The American Journal of Sociology/Volume 06/Number 5/The Race Problem
THE RACE PROBLEM.[1]
AS DISCUSSED BY NEGRO WOMEN.
It was my good fortune to attend the meetings of the Michigan State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. There were perhaps two or three hundred colored women present—colored ladies, I would say, for these women were ladies in every sense of the word. They had the faces of ladies—strong, sweet, thoroughly refined faces. It has sometimes been said that all negroes look alike, but among the same number of white women it would be difficult to find more types than in this audience. They were of all shades. Some of them were very black. Some might have been mistaken for white women. An unusual number of them were pretty—even beautiful. I heard one white woman remark that she had never seen so many pretty women together before. It was especially noticeable that those who took prominent parts were generally remarkable for their physical development. They gave the impression of strength of every kind—physical strength, as well as mental and moral. They would have been leaders in any race.
They had the voices of ladies. Further, they were able to make themselves heard without their voices becoming harsh or strained. They had the manners of ladies, sweet and dignified. Dignified, not pompous. There was that absence of pretense about them which marks well-bred men and women of the world. They had the mellow courtesy—the tactfulness which, it seems to me, is a distinguishing mark of the race. They were dressed like ladies—scrupulously neat and clean, in good taste. There was very little of the tendency toward gaudy or inharmonious colors which has been supposed to characterize the race.
From personal knowledge I can testify that many of these women came from homes as clean, as attractive nay, even as artistic as can be found among the whites in a similar financial position. Some of them even came from elegant homes. Some are the wives and daughters of clergymen, physicians, lawyers, inventors. Some are themselves teachers, trained nurses, musicians, writers. In the homes of some of them children are being brought up as children are being brought up in only the very best white homes in the land. Among those present was a dear, cultured old lady, the mother of seven children, all of whom do her credit and some of whom have acquired an almost national reputation. It seems almost an insult to these ladies to write such things about them. Yet I write them, because, while most of us have had an opportunity to see negro life at its worst, I fear that very few have seen it at its best.
The women who attended this convention are, I take it, for the most part religious women, but with them religion is no mere sentiment or emotion—no mere intellectual conviction even—but a strong ethical impulse. Their religion consists not so much in singing of the joys of the future world as in working to make this present world better.
The meetings were business-like, and parliamentary law was carefully observed. The speeches were clear and to the point. There was no striving after effect, no superfluous ornamentation, no indulging in rhetoric for rhetoric's sake; and yet there were occasional genuine and fitting poetic outbursts. Noble emotion found noble expression. The language was the fitting vehicle for the thought. Indeed, there were some addresses so eloquent that they would have electrified an assembly of white college women, and have given the speakers places of honor among them forever.
The delivery was good, because the speakers were in earnest—threw themselves into what they had to say, with no thought of delivery. Not only were the speeches clear, eloquent, and well delivered, but they exhibited much breadth of thought such breadth of thought—as can belong only to great-minded persons; generally, too, only to persons who have come in contact with "many men of many minds." There was a singular absence of provincialism.
The speakers showed themselves very ready-witted. There was a disposition on the part of the convention to call for the opinions of various members on interesting questions. So there was a great deal of impromptu speaking, and this speaking was both wise and witty—often more interesting than the prepared speeches, although there was not a single dull speech, either prepared or unprepared. It is unnecessary to say that the singing was sweet, for it is generally admitted that the negro can sing.
Looking at and listening to these women, it was almost impossible to realize that they were the daughters and grand-daughters of those who, in the language of one of the youngest of the speakers, "sang lullabies with heavy hearts to sleeping babes, not knowing at what moment the auction block might come between them and those whom they loved."
When it was announced that there was to be a meeting of colored women's clubs in Detroit, it was asked: "Why do colored women have clubs? Is it because they have really decided that they are conducive to their best development, or are they mere aping of white women's clubs?" To answer this question we must ask: "Why do white women have clubs? From what needs do these clubs arise, and what are they accomplishing?"
