insist/ / i'lkl ■-; '■:■? 'J * "l T' 1 1 1 < ■ . ^ r /A ill • in A-.,; m I i ■ /"/J) --— - §J ^ IHJ teSlffn *> -v fc Mllih,\ y' \ £/ ^ X K#^pb b^-?^^- ^ Chicago Defender ^ 1937 A Negro pap or suggests to one union group that refusal to admit Nogroos will build a rival group that bars discrimination. Another explanation of the greater success of the S.N.O.C. /Steel Workers Organizing Commit too/ with Negro workers is to be traced~~to a change Ln attitude or tn< rt o£ so. - N o Leaders and organiza- tions. The entire country had undergone a lit pal education with re- spect to trade anion organization since the ■ isa ;e of the N.R.A. and this had reached certain section- oj thi Li • I L -o public. 83 At the annual convention -one National Bar As lotion of' ' Negro lawyers and judges passed a resolution strongly e idorsing the C.I.O. The campaign also received the support of tho Notional Negro Congress and although that organization did not have gr at strength or organiza- tional unity nevertheless it did much in the way of creating a friendly public opinion in the Negro community or at least tended to counteract much of the prevailing hostile opinion. The leaders of the National Negro Congress cooperated with the officers of the S.W.O.C, in February of 1937 in organizing' a national conference of Negro steel workers in Pittsburgh.* At this meeting; numbers of Negro delegates representing various lodges of the S. IV. 0.0, attended and their expenses were paid by their local lodges. One large local in Chica; h id' only two or three Negroes in the lodge but nevertheless the white membership raised the necessary expenses so that one of the Negroes might attend the meetings as a delegate. .... There were numbers of whites who had pretty successfully overcome mucb of their racial antj >athy and had formed warm and sincere friendshi i which enforced bin bonds of union membership. Inmj : '■ Lo8 °' j " : • " h ve been able to make a few steps up oard i] h ,ccu] tional hierarchy of the plant and instances in • /hlr " ; have been iblo to protect their seniority through tho union Ci ' L ven. Also, many < ample s of changes on the part of white wo: ; i.i both attitude and actual behavior could be illustrat- od ' 17h : repres mdam ntoJ changes in attitude or whether thoy aro , " tunl '" Lovioos to insure Negro participation during the; form v riocl o:i th union car o be determined bv time. In addition to packing and stool, Negroes i x time of the study were taking an active part in unions of th. . — pa workers, various groups of railway workers, tho garment industry, the 'orkers' Alliance, and the 7f The pastor of the second or third larj :si , gro church in Chicago attended this meeting. On at least one occasion, in one of these three lar- gest churches, the minister made an appeal and promise to some visting of- ficials of a large steel corporation— promised " that he could supply thorn with "loyal" workers— appealed for funds to enlarge his church program", and emphasized tho Tact that Negroes needed jobs. He introduced a deacon to the audience as "one of tho most faithful workers out at South Works." This pastor is not anti-labor, as such, and union:; of tho unemployed meet in his church; rather this irescnted an opportunity to help the race by helping the church an Lping individuals, and was considered a legitimate means of making the most of an opportunity. -270- uniono of a few other industries, sb pin positions of control and helping to determine: policy.* A Negro woman was having fair success at tho diffi- cult job of organizing Negro and white domestic worker; into an organiza- tion. Unions wore being accepted as a now but respectable part of the social structure of the Negro community by even the most conservative lead- ers, while the extension of the range of interracial contacts was in marked contrast to that afforded by the church. George McCray, a student of the union problem, after en intensive analysis concluded that: Seemingly, the Negro churches in the community arc mildly in favor of unions, • sially C.I.O. unions, or arc indifferent to the whole problem of unionism.* libra of them seem hostile to tho American Feder- ation of Labor, Occasionally, however, a minister definitely takes the other side, as in the case below whqrc a Baptist minister comments oil the C.I.O.: 85 I told my story to tho ministers'' Alliance and they told me that since the unemployed would not go to the church and serve God that we preachers would have to get together as they were listening to the 'Rods,' and the 'Reds' were against the church. So I had three members working in the Acme St .1 Company. I told fc3 ; invite others to come to church, but we tot very little response from thorn, so one day after work I was out on the corner and started pros •' i Lg. Some of them stopped to listen to what I had to say. So when I was through preach- ing I gavu them some handbills and asked them to come to church the next Sunday, but only a few came, but I kept on going on the corner, it was near the plant and when the C.I.O. came on the scene, I told them that they should not pay any attention to it because the company had been good to them as it could be and they could not afford to strike because their families would suffer. When the company saw what I was doing they called me into a conference and asked me if I thought I could keep their employees from joining tho C.I.O. I told them that I could but I would not do it for fun. There was still a tendency to "take unions with a grain of salt" on the part of the rank Mid file of Negro workers, and the unemployed. In many cases they considered them as "rackets" or devices used by white work- ers to harm Negroes, especially in the building and printing trades. In industries like packing and steel, a large proportion of the Negro workers, however, wore organized. The Fruiis Of Standing Together' ^> % !'%Ml/ii, ST, ', 1 ' ■--"' <\ Is J? \ al^k, . wf it . L> ^"^^iC^fe ,^:^1W1 . vxy / '■ > . *^* ,«i 1 Chicago Defender , 1937 A significant victory by an A. F. L. Union, predominantly Negro, is used by the press to illustrate the values of racial and labor soli- darity. SUMMARY In order to effect the ends which race pride exalts, it is Racial deemed necessary to foster — at least as a temporary measure Solidarity — racial, solidarity .* Negroes must learn to act together — as Negroes — ignorin Internal division,:: of class, religion, color shadings, sectional divert ic Le! , etc. They must not allow themselves to be divided by internal groupings, nor to bo fooled by "the other fellow" (an indirect way of sayin; , "the white man"). There must be mechanisms for racial pro- tection and i racial advancement. It is at this point that serious dif- ficulties begin, b] ['orences within the Negro race are manifold, the social org si ; tion is complex, and to act as ! 'oes requires subordi- nation of these internal differences. The fore , C the most persis- tent pleas in the Chicago Negro community is Lty ction--utilizing race pride to foster racial solidarity, for ra cial ends. All types of associations in the Negro comnunity reflect, in some ways, an awareness of the sep; c , subordinate position of Negroes, and the conflict between this and the democratic beliefs of the total so- ciety.