University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The participation of the Negro in the community life of Los Angeles

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The participation of the Negro in the community life of Los Angeles

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Content Presented to +;he Departnent of Sociologg Vnivers ity of Southern California In Part in1 ~2ulf il11:lent of the 3equirement-s for the Degree of I:aeter of Arts This thesis, having been approved by the special Faculty Committee, is accepted by the Council on Graduate Study and Research of the University of Southern California, in partial fuljillment of the requirements for the degree of ........ HaaPar..~i~~kka ................. Secretary D can June 6, 1931 ............................................ Date.. eolamittest C.M. Cero~ Chairman G.B. mold 0.W.E;. Cook Chapter I . Becollections of Some Pioneer I!egroes ......... I Personal Attitudes ......................... 2 Life Histories ............................. 3 I1 . Population. Struct~zre gild Growth of the City ... 8 ........................... Age Distribution I2 ................. The Yoreign 3orn i'opulation I2 The IJegro 'opulation ........................ I3 ................ Increase in Xe~ro opulatioll I6 ............ Preselit Size of Ifegro 'opula t ion I7 ................... IJegro Zopulation By Areas 19 .................... ::Tore decent Fluctuations 21 ................ Population Sources By States 24 ....................... 111 . Industrial Participation 25 lublic Oniuion .............................. 26 ................................ Elltertainers 27 .......... Industries aiid l:agro ?c?rt ici~atioll 30 ............ Distributioii of Ilecrro ..or%.~rs 31 ....... Future ?rosjiects lor Kegro ..o-r'qors 51 ..................... General C;'osorvntinns 55 ....... General Obss~vatioiis. Labor 1Jilions 59 .......... ......... Some 2.?rsoiial dtt itudes .. 61 . Conclusions ................................ 63 Chapter .......... . IV Commeroial Participation .... .... ....... . V Iiome-Life F~rtioipation .,.. Chart Showing Location of l'rhite Eomee Graph S hoivil?e; Social Die t~mc e Decline List of Invitatione ;'lhite 3eizhbor~ ........... .. Froetitution Farticipation ,, ................... T?hite Erostitutes ;?umber of Girls Operating ........ Fees Bid ........................ Xegro Prostitutes ................... ............. The Alley 'tTorkera .............. The Hone 2aidera Down 2o:m Sucker I11mters ...... Aut olnob ile 3ide ra ............. Tee6 Paid. and :?11;~ber of Girls Operat irg ......... Conclusions ......................... Jhite Prostitutes ..............., ',Ye continually oscillate between an inclination to cornplain without eufTicient cl:use and to be 'ioo easily satisfied. Ye have an extreae sue ceptibility of minci, an inordinate craving, an m70iiion in our thoughts, our deaires, and in the movements of our imagim tion; yet when we come to practical life, when trouble, when eacrifioes, when efforts are required for the attainment of our object, we aink into lcesitude and inactivity, Let us not be invaded by either of these vices. Let us estimate fairly whet our abilities, our knowletige, our power enable us to do lawf~x'ly, and let us aim at nothing that we ciinnot lawfully, juetly and prudently--with a proper respect for the principles upon which onr eocial system, our civilization, is baaed--attain," --Guizot. This f2uC.y ie initiated to c?ete,mine !-?hat i~ the p:lr- ticipction of the iTegro in the comlunity life of L3e rlngeles. The writer has not attempted to cover the entire par.-Licii,?::- tion of tie Yegro, but only those Zielde in r- hi-ch the grert- est attempt ie made by the Eegro or by the vhite pttrticipmt to either project into the ITegro com!luni.ty or into the big white comrmity life. The fields suz,reeted in the t; ble of contents are those in ,rh~ ch the vrriter noted. the gre::teat mo~ut of p~irticipatir~n, Yhe educational 2nd re1ie;ioua pwticil)=.,ti, n has ueen deliberrttely omitted because too auch research 'rould l?:!ve been necessitated .to have covered the Piela, and as the tine for this thesis did not pennit, it wus avoide8-. The reliability of the material is de2endent upon the accuraoy in interviewing, and upon the authority 02 the Censue for 1920, together with the Charlea S, Jobson Survey Due to the lclrgenees of thif problem, a oonsiderable anotmt of imterial has had to be uged in general form ;.ri.th- out muoh emphasie upon detail and concrete analysie. ::ow- ever, the .miter has atte ~pted to olarify the situation e- nough to point out the general tendenoies involved. There has been no attempt to inject any bitterne~s into this etudy, It has been desire of the writer to set- fqrth the sit~mtion just as it preeented itself, without paeaion whatever, "One hundred ana fifty y ear8 ago eleven faniliea , one of which wae headed by a Xegro, another by an Indian, and more by men of a mixed racial strain in which the proud blood of the Spanieh stood out, together with sane Bhite fanilies, journeyed to California to found the settle- ment whioh today is the fifth largest city in the United States, "It ia fitting that the 150th hnivereary of the founding of Lo8 &plea be oelebrated in the spirit and fashion of thoee early settlers, No pre judioes, no narrow- ness, no aelfishneae, no biasnees, no intolerauloe entered their minde, Theae pioneers blaeed the way without thought of race, color, or oreed," 1 No living soul in our great city should be withont a real picture of this "epio aeenet' in their minde; they oan never hope to realize the "spirit of the first city fathers" without seeing these llpilgrimall stretch their tents in such sublime understanding, The attitude whioh thoee early fathere established pereisted in this oomrnunity until the advent of the 20th - California News, Editorial April 16, century, The plaoe which each individual took in the general life of the community depended upon his faith and loyalty in ite inat itutiona . We have but to glanoe at the earlier pagee of the history of thie olime to note the big, outstanding principle8 whioh grew in the hearts of those nola weetern fathers,'! the builders of this mighty empire behind the "Bookies ," Who can read the worka of Bret Harte and forget the apirit of thoee early days? 3uoh linea as "The abeoltlte freeitom of illimitable apace, the exhilaration of the aparlrling audlight and the excitement of the opyoeing wPJinae, which was etrong enough to oblige the exertion of a strong phyaioal atrength to overcome it, - - - - and from the bleeaed mountain tope oould be reoognised the calm, penoe, and honeety of the alime, so nobly expreas 88 in the pa- l tient gravity of the people," - - - - ought not soon be forgotten, Yes, the tops of the high Sferrae lookecl, down on the heart of those brave, fearleae people who were not afraid to be "square:' Did not "!!he Luok of Roarine; Camp,H or ltSnow in the Sierraett tell a etory so atrange to the heart of our preaent ltapiritn ae to be absolutely unreoog- nimble? They aaw those Fathers sleep, ani! with them aleeps the pride, the fairness, the bravery, the faith, and toleration of the early daye of this oommunity, thie oorn- munity which grew and thrived upon the wbloodw of her "brave sons of all huea ,I' Branoia Bret Barte, The Bulls of the Bleesed Trinity, The Ridpath Library of Universal Literature, Vol. 111, p. 292, Here follows the story of one of the braveet sons our dear California ever knew. He ie a black son of Log Bngelea, one who oame t hroueh some of the latter 'Idaye of the grand period of the golclen !Yest," He came here from Eevada, that part of Rearerda which housed the great "Corn- ! stock IjIines,ll He cane here folloving the trail of the noblest souls Loe .welea ha8 ever known --- ';le ehall let him remind UE of their strength and bravery in building this community---so long aince fallen from grace, "lhinge were different when I came along, I really do not underatand what hae come over the people . , . IVe just did not tolerate all of this fooliehneae now indulged in by thie new leader which oorne to California, b4ay be that we had a better thinking group of people to work with, The men md women who ruled in those days always conaiilered that my group was juet as much a part in their community life ae any ot- her group. All we wanted was juet what any other group of people expeoted from the city opportunities, and we did not fall to get our ahare. Thinge were in fine shape when the people of my group had to give up the lead - - - the failurea bave been oauaed by the new type of people and leadere who have cone out here from the South in reoent years, I can recall auoh men as : "Senator Steven M. White, the moat profouna lawyer of hia time, was a good example of what I mean, Senator White waa a very powerful publio speaker, ae well ae an eminenely praotioal polit ioian. Hia learning, moral goodnee@, and oommanding personality enabled him to acoomplieh untold good for the community from which great and important results followed, Be completely amaehed to bits the false idols and foolish idea8 of the lesser lights of white Loa Angelee of hie day, He deliberately repressed the intolerant ways in which e orne of the white8 deeired to exploit the blaok people of the oommunity, He loved and reepeoted the IVegro and did not care a snap of hie finger vho knew it. It ma alwap a eouroe of real pleaeure to meet him at any time or plaoe. He greeted hie black friends with the erne kina of equality, whether on the etreet or in his palatial home on South bfain St reet, as he mould have greetea hi% .white frienbe. He was a oharaater among obsraotera, and brave enough to let the wholrp~.world how how he sfoo& - - - that wae the epirit of Log Angelee in those dsys ." Vathan Cole, Jr., one of the firet promotere of our large Beet-Sugar industry, was another of those sterling oharactere. Although he waa amall of stature, yet he waa laree in aooompliehments. He -8 largely reeponaible for the growth of the elive induetry In California. As a publio epirited aitiaen he had no peere, and greater Loe Angelee owes a debt of gratitude to him that oaa never be mid, Hie eervioea were not oonfined to his own raoe, but the oomrmulity in general enJoyed the richneae of hie great life and oivio eokievemente, On several oooaaions he invited a group of hie oolored friends to the most exolueive "Union Club," where they were entertained by ha in a moet re- markable way, A31 of hie f riende made these Colored people Just ae much their frimde as did Eathas Cole, Jr, He alwaga reoognised asy oltizen who 8 how&& any intereat in the future of this oommunity, Publio opinion did not frighten him -- he made public opinion. Any mm who was honorable, he bid not fail to honor under any oondition the oooaelon presented.n "1 oome to a mm who was one of the greatest of them all, General Harrison Gray Otis. General Otia waa a man of iron, with nervea of eteel, and oonviotions as atrong as death, When he bought and took control of *The Los Angelee Time, the paper wae an orphan in the field, It ie needleae to aay what he did for the paper, that will epeak for itself, The paper grew beoauae it took for if 0 ambition ma purpose, the bnilbing of a great oity which should beoome a mecoa of human happineaa. General Otis favored no special olaea of honorable oitiaeneo The Negro did not have to turn oriminal before he oould get any reoognition by the Timeso The megro who diB aomething worth while wae eure to reoeive full ore- Bit; in the oolurane of the paper, On one oooasim a whole page artiole with the illustrated out8 of nine prominent Colored men appeared in the f imee under t he oaption of "Solving The Color Line Problem." Those men were aohieving not for themeelma alone, DU~ for the oamrmmity as well, and General Otie was not afraid to pay them the homage hie paper owed to them. , . A Colored wit, while awaiting hie turn in a barber shop, read in the Times a two oolumn editorial, which depicted the worth of Dr. Boobr T. Vash- ington and embraaing the entire Colored race - - - the read- er beme so amased over the fairness and bravery of General Otils that he wrote undCIr the editorial on the margin of tb paper, this line --- ''There le one God, srna one General Harrison Gray Otis nLuckyn Balawln, the moat cozorful and pioturea que oharaoter of the early Weat, made no &istinot ion8 In dealing with his blaok frienda . nL~oky" Baldwin owned the Santa Anita ranoh of 10,000 aores and wiahed only Negroea to work on hie ranoh. BalBwin went back South and brought three train-ear loatis of Begroea to aare for his *rmch~.~ These Negroee were regarded ae his moet trusted employeee, and aom were regarded aa hie eafeet and moet cmfidetntial ad- vlaora . Theae Megroee produoeb, through their expert know- leilge, the very renouned thorough-brea atablee of horees an8 oattle for whioh the Baldwtn nranohon was famoua. From this group of Negroes have oom mod of the early native blaok oitiaene of thia mmity, especially in Monrovia and Duart e. Mr. Baldwin raw that they got a decent start in life, He helped them by ehowing them how to produoe and eave. . . Some of thoae people, If they had eeoapea the Fuhre white men who oheated them out of their property, would have been among our wealthy oitizene. Thia one situation a hma the great differenoe between the early men of the co.rllrmulity md thoae of the oommunity who have aome out In later timee ." *Car and Hagen, two big; landowners, brought megroes fran the South and ehowed the State hm to produce ootton, They went to Bakeref ield and made big f ortunerr upon the akill of these Begroee, but they did not forget those Begroea, From that group oame the proeperoue Regroes who live there now. The men who make the big 8evelopment in our oommunity now, never give the Negro a thought. They take what he ha8 , if they om, and then leaveth6m to Bheir own wits. When 1 waa oorning along we wo~rld run auch "alrunkeW out of the country, the white8 would join in the ohaae, "The early-day white people were alwayrjl ready to help and anoourage the blaok people in the ooiiity. They were people of frank and artful expreeeion, poseeasing the in- geniouanees wiaaom, and oourage to overcome the obataolee, and ma& it poseible for our preaent aohievementa , They of oourae knew that there were inferior and euperior people in all raoes, and so we find that if there wae my die- orbination it was due to personal estimate and nat to oomrm;cllity eetimate, or aegregation, Thoee brave olurraotera knew enough to reali~e that by their having been born white that they therefore inherited a natimal atatua whioh wonld alwaye make it poasible to ateain to the higheet in the lanil, and they were not too aelfieh to want to see their blaok friends enjoy e me dietfnotionr. at their hands, These mod- ern-bay people are so infernally selfirrh that they seem to mark everything for their own posseaeion, If they oould but realize the sooial inheritanoe of the oommurrity from whioh oornee the deeds of valor from all of the raoea here in thoee early bye, it seem that they oould not help beooming inepired with a ome of the ohivalry which dia- tinguiahed their honorable father8 ." 1 It is poesible to get a pioture of the spirit whioh muat have pervaded the oomnrunity life in those early days by havizlg read theae few "inaightsW fm the pen of one of our most honored oitisena. The people were happy in those days. There was no disorimination in oommunity ideals, each person waa given his juet dues, The 'ine ightaw given here are but oharaoteriatio of the general attitude and experienoes of t he majority of the negroea living now who grew up with the early aountry, These peraons are loud in their praiee for the apirit of the olden day-a, and rather pained a-t; the eight of the general muddle of the oommunity onoe eo proudly esteemed in their hearts . It must be a souroe of agony to theae eterling oharao- tere $3 see the membera of their group ao hopelessly puehed further and further from the wholesome life of the oomrnunity in whioh they wed to partioipate so freely. They see new faces from new plaoee completely exploiting wbat waa onoe our common poeaeseion. If they could but oaal baok some of thoee brave oharcrotera: Ruaeell J. Waters, nLuokyw Baldwin, General Harriaon Gray Ot ie , Nathan Cole, Jr . , Sen- ator Steven J. White, and many, many others from the long lirrt who have gone on to the frontier8 of sme other 1 Oharlea C. Flint, One of the moat piotureeque compatriots of the Weat. lint- -- - . -. and the - Weat are $wain.* glorioua domain, they oould but have a hope. . . . But who of our ohamofera of tohy ie to give them thir! sus- taining hope? Maybe they 8 hall flee to the mountains- Maybe they ehall go to the tombs of their friend8 and cry? Vho knows - Wbe) oaree? POl?ULATIOR, STRUC'PURE All GROWTH OF TBE CITY The distinguishing features of the population are only roughly defined in the oensua diat ribution, but the figures offer in their broaU olnasif ioation a auggeetive outline of looal population peauliaritiee. TABLE I BATIOMAIIITY TOT& PERCEUTAGE ITat ive White 434,807 75 Foreign Born White 112,067 19 Negro 15,579 3 Indian. Chineee. Japaneee and-all others - TOTAL 1 Few cities have ahown suoh rapid growth as Los Angeles. In 1910 the population was 319,198 aria in 1920 it waa 546,864, an inorease of 80,7 per cent; from 1900 - 1910 this inorease was 211.5 per Centb For total popula- tion this laet is the highest reoorded for any oity of over 100,000 population in 1910 with the single exception of Birmingham, Alabama, which inoreased from 38,415 in 1900 to 132,685 in 1910, an extraordinary rate of 245.5 Charles S. Johnson. Induetrial Survey of Loe hgeles, p, 5. This survey was mile in 1927, per cent. The population of LOE Argelee in 1930 wti.is 1,251,730. For cities api,.roximutely of the sane claes the dif- ference is especially notable for the decade 1910 - 1920. During the clecade, 51,473 foreign born, 7,890 :?egroes and 7,938 principally 1;exic~ns and Orientals were added to the pol~ulati on, E1ac-brs further sugeesting the character of the pnp- ulation are evident in t hese figures : In 1910 there wwe a slight preponilsrance of males; 101.3 to every 100 femalea. In 1920 this situation changed to 96.3 males to every 100 female s . In spite of the apparent heavy preponderance of na- tive born mhite, in 1920 only 51 per cent of the population i7as native white of native parentace. There were 23 cities with a larger peroentage of native mhite of native parent- age and 45 with the same or laver, r8agin.g from 15.9 in Fall Xver, iIaseachueetts to 75.2 in 3eading, Penn8;~lvania. For the country as a whole this prcentuge ie 55.3. Age distribution ie alvmys a ueeful index to the character of a city. The age Bistribntim for the entire country rnw be talcen as a basis for one cornpurieo.1?, with the population of Los iqplea, and thzt of *?eading, Penn- sylvania, with a high percwntage of native born of native parenta, ae another. SF,O!VI~?G AGE DISTIIIBIJTION IN LOS ANGIZZ~S AS COMPitXE:3 7ITR TFB COE?TRY BND BXDITG, PEPTl!JSYL-WTU AGE GROUP UXITED STATES iEDIBG, PA LOS &TGE=S Under 5 10.9 9 94 6 e6 65 and over 4 .7 5.2 6.2 1 The proportion of young children in Loa hgeles is a third lees; the proportion of young people under 25 less, the age groups beyon4 25 are muoh higher, 811 theee indiaate an abnormal and migrant population with a heevg ooncentra- tion in the upper age groups. The Foreign-Born Population. A oonepiououe difference between Loa B;ngeles and other large cities is in ife foriign population. The largeat foreign group ie the Mexiaan with 21,653 or 17.7 of the foreign born. Canadians rank second anb Englia h third acoordlng to 1920 ceneue. The Mexioan ma Filipino Charlea 90 Johnson, op. oit. p. 6. populaticm estimates are nov? 75,000 and 6,000 reepeotively, The Japanese numbered 8,536 in 1920, a percentage of 7.0 of the foreip born. Sone other factor, homver, eeems to be operating to dietribute South Eurogean ia~igrante , for, nhile flesioans lead in nuubers in Los welee, the Italians, who :.re So~tt: i~urogeans, viLh 23,924, or 16.0 lead in Pan Prsnoiaco, fol- lowed by the Germans with 18,514 or 12.4 and the Irish 1:ritt.l 18,251 (12.2) instead of Canadians end 3ngiis h, reapec'~i:.ely. Just about half as many Japanese live in Scn Frnncisco as in Los Angelee . Of the present foreign groups in the city 36.1 per cent had been in the country more than 20 years and 73.8 per cent more t han 10 years. ;Thile a comparatively new immigration, it is , thus, except for the IIexicans , a pass- ing s took, Japanese ixn.?igrati on ha8 bc en cut off by law and Xuropean immigr~tion to the coantry restrioted. This ia significant for as bearing on labor su:)ply, The citiea showing largeet increases for the year 1919 are Fort Vorth, Texae (14.41, San Antionio (12.9), and Howton, Texas (6.4), all of these citiea reoeiving Elexioauls. Loa kneelee stood close ivi.t;h 4,8, Cities to the east showed no enh access- ions: Akron, Ohio, despite the need for worirere, reoeived but 1.5 per cent foreign irnriigrante in 1913, Bew York City 1.7, and Pitteburgh, 0.5, The Begro Population of Loe Angelee Regro population ma t frequently follow the taming of the frontiers ; they most frequently eupply the labor for developing the conoeesions of othere. Ut hough there were Eegroee in the early gold rush to California, the numbere remained very anall and no outetanding auooeeeee remain of the firat aolaiere of fortune. However, if is intereating to note the wfew Regroeen vho are still liv- ing, who oam out during the early day8 of the "new Calif- 1 ~rnia.~ They were brought here by auoh ploture8que oharaotere ae nLuo~n Baldwin, Jamee Flood, and other~ll Theg aaeooiated with Mark Twain. Bret Harte, Joaquin ~iller, and others of esrly importance in those daysO2 Theg took up the eplrit of the West al$hough they did not ehow enough enterprieing ability or foreeight to aeoure some of "the valuablee" which the "new Californiaw offered to the early arrivals. One oan etill feel the old militant days being lived again In the big broad peraonalitiee of theee surviving Regro frontieremen, There are not many of this group still living, and 8 till fewer reeiding in Log Angeles. They and their ohalarm have been puahed back oonetantly by the later arrival8 until there ia no traoe to be found of their influenoe in the canrnunity life. 50s Angelea ia now a terminal point and many rail- road portere, waitere an& cooks, fincling the eeetion Be- sirable a;nd the oost of living leee, have moved their familiee here. Among the earlier Begro lhigranta there 1 Intervlewa by the preaent writer, A few eoattered fam- ilies om be found here 8nd there. 