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The social status of the negro in Pasadena, California
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The social status of the negro in Pasadena, California
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Content
THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE NEG RO
IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
A Thesis
Pres ented to
the Faculty of th e Department of Sociolog y
The Univer sity of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
James E. Crimi
June 1941
This thesis, written by
........................... JA�.fL.�"-···QR.+.��---·-······························
under the direction of h .. '=� Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill
ment of the requirements for the degree of
..................... MAS.XER. .. QF. .. .AB..T.S ....................................... .
. ·> -----._
�
/ /t··__;> /\"-"'/�
l-L .. . ��
·-- �·-"·-··-···· • Dean,
Secretary
Date ... .. . .. .. .. . �!!�.�-'--��!?: .............. .
Faculty Committee
-
2.\11-C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CH APTER
I. THE PROB�1 AND DE FINITIONS OF TERMS USED • • •
II .
III .
The .problem • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
St atemen
t oi' the problem . . . . . . . . .
Im porta nce of the study • • • • • • . . . .
Review of the literature • • • • • • • • •
Defin itions of terms used •• • • • • • • • ••
Social status • • • • •
The Negro • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • •
. . . . . . . . . .
Orga nization and techniques ot' the study
THE BACKGROill\l"D OF THE PROBLEM • • • • • • •
• •
• •
Popul ation trends in Pasade na • •
Birth rates in Pasadena • • • • •
• • • . . .
. . • • • •
The process of segregation • • • • • • •
THE OCCUPATIONAL POSITIO N OF THE NEGRO
IN PASADENA • • • • . . . . . . . . . .
Dis$r1bution of the gainfully employed
• • •
PAGE
1
1
1
2
3
4
4
4
4
7
8
12
15
23
by sex • , • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 24
The occupations of Negroes in Pasadena today
Parents of Pasadena Junior College studen t s
City employees ••••• ••••• • •• •
Defense industries
Unemploy ment • • • •
. . . . . . . . . . . .
• • • • • • • • • • • •
26
28
36
38
39
CHA PTE R
ii i
PAGE
IV.
Ocau patio nal inte rests of Pasa dena Junio r
Colle
g
e stu dents • • • • • • • • • • • •
ATTIT tWES OF THE WHITES TOWARD THE NEGROES •
• •
. .
Evi dence of anta
g
onism • • • • • • • • • •
Histo rica l cases of prejudice against
the Negroes • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
41
48
48
48
Result s of the writer's questi onnaire stu dy 50
The Pasadena Improvement Assoc iat ion
The Brookside Plunge case • • • • •
• • • •
.. . ' . . .
Raci al policies of ce�tain local institu tions
and organizations
Schools •••• .•
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
72
75
79
79
Youth clubs and social s.er vice or!§a nization s 80
V. VALIDITY OF TH E OPINI ONS OF THE WHITES CONCERN-
VI.
ING THE RELAT IO N OF THE NEGRO TO CER TAIN
SOCIAL PROBLEMS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Juvenile delinq uency •
Adult crime • • • • •
Infeatious disease • •
• • • • •
• • • • •
• • • • •
Need for fina ncial aid and relief
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • ••
• • • • • •
THE REACTIO N OF THE NEGRO TO HIS STATUS • • • •
The Negro's evaluatio n of himself as a citizen
Crime • . • • • . • • • • . • • • . • • . . •
85
85
92
95
98
100
101
101
iv
CHAPTER PAG E
102
102
107
VII .
Infec tious diseas e •••.•
Financial rel ief • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
• • •
• • •
The Ne gro's evaluatio n of his own ability •
The Negro's reaction to certa in factors in
his social st atus • • • • • • • • • • • • 107
Occupatio nal positi on • • • • • • • • • • 109
Education al opportun ities • • • • • • • •
Contacts with Whites in resid ential and
social situatio ns • • • • • • • •
Negro attitu des tow ard the tot al rae�
. . .
problem in Pasadena
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
• •
. ..
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • •
113
114
BI BIII OGRAPHY • •
APPENDIX •• • •
• • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• •
• •
117
121
12'7
131
LIST OF TABLE S
TABLE
PAGE
I. Num ber and Per centage of Negroes in Pasadena
Popu lation, 1890-1939 . , • . . . . . . .
II. Live Births-in Pasadena • • • • • • • • • • •
III . Distribution by Sex of Whites and Negroes
Gainfully Employed in Pasadena, California ,
and Spring field, Massachusetts: 1930 • • • •
IV. Comparison of the Occupati ons-of Parents of
Eig hty-four Negr o and White Students at
9
14
25
Pasadena Juni or Colleg e • .• • • • • • • • • 30
v. Occupati ons of the Parents of Eig hty-four
Negro Student s in Paaadena Junior COllege • 31
VI. Occupations of the Parents of the White
Control Group , Eig hty- four Jun io r
Col lege Stu dent s • • • • • • • • • • • • •
VII. Compariso n of the Vocati onal Preferen ce of
Ei ghty-four Negro Stu dents at Pasa dena
Junior College wit h the Occupati ons
of Their Parents • • • • • . . • • • .
VIII. Vocati onal Prefer ences of Eig hty-four Negro
Students at Pasa dena Juni or College • •
IX. Vocation al Preferences of Eighty-four White
Students at Pasadena Junior College • •
. •
• •
. •
33
42
4
3
44
vi
TABLE PAGE
X. Groups Contacted in the Questionna ire Study,
Number of Responses , and Key Used in
Reporting Results • • • • • • • • • • • • • 52
XI. Estimates of Negro Po pulation in Pasadena • • 53
XII. Effect of Negroes on Residentia� Value
of the City • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 55
XIII. Attitudes toward Negro Neighbors • • • • • • 5
7
XIV. Attitudes toward Negro Segregation • • • • • 59
XV. Preference in Regard to Negroes in Schools • 61
XVI. Opinions of Whi tea Regarding Negro Crime
in Pasadena • • • • • • • • . . . . • • • •
XVII. Opinions Regarding Infectious Disease
Among Negroes in Pasadena • • • • • • • • •
XVI II.
XIX.
x.x.
Opinions Regarding Financial Relief Among
Negroes in Pasadena • • • • • • • • •
Comparison of Negro and White Juye nile
Delinquency Among Pasadena Students .•
Type of Offenses Committed by Negro and
• • •
• • •
63
64
66
88
White Juvenile Delinquents in Pasadena • • 91
XXI . Bookings by the Pasadena Police Department,
February l,to November 30, 1939 • • • • • • 94
XXI I. Negroes in Certain Infectious,_ Diseas.es;
in Pasadena, 1920 and-1925 ••••• • • • 96
TABLE
XXIII. Negroes in Certain Infectious Diseases
in Pasadena, 1930 and 1935 • • • • •
XXIV . Comparison of Negro and White Opinions
• • •
Regarding Crime in Pasadena • • • • • • •
XXV. Comparison of Negro and White Opinions
vii
PAGE
9
7
10 3
Regarding Infectious Disease in Pasadena • 104
XXVI . Comparison of Negro and White Opinions
Regarding Financial Relief in Pasadena • • 105
XXVII. Opinions of Pasadena Negroes Regarding the
Capability of Negroes and Whites in
Different Occupations •. • • • • • • • • • 108
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
1.
2.
Distribution of Negroes in Pasadena
in 1955 • • • • • • • • • • • • • . .
Distr ibution or Minorit y Racial Groups
in Pasadena in 1935 • • • • • • • • •
PAGE
. . . . .
16
• • • • •
17
OJ:iAP'l'ER I
THE PROBLEM AND DEFINI TIONS OF TERMS USED
The soci al problems th at arise when a sm all racial
minority lives in the midst of a co mmun ity occu pie d pre
dominantly by another race have long aroused the interest
ot·so cial invest igators. This situ atio n has bee n a co mmon
one in the Uni ted States , where many races have at one time
or another played the role of the minority in som e comm unity.
