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

by Chicago Commission on Race Relations

IV. THE NEGRO IN THE COURTS

During the Commission's inquiry an effort was made to ascertain conditions in some of the various courts into which Negroes are brought; to learn the comparative attitudes of judges, prosecutors, and policemen toward Negro and white offenders, and to learn some of the pertinent facts in the social history of Negroes brought into these courts.

In all, 703 cases were studied, 538 white and 165 Negro. The social histories showed a conspicuous lack of schooling in the Negroes arrested, more than half of whom had left school before reaching the age of twelve. This is two years below the minimum age for children in Illinois. Only eight had gone beyond the fifth grade. More than 76 per cent were engaged in unskilled work, and more than 70 per cent had incomes of less than $25 a week. Few were property owners. More than 50 per cent were locked up because of inability to furnish bonds.

Compared with white prisoners there was little difference in economic class, ability to provide bonds, or legal representation. There was some noticeable difference in the character of offenders, varying with the type of neighborhood, but no general comparisons were possible because the courts were selected in a manner to get the greatest number of Negro cases.

While judges in most courts treated Negro defendants as considerately as they did whites, conditions in other courts were quite different. One judge frequently assumed an attitude of facetiousness while hearing Negro cases. The hearings were characterized by levity and lack of dignity. In one instance the judge was shaking dice during the hearing of the case.

1. JUVENILE COURT

Between 1913 and 1919, inclusive, the number of Negro boys brought into the juvenile court increased from 123 to 288, and the number of Negro girls from 71 to 112. The proportion of Negro boys to the total during this six-year period decreased from 9 to 6.8 per cent; and the proportion of Negro girls increased from 5.6 to 14.8 per cent. The proportion for Negro boys represents a little over twice the proportion of the Negroes to total population, and for Negro girls about three and one-half times. Although the proportion for both Negro boys and girls increased from 7.9 per cent in 1913 to 9.9 per cent in 1919, the Negro population for the same period increased over 100 per cent. The constant disproportion in the number of Negro boys and girls coming into the juvenile court points again to infective environment and to other circumstances heretofore mentioned involved in the crime rate for Negroes.

Northern and southern Negro delinquents.—Miss Mary Bartelme, assistant to Judge Arnold, before whom all cases of delinquent girls are tried, said: "In recent years we have had a large number of colored girls who have come up from the South to Chicago because their fathers sent for them. Their education has not been equal to the education of white girls and their mental development has not been the same."

Joseph L. Moss, chief probation officer in the juvenile court, believed that Negro girls might be more affected by the war situation, the abnormal excitement, the lure of the uniform, than white girls.

Mr. Moss further said:

My impression is that southern Negroes contribute just about their portion to the total number of delinquents. If any difference could be noted I might say that the delinquencies of the southern Negro might be more often classed as misdemeanors than as the more serious offenses. One noted at times a sort of irresponsibility on the part of southern Negro delinquents which seemed to me to be traceable to the difference in standards between former environment and the present one.

Differences in delinquency of Negro and white children.—No information could be secured to show that the conduct for which Negro children are brought into court is in any way different from the conduct of all delinquent children. On this point Miss Bartelme testified: "I get all offenses committed by girls under eighteen years of age. I want to say that the offenses of white and colored are very much the same as far as those offenses come before me." Mr. Moss testified before the Commission: "From my experience I would say that there is no significant difference between acts for which colored delinquent boys are brought into court, and the acts for which white delinquent boys are brought into court, with this exception: that larceny, as an offense, seems to have a considerable lead over other offenses."

