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

by Chicago Commission on Race Relations

THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

Many of our citizens who were appalled by the rioting and murders of 1919, feeling the need of a solution of the problem dealt with in this investigation, have hoped that this Commission might suggest some ready remedy, some quick means of assuring harmony between the races.

Careful consideration of the facts set forth in this report shows that no such suggestion is possible. No one, white or Negro, is wholly free from an inheritance of prejudice in feeling and in thinking as to these questions. Mutual understanding and sympathy between the races will be followed by harmony and co-operation. But these can come completely only after the disappearance of prejudice. Thus the remedy is necessarily slow; and it is all the more important that the civic conscience of the community should be aroused, and that progress should begin in a direction steadily away from the disgrace of 1919.

Each member of this Commission feels that he has more understanding and less prejudice than before its work began. Therefore we recommend the thoughtful examination of the body of this report, so that all who read our recommendations may weigh for themselves the evidence upon which they are based.

Having in mind the basic facts in the problem of race relations and the conclusions from a careful study of the various phases of these relations in Chicago, the Commission presents for the consideration and action of state and local authorities, and of the social agencies and citizens of Chicago, the following recommendations and suggestions.

To the Police, Militia, State's Attorney, and Courts:

HANDLING OF RIOTS

1. We recommend that the police and militia work out, at the earliest possible date, a detailed plan for joint action in the control of race riots.

2. In accordance with such a plan, and in the event of race rioting, we specifically recommend: (a) that the militia, white and Negro, be promptly mobilized at the beginning of the outbreak; (b) that police and deputy sheriffs and militia, white and Negro, be so distributed as adequately to protect both races in white and Negro neighborhoods and to avoid the gross inequalities of protection which, in the riot of 1919, permitted widespread depredations, including murder, against Negroes in white neighborhoods, and attacks in Negro neighborhoods by invading white hoodlums; (c) that the police and militia be stationed with special reference to main street-car lines and transfer points used by Negroes in getting to and from work; (d) that substantial assurance be given of adequate and equal protection by all agencies of law enforcement, thus removing the incentive to arm in self-defense; (e) that in the appointment of special peace officers there shall be no discrimination against Negroes; (f) that all rioters, white and Negro, be arrested without race discrimination; (g) that all reports and complaints of neglect of duty or participation in rioting by police, deputy sheriffs, or militia be promptly investigated and the offenders promptly punished; (h) that all persons arrested in connection with rioting be systematically booked on distinct charges showing such connection, in order to avoid the confusion and evasions of justice following the riot of 1919.

3. We recommend that, without regard to color, all persons arrested in connection with rioting be promptly tried and the guilty speedily punished.

BOMBINGS

4. We recommend prompt and vigorous action by the police, state's attorney, and courts to suppress the bombings of Negro and white houses, these acts being criminal and likely to provoke race rioting.

5. The testimony of court officials before the Commission and its investigations indicate that Negroes are more commonly arrested, subjected to police identification, and convicted than white offenders, that on similar evidence they are generally held and convicted on more serious charges, and that they are given longer sentences. We point out that these practices and tendencies are not only unfair to Negroes, but weaken the machinery of justice and, when taken with the greater inability of Negroes to pay fines in addition to or in lieu of terms in jail, produce misleading statistics of Negro crime. We recognize that these practices and tendencies are in a large degree the unconscious results of traditional race prejudice. We recommend to the police, state's attorney, judges, and juries that they consider these conditions in the effort to deal fairly (and without discrimination) with all persons charged with crime.

6. We recommend that, in order to encourage respect for law by both Negroes and whites, the courts discountenance the facetiousness which is too common in dealing with cases in which Negroes are involved.

VICIOUS ENVIRONMENT

7. We recommend that the police, state's attorney, and other authorities promptly rid the Negro residence areas of vice resorts, whose present exceptional prevalence in such areas is due to official laxity.

POLICING OF PARKS AND BEACHES

8. We recommend better co-operation between the city and park police in and near parks, bathing-beaches, and other public recreation places, especially where there has been or is likely to be race friction; and in the speedy punishment of persons guilty of stoning houses, molesting individuals, or committing other depredations calculated to arouse race antagonism.

"ATHLETIC CLUBS"

9. We recommend that the police pay particular and continuous attention to the so-called "athletic clubs" on the South Side, which we have found to be a fruitful source of race conflict, and that when race conflict arises or is imminent the members and meeting places of such clubs be searched for arms and that, if deemed necessary, such clubs be closed.

THE BARRETT MURDER

10. We commend the police for the prompt and effective action in the Barrett murder case, September 20, 1920, which allayed public alarm and averted a serious clash.