Proba �ly most freq uent ly, howev er, it has been th e Ne gro who
has fa�ed th e necessi ty of adjust ing hims elf to this role of
a minorit y grou p member.
I. THE PROBID
Statement 2! th e problem. It was the plan of this stud y
{1) to invest igate the history and growth of the Negro minor
ity in Pasa dena, Calif orn ia, (2) to exa�ine the occu patio nal
posi tion of the Negro es in this co mmun ity, (3) to gather data
concern ing the prese nt attitu des of th e White po pulat io n
to ward the Negr oes , (4) to st udy the extent to which th e
Negr oes. co ntribu te to the problem s of juvenile deli nque ncy,
crim e , financia l relief, and infecti ou s dise ase in th e city,
and (5) to stud y the react io n of th e Negroes to the prev ailing
White attJ1tude s tow ard them.
2
Importance of !.!!! study. For a num ber of years there
has existed in Pasa dena a social si t uat ion to whic h the loca l
resi dents usually refer as the "Negro problem" . In recent
years this probl em has bee n brought befor e the public through
the pub1icity given several minor "race riots", as they were
terme d, in the public so hools;;through a move to restric t pro
perty along rac�al lines;·and through a co urt case involv ing
the righ t of Negroes to use a mun icipal sw imming pool. At
prese nt another source of interrac�al ill-will is,developi ng
in co nnection with the occu pational position of the Ne groes in
the National Defense Progr am. The Neg roes mai nt ai n that they
are not being given ao adequat e place in defense indust ries.
All of these ci rcumst ances have aroused co nsidera ble public
discussi on, and indirectly were the stimuli which occasioned
the present study.
The study it self has made use of material gathered
almost entirely from ori ginal sour ces--- int erviews, ques t ion
naires, police records, health reco rds , and other source
mat erials. Thus it has resu lted in the system at ic collection
and analysis of a body of facts bearing upon an impor tan t,
well-defined soci al problem which, as far as the writer knows,
has not bee n studied heretofore in any com prehen si ve mann er.
Review .2!, the literature. Although a great deal has
been written on the broad subject of racial attitudes, and
particularly on Negro-White relations in the United States,
the local problems created by the Negro minority in Pasadena
have been almost untouched by scientifi� s�udy.
As far as the writer has been abl e to discover, only
one social investigator has dealt with the Pasadena problem.
In his survey made for the social agencies of Pasadena,
1
Cott�ell included one chapter on "Racial Groups". In this
chapter he described the place of various racial minorities--
Negro, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino---in the com
munity, pointed out several sources of conflict between the
�te and non-White populations, and made some speci fic recom
mendations.
Chief among Cottrell's suggestions is th e recommenda
tion that a recreational center be constructed in the
northwest portion of the city to serve the large proportion
of the non-White population living in that area. He also
suggested a program of adult edUcation designed especi ally
for the non-Wbite group.
All other literature used:in connection with the
present study served solely as background material and as
such will be found lis�ed in the bibliography.
1
Edwin A. Cottrell, Pasadena Social As encies Survey
(Stanford University Pressf 1940) , p. 320.
II. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED
Social status. A concise, but adequate, definit ion
of the term "social status• is that given by Bogardus, uthe
personal rat ing given one person by his fell ows•.
2
Thus
defined, social status has its origins to a large extent
in the mores, and is revealed constantly through the voice
of public opinion. In the pr esent study the term refers
specifically to the standing of the Negroes·of Pasadena in
the eyes of the rest of the community.
4
� Negro. It is .. not essential for the purpose of
this study to define the word "Negro11 in terms of biological
inherita nce. The social nature of the problem makes it nec
essary to accept the decision of the community on the subject
of race, whether or not this decision is biologically accu
rate. In other words, we are concerned here with the race
with which individ uals are identified socially, not scienti
fically. Thus, the term "Negro" will be used here to re fer
only to individuals who are looked upon by the community as
belonging to the Negro group.