Comparative environment.—Since many of the delinquent children who come into the juvenile court, particularly first offenders, are placed on probation, comparative environment of white and Negro children is important. This subject does not lend itself to statistical presentation, but Miss Bartelme said:

Negro girls have not the same supervision that many of the white girls of their same class have, because in so many instances both parents are working, and the girls are left alone. They come home from school to a house that is closed. There is no one to receive them, and that, with a child, is always a very serious matter. The environment in which they live is not equal to the environment of the white girls. In these homes lack of privacy is greater than in the homes of the same class of white girls, therefore making life much more difficult and temptations more numerous. These conditions are much worse on account of the recent congestion, but they have existed right along. Negro children have been allowed to live in worse quarters, more crowded quarters, than the other children.... We feel that in placing the children on probation, especially colored girls, they are placed in a home which often is not a home because the mother is away at work.

Mr. O. J. Milliken, for many years a public-school principal in Chicago, and now superintendent of the Chicago and Cook County School for Boys, to which the milder delinquent cases are committed, testified:

I should not like to be recorded as giving a criticism of the Board of Education, because I know that the present Board of Education believes in what I have to say now, but this is true: the colored boys are in the district that has practically been abandoned by the white people and the schools are only boxes for them to go to school in. You don't find any of the $900,000 school buildings in the colored population district, and I think that the time is approaching when the old system will be changed and we will have the vocational work, etc., thoroughly organized in the schools in these districts where most needed.[46] In dealing with boys I think more complaints come along that line than in any other, and I have made a report to the superintendent of schools on that at different times.

Boys who are "trusties" in the above school are allowed to secure jobs in Chicago. Their difficulties were outlined by Mr. Milliken as follows: "After a boy has been committed by the Juvenile Court, he is known by the police, and I have four or five colored boys today who are carrying letters from me asking the police to please allow these boys to go to work, and if the boys are in trouble to notify our institution."

Mr. Milliken told how, when the boys are seen on the streets, they are picked up by the police. He referred to "one of the finest lads we have had" and said, "I think probably within the last three months I have had to get him out of the hands of the police by calling up the police department twenty times, to get him to work." This difficulty, in Mr. Milliken's opinion, was more common in regard to Negro than white delinquents.

2. BUREAU OF IDENTIFICATION

While only 11.5 per cent of all persons arrested in Chicago in 1919 were Negroes, more than 21 per cent of all persons held on criminal charges in 1919 and taken to the Detective Division Identification Section were Negroes. In proportion to total arrests about twice as many Negroes as whites were taken to the Identification Bureau. Explanations of this disproportion by officials indirectly connected with this branch of the department and familiar with its methods are illuminating.

Judges of the criminal court have stated that "Negroes look alike," and that it is "more difficult offhand to place them than it is to identify a white criminal"; that Negroes are frequently taken to the Bureau for identification when white men would not be arrested or would be at once recognized, picked up, and booked.

Again, it is explained that it is unquestionably safer "to pick up and mug" a Negro than a white person, because there is less fear of an unpleasant "comeback." Negroes have fewer resources and less influence with which to insure their fair treatment, and so are more likely to be subjected to annoyance.

The fundamental reason, however, is perhaps more economic than racial. The City Council Crime Committee Report, or "Merriam Report," says:

The department of police maintains a bureau of identification with a system of photographs and finger prints, but it is largely a matter of chance as to who is photographed, and as to whether the record of criminality is asked for before he is sentenced, the judge relying largely on the statement of the prisoner and the memory of the officer. In general, all prisoners who are held to the Grand Jury and are not released on bail are taken to the bureau, photographed, and their finger prints are taken. This seems a very unfair and illogical arrangement. If there is a reason for photographing a man before he is tried and while he is still only a suspect, the reason should apply equally to those in jail and those on bail. The practice of taking the finger prints and photographs of only the men and women who cannot afford bail, seems hard to justify.[47]

3. PROBATION AND PAROLE

It appears from the testimony of officials and others interested in the care of offenders that the Negro on probation or parole is handicapped by his color. He is more likely to be interrogated as a suspect; is more frequently arrested, and perhaps "mugged," and is in more danger of being molested even while on legitimate business. The principal sources of information on this subject were:

1. Statistics from the Municipal Department of Adult Probation.

2. Statistics from state institutions.

3. Testimony of John L. Whitman, state superintendent of prisons; John M. Houston, head of the Municipal Department of Adult Probation; and Dr. F. Emory Lyon, superintendent of the Central Howard Association.

