Occupations of the Negroes

by Henry Gannett

Again excluding the District of Columbia, which is not a farming community, the male wage-earners who were farmers constituted in the different states proportions varying from 36 per cent. in Missouri to 85 per cent. in Mississippi. The proportion of farmers was highest in the cotton states and decidedly less in the border states. On the other hand, the proportion of males engaged in personal service was least in the cotton states and increased decidedly in those further north.

The second diagram, illustrating the occupations of female wage-earners, has certain features in common with that relating to males, but these features are more accented. In the cotton states a large proportion of the female wage-earners worked in the fields, and was therefore reported as engaged in agriculture, while in the border states but a small proportion was found there. On the other hand, domestic service claimed nearly all female wage-earners in the border states, but in the cotton states a relatively small proportion.

Both the diagrams, and especially the first, show an important feature. In the cotton states wage-earners were almost entirely either farmers or those engaged in personal service, but in the states farther north these classes were relatively smaller and occupations were somewhat more varied.

Proportions of Male Negro Wage-earners engaged in Agriculture, Personal Service and other occupations.
Diagram No. 9.

Proportions of Female Negro Wage-earners engaged in Personal Service, Agriculture, and other Occupations.
Diagram No. 10.

Ownership of Farms and Homes.

The statistics of farm and home ownership and of mortgage indebtedness of the Eleventh Census throw some light upon the pecuniary condition of the negro race.

The total number of farms and homes in the country in 1890 was 12,690,152, of which the negroes occupied 1,410,769, or 11.1 per cent. The proportion of negroes to the total population was at that time 12.20 per cent., showing a deficiency in the proportion occupying homes and farms when compared with the population.