III. ORGANIZATION AND TECHNIQUES OF THE STUDY
The two chief objectives of the study were (l) to
2
Emory 8. Bogardus, Immigration and Race Attitudes
(New York: D. O. Heath and Company, l9�8�p. 30.
discover the attitudes of the Wbite citizens toward the
Negro es, and (2) to discover the reactions of the Negroes
to the status imputed to them by the Whites.
The history of the Negro minority in Pasad ena, the
present make-up of the population, the birth rates for the
races, and the story of their ecological distribution are
background materials contributing to a more complete under
standing of the prob lem.
The occupational position of the Negroes was studied
because of its importance both as a cause and a result of
social status.
The part played by Negroes in the city's juvenile
delinquency, adult crime, financial relief, and infectious
disease was investigated in order that actual conditions
might be compared with the opinions of both Negroes and
Whites on these matters. These opinions were considered to
be important indications of status.
5
Data used in those sections of the study just de
seribed were gathered primarily from interviews and from such
statistical sources as the United States census reports, the
files of the Pasadena City Planning Commission, the Pasad ena
Police Department, the Pasadena Health Department, and the
state and county relief agencies.
- The race attitudes of both Negroes and Whites were
s�udied chie fly through the use of questionnaires, which
were constructed by the writer and were distributed to both
races. The results of the questionnaires were supplemented
by intervie ws,an d by case studies of incidents and organi
zations throwing additional light an Negro-Wh ite relations
in the o:tty.
6
CHAPTER II
THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM
After a long history of I ndian, Spanish , and Mexican
own ership the land on which Pasadena is nOW'lOcated became
the property of a group of Indiana colonists in 1873. These
people moved immediately to the site of their purchase with
their families• The total popula tion of the city in 1874
was about 36. It increased to over 1,000 by 1883, and in
1890, the time of the first United States census which in
cluded P�sadena, 4,882 persons were recorded.
The written his tories are almost entirely silent on
the subject of the Negroes among these early sett lers. How
ever, Mr. William Prinee, a Negro resident of Pasadena today,
informed the writer that he came to Pasadena in 1886 and that
there were already two Negro families here at that time.
l
Thus Negroes were among the first families to settle in the
city. Their earliest appearance in the records is in the
1890 census, which recorded 75 Negroes in P�sadena at that
time.
The moti ves which brought these early colored ci tizens
are somewhat uncertain. The opinion that seems to be most
prevalent among contemporary White residents is that in those
1
Personal interview with the writer, April 12, 1941.
8
early days .�the great ma jority of the Negroes came as servants
of the wealthy families from the East and the So uth who mi
grated to Pasadena. Opposed to this acc:ount is.the ci.aim of
some of the older Negro residents who say that most of those
first Negro Pasadenans cam e here as independent settlers to
farm and to work ou t their own fu ture in the new land.
Mr. Prince estimates that about seve nty-five per cent
of those Negroes who came before 1890 were independent settlers,
though many did find work as servants in the wealth y homes
soon after arri ving.
In the absence of more adequate records it is saf'e to
conclude that both independent settlers and domestic servants
were among the early Negro residents of Pasadena.
Population trends � Pasadena. S$nce 1890 every fed
eral census enumeration has disclosed an increase in the
number of Ne groes in Pasadena during the previous decade.
Si milarly there has been a slo� but steady, rise in the pro
portion of Negroes in the city
'
s total population as.is shown
in Table I.
Accurate figures beyond 1930 are not available at the
present time, and the three estimates given here for 1938 and·
1939, while undoubtedly the best available, are aertainly open
to question.
The figure used by the Health Department in 1938
assumes the same racial proportio ns as were found in the
Date
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1938�
1939
1939
c
TABLE I
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF NEGROES
IN PASADENA POPULATION� 1890-�939
Total pop?lation Negro Percentage
of Paaadtma population Negro
4
,8 82 1
5 1.5
9,117 218 2.4
30,291
744
2.4
45,354 1,094 2.4
76;0S6 3, 015 4.0
84,311 3,372 4.0
85,920 3,806 4.42
85,920 4,026 4.68
a
Est�mate used by Pasaden$ Health Department.
b
Es1iimate by City Planning Ot>mmission based on school
popu lation.
c Estima'lie by City PJ:arm1ng Commission based on per
centages or increase from 1920- 30 applied to 1930-39·
9
10
population in 1930. Obvio usly there is no reason to expect
that this�is accurate in view of the Negr o incre ase of 1.6
per cent during the pr evious �decade •,
Of the two estim ates made in 1939 the following qqota
ti on from &"memorandum in the City Plann ing Comm±ssion•s
offic e will indi cate the me� hod used to obtain the latter .
