Beginnings [The first act to provide for protection of the colored race in enof legisla joyment of the accommodations of places of public resort] appeared tion to protect the Ne- in Massachusetts in a statute of 1865. This provided simply that no gro in the distinction or discrimination on account of race should be lawful in enjoyment of places of any licensed public place of amusement, public conveyance, public resort. or public meeting. ... Civil During the Reconstruction period of the southern states, a numrights ber of such states enacted civil rights laws, which were very full statutes in the South. and stringent in their terms. South Carolina was the first state so to provide, being followed by Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Mississippi. . The longest and most stringent of these acts was that of Arkansas. All of these southern civil rights statutes were repealed either by special enactment to that effect or by omission from the revised statutes of their states after the end of the Reconstruction period, except such as were found not to be inconsistent with the trend of later legislation, through later interpre tation of their precise terms. Further leg- There was no further legislation in the northern states upon islation in this subject until 1873, when New York adopted a civil rights act the North. somewhat similar to that of Massachusetts, but in a fuller and more developed form. The next provision was in New York again, in 1881, which substantially reënacted the earlier provision, and prohibited discrimination in the enjoyment of the accommodations of taverns, public conveyances, and places of public resort or amuse ment, because of race, creed or color. The Federal Between these two laws, however, came the Federal Act of 1875, Civil known as the Civil Rights Act of that year. This followed in general Rights Act of 1875. terms the provisions of the Massachusetts and the New York statutes. . . . It then provided that all persons should be entitled to full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land and water, theatres, and other places of public amusement, subject only to conditions applicable alike to citizens of every race. The penalty for violation of this law was both a forfeiture to the person aggrieved and fine or imprisonment for the violator. This law did not accomplish its purpose, for after its passage Negroes still continued to be excluded from places of public resort. This resulted in a number of cases appearing in the courts, finally Testing the constitutionculminating in the so-called civil rights cases, which were passed ality of the upon by the United States Supreme Court in 1883. These cases statute. arose in Missouri and Tennessee in the South, and New York, Kansas and California in the North, and were brought for denying to Negroes the accommodations of hotels, theatres and railroads. ... By a divided vote the Supreme Court held that the law of 1875, in so far as it applied to the right of accommodation of the colored race in places of public resort, was unconstitutional and therefore void... : This decision rendered it impossible for Congress to pass any Effect of general enactment prohibiting the passage of laws by individual the attitude of the states concerning the separation of Negroes in places of public resort. Supreme No further legislation of this nature therefore appeared among the Court upon Federal legFederal statutes. All further legislation in this portion of the field islation, and was thereby thrown into the jurisdiction of the separate states. This did not greatly affect legislation appearing in the southern upon legisstates, for the reason that separation in places of public resort in lation by southern most cases already existed and was enforced by the power of custom and the influence of the white race. It was followed, however, by enactments requiring separation in railroad transportation. The effect in the northern states was quite different. These states, and northfinding that the Negro was no longer protected in this portion of ern state legislatures. the field of his civil rights by Federal legislation, proceeded to enact separate state laws covering the same ground in general. The year following the Supreme Court decision, four states passed such statutes, being followed successively by a large number of others. Civil rights laws have been enacted by the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. ... 130. A new Negro problem: migration? In the South, emancipation was followed by a more or less serious disruption of numerous Negro communities. One effect of i From The United States Bureau of Labor, Division of Negro Economics, Negro Migration in 1916-1917. Washington, 1919; pp. 149, 152-155. Growing this disruption has been to encourage the migratory instinct among importance our Negro population. However, migration did not attract national of the Negro's tend- attention until the period of the World War, when the movement ency to of southern Negroes toward the cities of the South, and particularly migrate cityward. toward the cities of the North, was so marked as to create what may be called a new Negro problem. In the following extract from a report by the Division of Negro Economics in the United States Department of Labor, are outlined some of the constructive efforts toward the adjustment of the migrant Negro: Significance Another great mass movement of population has been under way. of Negro The Negro migrant has been the pawn in a tremendous transition. migration to the North. Leaving the relatively fixed social system of the South suddenly and in numbers, he has been compelled to adjust himself to radically different conditions of work and life in the crowded northern centers. Organiza- From the standpoint of the development of a rounded constructions which tive program to lessen the costs of the migration the most interesting aim to help the Negro in fact is that in the last year the National League on Urban Condiadjusting tions Among Negroes ... has established