** Such awareness is manifested in a variety of ways ranging from Racial solidarity is distinguished from r ace pride by the fact that it involves overt behavior on the part of No. n who act, or think they act, for ends bo; . their im ediate family and associational circles. 'This has been ascertained by a careful study of associational constitution i bivitie: f 3 1.937. ^ven a soc iai club paper, "Club Chatter" ran i alar editoria] ' such subjects as 0UR CASTE SYSTEM, THE ECONOMIC VA . CO-OPERATION, and similar cities. Several clubs during 1938 sugg Lj osi.iv> with j I U rdor to pool money for a fight against poor Lousing. Some clubs express hope of stcrting ^business for the ha co." -273- the fulltime overt aggros sivonoss of an organization such as the N.A.A.C.P. to the occasional contribution of a bridge club to some racial defense fund. These organizations bring to a focus the frequent expressions of need for racial solidarity, which run from the naive mysticism of the low- er class housewife who has groat hope for the .:. ro, but feels that: "They will never amount to very much unless the; learn to love each other more and more as the days and years go by, so, therefore, I say what we need more than anything else is more love for each other, and then things will be better for us some sweet day," to the very calculating Negro business man who dreams of controlling the $39,000,000 annual ITegro market, using even the "sacred" institutions to achieve his ends. Thus, a typical busi- ness man's c> - ion is as follows: The problem that we face today is can wo so cement ourselves to- gether that it vri.ll really bo u case of "all for one, and one for all." 0n '- ot the things that :nay tend to help the public in forming a conscious attitude toward ■ Ij i city lies in the attitude of the ministers, who, ... n our looplo are looked upoi as leaders. A talk from the inisl on Sunday* when all of the pi pic ere assembled to- gether would Lo artel; good, for most d those rfno buy from white mer- chants do so fi n tural cou i • it ion, and do not stop to think of the benefit they would ; '■ * 'onizin^ their own merchant. There are several kinds of e. .- i ; at ions at the present time yet, at the same time, there is plenty of room j ore, .jach one will do some good and we ar ; dly in noi < 1] good .re can get, and more if possible. 86 Between these extremes, lio innu i i le and often vague programs for racial emancipation, all predicated on th. attainment of racial soli- darity end involving the substitution of "race pride" for a "caste mentali- ty." A post office employee complains: "Our people are hit hard because they don't organize and try to work out their own salvation." 87 The same notion is cxpre; I by an unemployed laborer: -274 Education ain't gonna put then on the right track. They need to learn something about unity and race pride. The .u.arican white nan has these Negroes full of his psychology and they can't think for then- selves. Boy, I think it would bo a good thing for those Anerican Ne- groes to go to Africa or somewhere. Maybe they'd learn something about unity, ko These vague feelings about racial solidarity, and those criticisms of racial leadership arc often crystalizcd in statements such as the fol- lowing, where a hotel naid c omenta on the race problem, and suggests form- al organizations as a "way out." She also expresses the current belief that Negroes should learn more about their history: The solution of the race problem rests with itself. The Negro as a whole must become race conscious, and form organizations that will bring the race issue before the public. The children should be taught that the race at one tine was a shining example of civilization, and they should again try to reach this point. 89 A substitute school teacher suns the natter up in answering a ques- tion as to the "greatest need for Negroes"; 90 The greatest needs for Negroes, I would say, arcs first, stick to- gether | second, work together | third, stop fighting their leaders j fourth, develop mere pride 5 fifth, take interest in their family and children! and sixth, stress eduction, business and general activities. a housewife ^vcrss .... the Ne ro problem, as a whole, is too much for me, and I do not Know just wh t to say. . . . but I would like to sec the Negro race cone just a little closer together as a whole, and above everything else that I can think of, I would like to sec then have more confidence in one another. 9 1 Another woman, after insisting that "when the ..dvanccnent of the race starts, it won't be by politics at all. It must be started by Christ Hiusclf," in the next breath insists that Negroes should vote independent- ly- V/hy, there arc enough Negroes in Chic-go to get anything they want. If our pocplc would learn to stick together and trust each other, there are enough to do wonders for the race You know, 'united we stand,' but ours is a house divided among itself. 92 -275- A hotel waitress thoughtfully arrives at the same conclusion: I do not know just what I would like to see happen for the Negro in Chicago above everything, but I do know that I would like to see many changes in the Negro as well as for the Negro. I do know this much, that we are divided against one another more than any race in the world. I would certainly like to see Negroes have more love for each other and have more confidence in one another. 93 Another woman feels that the required solidarity has been encourag- ed by the depression, stating: I believe that the thing that holds us back most , is the fact that we are given to being jealous of one another. If one seems to be mak- ing a success, the others try to stop his progress. We lack the one quality that will make us a great people, and that is unity and cooper- ation. Since the depression has come I find that people are closer to- gether than they have been before. The depression has its bad fea- tures, but out of everything bad must come some good, and the fact that the colored people are learning from it that unity is a great necessity is worth a great deal. 9 '* A poverty stricken old-age pensioner was sure that: If the time will ever come when we colored people will feel that when one of us is in trouble that all of us are in trouble, and when v/e learn to have more confidence in one another, and feel that after all we are just one great big family, then we will be able to go places and do things .... we will not amount to much as a race until we are recognized as a race, and not as individuals. 