The work and problems of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation in the Southern states

163 Pages·08.291 MB·English

by  Rakestraw, E. W

THE WORK AND PROBLEMS OF
THE COMMISSION ON INTERRACIAL COOPERATION
IN THE SOUTHERN STATES
A THESIS
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School of Religion
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
Eleazar Walter Rakestraw
June 1942
UMI Number: EP65123
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION, ....... . . . 1
Statement of problem,. . ........... 5
Method of procedure,..,, .......... 6
I, HISTORY OF INTERRACIAL EFFORT IN AMERICA...... 8
Movements for Better Race Relations........... 9
The Effort of the Northern Churches........... 10
The Slater Fund................ 14
The Jeanes Fund, ... . 16
The Rosenwald Fund ...... 18
The Commission on Southern Race Questions,.,., 20
The National Urban League* . . . . . ..... 21
The National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People ...... 2?
The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ
in America......... 33
The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A........... 42
The Commission on Interracial Cooperation...., 43
II. SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION. ..... 47
The Commission and Lynching............ 47
The Commission and Negro He&lth.. ....... 63
The Worlc of the Commission and the Economic
Standards of the Negro........... 71
The Commission and Negro Education...... 82
i v
CHAPTER PASS
The Commission and Civil Rights of Negroes*.... 89
III* WORK OP THE COMMISSION IN CHANGING RACIAL
ATTITUDES. *.. ....... 97
State Committees. *......... 98
Local Commit tees....... 103
Nation-Wide Press Service......... 108
Women's O r g a n i z a t i o n s . • 114
Schools *......... 124
A Test of Attitudes.......... 129
IT. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS................... 135
BIBLIOGRAPHY. .............................. 152
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I* Attitudes Before and After Baoe Relations
Studies.................... 132
II* Suggestions of Students in Race Relations Courses
of Barriers to Interracial Justice............... 155
III* Suggestions of Students in Race Relations Courses
for Better Interracial Cooperation........... 154
INTRODUCTION
In America where consciousness of the marks of racial
descent very keen, one of the greatest social problems is
necessarily that of race relations. Wherever there is race
consciousness, there is social distance, and social distance
is productive of false concepts and misunderstandings which
make living together a problem.
There are various groups of the darker races in a
predominantly white-conscious America which give rise to the
problem of race relations, but the presence of thirteen
million Negroes in America, with a background different from
that of other races, makes them a major problem in race
relations.
Of all the races in America, the Negro finds himself
the victim of the vilest forms of discrimination, segregation
and proscription.
The Negro is a native American, he came to the New
World not in 1619 as is commonly supposed, but with the first
explorers more than a hundred years earlier. Ancient manu­
scripts mention Alonzo Pietro il Negro as a pilot of the Nina,
one of Columbus®s ships. There were Negroes with Balboa when
he discovered the Pacific in 1513; with cortez in Mexico; with
DeBoto. when he explored the Mississippi valley in 1539; with
menedez when he founded St. Augustine in 1565. The first
2
explorer of Mew Mexico and Arizona, was Estavanico, a Megro
who came from Spain with Narvarez in 1527* A year before
the Mayflower brought the Pilgrim Fathers to Plymouth, a
Dutch vessel landed twenty Negro slaves at Jamestown, in
1619*
The Megro has not been a liability, but an asset to
American civilization. Me has made distinct contributions
to science, art, music, business, and industry* In the
Southern states where he is chiefly oppressed, he has made
vast economic contributions which have played their part
in the development and prosperity of that section of America*
If being a pioneer and a contributor to the total weal of
America entitles people to full rights of citizenship, then
the Megro has an equal claim with his dominant white brothers.
There are many people, the larger per cent of whom
live in the Southern states, who believe that when two races
live side by side in the same area, under the same govern­
ment, only three things can result— extermination of the
weaker, subordination, or amalgamation. They are determined
that their third belief shall not come true, and have directed
their efforts to the realization of either of the other alter­
natives. What they have failed to see is the possibility of
races living in close proximity to” each other, with mutual
respect for each other, and cooperation with each other for
mutual advancement, and still retain their racial integrity.
3
Kquality of rights and privileges does not necessarily mean
miscegenation*
There is a small but earnest per cent of white people
in the Southern states who realize that the welfare of every
group in a population is directly or indirectly affected by
the social and economic condition of other groups* They
know that there can be no change in the condition of one
race that will not have its effect upon the other race# They
know: that Booker T. Washington was right when he said, "You
cannot keep a man in the ditch unless you are willing to stay
there with him#" They are aware that the backwardness of
the Southern states is in a large measure due to the unfair
and illogical policies pursued with regards to the Negro#
These people are the ardent advocates of Interracial
Cooperation#
John LaFarge says:
"The question of the Negrors right under our Constitu­
tion, or the degree to which the Negro Is to be permitted
to exercise those rights which are his constitutionally
as an Jmerican citizen, has been the theme of a century
of political battle and the war that brought the most
fearful crisis in our history* It is still active in
political issues#
By this we mean not partisan politics alone, which
skillfully use the issue of the Negro to further partisan
ambitions, but politics in a larger sense. It is obvious
that me cannot have a constructive policy of Government
if the Negro is not taken into account#
But considering the Negro means considering his rela­
tion to the white group# Hence the importance of race
relations in such matters as the interpretation of the
National Constitution; the interpretation of State Con­
stitutions; the relations of Supreme Court decisions to
local and national legislature affecting race relations;
the composition of our judicial system, and so forth, to
the duty of our national defense, etc*
It would be easy to develop the list; but enough is
indicated to show that the matter of race relations, is
one that vitally concerns the^national good as well as
our international relations*"
To accomplish these rights to which the iM'egro, as an
American citizen is entitled, it is necessary to solidify
the sentiment and effort of people in America, and in the
Southern states in particular, who concede the Negro full
rights of citizenship, and to do a lot of work of education
relative to the Negro in America among white Americans* To
do this effectively such an organization as the Commission
on Interracial Cooperation has a place among other organiza­
tions committed to the same ends*
ljohn JLaifarge, Interracial Justice, Mew fork: (Mew Xork
American rress, 1937), pp* 3-4*