The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot

by Chicago Commission on Race Relations

A. A STUDY OF NEGRO FAMILIES

Consideration of the housing problem as a continuing factor in the experience of Negro families led to an effort to study it from a new angle of approach—through histories of typical families in the Negro community.

The data thus gathered afford an opportunity to present an interpretative account of Negro family life, setting forth the intimate problems confronting Negroes in Chicago, their daily social difficulties, the reflection in their home life of their struggle for existence, just how they live, how they participate in the activities of the Negro community and the community at large, their own opinions concerning civic problems, their housing experience, how much they earn and how much they save, how much they spend and what value they receive from these expenditures, how they spend their spare time, and how they seek to improve their condition in the community.

A selection was made of 274 Negro families living in all sections of Chicago. Three Negro women, well equipped to deal intelligently and sympathetically with these families, gathered this information. These 274 families lived in 238 blocks, the distribution being such that no type of neighborhood or division of the Negro population was overlooked. The questionnaire employed contained five pages of questions and required an interview of about two hours. Special effort was made to secure purely social information without the aid of leading questions.

I. GENERAL LIVING CONDITIONS

For the most part the physical surroundings of the Negro family, as indicated by these family histories, are poor. The majority of these houses fall within the classifications noted as Types "C" and "D" in the discussion of the physical condition of housing.[22]

On the South Side, where most of the Negro population lives, the low quality of housing is widespread, although there are some houses of a better grade which are greatly in demand.

The ordinary conveniences, considered necessities by the average white citizen, are often lacking. Bathrooms are often missing. Gas lighting is common, and electric lighting is a rarity. Heating is commonly done by wood or coal stoves, and furnaces are rather exceptional; when furnaces are present, they are sometimes out of commission.

Under the heading of "Housing Conditions" such notations as these are often found:

No gas, bath, or toilet. Plumbing very bad; toilet leaks; bowl broken; leak in kitchen sink; water stands in kitchen; leak in bath makes ceiling soggy and wet all the time. Plastering off in front room. General appearance very bad inside and out. Had to get city behind owner to put in windows, clean, and repair plumbing. Heat poor; house damp. Plumbing bad; leaks. Hot-water heater out of order. Needs repairing done to roof and floors. In bad repair; toilet in yard used by two families. Toilet off from dining-room; fixtures for gas; no gas; just turned off; no bath; doors out of order; won't fasten. Sanitary conditions poor; dilapidated condition; toilet won't flush; carries water to bathtub. Plumbing bad; roof leaks; plastering off; no bath or gas; general repairs needed; very dirty. Plumbing bad; plastering off in toilet; window panes broken and out; no bath or gas. Plastering off from water that leaks from flat above; toilet leaks; does not flush; washbowl and bath leak very badly; repairs needed on back porch; rooms need calcimining. No water in hydrant in hall; no toilet, bath, or gas; general repair needed. Water not turned on for sink in kitchen; water for drinking and cooking purposes must be carried in; toilet used by four families; asked landlord to turn on water in kitchen; told them to move; roof leaks; stairs and back porch in bad order. Sewer gas escapes from basement pipes; water stands in basement. House dirty; flues in bad condition; gas pipes leak; porch shaky. No heat and no hot water; no repairing done; no screens; gas leaks all over house; stationary tubs leak. Water pipes rotted out; gas pipes leak. Toilet leaks; plastering off; windowpanes out. Plastering off; large rat holes all over; paper hanging from ceiling.

This is the common situation of the dweller in the districts mentioned. The variations are in degree rather than kind. To dwellings a little better in sanitation and repair than those just described, the adjective "fair" was given.

Occasionally a Negro family manages to escape from this wretched type of dwelling in the "Black Belt." Some who were financially able purchased homes in Woodlawn, for example, where they live much as white residents do, supplied with the comforts and conveniences of life and in fairly clean, wholesome surroundings. There, as a rule, the physical equipment of their dwellings is good and is kept in repair. In some instances they have hot-water heating, electric lighting, and gas for cooking purposes. They ordinarily redecorate once a year, take proper care of their garbage, keep the lawns cut and the premises clean; and otherwise reveal a natural and normal pride of ownership.

In this respect the Negro residents of Woodlawn are far more fortunate than many of their race brothers who have purchased dwellings in the "Black Belt." Many of these purchases have been made by migrants on long-time payments, and large expenditure would be required to put the houses in repair and keep them so. Purchases made by Negroes in Woodlawn have been chiefly of substantial dwellings, not necessarily new but in good condition and needing only ordinary repairs from time to time.

II. WHY NEGROES MOVE

Except where the property is owned by Negroes there is frequent moving. The records obtained of these movements give a great variety of reasons. A strong desire to improve living conditions appears with sufficient frequency to indicate that it is the leading motive. Buying a home is one of the ways of escape from intolerable living conditions, but removal to other houses or flats is more often tried. For example, a man who now owns his home near Fifty-first Street and South Wabash Avenue—living there with his two brothers and five lodgers—has moved six times, "to live in a better house and a better neighborhood." A family now living near Thirty-first Street and Prairie Avenue, resident in Chicago since 1893, has moved four times, three times to obtain better houses in better neighborhoods and once to get nearer to work. A man and wife living near Fifty-third and South Dearborn streets have moved four times since coming to Chicago in 1908. A family living on East Forty-fifth Street and paying $60 a month rent for six rooms has moved twice since 1900 to "better and cleaner houses." Another family paying $65 a month for eight rooms on East Bowen Avenue has moved twice since 1905 into better houses and neighborhoods. "Better house" and "better neighborhood" were the most frequently given reasons.

Of kindred nature are these: leaky roof; house cold; dirty; inconvenient; did not like living in rear flat; to better conditions; better houses away from questionable places; landlord would not clean; first floor not healthy; small and undesirable; not desirable flat; poor plumbing; didn't like neighborhood; moved to better quarters; landlord would not repair; house too damp; no windows; owner would not fix water pipes; more room wanted; better environment for children; better street; no yard for children; better people; house in bad condition; more conveniences for roomers.

III. THE FAMILY GROUPING

The normal family is generally recognized as consisting of five persons—two parents and three children. Properly they should make up a single group and live by themselves. The 274 families studied were chosen as follows: in the most populous district, from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth streets and from Wentworth Avenue to Lake Michigan, ninety-nine family histories were taken; in the district north of Thirty-first Street to Twelfth Street and from Wentworth Avenue to the Lake, forty-six; in the narrow strip in Hyde Park known as the Lake Park district, thirty-seven; in the district from Thirty-ninth to Sixtieth streets and from Wentworth to Cottage Grove Avenue, thirty-six; on the West Side, sixteen; in the Ogden Park district, fifteen; on the North Side, fourteen; and in Woodlawn, eleven. For convenience, as well as to show contrasts or like conditions, the material has been analyzed and interpreted by districts.

HOMES OF WHITE AND NEGRO EMPLOYEES OF AN OUTLYING INDUSTRIAL PLANT

TIME CONSUMED IN TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE ARGO PLANTBY ANY CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES.
LONGEST RIDE FOR WHITE EMPLOYEES:
ARGO TO LEMONT, VIA CHICAGO & JOLIET ELECTRIC R.R.	32 MINUTES
LONGEST RIDE FOR NEGRO EMPLOYEES:
ARGO TO STATE & 31ST ST. VIA ARCHER AVE. & STATE ST. SURFACE LINES, WITH TWO TRANSFERS	67 MINUTES
ARGO TO STATE & 39TH ST. VIA 63RD ST. & STATE ST. SURFACE LINES. WITH TWO TRANSFERS	60 MINUTES

There was found a wide variation in the family groups, comprising six classifications, in three of which no lodgers appear. A lodger here means an adult not a member of the immediate family. Thus relatives, unless infants or children, are classed as lodgers. The three groups without lodgers are: (1) man and wife; (2) two parents and children; (3) a parent and children. The other three groups with lodgers are: (1a) man and wife and lodgers; (2a) man, wife, children, and lodgers; (3a) man or woman, surviving head of the family, with lodgers.

Of the total 274 family groups there were 104 without lodgers and 170, or 62 per cent, with lodgers. For the most part the lodgers were found in "2a" classification—in families. There were ninety-two such groups and only sixty-one families with no lodgers. Forty-two couples had lodgers, and in thirty-six instances a man or woman living alone had lodgers. Thirty-nine couples were living alone, and in only four instances was there a parent alone with a child.

The Negro colony in Woodlawn approaches most nearly the normal family grouping. Home ownership in that district is fairly common, and the houses for the most part are substantial and well fitted and suited to the families. In the eleven Woodlawn families there was but one where the mother or father was dead or not living with the family. Lodgers were found in only four of the eleven families: two were couples, one a family, and the other a single woman. In the eleven families there were seventeen children.

A marked contrast with this section is found in the congested Negro district between Thirty-first and Thirty-ninth streets. Out of a total of ninety-nine families seventy-two had lodgers, or 72 per cent as contrasted with 36 per cent in Woodlawn and 62 per cent for the total 274 cases. In this district there were forty-two families with children, thirteen couples without children, and seventeen where a man or woman took lodgers. There were only fourteen families without lodgers, and thirteen couples living alone.

North of Thirty-first Street in this South Side area were similar conditions. Of forty-six households studied, twenty-seven, or 58.7 per cent, had lodgers: of these sixteen were families with children, nine were couples and two were man or woman with children. Of the households without lodgers, there were twelve families with children, five couples living alone, and two instances of parent and child.

The percentage of families with lodgers was highest in the Lake Park district, 75.6 per cent. On the West Side it was 68 per cent, a trifle higher than for the entire 274 families. On the North Side it was 57 per cent, on the South Side between Thirty-ninth and Sixtieth streets, 41.6 per cent, and in the Ogden Park district 40 per cent.

