is very easy for a race to accept the valuation which others set upon it . . . but there is no excuse for your going through the world with a sort of self-depreciatory demeanor as if you owed the rest of mankind an apology for existing. . . . Remember also that though a Negro, and black, and though belonging to a backward and somewhat undeveloped race, God meant that you should be as honest, as industrious, as law-abiding, as intelligent, as cultivated, as polite, as pure, as Christ-like, and as godly as any human being that walks on the face of God's green earth.

Keep your courage. There is no reason why any Negro should and courbecome discouraged or morbid. We believe in God. His providence age. is mysterious and inscrutable; but His ways are just and righteous altogether. Suffering and disappointment have always found their place in the divine economy. . . . The black man has not as yet thoroughly learned to have the respect for his race that is so necessary to the making of a great people. I believe the woes that God has sent him are but the fiery furnace through which he is passing, that is separating the dross from the pure gold and is welding the Negroes together as a great people for a great purpose.

There is every reason for optimism, hopefulness. The outlook The goal. was never more encouraging than to-day. The Negro never had more the respect and confidence of his neighbors, black and white, than he has to-day. Neither has he because of real worth deserved that respect more than he does to-day. The race problem in

this country, I repeat, is simply a part of the problem of life. . Race prejudice is as much a fact as the law of gravitation and it is as foolish to ignore the operation of one as of the other. Mournful complaint and arrogant criticism are as useless as the crying of a baby against the fury of a great wind. The path of moral progress, remember, has never taken a straight line, but I believe that unless democracy is a failure and Christianity a mockery, it is entirely feasible and practicable for the black and white races of America to develop side by side, in peace, in harmony, and in mutual helpfulness each toward the other; living together as "brothers in Christ without being brothers-in-law," each making its contributions to the wealth and culture of our beloved country. . .

Questions on the foregoing Readings

1. Compare colored women and children with other groups of the population with respect to the percentage which are breadwinners.

2. In what way is the high percentage of gainfully employed colored women and children an undesirable development?

3. Compare the total number of Negro male breadwinners in 1910 with the number of Negro females gainfully employed in 1910. 4. Name some occupations in which Negroes are relatively numerous. 5. What per cent of Negro breadwinners is included in the skilled or professional groups?

6. What are the educational needs of the Negro with respect to elementary school education?

7. Outline the educational needs of the Negro with regard to secondary schools.

8. What is the first step in improving the condition of Negro colleges? 9. What can be said as to the Negro's needs with respect to agricultural and mechanical schools?

10. What should be the ideals of the teacher in Negro schools? II. Into what two types may we divide legislation defining the position and rights of the Negro?

12. Outline the early development of laws to provide for the protection of Negroes in the enjoyment of places of public resort.

13. Outline the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1875.

14. What was the attitude of the Supreme Court toward this act? What was the effect of this attitude upon further state legislation?

15. When did Negro migration become a serious problem?

16. What is the significance of the Negro migration to the North? 17. Outline some constructive efforts to cope with the problems arising

out of this migration.

18. Discuss the causes of the migration to the North.

19. What is the object of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People?

20. Outline the viewpoint of those who believe the association is too radical.

21. What is the attitude of the Association toward the injuries inflicted upon the Negro?

22. What is the importance of simplicity in Negro life?

23. Explain the nature of self-respect from the standpoint of the

Negro.

24. Why is the outlook for the Negro an optimistic one?

CHAPTER XXIII

THE FAMILY

133. Economic disruption of the family 1

The family

is in a state of transi

From whatever angle the modern family is studied, the conclusion is inevitable that this most basic of our social institutions is in a state of transition or readjustment. Numerous and important tion. influences have combined to disintegrate the family as it existed in medieval times. Of these influences, one of the most fundamental is the economic, as Dr. Lichtenberger points out in the following selection:

was the

economic

unit of so

ciety,

At the beginning of the modern economic era the family was the Formerly economic unit of society. . . . It was usually large and lived close the family to the soil. It was an economic necessity. . . . Children were reared in the home. Their education and training were accomplished there. This had reference not only to the intellectual, moral and religious development, but to the training for a gainful occupation, and usually included a “start in life." Production . . was carried on within the household. Food was produced from the soil and came direct from garden and field to the table. Flax, cotton and wool were transformed into family clothing through the dexterity of the housewife. Shoes were cobbled and furniture was made by the husband on rainy days. . . .

were essen

tially home

Women were of economic necessity home-keepers. Their time and women and skill were required to the utmost. If there existed incompatibility between husband and wife, the care of children and the keepers. economic necessities of the family afforded the strongest possible incentive for adjusting or suffering the difficulties.

