in the South between the white and Negro races. We deplore the fact that the relations for the past fifty years have been such as to separate the two races through a lack of understanding on the part of both. We know that ignorance takes its toll in crime and inefficiency, that disease and death are no respecter of persons, but that they sweep across the boulevards from the places of squalor and unsanitary living, to the best kept and most protected homes. We know also that crime is not segregated and that its results are felt alike by all classes. "We are persuaded that our native Southland can never reach its highest destiny while any part of its people are ignorant, underfed and inefficient. There fore, together we must meet our task and seek to bring in a new day of better understanding. To this end we call attention to some of the underlying causes of present day ills: "Recognizing the universal existence of prejudice among people of different races and deploring its existence and its consequent unjust results, we therefore are resolved that the Negro should have a hearing in his own behalf, and further resolve that we shall not be content simply with being kindly disposed to the race, but that our good will shall reach to the effort to secure for its members justice in all things and opportunities for living the best life. We desire for the Negro, as for all men, personal and racial justice in private life and in the courts of the land. "Realizing the great increase of mulattoes and knowing full well that no race can rise above its womanhood, we appeal for the protection of the chastity of the Negro woman and declare ourselves for the single standard of morality among this race as well as among our own. "Recognizing the right of every American child to be not only well born but to be given the opportunity for developing his life to its fullest possibility, we desire for the Negro child better homes, better schools and better Christian training. "Lynching is the black spot on America's soul. So long as America holds the record for its illegal taking of life, so long as the headlines of foreign papers carry in large letters 'America burns another Negro' just so long will her shame be world-wide. We have no security unless the law protects us. Mob violence knows no law. As women, as mothers of men, we protest. We condemn every violation of law in the taking of life no matter what the crime. "We declare ourselves for law and order at all costs. The public has a right to prompt and certain justice and should demand such of officials and courts. We believe that America should not permit ignorance and prejudice to be capitalized. In common with the great and honored Henry W. Grady, of our own Southland, we say, 'Not in passion, my countrymen, but in reason, not in narrowness but in breadth, may we solve this problem in calmness and in truth and lifting its shadows, let perpetual sunshine pour down on two races walking to gether in peace and contentment." Editors Leading Southern Papers Ask For Mutual Helpfulness and Co-operation Between The Races The editors of leading daily papers in six of the Southern states united in a signed statement asking for mutual helpfulness and co-operation between the white and colored races in the South, for adequate educational advantages for colored people, for equallity before the law, and for abatement of mob violence. The paper was drafted in a con ference of Virginia editors and was later signed personally by more than fifty other editors of leading dailies in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. The statement follows: "In the attainment and maintenance of improved inter-racial relations in our Southern states we believe that a policy of co-operation between the more thoughtful of both races is fundamental, this being the antithesis of antagonism and polemic discussion. "Mutual helpfulness between whites and blacks should be encouraged; the better element of both races striving by precept and example to impress the interdependence of peoples living side by side, yet apart. "The Negroes of the South are largely dependent upon the white press for current news of the day. It would be well if even greater effort was made to publish news of a character which is creditable to the Negro, showing his development as a people along desirable lines. This would stimulate him to try to attain to a higher standard of living. "We do not believe that education suited to the needs of the individual of any race is harmful. It is a generally accepted fact that in both races, if the entire mass were educated, industrial problems would adjust themselves automatically and the less fit of either race would find the work and place for which he was best equipped. It has been authoritatively stated that the Negro demand would absorb all teachers, preachers, physicians and lawyers the schools may turn out. "The influence of the thoughtful men of both races should be invoked in the effort to establish and assure equality before the law for Negro defendants in all criminal trials. “Abatement of mob rule and its crimes is an aim to which all good citizens should pledge their support. "In the harmonious co-operation of the thoughtful and exemplary men and women of both races lies the prospect of larger understanding and better inter-racial relations." Race Relation In The North. On Needs Negro Populaion. The Maryland legislature in 1924 authorized the appointing of an unpaid commission on Race Relations. Under this authorization the Governor of the state appointed a mixed commission of 21 persons, whites and Negroes. A state wide conference to consider the needs of the Negro population of Pennsylvania was held at Harrisburg, on January 3, 1924. The findings committee of the Conference recommended the following: I. Health. 