The Ogden Park district, with a relatively low percentage of families having lodgers, resembles the Woodlawn district in many respects. The houses are built for single families and are largely owned by Negroes who have lived in that locality for many years. Of the fifteen families there visited, nine had no lodgers; and of the seven with lodgers, four were families and two were couples without children.

Room crowding.—A study of Negro housing made in 1909 by the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy brought out the fact that, although Negro families find it extremely difficult to obtain a flat of three or four rooms, they do not crowd together as much as white immigrants; that Negroes take larger flats or houses and rent rooms to lodgers to help pay the rent, and thus lessen crowding among the members of the family. Among the 274 families studied by the Commission there was comparatively little overcrowding. One room to a person is a standard of room occupancy generally accepted by housing authorities as involving no overcrowding. Of these 274 Negro households, only sixty-seven exceeded the standard. There were, of course, wide divergences from the standard. For example, there were eight instances of six persons living in five rooms; six of eight persons living in six rooms; four of six persons living in four rooms; one of six persons living in three rooms; one of seven persons living in three rooms; two of seven persons living in four rooms; two of eight persons living in five rooms; one of nine persons living in five rooms; and one of eleven persons living in five rooms.

In the cases of unusually large families, either in the number of children or lodgers, there was a corresponding increase in the number of rooms. Thus in the case of fourteen persons making up one family, they were living in ten rooms.

The five-room dwelling was the most common, with fifty-nine families; six-room, forty-seven; seven-room, forty-two; four-room, forty-one.

In the Ogden Park district the standard of one person to one room was most closely adhered to. All the fifteen families studied in that district were housed in four-, five-, or six-room dwellings; ten of them in five-room dwellings. In Woodlawn the tendency was toward somewhat larger dwellings. There were no four- and five-room dwellings, but five of seven rooms and three of six rooms, one each of eight and three rooms. The four-room dwelling was most prevalent on the North Side. Of the fourteen families studied there, six were in such dwellings. There were two dwellings of six rooms, two of seven, one of five, two of three, and one of eleven rooms.

On the West Side, also, thirteen of the sixteen families were housed in four-, five-, six-, or seven-room dwellings, the five-room type predominating. In the Lake Park district the five-room type was most frequent, there being eleven of these out of a total of thirty-seven, six of six rooms and seven of seven rooms, the next largest group being five of eight rooms.

On the South Side in the district from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth Street, out of a total of ninety-nine there were eighteen families in five-room dwellings, seventeen in four-room, nine in three-room, ten in six-room, fourteen in seven-room, and eight in ten-room dwellings. In the district north of Thirty-first Street the predominating size was six-room dwellings, of which there were eleven, and there were nine of four rooms, seven of five rooms, and seven of seven rooms, the rest scattering from one-room dwellings to one dwelling of thirteen rooms. From Thirty-ninth to Sixtieth streets, six-room dwellings were most frequent, there being eight of these out of a total of thirty-six, and there were seven of five rooms, six of six rooms, and six of seven rooms. The dwellings occupied by Negroes south of Thirty-ninth Street, it should be noticed, are larger than those north of that street.

The grouping of the 274 families according to number of persons is as follows:

Families	Persons to Family
48	4
40	2
35	3
37	5
30	7
29	6
22	8
17	9 or more
16	Not recorded
274

Four persons to a "family" was the most common type, there being forty-eight of these out of the 274. In the Woodlawn and Ogden Park districts the group of three was predominant. The North Side district grouping of two persons to a family is partly due to the inclusion of nine "groups" of one person each who were interviewed mainly for data bearing upon industrial relationships. The tables show a total of sixteen such groups in the eight districts; but they are not deemed sufficient to vitiate the statistics.

Negroes have more space in their living quarters than do other Chicago people housed in similar grades of dwellings. They were usually found in dwellings of five rooms for each family, while the prevailing size among the foreign groups was four rooms, as disclosed by the Chicago School of Civics housing studies from 1909 to 1917. In the School's earliest study of the Negroes it was said:

The colored families do not as a rule live in the small and cramped apartments in which other nationalities are so often found. Even the families who apply to the United Charities for relief are frequently living in apartments which would be considered adequate, as far as the number of rooms is concerned, for families in comfortable circumstances.

Some marked exceptions, of course, were found.

The four-room dwelling was found to prevail among the Slovaks of the Twentieth Ward, the Lithuanians of the Fourth Ward, the Greeks and Italians in the neighborhood of Hull-House, the various central and southern European nationalities who work in the South Chicago steel mills and live near-by, and among the Jews, Bohemians, and Poles of the West Side.

The lodger problem.—The prevalence of lodgers is one of the most conspicuous problems in the Negro housing situation. It is largely a social question. The difficulty of finding a home adequate for a family of four or five persons at a reasonable rent has forced many Negroes to take over large buildings in better localities and in better physical condition but with much higher rents. To meet these rents they have taken lodgers. It was seldom possible to investigate the character of the lodgers. The arrangement of these large houses, originally intended for single-family use, prevents family privacy when lodgers are added, making a difficult situation for families with children. Again, the migration brought to the city many unattached men and women who could find no other place to live except in families. Thus it happens that in Negro families the lodger problem is probably more pressing than in any other group of the community. Not only do lodgers constitute a social problem for the family, but, having little or no interest in the appearance and condition of the property, they are in many instances careless and irresponsible and contribute to the rapid deterioration of the buildings.

As previously explained, the term "lodgers," in this report, includes relations as well as other adults unrelated to the family. It was apparent in the study that there was a large number of relative-lodgers in Negro families. The recent migration from the South had a distinct bearing on this situation. Many Negroes came to Chicago at the solicitation of relatives and remained in their households until they could secure homes for themselves. The migration further accounts for the accentuation of the lodger problem during the period immediately following it. The 274 family histories include 1,319 persons, of whom 485, or 35 per cent, were lodgers, living in 62 per cent of the households. The greatest number of households with lodgers were those living in five-room dwellings. There were thirty-eight such households. Living in six-and seven-room dwellings were thirty-four families with lodgers. Families with only one lodger were most numerous. There were fifty-five such families as compared with thirty-nine having two lodgers, twenty-five with three lodgers, twenty-three with four lodgers, thirteen with six lodgers, eight with five lodgers, and seven with more than six lodgers.

Naturally the lodger evil was found in its worst form in the congested parts of the South Side. In the district from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth streets seventy-two of the ninety-nine families had lodgers. In twenty-two families there was but one, however, as against twelve with three and four, eleven with two, and six with five and six lodgers. Two families had ten each, and one had thirteen. This last case was that of a widow who rented nine sleeping-rooms in her ten-room house, in addition to catering at odd moments. It was a typical rooming-house as distinguished from a family taking lodgers. One family that had ten lodgers consisted of a man, his wife, and a son twenty-five years old; they had eight bedrooms, seven opening into a hall. The other family that had ten lodgers consisted of the parents and two children, a boy of eight and a girl of seven, and had a ten-room house. The lodgers were two men and three women, with five children. Five of the ten rooms were used as sleeping-rooms.

In the district north of Thirty-first Street an increased number of lodgers appeared in only one family, that of a man and his wife, without children. They lived in a ten-room house, using eight of the rooms for sleeping purposes and accommodating seven male and five female lodgers.

In the district from Thirty-ninth to Sixtieth Street was one instance of seven male lodgers in a seven-room house with the man who owned the property. Two of the lodgers were his brothers. There was no heat and no bathroom. The house had been reported to the health department.

In the Lake Park district one, two, or three lodgers were the rule, only five of the twenty-eight families with lodgers in that district being outside of those three classes. Eight lodgers were found in an eight-room dwelling. The family consisted of man and wife, and the only female lodger was their niece. Five rooms were used for sleeping purposes.

In the other district no instances of excessive overcrowding due to lodgers were found.

Complaint has often been made of the numerical preponderance of lodgers over children among Chicago Negroes, and comment has been made on the economic significance. It has been suggested, for example, that economic pressure had lowered the birth-rate among Negroes and increased the infant-mortality rate. As indicated by the 274 family histories, the number of lodgers among the Negro population exceeds the number of children, that is, the number of boys less than twenty-one years and girls less than eighteen. The School of Civics and Philanthropy, in its housing studies, counted as children those less than twelve years of age. On this basis it found in its study of the Negroes of the South and West sides that there were less than half as many children as lodgers on the South Side, but a more normal situation in the West Side. Even extending the ages of children, as has been done in the present report, the situation does not appear in a much better light.

The proportion of lodgers and of children in the districts covered by the Commission is shown in Table IX.

TABLE IX

District		Percentage of Lodgers	Percentage of Children
South Side:
	Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth	45.9	15.4
	Twenty-second to Thirty-first	37.8	20.4
	Thirty-ninth to Sixtieth	30.1	21.4
West Side		21.8	32.0
Lake Park		42.1	16.9
North Side		15.2	25.0
Woodlawn		26.9	30.0
Ogden Park		12.3	45.0
Total of 274 families		35.0	22.7

By way of comparison similar figures from other housing studies of the Chicago School of Civics might be mentioned, the children in each instance being less than twelve years old.

Among the Slovaks of the Twentieth Ward, 13 per cent were lodgers and 32 per cent children; in South Chicago, 27.3 per cent lodgers and 25.7 per cent children; among the Greeks and Italians near Hull-House, 13 per cent lodgers and 30 per cent children; among the Lithuanians of the Fourth Ward, 28 per cent lodgers and 27 per cent children.

As far as the South Side is concerned, the situation with regard to the balance between lodgers and children has become aggravated since the earliest School of Civics report was issued, whereas the situation on the West Side has improved somewhat.

Where there were children and lodgers together, a considerable number of instances were found which suggest probable injury to health or morals, and sometimes both. Even where lodgers are relatives, impairment of health and morals is threatened in certain circumstances, especially if the over-crowding is flagrant. For example, a household on South Dearborn Street near Thirty-fourth Street consisted of a father, mother, a son of nineteen years, and a baby girl of four months, with three lodgers, two men and one woman—seven persons living in seven rooms and sleeping in all parts of the house. One of the lodgers was a sister-in-law, another a nephew by marriage, and the third, a stranger, had a bedroom to himself. In a ten-room house in East Thirty-second Street parents having a boy of eight years and a girl of seven years were found to have taken in ten lodgers, two of whom were men. In another instance five children, four of them boys of eight, five, four, and two years and a girl of eleven, lived with their parents and two lodgers in a six-room house.

In Ogden Park, a district which shows a high percentage of children, lodgers sometimes are added to the family. In one house of five rooms, for example, there were found living twelve persons—father, mother, two sons, sixteen and seventeen years of age, four daughters, thirty-three, twenty-four, twenty-two, and thirteen years of age, and four lodgers—a daughter, her husband, and their two infants. There were only two bedrooms for the twelve persons. Another instance was that of a family of father, mother, four sons, nine, five, three, and two years, and two daughters, seven years and three weeks, with a sister of one of the parents for a lodger. The nine persons lived in five rooms. There were only two beds in the house, and one of the bedrooms was not in use.

On the South Side near Thirty-first Street there was a case where a man lodger occupied one bedroom, the other being used by the parents and their eight-year-old daughter—four persons in a four-room flat. On South Park Avenue near Twenty-ninth Street two lodgers, a son-in-law and a nephew, occupied two of the six rooms, while the husband and wife, a son of twenty-three years, and a daughter of twenty-one years lived in the other four rooms, which included the kitchen and dining-room. A similar instance was found, on Indiana Avenue near Thirtieth Street, where two male lodgers lived with a family consisting of the parents, a son of twenty, and a daughter of eighteen, all in six rooms, two of which were not sleeping-rooms. On Lake Park Avenue near Fifty-sixth Street a family, including father, mother, and daughter of twenty, slept in the kitchen in order that three lodgers, one male and two female, might be accommodated in the five-room flat. In a five-room flat on Kenwood Avenue near Fifty-third Street the two male lodgers occupied both bedrooms, while the mother and her boy of nine and girl of seven years lived in the kitchen and dining-room. Seven persons were found living in a six-room house on East Fortieth Street; they were father, mother, a son of five years, a daughter of seven years, and an infant, with a male and a female lodger, friends of the parents. Virtually the whole house was used for sleeping purposes.

These are examples of the arrangements that sometimes occur when children and lodgers are found in the same dwelling. The fact that in the main Chicago Negroes live in more rooms per dwelling than immigrants, whose standard of living has not yet risen, does not necessarily mean that the Negroes have a greater appreciation of a house with more rooms. The explanation in many cases is that the Negroes take whatever living quarters happen to be available, which often are large residences abandoned by well-to-do whites, and then adapt their mode of living to the circumstances. Lodgers are one of the sources of revenue that aid in paying the rent. Negro families often expressed a desire to live by themselves if they could find a dwelling of suitable size for reasonable rent. They sometimes complained of lodgers and declared that they would prefer not to take them at all, especially women lodgers. The objection to married couples and unattached men was not so pronounced.

Smaller houses thus would seem to be a factor in the solution of the lodger problem. A Negro real estate dealer was asked if the Negro was as contented or as much disposed to live in a cottage as white people, or whether he wanted to live in spacious quarters where he could draw a revenue from roomers. The reply was that the Negro would rather live by himself. This is evidenced by the fact that many Negroes would rather live in an apartment and rent two or three rooms than take a large house and have it full of roomers.

Lodgers are often found in the smaller dwellings occupied by Negroes. Rent is often the determining factor in the selection of the smaller dwelling. When it is so high that it forms too large a proportion of income, economic necessity often drives the Negro family to admit one or more lodgers at the expense of overcrowding and its attendant harmfulness. This was noted in certain districts where the dwellings as a rule were small.

Rents and lodgers.—An effort was made to determine the economic necessity for lodgers as expressed by the relation of the wages of heads of families to the amounts of rent paid. It is assumed that in a normal family budget rent should not exceed one-fifth of the income of the head of the family. Wide variations from that proportion were revealed.

Facts as to both rent and wages were difficult to secure, owing to the variable earnings of various members of the family, variable sums received from lodgers, and other factors. For example, seventeen occupants owned their houses. In seventy-eight other cases information obtained by the investigators was not adequate or could not, for various reasons, be used in calculations.

The remaining 179 cases out of the 274 provided data from which the following facts are presented: In three instances the rent exceeded the income of the head of the family; in thirty-one instances the rent equaled one-half the income of the head of the family, and in an equal number it amounted to one-third. In one case the rent was equal to three-fourths of the income, and in twenty-three cases the rent equaled one-fourth. Thus eighty-nine instances were disclosed in which the rent was in excess of one-fifth of the income of the head of the family. In most of these cases, particularly the extreme ones, the income of the head of the family was greatly supplemented by money received from lodgers or from earnings of other members of the family.

The remaining ninety families in which the rent amounted to one-fifth or less of the income of the head of the family were divided as follows: Twenty-four fell in the one-fifth column, twenty-seven in the one-sixth column, fourteen in the one-seventh column, eleven in the one-eighth column, while fourteen were in the "low" column. The last named included those ranging from one-ninth to one-twenty-third.

On the South Side, in the district from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth Street, rents exceeded the one-fifth proportion in one-half of the sixty-two families studied, two of them paying rent in excess of income, eight paying one-half of income for rent, fourteen paying one-third, and seven paying one-fourth. Of the remaining thirty-one families in that district, seven fell in the one-fifth column, twelve in the one-sixth column, six in the one-seventh column, four in the one-eighth column and two in the "low," being one-ninth and one-eleventh.

Rents were high also in the Lake Park district, where twenty-five families of a total of thirty-six were paying in excess of the one-fifth proportion. Fourteen of these paid one-half of the income for rent, five paid one-fourth, four paid one-third, one paid three-quarters, and in one instance rent exceeded income. In only five instances was the normal one-fifth paid, two paid one-sixth, two paid one-seventh, while two paid one-ninth and one-eleventh respectively.

In the district north of Thirty-first Street, eighteen out of a total of thirty-eight families paid in excess of the one-fifth proportion, four paid one-half, nine paid one-third, and five paid one-fourth. Six families paid the normal one-fifth, five paid one-sixth, two paid one-seventh, one one-eighth, and six less than that, running as low as one-twenty-third.

The Ogden Park area was found to be a district of low rents. None of the eight families studied paid as much as the normal one-fifth. Two paid one-sixth, one paid one-seventh, three one-eighth, one one-ninth, and one one-twelfth.

The other districts did not show much variation from the normal proportion.

Examination was made of all the factors in instances where the rent equaled one-half or more of the income of the head of the family or amounted to one-third. With regard to the former it was assumed, for the purpose of the study, that it compelled renting rooms to lodgers. With regard to the one-third column, lodgers were assumed to be an economic necessity when they offered the only source of income in addition to that of the head of the family. On these bases it was found that in forty-six families supplementary income afforded by lodgers was necessary, that in three instances they were the sole source of the income, while one instance was presented of a widow whose children partly supported her, but insufficiently for their common needs.

While in most instances of high rents and low income on the part of the head of the family good reason appeared for taking lodgers, in not a few instances further analysis revealed other sources of income which might indicate that there was no economic necessity for lodgers. There was one instance on Forest Avenue, for example, where the relation of the rent to the father's income was one-third, but where his sons earned more than double his income. In another family on South State Street near Thirtieth Street, the father earned $125 a month and paid $50 a month rent, but additional income was derived from the wife, son, and daughter, in addition to that obtained from lodgers. There was likewise the case of a waiter living on Lake Park Avenue whose rent was $30 a month as against wages of $10 a week. In addition to the tips he doubtless received in his work, his wife earned $18 a week, and $6 a week was derived from lodgers. In one instance a man living near Fifty-sixth Street and Wabash Avenue paid rent equal to one-third of his wages, but had considerable income from investments.

Such instances tend to explain why only forty-eight families were found in which lodgers seemed to be an economic necessity in aiding to pay rents, when eighty-nine cases were revealed in which the rent was in excess of one-fifth of the wages of the head of the family. The family histories also showed that various means besides lodgers supplemented the insufficient income of a family head. In some cases the wife or children worked, and not infrequently their incomes exceeded those of the father.

Lodgers were often found in families where the income from that source did not appear to be needed. This was the case in a number of families with unusually high wages and abnormally low rents. High wages and low rents explain most of the cases shown where the rent ranges from one-ninth to one-twenty-third of the income of the head of the family. In the one-twenty-third case the couple lived in two rooms on South State Street for which they paid $6 a month. The man earned $35 a week in an iron foundry, while the wife added $18 a week to the common fund. Another instance was that of a man who paid $16 a month rent and earned $48 weekly at the Stock Yards. His wife and a relative added $23.60 a week to the family income. A man in Ogden Park whose income as a contractor was $48 a week paid $16 a month rent. A man living on the West Side earned $48 a week and paid $15 a month rent. His children added $43.50 a week to the family income.

Even in circumstances such as these, lodgers were sometimes taken. In one case where the rent was one-tenth of the wages of the head of the family the man paid $15 a month rent for a five-room dwelling out of his $36 weekly wages earned in a coke plant at Gary. His son and lodgers increased the monthly income by $28. There was a teamster earning $30 a week who paid $15 a month rent for a six-room dwelling in which nine persons lived. The proportion of rent to his wages was as one to eight. His wife, one of his children, and lodgers added to the income. As in numerous instances where the income was high, a large amount was spent for food in this family.