95 The proprietor of a tavern, after a trip to New York, compared the eastern metropolis with the "Windy City, 1 ' stating, "The Negroes there are united and do things for each other, not with their hand out for a pay-off, but just because they are of the same race. These Chicago Negroes have net learned that." He, of course, wants to use this unity to support Negro business. And so, time after time, the theme is repeated: I have made a study cf the Negro problem, and I find that up to the present time, there is no real solution, and the one thing that holds us back more than anything else is the lack of unity. It seems that we hate to see the other got ahead and instead of helping, we always hin- der. b -276- I realize that my future and the future of my children, if I have any, depends upon the cooperation of Negroes. I think Negroes ought to stick together more. when they go on a job they should help one another instead of fighting each other. I , c . We ought to love one another like brothers and sisters. 97 In assigning reasons for lack of unity, class antagonisms are often expressed. Thus, an ex-Pullman porter stated: The greatest trouble is now, Negro against Negro. The Negro don't believe in the future. The educated Negro in this city comes first, the laborer last. The educated young Negro gives us our lawyers and doctors for the next generation. The Negro needs to get together. Our population is so scattered. The Negro lawyer does business on Forty- third Street and lives out South. We have nine lawyers on Forty-third Street and they live out of the district. 93 An unemployed worker contrasted American Negroes with other minor- ity groups: You know I've seen colored people in many countries, but ain't none of them like the American Negro. He won't cooperate for nothing. In Cuba, .■ 3 stick right together and in Puerta Rico, the same. See, I've been in the army and I've traveled plenty. I'm fifty-four years oil now, and when a Negro walks up to me, I can more or less fig- ure out what kind of fellow he is. This is the only country where Ne- groes don't stick together. Instead of Negroes trying to help each other here.-- they cut each other's heads off. The American Negro ain't no good'.'' Not only are there these generally held beliefs about the lack of and need for solidarity, but there are also definite beliefs about the causes of this racial weakness. One persistent tendency is to blame the Negro leaders for Leaders Who the failure of the Race to "get together." An employee of Don't Lead a white motor sales concern, after discussing inadequate housing, stated: "If our supposed-to-be leaders would get together, they could change many present conditions in Chicago and teach many of us that -277- don't know how to live, what to do, and why to want to live." 100 A W.P.A. li borer feels that the loader,-, shoiilcl support "building programs": "1 do not mind telling you that this is too much of a problem for rne, but it does look like to me that our leaders could get together and do something for the colored people in Chicago." 101 A young artist gives some insight into the desired ends of solidar- ity, and illustrates a prevalent tendency to contrast Negroes and Jews: What the Negro needs is the proper leadership of church and poli- ticians. The Negro needs it beaten into his head to patronize Negro business. The Negroes can take positive action if they would. It is hard for Negroes to develop solidarity. Still I have faith and hope that the Negro will eventually go somewhere. He has not suffered like the Jew. The Negro needs a religious and racial solidarity —then he will begin to go places, I think. 102 Another woman, who "would like to see the Negro race, as a whole, check upon themselves and see if they could not live a little better as a race," also criticized the leaders: "I think many of our supposed-to-be leaders in C3 '■•■:. i, first of all should live better lives and do more than the most of if em do for the rac< in general." 103 This criticism of 1 c] ;•■: is sometimes compounded with an expres- sion of class antagonism a:; in the case of a hotel maid who complained of high rents and suggested the need for businesses. Take if a big business like the X's , and others could unite and put people to work instead of spending their money going to Europe. The majority spend their money going to the Old Country. The X|_s are doing wonderful putting people to work. Colored are as capable as the whites if they had the chance. 104 Another "rank-and-f iler" stated: Colored should do like the X's— put people to work. They got a food store at Street and the "El." If we had more men like "that we would get somewhere. Joe Louis should go into some kind of busi- ness. The men with money should open up business and put people to work ,-^3 -278- And so the story goes: I don't foel the Negroes arc grasping every opportunity. I feel this is because the leaders are, in a way, betraying the race. They are not interested in the race as a group but only as the race can help them as individuals. 106 I believe our- loaders should get together social club leaders and leaders ' • c , in all walks of life, should get together and fight for our ri ;] . the things we are entitled to in general. 107 aintainin u Lai solidarity involves "protective se- Don't Run to crocy," and Negroes are sometimes complaining because The White Folks 'we toll white folks all we know."* One woman states that she thinks that, "the only thin bhat hoi \ us bac] is our conduct," and in the next breath, says, "Well, I think the whole thing wrong with the Negroes is that he just doesn't have brotherly love They are al- ways ready to knock and run to the white folks about so ^tiling." 108 A woman who stated about herself, "I do not have much education .... but I know that I have a mind of my own. . . . ," averred: "I do know that we need the help of the good white man, but at trie same time I do know that \ ' ■ 1 be very careful just whet we let him know about us." 109 The subord , position of the Negro is reflected in such state- ments as the followin : "He (euphemism for Negro) ain't going to do noth- ing 'cause he' idii n the whil . to do for him, and he'd do any- thing the white man s : ■ fl.OO." 110 A South American, living in the community, states: "The Negro now depends on the white nan for v • thing and expects to reap the benefit 'This i! ■' ihly a "hangover" of a southern attitude. It would be interesting if a ci ; ; . ■ idy could be made of such attitudes relating them to backgrounds of the informants oxpro ssixn thorn. -279- from the white man's labor." 111 A prominent Negro minister from New York, addressing a Chicago au- dience, was vehement in his denunciation of leaders and the habit of "run- ning to white folks. 1 ' As long as a Negro stands around a white man's gate begging for crumbs from his : ble, he'll never respect you. The thing that is most damning to the Negro is the diabolical jealousy among themselves. When Negroes learn to respect themselves, then the whil i and the entire world will respect them also. Some say there is envv among other races tut, listen, narrow-minded, hide-bound, two-by-four "Negro strife" a- mong the white people, stays among the white people. 