BOOK REVIEWS

A Century of Negro Migration. By Carter G. Woodson. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, D. C. Pp. 221.

The increasingly numerous articles, inquiries and investigations into the nature, extent, causes and results of the recent migratory movement among the Negroes in America demonstrate the great interest which has been manifested in this subject. At a period when so much personal opinion, ill-digested information and controversial literature, on racial problems are being flung at the public, it is a real pleasure for the sincere student of human affairs to welcome such an instructive work as this both because of its point of view and its valuable research. This volume is an unusual contribution in this field. It is an historical treatise, a study in economic progress and a survey of contemporary movements. As suggested by its title, the book examines with scholarly comprehension the continued migrations of the nineteenth century. The point of view which the volume presents is that of the new historical school, which holds that movements of the present have their roots in the past; and the present may not be properly understood without comprehending the foundations of the past. The book is replete with facts organized and interpreted with a scientific spirit, and the discussions are modern and scholarly.

After reading the book one ceases to speak of "a" migration, or of "the" migration, for Negro migration ceases to be a new development. It becomes an old movement, begun a century ago, but now heightened and intensified by the factors growing out of the World War. The author in his preface especially disclaims any distinctly new contribution of fact. The specific value of the volume rests then in its collection of isolated historical data culled from many known sources, and its presentation of a new vantage ground from which the whole subject may be regarded. An introductory section on the migrations at the close of the eighteenth century and in the opening years of the nineteenth century leads to the main chapters which follow under the headings: A Transplantation to the North; Fighting it out on Free Soil; Colonization[Pg 342] as a Remedy for Migration; The Successful Migrant; Confusing Movements; The Exodus to the West; The Migration of the Talented Tenth, and The Exodus during the World War.

In the discussion of the Successful Migrant much information is given us of individuals who succeeded by sheer grit in making their way to freedom, and in some cases in building neat fortunes for themselves and their families. The charge that the Negro appears to be naturally migratory, an assertion which comes to light in recent studies in economic progress, is declared untrue. Dr. Woodson asserts that "this impression is often received by persons who hear of the thousands of Negroes who move from one place to another from year to year because of the desire to improve their unhappy condition. In this there is no tendency to migrate but an urgent need to escape undesirable conditions. In fact, one of the American Negroes' greatest shortcomings is that they are not sufficiently pioneering." To the reviewer, this statement, typical of others, seems to be the more reasonable conclusion from the facts, which others regard as only facts and by inference as racial tendencies. In the majority of instances the author finds, as other investigators have found, that the migrants belonged to the intelligent laboring class.

The best discussion is given in the closing chapter on The Exodus during the World War. This is made to differ from other migrations on the ground that the Negro has opportunity awaiting him, whereas formerly he had "to make a place for himself upon arriving among enemies." The effects upon the whites and the Negroes, North and South, are noted with unbiased attitude. The perspective of the trained historian appears to have its influence in this section. The earlier chapters are concerned primarily with the Negro in the Northwest, and so completely does the information center in this section of the country that it appears easily possible to expand this part into a larger work treating this phase in particular. The author's comment and criticism are suggestive to both races and particularly to the Negroes who furnish the subject-matter of the book. The book will have not only historical interest, but it will serve to point out the paramount unsettled condition of the race problem during the past century and the disturbing future which must face America. The volume is heartily commended to all readers and students, and it cannot fail to be informing upon this unsettled aspect of Negro life and history. No serious student should be without it.

Charles H. Wesley.

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Negro Migration in 1916-17. By R. H. Leavell, T.R. Snavely, T. J. Woofter, Jr., W. T. B. Williams, and Francis D. Tyson, with an introduction by J. H. Dillard. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1919. Pp. 158.

This is a report of the Department of Labor issued from the office of the Secretary through the Division of Negro Economics, under the direction of Dr. George E. Haynes. The task was divided among a number of investigators. Mr. Leavell directed his attention to the migration from Mississippi, Mr. Snavely to that from Alabama and North Carolina, and Mr. Woofter to that from Georgia. Mr. Williams sketches in general the Exodus from the South and Mr. Tyson gives a survey of the Negro Migrant in the North. Submitted in this condition the report is much less valuable than it would have been, had the investigation been directed by a single man to work out of these individual reports a scientific presentation of the whole movement. As this was not the case, there is found throughout the report numerous duplications of discussions of causes and effects which might have given place to more valuable information.

The conclusion of Mr. Leavell, himself a Mississippian, as to measures for the rehabilitation of Mississippi labor conditions, are very interesting. He believes that a permanent surplus of Negro laborers outside of the upper delta can be created by reorganizing agriculture with emphasis on live stock and forage, that this surplus could then be directed to the delta and to Arkansas so far as needed for producing cotton and food stuffs, that the balance of this surplus labor should be drawn permanently to northern industries, and that the older communities along the Mississippi could attract the necessary additional labor from the surplus created in the hills. He believes also that there should be schools emphasizing education toward the farm, fair dealing in all business transactions, equal treatment in the distribution of public utilities, equal treatment in the courts and the encouragement of Negro farm ownership, the abolition of the fee system in courts of justice, the insistence of white public opinion on full settlement with Negroes on plantations, and, above all else, that the fundamental need is for frequent and confidential conferences upon community problems and for active cooperation between the local leaders of the two races.