2 Banoroft, Early Hietory of California, Firat few ohaptere. have been, ae with the whitea, many health seekers who aettled here with their fmilieq and indeed, drew :~*h@r8 by their high oommendations of the virtues of the section. The focueing of raoial intereat upon the Oriental has in large meaeure overlooked the Eegro, and the oity, aooord- ingly, has been regaraed by them, from a dietmoe, as deeirable and likely to yield for them improved opportun- it iee for living and for earning a living. Between 1900 and 1910 there waa a auaden jump in this population, and later, with the exaustion of the labor sup:?ly oonsequent upon exigenoiee of the gorld lilar, the need for them in larger numbera appeared. During the last deeade their numbera increaeed with greater rapidity than the a hitee, who were, themaelvea, increasing at a moat unuaual rate. Table= ehowing the inoreaaea in Negro population by deca- des is given. (See oppoeite page). This Negro population it^ 1920 oonetituted 3.0 per oent of the tot& population and was about equivalent in size to that of the group8 embraoing Jagfineere, Chinese, and Indiana. Their proportions are small, the angles of om- petition and contaof peouliar. Bee Table IV following, Other faetore than the war have been ment imed in conneotion with their population inoreaae. Tlia 'Pulea Riot of 1921 wae renponeible for the ooming of several hundred 1 Cotvlun~ty #elfare ~ederation Monograph: Facilities for the Care of Dependent, Semi-Delinquent and Delinquent megro Children, by Agnes iaila an, 1926, TABLE I11 ZETCIBASES IlrT ITEGRO POl?UIiATIOm BY DECADES YEAR NUPdSER Per oent of lhoreaee Per Cent of Regro Popula- tion by '9)eoadee Xnoreaee To the total Mae Per C84t Female Per- Total Per- Cent Cent Mative White 208,043 73 226,764 73 434,807 76 Whi s Foreie'=' Born 60,188 21 61,869 24 112,067 19 Negro Inatan, Chinese, Japaneae an& all other8 9,556 3.5 4,675 1 14,230 3 The preeent si~e of the Negro population, Beoauae there ia evidently a pronowoed Negro in- orease, through migration, with aiff icultiee both in work and houeing inoreasing, the impression of tho eize an& im- portance of the Negro population is likely to ue deoeptive- ly Large. More detailed diacusaion of theee faotore la given further om in thie study, The general faot, how- ever, is neoeeeary as a baaie for eatinatin& the preeent Neg~o population. In the abeence of figures eince 1920, there have been my honeat speculations based upon im- preeeions, the reeulte ranging fram 20,000 to tS0,000, The method of the present estimate is as followa: two sets of constan* figwes have been selected, which, in their movement together seem to refleot the movement of a third faator, which is the population. The beat figures poe- eible here were thoae of the number of death8 by yeare since 1920, and, to eliminate abnomal influences suoh ae epidemioa, the number of births by yeare for the same per- iod, Rormally, the disturbmoea brought about by migra- tion in Negro populatione of known eise refleot themeelvee btixately in the number of deathe and births. There is a dietinot relation, anti, an aotual oorrela- tion of .848, although, of course numbers are small. It ie reasonable, however, that although it might be aeeumed that there are many deatha beoauee $he hopeleeely aiok go there for health, an inoreaee in number of deaths would indicate a larger proportian even if of si ok pers ona . With the other motivatiom to migration among megroes thie ie eoaroe- lg likely, a~ld if It were it would be counterbalmoed by the birthe, whioh auggeeta, not merely health, but aettled family 1izs , TABLE V SHOWIPPG RUMBE3 OF IEORO DEATHS MD BIRTHS BY YEAilS, 1920-25 - YEAR NUMlBER OF NEGRO DEATHS EKMBEfl OF PJEGRO BIRTHE 1920 255 269 1 Charlea g. Johnson, ibid, p. 11 NEGRO POPTIATIOIT BY AREAS The Central Avenue Dietriot. Thin dietriot holda the oore and prinoipal growth of the Regro population in a narrow, almoa t oont inuoue sf rip with, approximately, these boundariee 8 hourt h Street on the North Slaueon Avenue on the South Alameda Street on the Eaet Saa Pedro Street on the Weat Thie area falls within Aaaearnbly Dietriots 73, 74, and 75, There ie a emall tangent area wbioh extends, in eoattered bits, to the vioinity of Elyeian Park, The total popula- tion of the area is approximately 17,500, AREA I1 The extreme limita of this area have the following boundary line : WAahington Street on the north Exposition Boulevard on t he South Vermont Avenue on the Eaet St, Andrewe P1-e on the West It ie in Asaembly Distriot 72 and haa an approxbate Regro population of 3,600, Eighth Street on the North Pioo Street on the South Vennont Avenue on the East Western Avenue on the Wee t Bo eeoure baeie far estimate exiats, but the population ia probably 2,000, Brooklyn Avenue on the North Fourth St reet on the South Evergreen Cemetery on the Bet Loa Angeles Avenue on the Vest This ie Aesermbly Dietriot 66. The Xegro population is AREBV Boundaries : Sunset Boulevard on the North Temple Street on the South Glendale Boulevard on t he East Hoover Street on the Veet This ie daeembly Distriot 64, The Xegro population ia approximately 1,200. Franklin Street on the north Sunrjet Boulevard on the South Vernon Avenue on the East \Vestern Avenue on the lVeet !The megro population estimated at 900. There le atill another Ares with the following bombary line a : Ninth Street on the north Waehington Street on the South Figueroa on the met Burl ingt on Avenue on t he West The Negro population eetimatea at 1800. The Negro population of LoE! hgeles, a0 indicated by the figurea in the Johneon Survey ma the 1920 cenaue , was in round numbers 16,000 for 1920. the Johneon Survey also showed an inoreaae to approximately 40,000 in 1927, This latter estimate was based upon an industrial oalc.tlla- 1 tion. It is interesting to note that thie increase showed a very alarming situation, the situation being the exodus of the Southern Tlegro which atarted immediately after the Acaordix to the California B.gle Iublis hing Cornpanx the population of the Begroes in Loa ihgelee had reached 2 over 75,000 in 1920. Thie situation shows an inorease of over 500 per cent since 1920, or an increase of 60,000 einoe 1920, and 35,000 since 1927, The e tory of the tremendous population inorease of the Megro in Los hgeleer ia etill further told in a more "human-interest" fashion as ie ehown through the following interviewe : "1 oamout here from Chicago . . . Ply native horne ie in Texas . 1% hear ao much about California and as times are eo hrrrd with ue back there, I thought that 1 -vould oome out here to try my luclc. I ain't the only one neither.. . . .The road^ are 'full of 'ern1. I got lost from my gang, but I guess they are here somewhere .'I 3 1 See above, p. 8 2 California Eagle Publishing Compny, Central Avenue at Ninth. Acoeptea by Chamber of Commerce as its source of authority on all informat ion ooncerning the Megro in Loe hgeles . 3 1Tee;ro man; just arrives; expecting help; 43 yeare old, "Well, we've juet made one grand mees of everything. All over the South, North, East, and 'Jezt one can see our folks on the run....Thoee that I got a ohance to salk to seemed to be heading this way,. . . Some few of 'em, I think, are going uack to their native homee.. . .I gueae that they can get e ome help from t he folks they have known.. . . .I have been writing my friend8 to come out here., ..You see if I gets hungry I juet grabs gone of thie cheap fruit.. Cause we ain't got no oold weather to grapple with Back there they have everything to fight against. ~f "Shot I likes California. 'Tends to atay....I live's at Honroe, LU1zana,. , . .Xut 'un down there.. . . .Heard about this place md 'side& to come out here, you ought to eee the folke 'beatin' it1 out here on the greighta.. . .. .Bvery Prain I got on had from forty to fifty people on it., . oRalf of 'em were our folks,. I ain't never eeeld the likeoff' '"#ell, young man, our ease seems very bad. I wish I knew what we could do..,.I uae to teach school in Miasisaippi but they have cut out so many of the rural schoole, recently, until there is nothing to do in my kind of work but to get out,. . . . I know t kt I look like a real. tramp but just reserve your judgments.. . . . .I came out here frog Atlantio City, ETew Jeraeg, where I had gone seeking work ae a table waiter,. . .?Tothing doing there,. . . .All of the Negro papers, baok there, are full of aocaunte about Xegroes "going to C lifornia .lo.. . . So I deoided to come out here too.11 8 It ie the opinion of the writer that any interviewer would find a like story in almoet every case he might in- vestigate, among theae recent arrivals. Thie eituation Shows, borrowing from Dr, Owen C. Coy, a great *?feetern re . The Regroee have started a re,bular mass movement 4 towards California. In truth the vanguarbs have already 1 Begro man; unemployea; typical tramp; 41 years of age. 2 IJegro boy; orphan; sordia diepoaition; 15 years of age. 3 Begro man; just arrived; some money; teaoher; 36 yeare. 4 California Eagle, April 17, 1931, come into our community, bringing with them every pro- vincialism known throughout the United Seatee, a clmeic pioture of a social melting-pot within their own raoe, Prom indioat ions in the interviews these people are leav- ing almoet every Southern etate for California. It is not possBble to estimate any approximate numbera, but it is enough to aay that there is one continual etrean conetantly pouring into our Negro oentraliaea col:mit iea , The major- ity of theae people are here without any knov~ledge of a city teohnique as to their new adjuetnenta, Of course this is no new situation, whioh will 9e indicated in the chapter on Induetrial fart ioip8t ion, ITeverthelee 0 thie "rural groupw will greatly intensify the already harrowing induat rial destitution of the Megro in Los welea, thus presenting a pioture of what we are forced to call a great aooial oalam- ity which the Negro is heaping upon his bad, due to his primitive tendenoiea towards raoial solidarity, The following graph ha8 been made poaaible through the kinaness of the California Eagle, and the seoretariee of what is hown as ''State Societies ," such ae the Xanisaa Sooiety, the Texaa Sooiety, eto. This graph indioatea the approxirmste per oent of Begroes from the various etates, Only aeven atates will be indioated as the nuriber from other etates is too emall to be notioeable. ~HOWING ~GRO POPULATION SOUBCES BY STATES Per Cent Texaa Oklahoma Louiaiaaa Miseiseippi Georgia Arkansas Missour1 and Kaneae Other Statee - Indioates per oent As was indioated on oppoeite page, this graph s how8 the approximate per oent of the IJegrs population in Los Angelea from these varioue etates, Those states not rep- resented a haaed negligible quotaa. CHAPTER I11 ImDUSTRIAL PARTICIPATION Introauotion "The differentiat ion of induetrial aoaiety into varioua groups waa merely aocelerated by the introduat ion of machine methods of production. The new equipment oost hundreds of dollara and it was obvious that the ones who could afford to purohase it were the large merohants, the merohant employers, and the large masters. The poaseseion of the equipment oarried with it the diotation of the oonclitione of work, and thua there grew in mcdern society the exaggeration of the great cleavage between those who 1 om and thoee who do noton Thia statement shows a one- dimension problem, namely the difficultiee w Mch mould oone , as a reelllt of this separation, to the people ooncerned-- and they were "the whitesw of England. The same, is true of our om oountry, the United Statea. There is, hoimver, one factor which the writers, Xessra. Atkins aria Laeawell, aid not take into acoo~~nt. The injection of the "color questiont1 into industry has given depth to the problem, and haa made it a three dimensional eituation whioh ie growing more and more, all of the time, towards a fourth-- 2 "the Regro Industrial ilecalcitrantell Vinoent, I. J., The Acconodation Prooeae In Hietory, p. 7, U. S. C. Preae, A aoctoral aaeeertation in sociology, 1930. 2 Gorden, Hugh J,, The Begro Induatrial Entrepreneur, Loa hgeles . :Ye are now faae to face vith the problem, As iir- nola Toynbee pointed out, the Yeero has core to distin- guish between llconpetition in production, which is likely to be beneficial to HIS community, and competition in die- tribution, which is not ." 1 This chapter will attempt to show to what extent thie "third-dimens ionalw factor affects the iTegro, in his in- duetrial partioipation in Lo8 Axelee, aeide from the fac- tors of labor and capital diviaione which sere pointed out so well by ktkins and Lesswell on the preceeding page. The study ivill include attitudes and opinions as to the gen- eral induetrial participation, together with a more com- prehensive statiatical account of the IJegrofs partioipa- tion in some of the major industries and domestic service. The term "industrial partioipationw ehall be taken to cover all of those legitimate activities in which the iTegro is engages for economic returns, partioularly tho- which more especially show his wrticipation with white aeso- oiates , Publio Opinion The Begro is mostly thought of as a "eervantl' and 2 "entertainerw by 90 per oent of the white participants, They expect to see him olaseified accordingly; when eeen in any other capacities--it ia needlees to suggest their t mporary if not permanent surpria e . 1 Vincent, Id, Jo, ibid, pp, 6-7, 2 As shown in all the interviews. F i AE a rule the Eegro must be engaged in some activity where his docility is unmietakably shorn, before we can expect any harmonious partioipation, or shall I say toleration, This situation accounta for the success the Eegro has made in serving and entertaining oapaoitiea. It will be in- terelsting to take a glance at the eituetion here in Loe dngelee. ZTegroes ?7ho Bntertain For White Eart ici~aslte 1 "The megroea are the greateat fun-makere on earthelf !?his etaf ement oomee f ram t he greatest producer of cabaret shows on the Bcific Coaet, and who has consirstently ueed IJegro tale~t, Be does not hesitate to acknowledge that his fame, ae well as his fat puree, has been made by the use of this group, Due to the influenoe gained by their auoaess under Mr. Sebastain the Begroes have been able to ilorashw into other important situations . The re are six main source8 which create the demand for Regro talent in this field, The Cabaret, The moet unusual partioipation in this fiela by the Nee;ro entertainer ie at t he "Cotton Club ." The Club is owned by I!&. Sebastain, All of the floor shows are con- duotea by Hegro talent, There are, at preeent , over t hir- ty pereona hire6 by the olub. These pergone are the most 1 Sebastain, Frank, owner of the "Cotton C11ib"Cabaret tf, Loe Angele a . specialized "cabaret entertainere" poesible to be had. The club oollects its talent from various parts of the country* The majority of the stare, however, oome out from new York and Chicago, where the greatest ooncetntra- tion of Hegro talent is to be found. The ealaries of the entertainers range from ;j40.00 per week up to $500,00 and above. One star, Loui Armetrong, recognized ae the world1,? \ greatest "trumpet -blower, " mas eupz~os ed to have reoeived nearly y1000,OO per week, He refuses to sign another con- tract for a like amount, Broomfield and Greely, the pro- ducer~ of the shows, are reputed to be "up in the money." They can be eeen on Central Avenue, occaeionally, dis- playing their ep cial-made nCor&" aut omobile---equal to any oar of ite kind in Hollywood. Thus it can be Been that the entertainer, because of his ability to compete in this field in an inimical faahion, derives hie rightful wduesw as a production faotor in the cabaret world, He does not come in competi.bion with the white participant and therefore has no logs to eustain, The IfApex High* Club, I' owned and run by Eegroes, caters largely to w kite partioipants. Hr, Moeby, the om- er, aleo owne another olub in San Francieoo, Re employe over 100 Eegroee in hie s how bue hess . The club is sup- ported by white patrons who delight to ome over in the tlausky atmosphere" for their entertainment. One can see them, from the riohest motion picture prodtmer in Holly- wood to the himblest *'shop girl," dancing on the same floor with Tegro patrons. One sees no evidence of any racial ill-feeling. . . "Under the sound and spell of the 1 PTegro music -- we all make rwhoopeel together. Such is the attitude of the partioipant patron who oomee to make l1merryOt1 "On the morrow, it; will be safe to say that their I?ee;ro friends of the night before oould hardly see 2 them at the baok door ," So we find that, whether owned. by blaok or white, the patrons of the white group attend these cabarets jmt the same. The Taxi-Dance Salons The Xegro participant is employed here only as a musiciaul. He is employed in thia capacity becaw e of his muaioal attraction, and because he can be secured more cheaply than the average white musioian, These plaoee are conducted moetly for the benefit of Orientals who are not wanted at the more reapeotable salons. The Yegro muerioian gives the plaoe a I1oabaretia h" effect , and ae this is what the Oriental patron deairea, it makes the Wegroel position more seaure. There are about twelve such plaoes, in LOB Angeles, using Negro mu ioians . Their salariea average about $30.00 p r week in the beet plaoes, while in the oheaper aalone the musioians are foroed to work for lees than $20,00 per week, These aalons serve ae meeting plaoes for those who wish to prticipate in immoral aituatione, The type of white girl who frequents the plaoes are thoee who are 1 Interview with a white patron who had attendea the Apex Club 2. Interview with a Regro patron who had attended the Apex Club looking for "girl huntersw among the Orientals. The Begro also has the oooaaion to meet and know these girle. xe 6 often makes it possible for the girls to meet his friende, I for commeroial purposes. These salons, aside from provid- ing work for the one hundred or more Negro muaiciana, serve as ncontaet oenteran for low white girla and Oriental and Uegro men. The Burlesque Shma PraotioaLly the same situation prevails in the Bur- leaque e howe a8 in the taxi-dance ealonr! . There are pos- ~ibly fifty Begro muaioiana playing for the oheap Win Street shorn, They get about $25,00 per week, The same story holds as in taxi-Woe salone, otherwiee. It will not be necessary to go further with the stow of the Xegro entertainer. The material just given is a fair sample of the whole eituation. There are aoorea of suoh plaoee using theae muaioians and entertainers in one way or another, but in the final analysis the same situa- tion exists. They all eeem to be questionable plaoes so far as their value in the sooial community is oonoerned. Hundreds of the erne entertainers are wed in private homee, motion pioturea, an6 auburban retreat a. These oases are both reapeotahle and ot herniae, The Induetriea of Loe melea and megro Partioipants The Eegro of Loe Angeleer ie faoing a most oruoial situation in hie aocio-eoonamio adjuetment prooess , Hia partioipation ie greatly re&udeCL. Induetrial maohinery is supplying the labor formerly supplied by thousmas of men, Thia haa neoeasitated a rapid adjustment on the part of the indiviilual worker. Acoordhgly, thoueanda of jobs have been eraeed from the aupply list, while the demand la conataatly growing aoute. It has reeulted that the white worker has been given every advantage in this new situation beoauae of hia enormoua economio power and or- ganisation, The ITegro worker ha8 been left to hia own wits on aooount of his laok of partioipation in the major aocfo-eoonomio aituat fona Consequently he has not forged aheaa in business and sooial relatione. The following obarts, grspha, and tables will e how the story of the ITegro in the lnduatrial life of t hi8 oommwnity . Die tribution of Regro Worker The looation of Loa bgelea has determined its pre- eminence in certain induetries like motion pioturea ma petroleum oonoerne ; it has alao made neaeasary, beoauae of the great dietame from eatabliahed baaes, the in- dependent development of many ot hers . The Chamber of Com- meroe list8 thirty-$ hree different groups of manufaotories of whioh the most important are: Motion Pioturee Petroleum Iron, Steel, and Bkohinery Pooa Produots Manufaatwed Lumber Produot a Meat Packing Confeotionery, Ioe Cream Wearing Apparel Furniture Building &aterial Automobile Truoks , Acoeesories, et c , Xighty per cent of the film produoed in Amerioa are produoed In Los Aageles. The yearly oil produotion of the city and county is oloee to 300 million barrels, and no other herioan oounty has eurpaseed in recent yeare the agricultural production of LOB aelea County, The preaent study embrased 456 establiahmenta with a total of 76,000 workere, of whom 2,239 were Regroea. 