In the period between the Federal Census of 1920 and
1930, the total population of the cit y increased 67.6 per
cent . In the same period the Negro populatio n incr eased
175.8 per cent, or 2.6 times faster than the total popu
lation of the ci ty .
If we assume that the Negro populat ion between the
years 1930 and 11939 inc.reased 2.6 times faster than the
total populat ion increase tor the city in the same period ,
an estimate can be made as follows:
1930 ce nsus------76 ,086
1939 estimate----85, 920°
·Incr ease-----------12.9%
12.9,% x,2.6 = 33 .5�
33·5� ot 3,015 (1930 ce nsus) = 1,011 inc rease in
Negro population
3,015 + 1,011
=
4, 026 ( or 4.68%), the 1939 estimate
of the Begr o populat io n
The other estimate given tor 1939 was based"on,the
growth in sehool populat ion. Anoth er quotation from the
Planni ng Commission reports explains the method of arriving
at this figure .
Assuming that the Negro popula tio n increased at the
same rate as the Negro enrollm ent in schoo ls, i.e., '19.92
per ce nt between 1934 and-1939:
Negro population in 1934---3,174 (estimate)
19.92% of 3,174 • 632
3,174 + 632 = 3,806 ( or 4.42%) = Negro population
in 1939 .
11
These two estim ates are the best available for the
year 19
3
9 •. In the absence of exact statis�ics, which will
not be availa ble in time for use in this study, we shal l arbi
trarily use the fig ure of 4.5 per cent as a convenient and
reas onably accr urate working estima te. Wherever pos sib le,
compari sons will be made also in the years for which there
are exact sta tistics available , that is ; 19
2
0 and 1930 .
The steady growth in the propo rtion of Negroes has
been noted. It is the consciousness of this trend, with all
its soc ial and econo mic implica tions, which has aroused the
fear and dis pleasu re of many Whites •. One person commented,
uTh e Negroes are stea dily growing in numbe rs in Pas adena, re
strictions have not been adequate ; ·the Negroes are so acat
tered and the value of prope rty has dropp ed to low levels.n
2
Typical of the attitude of local residents is the
st atement made by Cottrell in his recent st udy: "Pa sadena,
in common with other �ommunities, has a growin g and distu rbin g
prob lem in the increase of the non- White pop ulation.'!
3
The reas ons behind the influx of Negroes into Pasadena
are beyon d the sc ope of thi s investigation. The claim is made
by many White citi zens that Pas adena has been advertised in
2
Comment written on a questionnair e.
3
Edwin A• Cottrell, ££· �·� p.
32
0.
Negro papers and journals all over the country as an ideal
location for Negroes Who wish to migrate to Calii'ornia. It
is certain that this has been done to some extent, but how
tar-reaching its effects have been is·,not known.
one other contributing and aggravating factor in this
connection may be mentioned here. Undoubtedly PasadEtna's
problem is"a:f':f'ected by the fact that almost every one of the
surrounding communities---Glendale and Eagle Rock on the west,
South Pasadena and San Marino on the south, and Arcadia on the
east---has some metho d of discouraging would-be Negro resi
dents• Glendale is noteworthy in this respect and serves as
a model which many Pasadenans would like to emulate. The
following statements reveal this feeling.
Study Glendale's rules for Negroes; Stop h1rihg
Negroes"in the homes •. • •
Neighboring cities with no Negro population have lesa
trouble with race questions than Pasadena.
Would sugg est that realtors agree not to sell property
to Neg roes as is the case in Glendale. No Negroes !!!!
there.
