Living in neighborhoods infrequently visited by Negroes and where, as a general rule, their occupancy is effectively discouraged, some white residents occasionally express objections as based on a "natural physical opposition." Following is a typical statement:

I came here six years ago and there was a very noisy set of white people living in the apartment house back of mine. Four years ago the landlord put them all out and rented to colored families. We were all up in arms then; but say, I never had nicer, more quiet, and respectable neighbors. Their children all behave well, and we can't kick. But at the same time, black people aren't what one would pick out to have around—I guess it's just because they are black.

Emotionality.—This is commonly regarded as explaining features of conduct in Negroes, some of which are beautiful in their expression while others are ugly and dangerous. The supposed Negro gift of song is thus an accepted attribute of his emotional nature. So with his religious inclination. This same emotionalism is believed to lead him to drink and is frequently made to account for "his quick, uncalculated crimes of violence." The natural expression of Negro religious fervor is supposed to be noisy and frenzied. This view of the Chicago Tribune's special writer is, roughly speaking, the view of thousands of Chicagoans:

I passed grand old stone churches, once the pride of rich and powerful white congregations, whither I used to be sent as a reporter not so many years ago, to hear some of the premier pulpiteers of this town. They are colored people's churches now, and beneath the arches, where a sedate gospel once was expounded you hear today the jubilant yell of the dusky brother who has found grace....

The service was, indeed, an incident in a three weeks' series of revival meetings they have been holding at Olivet. The principal performer was the Rev. S. E. J. Watson, a revivalist from Topeka, a big man—mulatto, I should say, or perhaps quadroon—with a powerful voice, a masterly platform style, and enormous ardor. He spoke fluently, used no notes, and demonstrated a free, wide skill in homely imagery, which, however, included no slang nor vulgarities, but was racy of the plantation and the cabin kitchen. His picture of God "opening the front door of this good old world every morning to let in the sun" was one of the most gorgeous flights in primitive poetry I ever heard, and his narrative, accompanied by the most vivid pantomime, of the Roman soldiers lifting up the cross after they had nailed Jesus to it was hardly less than terrifying—it certainly was terrific—in its sweep of passion and its reality of detail.

And so he wrought them to a high emotional state. Many were crying. Then came the direct personal appeal to "the unsaved," the threat of the everlasting fire, and the "lifting up" again and again of the thought of the all-forgiving, all-saving Jesus. The soft crying became heavy, convulsive sobbing. One by one the unsaved who made the surrender to whatever it was that had been holding them back, were led to the seats near the pulpit. Those who did not surrender promptly were evidently in terrible stress, or thought they were. They emitted shrieks that, truly, made my heart stand still, and I would have trembled for the sanity of the poor creatures except that I observed from the corner of my eye that the "saved" in the assemblage took the shrieks with perfect equanimity.

2. SECONDARY BELIEFS

In addition to the primary beliefs there are others supposedly not so serious or significant in their effects. These are usually modifications of primary beliefs, and are accepted as a consequence of frequent and almost unvaried repetition. In this manner these secondary beliefs have edged their way into the popular mind.

George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken in a recent volume, The American Credo, point out fairly striking instances of this tendency of the American mind. They have compiled a series of 435 commonly accepted beliefs covering a wide range. Among these 435 listed American beliefs there are some very real ones which involve and include the following popular notions about Negroes:

1. That a Negro's vote may always be readily bought for a dollar.