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The first of these deals with the number of all churches worshipping in all types of buildings and in buildings not primarily designed for church use. The table is illustrated by the charts on the following page. It is significant to note that the proportion of Baptist and Holiness churches increases noticeably as we move from the "best" toward the "worst" areas, indicating that these churches (-since the bulk of them are small neighbor- hood churches) serve the needs of the low income areas, thus suggesting both the handicaps and opportunities facing these denominations. ""White Bodies" and Community churches, on the other hand, decrease as we move from "best" to "worst" areas. This is due partly to the fact that Negro congregations have "inherited" white churches in the better neighborhoods which were "abandoned" as the Negroes moved in, and partly to the fact that members of these churches are on the whole a higher income group, maintaining contacts with white boards which have been able to assist both financially and in the planned placing of edifices. It is also evi- dent from the same table that Baptist, Spiritualist and Holiness churches have more than their proportionate share of churches worshipping in "non- edifices" in all areas. In the "best" areas they account for all such churches. The maps following the "pie chart" relate the distribution of churches to both "desirability of neighborhood" and density, Ebenezer and Pilgrim are two of the largest churches in the city, each having claimed memberships of over 10,000, and "sustaining memberships" of over 1,500, Pilgrim situated as it is close to the "worst" area draws over 80 per cent of its sustaining membership from districts over a mile south of the church, although 54 per cent of its Sunday School children come from within a mile of the church. Ebenezer is close to the center of density and draws the bulk of its membership from an area of two miles around the church* Bethesda Baptist Church and the Church of the Good Shepherd, Con- gregational are both churches of less than 1,000 "sustaining members" and have "compact parishes" which fall within the "best" areas and are not directly related to density. These churches are, however, in areas that are rapidly becoming "mixed," and are attempting to utilize a community house program to meet the needs of their changing communities. The final map of the aggregate membership of three churches affiliated with "white bodies" and with a slightly higher income-educa- tion group indicates that they tend to draw their members predominantly from arenas south of Forty-seventh Street and east of State Street, PROPORTION OF C 13 NOT WORSHIPPING IN EDIFICES , J3Y DENOMINATIONAL GROUi Aim DESIRABILITY OP NEIGHBORHOOD: 1938 Proportion of Non-Edifices Denominat: Other Per cent Group by Type _ Chu rches Bui ldings _ Less Than More Than Rank ^..PJL A rea , Per cent Per cent Their .. .'.hare Their Sh are BEST AREA TOTAL 100.0 100.0 1 White Bodies 113.3 3.1 9.2 2 Negro Methodists 14.2 11.0 3.2 3 Miscellaneous 4.7 3.1 1.6 4 Community 2.8 1.6 1.2 5 Baptists 39.6 42.2 2.6 6 Spiritualists 9.4 15.6 6.2 7 Holiness MIXED AREA 17.0 23.4 6.4 TOTAL 100.0 100.0 1 White Bodies 4.4 .6 3.8 2 Negro Methodists 7.4 5.3 2.1 3 Community 2.0 1.8 .2 4 Baptists 43.6 44.4 .8 5 Miscellaneo . 6,4 7.7 1.3 6 Holint. 's Cj C j * O 24.2 1.9 7 Spiritualists WORST AREA 13.9 16.0 2.1 TOTAL 100,0 100.0 1 Negro Methodists 7.1 3.1 4.0 2 White Bodies 2.7 1.1 1.6 3 Community .9 1.1 .2 4 Miscellaneous 4.5 5.3 .8 5 Baptists 51.8 52.6 .8 6 Spiritualists 8.9 10.5 1.6 7 Holiness 24.1 26.3 — 2.2 a Rank determined by excess of Edifices over Other Buildings. Other Buildings: Store fronts, Houses, Eacades, Garages, Halls, Theaters. PER CETT DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCHES By DENOMINATIONAL GROUP WITHIN BEST, MIXED, AND WORST ARSA3 OF THE 23 DISTRICTS, 50 PER CENT NEGRO AND OVER. a N S APT/ ST x; / ///oi///^SS. COMMUA//TY I BEST AREA Per Cent 1. Baptist 39.6 2. Holiness 17.0 3. Negro Methodi sts 14.2 4. White Bodies 12.3 5. Spiritualist 9.4 6. Misc. 4:7 7. Community 2.8 /Q^.&r/^r \ — coM^fuA/zr;^ V &4PT/5T / s / MIXED AREA Per Cent 1. Baptist 43.5 2. Holiness 22.3 3. Spiritualist 13.9 4. Negro Met nod is t 7.4 5. Misc. 6.4 6. White Bodies 4.5 7. Community 2.0 WORST AREA Per Cent 1. Baptist 51.8 2. Holiness 24.1 3. Spiritualist 8.9 4. Negro Method is t 7.1 5. Misc. 4.5 6. White Bodies 2,? 7. Community .9 Church data collected in field survey, 1938; Social data on districts from Chicago Census 1934. Roosevelt 9 Road — LISTRI3UTI0N OF THE SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP OF EBENEZER BAPTIST GI-IURCH BY DESIRABILITY OF NEIGHBORHOOD. CD •H u o U ■H H CO J o } Kinzie ^ Ms adison • s One member (Circles represent respectively, two \* mile, and two mile areas surrounding the church.) 10 u: I = best ~| = mixed J z worst d CO H XI w < 22 MORGAN PK 107 &tv < 115 Str 71 St. Rooseve It f7~7 f \. :^l -^4-. Rd. 7~ * POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 23 NEGRO DISTRICTS. LEGEND inzie 2 Washington aciison 5" Q G3 a 9 Unaer 10,000 10,000 - 19,999 20,000 - 24,999 25,000 - 29,999 30,000 - 34,999 35,000 - 59,999 40,000 - 44,999 45,000 - 49,999 50,000 - 54,993 55,000 - 64,999 65,000 AND OVER • = One Member . « (Circles represent re- ^ spectively, two I mile,Q and two mile areas sur- rounding the church.) DISTRIBUTION OF SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP OF EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH BY DENSITY. ci'c. St . 26 St. Q'l Q 1 St. LILYDALE 97 St. ai |. MORGAN PK. 107 St. C 115 St. ENGLEWOOD 59 St. CD a H O C>! Pi. C 'J 63 St . ?£ 60 St. 63 St. 71 St. *■ - - ** «• V ■ W^ — * »^T ' Roosevelt . i-SE! cj 16 •H 3 d 0) H CO ■p CO W) CO J *H rH o CO 3 K / Kinzie z Ma di son i • = One member (Circles represent respectively, two §• mile, and two mile areas surrounding the church.) I I = best | 1 = mixed I' | = worst LILYDALE 91 St 97 St 22 \ MORGAN PK. w 107 115 Stw 23 63 St . ENGLEWGOD OV kit a DISTRIBUTION OF SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP OF PILGRIM BAPTIST CHURCH BY DESIRABILIT" OF NEIGHBORHOOD 7 ■Q 26 St. mum i31 St .^7 /8 Sll {■■?■■ :A35 /St . /-p 55 St. 60 St. 63 St. 20 71 St. POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 2?> NEGRO DISTRICTS. LEGEND □ Under 10,000 Q 10,000 - 19,999 CD 20,000 - 24,999 D 25,000 - £9,999 Q 30,000 - ..4,999 I— I 35,000 - 39,999 D 40,000 - 44,999 Q 45,000 - 49,999 O 50,000 - 54,999 O 55,000 - 64,999 CD 65,000 AND OVER • - Qne member / (Circles represent / respectively, two \ g mile, and two mile, areas surrounding \ the church.) LI LTD ALE 91 St. 97 St. MORGAN PK. 107 St, L 115 St ^^ ENGLEK00D 59 23 3 A \ Kinzie rf? / ■ V Madison / _ /. 5 DISTRIBUTION OF SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP OF PILGRIM BAPTIST CHURCH BY DENSITY. 22 St. 26 St 31 St, to i\ m / ; * • ay 19 * 60 St 63 St, >>s Si 71 St Roosevelt £ POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 23 NEGRO DISTRICTS LEGEND (Number persons per square mile) O Unaer 10,000 10,000 - 19,999 ,000 - 24,999 25,000 - 29,999 30,000 - 34,999 Q 35,000 - 39,999 LJ 40,000 - 44,999 O 45,000 - 49,9^9 CD 50,000 - 54,999 O 55,000 - 64,999 O 65,000 AND OVER "1 Rd. DISTRIBUTION OF SI i STAINING MEMBERSHIP 0? GREATER BETHESDA BAPTIST CHURCH BY DENSITY. 22 St. 26 St. • = One member (Circles represent re- spectively, on* half mile j mile ^nd two mile are-^a around church) LILYD,*LE 91 St • ♦ • 97 St L _ -r 115 St.