1. The employment of colored Doctors, Nurses and Social Workers when and where it is practicable in the care of Negroes, because they better understand the problems of their own race, and are better received by members of their own race. 2. This use of Negro Doctors, Nurses and Social Workers should not, however, prohibit the use by Negroes of established social agencies nor should Negro Doctors, Nurses and Social Workers be restricted in their services to members of their own race. 3. The establishment of more clinics in congested Negro districts. 4. The establishment by the state of Public Clinics to which migrants shall be directed immediately upon their arrival in the cities of Pennsylvania. 5. Enlarged and increased support for Negro Hospitals. 6. The use by Negro citizens of the state of all municipal and state-supported institutions already existing, in order not to produce duplication of effort and unjust discrimination to tax payers. 7. Greater publicity among Negro residents and migrants, regarding preventive health measures. This should be obtained through (a) Distribution of pamphlets by the state. (b) The Negro Press. (c) Negro Fraternal Orders and Organizations. (d) Negro Church. 8. Greater use of the Negro church in Health Programs as well as in all welfare activities. 9. The establishment of a Health Week to be fostered and directed by the Department of Public Welfare. 10. Opportunities for Negro Medical Students in the Universities and Colleges of the state to receive clinical work in the institutions in which they are registered. 11. The enforcement of compulsory registration of births. 12. Compulsory Vaccination through the aid of: (a) Industrial Life Insurance Companies. (b) Employers of Labor. (c) The U. S. Public Health Service, by enforcing compulsory vaccination in states where it already exists and securing compulsory laws in states where it does not exist. II. Housing. 1. That the state institute Sanitary Inspection. 2. That the state pass a Rent Control Law. 3. That the state exempt from taxation for three years all newly built houses costing $5,000 or less. 4. That the State or Federal Government establish a Home Loan Fund similar to the Farm Loan Fund. III. Recreation. 1. That Welfare Workers secure the co-operation of the churches in developing a community consciousness and program. 2. That the church provide and encourage young people with the heart and the mind to train for community work. 3. That Social Clubs be established with after school hour sessions. These should be home-like and have the home life atmosphere. 4. That Community Centers be established in Mining Centers. 5. That Welfare Workers in Commercial Plants instill in the employees a feeling of partnership in their welfare programs. IV. Problems of Dependency. 1. That a survey be made of the whole field of child dependency with a view to the erection of a home for border line children and first class family homes for training dependent children. 2. That such steps as are necessary be taken to make it possible to keep more children in their homes. 3. That a home be erected in Pittsburgh for destitute men, and another home in the same city for fallen or wayward girls and women. V. Community Plans. 1. That children be educated regarding inter-racial facts through the distribution of proper literature in the school. 2. A co-ordinating program be established by the state to reach all agencies serving Negroes so that any one community may have at its disposal the services of all agencies serving Negroes in the state. 3. That a clearing house be established by the state in all centers of Negro population whose duty it shall be to co-ordinate local agencies and activities for Negroes and also to work for the assimilation of the Negro masses. Wherever possible existing agencies shall be used as the clearing house centers. 4. That Negro labor be diffused throughout the state in industries and on farms by the aid of the Department of Labor or other suitable department. 5. That greater emphasis be placed on the assimilation of the Negro masses. Special program to be enacted in each center of Negro population for this purpose on a scale similar to that of the Americanization program among the foreign born. State Wide Survey Race Relation In Pennsylvania. Carrying out the recommendations of the Conference of the needs of the Negro population in Pennsylvania a state wide survey of race relations was begun in the summer of 1924. A feature of this survey was the calling together of representative Negro citizens in each community for advice and counsel before the local investigation started and the assembling again later to consider the findings and to assist in the making of final recommendations. . Another feature of the survey was the attempt to accomplish actual benefits for the race while the investigation was going on. For instance, the industrial capabilities of the Negro worker were advertised in the smaller industrial centers where they were not so well known as in Pittsburgh and to a certain degree in Philadelphia. This was done on the theory that if the industrial efficiency of Negroes was generally known, they would be eagerly accepted by many employers in the state who are now worried by the shortage of labor caused by the restriction of immigration. In addition, farming opportunities were sought in order to provide an outlet from the fluctuating conditions in the larger cities. The housing problem, one of the most difficult with which the Negro has to contend, was given considerable attention. A Negro Church Largest Protestant Church In The World. The new Abyssinian Institutional Baptist Church, of New York City, has just been erected at a cost of $300,000. The congregation paid in cash $230,000. Among the churches which have adapted their work to meet the needs of the Negroes in industrial centers of the North is that of the Clark Memorial Baptist Church, Homestead, Pennsylvania, which has just recently been erected at a cost of $120,000. There is a community house in connection with the Church in which an extended welfare program is carried on including athletics, domestic science, music, domestic art, etc. The Olivet Baptist Church, Chicago, with over 10,000 members is reported to be the largest protestant church in the world. The most unique and important feature of this church, however, is its community work done through 53 departments and auxiliaries. Twenty paid full time workers and ten paid part time workers are employed. An auto bus costing $2,600 brings children to and from the church's free kindergarten and day nursery. This bus also brings old and decrepit members to church services, and gives recreation rides to needy, convalescent members and others. The church has a free labor bureau, a helpful social service force, and an experienced charity committee. There is a brotherhood and sisterhood, dispensing annually for the relief of its own members more than $2,500; a boys' industrial organization; a girls' industrial organiza tion; a mothers' community meeting; a children's church; a Sunday School with 3,100 members. The church has five regular choirs. It conducts two sunrise prayer meetings every Sunday at 6:30 a. m., and from three to five preaching services every Sunday at 11 a. m. There are two large church houses-one at 27th and Dearborn Streets and the other at 31st Street and South Park Avenue. A missionary is supported in Africa. Among other holdings the church owns two pieces of property, one, the home of its day nursery and the other to house a proposed home for working girls. The church has organized a Community Flat Owning Association, the first among colored people, through which over $200,000 worth of property has been purchased. The church has a Daily Vacation Bible School enrolling 316 persons, publishes weekly, a paper to promote its work, has a Boy Scout Organization with 320 members, has three Girls' Leagues, has in the 31st Street Church a branch of the public library, maintains a health bureau and a free child's clinic. The annual operating expenses of the church are about $50,000. Negro Conferences Contribute Almost Two Million Dollars To Centenary Fund. The Negro schools under the supervision of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church are sharing in the Centenary Fund of the Church as follows: $350,000 per annum as the regular apportionment to the Board for running expenses of the schools; $275,000 per annum is appropriated for buildings, improvement and endowments; and $200,000 per annum to be used exclusively for new buildings and endowments. Dur There are 332,523 Negro members in the Methodist Episcopal Church. ing the Centenary celebration of that Church, these Negro members in the five years from July 1, 1919 to July 1, 1924 gave $1,941,979.28 which is at the rate of $388,395.85 per year. This is remarkable giving when it is understood that the funds go to Missions and education alone. The above is not the whole story of the Negroes giving as the contribution of such Negro Churches as St. Marks M. E. Church, New York; Salem M. E. Church, New York; and Wesley M. E. Church and other Negro Churches in California are not counted in the total of $1,941,979.28. The total of $1,941,979.28 represents seventy-five per cent of the amount raised in cash which was apportioned to the Negro members. This is ahead of the percentage for the whole Church. Of the total of $1,941,979.28 the New Orleans area with a Negro Bishop, Robert E. Jones, raised $662,482.94 in five years of $132,496.58 per year which was eighty-three per cent of all that was apportioned. A Negro Conference the South Florida Mission led the entire Church, white and colored having given one hundred and thirty-two per cent which was one hundred per cent plus thirty-two more than was apportioned. The Division of Missions for Colored People, formerly the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Northern Presbyterian Church, reports that for the year 1923 a total of $475,724 was received by the Board from all sources. On the other hand, it was reported that much surprise was manifested when the colored people in the churches and schools in four synods of the denomination in 1922-23 contributed $375,400 and in 1923-24, $398,818, of which amount, $224,114 was for church work and $162,034 for education and $12,669 for Mission work. |