White women have clubs primarily because they are social beings, and as social beings they find that a proper development is impossible apart from society. Clearness of thought, breadth of view, freedom from prejudice, sustained energy and enthusiasm, self-control, and the ability to work together as "superiors, inferiors, or equals"—these are some of the things which the larger social life of the club tends to foster. Some work is done which is valuable for its own sake. Some knowledge is acquired; some philanthropic work is accomplished; some attempts are made at solving political and social problems.
Colored women have formed clubs similar to white women's clubs, because, having the same human nature as white women, they have felt the same needs, and they have accepted the partial remedy for these needs which white women have pointed out as good, in so far as it goes.
But colored women have also had special reasons of their own for feeling that association is desirable. We were told that the immediate occasion for the formation of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs was a letter written to an English woman, impugning the morality of the negro race, and especially of the negro women. This letter came into the hands of a noble-minded negro woman in Boston. Because this good woman felt that the burden was too heavy for her to bear alone, she called some of her friends—some of the foremost women of her own race—to her assistance. They looked the facts fairly in the face. While repudiating the wholesale charges in the letter as cruelly unjust, they freely admitted that, while there was too much sexual immorality everywhere, special circumstances' had aggravated the evil among their people. It is impossible to suppose that any race which had been denied marriage and family life for centuries would, in thirty or forty years, have learned to respect the marriage tie as it should be respected. So the National Association of Colored Women was founded in 1894 with especial reference to combating this evil and to creating a pure home life.
Methods of securing a higher moral tone for the race received a great deal of attention in the Detroit convention. It was pointed out that the moral status of the race must be raised as the moral status of any race must be raised—through the home, the church, the school, and good literature. The tenement-house evil in the city and the one-room cabin evil in the country were denounced as fruitful causes of immorality. A special plea was made for an educated ministry—a ministry with book knowledge, but also with knowledge of life. Consecrated men are needed, who understand the wants and the failings of their people, and who can hold before them high ethical ideals. There are such men among the negroes, but more are needed. One woman, herself the wife of a prominent negro divine, said: "The pulpit must at least keep pace with the pew. Intelligence can never be led by ignorance."
In their efforts to elevate their people these cultured women do not stop with talk. They are actually doing a great deal, especially in the way of creating a pure and pleasant home life. Their mothers' clubs are powerful influences for good. We were told of how the heart of one woman in the black belt was saddened by seeing so many ignorant, dirty mothers gossiping on the streets, while home and children were neglected. She determined to form a mothers' club. She sent out invitations and issued notices, asking the mothers to meet her at a certain time and place. Not a single woman came. Still she was not discouraged. A short time afterward, taking a friend with her, she went to a little schoolhouse in the neighborhood. Then she sent her friend out into the street, with orders to tell every group of negro women that she passed that there was a woman in that schoolhouse who had something to say to them. Out of curiosity they came. A mothers' club was organized that day with a membership of forty. It has since increased to four hundred. The women who attend the meetings of this club are taught how to care for their children, to keep their houses in order, to do laundry work. Cooking schools have been established in connection with the club. The necessity for separate sleeping-rooms is insisted upon, or, where these are not possible, at least separate beds. In short, these women are being taught how to live as decently as it is possible to live on the means at their disposal.
Instruction is also given in gardening. This is especially needed in the black belt. For it is customary to raise but one crop, and the negro too often finds that the whole of this crop goes to his landlord. Frequently he does not even reserve the seed for next year's sowing. He must then provide for his own necessities, and he has no money with which to do it. The mothers in this club are being taught that it is desirable to set apart a small portion of the land which their husbands are cultivating as a home garden where they can raise vegetables for family use. Where it is allowed, the suggestion is made that they also keep pigs. This, alas! is not always allowed. The planters sometimes wish to force the negro tenants to buy their pork at the plantation stores.
This is one woman's work. It is true that she is a leader in her race. Exceptional abilities and opportunities enable her to do more than most of her sisters. But mothers' clubs, on a greater or less scale, are being started here and there all through the South. I know of one very able northern negro woman who devotes six months of the year to traveling through the black belt addressing the people, especially in their mothers' meetings. She perhaps stays in a place a week—speaks every day, and three or four times on Sunday. She never fails of an audience, and much good seed is sown.