1 These establiehmente are aietributea as followa: 1 Host of the fasts in this srtudy are baaed on t he Charlee So Johnson Survey, and the Cenaurs for 1920 to Borne extent. TABLE VI: DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO !3l0i)ni3S AMOITG THE PLETTS MATUB3 OF II!SMTSTFtY no. of TOTAL mGRO Automobile bodies, parte, eto. Baking Beverages C onf eot ionery Ioe Cream Manufaature Heat Paoking Refining and Milling Rholeeale Grooery TOTAL BuilBing Material, general 3 1,770 4 Briok Mmufaoture Cement Lumber Marble, Clay, eto. Roofing Material 1 50 0 TOTAL 1 Charlee 3, Johneon, ibid, p, 17 TABLE V1: (Continued) Die tribution of Regro Vorkers Among the Pwte NATURE OF IlOATSTfiY no. of TOTAL NEGRO Plest e Iron and Steel Manufaot~we 26 3,075 126 Servioe 9 9,107 954 Publio Utilitiss 6 3,753 131 Conet ruot ion 10 192 102 Paint8 and Varnishes 6 67 6 6 Furniture and Bedding 26 4,397 33 Wearing Apwrel an6 Textile 28 4,248 8 Launflriee 16 2,563 32 Poroelain 6 806 9 Railroade 3 9, 317 586 Stationery asd Print ing 16 1,679 19 Newspapers 6 1,888 8 Druga, Soap and Toilet Axtielee 7 1,296 17 1 Charles 8. Johneon, ibid, p. 18 TABLE IV (Continued) Distribution of legro Workers Among the =ante EA!ITJRE OF IIVIXTBTRY Mo. of TOTAL mEG30 Plant e Lighting Flxtur ee 1 50 10 Rubber Goode 2 8,601 0 Rook, Gravel and Sand 2 360 0 Eleot rioal Bixturea 3 749 3 Manufaoturd of ioe 5 819 0 Manufacturing (gene ra3 ) 53 6,269 36 TOTAL 66 10 a €348 48 -- Gasoline, Petroleum, Oil, etc. 5 1,214 1 GWD TOTALS 456 76,754 2,239 CEarlee S. Johnson, The most convenient test of the finality of these figures is the Census diet ribution of oooupationa for 1920. TABLE YII SHOWING CENSUS DISTRIBUTIOM OF I?EGRO IVORP;E% BY BROAD OCCUPA- TIOEJAZ DIVISIORB, 1920 -- MAZES CENT FEldALES PER CEBT Extraotion of min- erals 10 ,18 Menufaoturing and meohanioal indue%. I:. ' triee 1,543 27.84 247 7.58 Transportation 945 1'7.06 17 .53 Publio Servioe (not elsewhere ) 202 3.66 2 .06 Professional Servioe 200 3 ,61 109 3.35 Domest io & Pereonal Servioe 2,003 36 .14 2,760 84.61 Clerical Occupa- ti ona 129 2.33 62 1,90 In mmtqfacturing ad me ohani oal occupat i one 1,543 or 20.1 per oent of the ITegro men are employed, and 2,003 in pereonal and 8omeati.o aervioe. The numerous small setabliahnente with two and three Megro workers are not fully inoluaed in t he a tudy's finding8 ; nor was it a 1 Charlee So Johneon, ibid., p. 19 practicable meaaure to aeek t he widely aoat tered informa- tion in places where Negroes work eimply as domeatios or in personal aervioe poaitiona, although thia diviaion holds the largest proportion of all. Nor is this, strict- ly speaking, induatry. A mall number of Negro nomen in induatriea is ahown in this report, Actually about 90 per cent of those working are employed in soattered do- mestio service positions, The aetual position of Negro workers in the indus- trial pattere of the city may be better observed by as- suming firat an ideal diertribution based upon their popu- lation proportion and comparing thia with the aotual &is- tribut ion, Ihe entire work of the city may be measured by totaJ. ocoupationa . Thua manufaoturing and meohanioal industries provide 36.7 per cent of it, traae llo2 per cent, and so on. If the PJegro population were a normal one, 36.7 per cent of its workers should be in manufacturing and me- chanical induetries, 20.5 per cent in trade, and so on throwh the list. Juet how cl08elg they approxi-rate this distribution is shown in the graph whioh followa : SHOWIRG PER CEITT DISTRIBUTIOPl OF IORE: UXIIS IT? LOS AFJGELSS Trade Traneporta- tion Profeesion- aJ. Service Clerical '80 rk Dome st io- Service Public Servioe btraot ion of IJinerals Legend 17) TOTAL %Q-RKEB UPTITS ----------*- Negro workers 1 Charlea S. Johnson, ibid., p, 19 The dietortion ie a reaeonably accurate key to the selective influence in operation among Eegro workers, They exoeed by more than four timee the general proportion of domestics, a circumstance usual for this population in oitiea; they are nearly double the gmeral proportion of portera, waitere and railroad laborers, all neoeasary to this terminal, and , in the instance of portera and wait- ere, exoluaively Xegro jobs ; they are about a half more than the general proportion of public service employees, a faot to be accounted for by the large number of laborera in the city engineer's office, In this last inatance the work is largely nnakillea and, being citizens and voters, they have better ohances for employment here than foreign born workers uaed so generally by private inauetries , Their social atatua is suggested in the low proportione for trade, clerioal work, and professional eervice, On the basis of the 1920 Ceneus figuree for occupatione the ranking of Negro labor with the varioua other clasees of labor in particular lines of work ie shown in aocompanyizig table, (Table VIII on followi~ page. ) The points of moat aotive oornpetition are thue indicat- ed. Aa janitors and waiters they are pitted against the foreign born; in laboring joba the foreign born, principally Mexioana, hold dom their numbars. megro women oontribute the seoond largest group of aervants deepite being a rel- atively small proportion of the population. (Table IP, fol- lowing , If we compere I:egro v~orkere -:?ith Orientals alone, vho lwve a.p~roximately the same population, their roints c I of contact, and voluntary or involuntary, their divergence i and epecialization are revealed. 33L3 SHO',?I"ITG i?UiBE:i 03' LOS IUTGEZ~~S TTEGBOES B!IPIJOT,D I?! PA~~TICWL? LIXES OF .7om, COLIX~D l-n:~ :I= ~m323 o12 O~T(IE'lTTUS, FOBiICX 30-XT, 303T OF 1TATIV3, FOREIc7;J OR Mm l?A_%i;TS XTD FATIVE :'IHITZS, IU PLKiTS ELI- PLOYPG 50 iTXG3OES OCCUPATIOI? TIE GRO OXIE3T- 1 A? S .TIT TI3 TU 203E ICB IT~L'ITF, Garden Laborers 57 640 49 2 96 257 Carpent era 93 39 2,158 1,663 4967 Building Laborers 320 Helpe rs -Build- ing trades 52 Iron and Steel Laborers 82 32 526 107 17 5 Genere1 Labor- ers 163 11 860 315 669 LIecbnics (not skilled) 59 1 199 149 27 4 Semi-skilled wo rke rs 69 19 980 896 1676 Chauffeurs Draymen and Teamsters 256 51 59 5 667 1775 Road & Street 31dg. Laborere 59 5 37 6 62 154 TLIII;i 9IIO"IIl'G mLTiI3.33 02 LO2 42JDELES BEGROBS E~ELO~ IU PA3BICUL;~R LITTES 0:' :VOlX, COMPARED '7ITH W3 l!TTJLNER OF ORIEmTAtS, FOREIG2T 30-X?, 30mT Or7 ITATIVE, FORBIG?T OR ;EXED ?A-TTS AITD UTIVE ~ITES, IN -PLAITYE Elf- PLOYING 50 ITEG_=IOES iJEGBO ORIETT- FO2GION ESiE??T !%-:I EE TAL ~omrer~ ;P~~'III~ 301.T BOm? Steam Rail- road L~horers 127 129 1,088 116 2 41 ?,aborere, Other Trades Laborers, Por- ters in Storea 137 Retail Dealers mblic Service Laborera 118 3 199 66 143 aarbers 68 97 566 293 118 filevat or Tenders 75 14 128 90 211 Janito re 459 184 462 158 344 'orters, Railroad Portere (ex- cept in stores) 261 48 86 41 72 Waiters 306 86 547 182 392 Other Occu- pations (Dom.) 56 81 350 213 462 Clerie (not in storee) 8 7 58 1,047 2,150 4938 1 Charlee S. Johnson, ibid., p. 20. (Females ) IIous ekeepers 62 20 476 413 866 Janitors 65 7 115 42 111 Laundressee (not in lam- dry) 402 3 17 7 74 101 Yaitres aea 63 22 267 436 911 OCCU ':AT1 OITS FOREIGIT B03T TOTAl; lmDEII rVO?!RS OF 'VOXCE3S 1 Charlee S. Johnson, ibid., 3, 20A SHO'mG FORl3IGBT BORN WORXJ3RS COTTT3OL IN CERThI3T OCCUPATIOIIJS OF LOS ANGELES OCCUPATIONS M)BIGN BOlBT TOTAL mUMBER VORRXRS OF i,VORKERS Blaoksmit ha 345 1,053 Boiler Nakera 256 27 3 Builders & Contractora 37 5 Cabinet Makera 392 Carpentera 2,158 8,920 Building Laborera 2,692 Iron & Steel Laborera Manufaoturers 7 68 Aotora Clergymen Bltusioians Phyaioiana Barbers I Janitors Servants TABLE X (Continued) SHOWING POREIGR BORN BPORKE2?S COLUTROL IN CERTAIN OCCUPATION8 OF LOS BmGEIBS OCCUPATIONS FOHEIGl? BORN TOTAL EUMBER T'fOIBERS OT;" WOBKERS Saleswomen 697 4,778 Laandry Operators 538 1,567 Uurees (not trained) 47 8 2,318 Servants 2,041 6,424 SHOWXITG PEUCPCEFTTAGE 0-R REGROES eiND ORIEBTALS BY BROBD OCCUPATIOBBL DIVISIOrJS IN LOS BLNGEISS OCCUPATf OM NEGRO ORIENTAL Prof easional Bervioe 1. Charlee 8. Johnson, ibid., p. 200 2, Charlee S, Johnson, ibid., p, 21 '2 he Orientals far out a trip Negroes in agricultural work and trade; the Negroes lead them in manufaoturiq industries , domeetia servioe and publio service. They are about the same in professional servioe, PLANTS IVOT EMPLOYING EEBROES Attitude toward Megro workers: Two hundred spld aixty-seven eetabliahments not em- 1 ploying Negro workers stated their reaeons . The moat oom- mon, oaouring In 132 lnstanaea, was that general one which embodied policy. "We do not and never have employed ~egroee.~~ With this group the qusatlon was not important enough to receive further explanation, but inasmuch as Negroes had never been employed the polioy was, to a cer- tain extent, already indioaf ea. The situation pointa to cuatorn ana praotioe which have not been questioned beoauae these establiahrnenta have not been faced with a serioue demand for men. The statement gets a representative ex- planation in the more apeoif ic reasons given by the re- maining 101 establishments. 1. Preferenoe for White Workers baaed upon Senti- ments of Race Ooneoiousnesa. (1Pumber of imtanoes, 7) (a) "We are opposed to employing Meegroea exaept in such work as we dislike to place white men. A manufacturer of Auto Ptatons. (b) lfThere is no skilled labor exiatillg in the pottery induatry and we prefer white labor for our mekilled work." A manufaoturer of Hotel Dinner ware. 1 Charles 9. Johnson, ibib., p. 22 (0) "A night watchman was employed for five years and was always satiefaotory and re- liable; the only reason we made any change was that we want a white man to have the Job en A manufaoturer of offioe desks and tables, (a) tlWouldnft ask a good white man to work alongaide a Negro at the same kind of work." A manufacturer of heaters. (e) "We prefer white labor in o~rr line A manufacturer of auto parts. 2. Iegroes not employed becauee work of akilled nature. s (a) "We have had no Negro anployees an& never have had. Our employees are mostly skilled me ohanios, American . Rave had few lex- ioans and Italians," A manufacturer of motor trucks. (b) "Bo Negroes in faotory, need skilled, care- fu.1 workers ." A soap mnufaoturer. (a) *Ye never employea Negroes beoauee women are employed and we haven't found any skilled one8 . A f'urniture manufacturer. (d) 'legroes never employed. Uee skilled labor only. A manufacturer of refrigexat ing maohinexy. (e) "Our work is almost all hiehly techniopl and require6 ekilled labor .I1 A manufacturer of Ornamental metal. (f) I1Have no work where Negro labor could be ueed to advantage aa all ier skillecl labor." A manufaoturer of water heaters. (g) "Our employees are praotioally all skilled meohanios. Have never thought of em- ploying Jegroea for thia class of work." A manufaaturer of auto acoeesoriee . (h) "Negroes have never been employed for the main reason that the labor required in our operations must be skilled along certain lines and in general Negroes do not do this kind of work," A gasoline manufacturer. (i) "We do not eupgoee that there is euch a thing aa a akilled Jegro custom upholsterer," dn upholsterer. 3, Megroes not employed beoause of objection of white workers, (Number of instances, 3) (a) "we have never employed Hegroes due mainly to the other employees refusing to work with them." A marble and tile manuf'aoturer. (b) ''Mot possible to engloy the beet clase of white skilled labor to work with unskilled Megro lab or, A manufaoturer of sheet metal, 4, ITegro White Labor do not mix. {Xwnber of instances, 8) (a) "We do not employ ISegroes becauee they do not mixan A-fruit oannery. (b) "We do not believe it would be adviaable or poaaible to employ Negroes along with white help in the needle in8~stx-y.~~ A mufaoturer of troueers, (c) "YOU o~ll~lot mix Negroes euccessfully with ot her raoes , f1 A retail lumber dealer. 5, Plants not arranged for mixed labor, (a) "Tried out Negroes with poor aucoeea two years ago. Flant not arranged to handle mixed labor," A brass works manufaotuber, 6, Plant too amall for mhed labor, (a) "Negro employment not practioal in our relatively small plant where only high ol.ass skilled and experienced white (mostly female ) labor ie engageti .I1 A oorset and braesiere manufacturer, (b ) "Our plant is not large ana our employees are in very olose contaot, ao we do not believe Degro labor would be desirable ." A laundry, (0) tlHa~e had several whose eervioea were eatie- fa~tory.~ Iron worke. These reasons extend through a longer liet, vrhioh may be more briefly summarized: 7. Bet employed beoauae the ocoaeion for their uee hae never ariaen. (Rumber of ine tanoes, 10) Induatries: Creamery, Coffee Importer, Contracting Engineer, Ice Manufacturer, Conorete Pipe Manufaoturer, Stem Laundry. 8. mot employed beoauae of fear of public sentiment. (Number of inetanoes, 1 ) Industries : A Heating Company. 9. Begroee once employed but reaignea for better work. (Number of neta;ncee, 1) Industries: arick Menufacturer. 10. Jot em~loyed because none have applied. (TJumber of inetancea, 7) Induetrlea : Sea Food Canning, Concrete Irrigation, Paper System, Runping ilaahinery, Printing, Llanufr oture of 3lectrical A?pliancee, mnufaature of U9holua tered r"urnitxre. 11. ITot employed because fen live in zone of the plant. IlT~unber of instancee, 7) Induuatriea: Fruit Camera, ilanufacture of Lemon Product e , Eanufaotur e of St oneware Pottery. 12. not employed became white girle are employed. (ITumber of inetances, 2) Induatries : 1,Ianufaotur e of Overalls, and Work Gsmnta, Metal Stnmpiq. 13. Recognized as aaapted only for certain kind? of nork and t h ie not available . (Bwnber 03 metancee, 11 Induet ry : Plow, Cereal, and Grain. 14, 3uttinp; in machinery forced them o11t. (fJwfiber of instances, 1) 15, Prefer Llexicans for the unskilled work. (Number of inatances, 2) Industries: Brick, Braea. 16, Do not employ them but would employ any efficient peraon regardlesa of race or color. (3Tmber of inetmcee, 2) Induetries : klanufacture of Vpholetered Purniture, hIeat Packer a . 17. Cannot get beet t,qe of white workers with Eegroes employed, (ITwnber of instoncea, 3) In&dstriee : Iron md Steel, Plate Steel Products, Launary. 18, Use of tTegroes would give work poor reputation, (I7mber of inatancee, 2) Industries : Iron. 19, No prejudice against 17egroee, but do not employ them, - (number of instances, 4) Inauatriee : 2ruit Ccnning, Foundry ana PIachine Shops, Elanufacture of Plumbere Brase , Electric ma Tlanufactt~ring Company, The outstanding oompetitore of Uegroes in ind~~etry at present are the 14exicana. In proportion to their papulation they have the largest number of aotual workere, for they come as laborers and do not often bring their families, Be in- ditriduala, tenure ie not long; as a group, however, they may be oontinuously employed, for their numbers are eo ample that work rarely euffere for want of men. The unskilled job8 are the noet natural firet step to semi-skilled and skilled work, Through %hie period, ae new induetries are rapidly developing, and there ie requirement for large n~lmbera of unekilled workers, the force of their competition with skilled white labor ie not acutely felt, Always, however, openings are oomrring in the higher grades of work ae a result of further promotions, retirement, md aeath, and these place8 will have 60 be filled, It requires a lone; exposure to skilled work to fit a worker to the more diffioult teohnique , The more serious question of Ilexioan labor will doubtless not ariee until the point of competi- tion with white labor ie reached, and then the liklihood ia that ob jeotion will be even keener than oomre between white and Negro labor, For the range of aotual oompetition, in the oaae of Mexioans who are rather vaguely olaesed ae white, will, extend farther, In aeveral plants $ks Llexioana are already engaged on ekilled work, as molders; in other plants it ie deolared that they learn the skilled prooesaea with great diffioulty. One iron and eteel worke comnaente that vHexioans have proved impracticable aa they do not learn the work eaailyiW a brick company thought that while they made good laborere because they would work in the heat and dust that other worksrs objeoted to, they did not gr8ep the skilled proceeeee; and still another large company manufaoturing high heat re- aiating artiolea oomplained that if required eight yeare to develop one Mexican for a skilled position. It ie possible that there are 88 frequent mietakee on the fundamental abilities of Mexioana as of Regroea, The Xexicans have lacked an indue trial background; like the South- ern Regroes, they have been agricultural, Contact and exper- #en08 have brought ohangee. The really vital questione follow the apprentioeehip of common labor, The i.lexioan labor supply is, eo far ae the aingle oity of Los Angelea ia ooncernea, praotically limitlese. The next step ie akilled work, snd this presupposes longer individual tenure in jobs, and more often, with fmiliee in the community. It ha8 never as yet happened, with any group used freely as laborers, that they were content to remain indefinitely in them positione with- out menaoing the uppr grabes of work regarded as the pro- vince of native white workere. 'JBhen thie period ie reached, it is quite likely that aLa in the mee of European workers, the Chineae and Japaneee, reaction will aet in to regieter it aelf in abrupt limitations. Already there ie a bill in Congress to plaoe itfexican imnigratim on a quota baeie . Future Proepeota for ITegro Workers, Thie q~~eatlon. was ssketl at 104 plants: "If oompetent Megro workere were available, would you employ them?" Of the 64 plant8 where I?egroes were elreaay working there were 13 that gave a negative reply, One of these was a publio servioe department in which Negro workers were in- oreaaing and %election i& on the baeie of Civil Service ex- amination, The answer was one obviously Indictating laok of jurisdiotion. In eleven other of these a negligible to- tal of 22 Negroee was employes, with these filling job8 ae portere or janitor%, In one other, 46 were employed as un- skilled laborers in railroad work. Of 60 industries not at preeent employing Yegroea, there were 15 that were williq to use megro labor, 6 of these without qualification, and 9 only under oertain conditions , Seventeen were poaiCively opposed and 18 refused to comitt themselves, The indus- tries not now using them but willing to uae them in the fu- ture are in t he fields of granite and marble, meat packing, manufacturere of ele otrioal goods, furniture mannfaoturing , sash and door mufaotoriee, oanning, mnufaoture of auto part%, truoking, bzaae, iron, and ateel foundries. Those plants that would not employ them in the future are in theee fields : wearing apparel, maohinery, oil well%, painte and varniahee, furniture, aaeh and door mnufaotoriea, manu- faoturere of eleotrioal goods, ma construction oompanlea, Theae 17 plants are, with two exceptione, emall, having a total working foroe of less than 160. The lime orosa in most inatanoes, 8 ome plante of a type being willing to uee Megro workera while others of the same type are not willing. There ie no oonfliot of opinion, however, in the fielde of wearing apparel, oil, painta, and varnishes, No plant falling under theae typea indicated a willingness to uae IJegro labor, In oertain plaoea where proepects for their employment exiat oonditiona of employment are indioatea in the oornrnents of plant offioiala : nnegroee never apply for work at the plant even when the plant has advertieed for as many as 500 workera, One megro, atudying law, hae applied and ie eatis- faotorily filling the position of Janitor, Be to mixing of raoea, kave had absolutely no experienoe and oan say nothing on the aub ject; believe;. it would have to be a tarted deliaately .&nd oarefully, Separate orewe might be wwrked, Vhile the larger proportion of the work ie eami-ekilled or akilled, rnuoh la Uitoh digging, eto, Believe it possible for Negroea to qulify for various partie of the work, Have never oonaid-ered the eub jeot before, eepecially as EJegroea have not applied for poeitione; am give very little aUvioe on the question. The ounp&ny would be glad to oooperate ae far ae posaible in any plan or projeet that would be advantageous to the City ," General Manager of a Publio Ut ilit iea Conoern, "Thie plant employ8 akilled meohanica entirely. PJO Negroes have applied for employment. There ie no polioy againet them, If they applied an3 proved skilled they would be ac~epted,* The Manager of a Brass Manufaoturing Plant. "Our four negro vorkera are good, Mo objeotion to Negro employeee , A truoking and warehouee canpany, "A very favorable attitude toward oolored flegro work- men, Have never had any applioants for anything but janitorahip or job, Fmployment of IJegroee is poaeible ," A Heat Bcking Company, ''No polioy againet use of Segroee in the faotory be- oause they make good workmen, It ie possible tkt eunployeee would ob jeot, The reaeon they have not been employed in larger numbers ie that they have not a~plied.~ A Furniture Nanufaoturing Company, "There ie no op~oaiti on to Megro labor on the part of the company, They mah better butchere than the Idexioane and there ie no trouble between the varioue race groupe, All now employed applied at the office for work, If more applied an6 there were vacancies they would be taken on," A Neat mcking Company, "There i~ no policy againat Negroes,tf A Truoking Companv, "The inf ormnt would be glad to employ Xegroes ae laborers because he ha8 haa some experienoe with them in of her places, He oone idere them good workers, equal in epeed and efficiency to men of any other race and jw t as reliable A Cement Company, Negro Workere Abandoning Certain Industries. In two typee of industry the deoreaae in Yegro numbers seema to be voluntary, They are brick mnufactiuring and the laundries, In t he firs t , t he work ia except ionally dusty and hot; there are oomparatively few skilled jobs, the pay ie poor, Bnd the plaoee far removed from Megro residence areae, re~uirine; long rides on the care in their offeneive work clothing, In the lamdries, the introduotion of machinery and preference of white workers for the maohinery jobe have relegated Ilegro workers excluaively to the more distasteful parts of the work, with small poaeibility of good pay, The Regro woman, who onoe held theee poeitiona in larger numbers than at present, are finding it more profitable to bo laund- ering for private familiee in their honea, Negro Workers and the Notion Pioture Industry, Vhile the motion pioture industry ie one of the largest oenfering around Loe hgelea, it ia alao one of the moet high- ly epeoialized, A few Megroee are among the laboring forcee around the studios, but their cloaeet consistent connection with the industry ie in the capaoity of rservmts of the principals, aa chauffera, mains, ana portera. An employment offioe is maintained by the interests on Central Avenue, in the largest Segro neighborhood, for the quick recruiting of l'euper~n and laborers when they are required, At the time of thie survey, the Universal Pioturee Corporation was film- ing Uncle Tom's Cabin, and on occa~qion ueed as many aa 600 ITegroes for certain of the soenee, It ie a part of the nev technique of picture making to have music for the aotors while being lfshot.w Megro musiciane are frequently used, Ae actors, perhape the two beet known are chilaren; a few other Regroes have been use6 in minor roles, and one XTegro from Los Angeles, associatea with a lo- oal little theatre group, hae been oast in t he role of Uncle Tom of Unole Tom's Cabin. General Observations. 1. So far as the ordinary industrial Jobs, unskilled and akilled, are concerned, there are many inetmces of non- employment of Begroes, but no eviaence that 3egroee are in- capble of performing the tasks, as indicate6 by the fact that in other establishments in the eame city >Tegroea are actually perf ormine; t hem, 2, There i~ an understandable fear in many ylants, that use of Xegroea and whites in the same plants will bring unfavorable reaulte, but no evidence that the fear ie well founded in fact, inasmuch ae there is a large number of plants that emplop ITegroes without conspicuous friction, :TO outstanding inetance of racial dieorder resultix from the use of YTegro and white labor in the eame plant oame to atten- tion in thie study, 3. The prlriea experiences of the plants my reaeonably be traced to peculiarities of plant mmagelqent and to the types of 1Tee;ro workers secured, 4, The cpality of X'egro labor hets cot been unifona, and there is evidence that, in many ?lacee i.?here poor opi2- ion ie entertained concerning them, it ie vie11 Eleaerven; 'out the opinion ~mfortu~tely and erroneou1;r extends fro' 12 one inefficient group of Xiegro workers to include the entire ITegro population, 5, There are lines of work which are not attractive to XTegro workers in which many of them have given indiffer- ent service, 6. Circumetancea which e hould be taken into a.cco~xnt in judgnenta of 3egro "ambiliion , '' Ifreliabili ty, " "speed, " "carefUlnes~,~' etc., in rztrticular planta , are the relative wages, op;>ortw~ities for promotion on $he basis of rae2it, distance from t he restricted Tegro reaiaence areas, hand- ling of working crewe, and types and oharaoter of work aeeigned to Segroes in t he particular plants , 7. The trend of infomation indicatea that where wages are good and eorne prospect of bettering conditions in present, 'Tegro labor is regarded a s ~qore satisfaotory than in plants in which Negro working crews are separated from other workers on grades of work which the ot he re are unwilling to do. 8, The objection of white workere to ::egro workere is underetandable as a basis for excluding rlegro workers, but there is evidenoe that thie objection ie not a perma- nent or deeply serioue conitingm-cy , and further evidence t hat the objeotion hae faded after a ahort period of contact, 9, The fear of the oompetition of iTee;ro workers on the part of white workers is in hown instances baaed upon the fear that ITegroes will be paid lese wages, thus either low- ering their living atandarda or pushing them otlt of jobs, Jhen this ie evident in a situation an essential part of the truth is omitted in the etatement of employers, unqualified, that "white workers ob ject to t he bringing Szi of f\TeE;ro workers .If 10, Factor8 other than "natural racial antagoniemw might be aearched lor in Loa Bngele~, to explain why this natural raoial antagonism exiets to the detriment of work, and does not exiet as often or to euch a pronounced degree in citiee like Chicago, Cleveland, Pittebnrgh, Arkon, and Buffalo, or in the Ford Plant in Detroit, where 12,000 Re- groes are employed in a total force of 100,000, s & along with large numbers of southern white workere, 11, Industries have disoharged practiced Jlegro workere and employed l11exicane whom they regarded as leee i7e11 adapt- ed for their work, because white workere objected to using the sme lockers and lavatories, White vlrorkers in one plant have &emantled lIexicane and in another refused to work with them; inaieted on separate lavatoriee in plant8 and accepted unsegregated onee in public; objected to iIexicane in one place and occepted Negroes in another, bietix policy of itself ie an uncertain guide, 12, On the surface of facts, Begro workers in LOE! h- geles seem to tleve a special ueefulneee in 5ron ma eteel production, in chemicals, and generally, where etrength muEt be opmhined with o gility and a certain amoun,t of deft- ness. Despite the strength of opinion on race they how nn unexpectedly large n~un'oer of crace operat ore, sand blastere, cupulo tenders, rip eaw operators, asphalt workers, and driver8 of heavy machinery, 13, There is probably no more 8 ctual truth in the be- lief that they are better adapted than met races $0 vork in the presence of heat than the opinion that they cannot do skilled wo rlr; but having been yermitted ''hent" jobe on this assumption, a normal success therein has provide?. sup- port for the original asewnl~tion, By the sane line of ar- gument i3exicans ehould be better fittec? for these jobs,wliere- as on the contrary the Long lelar-d Ice A2s ociation declare8 that they are better adapted to the handling and storing of ice than any other race, 14. The chanoes are that the cdurae of local policy and practice in industry has been shaped tlore by economic force8 than racial ones, Rapid growth of indt~etriee recent- ly, as in the East, has encourage8 and drawn great quantities of cheap labor, The most severe cornpetition is at present in the lower grades of work, where Begroes are principally found, ma between ITegroes, IJexicans and a class of native whit ea without e kill. When imnigrant labor menaces skilled native white workers, as is inevitable, a situation more aerioue than inheres in the Uegro relationahip, is promised. iieact ion will probably ins iet on pla cine Mexican immigration on a quota basis. 15. It is an intereating fa.& that the same -@inions held now about the iinadvisability and ineufficiency of Begro labor, were held by eastern indnatriea before they actually became pressed for mea. Then they employeil Begroes and, for 1 the most part, report aatiefectory experiencea. LABOR UNIOllS IN LOS ~13EI;ES Their Polioies General Obaervat ions, 1, The Unions that have Negro members are of two olaesea : (a) Those fiela8 in which Begro workers are a meaace to white workere, and (b) Thoe e fielde in which Yegroee are conceaed to hold dia tinctly favorable poeitions , 1 While theere conclueions may seem very general and too in- clusive, they represent the situation as portrayed by the Johnson Survey, the Bhamber of Commerce, the PiIerchants Xan- ufactoriea Association, snit the opinions of the general run of big employers, individual ly, as expreesed in interviewe grantea to the preeent writer. IUom m~ interesting to compare the methods employed by the i'derohante Uanufaeturing Association and those mployed by the various branohes of the American Federation of Labor, located in the Labor Temple at Maple and Fifth Street, Loe Angelea. Some very valuable material on *hie situation can be-f ound in their literature, especially the Amerioan Federa- tioniet, the official Magazine for the 8. Po Lo 2, The first of these clRsleea is iilost important. (a) To organized labor, because competent l?egroee can, by working for such wage8 8s they can get, seriously injure the union progmne . These loonls are mixed; relation8 are said to be good, and 2Tegro membership is actively e ought . (b) The aeaond of theee is of more advantage to FTegro workere, The clientele is a epecial one made up, eit her of persons who prefer Tegroea, for example, as muaiciane, or regard waiting as their traditional work, The unions are separate but there is cooperation, 3. There ie evidence of raoial feeling of hostility in certain of the locale. However, raoial feeling is eub- ject to fluotuationa ; (a) It increaeea when, in Snetanoes of the union's aseiepent of work, white workers are given preference, and Megroea complain, (b) It increaaea as white workere beoome exclnaivew ly favored by employera in work once ahared by Negroes. (0) It decreases when the queetion of job aseign- ment ie not present and the memberahip of Pegroes ie essential to the succeea of the white member8 . (8) It appeara on first contaot where Negroes are firet taken into a trade, arrd dieappear8 as membere become aocu torned to megro raemnbera , (e) It increaaea in unione of tradee in which Begroes are given about the same ohmoe for work aa whites, on some notion of their ape- oial fitnese, or on groumds of t'fairneas,n (f) It inoreaeea to the point that Regroes are eometimes given more than their numerical proportion of offices in looala in which new gro workera are given actual preference over white workers by employers, 4, The organization of Eegro workers where both Begroea and whites are conoerned ie eesential to the purposes of labor, and there is opportunity for exploitation of white and Begro workers if one is pittedagamt the other, 5. Refusal of employers to use Xegroea ie never proteetea by labor groups, and is acoepted as unfortunate but unchangeable, 6, Refueal of employere to we Hegroes removes the com- petition of il'egroee from particular fields of work, etrength- ening the position of labor ana rendering less diffioult the enforcement of their requirementie and bemanas , Some Personal Attituba. The following exfraots are from responses to letters eent to various employers ueing ITegro help, together mith sone who do not uae Xegro help: "Megro employment be been continuous with thia cornpar,;- for mny para and ve have given preference to the em- ployment of thia race for porter and etocfroorn work, although me have exceptional cases of emplopent in other aepartments of our business, euch aa in our ware- ho~ue, where Regroes are employed aa truck drivers and in the reoeiving and ehipping rooms," "We have very high regard for the oharacter of the men and the work they perform. The total number employed in Southern Californie approximitea one hundred, A number of theae men have been mith ha for a number of years ranging from twenty years, with a oonsiderable number of mployment reoords of five yeare and more," "An inoreasing nmber of Begroea are showing e8ucation- a1 advantages a~d have rieen frm purely porter work to etockroom capacity, aa well as smployment in other larger and higher capacities in our warehouse "Thie information ie not for publication except for the purpose of your theeis.lll lqWe only bve one Wegro employed in our etores, I like him very much or he would not have kept his job very long. The big boss oame out here f roa Rew York, and while atan&ing here in the store notioed the ITegro, and he asked me 'why I did not let that coon go as I could get one of the Orientals much ohesper,,." I me payiq the Negro about $21,00 per week, I tola the boas that 1 conla depend upon him to wash all the dishes that were soiled in the etore every @y and be ready to leave the atore when closing hour came.. . . .I had used GeOrfT PfaffmBerger, Southern California Manager The Owl rug Company. four white women to do the work before, which ghowed a good saving ." 1 "We me a few NegrQ helpers, We we moatly ~exicas workere because they work better and for lee8 We do not use Negro help. We find that our oliente are better eatiefied w th white help. We have no ill-feeling however 3 "If has always been our policy to use white help. Ye respect the ability the Negro has ebwn in hotel work but has never been our policy to amploy them,[' "We do not use Negro Ulp." 5 "Yea we have uaed Xegro help in the past. Ve found 6 them eo uncertain that we had to chaxe to white help." "iqe have found the IJegro to be very valuable to our service. Ve take pride in having the kind of boye we have to work for us. So fa ae I am oonoerned they are to remain in our employ ? "We we all Colored janitors and elevator operatoreg in our new building which was completed laet Fall ." These attitudes are given just to ehow the average type of response received from over 500 inquiriee sent to as many busineee establishments. There was an average go- ing back ana forth from favorable to unfavorable emplojment conditione affecting the Negro; forty-two per cent of the inquiriee ah owing favorable conditi one and f if tg-eight per cent showing unfavorable oondit ions in attitudes , 1, Name not given, Manager Woolworth Storee, Loe Bngelea, 2. Lo8 helee Railway Company. 3. Biltmore Hotel Management, 4. Ambas eador Hotel Management , 6. The my Company Pdaylagement , 6. Rooaevelt Hot el ldanagement . 7. The Earl C. Anthony Pachrd Mot or Car Company. 8, The New Ediaon Company Office Bldg. It has been noted that out of the 75,000 employees ueed by 460 induetrial plants in Loa bgelee, only 2,000 were of the ITegro group, The plant8 aelected were thoee repreeenting the major induatriee in the communitjr, This indioates that approximately nine per cent of the entire population ia engaged as workers in these 460 plante. The white worker oonatituf ee approximately ninety-eight and one half per cent of the number ueed by the 460 induetrial plants, The population of the Zegro group approximates 75,000 an& upon such a calculatim shoula constitute, eince it represents nine per cent of the entire population of the city, about nine per cent of the workers wed by the prin- cipal indmtriea here in the city, Be it is they conetittlte approximately one and one half per cent of the total number of workers engaged in the plante mentioned, Thie indioates a very abnormal situation ae ehom by Graph F in the Johnsan Survey. qhile the plmts ueed do not represent the entire number of plants in Loa Bngelee, yet enough were used to suggest a tendency. It sill poeaibly be true that, ae ae note the remaining plants, the number of ITegroea will kve a smaller per cent bemuse the remaining plants are those amall plante not using many workere, It tm.e been noted that the smaller the plant, as a rule, the lesser the num- ber of Negroee employed. There eeerna to be some compensation when we view the partioipation going on amone; the domestios, although not so 1 much for the men, The Xegro representation in domestic service ie eight times as large as is the normal condition, The unit shoulil represent five per cent but instead has reached appoximately forty-five per cent, ten per cent greater than the intiustrial units, which ehould be about thirty-five per oent, This is indicated by Graph F of the Johnaon Survey used in this ohapter. The ,oonpenaation seeme to be in favor of women domestios, The general attituae of the employment agenoies seems to indicate that the per cent of 0811s for Negro women as compared to the nlunber of oalls for the men is about as alarming ae a situat ion of thie kind coula be, The approximate per cent of general oalls for TJegro help for both men and wornen is ttventy-two per cent for 2Tegro men and seventy-eight per cent for wamen, The aver- age per cent of Begro domestics as compared with the other domestics In the city ie eeventeen per cent, This indioated that the Negro is deriving a good per cent of domestic work, although not enough to offset hia delinquent eituation in the industrials. Another alarming point here is that ainoe the calls for Regro men ie only twenty-two per cent of the tohal call for Xegro help, then only four per cent of the domeatto work in Los kngeles is beine; done by Megro men, while the TTegro women are performing about thirteen per oent . It is noted that some of the attitudes, aa expressed in thie ohapter, indioate a favorable interest in the ITe- groef s behalf, It muet ue remembered that the attutudee were seleoted from selected conoerne, and that, while some 1 See above, p, 30. were favorable, it is not enough to compensate for the loea in other aotivitiea suetainea by the Regro. All in all we can olearly see that the ITegro in Loe Angelea ia under a terrific handicap, eo far a0 his partici- pation in the larger oomunity life is concerned. The aocio- logical question then come0 -- ghat is the Tegro doing to mab hie bread and meat? At least this eituation implies a case of social pathology. This study has not gone far enough to be in a poaition to answer intelligently. It ks gone far enough, however, to infer that einee the rTegro man ia not given a fair ohance to work he necessarily must turn his attention to eorne tfinternalll affair. It ie &o be re- mernberea, however, that a large number of 1Jee;ro men are em- ployed in the iiailway service, which jobs are not lieted in Lo8 Angelee, This will offer some cornpeneation, The con- pensation is not enough to offer any significant owe in the pathological tendenor, by which is meant such factors aa gambling, bootlegging, stealing, prostitution, and vices of similar nature, Proetitution will be disous~ea at lencth in thie thesia, as it represents cz great amount of inter- racial participation of the firat magnitude. These few general conclusions are given mainly tocall attention to the tendency towards oondit ion of s ocial path- ology, and to e timulate e me conaiderat ion for the e tupen- doua obstacle which the TTegro in Los iingelee must overcolne before we shall see a normal social partioipation, The informat ion contained in thie chapter is rnostly general and altogether too inclusive, but it is given to initicate juet what ie seine; on 3n thie field of participa- tion. StrictLy speckiw the :?ee;ro in Loe hgelea cannot be said to kve much of a colmercial contribution. As a seller his participation is entire lg conf ified v~F1:hin hie ol?n group. Xis noet sucoeaeful enterprises happen to be in ;;he arug and restaurant linee. I-Ie be suooeedei? in ariving a11 of his competitors in these bueinesaes out of hie territory, It is only in these fields, however, that he be mae any showing whatever as a comrcial participant. Clothing There are five eatabliehments among ITee;roes omea and controleci by Uegroea wh-ich mire e.ny pretense to sell cloth- m ine; articlee to the group. ~hese zlrrces are not very rrell organized. The stooks they carry are very much antiquated, and therefore ao not receive any noticeable amount of the group trade. The rillea at imagination could not iimgine that these shopa enjoy even as much as two per cent of the entire trade. It ie therefore true that more than ninety- eight per cent of the ::egro trade is carried over to the niiite shoge. Fiie only return for this trade is hie capacity to be hired in eome cases as elevator operators and janitors. Ttie expenditure in this field- elone ~slll run much over $2,000,000 a year, this amount beixg epent in white shops. Groceries Here again the cane e tory ie true, There t re thirtg- tmo Begro grocery store8 in Los Angelee. The TTegro group, according to a scientifio estimate, srende more than t,j195,000 per week in Los Angelee for grooeries. Tile thirty-two gro- aeries owned receive about ;;4000.00 all told, leaving more than ;;190,000 to the white grocery store per week, There are very, very few of these stores using tiny colored help, The Safeway stores, although receiving the largest trade of any of t he white stores, only employe one Fegro employee, Bewepa,ners More than 9000 Regroe8 take the Ekaminer enoh dcy, About 6000 take the Tines each day, A~rroxi!lt..t;el;- about the same number are taken of the combined number in the field aeide from the two nameti. This wcnlld malre ap1;roxi- mtely 20,000 ITegroes taking white daily papera, The average rate per year is ::1C,00. This B~OVTE th~t tho !?e~;ro group spenas over ('200,000 per year for the white cosmopo- litan papera, Vhile the only return for their trade is offered to new boys on the a treete selling the papere. Trmeportat ion It is not possible to estimate the tremendous amoqmt of money being epent by the TTegro group in daily transpor- tation feee and fares. The ITegro worker commuting between home and hie job by vmy of the Pauifiu Electric, Bussee, or $he Loe hgelea Street Railway company Mill possibly rep- resent eighty-five per cent of the total number of :?egro workers. Then there is the conatant travel engaged in 57 the down-tom shoppers. All told the patronage ia tremen- aonsly large. The only return the Xegro group receivea in return is the use of a few women in cleaning care for the Loa Anpeles Street Railway Company, This return is positive- ly nee1 igible . Power and 'I,ie;ht Eere the same rtory continue,?. 3very honee occupied by Be~roes in tke cit;~ in~lst have the fa.cilitiee offered. by the corl)orations f~crilishing them. 3ere the trade again be- cornea sigantic, The liegro cannot do other,?ise, The return for his trade is again ablost negligible, Telephone Company Although the trade to or with this corporation is. 10C per cent, yet the return intereat is 100 per cent negative. Very few homee are without the uee of telephone scrvice, so it ie poeeible that the returns nil1 run over the nillion aollar line per year, Gas Company The etory is still n1n;in;;. true to form, isst every TTegro family uses pe in so:.ne form, There may be a few who can afford electrical stoves, but it ie safe to s8y tht-.t nwber will not average om per cent of the TTegro poopulc- tion in hgelee, Yere &gain the retnrn is abeolutelg negligible, And ,so it is its we go on clam the 1 ine in noting the participation of 'the ;'egro in the oo~rnercial life of the com11unity. His participation as a buyer is tremendou~, 7;Jh ile hie participation as a producer is entirely negntive, Even after partioipating in ouch a whole,aale faehion in the bnyine; end of hi2 participation, he le not accorded the con- ,oiCieration of a ~lervant in $he 1:lecee where his gronlj :rend by the millions. Conclueion Thus it i~ noted that ir, this field the "egro ie : lso completelg- eqloit;e8, Xbt chance has he to participate in the corz~nunity ae a self reepeotix citizen, when he is oontinually being pauperized? Again .ive Ece nnother factor which i~ responsible for the eocial pathology eo evident among the "Jegro neie;hborhoode in 50s Angelee, ',Ye shall have to expect to see the Tegro more nnd :?ore lem toward the queetionable faotors operating within the com-?u.n_ity of the city in ivhich we live, The greatest degree of social distance ie to be found in the "well regulated white home," i, e., with reference to the !Tegroefs yartioi3ation there, I use the phrase, flwell regulated white home1' to exprese an orthodox relati~~nship, 3hile on the other hana, it is intereetine; to note a- very large amount of unorthodox home-life participation of wl~itea and "iegroee, This situation is ioetly au-e to Z; he nencloeurell I of white homes nithin TTegro areae. Due to their conatant ! i propinquity, and what might be coneidered their inmediate I comunitg intereste, we find a large per cent of aocisl die- tmce absolutely destroyed. This situation can be eaeily dei~onstrated by the attitude of whites upon the visitation of a 3Tegro in a atrictly white community, anti what ie the op~osite mse in the communitiee eettled by both races. In the atrictly white communitiee the attitude, on seeing a TJegro at the front aoor, ie "what do you want here3lf :Thile in the cosmopolitan community the attitude, on o like occasion, is one of natural expectation during the run of The foregoing situation, upon oaeual observation, mould not indioate any data of sociologicr?.l importance. IE it not true thet we have cosmopolitan trmaportation, recrea- tional facilities, departmental merchandising, and what not, which faotors tend to throm the raoes into constant eooial contacts? Of course this t endmay is very much in evidgnce and from all indications mould infer a very mluable per- ticipation is very, very formal, we shall have to say that euch a participation doe8 little in changing attitudes. ~t is only those oases where the partioipante become whst may be oalled "familiarw in oontaote that, after all, may be thought of as aooially important, or shall I say significant, The following interviews will illuetrate the point in quee tion: llWell I don't think much of the young ItTegro . ~e triee to be too smart and touchy., , ,Take Bill down there in the barber ehop--why he ie awful, Ee does not horn hie place.. . . ,It moulflnrt tab me long to put him in hie place if I had my way,. . . . You can sap what you please, the quicker you folk learn your place, the better off you will be.. .. $1 f "1 think you people have made aglendid progreetj, You see I m a good observer, and I make it mwT business to notice the young Regro and juet haw he aots . . . . .I am impressed with the way they take advantage of their situation.. . , . .Take Bill down in the barber shop--he is a prince. ,.. . .I 11.~8 to think that he waa terrible, but since having him better 1 have come to have a fine reapeot for him, Of ooume he ie not like the other boys clown there-.. he ia polite, polished, and good natured--but very, very poaitive.. . , ,flell, I like him for it. Ee should nut be taken for a plaything--I mould reeent that myeelf ...,. You cmrt tell him no amutty joke an8 get away with it,..,.But, to $811 you the truth, I expeot the boss down there will have to fire him, because the people do not understand him,, . . . .I want the boee to fire him.. .,when he does I intend to take him into my employ,, , . ,He is just the fellow that I want ." 1 The writer ha8 ocoaeion to talk to "Billn after get- ting these interviews with the white participants, and, true to expectation, in the first oaae it was found that this partioipant had come to the ahop often enough but ha& 1. Interviews with down-town white bua ines e men, not become acquainted with 3ill. The third time he cme in the ehop he tried to pull the joke stunt, and to be sure he learned the displeaeure of Bill. On the other hand participant number two knew the Begro boy very iiatimately, and therefore liked him. Both of the participants, however, have attempted to generalize regarding the yo~ulg :Tegro as a whole, while only having contacted one individual. So it is with most of the tirestriotea white neighborhoodw opinions regarding the l?egro. The tendency is to clagieify all megroes acoording to same individual case experience, Be possibly can ap~roach the question of participation in the cosmopolitan neighborhood or comity vrith a little more clarity in view of the situation indioated in the in- terviews ~IIS t quoted, The constant propinquity permits a general underatanding of the temperament, personality, tra- dition, austom, and general cultural BaekgrounB of each group to a very high degree. Through oonatant aeaooiation each grmg learns to respeot the other in all things, Thie eituation may be aptly illustrated by the following inter- views & nJ$o we never out our grass on Saturbys beoauae we likes to respect our white neighbors. YOU see our neighbors are Seventy-Day Adventiets and we noula not disturb their day by anythi~~we would not like to see them do on Sunday. While it may seem thet such participation as has been mentioned is far too superfioial to as yet inai~ate any important; eooial data, the point here to be ernphaaiaed is 1 Interview wzth a Begro man, neighbor to a. white family, that, once aooial distance is deetroyed in however small degree, if the faotors remain oonff tan% , its destzuotion will continue, Thia as sumption ie pos itively sue tained in the following neighborhood a hay. The neighborhood atudied may be oalled the "South Vernon Street Neighborh~od,~' It ie bounded on the Iclort h by Fiftieth Street, on the Vest by Avalon Boulevard, on the South by Fifty-fifth Plaoe, and on the Errst by Central Ave- nue, Begroea star-bed moving into this neighborhood about 1 nine years ago, The white populationbeoame very indignant over the encro-whment of these new home-eeekere, It was during the firat great trek of the Xegro to California, Real estate was skyhigh and rental property was proportion- ately in great demand, The earlier citizens of the central Begro belt rented their homes to the new-arrivals, pur- chaffed property on the outskirte of the centrLal distriot, and in numerous oasee woraehedlt in to the once conservative white neighborhoods, There wae at once a large mowt of rao-lal ill-feeling. On eeveral occasions the police mere called uilon to settle controvers ies and neighborhood in- fringements, Eepeoitilly was this true in the rfSo.~rth Vernon Street Neighborhood? The court8 were visited on aeveral twns in the course of events, Atnibst el1 this, the XiTegroes continued their encroachment in wholesale lot&, Some of the wealthier of the new-arrivals aleo moved into this new die- triot. In 1931 we find the neighborhood in queetion composed 1 Interviews in the neighborhood, of about two third8 of Megro hone ownere, while the re- maining third ie oompoeed of whites and a few foreigners. It ie interesting to note that after the lapse of nine years fully four-fifth8 of the eocial distance in the neigh- borhood has oompletely gone. This one-thir8 represents $hose white6 who for one reaaon or another eould not die- pose of their propertg at the price they wantea. Seeing that they were forced to live cmong their Begro neighbors they have gone about the eituation in a plain, rational manner. It is the participation in this ooemogolitan com- munity that shall prove the assumption which we started with, that on00 sooial diatanoe is destroyed in however small a degree, if the faot0r8 remain oonstant , its de- atmotion will continue. This will be more interestingly shown by the 2allo#ing chart: CHART I 1 Showing White Home Locations South Cent - ral Av I I s I #$ I I $* 1 Bast 54th Street d ~ast &rd+11ace South Hc- South # East 5bth ,?la09 L) $ * East 55th Street @ at- I I I I South East 52nd Place 1 4' 9 4P 8 e I East 52nd street" Kinley Av. Ic , dast 53rd SWreet Avalon Blva, il) t @ Legend: Red dots indicate looation of white homea. Thie ohart shows the alq>roximate location of white homes in the cosmopolitan "Bouth Vernon Street XTeie;hborhoodf1 which have very liberal home-to-home partioipat ion, The (F 1 Neighborhood oanvaas ueing interview method in securing data, t + d re # East 51at Street - e Eaet Fiftieth Street I! a 1 re8 dote indicate the white home$. The following graph will indicate juet the aegree to 'vhich eocial distance has been wearing-my. The reliability of thia graph ia dependent upon the cultivated attxitude of the writer after having listened. constantly during hours of interviewing. The graph may then be termed the express- ion of an impressionlatic motive. This r2,ther general re- eponse, in the interviewe, will show a tenaency ae to how sone deoision waa reaohed. rfWen the Colored people first cnme in this neigh- borhood it took me three or four yeara to sorta get me to them. Later on though, wf found out that they were nioe people though." Social Distance ?To Social Dietance 1 I 1 1922 Of Thitee \ ..---*-.---.-, % -.- .-A%.$ Ms.,,, -L.,--+.--%- 1923 after intimate L-.w-U.-~-w-w~rC-"?rC.5~~- 1924 contacts -- -~%.m.-~..-~~.. 1925 intimate con\ti~~ 1931 Legend-Re& line in part I indicates aocial distance. Ol~gosite in part 2 1 Interview with white home-owner. South Vernon Street ITeighborhood. Chart nwnber I indicates the a:~proximate nwliber and location of white homes which permit of a rcther free inter- racial psrrticipati~n in the South Vernon Street fTeighborhood. !Vhile the kina of ~jctivitiea pmticip~ted in i~ not of in- terest, it ie the regularity anci i-ntensity of the participa- tion that i~ expressive. Of course this chart does not ahow the number and location of 311 -7tnite homes ir- this neighbor- hood, but enough, to be sure, to indicate the general attitude of the whites in the vicinity, The f ollowine; table rnay be considered an "Activity Index ," Invitations extended by 'Jhit e a Accepted- by Xegroes to ;Tegro TTeighbore ................ meals Yea ................ IIorne parties Yea .............. Radioparties.. 'Yes ............ Conversation periods Yee .................. 'iTe6-din:s 'Ye8 Shoi),jing trips .............. yes .............. Riblic lectures Yea ............ Sooial gamea at home Yea .............. To meet friends ........... 1.1otion-picture parties Ye8 ................ Funerala.. Sickne3s viaitatione (~egro doctore as sell! Yee .............. Community 0111bs 'lea .............. Various divers ions Ye8 Invitati ons extenaed by Yhites Accepted by Xegroes to Xegro 1Teighbore 1 Political situat ione . . . . . . . . . . . Yes It would ue of interest to show, :?ith reference to graph nwnber 111, just how the "Activity IndexrT table grew vith respect to length of t;iiae ca indicated in the graph, This, however, could not be done ivithout very intriocte and very intense research whioh could not be given to tiris one situation, It dl1 be enough to cay that it was not until after 1928 th?.t the table took anything like its 2 present form, Here again the aaewnptiorr that once social distance is destroyed in however em11 Begree, if the f:;c- tors remain oonstant, ite destruction mill oontinue is - -- ----- ,, sns i;~:-fii?e d , We get then, in this neighborhood, a picture of what the ideal cosmoyolitan cormunity part ioipation e hould be like, The intimate contact&, bd in the manner in nhich they vere, has tended to break dotm :vhat is comonly termed 11 op1josite-attraction." The writer diCt not note any irreg- ularitiea whatsoever. Thie is not to say that they ilia not exist; rather than, if they dici they did not tyke the pro- portion noted in neighborhoods whsre 11wholesoae71 partici- pation does not exist, I supzlose the aituu$ion is ana- logous to the inatance of "a man living near t he ocean for 1 Interviews and visitsti ons in vicinity, 2 Interviewe 1 ! forty yeare never k~vir~g set foot on its shore.ll 1 am sure the e tory ivould have been &iff erent ht:d t he mcn con- tacted the ocean only at rare intervale , Thie leads me to say that my experience he been that inter-racial anomalies occur, mostly, where the life-history of the participant doe8 not have sufficient l%holesornelf int er-racial co~taote, ad thus the deaire for contact ten& to becorne perverted, I have eeen real black :Tegro men leave tqwhitefl rJegro women for black ITegro women soon after their mr,rriage, The first mr- riage ahowe pointedly ~rhat 'Jiliiam Pickene calla "the I'egrolz 1 color-phobia The TTegro thinks of lfmkite~:e~sn an& ie gnitied in his selection for ma rri::e;e by the sane, Z-ie e oon discovered hi? disillusionment und proceeded to make a ration81 elect- ion for hie next l~.rriage, "Jhitenees seems to harq on in the isolated ?Yegrots mind, ~)eychologics,liy, as an ai;;?urte- nmce, but as aoon as tilie situation i~ discovered he izimec diately eeelra to correot the condition, The sociological importance of t he e itucttion exist iw in thi~ nei~hborhooa--tt.,~t of free-social participatiion, is tht it break8 dorm eosial distance and destroye "oyposite- attractions The poaition being th:!t, if me could secure a 'ls?holesome free-social ~articipation,'' inter~acially~ for the community life in Los Angelea, or elsewhere for th~t matter, it would show a very lcrge tenaency to eetoblieh inter-racial part icipa'cion, which sould make the ideal community, a itho~it unneceaeary anomalie 8, 1 A :?egro echoler. Secretary of the :T,ztion&l Aeaociation for the Advzlncerrlent of 'LTegroes, In a speech at LTnivere ity of California, Los Anceles, Pilarch, 1930. 1nt:oOuction The colleckion of dr-kz in "I-' vL. s field has yresent eil to the wri.t;cr a vivid insi~ht into one of the tloqt tragic of all human experiencs, It ;70111d :! eri to t- tle average obeemcr, nho boaats of his Christianity, th:,t the partioipants in this field of social pathology ought to be ''horse-whipped" and driven into the deep blue sea -- after h~ving received the perr~isaion of the '5nie;hty deep," It has not been theira to penetrate into the background of theee unfortunate "bra- thers and sieters,If for such they are in our eocial heritage, They are as eurely the children of our society ae are the "prayins deaoonsrf and houtiq sis teratf who rent -,-ii$h re- ligious eup..plication for their viciesitudes, It hna been a !i~ost d6.ngeroue ~mdertaking, and the writer is sl~eakine; from actual experience, to zeta% the source of this mighty treffic of the 111umn ~od-y, It is not neceeeary to mention the intricate find- elaborste precaution taken by the agencies operating thie tra:?fic to in~ure their protection, It will be enough to say thc t thousands and thousands of dollars have been ant? are being epent to eafe- guard their interests, !?hat do they care for s, ife--when they seek to expend them by the hundreaa--who shall &are to come into their haunts--an enemy? The writer has ventured-, as suoh, although unknown to them, for the purpose of pre- aenting this eoene, this eituation which promotes a terrific social destruction to the cor.unun-ity in v~tlich we ourselves participate, Prostitution as an institution is as old ae riietory iSself, Be have &iscovered no new thing when the inatitu- tion is mywhere detected in our cm!nunitiee, Bhat then ie the value of thts etudy since it presents nothing new? There may exist enumerable values, but the eignificance which has been presented to the writer, from the pereonal experienoe of the pnrtioipmte, stamps this form of inter-raoial per- ticipation as the most important social ir,etitution in the community for the eetabliahment of deliberate racial solid- arity-- however harrowing the in~tituti n itself may be. Thie aseertion mey seem shocking, lT?hich of course it ie, nevertheless it stmde ne a positive truth, Thie study mill first be concernea with t he objective factore involved, md then rirLll point out the particular eo cio-psycho1oe;ical s ituati one concerned, together nit h a me definite conclus ions , \Thite Prostitutes The writer had to invent some may of aecuring admit- tance to the abode and haunts which house2 the "white bodiee for saleon There was no other eeeming way of admittance save as a regulcr participant, Em could thie be &one ~11th- out oaueing suspicion, since the writer had no intention of indulging aa do the regular participants? It was eoon aia- covered that to enter In euch a flay would be moeaible, un- less the re-r fee ehould be paid, on each occasion, and then pretend some excuse for failure to participate, This mas Brie&, It was soon notice8 that thie teohnique could not produce the results deeired, as the procese wae too me- chartioal, ae well as too emyeneive, A more ingenious may 7 A was fathomed, To cultivate a friendship with the lfPimpalT would be the thing t o do, Thie idea was however a very precarious one, ae theee persona are given to shrewdness, Could the writer really escape their detection--they might suspect the writer of playing stool-pigeon, which of course meant being wput-on-the-egot.fl Elowever, thie task was under- taken, The writer had some friend who wae vell known to the lfPimgsw to introduce hin as a nem arrival in town. In this way oontact was definitely eetablished, gfter a few telephone calls the writer made eome personal call8 at the "haunts" to visit hia new friend, After due course, the ocoasion came when the writer waa introduced to one of the girls as a "new man in the field." Sone interviews were had after this fashion, but the procese was so alom it had to be abandoned for a speedier one, 7hat wae thie new technique to be? The writer had notioed that participants who had come to the home of his new friend were of two kinds, those who came to see t he girls, and t hoee who came to get whisky and beer, The writer deoided to get introductionti! and then visit the "hauntsf1 just to set beer. This was accampliahed and proved to be very well adapted for the purpose espoused. This proceas oontinued until the writer had oovered what he 1 Uen who live by eeouring trade for the girls, "Their man." considered to be a large majority of such places in Loe *+ngeleao The beer was used as a ruse, and by subterfuge the writer was able to get the information desired, Umber of Girls opera tin,^; It was found that there are 46 housee ope~ated in the two large ?Tegro cormnunities. Theee comwnities are the Central Avenue, and the ','Teat Jefferson areas. The houses are furniahed as any well-$0-ao home would be, Everything ie made as attractive a8 poesible. The houees are operatea by what seem to be a man and wife, Rowever, in noet cases they are just "woman* and t'3ilap;'' or as they are sometimes cal-led tfhustlerew and 'lP, ~(e)? There are from two to four girls in each house, aesidee these there are what are cslled "swing girle ." The swing girls will average four to every e ix hm8es The average number of regular girls per house is about three. This will total about 168 girls, including regulars and thoee on the swing, for the 46 houses viaited, The regular girls are on duty during the day hours. They oannot remain in the housee auring the night, as the operators are afraid of being trapped in their operatione. The "swingH girl8 can be called at all home. They make a specialty of party work, where the participant wishes a girl for all-night ~raare, The operators keep the telephone nun- 1 bere of theee girl^ and oall them vhen a ~rzrtici~ant. I - - in their confidence, calls for one, Beaide the operators who maintain regular homes, there are scores of Tegro nusicims, who play for the cheap ?lain I I Street dance saloons and vaudville houaee, keeping telephone numbers of tk show girls for like purposes. The girle sl- ways split with the nusiciane for getting them trade. They prefer what are callen nsuckerew--thoee who will pay big money. These musicians allow the girle to nee their roorls, i. e. where they live, for the purpose of operating. They join occasionally with the reguknr operatore, for purposes of protection, and send t he girls to the regular holleee for night operations. There are about 85 ITegro mueicians who work in "the cheap placesR engaged in such operatione. The nrt jority of them are participante in this game. It ie eafe to say that they operate with ae many or nore girls. Aocord- ingly, the nunber of girls here could be placed at between 90 and 100 girls --operating after show and "taxi-dancev hours. Prom these two sources then, we hsve from 268 to 300 white girla operating in Negro oomunities as reguzar pros- titutes, Of course there are other sourcea but those aonrcee have not been checked. Thia number nil1 vary greatly, accord- ing to working conditions of the ITegro participante, or that cleas of Iegro men who frequent such IIlhen times are normal the number will poesibly double itself or more. You aan hear this common expreeeion, "There used to be lots of girle to ehoose from, but now they only hase two or three .'I Feee Paid There seeme to be a standara price of three aollars fixed by the operators of these houses, i. e., the regular housea, Two dollars goee to the girl an3 one to the opera- tor. Each girl in the regular nhauntan has from four to eight contacte a day, on the average. It will be eafe to say that nfive oontaotsff will approximate a general average for the entire number of girls operating in the regular nhaunte ." Aocordingly, it is concluded that their ealarie s or fees will run nearly sixty dollar~ per week, or fifty dolla,ra in round numbera. This t~ould make the fees of tile entire group run about $13,000 per week, as the part paid to the girls. The fees exacted by the operators will amount to one-third of the fee8 reoeived by the ~irls. This would be about $4,000 per week. This ie not deducstea from the $13,000 received by the girls, instead it is added to that sum, for the girls pay this one third fee after each contact. Thie would make the approximate sum of &$l7,000 per week goix to operators and white girla in prostitution fran Ne~ro men aa participants. There of cmree is a fluotuation going on. The regular girls are sometimes given tfni,ceff tipe, It was of courae imposeible to eatiliate just to what proportion thie situation ma carried on, There are alao the unusually high fee6 derived by the rfewingff girle from "party affaire .If They have been known to make ee much as $3.00.00 a night, in individual oaeea. They expect to "olean-upn on parties where there are plenty of ffsuckere .'I The girle 0811 those men "auokereff who have not been in contact with white cirls, and nho have developed what the girls call "a complex for whiteness ,If i. e., t hoee who vould give anything to indulge in such contacts, Theee girls are very quick to detect a "auclrer" and then play him to the "grand stands ,'' The girls have several devioes for proouring extra fees. The nost cormon of these being the selling of their pictures "in the nude: They arrange "private showeff for the sex-crazed men who attenci. -their secret partlea. The rd- mission into the room where the show 18 r>eing staged is usually $1.00 per individual. The features exhibited s how the very lowest and _lost unusual tendencies in sex-perversion@. It is irnpoesible to indioate the cmount of fees reoeived from these extra activitiea, Enongh is known, however, to indicake that a very large sun ie collected per week through suoh operations, It will poasibly bring the total amount of fees colleoted by the white prostitutes and their operators, in the areas mentioned, to something over $20,000 par week, Negro Proat itutea Here we find a different tyre of etory. Yegxo girls who specialize in makine; contacts with. mhite men are not nearly so well organized a2 their white colleagues in the profession. ;7hile the white girls use Tegro operators, the Ilegro girls attend to such mtters themselves, This eitua- tion ie accounted for by the projection prooess used ,by the white girle, The white 3x1s move into a TTegro difltriot vith- out any fear whateoever, Zven though they may be aeen going to or frequenting a certain "hauntn they neverthelees. have no fear of my antagonism on the part of the general Begro group. She must me some caution however, so as to avoid the wrong oontaote, It is here that the need for the oper- ators ooi~le in, The girls realize that they must protect themselves from the public opinion and wrath of their om people, as well as from the white polioe who might beoome amre of their pe--except in those cases where the p~lice are paid to condone such "raoial trespaeeings" of the first magnituiiw. On the other hand the 2Jegro girl. does fear to project hereelf and her game into white districts in the fas hion just indicated by the white girls, She remine for the moet part in her own racial distriot, She rents an ap- artment, or room where e he htre been granted all t he privi- leges neoeaeary to her game, She makes her contacts with white participants while at in dmestio service, on the busses to and from work, from salesmen, while at theatres, or any place where it is possible to meet and reoeive flirta- tfona from her intended participant, The participant ie in- vited to come direotly to her hone, or room as the case be, Some of the riiegro zirle stand on the etreet corners, or walk the streets rather promiacuouely, awaiting the flirtation of some white man who frequents the iTegro neighborhood for im~noral purposea. It is through euch meaauree that l-he :?egro girl builds uz oontacte for her busineee, and since ehe has no need to fear any molestation from her om group the pro- oess, so far as she is ooncerned, ie completed. Xer only ooncern is to avoid police agents, Special Ty-pes There are four epeoial tygea of llegro girl proetitutes, They are the 'IAlle;~ '7orke re, " llI-Iome liaidcrs, If "Dam Town 1 Sucker Hunters , I' anii t he I1Axtomobile 3ide rs ," TheflAlley Jorkers" - !?ilia ie a vertr subtle rrocees, The girl, after ehe hss contacted her liarticipant, invites liirn back to eec her and tells the interested l-nazl just !7hat comer to reet her on, 2.p.d. the ti1 ,~roxiirite time he is sup: oeec to coLle--or rcther t !i.e tiiic she can sce him, Tne participant cornplies ait h the agreement. 'Jhen the ;irl sees him she rushes to him and tells hin to "lay lorrrn for awhile as ker huebund or e:rreethcart ie in the vicinity, She goes ai-?&y, uut r;ot to mhere ehe cannot see her ~ueat of the evening, Soon she re$urns and informe the centleman tbt the road i~ clear for their operatione . She informs him also thet it vill be irnl>oseible to go to her room or home as her husband or sweetheart iaicht cone bc~ck at any tiiiie. She tella him t hnt they can go down the ~~ocl.ley be- hind some post or object for concealment. The prticipmt coxplies, She takes him to her accu~tomed ''spot" md makes ready for the act of intercourse, They 3roceed to the in- dul:eriient as is the usual case, Juep hen the cuest i& reaching the intensity of the situation, the sirl, very cleverly relieves the pmticipant of his ?uree, or whatever valuable he might htxve--and instantly tella her victim or dupe that "a police is comingw: they both hurry away from the acefie of action, 'Then the participant realizes W~ZL fi has transpired, the girl will have reoched safety in awne plglce 1 Theee tygea were identified by 12s. Claudia Prophett, Supervisor of Polioe \Yonen, Los Angele s Poli oe Department . unknol;vn to the iixq)e, He has been robbee. ~md~flithout re- cmrse, If he shoulci ever meet the girl ag~in, :!hich ir often the case, he does not itare have her arrestei. or attempt to file suit apinst her for fczr of unfavorable llicity, nhich might reach his family and friends. So the zirl is al- lm~ed to kcey: the valuable -if he is rot able tc induce her to return it, This ie the charccterictic acG"ln of the "~IlLey Jorker, If a prostitution process. The 11-T .-~ol?le liaiders" Zlere .:re find a very highly sl?ecialized i;roatitntion ilroces8, The girl here is uevally vcr:- hishly slrille6 in 5;:e but ahe mw't hnve an accorfi?;lice poee a~ lmn an3 yict i:.le in 'G he !-nos t exclue ive vrhi te neighborhoode , They pre- fer to operate in Ilollpood and 3everly ?Tills, The girl gets herself established as a domestic in sorne wealthy home, She is usually a very beautiful ;leras on, pee seesing highly allur- ing chams, She takes on the ettitude of a very religioue individual, She doee her work without question, being dll.~ap alert to impreae her mietreae with her moral and religioue goodnee8 so as $0 remove any suspicion ae to her trustworth- inees, She, hmever, tries every poasible nxee to be p1ea.s- ing and of benefit to the nan of the houee in her domeetic or, Ever~rthing must be just eo for hin, After learning hia ternperanent, other oddities c re addeci to her technique of gaining his favor as a serving peraa~n, Then the tirne cones tk~t she fuily understands her intended participailt ehe be- gins to devise waye of franiw hira. She firs t f inde out vhether or not he ie interested in outsiae women of her tyre, She of course knows of hie interest in other women, having learned this before she took the job, She poesibly knew the girl tvho fomerly worked for the family, or eome other aaheme was med to hov of the man before she Clecided to uee him for her next dupe, IIowever, efter learniiig he is interested in her type--% hrough aome womanly device--she epringa the old story of her husband's leaving her because ehe wse too old faehioned, After a while she gets the opi~ortunity of telling the man of her intentions of leaving the city for other parts, as she ha8 not been able to udjust herself since her husband left her, 3efore leaving, she a livays leavea her telephone number rind addreae in case there ie lom me thing she can do for them before leaving the city, This subterfuge gives the man The prmission to cane to her house under full protection. 'VLnowine; that her husband is ,-onetf adds to the security of the man1@ secret intentione in vigiting his former servant girl, The girl makes him wel- come to her home, She nmkea the place have the appearance of her "leaving scheme," !?he former bose offere the eirl a chanoe to come baak to her work when she returns to the city. He finds out when she intende to leave and gays that he will be around the day before she leaves to give her a little token of the apl~resiation he and hie wife have for her, The day arrives and the man hae come with hie gif ta . The 91 girl takes the zifta and is sure to place then where her friend cannot fin8- them again--for a purpoee, Sefore he leaves her home, he ie sure to aek her for a return of ap- preciation, after her ekillful we of eubterfuge drives him to express hie desire. She will alwaye seem eurpriaed at this sudden turn of events----. He of course, advances to where she is eeated, She Packs away ae if seeking escape until she reaches some intended place for the act, After she has been eub jected to a period of "forced attmtions ,'I ahe seemingly Ifgives in1' to her participant, Durix the period of he intercourse, her husband comes in the unlocked door and is terrified to find his wife being so uaed by her former bose, lie etarts a fight imediately, From some source a gun ie promred and the husband pretends that he is going to kill the participant for destroying his home. The dupe, as he ie called, pleads for a word--he states that he will settle thie aitmtion anyway the husband says --but "please spare my life ,I' The ivife is not to ue found--r?ore subterfuge. The husband informs the participant that he will leave the tom if he will give him enough :?oney to start all over a$ain, He alao infome the dupe that he osn have his wife to do vith ae he wishes, eince she is no good anyhow, The participant of course settles as per his promise so as to avoid any connection whatever, FIe fe~rs that the new ~vould colne to his family and frienda, and that he conld not a tand.. . . . This then is the technique of the "Home Raidere ." The process explained above does not cover each detail, nor doee it exhaust the mwe of accompliehing the purpose deeired, but it 3-oes ehav how the majority of the oaees work, "Down Town Sucker Xuntera" This is an 01' game and is cormonly known, IIere, the girls frequent places where men work at night, ma after con- tacting the white men, set-up their technique of flirtations . .After ahe has been able to get the man to operate with her-- her husband comee upon the ecene and with a bgun makes the man come aoroaa with all he he e, The "Automobile RiBara" Here again the proceee of this prostitution participa- tion ie very well knoim, The girls, instead of tteking their partic$yants to their roome, perforrn their deed in the par- ticipnts ' automobile, for t he nominal fees. Fees Paid, and mumber of Girls in Operation It has not been poseible to check the amount of fees paid by white men to the Tegro girls in prostitution as accurately as those paid by ITegro men to white girls in pros- titution, The reason being that the Negro girls do not op- erate with ho much organization and permanence of location. To determine the number of ETegro girls operating l~ould neces- eitate a house to houee cmvass in each ITegro neighborhood. This, of course, was impossible during thie stuity. Therefore it will be alraost impossible to make my acourate estimates either concerning the amount of Fees paid or as to the number of ITegro girls operating in the two vicinities studied, One would, however, tend to make some eetimation upon the basis of publio opinion, The writer visited over thirty Begro business plrtoee in the neighborhoods in question, The queation asked was: "Nhy Bo white men seem to hate Segro women so badly?* The responses were all in the negative re- garding my question. "You don't know what you are talking about. I bve eeveral 1Tegro women who come in this etore md call up white men every day of my life." These two sen- tences express the general attitude of ITegro ovmere of 2he etorea visited.. They seem to twve the impression that there is a great amount of participetion going on between the ITegro women and white men, If, then, we start with the nurnber of etores and fix our eatimtiona upon the basis of the nwnbcr who frequent their stores, taking the word "severaln to mean as many as four, at least--then the number from this eource of estimation would total 150 at least, The writer haa aeen a very large amount of participation, which may or may not have been accounted for in the estimations of the Yegro business men interviewed, Let ua say, then, that there are approxbmtely 200 ITegro girl8 operating $n this field, This of oourae ia not a very accurate estimate, but enough 0 o to inUioate the tendenoy we are desiring to portrw, The writer wouli! judge that abont fifty per cent of these girls are just above the poverty line moat of the time, -I I while their fees will fluctuate in eeasona, The other fifty 1 General converaation around Yegro "Sporting Divesw for men, 1 per cent do what they call "olean-up:' Some of the :.;irla in the second class have been known to make as high as $1500.00 in one night.' Their fee8 will range anywhere from $30.00 a night up to the amount juet indioated. This raxe is for the girls who are known as the "Alley 1Vorkera,lf and the llDolm Tom Sucker H~lnters.~' The largest fees are made by the "Home aidere ,'I Of couree it takes two or three rnonthe to play this game, so the fees irvon't eeem go large in compari- aon to the ltLUley Norkere,'l and the "Down Tom Suoker E~mters.~~ There are legends about eome of theee "Hone iiaideraft gettic6 ae high as $25,000.00 for e ou~e games, It is very authenti- cally horn, however, th~t as much as :>15,000,00 has been 3 paid to sorne of these "Home 3aidera .It So their range ie from nothing at all to aa much ue they can get, which haa been as high ae #15,000,00. It will be impossible to estimate any total mount paid to theee prostitutes by white men, per week, Thie study, of oourse, only embraces the Yegro proetitutes operating anone white men, The Soctology of the Economio-Psyohologiosl Situation Involved in Inter-raoial Prostitution Participation. The quest ion which came8 to the mind of the orthodox partioipant ie: "Who are these prostitutes and what are they doing to our conmunity life?" Thie question the writer vill attempt to answer, 1 General convereat ion arouna 3egro tlSporting Dives lt for men 2 EWs, Prophett, Supervisor of Vomen Edlice, Loe Angeles Polioe Department 3 Known to a11 of the Iregro sporting vforld in Loa hgelea Who Are These Prostitutes? They are thoae tender little girls who need to etand by the family altars, in some casee, and after lietening to mother and father pray for t hem--dream of their happy lives in the wonderful future ahead, Of course there are a ome who never had any farnily altars ,--life for them has always been of the blackest huea, To them, existence is just "one dam 1 thing after another," - - - - What have we done to theee lit- tle aouls? Here me ehall get a gllmpee into the real life-hietory and oharaoter of theee girls : "Say kid--don't pull that sob stuff you've started-- it won't work here ,...... .I'm not apt to apill my teara over what you say, This is simply a bua ineea to me and that 'e all,, . . . . . . .Some people eel1 their braine, voice, akill, or what not, but I sell my---- -----and what of it? Its no dam buainesa of any- body's but mine,. ,,. . . . ,It ain't that I'm a o crazy about Colored men, but I can make more money here among the~n, I absolutely hate white men, they are the meaneat brutes on earth, There ain't nothing they can do for lz~e anyrgore,,....Ifve had aeveral and they @ere all dam alrunke ......... Say, liete3,-- just give me t he money, nothing else matters .'I This girl has haa some very tragio ex~eriencee with the men I she has ueen assooiating with. She is absolutely void of feeling so far &a the writer could tell, She hates white I men, ani? only tolerates ETegro men beca~.lse she oan ~nake money 1 Interview with white proetitute. 2 Interview wit h white prostitute. Very tough type. Vould do any-thing for money, "These girls aren't so tough as they e they are, Thats juet make-believe...,. They all get down in the collar once in a while .,.., Ye sit ?round here all day looking for trade and when none comes in, we often get to talking bout things in general,,. me abays drift back to our younger daya ..... I: came from a good home, but because all the boys told me that I was beautiful, I somehow fell for their line, ., After 1 had made the first fern uistakes, things never seemed to matter very much,,.,I soon learned that the buaineae men around my neighborhood would give me money to be with them, and as my parente could not give me very much, 1 zoon drifted away fron home thinking that I could have everything I wanted so much to byve,. ....... I lived in Atlanta, Georgia at that time, I left and vent to Cleveland, Ohio with a salesman who wanted me to go with him, I went along ae his daughter.. ... ,Be were on the road two or three months ,.., Of course he me2 rae 8s his wife whenever he wanted to, and gave me wkt money I vantedee....Sy the time we arrived in Clevele.nd I had plenty of clothee and everything a girl could want., . , . .Ye rent ea a furnished apartment ma atart ed ..., ... housekeeying,, We livea there several months.. He informed me th8.t he wonla have to go to Chicago ............ for a while to advertise his goode there I got a letter fro111 him later with a twenty dollar ......... bill, and learneii that he would not be back 1 never aam him again, ... ,,I me only 17 yeare old-- and hew nothing to do in order to pay for my rent and other expenses,, ....... ;Yell, you know the reat ......... of the story After my men knew what I wag, they juet came for a ''very oold-hearted y~rpose~~ ayld treated me accordingly, Mobody thought to say a kind word to me at 811 .......... I grew eick of such a Zife,, , , , .But whet was there for me to do? I could not think of going ho~e, and besides there ... was nothing for me to return for,. There cvas a Hegro janitor from Texas who cared for the place I was living in ,.,,,,, He elways ~eemed so very kind to me, and gave me the only encouragenent I had kad for months,. . , . Hy condition beoame worse, and I had to stop my life as the pace was actually ..... killing me,. What oduld I do? ....... One day I told my whole etate of affalra to that Begro jan- itor e.ee.., He said that I ought to go to the hos- pital., . , , Ze eeid that he would loan me the money .. .... to go ?vith,, He paid my billa for nine weelre,. ''Then I came out he loaned me more money to live on mhile I got back to myself,,,,. Bo, he never mede my advances to me whatever-- he just aeemed to ...... have a heart, that8 all '(Yell I left town, never to ret~rr,,~...~ The devil had gotten into me by then, and I &id not intend to pay the man what I .... owed him.. I haven't heard of hin e ince thzt ... ....... tbe. That mas six yeare ago.. ..I have been .... from place to place, But I never dkl any good.. ..... I ome to California about e even mont ha ago,, I thought; I could start all over again., , . but these ....... dam men nonlt let you alone ItIy men are the .... biggest bunoh of brutea on earth.. They treated me like I wals a aog,,,.., I took their meannesa ae long as I poseibly could and then I j!~t ewore that I wmld never see one again.. .... You see they think beoauae we live like we do thrt me are not human,,., when it wae them who uade ue like we are ............ Its terrible to be treateb like a dog, when at heart you are not,. .... I, tried to find noyk, but to no we,..,., I %ho?xht of the kindness o? the "Tegro janitor in Cleveland, 2nlt after my condition bee:?! le so acute, I deciaeJ to see if I soul6 not find a like treatlrlent among the ITee;rose here.. ............ I sav a Colored chauffeur park? on the street an7 I went over and told hi13 my storg. Ile said that I: conld get a room at the eame houee he was staging,. Re gave me the aadress mi! e aae change for carfare, The Colored lady eaid th8t she did not keep white roomers, that the people mi,;.Lit sxspeot thcf there mas something T:lrong in her house, uut aa the go~ulg mn roomer had eent as that she would give me a roon for the nithL...... The chauffeur ma very cautious of lrle for a 10a.g n tlile ..... .:ie 0n.1;~ epol:e to me no17 XIC~~..... 1 had to e;o to him t)nd tell hi~i my story again sta I cou1G r,o 'c pay 12;- 'dills, Iie thouzht a lo-% while cnc7 then aai? that he ~-roulS! pay the veeks rent, but that aae ell that he coi~ld ... do.. Ee thought that I wae a police agent or eomethine;...... Later on he ,-rev to h~ive faith in me and trwtei! rfie com2letelg.. ... 1 told him thtlt I wanted to be hie girl friend..... 3e heeitzted at f ira t, and then aeciaetl it was a ;o, .... 1 8av th~t he had worlds of friends and nae very popular t~rith his group,, .... I tola him that I wae not worthy of !:is love, ma thc.ct I zoula do lofie of things lor. him .... if he wonla only ne kind tzna ice to ~e ,7e started out right then in the pne vie 8 re in ri~ht .. ....... now :<e quit his job anti orer~ites fo~ ue.,. ... ',Ye have a11 we co~ild rr?iah for. :fe have a nice new car, plenty of fine clot'nee, anii. some mone;T in the bank, ., ., iie is eo nice to me. .,.makes me seem to be in heaven when we eit down in a swell lietle apartment with him,. .... 98 alwage bring@ me f lowere, or anything he thinks nil1 m1.e me hapry....., Yes I am very hstppy in my new foxma happi3ese ..... aa aeon as we make enough money we are going a o .lewhere to be rmrried, and start in s me hue inees ..... You see it ie never too lcte to get ;&st 27011 vrmt .It 1 Xere we find a rather unuaual ease, for as vre sLla11 see, the majority of theee girls zre in their game ju~t for the cold-hearter' business there ie in it. This girl came from the extreme South and yet, through change of af- fairs, she h:lg cane to have the deeire to marry a person vho in her native State is a eocial outo?st, in her circle of existence. This case sbowe how etrong attitudes, in ~ozt cases several generations old, can be changed thronch a&- verse circwnetmcea. This :T~~mg zirl, becauee of her fi- nancial troubles, together with her P %titube after beiy cruelly treatea by her om men, ks come to depend upon this TTegro, 2he elements mhich beat her into thie choice, did so, due to her psycho1oe;ical state. She had wilt up u great amount of suggeetibility, Jut the sight of a white msn gave her hysteria. She manted to set a~~~ay from thein all, ad k~ving been befriended by a l'egro at one tir!e it was easy for her to imagine an eectlpe. Xer l~re~emt fon2 of living not only gives her rn escnpe from lior bitter emotion- ality against ahite men, 'out also offers econonlic etabilitg. Her former atate of eng;estibilit;~ is in Eome ways very ccn- parable to the psychological etate of 3askolnilroff, the central character in the Russian novel, "Crime and Punish- 2 sent . The elements ~ith which he fonght, finally drove him to a decision vrhich vas opposite to the standards of 1 Intekview. Thie girl be ell the m~rlrs of a bigh-clnsa girl. 2 Dostoeyvsky, Crime ,znd Punishment, A novel. his society, So !:'e find that the sociolo~y of the whote situation, which w,?,s he r partici3c.t ion in t- his maJor inter- racial offense of the f iret rflagnitude, absol-rrtely strikes a deliberate blow at the cuetoms an? traditions in the minde of the orthodox participants. Thua ne have an indiviaual attmpt to deetroy the racial boundaries eetabliehed by her :vi-iile eittil-.g ?.t a beer trble in the ho~~e of 1 rozrtitution, ?he inte~viev vue !lade :)oeeible d~ie to the lull in trcde ttt tke tir:le.!j?he prtici~?e.nt seemed to be in ra mood lor e.;ch a "1 never intended to live a Life like thie, but you see I ju~t hi;d to do soinething,. . .. I tdre oare oT my mother and y011115er s ieter.. . . . 15y f:lther died eorrle tirne rgo nithout leaving any Pource of income for M~T mot her., . . , She has cared tor my sieter and 1 ever since my father 8ie8.. , ,.. She could only make a emall amount 2nd EO you ,see that she could not go far in hel~int; onr ease..,,. f graduated from Iiigh School two yeare ego, but I did not think of ~oing to colleze beca~~s e I lnzew that my nother could ?.ot send ne.. .. :Iy sieter will ~raduate in 1933 and I -.-rant things to 3e in ahape for her to do on to collese \?here eile cc.n ?)repare Sor some profession r.:here she c::n "I;tll:e o:tre 0.7 hcreelf in good e'naye,, . . . I could kve married, but the fellow woull? not consider helpiiq my mothcr and s iste~ so I tolil \li,!rl ttl2.t If it ~ias a11 off" for re....,, i7t.len my mother Goolr eick and was unable to wor!i that lefhll of the responsibilitiee on me, .,.., I ;7;Jae only making ;>15,00 per vreek and YOU kno~i thi:t mount v0xtl.d not give ue elzoll~;n for expense money.. . . . , There ie no job in 50s Ilngelee where a girl with my learning ern m1:e enoush to care for the responsibilities that f an caring for,, . You see I just ha$- to 80 something;,,,.. I met a w -ite girl at the e tore where 1 wae morlring and she askect me if I :mnteil to makc s me big nioney? I asked hoTv I cmli! do it? She sai6 thct one of the boss men wanted. me to cone to his ~?parti:ent for a party,..., I hew what that vas about and eo 1 turned the job doivn, and told tile boes that he coula k.ve his job, I informed him that if he ever said a-ngthine; else like th:lt tllrtt I :iov-ld have hi111 arreatec:,, 3rd real quick. ,.., , I left the store md went houe,,... I loczted another job on this side of tom, working for one of the department stores on Central Lvenue, f received only :>12,50 a week for thie work, 3y the tine I paia cnrfare anti things like th:lt, 1 hzci onl~ a mall amount left, Things at home became critical., ffother wanted to go back to rrork but I kne? that she could not etand the atrain,,,,,, I wcie completely loet as to what to do ,,,,,,, One da.y I mas talking to a girl who worka at the same store ti-@% L do, and e he ivae telling me that a real srnart looking Colored man h~d been trgix to flirt vith her, ahe thought, Tfe both decided to vratch the man the next time he came in the s tore, Ve noticed that he cane in the store mo~t every afternoon, ana that he always cane to our counter to buy a trinket or two, ,, .. One doy he gave the girl a twenty dollar bill and walked out without hie ohange, The next time he came in, the ~irl called his attention to the matier--he pulled out a roll of big denomination bills to see if he had left Bhe money, Ee informed the girl that he was eure that he had left no money there,, ,, , After he had gone, the girl aaiir to me that he had staged that act just to tempt us,. , . . . The thought etuck in my mind ,,,,..., I ahit that I really disliked ITegroea , but my eoonomic condition, together with geeing the large roll of money, was e mehow taking a hold on my mind,. , . , . . I thought of the matter for several days, an0. then decided to aet,. ,as things were growing very bad at home,, , , 1 vrot e a note nnci had it ready to give to him the next time he came in..... I noulB hove to give it to hin when my girl friend ~rould not eee me,. . . :?hen he came in again, as he nas being tvaited on by my friend, I minked at him, Be acmed to nndere-Land my very soul, an$ how it was aohing undsr the situation,,,,., He walked atvag wlthouf eaying one word or even indioatine; tbt I had winked at him,,., I oried all that night when I went home--after I had gone to bed ,,,.,... But there wae no other ohoice for me, I was afraid to ~y~roach any of my own men aa they would know what I was and that would kill my chances of getting married lnter on,. ., . . The Begro man did not cane in the store for eeveral daye, I thought that wbat I had done had cased him to stay away,,,.. One day a Begro girl cme in the store and, after calling me asiae very diplomatioally, gave me a note with a teaephone number, and awqested that I call the number,.,,, After the store closed I went to a pay telephone atation and oallea the number. Ee anewered the telephone and said that he had been waiting to bee; my pardon for some time, as he sup- ~osed that 1 baa misunderstood him altogether, ?.Is asked if he could come by where I was and talk to me, and that he could get there very quiclr in his new Packard, I told him that I lould riait for him. I told him where he oould find me and o eked that he come to the eide of the street..... '~?e calked for some tirne and after we had made some plans about our future meetings, he went hie way,.... I vent by hie aparli- nent a few daye afterwards....., He had a very fine place,. . . . He aid not eeem to want to take advantage of me in any Vay, but a8 iat ters were so awfully bad at home, I just aiaply came to the point immediately, Be told me that he would never ao a thing 1 ike t hnt , , , . FIe put cone maney in my hand and told me to go home ad never colne back to hie place. ,. . . I 1r:t er learned that he operated places where white girls and Colored men could meet,. . .. I waitea a while md then ae- cided to go to thie place and applp for s chance to o2erate there,. . . . I bed heard that iTegro men nould give almost any price for contacts with vrhite girla , I was sure thet I could ma-- eome quick money and then get out of the game before any of my friends knew about it.. . . . .,. I told mr mother that I h8d aeoived a job working a night besides the day job that I had.,, .. So I was able to m-ke things see:a possible for my late houre at night.. . . . The operator tola me that I rrould hcve to get the ooneent of the boea before he oould let me go on,...,, 'I went back to his apstrtnlent and explained just mbt I ha done, He wae very muoh aurprised at my insietance,... Iie aaid that if I was eo much in earnest about the idea that I could 'ie his girl and not have to go to the house ....,. 