An instance was found of a man earning $9.50 to $10.50 a day. His wife was a caterer. There was a daughter of fifteen years. They took three roomers. There was no need for the woman to work, but she said she wanted the money. She was a good cook, having served in that capacity in the South, and she said she earned $15 when she went out for a week-end of catering. In this instance there seemed to be little need for lodgers.

Another case was that of a man and his wife and two grown children living in a nine-room dwelling on Calumet Avenue and having nine lodgers. The man was earning $40 a week, and the lodgers paid $33.50 a week. The wife occasionally did day work, earning $3.65 a day. The monthly expenditure for food was $100, clothing $33, and rent $60.

Another instance was that of a widow with three children who lived on State Street near Thirty-seventh Street, in a three-room flat. Though the children's earnings amounted to $78 a week, the inevitable lodger was present, contributing $4 a week to the common fund. This little family spent $120 a month for food.

Large amounts spent for food were not uncommon in some families that took lodgers. A typical instance was that of the man and wife with three children and two lodgers who lived on Prairie Avenue. The man earned $25 a week, while $82 a month was derived from the lodgers. Food for the family alone cost $100 a month.

A man on North Wells Street earned $57 a week for the support of his wife and three adopted children. They lived in an eleven-room house which also accommodated the man's sister and brother. One of the sons earned $75 a week, and the lodgers paid $45 a month. This family spent $180 a month for food. Another earned $22 a week in the Stock Yards. Besides his wife and child they had in their nine-room house on East Thirtieth Street six lodgers paying $20 a week. This family spent $100 a month for food and $34 for clothing. Another man and wife on Forest Avenue paid $25 a month rent and spent $88 a month for food and $43 for clothing. They derived $3.75 a week from their two lodgers. A similar case was that of a family which lived on East Thirty-second Street. The man earned $30 a week in a foundry. He and his wife have one child, and they had ten lodgers, who paid $72 a week. In this family $80 was spent for food each month and $50 for clothing.

The heaviest expenditure for food in any one family was $330 a month. This was explained by the fact that there were twenty table boarders. The husband earned $22.50 a week, and there were three lodgers who paid $13 a week. The boarders collectively paid $13 a day. Rent was $55 a month, and $25 a month was spent for clothing.

Other reasons for the ready acceptance of lodgers in Negro dwellings were apparent, among them friendship and the desire to be obliging and to assist others in a new environment. Most Negroes would regard it as a breach of good faith to encourage friends and relatives to come to Chicago from the South and then fail to help them after their arrival. This accounts for the frequent designation of "relatives" and "friends" among the lodgers. Sometimes these lodgers seemed to be permanent, but often they were taken only until they could adjust themselves.

During the period of greatest migration, 1915-20, hundreds of unattached men and women could be seen on the streets as late as one or two o'clock in the morning, seeking rooms shortly after their arrival in Chicago. One instance was reported of a family to whose house four men came at midnight looking for rooms. Lack of lodging-houses or of hotels where accommodations could be had at reasonable prices was partly responsible for this swarm of migrants seeking shelter in private homes. The meager provision of such places for the accommodation of unattached Negroes has been a factor in the lodger problem.

IV. HOW NEGRO FAMILIES LIVE

How Negroes earn their living in Chicago, what occupational changes those from the South have undergone since arrival, how their present occupations differ from those in their former homes—information on all these points was gained from the family histories. Almost without exception, the Negroes interviewed declared that their economic situation had improved in Chicago. In most instances they were able to earn more; some said they were obliged to work harder but felt well recompensed because of their improved economic condition.

From the occupations of persons included in the study it appears that there is a distinct departure from the domestic and personal service in which Negroes were commonly found a few years ago. Among the 274 families visited, the heads of 225 families were men. Of this number eighteen were idle at the time of the investigation, in the summer of 1920, nine were professional men, nineteen were in business, twenty-two were in some skilled trade or work, 110 were doing unskilled work, and only forty-seven were engaged in personal service. The latter term includes such occupations as doorman in a hotel or club, bellboy, bootblack, cook, waiter, porter, elevator operator, and chauffeurs who lack training as mechanics. These are chiefly functions which bring employees in contact with the public or with white employers in a more or less personal capacity.

Before coming to Chicago, forty-five of the 225 were farmers. Practically all of these entered the field of unskilled occupations here. Only sixty-four of the 225 had been doing unskilled work in their former home. Six more did skilled work in their former homes than were doing such work in Chicago; two more were in personal service; two less were in business; and one more was in a profession.

Of these 225 family heads, 122 migrated to Chicago, chiefly from the South, during the period from 1916 to 1920 inclusive. Three periods in the industrial history of the family head were taken: (1) occupation in the former home; (2) occupation on first arrival in Chicago; and (3) adjustment to new conditions in Chicago and occupation at the time of investigation, during the spring and early summer of 1920.

Many of these migrants had not yet made their adjustment to the new occupations at that time. However, certain tendencies were manifest. For example, in the former home thirty-one were farmers and forty-five were unskilled workers. In the period of adjustment seventy-seven were doing unskilled work. The unskilled occupations had apparently, in the shifting about, absorbed the farmers. The difficulty of continuing in skilled occupations in the North was evidenced. In the South fourteen of the 122 men were engaged in skilled occupations of some sort; in the period of adjustment there were fifteen; but at the time of the investigation there were but twelve.

In the South nineteen of the 122 were in personal-service occupations; during the transition period, eighteen; and at the time of the investigation, sixteen. In the South seven were in business; during the period of transition, three; and at the time of the investigation, five. In the South four were in practice as professional men; during the period of transition only three; while at the time of the investigation there were five, one just beginning to practice.

As to whether any previous occupational training was used or abandoned after coming to the North, it appeared that of the 225 only 91 utilized such training. In 134 cases previous training was not used, but these included many who were farmers in the South.

Of forty-nine who had been engaged in personal-service occupations before coming to Chicago, only twenty still continued in such work. Six were unemployed at the time of the investigation, nineteen were in unskilled work, one was doing skilled work, and three were in business.

Forty-nine women were heads of families as revealed by the 274 family histories. This does not include all the Negro women shown by the histories to be engaged in gainful occupations in Chicago. Often daughters were working. There were thirty instances in which man and wife both worked outside of the home. Before coming to Chicago 129 wives were employed, while in Chicago sixty-seven wives were gainfully employed, including the thirty who were working in addition to their husbands. During the period of transition, it appears, they helped out, since the records show that 132 were then at work. But the tendency plainly is to abandon the practice as soon as the family becomes settled in the new environment.

Of seventeen women who had worked as house servants in their former homes, seven were found in factories, three in offices, two in stores, and five in unskilled manual labor.

Some of the transitions in occupation are especially interesting. One oil-field worker in the South had become a shoemaker. A farmer had become a postal clerk. A former superintendent of a label factory attended high school during the adjustment period and became an undertaker. One who was a schoolboy in the South worked in a hotel on coming to Chicago but became a grocer. A barber in Kansas City became first a painter in Chicago, then a janitor. A bottler from Memphis, Tennessee, went to work in the Stock Yards but became a canvasser. A farmer from Alabama worked first in the Yards and later in woolen mills.

One man was a porter in a store in Mississippi. In Chicago he became a chauffeur. A farmer from Louisiana on arriving worked as a butcher and then secured employment in a tannery. A porter in a wholesale grocery in Memphis, Tennessee, who worked first in Chicago as a lard maker in a packing-house, later became a building laborer. A preacher from Tennessee worked at Swift's packing-house until he could become established in a church.

A Mississippi plumber who served as a butter maker for a time after reaching Chicago became a contractor within three years. A hotel porter from Alabama came to Chicago in 1918 and went to work in a steel foundry and later in a soap factory. A farmer who worked on shares in Georgia tried work in the Stock Yards in Chicago, but changed to a paint shop. An Alabama man who worked in a sawmill there found a job in a steel foundry in Chicago, and later went to the Stock Yards. A man who worked in an ice plant in Texas became a railroad porter after coming to Chicago and then found a job as a butcher at the Stock Yards.

A man who began life as a bootblack in Atlanta came to Chicago in 1893 and sold newspapers until he could enter business for himself. For many years he has been a jeweler. In the South his wife was a musician by profession. To aid her husband in his struggle she worked in a box factory for a time after arriving in Chicago.

Clergymen sometimes abandon their profession for more remunerative employment. One of these came to Chicago from Boston in 1904. For a time he worked as a fireman and later in a packing-house. One who served as a waiter on first coming to Chicago became an insurance agent, and another, who was a reporter on a Negro newspaper on arrival in Chicago, became the manager of a manufacturing company.

Few migrants continued in Chicago the employment in which they worked in the South.

The family histories show that the Stock Yards industry absorbed many of the migrants, and a large number went to work in the steel mills and iron foundries, as well as in lighter manufactures.

Many Negro women have become hairdressers and manicurists after a course in a school of "beauty culture" which also teaches the use of cosmetics. Considerable skill is often required in this work, and the earnings often supplement very substantially the husband's income and may be sufficient to make an individual self-sustaining in case of need. Hairdressing is most frequently done in the homes.

An occasional teacher, cateress, or seamstress was found among the Negro women. Some of them remained in personal-service occupations, but a decided tendency was noticeable toward office and factory employment.

In summary it is scarcely necessary to remark that wages in the North far exceed those in the South. The difference in some instances is so great that many foolish expenditures are indulged in before the relatively higher cost of living is appreciated, or other conditions are properly understood. High wages, supplemented by income from other sources, often proved a temptation to unnecessarily heavy expenditures for material comforts, such as food and clothing. With relation to food it did not appear that Negroes were deliberately taken advantage of in their buying, but that they frequently bought articles without considering prices that had been refused by others because they were deemed excessive.

Insurance of one kind or another was often carried in the families studied. In spite of high living costs, a considerable number of families were found to have bank accounts, Liberty bonds, War Savings stamps, and good interest-paying investments.