There are cultured young negro women who go and live on the plantations in one-room cabins, teach the children, and by their example show the parents how decently it is possible to live on no more means than their own. This, of course, is the college-settlement idea. I was told of one young woman, a college graduate, who is living in this way, and who, during the two years that she has been working among her people, has not received more than twelve dollars in money. But these negroes are taught that they must never expect to get something for nothing. So, in return for her teaching, they supply her with provisions.
The southern negroes, we were told, are greatly in need of day nurseries and free kindergartens. One woman told of how a cabin, containing three small children, had burned down before her eyes. The mother had gone to her work, locking the little ones in the house. They had got to playing with matches, and, as a consequence, were burned to death. When children are not locked in the house, they run wild on the streets. As a result of the education that they get there, they become public nuisances. Then there is no place for them but the chain-gang.
In considering the needs of the southern black man, it will be borne in mind that there is no reformatory system in the South, and that all public institutions are closed to him, even the orphanages.
Colored women have had another reason, peculiar to themselves, for forming clubs. They realize that at this stage in their progress there is nothing that they need more than a proper race-pride—a becoming independence and self-respect. No race can expect to be respected which does not respect itself—which is constantly adopting an apologetic attitude. The negro, it was said, must "learn to acquire a habit of persistent self-respect, and dignified self-confidence. He must continue to respect himself, even when those around him do not respect him. He must 'develop a pride in American-African manhood.'"
The attention of a friend of mine was once called to a singularly bright and attractive little colored boy. He sighed, and said: "Yes, the boy will continue to be clever until he finds out that he is black." The leaders of the race wish to develop such a spirit in their people, that such boys will do all the better after they find out that they are black.
It is because of this necessity for fostering race-pride that many of the abler colored women, who are or might be honored members of white women's clubs, believe in clubs exclusively for colored women. For it is necessary to the development of self-respect that colored women should prove to themselves and to the world that they can do things without the help of white women—that they are capable of organized effort. "Not to foster prejudice," it was said, "but to create self-confidence." "We need," said one, "each one to believe in herself, and then to believe in others of her race. We must raise ourselves, if we are to rise. Our white sisters wish to help us, and do help us, but we ourselves must do a great share of the work, and we must do it among ourselves, and by ourselves."
In connection with the desirability of fostering race-pride, one lady, who had herself been educated in a school for white girls, and might have passed for a white woman, said that she had come to the conclusion that it was better for colored children to attend colored schools, even where they were allowed to attend white schools. For it was better for them to go where they would be instructed in the progress that their race had already made, and taught to honor their great men. The name of Frederick Douglass was mentioned several times with special reverence. Here in Detroit a home for aged colored people, supported by colored people, is called the Phyllis Wheatley Home, in honor, of the first poetess of the race.
In thinking of the work that is before them, many of these women "rejoice as a strong man to run a race." They are glad that they "belong to a people that have so much to do for themselves." And they realize that a grave responsibility rests upon them as pioneers in a great movement. They obtain admittance to the society of white people all the more because they are working with and for their own race. But whether they gain the recognition of the whites or not, they know that their duty lies in doing what they can for their own people. That is the most hopeful feature of the negro problem. They have leaders, and they are willing to lead.
The subject of race-hatred was taken up in the convention. I think as much temperance, judgment, and moderation were shown as would have been shown by any body of women so large under similar circumstances. It is all very easy when one has nothing at stake to stand off and say: "There is much to be said on both sides." It is more difficult to be broad-minded and fair when one happens to be identified with one of the parties, and that the one that is being worsted. Therefore it could hardly have been expected that there should not have been some excited, exaggerated language; but I am sure that there was no more of this than there would have been in so large a gathering of white women with anything like the provocation. Indeed, considering all things, these women were remarkable for their self-control.
