Of the men from the South every one had improved his condition. Those who said their condition had not improved had been formerly working in the large cities of the East or North, where living expenses were less than in Chicago; only one received lower wages in Chicago. He had earned sixteen dollars a week before coming to the city and now earns nine dollars; two said their conditions had not improved because they “had been led off by fast company.” The incomes varied from $9.00 a month to $153.60 a month; the average wage was $67.32 a month. Sixteen of the men owned real estate and six others had liberal bank accounts. These results probably compare favorably with one hundred white immigrants, but the colored man insists that the immigrant has the advantage for, when he learns the language of the country and adopts American ways, he gradually lives down any prejudice against him, while the colored man can never make himself acceptable to the white man and believes that he is often disliked in proportion to his prosperity.
Family Life
Among the
Poorer Negroes
In contrast to these one hundred cases of negro men who were fairly successful, one hundred cases of colored families were taken from the files of the Juvenile Protective Association representing, of course, as do the white families whose names are on the records of the Association, people who were unable to adequately protect their children. These cases, however, proved to be typical in so far as the occupations of the men were confined to very few lines of activity. Forty-five of them were porters, sixteen janitors, thirteen laborers, the rest scattered in different kinds of work—teamsters, waiters, cooks, musicians, etc. The striking difference between them and the more prosperous families lay in the fact that the women were obliged to work. Of the women in these families, only fourteen stayed at home; of the others, twenty-six were day workers in households; twelve worked in laundries; seven were prostitutes; the others worked at various occupations; two were hairdressers; one a music teacher, etc. Of the one hundred families, thirty were self supporting; sixteen did not support their families at all, while fifty-four were dependent on outside assistance. In regard to their family status, sixty-six lived an unbroken family life; in twenty-one cases the husband and wife were separated; seven women were deserted; there were three cases of illegal relationship. Out of the one hundred cases, there were seven inter-marriages; in two instances white men had married colored women; in five instances white women had married colored men.
86 Mothers Out
of 100 Go Out
to Work
Out of the one hundred poor families taken from the Juvenile Protective Association records, it was found that eighty-six of the women went out to work and, while there is no doubt that this number is abnormally high, it is always easier for a colored woman to find work than it is for a colored man, partly because white people have the traditions of colored servants and partly because there is a steadier demand and a smaller supply of household workers, wash and scrub women, than there is of the kind of unskilled work done by men. Even here colored people are discriminated against, and although many are employed in highly respectable families, there is a tendency to engage them in low-class hotels and other places where white women do not care to go.
Percentage of
Colored Women
Working
No figures are available later than 1900, but in a governmental report made then, the colored women in Chicago constituted 42.5 per cent of the bread-winners of their race, slightly lower than the 43.2 per cent given in the census report for the entire United States. This is more than double the proportion of white women employed, which the census gives as 20.6 per cent of the entire white population. Only .04 per cent of working white women are married.
School Irregularity
Common
Among Colored
Children
As 60 per cent of negro working women over sixteen years of age are married, there is no doubt that many colored children are neglected. Investigators found from consultation with the principals of the schools largely attended by colored children that they are irregular in attendance and often tardy; that they are eager to leave school at an early age, although in one school where there is a great deal of manual work this tendency is less pronounced. Colored children, more than any others, are kept at home to care for younger members of the family while the mother is away at work. A very persistent violation of the compulsory education law recently tried in the Municipal Court disclosed the fact that a colored brother and sister were alternately kept out of school to care for the younger children, who had been refused admittance in a day nursery, that the old woman who cared for the little household for twenty-five cents a day was ill and that the mother had been obliged to keep the older children at home in order to retain her place in a laundry. At the very best the school attendance of her five children had been most unsatisfactory, for she left home every morning at half-past six and the illiterate old woman took little interest in school. The lack of home discipline perhaps accounts for the indifference to all school interests on the part of many colored children, although this complaint is not made of those in the high schools who come from more prosperous families. The most striking difference in the health of the colored children compared to that of the white children in the same neighborhood was the larger proportion of the cases of rickets, due, of course, to malnutrition and neglect. The colored people themselves believe the school authorities are more interested in a school whose patronage is predominantly white.
No Congenial
Employment for
Refined Girls