The figures provided from institutions are probably accurate, since they are based on actual count, and do not involve any of the factors overweighting crime statistics.

Number admitted to probation.—From 1911 to January 1, 1920, 27,252 whites and 1,917 Negroes were admitted to probation after conviction in the municipal and criminal courts. Negroes were thus slightly less than 7 per cent of the total. For the six-year period ended January 1, 1920, Negro arrests for misdemeanors, according to police records, averaged 8.20 per cent and for felonies 11.13 per cent. On convictions for misdemeanors, Negroes average about 8.5 per cent of the total, and for felonies, over 13 per cent. The percentage of Negroes among all offenders placed on probation is thus less than the percentage of Negroes among those convicted in either group. In other words, the convicted white man seems more likely to be put on probation than the convicted Negro.

Probation depends largely upon the attitude of the judges. The total number of persons placed on probation has remained virtually the same from year to year. In fact, 164 fewer persons were put on probation in 1920 than in 1919; so that the migration of southern Negroes does not seem to have affected this situation.

Extent to which probationers "make good."—There are no exact figures showing the relative degree to which white and Negro probationers justify the leniency shown them, but Judge Houston testified before the Commission: "I do not think there is any difference. I am satisfied that the results are equally as good in the colored cases as in the white. I don't see any material difference between a colored man and a white man, so far as their truthfulness and reliability are concerned."

Institutional figures.—Official reports were submitted by the following state correctional and penal institutions: Chester State Hospital for the Criminal Insane, Pontiac Reformatory, Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Menard, and Joliet Penitentiary. No prisoners are paroled from Chester State Hospital.

Pontiac reported that last year 45 Negroes and 294 whites had been paroled. Of the Negroes 88 per cent, and of the whites 80 per cent, had "made good."

Menard reported that 50 Negroes and 168 whites had been paroled. Of the Negroes 76 per cent, and of the whites 81 per cent, had "made good."

Joliet reported that 61 Negroes and 223 whites had been paroled. Of the Negroes 69 per cent, and of the whites 74 per cent, "made good."

Totals for all the above institutions show that the percentages of Negro and white paroled who "make good" are nearly the same, the Negro rate being 76.9 per cent and the white 78.2 per cent.

John L. Whitman, state superintendent of prisons, who has had a continuous experience covering more than twenty-six years in correctional and penal institutions, testified before the Commission:

If there is a consistent effort being made to prepare inmates of prisons for good citizenship when they are released, the colored man responds as readily as the white, but it is a question in my mind whether the colored man can profit as much by it when he gets out as the white man can. That, however, is not due to a natural inclination; perhaps his opportunities on the outside are not as good.... I think if the reports of those on parole from the state institutions now are closely studied, it will be found that they have more difficulties to surmount on the outside than the whites. If you assumed the white and colored ex-convicts on a par when they get out, the colored ex-convict would find it more difficult to lead the "straight and narrow"—on account of the forces set against him he is more greatly handicapped.

Dr. F. Emory Lyon, superintendent of the Central Howard Association, an organization which for twenty years has been dealing with ex-convicts, testified:

We have found this greater difficulty in dealing with colored men—in finding suitable rooming places within their means. Of course we could always find rooms recommended by the colored Y.M.C.A., or some such source as that, but generally for desirable places charges were beyond their means.

My experience in dealing with the colored and white, and in getting them employment, and in observing their satisfactory fulfilment of their paroles, is that possibly a little larger percentage of colored men make good on their paroles. They take any kind of employment by which they can make an honest living. I notice in our report of this year that out of 972 assisted, discharged and paroled men, ninety-two were colored men. This would be just about 10 per cent. I think that is probably a fair proportion each year in the history of the Association.

