A few white churches have several Negro members, usually of long standing. There are instances of white churches accepting particular Negro members, with some apprehension that they might bring friends. The Catholic and Christian Science churches welcome the presence of Negroes at their services. There is no Christian Science church exclusively for Negroes, and several hundred Negroes attend the various services of this church.
Many of the more definitely intellectual agencies like the Chicago Ethical Society, the Chicago Rational Society, and the Sunday Evening Club have regular Negro attendance. At the Chicago Rational Society one of the young hostesses is a Negro.
In these forms of contact it is seldom, if ever, that Negroes are discourteously received. This may be due to the relatively high class of whites and Negroes who share these associations.
IV. CONTACTS IN CO-OPERATIVE EFFORTS FOR RACE BETTERMENT
Most of the important social organizations and agencies of the city which aim definitely at the improvement of the Negro group have mixed boards of control and supervision. The philanthropy, business ability, and influence of white members is combined with the influence of Negro members and their intelligent understanding of their own group problems.
The Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Chicago Urban League, Community Service, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Inter-racial Committee organized by the Chicago Woman's Club are examples of this form of joint effort. The sentiments of both groups in contact may be discussed and, on the basis of represented group conditions and sentiments, programs are formulated and carried out. This association and exchange of sentiment provide a means of breaking down the isolation between the groups and at the same time offer a means of extending the representative thought of Negroes through their white associates to circles in which contacts are either prohibited or restricted by custom and tradition.
CHAPTER VII
CRIME AND VICIOUS ENVIRONMENT
The crime rate of Negroes is so largely controlled by a tangle of predisposing circumstances that it is hardly possible to isolate and measure its factors. The most important element is the general lawlessness, crime, and vice in the whole population, irrespective of race.
I. GENERAL CRIME SITUATION
During 1919 there were 330 homicides in Chicago. In 1920, in addition to 162 murders, 559 persons were slain by automobiles, largely through carelessness. According to the Chicago Crime Commission's report for 1920 there are 10,000 professional criminals in Chicago, and the annual loss from larcenies, robberies, and burglaries aggregates $12,000,000. Chicago pays a higher rate for burglary insurance than any other American city.