In these fields the Commission's work has been done along two main lines:
(a) a series of conferences, at which persons believed to have special information and experience relating to these subjects have been invited to give the Commission the benefit of their knowledge and opinions;
(b) research and field work by a trained staff of investigators, both white and Negro, to determine as accurately as possible, from first-hand evidence, the actual conditions in the above fields.
The series of conferences, numbering thirty, covered a wide range of topics, such as: the race riot of 1919 as viewed by the police, the militia, the grand jury, and state's attorney; race friction and its remedies; contacts of whites and Negroes in public schools and recreation places; special educational problems of Negro children; Negro housing, its needs, type, and financing, and its difficulties in mixed areas; Negro labor in relation to employers, fellow-workers, and trade unions; Negro women in industry; the Negro and social agencies; Negro health; Negroes and whites in the courts and in correctional institutions; and the Negro and white press in relation to public opinion on race relations.
Of two hundred and sixty-three persons invited, one hundred and seventy-five attended these conferences and presented their information and views. They represented both races and various groups and viewpoints; they included educators and teachers, real estate men, bankers, managers of industrial plants, housing experts, trades-union leaders, social workers, physicians, park and playground directors, judges, clergymen, superintendents of correctional and other institutions, police, militia, and other public officials, and newspaper editors.
The research and field work done by the staff of investigators covered in general the same broad range. The character is indicated by a bare outline of the work in the six main fields:
Racial Clashes: 1919 Chicago riot, seventeen antecedent clashes; three minor clashes in 1920; brief comparative study of Springfield riot in 1908 and East St. Louis riot in 1917.
Racial Contacts: In schools, transportation lines, parks, and other recreation places; contacts in mixed neighborhoods; adjustment of southern Negro families coming to Chicago; survey of Negro agencies and institutions.
Housing: Negro areas in Chicago and their expansion 1910-1920; 274 family histories showing housing experience, home life, and social back-ground, including families from the South; 159 blocks covered in neighborhood survey; financing Negro housing; depreciation in and near Negro areas; 52 house bombings, 1917-1920.
Industry: Data covering 22,448 Negroes in 192 plants; 101 plants visited; quality of Negro labor; the widening opportunities and chance for promotion studied; special study of trades unions and the Negro worker.