E. Franklin Frazier

Children in Black and Mulatto Families

Although the belief in the hereditary inferiority of the mulatto has been slowly dissipated by the accumulation of scientific knowledge, it is still echoed occasionally in scientific studies. In order to determine how far this belief is substantiated or refuted by census data, the writer has analyzed the 1910 and 1920 statistics for children in over 13,000 Negro families for each enumeration in three cities and three rural counties in the South. On the whole, the mulattoes have a smaller proportion of families without children and there is on the average a larger number of children in the mulatto families. Further analysis of the 1910 statistics for the number of children born and living in 10,921 families showed: (1) mulattoes and blacks hab about the same proportion of families in which no children were born; (2) on the whole, the mulattoes and blacks in the same community has the same average number of children born; (3) for the entire group a larger proportion of black families had one or more children dead; (4) the blacks had lost onthe average a larger number of children; (5) the mulattoes had about 7 per cent more of all their children living than the blacks. Differences in the socio-economic status of these two groups as reflected in literacy and home-ownership seemed to point to cultural rather than biological causes for the differences between them.

Ethnic and Minority Groups In Wartime With Special Reference To The Negro

Since the first Worl War, when we were made aware of the conflicting loyalties of minorities set apart from the rest of population because of race, culture, and national origin, social scientists have given attention to the effect of changes in American life upon these groups. These monorities may be divided into three groups: those actually or potentially identified with our enemies, thse friendly to the United States, and the American Negro. The first group is largerly loyal to the United States, but it has been the object of much suspicion and discrimination. The pro-Nazi and pro-Fascist opinions of some German- and Italian language newspapers and the activities of such organizations as the Bund have made it necessary for the government to suppress some foreign-language newspapers, to intern some of the leader, and to suppress organizations fostering disloyalty. The most drastic action has been that taken against the Japanese community on the West Coast, which was broken up and both alien and native-born Japanese moved to the interior or interned. The minorities friendly to the United States are all colored peoples; but, because of our traditional attitudes toward colored peoples, they continue to suffer discrimination despite their loyalty to our cause. Unlike his reactions to the first World War, the American Negro has exhibited considerable militancy in regard to discrimination. Although the government has issued orders against discrimination, Negroes are still excluded from employment and training opportunities. Because of the war the inadequate housing of Negroes has become worse, their family life is suffering some deterioration, their colleges have lost students and teachers, and their welfare organizations have felt the strain of extra burdens. There are signs that the Negro masses are stirring themselves against the caste restrictions which are rooted in the South, where there is growing tension between the two races. A few liberal newspapers indicate that liberal southerners are willing to make some concessions, especially in regard to employment opportunities. On the other hand, there are signs that some caste restrictions are being relaxed where the government is concerned and in many places in the North.

Ethnic Family Patterns: The Negro Family in the United States

Loss of the African cultural heritage and the requirements of slavery caused the Negro family to develop as a natural organization with the mother as head. After emancipation the family tended to assume an institutional character among those elements which had taken over the familial mores of the whites and those who had become homeowners. Urbanization, especially since the first World War, has caused considerable disorganization, since the family which evolved among the Negro folk could not function efficiently in the city. Important differences in the organization of the family and its approximation to the American pattern are related to the emerging class structure.

Children and Income in Negro Families

families. It was suggested by Dr. Woofter to the senior author of this article that an analysis be made of data on Negro families in the southern region. This article undertakes such an analysis of nonfarm Negro families. In Table 1 there is presented a comparison of the situation regarding children and income in nonwhite (practically all Negro) families and all the families in the southern region.2 The first fact of importance is that among Negroes 51 percent of the families as compared with 37 percent of all the families in the South have no children. Although the disparity is not as great, the percentage of Negro families with 1, 2, and 3 or more children is smaller in each instance than in the entire population. As the size of the Negro families increases, the differences between the percentage of Negro families and all familes in each category decreases. When the entire child population is considered, the percentage of children in Negro families with 1 or 2 children is smaller than the percentage for the entire child population of the South. But in Negro families with 3 or more children, one finds 65 percent of the children as compared with 58 percent for all families in the South. Thus it results that, though a smaller percentage of Negro families have 1, 2, and 3 or more children, a much higher percentage of Negro children is to be found in the families with 3 or more children than in the population as a whole. In less than a fifth of the Negro families there are nearly two-thirds of the Negro children in the South. In Table 1 the median family unit income of Negro families is 44 percent less than that for all families in the South.3 But when we compare TABLE 1

JOHNSTON, RUBY F. The Development of Negro Religion. Pp. xxi, 202. New York: Philosophical Library, 1954.

minded ; labor unions are union-minded; business men are business-minded. But, although all of these exist for the benefit of humanity, none seems to be truly peoplemnided.&dquo; As a cure for this chaos, the author has a formula: Man-Society-Discrimination-Responsibility,. or M-S-D-R. His third word, discrimination, is poorly chosen, since what he means is simply the necessity of choice. &dquo;From time immemorial up to the present, mankind, though still groping in the dark, has had occasional glimpses&dquo; of this formula, the application of which would exalt spirit over matter, make men more consciously social, and abolish war. Indeed, five words sum up the gist of the matter: &dquo;Let There Be More Love.&dquo;

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has continued to think of cities, and the latest essays in this book are offered &dquo;to show what revisions have taken place in [his] thinking about the planning and ordering of cities, as a result of the catastrophe that has been steadily engulfing our whole civilization.&dquo; Those revisions, it seems to one who has followed Mumford’s thinking for many years, are not so much in his parti pris as in its rationale and in the sense of urgency. Patrick Geddes’ gospel of Megalopolis turning to Necropolis, of which Mumford was the evangel to the Americans in 1922, has been vindicated by events: the time is

LEE, ALFRED McCLUNG, and NORMAN D. HUMPHREY. Race Riot. Pp. xi, 143. New York: The Dryden Press, Inc., 1943.

The subject on which I have been invited to speak tonight assumes that in the post-war world, after we have defeated the foes of democracy and overcome the defenders of the myth of racial superiority, we shall still have Negro schools. This is not an unreasonable assumption if we are not naive about the ryle of slogans and ideologies in modern wars in which states must depend upon the loyalty and allegiance of the masses to ideals rather than upon the efficiency of professional soldiers. More specifically, it is reasonable to assume that we shall continue to have Negro schools despite the recommendation contained in a Survey by the United States Office of Education: