Chapter VIII

DEPENDENTS AND DELINQUENTS

Another way in which the migration affected the Negroes may be seen in a brief study of their health in the North. To any people moving into new surroundings health is an extremely important concern, because on it largely depends their success in adjusting themselves to the new situations, especially if hard daily toil is their sole means of subsistence. As regards the health of the Negro migrants in the North it is reported that from the start they became, to a great extent, victims of disease. Such a consequence, however, was inevitable because of the sudden change of the Negroes from the comparatively mild climate of the South to the severe climate of the North, their inadequate clothing for the cold weather of this section, the hardships of the unrelenting toil, and the congested and unsanitary living conditions, in the Northern cities and industrial centers. These forces all operated heavily against the bodies of the Negroes and thus rendered them susceptible to pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, and other deadly maladies. The following studies of health conditions among Negroes in a few Northern cities will demonstrate the extent to which the newcomers were menaced by disease.

According to accounts given by Mr. Abraham Epstein, the health problem of the Negro migrants in Pittsburgh was a serious concern. An investigation into the causes of Negro mortality, based on comparison between a seven-month period in 1915 and a like period in 1917, showed that pneumonia cases during the latter year had increased 200 per cent over those of the former year. The same period in 1917 indicated also a marked increase in acute bronchitis and meningitis, and almost twice as many deaths from heart disease. The seven-month period in 1917, when the migration was in operation, registered, moreover, a total Negro death rate of 527, whereas the same period in 1915, before the movement began, showed a death list of only 295. During the first seven months of 1917, furthermore, the death rate among Negroes in this city was 48 per cent greater than the birth rate. In other words, while in the general city population the number of deaths was 30 per cent less than the number of births, the number of deaths among the Negroes greatly exceeded the diminished number of births; "thus for every one hundred persons born in Pittsburgh in 1917, there were 70 deaths, whereas among the Negro population for every one hundred children born, one hundred and forty-eight died."[156]

The report of the Health Department of Newark stated that during the month of December, 1917, there were 975 cases of diseases, and that this number was 287 in excess of the number of cases of sickness reported during the preceding month. These cases were largely bronchial pneumonia, and the deaths resulting from this malady numbered ninety-four. The report attributed the cause of this increase in pneumonia to the severe weather and to the increasing number of Negro laborers from the South, who, unaccustomed to the harsh climate of the North, easily became victims to this disease.[157] In Philadelphia, in the early spring of 1917, the lack of housing accommodations for the Negro influx caused women and children to be stranded in railroad stations overnight; and this soon brought on a public health problem. As was the case in Newark, in this place, too, there was an increase in pneumonia cases due to the sudden rush of Negroes to the North before the cold period was passed.[158]

The health conditions were so serious in Cincinnati that the city health officer suggested the establishment of a community health center in order to improve the health of the Negroes. He pointed out that their general death rate was about double that of the whites, their pneumonia rates more than three times as high, and their syphilis rate more than five times as high as the whites. In proportion to the population, he affirmed also that three times as many Negro children died before birth as whites, and that three times as many of the babies born alive died before their first birthday anniversary; and that the excess in deaths of Negroes from preventable causes alone was so great that it accounts for more than one point in the general death rate of the city.[159]

This rush of the Negroes to the North, moreover, was accompanied by smallpox and venereal diseases. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, for example, faced a danger of epidemic from the former and were compelled to undertake wholesale vaccination of laborers in camps and mills. In one year the city of Cleveland also reported 330 cases of this malady. As to venereal diseases these became so rife that some industries adopted the physical examination system as a part of application for work. One large sugar refinery found after three weeks of this experiment that three in every ten Negro applicants had to be rejected because of syphilis or gonorrhea. An examination of 800 Negroes at a large railroad camp showed that 70 per cent of them were infected with tuberculosis, syphilis, or gonorrhea, and that nearly 80 per cent of the total were infected with the latter disease. This, however, was the case for the most part only among the shiftless, the casuals and floaters, for the examinations of the better type of Negroes showed that the percentage of those affected by those diseases was exceedingly small.

The recent movement brought to the cities of the North a multitude of ignorant Negroes mostly from the farms and plantations of the South, where opportunities for education are almost unknown. To the majority of them city life was an entirely new thing, and especially strange to them was the extremely complex life of the large cities of the North. Theirs, therefore, was an extremely difficult task to adapt themselves to the mores of these places, and in their efforts to do so, it is very obvious that they could not avoid committing errors. Furthermore, there were among these migrants many who, having been freed from the influence of the strict moral and religious checks of the southern communities, lost complete control of themselves, and were thus led into the committing of criminal acts. These circumstances, however, do not warrant the conclusion that with the coming of the Negroes to the North there arose a wave of crime of various kinds. This was not at all the case. The truth of the matter is that there was an increase in certain cities in both minor and major offenses committed by Negroes, but in this regard the increase in minor offenses was far greater than that in major offenses.

What has just been said is well illustrated by the results of an investigation of Negro crime in Pittsburgh. This was done by comparing the police court records for a period of seven months during 1916-17 with those for the same period during 1914-15, before the migration occurred. This comparison showed that the arrests of Negroes for petty offenses during the former period greatly exceeded those of the latter. During 1914-15 the total number of arrests was 1,681, whereas during 1916-17 the total number was 2,998. There was also a disproportionate increase in arrests for such offenses as suspicious characters, disorderly conduct, drunkenness, keeping and visiting disorderly houses, and violations of city ordinances. Increase in arrests for major offenses was very small. In 1914-15 the number of Negroes arrested for grave offenses was 93, while the number arrested for same in 1916-17 was only 94.[160]

The report on Negro crime and delinquency in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, showed that the Negro population had served more than to double the number of prisoners of color during a period of one year ending 1917. During the spring and summer of that year more than half the average number of inmates of the county jail, 200 in all, had been Negroes, although the Negro population of the county was estimated to be about 10 per cent of the total population. Most of the Negroes had been sentenced to serve short terms for stabbing, carrying deadly weapons, or for fighting.[161] Likewise, in Steelton, Pennsylvania, there was much disturbance among the Negroes which manifested itself in the form of fighting and cutting one another. From the first there had been a general carrying of weapons, promiscuous shooting, and dangers of trouble with the white population. Many arrests of Negroes were reported to have been made on the especial charges of drunkenness, gambling and disorderly conduct.[162] The Census of 1920 shows, however, that very few Negroes remained in Harrisburg during this preceding decade as the increase was only 721 or 15.9 per cent.