The total number of Negro college graduates up to 1899, (several of the graduates of that year not being reported), was as follows:
| Negro Colleges. | White Colleges. |
| Before '76 | 137 | 75 |
| '75-80 | 143 | 22 |
| '80-85 | 250 | 31 |
| '85-90 | 413 | 43 |
| '90-95 | 465 | 66 |
| '96-99 | 475 | 88 |
| Class Unknown | 57 | 64 |
| Total | 1,914 | 390 |
Of these graduates 2,079 were men and 252 were women; 50 per cent. of Northern-born college men come South to work among the masses of their people, at a sacrifice which few people realize; nearly 90 per cent. of the Southern-born graduates instead of seeking that personal freedom and broader intellectual atmosphere which their training has led them, in some degree, to conceive, stay and labor and wait in the midst of their black neighbors and relatives.
The most interesting question, and in many respects the crucial question, to be asked concerning college-bred Negroes, is: Do they earn a living? It has been intimated more than once that the higher training of Negroes has resulted in sending into the world of work, men who could find nothing to do suitable to their talents. Now and then there comes a rumor of a colored college man working at menial service, etc. Fortunately, returns as to occupations of college-bred Negroes, gathered by the Atlanta conference, are quite full—nearly sixty per cent. of the total number of graduates.
This enables us to reach fairly certain conclusions as to the occupations of all college-bred Negroes. Of 1,312 persons reported, there were: