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

by Chicago Commission on Race Relations

A NEGRO CHORAL SOCIETY

V. OUTLYING NEIGHBORHOODS

The Commission's investigation being confined to the city of Chicago, the growing Negro colonies in such suburbs as Evanston and Glencoe were not studied, but attention was given to two southwestern outlying neighborhoods in the east part of Morgan Park, just inside the city limits, and the village of Robbins, wholly Negro, just outside.

1. MORGAN PARK

In 1910, 126 Negroes lived in Morgan Park, with a total population of 5,269. In 1920 the area had been incorporated in the city of Chicago, and there were 695 Negroes in a total population of 7,780 occupying approximately the same area.

In its early days Morgan Park was the site of a theological seminary, which in 1892 became part of the University of Chicago. The first Negroes there were servants, mostly from the South, working in the households of the professors. The colony remained, and its more recent increase was due in considerable measure to the influx of well-to-do Negroes from farther north in Chicago, many of whom bought houses. In some cases Negroes in congested Negro residential areas sold out to Negroes arriving in the migration and re-established themselves in much better dwellings and surroundings in Morgan Park.

Less prosperous Negroes also came, despite the feeling of some home owners that too great an influx of that type would injure property values and render the neighborhood less desirable. Many of these work in the South Chicago steel mills and the shops at Pullman. Some work in the Stock Yards.

A number of Negroes of Morgan Park are employed at the Chicago City Hall. Some are porters on Pullman cars. Only a small number are laborers. Many of the women sew or work as car cleaners and seem reluctant to do housework even at day wages.

Physically Morgan Park is attractive with comfortable homes and large grounds. Several churches, a number of schools, and an attractive park all add to the desirability of the place as a "home town." The lots are deep, affording plenty of space for gardens, and many vacant lots are cultivated. The opportunity for garden patches is an attraction for many Negroes. There are two Negro churches, Methodist and Baptist, and a Colored Men's Improvement Association which has provided a social hall for the Negro population.