- aa ENGLEWOOp 59 v.St . 63 St w •H e o o i-l 26 St . B3 e^ .Stv— 7 J St. Roosevelt POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 23 MEGRO DISTRICTS. LEGEND (Number persons per square mile.) / Kinzie £ S J Washington Madison C2 Under ^ 10,000 £3 20,000 ■* 25,000 €D 30,000 ^ 35,000 39 40,000 LJ 45,000 Q 50,000 £3 55,000 C3 65,000 10,000 - 19,929 - 24,999 - 29,999 - 34,999 - 39,999 - 44,999 - 49,999 - 54,999 - 64,999 AND OVER • - one member 1. Grace Presbyterian 2. Good Shepherd 3. St. Mark A. M. E. LILYDALE 91 St«- CD •a r-i X} CO 107 St MORGAN PK. 7 to. CD -p w C3 d 115 st; /? w CO fir rH o CO a W •f CD / Kinzie 2 d h o ^ •H H ,TJ C3 Madison • ■ One member Providence Bapt. 13. Rescue Community 14. Universal Union Ind. 15. Union Chapel of United M. E. 16. All Nation Pentecosta 17. Israel A.M.E. Zion 18. First Christian 19. Apostolic Faith 1 2. Righteous Supreme Temple of God 3. Zion Hill Bapt. 4. Church of God in Christ (4) 8. Glad Tidings Mission 9. St. Peter RockM*B. 20. Pilgrim Baptist* 10. Christian HopeM.B. 21. Peter Rock Bapt 11. New Hope Bapt. 22. Clinton Chapel, 12. St. Ann Spiritual A.M.E.Z. 23. Risen Holy Nazarene LILYDALE 91 St - 2/ 97 St. 115 ENGLEVJOCD "St, ! • CO ■p d 03 H O ft co p3 RESIDENCES OF MEMBERS OF ^iL MEDIUM AND SMALL "SIZED CHURCHES IN DISTRICT #10.* 22 St. • 26- St . o o ei 63 St. Pilgrim Baptist Church oecause of its lar membership is shown on a separate map. 71 St Roosevelt POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 23 NEGRO DISTRICTS. LEGEND (Number persons per square mile. ) O Under 10,000 Q 10,000 - 19,999 O 20,000 - 24,999 O 25,000 - 29,999 O 30,000 - 34,999 O 35,000 - 39,999 □ 40,000 - 44,999 O 45,000 - 49,999 D 50,000 - 54,999 □ 55,000 - 54,999 O 65,000 AND OVER Rd. DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBER- SHIP OF GRACE PRESBYTER IAN AND PROVIDENCE BAPTIST CHURCHES, BY DENSITY. • = one member of Grace Presbyterian Church. Circle = one member of Providence Baptist Church. 10 91 St. t4 =8 97 St? LILYDALE © p co p CO 21 26 St. 31 St, A 35 St. 39 St. CO r-l X) CO < MORGAN PK. 0) P CO rH CO w 107 st,; /" 115 StV £<2 ENGLEW00D CO •H e o o yl 59 St, a?5 63 St, 71 St. APPittDIX IV THJ-J ST0R3JR0MT CHURCH - ASSTTT OH LIABILITY? I suppose they're all right. If anybody wants to preach he can do a lot of good if it's in a storefront or in a regular church. The young people need all the religion they can get because the world is so full of wickedness. I don't know what it's coming to. (A house wife living i. T orth of Thirty-first Street). I am certainly very much against them. They are demoralizing to our race. The field is overwhelmed with them. The lower class of people supports them and I feel that it is just another place to to to express their pent-up emotions. I think the people of this type are in the first stages of insanity. (A pastor of an exclusive church with many members in higher income and educational brackets.) Two hundred and twenty-six, or almost half of all Negro churchos were "storefronts" in 1937 (and 152 others worshipped in buildings other than edifices. Host people lump them all as storefronts). Most of these seat less than 50 persons. Baptists account for 47 out of every hundred such churches and the Holiness group for about 31 per cent. Yet most students have neglected the study of the storefront, as Hays and liicholson pointed out in their study of "The Megro's Church," despite the fact that on any average Sunday at least eight thousand persons are worshipping in them. V'hat is their raiaon d'etre ? The storefront members themselves indicate some of the values which they feel inhere in their churchos through such statement as the following* Poorest Big as the Richest .... one has to O o to one of the large churches early on Sunday morning to get a seat, one has to be dressed in style or feel out of place, and there is not enough individuality and friendship in a large church as in one of these storefronts. In a big church the preacher don't know you unless you make big donations or you are an officer of some kind. with my church it is different. !e are more liko churches in the South, everybody is recog- nized. The poorest man is in the church just as big as the richest . .299- " Times Got Tough " I got religion in 1929. I was "baptized at the Baptist church. I worked with the Pastor's Aid club for three years, then I could not keep up with this group because the times got tough with us and I did not have the clothes like I wanted and all the people that go to that church have good clothes. So I dropped my membership wi t h a nd joined this church. This church had about fifty members when I joined. The reason that I joined a small church was because the people in this church don't pay so much attention to how you are dressed, all they want is that you be a Christian and attend church regularly. We have worked hard to build our church and we have done a fairly good job of recruiting and we have about one hundred members now that attend. A few non-members also defend the storefront, as in the case of a bartender who said: My way of thinking is that the church is a good influence. I was taught at home to go to church, and I have never gotten away from that teaching. Well I would say that the storefront churches are all right, for the reason that I believe that it makes no difference where you serve God, the main point is that you should. I am sure that the storefront church will be able to interest some people that otherwise would not go to church at all, for they are used to small churches at home, and these large churches that we have here, are too large, the people are too many to be known and those people at the small church is used to knowing everybody, so you see the large church does not seem like home to them, and they stay away. A Negro business man in an area of many storefronts stated: Many of the older people especially from the South like small churches, because they are more homelike Then, too, the people are poor, and some of them can't dress fancy enough to want to be seen in a big church. . . . „ Some want to lead the prayer meetings, teach Sunday school and the like who feel that their old backwood prayers and their manner of speech won't fit into the larger churches. Two other non-members commented: Yes, a church whether it be small or large is a help in the com- munity. The most low type of a person when he nears a church will look up and respect the house of God. If we had more churches and less taverns and policy stations, Chicago would be a better place to live in. Well, I tell you how I think about them. You've seen men working on a project. Well, one does this and one does that. Now one man may be holding a flag, and another may be down in the ditch digging. Well, the man who holds the flag is just as important to the superintendent as the man digging down in the ditch. His job may not look big but it's just as important as any other. -300- That's the way it is with these little storefronts. See God knows what each one is capable of. Fow, a man like my pastor, Rev. is able to take care of a "big church. These preachers in these little churches wouldn't "be able to take care of a "big church like fc « They all do good in their way. A member "became heated in her defense: Yes, I go to church to hear a sermon and not political speeches like you hear in "big churches. A lot of -people make fun of storefront churches "because they "belong to some large church that oves fifty or sixty thousand for their church they "bought from the Jews, for which they'll "be paying the next hundred years. They are ignorant. All they want is to say "I "belong to so-and-so's church." A glance at the map on the next page reveals the significant fact that such churches tend to "be characteristic of areas north of Forty- seventh Street and west of State Street, with clusters on State Street and the "cross streets" in these areas. This distribution is due mainly to the availability of cheap rentals in less desirable business districts. Churches on the east side of Cottage Grove Avenue are not shown on the map. There is a tendency for such churches to follow the movement of population, as can be seen from a study of District 1M- on the next map. This cluster of churches is on the edge of the most dense area in the community but lack of available business propertv in District 17, a "best" area prevents trhem from falling in the most dense area. A part of the antagonism expressed toward the storefront church results from the fact that persons in Districts 19 and ?0 think that the presence of storefronts is an indication that a neighborhood is depreciat- ing. Such comments as the following indicate this; The thing we are being bothered vdth at the present time are store- front churches — they are beginning to spring up in this community. I don't know why, but this is a sore spot with me — I found out there are many storefront churches. I have found out that policy stations seem to hover around the same neighborhoods so we are going to fight these things to a finish in this community. We certainly hope to attain results. Roosevelt CO •H / Kinzie & $-1 O *H •H H o '' ■■'('>" | (1) » o o xi CO H to CO o wasnington «-C CO ffi Eh £s Maciison DISTRrBDTION OF STORE FRONT CHURCHES BY DESIRABILITY OF NEIGHBORHOOD. 22 St. • = Baptist Churches = Holiness " X r All other " I I s best ( }z mixed ( ^ 1- worst ^2 MORGAN PL. 107 bCT- { 26 St. 31 St. jo St. 91 St LILYDALE I- -I 97 St. 5 ^7 /J /5 /6- >' X» g.A O J x ENGLEWOOD 59 St 63 St ' i . *°^ 39 St. o o X •»* \ o o 14 to 0) H r; L" -( o o rj ■> >— 1 •-■ o -p 3 h •H CO -d Cm CO to 47 St. /7 51 St. 55 St. 60 St. S3 St. 23 71 St 115 str Roosevelt if / - 3 ' POPULATION DENSITY - 1934 FOR THE 23 NEGRO DISTRICTS LjBCEKP (Number persons per square mile.) Rd. - — ■ - . R e H CO CD E-t gs o« o Washington Madison .1 — Pi t en ; H m 6 • = One member Total No. of Churches 15 Total No. of Members 582 Average No. of Members Per Church 38.8 -xi d ca CO Ki -P . CO CS • ID r] ^ > ctf u o •H ctf V h T3 P-. N. -'• S3 M -^ N. CD -t° x. hn ■1 o >v CO T\ Q.J. *3 *tf • 306- LIST OF REFERENCES CHAPTER I 1. Louis Wirth, "Urbanism as a Way of Life", American Journal of Sociology, July, 1938, pp. 1-25. 2.. Ibid ., p. 22. 3.. Fbid., p. 12. 4, . ibid ., p. 16. 5.. Ibid ., p. 24. 6.. A. B. Hollingshead, "Hunan Ecology", An Outline of the Princi- ples of Sociology , ed. by Robert E. Park (Hew York, Barnes and Noble, 1939) pT 97. 7.. Ibid ., p. 103. 8. "ibid. , p. 105. 9. TbTd., p. 105. 10. II. Paul Douglass and Edmund de S. B runner, The Protestant Church as a Social Institution, (New York: Harper, 1935), Ch. IV. 11. Robert E. Park, ''The Urban Community as a Spatial Pattern and a Moral Order", The Urban Community, ed. by Ernest IT. Burgess (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926) p. 18. 12. Ibid ., p. 17. 13. Robert E. Park and Ernest W. ' Burgess, The City (Chicago: Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 1925), p. 130*. 14.. Douglass and B runner, op. cit., p. 44. 15. Wirth, op. cit ., p.~~23. 16. ModifiedHfrom diagram, p. 11, W. Lloyd Y/arner, A Black Civiliza - tion , (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1937). 17. Daniel A. Prescott, Emotion and the Educative Process , (Washing- ton, D. C, American Council on Education, 1958. 18. Ibid ., pp. 110-138. 19. Ibid ., pp. 110-138. 20. Thorstein Veblen, The Theor y of the Leisure Class, (New York: The Modern Library Series, The Viking Press, 1934), p 102. 21. Sidney Hook, Toward an Understanding of Karl Marx, (New York: Viking Press, - '), p. '91. 22. Recent Social Trends in the Uni ted States (New York: McGraw- Hill^ 1933) II, 867. 23. Ibid . , I, xxx vi p. 86. 24. Hollingshead, op. cit . , quoting Jerome Davis, Capitalism and its Culture , p. 480, 484. 25. The major works of these authors are available at any large li- brary, 26. Herbert Goldhamer, "Voluntary Associations" , (Prepared for the National Resources Committee under the direction of Dr. Louis Wirth, 1937. Typewritten), pp. 107-112* 307 27. Ibid. , 126. 28# Ibid. , 127. 29. Recent Social Trends in "the United States, I, pp. xxix-xsoci. 30. See Robert'^SSrHoTcai Lynd, Middletown and Middletown in Transition. 31. Recent Social Trends in tho U nited St ates, I, 912. 32. Ev^^WTfliughes quoting A. R. Radcliff c- Br awn in An Outline of the Principles of Sociology, p. 291. CHAPTER II THE INSTITUTIONAL HERITAGE Slavery Epoch 1. Consult any definitive 14. history of tho U. S. 15. 2. Lawrence D. Roddick, 16. A Social History of the 17, Negr o 'in TJhi cag'o' ("Prepar- 18. ed'fof~Tro"jecO"789 Type- 19. written. ) 20. 3. James Curtis Ballagh, A 21. History of Slaves in Vir- 22. ginT a" "(Baltimore;" ~ "The" 23. Johns" Hopkins Press, 1902). 24. 4. Miles Mark Fisher, "Tho ' 25. History of the Olivet Dap- 26. tist Church" (M. A. Thesis, 27. University of Chicago, 1922) 23. p. 1# 29. 5. Ibid ., p. 2. 30. 6. Bessie Louise Pierce, Hist- or y of Chicago, 1693-18487 31. "(Now Yo rkT Alfred A. Knopf , 3 2 . 1937) p. 243. 7. Fisher, op. cit,, p. 3. 33. 8. Chi cago TTaTly""Journal, 34. July "297 TSTOT 35. 9. Ibid. , November 25, 1850, 10. Carter G, Woodson, The Hist ory of tho Negro Chur ch ("#a sTmigT^n7~~D . C . , The Associated Publishers, 1921 ), p. 12Cu 36. 11. Chica go Daily Journal, January T0,~"l85lT 12. Ibid., April 25, 1853. 13. Ibid., April 25, 1853. Ibid . "ibid . Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Fishe Ibid . Ibid.' Ibid . Ibid".' Axi gust 5, 1853. August 5, 1853. August 5, 1853. August 5, 1853. September 10,1853. September 10,1853. op. cit.. p. 5. , P. 4. p. 5. p. 7. p. 7. p. 8. p. 9. p. 10. p. 10* p. 11. Ibid. Ibid." Ibid. Ibid. Tbi"d. Chicago Daily Journal, March 27, TSS8" ~~ Fisher, op. cit. p. 14. Chicago Daily Journal, "S^ptembeFTT, "1 8 50, Ibid., August 5, 1850. Ibid., August 17, 1859. Henry Justin Smith and Lloyd Lewis, Chicago: A History of its Repu- tation (Nov/ York; Har court, "Brace~"and Company, 1929) p. 87. Hazel Hayes, "Growth of Negro Institutions in Chicago", prepared for Project. 3789, under di- rection of Lawrence D. - 308 - Reddick and St. Clair Drake, part I. 37. Chica go Daily Journal, OcTober 1:5, T850. "" 38. The Daily Democratic Press, March 12, 1 855 . 