1 took hill at hie word ....... 1 went to see him two or three times a week,. . . He was always glad to eee me, but he never once aaid a word to rne about our contract,. . . . . . . This e ituation went on for several months. Re gave me ae much as $25,00 a week all of the tine. This amount together with my oheok from the store gave me around 937.50 a week, I was satisfied with this situation but I could not underatand why the man took t he attitude toward me that he did.... .. One aay T vent over to his apart- ment to see hirn and to my snmgpise he told me that he was leaving for @eiV York the next d8y. He sai8 that he would give me a little start and asked me not to go any further with the game that he had been protecting me from.. . . . TIe gave me :3260,00 and said forme to go home and stay there,..., He did not offer to kiss me gooa-bye..,, To tell you the truth, I was beginning to like that man.. . .. . I coula not tell y ,u why the change oame in me, all I know is that I felt that way,.... I asked him could I go to mew York with him? He replied that I conld not. So I decided to go home.... I could not leave though without telling him how I felt toward him.... 90 then tola me that he was not going to Few Pork, that he wae juet trying to get rid of me,. . . . Yell, I had my firat experience that night with a man, I ean never tell you how I felt on my way home in hie oar. But it me 83.1 my fault, ,, . He had done every- thing to make me leave.,,.. i'!e vere friend8 for some time after that night, and he gave me everythine that I wanted,, . . , 1 eent mr mothsr and aieter baok to Hanaaa, where my sieter could go on to high school and not know how I was living, I knew my mother woula never find out, but my s is ter vantet?. to aome over to the shop on Saturdaye to stay vrith me,,,, I do not \vault her to ever know,, . , . She i:?ill graduate in 1933 .,,,.. , Soon after they went to :&neas, my friend got in some trouble vith a policeman and was Idlled..,.., I never will get over that becense I think the troable oame over me,. . . , The operator8 he had hired aoon took over all. of hie business, an& as they her?! that I could not make my fuse about the mtter, they left me out entirely,,.. , I knew of hia bank account, as I had hie book in my keeping, so I got a Negro attorney to get the money for me, I think he told the banker all about our affair, and so he had no trouble in getting the eonex ......... I gave an assumed name., . . , I ot about :!1600,00 on F that deal,,,. . The law then go after me andl I had to spend moat all of it to keep them off of me,,., I must have eaved about $500,00 though,.. .... I put that in the bank eo that I could have money to send to my mother ad sister ,,,.. I still kept my old job.., I soon gave up the job, ae my account wae getting very low,... So I then started out in the game I am in right now,. , . , . I make good money, and I am able to help my people out in good shape.,... I daft think that tney will ever become the wieer, Some weela I rnake as much as .$80.00 . . . . , If I can keep thia up for a year or eo, I will have enough money to go in some kind of busineee and then I can stop thie game., , , , , 1 expect to find some man of the world and tell him all about my paat, I mill not mention that it was with Begro Inan, however, as I am sure he coulil not like me if he knew that,,.... These men are very nice to me 8nd I mill always like them for It. I have nobody to blame for ag life but myself,. , , . . I am as kjpy ae could be ex-pe~ted.,~~l Here again the social foroes are very obviously seen, This young girl ie a victia of economic oircumstanoea over which she cannot offer any control; either she must make 1 Interview. This girl ie only 19 yeare old, She s een8 very different from the ueual run of white prostitutes, the sacrifice or stand to eee her family completely diaill- usioned, She makee the sacrifice she does, not beccuse she has found any nen delieht ~lvhich exoites her fancy, but for the aake of her family, Ire have here a young high school girl fighting to maintain the hose her father haa established and for irrhich he left no seourity upon hia death, Ye must count her as a very brave "little eouleTf The writer could hardly liaten to her story without ~.llowing a few crystal drops to ease down hie oheek, One oould not help believing that if there are my "breveteTT in our society thr2t, ~~~ithont question, she should lead the procession. She has submerges 1 her beautiful little life in order far her family to stand i in honor in the community, IVbt has society &one to her? Bkt will it continue to do? What of the thousnnda of poor bewildered a.nd nentally i!isillusioned :Tegro men ?vho pay and x~y and pay? Bh~t of their neglected funilies who aust suffer in order for them to py theee cirle in such rotten, 1 socially debauched situations? 3ut this ie not all,..... The followilig interview was h3fi vrith the prtzrticipant at a ''party" given to rai~e rent money, rlI QesE you think it etrange et seeing n white girf over here having relations with your men,, , , Bell, we mue t live,, , . , I could make no money huertling with our men and so that acouunts for my being here,,,, It ie realy humiliating to have to subjeot yourself to all of these big ugly men who come, aut what can I do? It just give? me fits to have some of them touch me, but you see I aant their money md therefore I allow them to see me,.,,, I wed to have big times out with the big ahots in my race, but when you get old they don't want to 1 Interview with e white prostitute, see you anymore, 'Ye can always get trcde from the Uegro men, at least tbt ie what our operators tell us ,,,, , That is that. %Ye don't spend any time with Lhese men,, ,. , A11 ne want ie their money,, , ., It is just a business matter with us .. 1'Je don't hslve kicks to offer cnc? neither do they, :'?e give them a zooC! time ana then they 1 pay, nothirg wrong with that--value an? its receipt .If "1 can talk i~ueineas with you and thats all,. . . . I am not mining a newepa-per . , . . , if you nant to e ee me--0, Z,; if not you will have to find someone viho ie given rilore to talk than I am,. , . . flToodle Loo." 3 :?he%e interviews conla be carried on indefinitely, but the point which the writer has in mir-d, I think, hzs been well sustained, In lnoat cases the cirle are Just a bunch of 'lhas beens" fro12 the erne game in vhite col~lr~mni- ties who, because of their inability to make Inore money there, have crashed into the l?egro community to vcash-inlf on tile ignorant Xegro mr? his aeeming 1fee9ual cra5e for whitenes~,~ The most of these women are in their early thirties and above, They have the cppearance of come 3 creature who b s been passea through a tfwrinkling-machine They are most certainly on their last "feet ,If .and have come to thie nem environment to be reviveC! as a new "god- deesIf among us, Their miaaion ia a mis~ion of exploita- tion, They bring their putrid bodies here to be a~zctioned right in the face of the accent Meero women of the corn- munity, to $heir own husbanda and gone . And, what ia nore 1 Interview with a white proatitate, 2 Interview with a white prostitute. 3 Common etatement heard among regular i!egro pnrtici- pante. vicious and detestable in the situation, they colne at the invitation of mhi te men working in conjunct ion wit tl Yegro men to further enalave their group, 3ut let ue hear the story of the Yegro prostitutes.. . . . . , Xegro Proetitutes As is the case with the white prostitute, we find tvo types of TTegro prostitutes, One ia in the Enme be- cause there is fast money, ana the second ie in it becauee cannot find anything elee to iio, 2he writer wse not so aucceeef~il in getting inter- views with the ITegro proetitutes a8 with the tvhite, The whites seemed more :7i11ing to talk, tte they wishea for some exouse to be known as to why they hrid fallen so fnr from grace, For thia reason the study of the life-history of the TTegro girl ie not nearly so interesting. I waa able to get intervietvs with three cirls, ~hich, however, vere very short and do not give the complete story in their case, The first interview ie from a girl who haa become a prostitute becauee of a white school teacher in an elementary e chool in Loe hgelee , "1 was fourteen years old vhen I started to attend a certain school in this city ,,,., .. There wag a man teacher who seerned to take a great aao~xnt of interest in me, and because I thought he ma trying to hely, me I alwaya was in hia room getting him to help me with rnv lessons,,,.., ?P had a brd time in getting my leesona and he took the greatest care in helping me out,.,.. After eome time we started to talking about other things than my school worlr,, , , , 1 must have been about fifteen years old then., , . , , t-Ie oft en remarked about how good-looking he thought I vrs2.s.. , , , . , After atr~hile I started believing what he was saying to me,, , , , I think it was becauee I ha?. EO mcil confidelzce in 1 . . . . . ZC -75)111:1 tell lie ti1 'L" 'r,c thought the bro~m-skin sirls vrere $he !lost beautiful of all, even l~iore bemtiful thnn he white girls, in his e~til~lation.. . . . Tilie inte~eehed lne very much as I thoucht that the vhite :?eol)le thousht the^ vrere tihe be:-% look in,^ people of all...... Ily teacher was not raarried,. . . . 9e told 1% that the reaeon he had not rn~rriecl was because lie Tuanted to rmrrg a :'egro girl.. . . . . He llz$. al:!ap wiehefi to find some good-1ool:ine; ITegro girl in school and watch her srow to yollng v~omanhooC! ung-er his guidance, ana that then if she coi.-?-?- love him he ;~ould marry her LO away to live r7itil her as he con16 not c?o so and- till :?,OM hie job here in 1,oe iLctgelue,. . . . . 1 believe8 what i~e told me,. , , .L 1 ITe ni7J-e ~ne tliinl: th,t T !as ~ze ,-irL tiltit he ha2 bi en :;raiting for 11 of theee years.. . . . One dcg . 9 he :>e;;eil Ile if :' Tol~.l.~L c.qe ~770 :'o L ~1ite d.r~ i;e :ranter to talk to me when ne mere nlone, , . . I told la? not-her thct I n::s etaying after school t'nat &ay to practice for c, program th~t the echool was giving, So I went over to his house ...... He said that he -;rantea to e i1or.r me how to vrallr, and hovf to act to 2leaee him,. . . . ZIe E hoved ,:?e hov? to stand erect and horn to 'lswitch'l for kin. IIe tl-ren said. thct he :-1~17lci shorn Ine hon -to lries him. . . . . . . I let hiri kiss me 32 I thowht ihat aas the thing to do..... After he Biseed l,le severe1 ti:ree, I seanec? to start thinking of a nanghty idea. . . . , T'e asked me irC I ::auld be with a9 hc co~~l?. not stand to be without 1-ne any lorqer.. . . I thougilt tha'; since he Liked ine and I like? hila that I --rould not 3e making a :iis-talre in aoin~ :?he"t he ~~?i~he&, !: let hi:? htlvc hi^ l-~(iye,e.e r1Zte-r tk5 afternoon I ueua1l;r yr 011-lr?. go over t- o iris hons e abo nf; tmice a T iveek,, , .. . Then s ornetking hzt:!-:)enec?_ to nee .. . , tola hi!-? and he sent me to a white doctor friend of his.. . . . iIe dic? not pay any attention to l!e after that,.,.,.. I \Xis afraid to mention the natter to lny mother, so I let the whole affair GO ...... I -;rent from bad to voree after that.. . . . , I could never oontrol myself..... I left eohool to go to work but I soon found out that I did not 1:~zn.t to work.. . . . 1 then turnea to the gene I rn no:.? in,. I maae ~ood money,. . . I don't fool nit 11 ITegro men, I like to 'nave nhite trade because the;^ ;-!ill py more. 2hen too I kve decided the% since a white aon.. . . .started me off this gay that I 1:~oula rnclce all white men pay and pay an6 pay.. . . I hamlt made a bcd out eithey, .. I've got a nioe cer, fine clothee, and I ecb 7.7535 T 83nt." 1 1 Interviea with Plegro girl 19 yezra old. Sonlc! be ot?;rnged, This short inter vie^ comes from a ;irl k~ilo ie very i~aor:x~i,. "I c~.n't remember -;/hen I AeciOeJ- to do that I am doing,. , . , All I Imoae i~ that I likes to make good. money and this ie the only nay I ccn make any,, , . I honestly don1 like to do what I am doing, Sut 1 don't hov? anything else to 60, noa,.. Yhen I hcve contacts uith the mene i% nearly 1.rills me. riobodg lolone what v?e poor ~irle h2ve 2; o s-t-iff er, :?here I lives there ain't mn~~ l?egro men, nost all of the nena are iIexican and :'li1ite,.., 1 cianlt like the ;:esican rnene tilo~l-gil, they are too crazy,, 1 like the white elnene better,,,., Xeg cives you your rnaneg vit hout any trouble, , , , . I don't think that IT1l laat long at %hie g:::?e, ... I T:!aulc? just as eoon be dead as livir,~, theye ain't no dif- ference ," 1 If-Jell, 1 c?onlt knol,v what ;:ou l:~a-nt 'GO ioll of this d--- etuff about me, uut it don't make no Bifference 1.-?ith sae, ,,. . I t7mnrt got no 'rli~';ory,, I m jmt plain who 1 :~m,,, . You know ~.vh~t my Zane is , , . . veil th::t iz just nhat I is antl I c! onlt give a d---- vho imams..,, You cttn tell all, of the S--------that :or me.. . , . . , If ;~ou vat a iceen time just see me,,.,. Couse 1 don't fool~~ith - niz:.gere ,,.,. .I. likes tile :-r\dte laens, ..., 2hey einlt chea11 1i::e these a---- ni-per UO b----- , I'm just h> plain hard ZTell from Louisville," ?rorr, ti:eee three interviewe ue cc?c get a characteristic picture of the aver:\ge ::ogre proaJi;itu?:e, 1-t ii:: notecl $11: t t:lo reasons for tilie a ituation, firzt becmae :he 1:~ilite rncn L4 E nore l.;onep to syend nYih 'b hem; :'nd, second., bec:.i-~cc of the "oy~~osite ati-rrction" ju~t :'s is the cz:se o:C :.he T'egro Men in thr-ir efforts to secwe collt2cte !riJ~h l-rhite prostitutes, There eeeme to be nore tendei~c;i on tile lX3rt of the I'egro to ecek the -,vh'lte girl or mm- for. reGEoils of 1 Tntervlei-I. A poor :?egro girl. v?ho hu E iIO ~ila~l~~ 3 $j 811. 2 Intervie-,?I, One of the tougheet charncters the miter has eren. attr. ct.ion ';ilcll theye iz for ?ucii t?c's'"ln~ fro^! 2 :.,4i!lilar Aeeire on $he ?-rt o:f ';be :.r!lite pari-ici?ant, :Jilile the white see:~le to be after the TTegro zirl ee much as the ITe- gro man ie after $tie 1-r'lite ~irl, bhe :'r!iil-e iian cloee not :-:cnt $0 be eeen 7:ritil ;he :'e:.'o girl, while tile -'e~ro sco ,e bo :';link thc '; it ie ::r- llonor 'GO 50 + eei! I..',- il t.i?;- ozc o? Llleae :7hite procti-ii~l-tee no ~ip'cter ho:! to zh or In ! :he ~,ii;;ht et7en :'g he, '2, i w.i I -LQ eqlcine; L;T t-he psychology of the -7 - e~ro ;art iciixin.t;, he 'e;, r) %,a c~n:"ronted l!i.-k 1: nhl te ~sycho1o~;r in ninety 1 er cent of hi8 aail;~ life, I:! he sees a show, it iE wilite, I1 he retds -?he newspaper, it is abo~lt white 12eol?le, If he rea?.~ -I- he 31'-7. board, it is about vhite peoy~le, If he listens oYer the rad1.0, it ie aboat ;:rhite people, In tnlth, mo~t of hie ti!~e is erent in "thin!ring white," The pictures in the ert revie77s, or in the mnagazines, on ?Avertising ~heets, arc 211 suz;eeti:~~~ the PO:-ier, cham, 'oelznty, the ::plea1 oi' the v~hite :'romeii, It is no vroncler thzt he \re r?eveloi,le?i ,OIXC~ ,'n ettit-nle as thct of ranti% to be while, Then there is the ~~lzin mt- ter of the 7-rhiJ~ea being the doninant group in Lhe com.nmit~, havine all the etan&erds measurec? -fter their lilces and dialilces, which -!aIre,a the ignorant Tegro strive hie best to be like a white pereon, '7hite to hirn re~~reaents the It1a st 'Jith all of thie we still oannot avoia the conolusion that the gener~l I:egro 2rostitute ie in the game for the money e he oan mice, She likes the white raan becc~use he p7ill give her more money for a contact than ehe c::n m217e from her contacte with several :Teero men, The sane situation is note6 with reference to the nhite prostitute, She prefers the ::ee;ro man because she can get muah more money from a eontact with hirn than she can ever hop to get from a vrnite ran, unless she is in the youthful and coo&-looking alass of white proeti-h~tes, when she seldom cones over to the "ttusky cormunityfl for contacte, :7e have seen to what extent the I'egro participated in the comnurLitg life of 1,os Anseles during the early days, ?he 7Tegro then had n~ trouble in eec~uring every due that wae his for his con~tructive effort in hel~ing to build the found- atisn for thia mighty city: It was so becauee they l,Tere or- ganize&, and becauee the white participant wanted to see him receive wbt was his rightful reward, Tt hss nlao been zhown how with the coming of the - twentieth century this free particil-ation on the 9:lr-t of the Zyegro tvas taken away, Yhie was due to the dying out of the early leaders and the coming in of the new leaders whose iaeals were eo foreign to the real epirit of the early Vest, Ye saw th2.t the new population increase was from the Solxth. It was to be expected thzt these Southern people should have different ideals a.nd different attitude8 ooncerning the par- ticipation of the :Tegro, who himself was corning from the Southern state8 in great nw~lbere, This netv 3egro in the 39est made in possible for the Southern white man to enforce his eyafem upon him, for the :beetern ZTegro mould hzve died rather than be forced back, if he bad made up a sufficient per cent of the population to be of any consequence, :7e find this \Vestern "iegro, who ie greatly in the minority, gradually taking the retireci a 'ctituile, IIe has not; been able to understand his newly arrived- brother from the South, 'Ve also saw that although the Xegro constituted nine per cent of the entire population, he waa receiving only about one and one-half per cent participation in the cor~struct- ive jobs in the conmunitye It is realized that this situation alone ia enough to prohibit his intelligent and ueeful participation in the colllmunity life of the city in an induatrial way, 'ile also eaw that the participation of the ITeg~o in the amusement vorld, in ~hich he ie receivirc a eo:?ewlza,t favorable entry, 9lace8 him in a E itnation which :>ili?s to his fntrloral participation, Ilie contacta with the cheap "taxi dancet1 md lewd "folly" white girls has lead to a large per cent of inter-racial participation of the "fire t ~nagnitude ." This situation alone i8 wff ective enough to corrupt the morals of the entire grou)! bec~uae of the pe- culiar psychology of t he ;Tegro p~rt icipant , The situation is entirely questionable, yet such a tendenoy cannot be ohecked becauee it is through this relation and sirnil8,r ones that the regro ie to receive his bread, for ~ome time yet to corne--unless i.lore op~~ortunity of a wholes one nattl-re is given the ;Tegro as an incentive to ri~e out of rruch lorn forms of participation. Again, in domestic eervice, where the Uegro reoeives hie greatest incentive, we ve seen to vrha t t2-n extent abnormality of behavior exists, The Jegro domestic8 re- ceive seventeen per cent of the total domestic work, an3 that of this per cent the ITegro man, the eu?:'oeed bread earner, receivea but lees than Tour per cent of the nork given to 'regroee, Again we note a tendency to pauperize the r:ef;ro and arive him to cpeat'ionctble pnrticipation. In the comtiiercial field the ITegro ie el lost completely exploited of even tkt vrtlich. he aoes ec rn, Even though he purchases almost 100 per cent in the vhite corn:nercial corn- munity, he is not accorded a chance to particirate protiuct- ivelg in the rilost meager way, Bven though he apends nil- liona as a cwtomer of these coimercial institutions, and 1 although he has over timenty million dollars in the Log An- geles banks, he again ia not offered any encouragelilent to produce or sell. At the earne tine the ignorant :Tegro men are robbei! of their earnings by the cheap white prostitute, r~ho coues into the Zegro cor-munity boldly, :md :7it h her vrilea, to- get her with the peculiar ps ycholog:~ of the ignorrint I:egro man is able to exploit him upon the appeal of' her "white- ness .' All of this transpirine; right under the eyea of the rnothera, wives, sieters, and daughters of the men they ex- ploit, ;'Je have noted to vhat extent this e ituntion ie stagnating the entire comu~~ity life of the whole Iregro com- munity, ;7e have seen how the cheap 5egro proetitmte becauee of their corruption, iporance, and poverty bring the white men of low character into the lTegro comunit:y and thus de- fame the temper t~nd decenoy of the self-respecting com- munity life. In the South Vernon Street ITeighborhood there is e hown wtmt to expect in the ideal cosmopolitan community 1 Allan Herrick, Advert iaing I:la.nager, Secufity First ITational 3mk, Los iingeles , participation, and to wbat extent such a participation is negative in the 18.rger life of the entire community, That then can we expect of the 3egro com~~~ltty? :'Te I shall hcve "2 continue to eee and expect the most amazing corruption, already being pr~cticed in these neighborhoods, continue to exist--even in the beautiful city of Loe An- 4hen the day of work and tria.1 is over, we see the Tegro coming home to his communitytf oompletely walled in on all sides, to enjoy his leisure in thoee eot- ivities .i~hich only his poverty oan produoe, , . . ,,truly the moat extreme case of eocial pathology known in the larger cities of America. This is "The Participation of the Begro in The Com- munity Life of Lo8 Angele~'~ as if came to the view of the writer in this investigati on,