The testimony of Negroes who at some time had lived in the South was mainly that they were obliged to work harder for what they got North. They also declared that they were unable to save as much as they hoped or expected, because of high prices. But in the great majority of cases satisfaction was expressed over the improvement in their economic situation. While their movements in search of better housing in Chicago were extremely frequent, they still felt that they were better housed than in their former homes, where bathtubs, steam heat, and electric lighting were almost unknown. Being accustomed to a certain measure of dilapidation in their home surroundings in the South, the Negro is not necessarily dismayed by the extent of dilapidation in Chicago's Negro housing, though usually it is not long before he begins to think of more substantial dwellings in better surroundings than those he first obtains.

Also in Chicago he finds available and accessible to his home many churches, some with large memberships and adequately housed; the best schools he has ever known; fine hospitals and dispensaries at his command; some playgrounds, bathing-beaches, parks, and similar facilities for his recreation and that of his children; settlement houses; libraries; and many other civic and recreational societies that make a strong appeal to his interest and promote his ambition for physical and mental development. He finds many motion-picture theaters and other amusements for his leisure hours.

Where the habit has not already been established, he is learning to make liberal use of all these facilities through the guidance and direction of Negro newspapers and organizations working especially for the improvement of the Negro group. There are indications of improvement in moral standards, health, and civic consciousness through these contacts and the use of these up-building social agencies.

The opinions of migrants and their feeling toward the community were solicited. It appeared that above all they prized the social and political freedom of the North. Satisfaction was expressed over the escape from "Jim Crow" treatment in the South. They valued the independence possible in the North, and sometimes spoke of having come North "out of bondage." They recalled frequently the "shameful treatment received by the Negroes from the white people in the South," the "intimidation and discrimination," and they were surprised and sometimes amazed at the fact that they could go and come at will in Chicago, that they could ride in the front of a street car and sit in any seat. Satisfaction was also expressed over the fact that they could get a job at good wages and did not have to buy groceries at plantation stores where they felt they had been exploited.

Thus, while they may have to work harder and may find it difficult for a long time to adjust themselves to the environment, few indicated any intention of returning to the South. In some instances, where adjustments have not been made, some discouragement was evidenced, and they sometimes expressed the feeling that they were no better off in Chicago than in their former homes. The prevailing sentiment, however, was in favor of remaining in spite of some greater difficulties.

Often Negroes from the South said they missed the care-free social greetings and relationships that prevail in the rural South. They thought that people in the North were "colder," that they did not show sufficient hospitality.

Asked what conditions they would change if they could have their way, the most frequently expressed desire was for more and better housing. Improvement of social, moral, or political conditions followed. Some emphasized the necessity of improving the management of the migrants from the South, whose new-found freedom had led them to become offensive in their conduct. Interviews with migrants, however, indicated that instruction was being received without offense from many social agencies on how to act, dress, and speak in such a manner as not to create unfavorable impressions.

There were some complaints of political exploitation and of being obliged to live in proximity to gambling and vice that were encouraged by political bosses in their neighborhoods.

The inquiry showed that membership in clubs, lodges, and kindred organizations was almost as universal as church affiliation. There were only a few families in which no member had any association with a fraternity or club.

V. A GROUP OF FAMILY HISTORIES

The general statistical treatment of these 274 Negro families takes away many of their human qualities. For this reason a selection has been made of various types of Negro families in order that a rounded picture of the whole unit may be given. The family stories that follow include typical migrant Negroes from the South—common laborers, skilled laborers, salaried, business, and professional men. They illustrate the commonplace experiences of Negroes in adjusting themselves to the requirements of life in Chicago.

AN IRON WORKER

Mr. J——, forty-nine years old, his wife, thirty-eight years, and their daughter twenty-one years, were born in Henry County, Georgia. The husband never went to school, but reads a little. The wife finished the seventh grade and the daughter the fifth grade in the rural school near their home.

They worked on a farm for shares, the man earning one dollar and the women from fifty to seventy-five cents a day for ten hours' work. Their home was a four-room cottage with a garden, and rented for five dollars a month. They owned pigs, poultry, and a cow, which with their household furniture, were worth about $800. The food that they did not raise and their clothing had to be bought from the commissary at any price the owner cared to charge.

They were members of the Missionary Baptist Church and the wife belonged to the missionary society of the church and the Household of Ruth, a secret order. Their sole recreation was attending church, except for the occasional hunting expeditions made by the husband.

Motives for coming to Chicago.—Reading in the Atlanta Journal, a Negro newspaper, of the wonderful industrial opportunities offered Negroes, the husband came to Chicago in February, 1917. Finding conditions satisfactory, he had his wife sell the stock and household goods and join him here in April of the same year. He secured work at the Stock Yards, working eight hours at $3 a day. Later, he was employed by a casting company, working ten hours a day and earning $30 a week. This is his present employment and is about forty minutes' ride from his home. Both jobs were secured by his own efforts.

The family stayed in a rooming-house on East Thirtieth Street. This place catered to such an undesirable element that the wife remained in her room with their daughter all day. She thought the city too was cold, dirty, and noisy to live in. Having nothing to do and not knowing anyone, she was so lonely that she cried daily and begged her husband to put her in three rooms of their own or go back home. Because of the high cost of living, they were compelled to wait some time before they had saved enough to begin housekeeping.

Housing experience.—Their first home was on South Park Avenue. They bought about $500 worth of furniture, on which they are still paying. The wife then worked for a time at the Pullman Yards, cleaning cars at $1.50 a day for ten hours' work. Their house leaked and was damp and cold, so the family moved to another house on South Park Avenue, where they now live. The house is an old, three-story brick, containing three flats. This family occupies the first flat, which has six rooms and bath. Stoves are used for heating, and gas for light and cooking. The house is warm, but dark and poorly ventilated. Lights are used in two of the rooms during the day. The rooms open one into the other, and the interior, as well as the exterior, needs cleaning. There are a living-room, dining-room, and three bedrooms. The living-room is neatly and plainly furnished.

The daughter has married a man twenty-three years old, who migrated first to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then to Chicago. He works at the Stock Yards. They occupy a room and use the other part of the house, paying half the rent and boarding themselves. A nephew, who was a glazier in Georgia, but who has been unable to secure work here, also boards with Mr. and Mrs. J——, paying $8 a week. He is now unemployed, but has been doing foundry work. Mrs. J—— occasionally does laundry work at $4 a day.

How they live.—The cost of living includes rent $25; gas $5.40 a month; coal $18 a year; insurance $9.60 a month; clothing $500 a year; transportation $3.12 a month; church and club dues $3 a month; hairdresser $1.50 a month. Little is spent for recreation and the care of the health. The family carries insurance to the amount of $1,700, of which $1,200 is on the husband.

The meals are prepared by the wife, who also does the cleaning. Greens, potatoes, and cabbage are the chief articles of diet. Milk, eggs, cereals, and meat are also used. Meat is eaten about four times a week. Hot bread is made daily, and the dinners are usually boiled.

Relation to the community.—The whole family belongs to the Salem Baptist Church and attends twice a week. The wife is a member of the Pastor's Aid and the Willing Workers Club, also the Elk's Lodge. The husband is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He goes to the parks, bathing-beaches, and baseball games for amusement. The family spends much of its time in church and helped to establish the "Come and See" Baptist Mission at East Thirty-first Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. They have gone to a show only once or twice since they came to the city. During the summer they spend Sunday afternoons at the East Twenty-ninth Street Beach.

Heavier clothes were necessary because of the change of climate, and more fresh meat is used because of the lack of garden space and the high cost of green vegetables.

The wife thinks that northern Negroes have better manners, but are not as friendly as the colored people in the South. She says people do not visit each other, and one is never invited to dine at a friend's house. She thinks they cannot afford it with food so high. She thinks people were better in the South than they are here and says they had to be good there for they had nothing else to do but go to church.

She feels a greater freedom here because of the right to vote, the better treatment accorded by white people, the lack of "Jim Crow" laws. She likes the North because of the protection afforded by the law and the better working conditions. "You don't have an overseer always standing over you," she remarked.

Life here is harder, however, because one has to work all the time. "In the South you could rest occasionally, but here, where food is so high and one must pay cash, it is hard to come out even." The climate is colder, making it necessary to buy more clothes and coal. Rent also is very much higher here. They had to sell their two $50 Liberty bonds.

Economic sufficiency.—With all this, Mrs. J—— gets more pleasure from her income because the necessities of life here were luxuries in Georgia, and though such things are dear here there is money to pay for them. Houses are more modern, but not good enough for the rent paid. They had to pay $2 more than the white family that moved out when they moved in.

Sentiments on the migration.—Mrs. J—— says "some colored people have come up here and forgotten to stay close to God," hence they have "gone to destruction." She hopes that an equal chance in industry will be given to all; that more houses will be provided for the people and rent will be charged for the worth of the house; and the cost of living generally will be reduced. She does not expect to return to Georgia and is advising friends to come to Chicago.

A FACTORY HAND

In his home town in Kentucky, Mr. M—— was a preacher with a small charge. Now, at the age of forty-nine, in Chicago, he works in a factory and is paid $130 a month. He has an adopted son, twenty-three years of age, who is an automobile mechanic in business for himself, drawing an income of $300 a month.

Mr. M—— might still be a preacher on small salary but for the intervention of his wife. He came to Chicago about 1900. His wife came from Nashville, Tennessee, in 1902, and they were married in 1904. Mrs. M—— felt that she was too independent to "live off the people" and persuaded her husband to give up the ministry. He got a job as foreman at a packing-house, where he earned $25 a week for a ten-hour day. Next he worked for the Chicago Telephone Company, and finally secured the position with a box-manufacturing company which he now holds.

Family life.—The M——s have adopted three children, having had none of their own—the adopted son already mentioned, an adopted daughter now twenty years of age, and another foster son of thirteen. The latter is in a North Side school. The girl is in a normal school in Alabama. Both Mr. and Mrs. M—— completed high school. All speak good English.

Wife and husband have separate banking accounts. Living expenses for such a large family are, of course, heavy. For example, the bills for food aggregate from $42 to $45 a week, and more than $200 a year is paid in insurance premiums. Frequently a woman is hired to come in and help with the housework. Food in good variety is used. Illness prevented adding to the bank accounts during the year of 1920. An operation performed on Mrs. M—— cost $650 and the illness of Mr. M—— and the daughter consumed between $900 and $1,000.

Housing experience.—The M——s' first home in Chicago was a cottage in the "Black Belt." They wanted a large house and found one on South State Street. The neighborhood, however, was displeasing to them, and they moved to the North Side to be near a brother's children. The house was too small, and they moved again to another North Side address. Again the neighborhood proved distasteful, so they bought the three-story dwelling on the North Side where they now live. It is in good sanitary condition and is supplied with gas. As lodgers they have the wife's sister and brother, who are actually members of the family.

Community participation.—They belong to the Baptist church. Affiliations of a secular nature include the Masons, the Household of Ruth, the Court of Calanthe, the Eastern Star, the Heroines of Jericho, the North Side Men's Progressive Club, the Twentieth Century and Golden Leaf clubs, and the Young Matrons and Volunteer Workers. Mrs. M—— is president of a settlement club and a member of the Urban League. After coming to Chicago three years passed before she mingled much with people. She had always done community work in her southern home and feels that her reluctance here was due to the fact that she did not know what the northern people were like. She found them friendly enough when at last she did associate with them.

Sentiments on community problems.—They came to Chicago because they had visited here and liked it well enough to come back and settle. Conditions are not all that they would like. They would like to see Negroes allowed to live anywhere they choose without hindrance, they would suppress moving pictures that reveal murder, drinking, and similar acts that lead young people to commit crimes. They would also like to see newspapers abandon their habit of printing articles that are derogatory to the Negro, thus creating prejudice, and of printing items unfit for children. Also they would like to see better homes for Negroes.

For the Negroes, they feel, life in the North is considerably easier than in the South, since they can always get plenty of work and do not have to work so hard as in the South. The mixed schools in the North are especially appreciated because no discrimination can creep in. The general lack of segregation on street cars, in parks, and in similar public places also pleases them. Still they see difficulties for southern Negroes who come North to live and are easily led astray. Southern Negroes are not accustomed to the new kinds of work and are inclined to slight it. This is, of course, unsatisfactory to their employers and accounts in some measure for the frequency with which they change jobs. This may also account for the fact that white people are averse to paying migrants well.

A RAILWAY MAIL CLERK

Mr. L—— was graduated from the Carbondale (Ill.) high school and the Southern Illinois State Normal School, while Mrs. L—— was graduated from Hyde Park High School and the Chicago Normal School. The latter is a music teacher. Before coming to Chicago, Mr. L—— was a school principal in Mounds, Illinois, and Mrs. L—— also was a teacher. They are northern people, the husband having been born in East St. Louis and the wife in Chicago. They have a daughter, three years of age, and have living with them a niece and nephew, six and five years old, as well as two adult women relatives.

Economic sufficiency.—As a railway mail clerk, Mr. L—— earns $125 a month. He owns a house and lot in Carbondale and carries insurance on his life and property. They spend $37.50 a month for rent, about $10 for miscellaneous items, $15 a week for food, $4 a month for gas, $1 for barber's services, and always $10 a month is added to the family's bank account.

Housing and neighborhood expenses.—In April, 1919, a flat building south of Sixty-third Street, previously occupied by white people, was opened to Negroes. The L—— family were the first of the Negroes to move in. A few white families wished to remain and lived in the same building with the Negroes. Mr. L—— says: "We objected, as they were not the kind of people we wanted to live with. My sister-in-law acted as agent of the building, and the condition of some of the flats was terrible. The owner was arrogant when the Negroes first came in, but he soon found that we would not be pleased with just anything. He told us he saw that we were particular and wanted things nice, and, said he, 'Seeing that you are that way, I'll do the best I can for you, as I believe you will take care of the flat.' The Negroes insisted on the laundry being cleaned and it is now being used."

The L—— family has had three stoves since moving in. After thoroughly renovating the building and making many of the repairs themselves, the sanitary conditions are good, and the owner makes no further objection to maintaining the good order of things.

The white people of the neighborhood objected to having the building occupied by Negroes. White boys of the neighborhood stoned the building, and its tenants were obliged to call upon the police for protection. This antagonism now seems to have disappeared. The white and Negro children play together amicably.

Community participation.—Mrs. L—— attends the First Presbyterian Church regularly and Mr. L—— is a member and secretary of the board of trustees of the A.M.E. Mission. He is a Mason and a member of the Woodlawn Community Organization, which has the betterment of the neighborhood as its aim. He plays tennis for recreation and goes to concerts and the movies for entertainment. The children in the family have made use of public playgrounds and libraries. Bathing-beaches have been sought occasionally, and contacts have been made with the St. Lawrence Mission, a neighborhood institution.

Opinions on race relations.—Mr. L—— thinks that agitation is of no assistance to the problem and draws attention to the fact that lack of agitation on the part of newspapers averted a riot in connection with one recent racial disturbance. "Housing is the greatest difficulty confronted by the migrant from the South." It is his opinion, further, that the Negroes are not understood, that the white people fear them until they become really acquainted with the Negroes. "Contact," he says, "is the only thing that will help to make conditions better. It is just a question of understanding each other."

A MULATTO

Mr. A—— was born in Chicago and his wife in Helena, Arkansas. He was educated in the Chicago public schools, and his wife attended Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, and afterward the Chicago Musical College.

Mr. A—— is light in complexion and is frequently mistaken for a white man. Several years ago, without announcing his race, he obtained work in a label factory and remained for some time until it was discovered that he was not a white man, and therefore the only Negro in the establishment. The officials, being the first to learn his racial identity, decided to keep him as long as no objection came from the other white employees. In a few years he became superintendent of the factory, which position he held for eight years. He was treated as an equal by members of the firm, who visited him at his home and invited him to their club. He was also president of the company's outing club.

A short time ago he decided to enter business for himself, and both he and his wife took courses in an embalming school. He now has a business with stock and fixtures valued at $10,000.

Economic sufficiency.—His business income affords a comfortable livelihood and a surplus for investment. He has bought one house and built another. These two are valued at $8,000 and yield $90 monthly. He also owns stock in the Pennsylvania Railroad and a fire insurance company, has $300 invested in Liberty bonds and owns a $1,000 automobile.

Community participation.—Mr. and Mrs. A—— attend Congregational church services every Sunday and get much pleasure from concerts, lectures, and shows in the "Loop." Their principal recreation is motoring. Mr. A—— is president of an association of business men and of a charity organization. He is a member of several fraternal organizations, contributes to Provident Hospital, United Charities, and the Urban League. His wife is an active committee member of a charity organization.

Opinions on local race problems.—Mr. A—— thinks there would be no housing problem if prejudice were not so marked. He mentioned a subdivision east of Stony Island Avenue where it is specifically stated that Negroes are not desired. Homes there are being sold for prices within the reach of Negroes, and he feels that at least 500 Negroes would be glad to pay cash for such homes anywhere in Chicago if they were given the opportunity. He feels that proper protection should be given Negroes against bombers.

A TRANSPLANTED HOUSEHOLD

Mr. B—— is seventy-two years old and his wife sixty-four. They came to Chicago during the migration. They had difficulty in finding work suited to their advanced age and in accustoming themselves to the simplest changes in environment. Neither of them can read or write.

Home life in the South.—In Alabama they owned an eight-acre farm and a four-room house and raised hogs, chickens, and cows. They both had worked twelve hours a day for years and by denying themselves even a comfortable home had saved $2,000. They were members of a church, although they could not actively participate in church or other affairs of their rural community. When the migration fever struck them they sold their property, drew out their $2,000, and followed the crowd.

Home life in Chicago.—They first secured rooms and began the search for work. Mr. B—— finally secured a job in a livery stable at $18 a week, but the work was uncertain and the wages insufficient. Mrs. B—— went to work cleaning taxicabs. Illness and frequent lapses in work depleted their savings. They rented an eight-room house and took in lodgers, hoping to insure a steady income. They have nine lodgers in these eight rooms, in addition to themselves. There is no furnace heat; the bathroom is out of repair, the halls dark and dirty, and they are using their old furniture brought from the South. Three of the women lodgers came from the same Alabama community. The habits and customs of this household are unchanged. They go out seldom, and all of the women smoke pipes and use snuff.

Of the original $2,000 which Mr. B—— brought with him, he has $250 left.

They make no use of civic and social agencies and do not go to church because they think Chicago Negroes are unsociable. They prize the fact, however, that work is plentiful for the lodgers, and they have no intention of returning South.

A BARBER FROM MISSISSIPPI

Mr. D—— was a migrant and a member of a party of over a hundred Negroes who left Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in the autumn of 1916.

He was a barber at home and earned an average of $25 a week. Mrs. D—— was a good housewife. They owned a house and lot valued at $1,000 and furniture valued at $500. They have two children.

Motive for coming to Chicago.—Mr. D—— had always read the Chicago Defender, and usually got in a supply of these papers to sell to his customers and to supply topics for barber-shop discussion. His daughter, then a student at Straight College in New Orleans, was to be graduated that year, and he went to New Orleans to spend a week. While there he worked in a barber shop. He found that the migration was being much discussed. One day a man came into the shop and said he was a representative of a northern industry that was anxious to get Negroes to come North and work for it. He argued that the North had freed the Negroes, but had left them in the South where they had not received good treatment, so that at this late date the North was trying to right an old wrong and was now offering to Negroes a chance to work. On the other hand the Negroes were indebted to the North for their freedom.

When Mr. D—— returned home he sold his barber shop and left for the North with his wife and children.

Life in Chicago.—Opening a place of business in Chicago, he called it the Hattiesburg Barber Shop. It is patronized largely by Hattiesburg people who came up in his party. His earnings are larger here, but at first his wife was forced to work in the Stock Yards at $10 a week to help meet the family budget. Occasionally now she works as a hairdresser. They pay $46.50 a month for rent. Their clothing bill amounts to $650 a year. Last year they spent $200 for medicine and an average of $18 a week for food. Their insurance premiums total $6 a month.

Community participation.—In the South the entire family was active in church affairs. In Chicago they have continued their church connections, and Mr. D—— is one of the officials at the Olivet Baptist Church. They go to church four times a week.

Adjustments to Chicago.—They were quick to begin adjustment to their new surroundings, profiting by the advice and instructions of their present pastor. At the end of six months they felt themselves quite at home. They feel the need for using more careful English and are more formal in their greetings and relations with persons whom they meet. They enjoy the "freedom of speech and action" allowed in Chicago, the privilege of voting, the freedom from segregation, and the absence of Jim Crow laws. They think Chicago is fair to Negroes in so far as laws are concerned, but believe there should be better enforcement of the laws. They find life easier here, although there is more work to be done. They feel a great satisfaction in the more modern homes and other comforts and pleasures they are able to obtain. Each month they add a small amount to their bank account. They suggest that Negroes who have become adjusted to Chicago should take pains in a kindly spirit to inform newcomers concerning the proper deportment. They believe that if advice is offered in the right manner it will always be gladly received. They do not intend to return South.

A STOCK YARDS LABORER

A son-in-law of the B—— family, also from Mississippi, is employed at the Stock Yards. His impressions throw light on the adjustment of migrants and on their views. He said:

"A friend met me when I first came to Chicago and took me to the Stock Yards and got me a job. I went to the front of the street car the first time I entered one here because my friend told me to; I would not sit beside a white person at first, but I finally got courage to do so.

"At Swift's the whites were friendly. There I was in the dry-salt department at 22½ cents an hour. The foreman, a northerner, had been there thirty-five years. He was fair to all. I worked with Americans, Poles, and Irish. But the work was very hard, and I had to leave. I carried my lunch with me. Negroes and whites there eat together when they wish. I am now working at Wilson's. The Irish and Poles are a mean class. They try to get the Negroes to join the union. When the Negroes went to work Friday after the riot, most of the Irish and Poles quit and didn't come back to work until Monday. They came back jawing because the Negroes didn't join the union. White members of the union got paid when their houses had been burned—$50 if they had families and $25 if they were single. Colored members of the union got nothing when their houses had been burned. That's why I won't join. You pay money and get nothing. The whites worked during the riot; we had to lose that time. I lost two weeks. It seemed strange to me. It looked unfair. They are still mean and 'dig ditches' for us. They go to the foreman and knock us, just trying to get us out of jobs. The foreman so far hasn't paid any attention to it. I am working in the fresh-pork department, handling boxes.

"The Negroes stick together and tend to their business. Some of the Americans and Polish are very friendly. Everybody does his own work. We use the same showers and locker-rooms. They don't want us to work because we are not in the union. One asked me yesterday to join. The Poles said non-union men would not get a raise, but we got it."

Opinions on race relations.—"When I first came I thought the city was wide open—I mean friendly and free. It seems that there is more discrimination and unfriendly feeling than I thought. I notice it at work and in public places. Wages are not increasing like the high cost of living. As soon as one gets a raise, the cost of living goes up [May, 1920].

"The whites act just as disorderly on cars as the Negroes. Monday evening two white laborers sitting beside a white woman cursed so much that I had to look around. Nothing is ever said about such incidents.

"Rent goes up whenever people think of it. We have to pay $8 more since April. Things are getting worse for us and we need to think about it. Still it is better here than in the South."

AN OLD SETTLER

Mr. S—— was born in Baltimore in 1851. At the time of the gold rush to California, his father took his family and started out to seek his fortune. They had got as far as Chicago when his father was robbed and the journey ended. Mr. S—— has lived here since. He has seen many changes during his sixty-three years' residence in Chicago. When he came here the city limits were Twelfth Street on the South and Chicago Avenue on the North, and there were no street cars. The Negro population was 175. His parents took him on Sunday to the Railway Chapel Sunday School, started in 1857 in two passenger cars by a Presbyterian minister, Father Kent. The first building occupied by this congregation was on the site where the Board of Trade now stands, 141 West Jackson Boulevard. This was destroyed in the fire of 1871. The second church was at the corner of State and Thirteenth streets, where the Fair warehouse now stands. The next site of the church was that of the Institutional Church at Thirty-eighth and Dearborn streets.

Early housing experience.—Prejudice, Mr. S—— says, was unknown in the early days. He has lived south of Thirty-first Street for thirty-five years. They were the first Negro family to enter the block in which they now live. He built his home there and has been living there twenty years.

A BASEBALL "MAGNATE"

Mr. G—— was born in La Grange, Texas, the son of a minister. As a boy he worked on his father's farm, went to school, and progressed as far as the eighth grade. He was a good baseball player. He played first in Forth Worth, Texas, then in New York and Philadelphia, and finally came to Chicago in 1907. The highest amount he had been able to earn was $9 a week. His first job in Chicago netted him about $1,000 a year. In 1910 he had acquired ownership of the team, and now, at the age of forty, it nets him $15,000 a year. His team has traveled extensively, having covered the principal cities in the United States at least twenty-five times.

Home life.—Mrs. G—— was born in Sherman, Texas. She completed the first-year high school at her home. She is a modest woman and a good housekeeper. They have two children, a son of nine and a daughter of three. Mr. G—— has moved four times in Chicago, seeking desirable living quarters for his family. He owns a three-story brick building containing nine rooms, the house in which he now lives. In addition he owns $7,000 worth of Liberty bonds and values his baseball team and other personal property at about $35,000.

Community participation.—Both Mr. and Mrs. G—— were church members in the South. This membership is continued in Chicago. Mrs. G—— belongs to an A.M.E. church and is interested in and helps support Provident Hospital and Phyllis Wheatley Home for Girls, while Mr. G—— is a member of several fraternal orders, City Federation of Clubs, and the Appomattox Club. Their recreation is baseball and dancing, and they find entertainment in attending theaters and orchestra concerts principally in the "Loop." Mr. G—— is very much interested now in a playground which is being established near his home and a tennis and croquet club for young people in the same vicinity.

AN OLD RESIDENT

Before coming to Chicago in 1886 Mrs. L—— had lived in Washington and Detroit. Mr. L—— was successively a railroad porter, a night watchman, and a janitor. There are four children, three daughters and a son. Two of the daughters are married and have families. One is a dressmaker, another a stenographer, and another an accomplished musician. The son is a typist. Several years ago Mr. L—— purchased a lot near Forty-seventh Street on Wells Street on which he built his home. In this neighborhood the family was reared. Mr. L—— died several years ago.

Riot experience.—Although the L—— family has been living at Forty-seventh and Wells streets for over thirty years, and relations between the family and the white neighbors in the block were cordial, gangs of hoodlums from other districts practically destroyed their property. The house was attacked, some of the furniture was stolen, and some was destroyed. The heavy pieces of furniture were broken up and burned in the street. The building was so badly damaged that they were forced to move into a boarding-house for a time.

Community participation.—The L—— family lived in a section of the city in which there were few Negroes, but maintained an active relationship with organizations of the Negro community. They are members of the A.M.E. Church and Sunday school and of two fraternal organizations. Mrs. L—— is a member of the Linen Club of the Provident Hospital and is actively interested in the Old Folks Home. Miss L——, one of the daughters, is well known in the community as a musician and composer.

A PHYSICIAN

Dr. W—— and family came to Chicago in 1910. He had lived in Mexico City until the revolution made living there hazardous. He was in good circumstances, maintaining a comfortable household with servants. Since he has been in Chicago he has had considerable difficulty in finding a home in a neighborhood fit for rearing his children. He finally purchased a home on Grand Boulevard which is valued at more than $25,000. It is a three-story building with brown-stone front, ten rooms and two baths, and many works of art installed by the artist, Holslag, who formerly owned the house, and who himself painted some of the decorations. Dr. W—— has spent several thousand dollars on the furnishings.

Home life.—Besides the doctor and his family there are two other relatives. The physician's income is adequate to maintain this establishment and in addition two high-class automobiles. Mrs. W—— is a social leader and does much entertaining. She is a patron of community drama and attends grand opera and the leading theaters in the "Loop." They were formerly Catholics but now attend the Bahai Assembly. Dr. W—— is a member of two fraternal orders and two social clubs. Their recreation is tennis, boating, motoring, and bathing. He is a director of the Chicago Health Society. He is an examining physician and a member of the board of directors in a life insurance company. Both are members of the Art Institute and are active in supporting the settlements and hospitals of the community.

In addition to her social duties Mrs. W—— continues the study of music. She is chaperon at the regular dances of a post of the American Legion held in the South Side Community Center; a member of the Library Committee of the Y.W.C.A., and is interested in the entertainment of Negro students of the University of Chicago.

They are living in a neighborhood in which several bombings of homes of Negroes have occurred, but Mrs. W—— says that their relations with the white neighbors are friendly.

A NATIVE OF CHICAGO

Mr. C—— was born in Chicago in 1869. His grandmother was part Indian and his grandfather of Scotch extraction. The grandfather was born in Cincinnati, and was graduated from Oberlin College. His father's brother was a personal friend of Owen Lovejoy and Wendell Phillips. In Leavenworth, Kansas, a monument had been erected to him as the first Negro captain of a volunteer company. He fought with General Buckner in New Orleans, was active as an abolitionist, and his wife was one of the women sent to Kansas to establish schools among Negroes. She taught school for thirty-six years and was one of the first women in the country who were graduated as kindergarten teachers. His maternal grandfather bought a home in Chicago in 1854 and lived where the Federal Building now stands. At the time of Mr. C——'s birth his father lived on Plymouth Court, then called Diana Place. They lived for thirty-one years on South La Salle Street, where they owned their home.

Economic sufficiency.—Mr. C—— is a graduate of the Chicago College of Dental Surgery and practiced his profession until ill health forced him into other fields. He has been a clerk in the county treasurer's office, assistant bookkeeper in a white bank in Memphis, which position he held for two years, and assistant electrician for a telephone company. Now, at fifty-one, he is superintendent of the Western Exposition Company's building. Twice he has lost his savings by bank failures. He lost $9,000 through the failure of the Day and Night Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. He owns a house and lot, oil and mining stocks valued at $4,600, Liberty bonds, Thrift stamps, and carries a small bank balance. His present home is a four-room flat in a building on South State Street, which contains forty apartments and two stores. With him lives the family of his younger brother, who has a twelve-year-old son. He is a member of the Baptist church and two fraternal orders. His chief recreation is swimming, and he finds his entertainment in the "Loop" theaters and the city library.

A MISSOURI FAMILY

Mr. and Mrs. T—— came to Chicago in 1919, the wife arriving one month before her husband. They had been living in St. Louis, Missouri, where Mr. T—— was employed as a roller in an aluminum works. Prior to that time he had been a houseman, and before that a teamster.

There are two children. One is fourteen years old and in the first-year high school, and the other is seven and in the first-grade grammar school.

Mrs. T—— has always been a substantial aid to her husband, and, as she says, she "doesn't always wait for him to bring something to her, but goes out herself and helps to get it." Accordingly, when reports were being circulated that Chicago offered good jobs and a comfortable living, she came up to investigate while her husband held his job in St. Louis.

Home life in Chicago.—The family lives on State Street over a store. They have moved four times since coming to Chicago in 1919, once to be nearer work, once to get out of a neighborhood that suffered during the riot, and twice to find a more desirable neighborhood for their family. They are not satisfied with their present home and are planning to move again as soon as a more suitable place can be found. With them live a sister-in-law and her child, who are regarded as members of the family. The house is in poor sanitary condition. The toilet is in the yard and used by two families. There is no bath. The sister-in-law is a music teacher but does not earn much. She pays board when she can afford it.

Mr. T—— is forty-seven and his wife forty-six years old. He is employed at the International Harvester Company and earns $35 a week for a nine-hour day. He consumes an hour and a half each day going to work.

Although Mr. T—— lived on a farm and too far from school to attend, he taught himself to read and write. Mrs. T—— went as far as the eighth grade in grammar school.

Community participation.—The entire family belongs to a Methodist church. Mr. T—— is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Mrs. T—— is a member of the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten. They have no active recreation. For amusement they attend motion-picture shows in the neighborhood. The children regularly use the playground near their home and the Twenty-sixth Street Beach.

Adjustment to Chicago.—Their most difficult adjustment has been in housing. They think landlords should be forced to provide better homes for the people in view of the high rents.

AN EMBALMER

Mr. B—— was born in Texas, lived for a number of years in Tuskegee, Alabama, moved to Montgomery, and thence to Chicago in the summer of 1906. His first position here was that of coachman for $30 a month, room, and board. His next position was that of porter, working fifteen hours a day for $30 a week. He accumulated a small amount of money, and, wishing to enter business for himself, and not having sufficient funds to attend a specialized school, he secured a job with an embalmer and worked for him four years. In 1913 he entered the undertaking business for himself. He is now buying a two-story brick building on a five-year contract, to serve as a place of business and a home. The business is young and was begun on small capital. To establish himself he exhausted his little bank account and sold his Liberty bonds. His equipment is still incomplete, and he rents funeral cars and other equipment necessary for burials.

Community participation.—Both Mr. and Mrs. B—— are members of several local improvement clubs; they attend Friendship Baptist Church, and each belongs to three fraternal orders.

Sentiments on local conditions.—Mrs. B—— thinks the town too large for much friendliness. Mr. B—— believes that there should be a segregated vice district. His principal objection to the present scattering of houses of prostitution is that his wife, who is frequently obliged to return home late at night, is subjected to insults from men in the neighborhood. He thinks there should be a law requiring that landlords clean flats at least once a year.

A YOUNG PHYSICIAN

Dr. C—— is a good example of the numbers of young Negro professional men in Chicago. His office is on State Street near Thirty-fifth. He was born in Albany, New York, and his wife in Keokuk, Iowa. They have lived in Chicago since 1915.

Early experiences in profession.—Through a civil-service examination Dr. C—— secured a place as junior physician at the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. At the same time he passed with high rating an examination for interneship at the Oak Forest Infirmary. At the latter place he was promptly rejected because of his color, and at the former he was asked to leave nine hours after he reported for duty.

Economic status.—Dr. C—— owns a house and lot in his former home, Albany, which he values at $14,000 and other property and stock holdings valued at $13,000.

Education.—Dr. C—— was graduated from the Brooklyn Grammar School, the Boys' High School of Brooklyn, and Cornell University, where he obtained his A.B. and M.D. degrees. Mrs. C—— is a graduate nurse. He is at present an associate surgeon and chief of the dispensary of a local hospital.

Community participation.—He has already assumed a position of leadership in the social activities of the community, is a trustee of the new Metropolitan Church, a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Chicago Medical Society, American Medical Association, Urban League, and a director of the Community Service, and also an instructor at the Chicago Hospital College.

Opinions on race relations.—He believes that the recent migration of Negroes has been an advantage in teaching Chicago Negroes the value of property ownership and co-operation. He thinks the scarcity of homes for Negroes can be relieved by allowing Negroes "as much freedom as the American dollar." Definite suggestions for improving conditions within the race he gives as follows:

1. Establishment of a permanent medium for understanding between the two races—a permanent commission to act in the adjustment of difficulties of any kind. This body should be composed of Negroes and whites.

2. Rigid enforcement of existing laws.

3. A systematic campaign under the direction of the commission among Negroes to teach them personal hygiene.

4. Negroes should join labor unions and refuse to serve as strike breakers.

5. When Negroes do act as strike breakers, the doctor thinks, race friction is created and labor is cheapened. Negroes can obtain a square deal from the unions only when they have joined them in sufficient numbers to demand justice by becoming an important factor in the unions. If they are not permitted in certain unions they should form groups of their own for collective bargaining.

A YOUNG LAWYER

Numbers of young Negro lawyers are establishing themselves in Chicago, and their influence already is being felt in the community. A good example of this group is Mr. J——, who, although only twenty-eight years old, has been actively practicing law six years. He was born in Kentucky and has lived in Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, New York, and Oklahoma.

Education.—He completed high school in Kansas, graduated from Oberlin College, and then went to Columbia University, New York, and received the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. His wife completed the junior year in college in New York, studied art in New York City, and is skilled in china painting.

Home life.—Mr. and Mrs. J—— have one child of four years. They live in one of the 1,400 buildings owned by a real estate man of that district who "notoriously neglects his property." The struggle to establish himself during the first few years in Chicago was difficult. Now Mr. J—— has the confidence of a large number of people, and a clientèle which provides a comfortable income.

Community participation.—Mr. J—— is a trustee of the institutional A.M.E. Church, chairman of the United Political League, member of the Y.M.C.A., Knights of Pythias, a Greek-letter fraternity and the Urban League, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Friends of Negro Freedom.

Civic consciousness.—He thinks that if working Negroes and working white men can be led to regard one another as workingmen interested in the same cause the color question will be forgotten. He believes that prejudice is based on the economic system. With respect to housing he thinks a Negro should, as an American citizen, be free to purchase real estate wherever he is able to make a purchase; that as long as artificial barriers are set up there can be no successful solution of the color question; that a man's respect for the rights of others increases in proportion to his intelligence, and that the press can be a great source of evil or good in educating the people. He believes that there should be clubs and educational meetings to instruct some of the less refined classes of Negroes in conduct.

A MIGRANT PROFESSIONAL MAN

Mr. and Mrs. F—— lived in Jackson, Mississippi, until 1917, the year of the migration, when they moved to Chicago. He followed his clientèle and established an office on State Street near Thirty-first Street. Mr. F—— received his commercial and legal training at Jackson College and Walden University. Mrs. F—— is a graduate of Rust College and the University of Chicago.

Home life.—The F—— home evidences their economic independence. It contains ten rooms and bath and is kept in excellent condition. They own six houses in the South, from which they receive an income. Mr. F—— is the president of an insurance company incorporated in Illinois in 1918, which has a membership of 12,000. He has also organized a mercantile company, grocery and market on State Street, incorporated for $10,000, of which $7,000 has been paid.

They have two sons, nineteen and twelve years of age, and three adult nephews living with them. One nephew is a painter at the Stock Yards, another is a laborer, and the third a shipping-clerk.

Community participation.—They are members of the Baptist church and of the People's Movement, while Mr. F—— is a member of the Appomattox Club, an organization of leading Negro business and professional men. In addition to membership in three fraternal organizations, they are interested in and contribute to the support of the Urban League and United Charities.

Opinions on race relations.—Concerning housing, Mr. F—— feels that some corporation should build medium-sized cottages for workingmen. He thinks that the changes in labor conditions make it hard for Negroes to grasp immediately the northern industrial methods. Patience will help toward adjustment, he thinks.

He thinks that colored women receive better protection in Chicago than in the South. His experience in the courts leads him to believe that Negroes have a fairer chance here than in the South. Agitation by the press in his opinion can have no other effect than to make conditions worse.