To the City Council and Administrative Boards, the Park Boards and the Municipal Bureau of Parks, Playgrounds, and Bathing-Beaches:

CONTROL OF FIREARMS

11. We recommend that the most stringent means possible be applied to control the importation, sale, and possession of firearms and other deadly weapons.

SUPERVISION OF "ATHLETIC CLUBS"

12. In order to facilitate police supervision of so-called "athletic clubs," we recommend that all such clubs be required to file with the city clerk statements of their purposes and, at stated intervals, lists of their members and officers, with their addresses.

SANITATION

13. We recommend that the authorities exercise their powers to condemn and raze all houses unfit for human habitation, many of which the Commission has found to exist in the Negro residence areas on the South and West sides.

14. We recommend better enforcement of health and sanitary laws and regulations in the care, repair, and upkeep of streets and alleys and the collection and disposal of rubbish and garbage in areas of Negro residence, where the Commission has found these matters to be shamefully neglected.

RECREATION CENTERS

15. We recommend that the park and other proper authorities (a) put an end to the present gross discrimination by white persons which practically bars Negroes out of certain recreation centers near their own congested residence area; and (b) that a recreation center of adequate size and facilities be established for the use of both whites and Negroes in the principal Negro residence area of the South Side; and (c) that steps be taken to secure more adequately trained, competent, and intelligent playground and recreation-center directors, white and Negro, who shall be held responsible for racial clashes arising in places under their direction and shall be required to interest themselves in reducing and avoiding racial friction in their neighborhoods; and (d) that proper equipment and supervision be provided at the Twenty-sixth Street Bathing-Beach, where they are now almost wholly lacking; and (e) that, in co-operation with the city police, the park police adequately protect all citizens, without regard to color, in going to and from parks, recreation centers, and playgrounds.

To the Board of Education:

MORE SCHOOLS IN NEGRO AREAS

16. We recommend that in the areas where the main part of the Negro population lives, and where elementary-school accommodations are notably deficient, buildings, equipment, and teaching forces be provided which shall be at least equal to the average standard for the city, in order that the present conditions of overcrowding, arrangement of pupils in shifts, and the assignment of too large classes to teachers may be remedied.

NIGHT SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY CENTERS

17. We recommend the establishment of night schools and community centers in sections of the city not now adequately provided with such facilities.

COMPULSORY EDUCATION

18. Having found that many Negro children who quit school at an early age, as in the case of similar white children, appear later as criminals and delinquents, we urge strict enforcement of regulations as to working permits for such children, and we especially recommend that truant officers give attention to school attendance by the children of Negro families migrating here from the South.

ATTITUDE OF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS

19. Since the attitude of principals and teachers vitally influences the relations of white and Negro children in the public schools, we recommend that special care be exercised in appointing principals and teachers who have a sympathetic and intelligent interest in promoting good race relations in the schools.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

20. We recommend that public-school principals and teachers encourage participation by children of both races in student activities as a means of promoting mutual understanding and good race relations in such schools and in the community.

To Social and Civic Organizations, Labor Unions, and Churches:

PROMOTION OF RACE HARMONY

21. Being convinced by our inquiry that much of the antagonism evinced in the areas of marked hostility toward Negroes is founded upon tradition which is itself without foundation in fact or justice, we recommend to schools, social centers and agencies, churches, labor unions, and other organizations in these areas, and to public-spirited citizens, white and Negro, that they endeavor to dispel the false notions of each race about the other and promote mutual tolerance and friendliness between them.

22. We recommend that both white and Negro churches seek and use means to improve race relations, and that these means include the finding of frequent occasion for having their congregations addressed by representatives of both races on the subject of race sympathy and tolerance.

SOCIAL AGENCIES IN NEGRO COMMUNITIES

23. We commend the course of such agencies as the United Charities, Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, and American Red Cross in extending their work to the Negro community, and recommend that other agencies whose work is similarly useful extend their work in like manner.

24. Recognizing and commending the practical efforts of the Interracial Committee of the Woman's City Club, the Public Affairs Committee of the Union League Club, and the Chicago Urban League, in promoting better race relations, especially in the summer of 1920, when racial friction was deemed imminent, we recommend that other organizations of the same kind undertake like activities.

25. We recommend that the appropriate social agencies give needed attention to dealing extra-judicially with cases of Negroes coming before the morals and juvenile courts; also to cases of Negro children dropping out of school too early in age.

OPPORTUNITY FOR RECREATION TRAINING

26. We recommend that Negroes, as well as whites, be given opportunity for training for service in the city's public recreation facilities.

To the Public:

INTERRACIAL TOLERANCE

27. We are convinced by our inquiry: (a) that measures involving or approaching deportation or segregation are illegal, impracticable and would not solve, but would accentuate, the race problem and postpone its just and orderly solution by the process of adjustment; (b) that the moral responsibility for race rioting does not rest upon hoodlums alone, but also upon all citizens, white or black, who sanction force or violence in interracial relations or who do not condemn and combat the spirit of racial hatred thus expressed; (c) that race friction and antagonism are largely due to the fact that each race too readily misunderstands and misinterprets the other's conduct and aspirations.

We therefore urge upon all citizens, white and Negro, active opposition to the employment of force or violence in interracial relations and to the spirit of antagonism and hatred. We recommend dispassionate, intelligent, and sympathetic consideration by each race of the other's needs and aims; we also recommend the dissemination of proved or trustworthy information about all phases of race relations as a useful means for effecting peaceful racial adjustment.

28. Since rumor, usually groundless, is a prolific source of racial bitterness and strife, we warn both whites and Negroes against the acceptance or circulation by either of reports about the other whose truth has not been fully established. We urge all citizens, white and Negro, vigorously to oppose all propaganda of malicious or selfish origin which would tend to excite race prejudice.

29. We commend race contacts in cultural and co-operative efforts as tending strongly to mutual understanding and the promotion of good race relations.

30. We condemn the provocation or fostering of race antagonism by associations or organizations ostensibly founded or conducted for purposes of patriotism or local improvements or the like.

PERMANENT RACE-RELATIONS BODY

31. We recommend as of special importance that a permanent local body representing both races be charged with investigating situations likely to produce clashes, with collecting and disseminating information tending to preserve the peace and allay unfounded fears, with bringing sound public sentiment to bear upon the settlement of racial disputes, and with promoting the spirit of interracial tolerance and co-operation.

To the White Members of the Public:

RACE ADJUSTMENT IN MIXED NEIGHBORHOODS

32. We call to public attention the fact that intensity of racial feeling is not necessarily due to the presence of Negroes in a neighborhood, either in the majority or minority, and that such feeling is not the rule but the exception; and we cite as a conspicuous example the peaceful conditions that have long obtained in the area between Roosevelt Road and Thirty-ninth Street from Wentworth Avenue to Lake Michigan, in which the Negro population in 1920 numbered 54,906 and the white population 42,797.

BETTER NEGRO HOUSING WITHOUT SEGREGATION

33. Our inquiry has shown that insufficiency in amount and quality of housing is an all-important factor in Chicago's race problem; there must be more and better housing to accommodate the great increase in Negro population which was at the rate of 148 per cent from 1910 to 1920. This situation will be made worse by methods tending toward forcible segregation or exclusion of Negroes, such as the circulation of threatening statements and propaganda by organizations or persons to prevent Negroes from living in certain areas, and the lawless and perilous bombing of houses occupied by Negroes or by whites suspected of encouraging Negro residence in the district.

We therefore recommend that all white citizens energetically discourage these futile, pernicious, and lawless practices, and either co-operate in or start movements to solve the housing problem by constructive and not destructive methods.

DEPRECIATION AND PROPERTY RISKS

34. Testimony before the Commission and investigations made by it show two important facts: (a) that depreciation of residence property generally charged exclusively to the presence of Negroes in a neighborhood is often largely due to other factors; (b) that many Negroes of this city meet their obligations in such a manner as to make their home-building and home-owning investments seem a more desirable risk than has been generally supposed. We therefore recommend that these facts be taken into consideration in connection with loans on Negro property.

ADVANCED RENTS FOR NEGROES CONDEMNED

35. We condemn and urge the discontinuance of the practice of property owners who arbitrarily advance rents merely because Negroes become tenants.

INFORMATION ABOUT NEGROES

36. We recommend that white persons seek information from responsible and representative Negroes as the basis of their judgments about Negro traits, characteristics, and tendencies, and thereby counteract the common disposition, arising from erroneous tradition and literature, to regard all Negroes as belonging to one homogeneous group and as being inferior in mentality and morality, given to emotionalism, and having an innate tendency toward crime, especially sex crime.

To the Negro Members of the Public:

RACIAL DOCTRINES

37. We recommend to Negroes the promulgation of sound racial doctrines among the uneducated members of their group, and the discouragement of propaganda and agitators seeking to inflame racial animosity and incite Negroes to violence.

SUPPORT OF SOCIAL AGENCIES

38. We urge Negroes to contribute more freely of their money and personal effort to the social agencies developed by public-spirited members of their group; also to contribute to the general social agencies of the community.