Within two generations changed economic conditions have wrought

1 From James P. Lichtenberger, Divorce, A Study in Social Causation. Columbia University Press, New York, 1909; pp. 161-163.

Within recent times profound changes

have been wrought in the family.

The lightening of household

cares

and its significance.

Conclusion.

the most profound transformations ever experienced by the race. Within the modern economic area population is rapidly becoming urban, and with the growth of modern industry the economic function of the family is passing away. Children are no longer "brought up" in the home as formerly. Their education has been taken in hand by the state, for which they are removed from the home for several hours each day. Kindergarten, public school and college accomplish this far more skilfully than former methods. The religious training is almost wholly provided by the Sunday School and the Church.

Occupations are taught in the professional and technical schools without the long and unprofitable period of apprenticeship formerly required. The function of production, except of raw materials, has passed over to the shop and factory. The farmer produces fewer of the articles of his more elaborate table than formerly, and depends quite as much for clothing and household necessities upon factory production as the dweller in the city. Much of the cooking, sewing, washing and ironing for the family is done better and more cheaply in the bakery, factory and laundry than in the home.

Thus the lightening of household cares has become one of the interesting features of the influence of modern methods of industry upon the institution of the family, and herein lies the hope of the improved family of the future.

But with the passing of the economic function the family ceases to be an economic unit. The members of the household are not interdependent as formerly. The home is maintained more as a comfort and a luxury than as a necessity, the cost becomes more burdensome in proportion to the service rendered, and the temptation to "break up housekeeping" increases. It is cheaper to board. In this manner is being removed, to a large extent, what Professor Sumner regards as one of the most fundamental motives for the origin of the family, and what has continued to be one of the strongest reasons for its perpetuation. The new industry of the boarding-house and the bachelor apartment, and the opportunities of individual employment offered in modern economic production without regard to sex, have shown their influence in the later age at which marriage is contracted and probably also in an

increasing number of persons who do not marry at all. The same opportunities are open to the members of the broken family. . .

1

housing reform to

home life in the city.

134. The struggle for home life in the city The tendency of modern industry to concentrate large masses Relation of of people in cities has had a profound effect upon the family. Urban life offers the family many advantages over the country or the small town, but unquestionably the maintenance of a normal home is more difficult in the city than in the less heavily populated areas. A house does not constitute a home, but certainly it is one of the fundamental conditions of home life. For this reason one important method of safeguarding the American home is the correction of bad housing conditions, and the provision of proper standards of house construction for the future. The following outline of a housing program for Des Moines, Iowa, illustrates something of the trend of scientific housing reform:

The road to the city that Des Moines of tomorrow could become will be constructed only with well-considered plans and long-continued effort. The program for progressive work should include such purposes as the following:

Housing reform in Des Moines,

Iowa.

First, the goal: standardized housing. It is necessary to hold The goal is firmly to a clear view of the fundamental need. The individual standardized housing. and his home life must be given a higher value for several reasons. One of them is the fact that the control of tuberculosis and other communicable diseases can never be secured merely by activity outside of the house. The tenets of personal hygiene taught in public must be attainable in practice within every house, at least to the extent of being able to get an abundance of outside air, a fair amount of daylight and a convenient access to indispensable sanitary equipment. Certain standards such as a sink and a water closet for every family, and an outside window in every room, must be written down as a minimum house equipment for normal family life in the city. . . .

Second, effective control of new construction. A state law is the

1 From the Housing Commission of the City of Des Moines (Iowa), Report. November, 1917; pp. 61-64.