Mr. Snavely counts among the causes of the migration from[Pg 344] Alabama and North Carolina, the changed conditions incident to the transition from the old system of cotton planting to stock raising and the diversification of crops. Mr. Williams undertakes to estimate the size of the exodus, some of its effects and the initial remedies for keeping the Negroes in the South. Some of these are better pay, greater care for the employees, better educational facilities, the opportunity to rent and purchase sanitary homes, justice in the courts, the abolition of "jim crowism" and segregation.

One of the most interesting parts of the report is that which deals with the Negro migrant in the North. It is doubtful, however, that the author has done his task so well as Mr. Epstein did in treating intensively the same situation in Pittsburgh. This part of the report is too brief to cover the field adequately. There are few statistics taken from the censuses of 1900 and 1910 to show the increase of Negro population in the North during this period. Then comes a rapid survey of the districts receiving large numbers of Negroes during the migration. Attention is directed also to the adjustment of the Negroes to northern industry, race friction and the bearing of the Negro migration on the labor movement culminating in the riot of East St. Louis. Delinquency in the migrant population and the reports on the crime, health and housing conditions of the Negroes in the North are also discussed. That part of the report on constructive efforts toward adjustment of the migrant population in the North gives much information as to how the leading citizens of both races have coöperated in trying to solve the problems resulting from this sudden shifting of large groups of people.

Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt. By William J. Edwards. The Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918. Pp. 143.

This is a valuable biographical work in that the reader gets a view of conditions in the South as experienced and viewed by a Negro educated at Tuskegee and inspired thereby to spend his life in another part of the State of Alabama, doing what he learned at this institution. The author mentions his growth, the founding of the Snow Hill School, the assistance of the Jeannes Fund, and the ultimate solutions of his more difficult problems. The book becomes more interesting when he discusses the Negro problem, the exodus of the blacks and the World War.[Pg 345]

The aim of the author, however, is to acquaint the public with the problems and difficulties confronting those who labor for the future of the Negro race. He complains of the land tenure, the credit system by which the Negroes become indebted to their landlords, the lack of educational facilities, and the consequent ignorance of the masses of the race. To enlist support to remedy these evils wherever this condition obtains, the life of the author who for twenty-five years has had to struggle against hardships is hereby presented as typical of the thousands of teachers white and black now suffering all but martyrdom in the South that the Negroes may after all have a chance to toil upward.

The book is not highly literary. The style is generally rough. Interesting facts appear here and there, but they did not reach the stage of organization in passing through the author's mind. The value of the book, however, is not materially diminished by its style. It certainly reflects the feelings and chronicles the deeds of a large group of the American people during one of the most critical periods of our history and must therefore be read with profit by those interested in the strivings of the people of low estate. Persons primarily concerned with industrial education will find this sketch unusually valuable. To throw further light on this systematic effort to elevate the Negroes of Alabama the author has given numerous illustrations. Among these are Uncle Charles Lee and His Home in the Black Belt, Partial View of the Snow Hill Institute, A New Type of Home in the Black Belt, Typical Log Cabin in the Black Belt, the Home of a Snow Hill Graduate, Graduates of Snow Hill Institute and Teachers of Snow Hill Institute.

Women of Achievement. By Benjamin Brawley. Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, Chicago, 1919. Pp. 92.

Glancing at the title of this volume one would expect to find therein the sketches of a number of women of color known to be useful in the uplift of the Negro race. Instead of this, however, there is the disappointment in tho restriction of these sketches to Harriet Tubman, Nora Gordon, Meta Warrick Fuller, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Mary Church Terrell. No one will question the claims of some of these women to honorable mention, but when Nora Gordon, an unknown but successful missionary to Africa, is[Pg 346] given precedence to the hundreds of women of color who have influenced thought and contributed to the common good of the race and country the historian must call for an explanation.

It is equally clear that in choosing the other four of these women as representative of the achievements of their race the biographer has done other distinguished women of the Negro race considerable injustice, if his book is to be taken seriously. Harriet Tubman was truly a great character and her life is an interesting chapter in the history of this country. Whether Meta Warrick Fuller, Mary McLeod Bethune and Mary Church Terrell deserve special consideration to the exclusion of others, however, is debatable. Meta Warrick Fuller has distinguished herself in art and so have several other women of color. Mary McLeod Bethune is generally considered an enterprising educator and public spirited woman, but one can here raise the question as to whether she leads her companions. Mary Church Terrell has very well established herself as an acceptable speaker on the race problem and so have many others.

In giving the facts which entitle these characters to honorable mention the author did not do his task well. He mentioned too few incidents in the lives of these persons to make them interesting. In other words, instead of presenting facts to speak for themselves the author too easily yielded to the temptation to indulge in mere eulogy. These mistakes cannot be excused, even if the book is intended for children. On the whole, however, the work indicates effort in the right direction and it is hoped that more extensive and numerous sketches of women of achievement of the Negro race may be found in the literature of our day.

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