They have been much criticised because in a petition to the president, that an indemnity be granted to the family of the murdered Postmaster Baker in South Carolina, a further petition was inserted that those states in which lynching could not be stopped be expelled from the union. Someone remarked to me that that was "niggerish." I am afraid it was not so much "niggerish" as "womanish." Or, rather, it is the first impulse of almost any person whose mental horizon has not been almost miraculously broadened, either by circumstances or by native excellence, to try to right a great wrong by committing a still greater one. And at present, owing largely to the conditions of life, breadth of view is rarer among women than among men.
The majority of the speakers were of the opinion that the prejudice against the negro is on the increase. When one remembers some of the stories that the newspapers have been giving us during the past few months, this certainly was not surprising. Some of the speakers told how they had found western hotels closed to them, which a few years ago were willing to entertain them. But one of the wisest of the women present was of the opinion that race-hatred was not on the increase. She said:
You know they used to say that we never died of consumption. That was because we just died and were buried, and nobody knew what we died of. Now that some attention is paid to what we die of, it has been discovered that some of us do die of consumption. So it is with the matter of race-hatred. More attention has been paid to it of late years, and so it sometimes seems to be on the increase. And we ourselves are becoming a more serious-minded race are losing our light-heartedness to a very considerable extent, and so we feel these things more than we used to.
She admitted that the state of affairs was still far from ideal—that there was much to make right-thinking people of both races sad. She alluded to the fact that one of the prettiest schoolhouses for colored people in the South had been destroyed within a few weeks by a white mob. She said that one of her friends—a teacher in the school—had, during the past year, spent $100 of her own money for pictures for the walls. But she reminded her audience that, if a schoolhouse for colored children had been erected in that neighborhood twenty-five years ago, its destruction would have been a matter of course. Further, she was absolutely certain that that school would be rebuilt, and be rebuilt largely through the contributions of the white people of the South. She told us how many of the best southern white people were interested in the colored people, and in some instances even were willing to cultivate social relations with them. She mentioned the fact that a wealthy planter had visited her home and had said to her, "with tears in his voice, if not in his eyes": "I wish that my wife had reached the point where I could invite you to our house." And this noble-hearted, broad-minded woman added: "Of course, I knew that she hadn't reached it, and that she was too old ever to reach it. But it was much that he had reached it."
One woman expressed the opinion to me in private that it is not so much race-hatred as the turbulent element in our population that is on the increase. She said that riots were everywhere becoming more frequent, and it was but natural that race-hatred should sometimes be made the pretext for these. One woman who believed that the prejudice was growing greater reminded her hearers that the best way to remedy the evil was to make every effort to raise the standard of the race, so that there could be no possible excuse for it. The young poet of the occasion voiced the same sentiment in the lines:
For our problem is hard;
We must figure it out;
And our backs they are scarred
By hard blows that were stout;
But we'll rise by our worth,
In this prejudiced earth,
For our work makes the man.
Be a man, be a man![2]
Over and over again it was pointed out that industrial education is one of the chief needs of the race—education that shall fit the negro to do the work that he can get to do; education that shall redeem his life from drudgery by enabling him to take a scientific interest in his work, by developing his intellect so that he may apply it to discovering the shortest and best methods for accomplishing the desired results.
In many parts of the South there is no prejudice against the negro in business relations. But the negro, because of his lack of education, has too often failed to take advantage of his opportunities, and so they have been taken away from him. Men must be trained to fill the places that are still open to them. Further, where white men refuse to work with colored men, a sufficient number of skilled colored men must be found to carry on a business by themselves. For this, not only ability to do one's own work, but ability to superintend the work of others, is necessary.
It was urged that negroes should patronize their own industries, when such industries were worthy of patronage. For instance, it was pointed out that in almost any northern city a young colored woman will be taken as an apprentice while she is learning the milliner's trade. But as soon as she becomes capable of drawing a salary it is difficult for her to find an opening. If the colored women of her city would patronize her, it might be profitable for her to open an establishment of her own.
Undoubtedly, the delegates to this assembly belong to the aristocracy of the race. They do not represent its rank and file. But the capabilities of any race must be judged by the very best that it has produced. And the motto of the National Federation of Colored Women's Clubs is: "Lifting as we climb."