CONDITION OF THE NEGRO IN VARIOUS CITIES.

INTRODUCTION.

The present investigation is one of a series which the Department of Labor has in contemplation in relation to the social and economic condition of the negro. The data from which the following tables were compiled were gathered exclusively by representative colored men and women under the direction of Mr. George G. Bradford, of Boston, Mass., one of the trustees of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., who invited the Department of Labor to cooperate with him in the work and undertake the tabulation and publication of the data thus secured. The investigation was begun in February, 1896, by three colored men, graduates of Atlanta University; one, Joseph E. Smith, a minister in Chattanooga, Tenn.; another, R. R. Wright, a college president in Savannah, Ga., and the third, Butler R. Wilson, a lawyer in Boston, Mass., and was styled by its authors the Atlanta University City Problem Investigation.

The purpose of the investigation was originally to determine the causes of the excessive mortality among negroes in the above cities, and also to discover whether the mortality was on the increase or decrease, and if certain measures of reform which had been introduced had been effective or not.

In May, 1896, a conference on the subject of "Negro mortality in cities" was held at Atlanta University, being the first of a series of annual conferences to be held there for the "Study of city problems" as affecting the negro. The facts brought out at that conference were so suggestive that it was voted to continue the investigation for another year on the same subject.

A committee was appointed, consisting of three of the graduates, one of the teachers, and one of the board of trustees, the latter a Northern man. The university undertook the general direction of the investigation, but it was decided that the work of gathering the data should be left exclusively to colored men and be wholly voluntary.

These two restrictions added very much to the difficulty of prosecuting the investigation, but increased its effectiveness, as it secured the attention and interest of the leading colored men of the country, upon whom would depend the success of any practical measures of reform that might be suggested by the results of the investigation.

There were invited to take part in the investigation about 50 graduates of Atlanta University, 30 of Fisk University, and 15 of the colored graduates of Berea, besides the prominent colored doctors, ministers, lawyers, and teachers of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee, including representatives from all the more

prominent institutions for the higher education of the negro. In all, something over 300 were invited, of whom about 100 volunteered, and of the latter 50 were able to complete their part of the investigation within the time allowed them, which, unfortunately, was very short.

The investigation was carried to completion in 18 cities, all except one of which are located in the Southern States. The effort to secure schedules for several groups of colored people in each of the smaller cities and for a larger number of groups in cities of greater size and importance was quite successful, as the following tables show. Great care was taken in the selection of groups and in securing data in Atlanta, Ga., Nashville, Tenn., and in Cambridge, Mass., and it is to the tabulation for these cities that we must look for the most representative and accurate showing of the condition of the negro so far as this investigation is concerned. The tabulation of the data for 32 groups in the other cities canvassed is presented mainly for the value it may have in corroborating the facts presented for the 16 groups in Atlanta, the 10 groups in Nashville, and the single group in Cambridge. The data for the 32 groups in other cities have doubtless been gathered with quite as much care in most cases, but the same care could not be exercised in the selection of the 32 groups to be investigated as in the cities for which a separate statement is made.

Allusion has been made to "groups" in some of the previous statements, and an explanation is probably necessary in order that the reader may have an accurate knowledge of just what is meant by the term in this connection. It was not possible to secure data from any large portion of the population or for any large section of the cities involved in the investigation owing to the fact that in no instance was there any remuneration given to investigators for the work performed, it being purely voluntary and usually performed by persons with so many other interests that but a part of their time could be devoted to this work. For this reason it was decided to select one or more groups of from 10 to 20 houses standing together in the portions of the city which were thought to be representative of the various conditions of the negro in that locality. Each of these collections of houses has been termed a group. The following table shows in detail the number of groups and of families and individuals for each city represented in the tabulations:

NUMBER OF GROUPS, FAMILIES, AND INDIVIDUALS CANVASSED.

Great credit is due to the investigators for their work in the investigation, for through them its success has been possible. As previously stated, they are all representative colored persons. The following statement shows in detail the name of each person engaged in the work of securing the data, the groups investigated by each, and the location of each group:

INVESTIGATORS AND LOCATION OF GROUPS.

ANALYSIS OF TABLES.

In the tabular presentations which follow this analysis the cities embraced in the investigation have been arranged in four divisions in each summary table, and the same order is followed in the tables which give more detailed information, as follows: Sixteen groups in Atlanta, Ga.; 10 groups in Nashville, Tenn.; 1 group in Cambridge, Mass.; and 32 groups in other cities. Under each of these divisions the groups have been arranged according to their condition and the character of their surroundings, whether good, fair, or bad. In the first division, comprising the 16 groups for Atlanta, Ga., groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 may be classed as good; groups 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 as fair; and groups 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 as bad. In the second division, comprising 10 groups in Nashville, Tenn., group 1 may be classed as good; groups 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as fair; and group 10 as bad. In the third division, the single group in Cambridge, Mass., may be classed as fair. In the fourth division, groups 1 to 14 are classed as good; groups 15 to 23 as fair; and groups 24 to 29 as bad; the condition of groups 30, 31, and 32 not being reported. The groups in this fourth division are located as follows: Group 1 in Birmingham, Ala.; group 2 in Cartersville, Ga.; group 3 in Jackson, Tenn.; groups 4 and 5 in Jacksonville, Fla.; group 6 in Louisville, Ky.; group 7 in Macon, Ga.; group 8 in Macon, Miss.; groups 9 and 10 in Orangeburg, S. C.; group 11 in Sanford, Fla.; group 12 in Savannah, Ga.; group 13 in Tuskegee, Ala.; group 14 in Wash; ington, D. C.; group 15 in Athens, Ga.; group 16 in Birmingham, Ala.; group 17 in Chattanooga, Tenn.; groups 18, 19, and 20 in Columbia, S. C.; group 21 in Savannah, Ga.; groups 22 and 23 in Washington, D. C.; group 24 in Jacksonville, Fla.; groups 25, 26, and 27 in Savannah, Ga.; group 28 in Tuskegee, Ala.; group 29 in Washington, D. C.; and groups 30, 31, and 32 in Macon, Ga.

The tables are considered in the order in which they appear.

Table I.-Relationship to heads of families, by groups, pp. 287, 288.Under the four heads or divisions to which allusion has been made, viz, 16 groups in Atlanta, Ga., 10 groups in Nashville, Tenn., 1 group in Cambridge, Mass., and 32 groups in other cities, the persons embraced in each separate group have in this table been classified as to their relationship to the head of the family in which they live, the distinction as to sex being preserved. This classification includes heads of fami lies themselves and the seven principal relationships found, as children, parents, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, boarders, and lodgers, the remaining relationships, composing a very small proportion, being tabulated under the term "other relationships," with footnotes indicating the exact relationship to the head of the family. Taking up the total of the 16 groups in Atlanta, Ga., it is seen that out of 1,292 persons embraced in these groups, 537, or 41.57 per