SPECIAL PROBLEMS

39. We recommend that the Negro community, through the extension or establishment of the necessary social agencies, undertake to supply means and encouragement for leisure activities, and undertake work among Negro boys and girls along the lines of prevention of vice and crime; also that it provide institutional care of dependent Negro children.

40. We particularly urge that Negroes vigorously and continuously protest against the presence in their residence areas of any vicious resort, and that they join in and support all efforts to suppress such places.

ADJUSTMENT OF MIGRANTS

41. We commend the important work done by the Chicago Urban League, the Negro churches, and other organizations in facilitating the adjustment of migrant Negroes from the South to the conditions of living in Chicago and urge its extension. We also commend the work already done by Negroes through community associations in bettering the appearance and sanitary condition of housing and recommend its further extension.

RACE PRIDE

42. While we recognize the propriety and social values of race pride among Negroes, we warn them that thinking and talking too much in terms of race alone are calculated to promote separation of race interests and thereby to interfere with racial adjustment.

To Employers and Labor Organizations:

ATTITUDE TOWARD NEGRO WORKERS

43. We have found that in struggles between capital and labor Negro workers are in a position dangerous to themselves and to peaceful relations between the races, whether the issues involve their use by employers to undermine wage standards or break strikes, or efforts by organized labor to keep them out of certain trades while refusing to admit them to membership in the unions in such trades. We feel that unnecessary racial bitterness is provoked by such treatment of Negro workers, that racial prejudice is played upon by both parties, and that through such practices injury comes, not alone to Negroes, but to employers and labor organizations as well.

We therefore recommend to employers that they deal with Negroes as workmen on the same plane as white workers; and to labor unions that they admit Negroes to full membership whenever they apply for it and possess the qualifications required of white workers.

NEGRO AND WHITE WORKERS

44. We commend to the attention of employers who fear clashes or loss of white workers by taking on Negro workers the fact that in 89 per cent of the industries investigated by this Commission, Negroes were found working in close association with white employees, and that friction between these elements had rarely been manifested.

INDUSTRIAL AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEGROES

45. In view of the limited field of employment within which Negroes are restricted we recommend that employers in all lines enlarge that field and permit Negroes an equal chance with whites to enter all positions for which they are qualified by efficiency and merit. In this connection especial attention is called to the fact that opportunity is generally denied to Negroes for gaining experience in business methods through service in responsible positions in business houses. Such opportunities, if made available for them, would not only be of benefit to Negroes in the development of sounder business methods among them and the building up of their resources, but would also be a gain to the business establishments and the community at large.

46. We have found that Negroes are denied equal opportunity with whites for advancement and promotion where they are employed. As a measure of justice we urge that Negroes be employed, advanced, and promoted according to their capacities and proved merit. We call to the attention of those concerned the high qualifications of many Negro workers in sleeping-car and dining-car service, and recommend that when they deserve it and the opportunity offers, they be made eligible for promotion to positions as conductors and stewards.

TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS STRIKE BREAKERS

47. We point out as an injustice and a cause of racial antagonism the practice of some employers who having hired Negroes as strike breakers discharge them when the strike is settled to make places for former white employees.

NEGRO WOMEN WORKERS

48. We find that employment of Negro girls at a smaller wage than white girls and the denial to them of apprenticeship opportunities are a cause of racial antagonism. We therefore recommend that the employment of Negro girls be based on merit, with equality of wages, piece rates, and apprenticeship opportunities with white girls; we also recommend that Negroes in domestic employment rendering the same quality of service as whites be paid at the same rate as white domestics.

RACIAL PEACE IN INDUSTRY

49. Realizing that the common welfare is involved in the employment or non-employment of Negro workers, and seeking means to preserve racial peace in industry, we recommend: (a) that where Negro employees are dismissed for unsatisfactory service other Negroes, recommended by reliable Negro organizations, be given an opportunity to replace them; (b) that in times of industrial depression, employers reduce their forces in such a manner that the hardships of unemployment may not be disproportionately severe on Negro workers; (c) that where Negroes are employed with whites at the same tasks they be given equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for piecework and overtime work; (d) that Negro workers be given opportunity for advancement and promotion according to merit and efficiency and without race discrimination; (e) that Negro workers be afforded the opportunity to learn and engage in the skilled processes of their employment; (f) that superintendents closely supervise the relations of foremen with Negro workers and see that there is no racial injustice or discrimination; (g) that employers generally deal with Negroes, whether engaged in, or seeking opportunity to engage in, manual labor or clerical work, without discrimination as to race, and apply to them the same tests and conditions as to white employees.

SEPARATE LABOR UNIONS

50. We strongly condemn the efforts of self-seeking agitators, Negro or white, who use race sentiment to establish separate unions in trades where existing unions admit Negroes to equal membership with whites.

To Negro Workers:

RELATIONS WITH UNIONS

51. We recommend that qualified Negro workers desiring membership in labor organizations join unions which admit both races equally, instead of organizing separate Negro labor unions.

RELATIONS WITH EMPLOYERS

52. We recommend that Negroes completely abandon the practice of seeking petty advance payments on wages and the practice of laying off work without good cause.

LEARNING TRADES

53. We recommend that Negroes avail themselves wherever possible of opportunities in apprentice schools and classes.

54. We recommend to all Negroes dependent on manual labor the learning of some skilled trade even though there is no present opportunity to engage in it.

To the Street-Car Companies:

PROTECTION OF PASSENGERS

55. In view of the large number of racial assaults on persons riding in street cars, we recommend that conductors and motormen be specially instructed concerning protection of passengers, white and Negro, and be rigidly held to the discharge of this duty.

OVERCROWDING

56. We recommend that at all loading-points where whites and Negroes board cars in large numbers, starters be employed and overcrowding be prevented as far as possible.

To Restaurants, Theaters, Stores, and Other Places of Public Accommodation:

EQUAL RIGHTS IN PUBLIC PLACES

57. We point out that Negroes are entitled by law to the same treatment as other persons in restaurants, theaters, stores, and other places of public accommodation, and we urge that owners and managers of such places govern their policies and actions and their employees accordingly.

To the Press:

HANDLING OF NEWS INVOLVING NEGROES

58. In view of the recognized responsibility of the press in its general influence upon public opinion concerning Negroes—especially important as related to the suppression of race rioting—we recommend: (a) that the newspapers generally, including the foreign-language press, apply the same standards of accuracy, fairness, and sense of proportion, with avoidance of exaggeration, in publishing news about Negroes as about whites; in this connection special attention is called to the fact that emphasis, greatly out of proportion to that given their creditable acts, is frequently placed on the crimes and misdeeds of Negroes, who, unlike other groups, are identified with each incident and thus constantly associated with discreditable conduct; (b) that the manner of news treatment be no different in the case of Negroes than in that of whites, to the end that there shall always be the unwritten assumption that the same responsibility for equal consideration of the rights of the one by the other rests on whites and Negroes alike, in respect of the matter involved in the publication; (c) that, in consideration of the great ease with which the public is influenced against the whole Negro group by sensational articles and headlines, the press should exercise great caution in dealing with unverified reports of crimes of Negroes against white women, and should avoid the designation of trivial fights as race riots; (d) that in recognition of the dangers of racial antagonism on the part of the ignorant, the unthinking, and the prejudiced of both races, publication be made, as opportunities offer, of such matters as shall in their character tend to dispel prejudice and promote mutual respect and good will.

We specially recommend more frequent publications concerning: (1) creditable achievements of consequence by Negroes; (2) their efforts toward a higher cultural and social life, and (3) their improvement of the physical conditions of their own communities; (4) the common obligation of all citizens of all races to recognize in their interrelations the supreme duty of strict obedience to the law, in spirit as well as in deed; (5) verification, so far as practicable, of all news concerning Negroes and their activities by reference to recognized Negro agencies or responsible representative Negroes.

We further recommend the capitalization of the word "Negro" in racial designation, and avoidance of the word "nigger," as contemptuous and needlessly provocative.

HANDLING OF NEWS INVOLVING NEGROES AND WHITES

59. To the Negro press we recommend greater care and accuracy in reporting incidents involving whites and Negroes, the abandonment of sensational headlines and articles on racial questions, and more attention to educating Negro readers as to the available means and opportunities of adjusting themselves and their fellows into more harmonious relations with their white neighbors and fellow-citizens, and as to the lines of individual conduct and collective effort which will tend to minimize interracial friction, promote their own social and economic development, and hasten interracial adjustment.

Chicago, December 6, 1921

Robert S. Abbott

Edgar A. Bancroft
Chairman

William Scott Bond

Edward Osgood Brown

George C. Hall

George H. Jackson

Harry Eugene Kelly

Victor F. Lawson

Adelbert H. Roberts

Julius Rosenwald

Francis W. Shepardson
Vice-Chairman

Lacey Kirk Williams

Graham Romeyn Taylor
Executive Secretary

Charles S. Johnson
Associate Executive Secretary