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study is initiated to determine what is the participation of the Negro in the community life of Los Angeles. The writer has not attempted to cover the entire participation of the Negro, but only those fields in which the greatest attempt is made by the Negro or by the white participant to either project into the Negro community or into the big white community life. The field s suggested in the table of contents are those in which the writer noted the greatest amount of participation.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Ervin, J. McFarline (author)

Core Title The participation of the Negro in the community life of Los Angeles

School Department of Sociology

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Sociology

Publication Date 06/06/1931

Defense Date 06/06/1931

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag age distribution,businesses,home-life,industrial participation,labor unions,life histories,negro prostitutes,negro workers,OAI-PMH Harvest,personal attitudes,Population,prostitution,public opinion,white homes,white neighbors,white prostitutes

Place Name California (states), Los Angeles (city or populated place), Los Angeles (counties), USA (countries)

Format iv, 113 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. (aacr2), masters theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Digitized by the University of Southern California (provenance)

Advisor Case, Clarence M. (committee chair), Cook, O.W.E. (committee member), Mangold, G.B. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m12

Unique identifier UC1110546

Identifier etd-Ervin-19310631 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-574 (legacy record id),usctheses-m12 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Ervin-19310631.pdf

Dmrecord 574

Document Type Thesis

Format iv, 113 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. (aacr2),masters theses (aat)

Rights Ervin, J. McFarline

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions (213) 743-1672; https://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/locations/grand/

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Grand Avenue Library, 3434 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu