by the older residents, colored and white, not the welfare
workers merely, but many of the leading citizens. Newcomers
are not infrequently carefully admonished by those who have
preceded them as to their dress, manners and habits of speech
lest they be ridiculed as having recently come from some
Southern plantation.
Much of the easy solution of the housing problem in Northern cities, notably in Harlem, is due to the enterprise of Negro real estate men who have taken the initiative in finding homes for their people. In one city, Springfield, Massachusetts, it is a church that has taken the lead in solving this problem. In many places the Urban League, with other welfare movements, has taken the lead.
New lines of business have opened up with Negro proprietors where formerly no such business existed. It has very often been a surprise to Northern Negroes to witness the energy with which their brethren from the South have taken the leadership in community enterprise.
In the majority of cases the migrants have been quick to take advantage of the improved educational facilities of the North, and have sometimes precipitated the question of segregated schools, itself a tribute to the Negro's eager desire for education. In time this must raise the question of an educational program which will enable the Negro youth to prepare themselves in advance for these new places in industry that are being opened to them. So long as the trade unions exclude Negroes from the opportunities of apprenticeship, it will be necessary for Negro youth to look elsewhere for their training. Some of these are already returning South to the industrial schools there, but these schools find it impossible even now to adequately accommodate their local applicants.
The factor in all this is the leadership of Negro men and women who have received their training in most cases in schools in the South, such as Hampton, Tuskegee, Howard, Fisk, Atlanta, Morehouse, Wiley; these will be found in the professions, in business, in social work, helping their people to take advantage of new opportunities and adjust themselves to new and sometimes hostile conditions.
