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

by Chicago Commission on Race Relations

My opinions are based on visits made to the South and on information obtained from relatives who live in the South as well as from the colored help we have had. As a child my contact with Negroes began with our Negro house servants, and my first consciousness of a racial difference came while visiting relatives in the South. I know but two persons who might speak with authority on the race question. They are Edgar A. Bancroft and Miss Mary McDowell. It is very seldom that I inquire for information on this subject. People whom I know are not interested in the problem.

The only Negroes whom I know are my present colored help and those who have worked for me. I don't know whom to consider leaders among the colored people either in Chicago or in the United States. Concerning the Negro periodicals, I have occasionally read copies of one of their newspapers which bore out my opinion of their simple minds. Discussion of domestic help and of newspaper articles about Negroes and sociological conditions most frequently lead to the discussion of the Negro in my circle. If it were in my power to do so, I would segregate Negroes as to living quarters and do all possible to help them educate and help themselves.

Concerning proposition (a) I agree that if you educate Negroes, you increase their demands, but I also believe that as they become educated, greater demands will arise in their own groups.

In my opinion prejudice has its principal basis in the fact that one can't depend upon Negroes.

I do not believe that it is necessarily true that a minority of the population should not expect complete justice at the hands of the majority if the proper appeal is made.

B—

I have more or less definite opinions about Negroes. I believe that as a race they are entitled to more leniency and consideration than we would give to adult whites because as a race they are not as mature as whites. I think it is unfortunate that we have such a race question to deal with, but we ought to meet it squarely and insist that under the law Negroes are entitled to equal protection and equal consideration. I do not believe in any attempt at social equality because the antipathy between whites and Negroes is so acute that such attempt would not only break down itself but it would lead to serious race difficulties. I think the Negro race has as much right to protect its race purity as the white race. I believe Negro women are entitled to the same protection from white men that we demand on behalf of white women against black men. I believe Negroes should have decent housing conditions, proper social outlets and opportunities to earn a living at the same wages paid white men for the same class and character of work. They should share equally in the benefits of government, with particular reference to schools, bathing-beaches, playgrounds, parks, etc. They should be protected against exploitation by employers, property owners, merchants, etc.

I do think Negroes possess distinguishing traits of both mentality and character. For many years now I have come into more or less personal contact with Negroes. I have been in contact with them in public schools, in colleges, in politics and in civic work. I cannot say that any particular incidents or experiences stand out in my memory.

My opinions are based upon my personal observation, personal contacts with Negroes and discussions with other white persons having independent contacts. As a child I had practically no real contact of any kind with Negroes. I don't recall now any Negro children in any of my primary grades, and while there were Negroes in my native city, they were few and in a neighborhood far removed from my own home. I imagine that I was first conscious of a racial difference when I first saw a Negro.

I don't recall any early prohibition against association with Negroes although I do recall clearly that the attitude of my family and associates, generally, was not one of approval. Negroes were regarded as an inferior race, and I think as a child I gathered the impression that contact with them was to be avoided. My feeling is that if in normal circumstances I had been thrown into more or less contact with Negroes, prohibition against association, except where absolutely necessary, would have been forthcoming.