An understanding of the conduct and morality of the newcomer and stranger is essential both for the migrant himself and for the community upon which he is thrust. The migrant is unknown to us. We look upon the stranger with suspicion and upon all his habits and customs as queer and out of the ordinary. It is therefore natural for us to question his morality and character and to consider him the cause of the crimes and vices of the community. In the past, we blamed the Italians, the Slavs, the Jews and the other foreign groups as being mainly responsible for many of the anti-social acts in our urban society; but when we come to know them our attitude changes.
The Negro, although with us for centuries, is still unintelligible to the average northern community. This has been borne out by our present survey in the Pittsburgh district. Although in many instances the Negroes live near the whites, even among them, there is very little understanding or communication between the two races, and mutual prejudice and suspicion prevail.
With the cessation of the white immigration incident to the war and the influx of thousands of Negroes from the South the black has become the stranger in town. We see him crowding in certain districts, congregating on street corners, apparently amazed at his sudden transference from country to city life; from his home, a familiar though oppressive environment, into the glare and lure of the great industrial city with its apparent freedom for all. The Negro looks with wonder upon all this, and his reaction to it seems suspicious to the whites. When they see the police patrol wagon frequently in the colored district or when some crime is committed in that neighborhood it is not unnatural for them to think that these strangers are responsible for all crime and vice. This, unfortunately, is not only the attitude of the average person unfamiliar with conditions, but is also the theory upon which the police officials seem to proceed in their work. On one occasion when a murder was committed in the “Hill” district the police made wholesale arrests of the Negroes, only to free them in a few days, having no evidence against them.
This assumption of the Negro’s responsibility for a “wave of crime, rape and murder” this year was held not only by persons who got their information from a played-up case in the newspapers, but also by many social workers and Negroes themselves, as was evidenced by their expressed personal opinions. A colored probation officer, for instance, asserted that the juvenile delinquency among her people had at least doubled during the last year, and she was greatly surprised when an examination of the records disclosed a very considerable decrease in these cases, ([Table No. XIX]). This illustrates how erroneous our impressions about strange groups in our communities may be, and how essential are the facts to a clear understanding of the situation.
Wednesday 3:30 P. M. Lower Wylie Avenue.
In order to ascertain the facts concerning the extent of Negro crime in the Pittsburgh district, an analysis was made of the police court records of seven months in the year 1914-1915 in comparison with the same period of 1916-1917. The periods selected were December 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915 and December 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917. The first period embraces the time of the initial war prosperity before the migration had begun. In the second period the Negro migration was at its highest point. The police dockets of Station Number 1, the Central Station, and Station Number 2—which is in the most densely populated Negro section of the city—were carefully canvassed and compared as to number of arrests, kind of charges, disposition of cases and age, sex, etc., of the accused. Tables follow:
TABLE NUMBER XV
Showing Total Number of Charges of Arrested Negroes Brought to Stations No. 1 and No. 2 from December 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915 and December 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917, and also the percentage of Increase during the last Period.
| CHARGES | 1914-1915 Male Female Total | 1916-1917 Male Female Total | % of Inc. 1917 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PETTY OFFENCES | |||||||
| Suspicious Persons | 390 | 77 | 467 | 668 | 111 | 779 | 67 |
| Disorderly Conduct | 353 | 74 | 427 | 493 | 106 | 599 | 41 |
| Drunkenness | 240 | 42 | 282 | 869 | 40 | 909 | 222 |
| Keeping Disorderly Houses | 16 | 22 | 38 | 36 | 55 | 91 | 140 |
| Visiting Disorderly Houses | 92 | 29 | 121 | 217 | 76 | 293 | 142 |
| Common Prostitute | 0 | 58 | 58 | 0 | 54 | 54 | —7 |
| Violating City Ordinances | 85 | 0 | 85 | 143 | 0 | 143 | 68 |
| Keeping Gambling Houses | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Visiting Gambling Houses | 31 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vagrancy | 75 | 9 | 84 | 93 | 0 | 93 | 11 |
| Other non-Court Charges | 83 | 0 | 83 | 37 | 0 | 37 | |
| TOTAL | 1370 | 311 | 1681 | 2556 | 442 | 2998 | |
| MAJOR OFFENCES | |||||||
| Larceny | 20 | 1 | 21 | 20 | 3 | 23 | |
| Assault & Battery | 12 | 0 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 13 | |
| Highway Robbery | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| Entering Buildings | 20 | 0 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
| Felonious Cutting & Felonious Shooting | 7 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 19 | |
| Murder turned over to Coroner | 12 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| Assault and Battery with attempt to Commit Rape | 5 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Concealed Weapons & Point. Firearms | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 12 | |
| Other Court Charges | 9 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 7 | |
| TOTAL | 90 | 3 | 93 | 87 | 7 | 94 | |
| GRAND TOTAL | 1460 | 314 | 1774 | 2643 | 449 | 3092 | |