39. I bid., Aug. 27, 1856. 40. Hayes, op. cit., I, p. 41. Chicago Daily Journal, April 8™186T. 13, 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. CHAPTER II (Continued) Post Civil War Epoch and New Century Epoch The Sixties 1. T. J. Woofter, Races and Ethnic Groups in American "[New"' York": McGr aw^~" Life Hill, 1933), p. 198. Carter G. Woodson, A Cen- tury of Negro Migration. (Washington, D~. C. : Associ- ated Publishers, 1918), p. v. Minutes of the Illinois Baptist State Convention, Oct. 20, 1865. Fisher, op. cit., 20-21. Vfoodson, The History of the Negro Church , pp .~24ll"242T" Chicago Times, October 5, Lewis G. Jordan, Negro Baptist History, U.S.A. ("Nashville: Sunday school Publishing Board, 1930 ), pp. 266-271. The Seventies 8. Estelle Scott, "Growth of the Negro Community, " (prepared for W.P.A. Pro- ject 3684, typewritten report), p. 18. 9* Lewis and Smith, op. cit., 134-135. Scott, op. cit., p^ 18. Ibid., ~~p7 Ibid™ P« 50. 50. Lewis and Smith, op. cit,, p. 149. " ! Ibid. , 149-150. Ibid., 147. Ibid., 149. Hayes, op. cit., p f 35. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. oo . 34. 35. 36. Ibid. , p. 35. Ibid., p. 36. IbiclY7 p. 36. Harold F. Gosnell. The Negro Politician, (Chi- cago: University of Chi- cago Press, 1935), pp. 65-66. Hayes, op. cit., p. 36. Ibid. , n . 36. Ralph 'Davis, "The History of the Negro Newspaper in Chicago", (M, A. Thesis, University of Chicago), p. 57, cit., p. 35. 77 57. 38. cit.,_ p. 17. cit., p. »36. 597 Hayes Ibid. Ibid Ibid. op, P» P« P- op. Interview Document, I. Hayes, op. cit ., p. 37. Chicago Tribune, August 15, 1879. History of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, (ms. document), p. 1. Ibid., p. 3. The Eighties O I t o Ibid., p. 3. 38. Ibid., p. 3. 39. Ibid., p. 4. 40. " Chicago Tribune, 11, 1889. August 41. Fisher, op. cit. , pp. 40-43. 42 r Knight, 43. Chicaro Tribune, September 44. 16, 1887. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 158. -309- 69E. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 45. Ibid. ,, pp. 160-161. 46. Ibid., p. 163. 47. Ibid., p. 165. 48. I.C. Harris, Tho ^olor ed Men's Professional and Business Directory of Chicago, 1385. 49. Interview Document, 2. 50. Hayes, op. cit., p. 39. 51. Interview Document, 3. 52. Interview Document, 4, 53. Interview Document, 5. 54. Interview Document, 6, 55. Interview Document, 7. 56. Chicago Tribune, August 11, 1889. 57. Ibid., July, 20, 1893. 58. Harris, op. cit. 59. Davis, op. cit., p. 11. 60. Ibid, ,, p. 11. 61. Ibid ,, p. 12. 62. Ibid, ,, p. 25. 63. Ibid, ,, p. 19-20. 64. Ibid, ,, p. 20. 65, Ibid, ,, p. 21. 66. Ibid, ► , p. 20. 67. Ibid, ,, p. 32-33. 68. Ibid, ,, p. 32. 69. Ibid, », p. 31. The Nineties Lewis and Smith, _op. cit . , p. 137. Scott, op. cit., p. 29. Gesnell"7~"op. cit., pp. 198-249. Lewis and Smith, op, cit., p. 207. Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1393. Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1894. Interview Document, 2A. Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1894. Ibid ., January 2, 1894. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 213. Chicago Tribune, September 11, 1893. Ibid ., September 11, 1893. Tb~i3~ ., February 28, 1893, Ibid ., September 9, 1893. TBTaT., September 23, 1893. 84. 87. 90. 91. 92. 93, 94. 95. 93. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. Ibid ., October 25, 1893. Lewis and Smith, op. cit ., p. 218. Ibid ., 'p. 218. Knight, op. cit ., pp. 120-125. Ibid ., ppT 120VL25. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 219. Ibid ., p. 220. William T. Stead, If Christ Came to Chicago, (Chicago : Laird and Lee, 1894) p. 269, Ibid ., p. 268. Ibid ., p. 270. TbTd" ., p. 270. Ibid ., p. 269. Ibid ., p. 457. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 233. Chicago Tribune , May 12, Interview Document, 8. 1393. Chicago Tribune , May 12, 1893. Ibid., May 5, 1891. Karris, op. cit ., Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 233. Interview Document, 9. Erratum. The New Century Epoch 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. , cit ., pp , 30^51, , 50-51. 57. 57. 57. 59. Gesnell, op. cit,, p op, pp. pp. P« P» Davis, op, cit., pp. 50-51. Ibid., "IbTd ., Ibid ., Tbld ., Ibid ., p, Ibid ,, p, 111. Broad Ax , November 28, 1914. Davis, op. cit., pp. 50-51. Ibid ., " op. cit. , pp. 50-51, Gesnell, op. cit., Broad Ax , "February 22, 1902. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 342. Ibid ., p. 342. Crisis Magazine, October 1912, p. 285, Lexvis and Smith, op. cit ., pp. 348-350. Broad Ax , June 1, 1907. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., p. 285, Scctt, op. cit., p. 32. - 310 - 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. Ibid., p. 32. 1/1 r? '■to* 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. Interview Document, 10. it it tt tt it tt Fisher, op. cit , 11. , 12. , 13. ., p. 54. Chicago Dei3nd:;r, September 12, 1914, FishorJ 'opr~citIi pp. 54-55. Ibid., pT~61. Knight, op. cit., p. 133. Ibid., p. 34. TbiT.7 P. 149. Ibid., p. 20. Interview Documant, 14. Chicago Defender, September 12, 1914. Oris i~s"l iia g a z ; i n e , "October 1912, p. 270. 142. Crisis Magazine, October 1912, p. 270, quoting Chicago Evening Post. Knight, op, CI - 4?.. Chicago Defender, August 12, 1914. Ibid., August 19, 1914. Ibid., August 19, 1914. Ibid,, August 12, 1914. Ibid., August 12, 1914 Compiled from 1914 files, Chicago Defender, Crisis I fa g a z ine , No vomb c r 1913. Lewis and Smith, op. cit., pp. 86-90. ' — Horace R. Cayton arc! Mary Elaine Ogdon, "A Framework for Studying the Urban Negro". Report of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations, (Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1922) pp. 97-103. Chapter II MIGRATION EPOCH "! Fi/i 155, 156. 157. 158. Perry Stackhouso, Chicago and the Baptists (Chicago University of Chicago Preys, 1933). Chicago Defender, 1914 files. Stackhouse, op, cit. p. 180 -182. Ibid, p. 182. Report of th< Chicago Com- mission on [I; ce Relations, p. 79. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. Stackhouso, op. cit. p. 183, Ibid,, p. 1847 Report of the Chicago Com- mission on R?,ce Relations, p. 94. Ibid., pp. 146-147. Ibid". , p. 147. A. L. Foster, "Twenty Years of Home Inter-Racial Good- Will," 1936. •3U- 16 7 . rbid. p. 148. 168. Ibid. p. 14-9. 169. It>id. p. 1U9. 170. Report of the Chicago Com- mission on Race Relations, P. 9 ! +. 171. Ibid. p. 94. 172. Ibid. p. 1U5. 173. Ibid. p. IU5. 174. Ibid. p. 144. 175. Interview Document, l4. 176. Interview Document, 15. 177. Interview Document, l6. 178. Report of the Chicago Commission on Race Re- lations, p. lU-2. 179. Interview Document, 17. 180. Interview Document, 18, 181. Interview Document, 19. 182. Interview Document, 20. I83. 184. 185. 186. 187. 188. 189. 190. Marvin R. Schafer, "The Catholic Church in Chicago - It's Crowth and Adminis- tration." Fh. D. Thesis, University of Chicago, 1929. pp. 58-60. Stackhouse, op. cit . pp. 198-199. Ibid, w 200-207. Interview Document, 21. Stackhouse, op. cit. p. 185-186. Report of the Chicago Commission on Race Re- lations, p. 4R. Report of the Chicago Commission on Race Re- lations, p. 46. Stackhouse, op. cit . p. 186. - 312 - CHAPTER III Negroes Live in Chicago 1. Horace R. Cayton, "Negroes Live in Chicago," Opportunity, 2. Estelle Scott, " Occupational Changes Among Negroes in Chi- cago, 1890-1930," (mimeo- g rapho"bT}", Basio Tables prepared on W.P.A« Project 3684, Table 31, Ibid., Table 27, 3, 4. 5. 6. 7. 9. 1C. 11. 12. 13, 14, 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Interview Documents 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. Estimates secured from the Chicago Relief Administra- tion and District 3 of the Work Projects Administra- tion, December 1939. Scott, Occupational Changes. Interview Documents on Series I, II, III, social clubs. Scott, Occupational Changes. Joseph Semper, "An Analysis of Negro Business in Chicago", (typewritten report: 1938), Interview Document, 36. Interview Document, 37. Table prepared from data ae- cured from block-by-block sur- vey by field workers on W,P.A« Project 3789. Basic Tables, 10. Basic Tables, 12. Basic Tables, 15. Basic Tables, 20. Basic Tables, 9. Basic Tables, 11, Interview Documents, 38, 39, 40. Erratum. Basic Tables, Table 25. Basic Tables, Table 26. Basic Tables, Table 6. Interview Document, 41. Interview Document, 42. Interview Document, 43, Interview Document, 44, Interview Document, 45. Interview Document, 46. Interview Document, 47. 32, 33, 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Interview Document, 48-58. Table 31. Int. Documents, 49-5®, Int. Documents, 60-73. " " 71. " " 72 . Sec Census of Religious Bodies, 1926, for dis- tinctions between Holi- ness groups. Int. Document, 79. " " , 80. Also 8 - 105. Table, 40, Int. Doch. 106-124; Newspaper excerpts, 15-25; Sermons, 4,9, 22, 18, 19, 17. 43. Int. Document j 125. 44. it tt , 126. 45. it it , 127. 46. ii it , 128. 47. IT tt , 129. 48. It it , 130. 49. .It tt , 131. 50. It tt , 132. 51. It it , 133. 52. 11 tt , 134. 53. 11 tt , 135. 54. tl tt , 136. 55. It ti , 137. 56. 11 tt , 138. C7 It tt , 139. 58 o 11 tt , 140. 59. tl tt , 141. 60. It tt , 142. 61. It ti , 143. 62. tt it , 144. 63. tt tt , 145. 64. Tab le, 55. • 65. Ibid • 3 66. Int. Document , 146. 67. n it , 147. 68. it it , 148. 69. it tt , 149. 70. tt it , 150. -313- 71. 72. 73- 7^. 75- 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85- 86. 87- 89- 90. 91. Interview, Document, 150. Interview Document, 151. Interview Document, 152. Interview Document, 153* Interview Document, l^k. Interview Document, 155* Interview Document, 156. Interview Document, 157* Interview Document, 158. Interview Document, 159* Interview Document, l60. Interview Document, l6l. Table Sh. Interview Document, 162. Interview Document, 167. Interview Document, l68. Interview Document, 169. Interview Document, 170. Interview Document, 171. Joy Schultz, "The West Side — An Area of First Settle- ment" (typewritten report, 17. F. A. (Project 3789). Elizabeth Johns, "Migration and Mobility Among l-'egroes in Chicago" (typewritten re- port, W„F.A, Project 37^7). 92. Terms as used "by Dr. Ernest Mannheim in his lectures on "Risk and Insecurity in Primitive and Modern Commu- nities," 1937. 93» Interview Document, 172. 9^-. Interview Document, 173 • 95. Table 87. 96. Interview Document, J7^» 97 • Interview Document, 175» 98. Interview Document, 176. 99 • Interview Document, 177 • 100. Interview Document, 178. 101. Interview Document, 179« 102. Interview Document, 180. 103. Interview Document, 181. 10 ! 4. Interview Document, 182. 105. Interview Document, 183. 106. Interview Document, 1SU. 107. Interview Document, I85. 108. Interview Document, 186. Chapter IV. S01VI1T3- PROBLEMS 187. 188. 190. 1. Erratum. 2. Interview Document, 3. Interview Document, h. Interview Document, 5. Table 78. 6. Ch. I, Slavery Epoch . 7. See Summary of Report of Commission on Race Rela- tions. 8. lewis and Smith, op. cit . 9. Summarized from A. 1. Foster, "Twenty Years of Inter- racial Goodwill through Social Service." 10. rbid., 11. Report of Commission on Race Relations, pp. ^25-^50. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. lU. Interview Document, 19L 15. Interview Document, 192. 16. 17. IS. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 2'4. 25- 26. Winifred Ingram, "ration- alistic and Tativistic Move- ments Among l T egroes in Chicago" (typewritten report. W.F.A. Froject 3789). pp. 70- 73- Interview Document, 193 • The .Slack Man , The Black: Man Publishing Co. , London, 1937 • Interview Document, 19^. Interview Document, 195- Winifred Ingram, op. cit . , 71 « G-osnell , or>. cit. , p. 113« Interview Document, I96. A. Clayton Powell, Against the Tide . The Black Man , book cover. Harold lasswell , World Revolu - tionary Propaganda , Pew York: A. A. Knopf, 1939. P- 36l. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38, 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. - 314 - Anth Chapter IV (Continued) Ibid. , Ibid. , Ibid. , Ibid., Las swell, op. cit, , p. 30. Chicago Defender , 1929 files. Ibid. , Ibid., Oliver Cromwell Cox, The Negroes 1 Use of Their Buy- ing Power in Chi en: As Moans of Securing Employ- ment, "[^Prepared for Pro- fessor Millis of Universi- ty of Chicago. Typewritten Report (1933). pp. 8-9. Ibid., p. 10. 9. 18. p. 11. p. 20-21 31. 32. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid, Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. P- P» P. p. P. P» P- P- Zf, 29. 40. 40. p. 41 Mimeographed leaflet $1. List of Civic Associations, Ho. 7. Cox, op. cit., p. 45. Harold Lasswell, op. cit. (preliminary draft manu- script, p. 25). Gosnell, op. cit., p. 320. La s swell , op .~ ~c i o . , p. 20. Ibid., p. 207 " Ibid., p. 22. Ibid. , p. 31. Ibid 77 P» 31-32. 20. Ibid, P« Ibid. , p. 22. Ibid., p. 23. Ibid., p. 20,. Interview D 001:0. nt, 197. Lasswell, op. cit., p. 31. Ibid., p. 34. Ibid., p. 35. Ibid., p. 36. Interview Document, 198. Campaign Document, •,'-€. Ibid., 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94, 95. 98. 90. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. Hl CAQ.Qf Program, -,'/75. Pi ttsburgh Courier, November 25, 1939. Chicago Defender, November 25, 1939 . Interview Document, 199. Interview Document, 200. Horace R. Cayton, and Mitchell, Black Workers and the How Unions, (Chapel HiTl7~N»"cT: Uni- versity of North Carolina Press, 1938) p. 262. 77. Ibid., p. 268. 78. Ibid., p. 279. 79. Ibid., p. 43. 80. Ibid., p. 61. 81. Ibid. , p. 80-81 82« Ibid., p. 32. 83. Ibid. , p. 204. 84. Ibid. , p. 205, 222, 224. 85. George McCray, "Labor Unions Among Negroes in Chicago" (prepared for 77.P.A. Project 3789. Type- written Report), p. 35. Int. Doc. 201. Int. Doc. 202. Int. Doc. 203. Int. Doc. 204. Int. Doc. 205. Int. Doc. 206. Int. Doc. 207. Int. Doc. 208. Int. Doc. 209. Int. Doc. 210. 'Int. Doc. 211. Int.. Doc. 212. Int. Doc. 213. Int. Dec. 214. Int, Doc. 215. Int. Doc. 216. Int. Doc. 217. Int. Doc. 218. Int. Doc. 219. Int. Doc. 220. Int. Doc. 221. Int. Doc. 222. Int. Doc. 223. Int. Doc. 224. Int. Doc. 225. Int. Doc. 226. Int. Doc. 227. Int. Doc. 228. \a rfik^ I XtLV&ft' f^W ^^v' jt&&- K&v^ >a~"$^ y* ^Pfl $&% ^Wt?( ^ '•c£&[ 3-^f fls^l I Gui* Jf^ ^ft"* T-^*7*J5r y 1& J^fir 'r^/Jg jpt-^ y (fw^^ ^. 12^/^^^^^^^