a score of branches himself to life in the in as many cities. North. In Ohio a Federation for Service Among Colored People was formed in July, 1917, with representation in most industrial communities of the state. It has appointed working subcommittees on housing, labor, health, and crime and welfare work. ... The develop- Here and there a community viewpoint is fast developing. The ment of a public-health function of northern cities is in process of rapid excommunity viewpoint. pansion, and the departments of health are beginning to undertake constructive work. In Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh the departments were burdened by the migration in vaccinating the newcomers, preventing smallpox epidemics, and in enforcing sanitary regulations in lodging places and camps. Many industries employing Negroes have introduced physical examinations. ... Reception With regard to cordial reception of the newcomers and the organof the new ization of their leisure time so little effective work has so far been done that delinquency, drunkenness, and vice, as well as industrial inefficiency, have taken frightful toll. The pitiful straits of many of the newcomers were met in part by the provisions of tem comers. . porary quarters by the Travelers’ Aid and similar societies, as in Philadelphia and Chicago, and direction to decent lodging and boarding places by local leagues. In Cincinnati the Park Street Newcomers' Relief Home was established. In Pittsburgh a colored mission using an old church in the Negro quarter served this need. It is essential to emphasize the fact that the colored churches have done almost the only extensively organized work for the welfare of the newcomers. The Urban League program includes organization of the recrea- Recreation tion facilities among the colored people to counteract the influence facilities. of the saloon and gambling. In Detroit the use of a public-school building for two nights a week and a public high-school building for one evening weekly was secured. . . . In Philadelphia also, as in Louisville in the South, a migration committee secured the use of public schools for recreation purposes. The intelligent Negro has long believed that his only escape from Causes of the migrathe measures of suppression which still exist is to go to the North, tion of and he has seized the opportunity whenever it was presented to him. southern The present unprecedented influx of black workers from the South Negroes to the North. is merely the result of a sudden expansion of opportunity, due to a war-depleted labor market in the North. But basic causes for his migration are inherent in the social and economic system which has retarded his progress for years. The Negro is beginning to appreciate his own value and duties and is proceeding to the North, where he feels he can enjoy a fuller measure of justice. This naturally means a tremendous problem for the North. The race question is no longer confined to the states below the Mason and Dixon line, but is the concern of the whole nation. . 1 131. Inter-racial coöperation Of recent years, the conviction has gained ground that the prob- Increasing lems of the Negro will never be solved without friendly, intelligent, importance of coöperaand consistent coöperation between the white and Negro races. tion beThere is an increasing number of organizations which embody the tween the white and 1 From Oswald Garrison Villard, “The Objects of the National Association Negro races. for the Advancement of Colored People.” Address delivered before the Fourth Annual Conference of the Association, Chicago, 1912. principle of inter-racial coöperation. One of the most important, although perhaps conceived in too militant a spirit to accomplish the greatest good, is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This organization, including prominent members of both races, was formed in 1909. In the following passage the objects of this association are explained by Oswald Garrison Villard: The object The objects of the National Association for the Advancement of the Asso of Colored People may be put into a single sentence: This society ciation. exists in order to combat the spirit of persecution and prejudice which confronts the colored people of this land, and to assure to them every right, privilege and opportunity to which every citizen of the United States is entitled. That it exists at all is in itself an indictment of our American democracy. For it asks no favors, no privileges, no special advantages or benefits for those disadvantaged ones, whose fathers and mothers but fifty years ago to-day were still being sold upon the auction block as so much live stock. Some things It does not, of course, ask that financial reparation be made to the Associa them for what their race suffered under the monstrous aggregation tion does not ask. of wrongdoing which went by the name of slavery; the colored people themselves never demanded any such damages in the courts of law, or of public opinion. It does not even ask special indulgence for any of their shortcomings or beg for them unusual economic and educational opportunities because of their disadvantages and their frightful inheritance of vice and ignorance which was the chief bequest of slavery. It merely asks equality of opportunity, equality at the ballot box, equality in the courts of the land. Opposition Surely this is a simple enough platform - a reasonable enough to the Asso-/ demand. Theoretically, all but those most imbued with race prej. udice grant the justness of our contentions. . . . And yet there are many persons interested in the welfare of the Negro who look with suspicion upon our simple platform and hold aloof from our work. ... Many be- There are, for instance, those prominent in the educational work lieve the among the Negroes of the South, both white and black, who feel that Association too radical. it is a mistake to dwell upon injuries and wrongs, outrages and persecution, because, in their belief, the cure can only come through |