Colonel C. B. Adams, managing officer of St. Charles School for boys, said: "We have seven farm cottages.... but we rarely send a Negro boy to the farm cottage for the reason that it is almost impossible for him to secure employment on the farms. The farmers in northern Illinois.... are prejudiced against colored help, and it is almost impossible for us to secure employment on the farm for a colored boy."

Dr. Clara Hayes, managing officer of the State Training School for Girls at Geneva, said: "I think the proportion of the colored girls who are returned for one cause or another is practically the same as the proportion of white girls.... I think the proportion of those recurring from misconduct is practically the same."

Mr. O. J. Milliken, of the Chicago and Cook County School for boys, said that Negro boys equaled white boys in fulfilling satisfactorily the requirements for those paroled.

4. INSTITUTIONAL INQUIRY

Through the co-operation of John L. Whitman, state superintendent of prisons, information was secured regarding comparative treatment and conduct of white and Negro inmates of Illinois. The data covered the State Penitentiary at Joliet, Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Menard, State Reformatory at Pontiac, and State Hospital for the Criminal Insane at Chester.

Total number of prisoners.—In the total number of inmates in those institutions, the percentage of Negroes is much larger than the percentage convicted of felonies in Chicago. The percentage of Negroes among all persons convicted of felonies in Chicago for a six-year period averaged 13.1 per cent, whereas their proportion among all inmates of these prisons is about 23 per cent. Omitting the Southern Illinois Penitentiary, the proportion is about 20 per cent. This disproportion is in part explained by facts brought out elsewhere showing that Negroes receive much longer sentences and fewer paroles (see [p. 330]).

All these institutions reported that in no cases were Negro and white prisoners kept in the same cells. Mr. Whitman stated that this arrangement was preferred by both whites and Negroes. Negro and white prisoners are not segregated in separate cell sections but occupy adjoining cells in the same block. "They are all in the same cell house; they are together in the shops; in cottages; in the farm where there are dormitories."

Negro and white prisoners eat in the same dining-room at the same time and at the same table. "The tables are for six or eight and there will be colored and white at the same table." They also attend public meetings together. Mr. Whitman also stated that in all the institutions Negroes and whites mingled without distinction, and that the result had been satisfactory. There was no difference in food, clothing, employment, cells, or discipline for Negro prisoners as a group from that of white prisoners because of the Negro's character or deportment. In no case was racial discrimination in such matters used as a means of discipline or punishment.

Conduct in prison.—There is no exact system for appraising conduct within the prison, but at Mr. Whitman's request persons were appointed in each institution to examine the record of each inmate as to conduct and tabulate the results. These and other data secured by Superintendent Whitman indicate that Negroes are less amenable to prison discipline than whites, but that their violations of rules are not so grave.

The percentage of Negro inmates whose conduct was marked "satisfactory" was smaller in all institutions than the percentage of whites. At Pontiac the difference in conduct was negligible. The greatest disparity was in Menard (in the southern part of the state), where the difference amounted to more than 20 per cent.

5. OTHER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

St. Charles School for Boys receives delinquent boys between ten and seventeen years of age from the whole state. Negro and white boys are accepted up to the capacity limit. Negro boys are 12.5 per cent of the total, or slightly above the proportion which the Cook County Juvenile Court report shows Negro boys bear to the total of delinquent boys. Since 1915, the Negro population at St. Charles has increased from 8 per cent to 12.5 per cent of the total, or approximately half as rapidly as the Negro population in Chicago. St. Charles is conducted on the cottage plan, there being twenty-two cottages. Negro and white boys live in the same cottage, eat in the same dining-room, and use the same playground.

Four out of the twelve cadet companies have Negro captains, and these have more white than Negro boys under them. There are no racial difficulties in regard to employment or discipline, and the general conduct of Negro and white boys was reported to be the same. Colonel C. B. Adams, managing officer, said: "I really think mentally, and I am sure physically, the colored boys, such as come into the institution today, are superior to the white boys. We make much of athletics in the school and the best athletes we have are colored boys."

Geneva State Training School for Girls had 417 girls in 1917, 475 in 1918, and 445 in 1920. The increase over 1917 is proportionately the same for white and Negro girls. In 1920, out of 445 girls, eighty-three, or about 18.5 per cent, were Negro. Conditions at Geneva are substantially similar to those at St. Charles, with the exception that in one cottage, Negro and white girls eat at different tables. This, the managing officer, Dr. Clara B. Hayes, says is mutually agreeable. No difficulties exist with regard to employment or discipline. As to conduct on probation and parole, Dr. Hayes thought there was no material difference between Negro and white girls.

Chicago and Cook County School for Boys. This school is located in Riverside, just west of Chicago, on a farm belonging to the City of Chicago. The county feeds and clothes the boys; the city erects the buildings, and the Board of Education manages the school and pays all salaries. There are three buildings holding forty boys each. About 600 boys go through the institution in a year. It is a "testing out" school and working boys' institution to which first offenders between the ages of ten and eighteen are committed through the juvenile court. In 1919 the Negro boys were 15 per cent of the total; in 1920, less than 7 per cent. This decline Mr. Milliken, the managing officer, thought to be due to the cessation of Negro migration.

The treatment accorded Negro boys in cottages and at meals, play, and work is identical with that given white boys. There is no difference in discipline. Race prejudice is not prominent, and the boys are said to be most democratic with each other regardless of color. The director says: "They work together, beautifully; the idea [of prejudice] never enters into their heads. I think it is the outside influence that brings about these conditions [of prejudice]."

Chicago Parental School. To this school, situated on the North Side of the city, truants from the public schools of Chicago are committed by the juvenile court. The total number of pupils last year included 993 boys and eighteen girls. The Negro boys numbered eighty and the Negro girls five.

The treatment accorded white and Negro children is the same. No difference in regard to discipline or punishment exists. Race prejudice is not apparent, and the children's attitude toward each other seems not to be influenced by color. The deportment of Negro and white children is reported to be the same.

House of Correction. To this institution adult misdemeanants are committed. Information concerning conditions was furnished by Joseph Siman, superintendent.

The total number of inmates in 1919 was 5,723, and 1,151, or more than 20 per cent, were Negroes. This percentage is larger than the percentages of Negroes among persons arrested on misdemeanor charges and among those convicted.

Negro inmates are not put in the same cells with whites, but are frequently lodged in the same tier of cells. There are separate blocks of cells, but no separate tiers for whites and Negroes.

The prisoners eat together in the same dining-room. They march from their cells or work to meals, meetings, and church services and usually sit in the same order as that in which they march.

No race prejudice is noticeable among prisoners, and no racial clashes or unpleasant experiences have occurred in the institution.

Cook County Jail. The greatest discrimination noted in the course of the institution inquiry was at the Cook County Jail, where segregation has been carried out in nearly every department. The statements below are based on interviews with Chief Deputy Sheriff Laubenheimer and with Mr. King of the sheriff's office, who was chief clerk at the jail at the time of this study.

Negroes are completely segregated in cells on the first two floors in the new jail. Sometimes, when the jail is crowded, a few Negroes are put in among the whites, but whites are not often put in the part of the jail where Negroes are segregated. A condemned Negro murderer is placed with white condemned murderers in the section set apart for condemned murderers. Similarly Negro boys are placed with white boys in the boys' section of the jail.

Meals are served to all prisoners in their cells. The Negroes have a separate "bull pen" for exercise but are given the same facilities as the whites. They have separate church services. Negro guards have charge of the Negro prisoners. The conduct of Negroes, according to the observation of Mr. King, is practically the same as that of the whites.

Out of a total of 8,616 inmates in the county jail in 1919 there were 1,655 Negroes, or about 19 per cent. This is larger than the proportion of Negroes among all arrested or convicted. The report of the City Council Crime Committee showed that inmates of the county jail were confined there to a large extent on account of poverty.