4
Undoubtedly the pattern of race relations in Pasadena
is affected by these all�White surrounding communities.
Btrth rates � Pasadena. According to the statistics
of the P*sadena Health Department for 1938, 1939 , and 194o
4 Comments written by Whites on the questionnaire.
13
the percentage of Negroes�in the city's births is less than
one per cent higher than the percentage of 'Negroes in the
total population. Tha t is,· for the periods included in the
figures, the Negro birth rate was slightly higher on the
ayerage than would be· -necessary to maintain the present ratio
in the population, not taking into consideration death or
immigration rates. In 1940 it was actually lower. The fol
lOwing figures have been correc$ed for residence---children
born 1n Pasadena to parents residing elsewhere were omitted,
and children born outside of the city to parents living in
Pasadena were ada-d.
The figures in Table II are too limited to be made the
basis for any valid broad generalizations, but it may be sare
ly conciuded from them that the increase in the Negro propor
tion of the eity ln recent years, if there has been an increase,
has come through migration. This s1tuation in the birth rate
is contrary to the assumptions of many �te residents who
expressed the belief in interviews with the writer that the
Negroes in Pasadena are more fecund than the Whites. The situ
ation is also unexpected in view of the birth rates in other
sections of the country and in the United States as a whole.
FUrther statistics would be of value in arriving at
conclusions, but those available for years prior to 1938 are
not corrected for residence. These, it was found, give a
badly distorted picture, for many Negro residents ot·Pasadena
14
TAB� II
LIVE BIRTHS IN PASADENA
l
To'tial Negro Per cen-t; of Per cent of
Year live live Negroes in Negroes in
births births live bir'tihs population
1938 777 39 5. 0 About 4.5
1939 813 43 5.,
About. 4. 5
1940 956 41
4.3
About 4.5
1
Fi'gures from the tiles of the Pasadena Health
Departmeat. V11ial 81iatist1cs.
15
go out of the aity for childbirth, often to the county hoe
pi tal, wh ile many Whi tea from surrounding areas make use of
the Pasadena hospitals. Thus the uncorrec�ed statistics are
very misleading.
!a!
p
rocess of segregation. One more factor in th e
general picture must be considered---the present ecological
distribution of the Negroes and its probable causes.
Figures 1 and 2 show the distri bution of
N
egroes in
1935, the latest in form ation available. !he great bulk of the
Negro population li ves in two fairly compact areas, both on
the west side of the c�ty, one in the northwest and the other
in the southwest.
The southern Negro district is considerably smaller
than the one in the northwest section of the eity and is more
or less secondary to it. He reafter, for convenience, we shall
call the northwest area, bounded by Walnut Street, Fair Oaks
Avenue, Howard Street, and the Arroyo Se co, the primary Negro
area. The district lying south of ablorado Boulevard, west of
Fair Oaks Avenue, north of California Avenue, and east of
Pasadena Avenue we shall designate the secondary Negro ar ea.
The secondary Negro area is located in the part of the
city in which we are accustomed to expect immigrant and non
�te groups. It is similar to what Burgess calls the trans
ition zone, although Pasadena
'
s social and economic structure
.FIGURE 1
.JISTHIBUTION OF NEGHOJ!;S IN PASADBNA
IN 1935
0urvey made in January, 1935, by the
Pasadena Planning Commission. Each do.t
represents ten individuals, except in the
case of isolated families.
.·
�&VIsta
-
..
'- ... �· ..
'
\
t-
X
0
•
Legend
Mexican Family
Oriental Family
Negro Family
.__
_
_
f(�.
Park
� School
�-
0
o 0o
0 0
/'
I
'
..1
'\
\ I
,,
. .
�
�
I
1
i
. '
u
o
+
-
-�
-
+ o
D
0
)(
0
)(
)(
FIGUHB 2
\
l
0
DISTRIBUTION OF MINORITY RACIAL GROUPS
IN PASAD}.;NA IN 1935
Pasadena City Planning Commission Map
�--.,
I
I
I
I_
l
_
l
JC
I
_.J.
_
-
18
makes it impossi ble to apply the zonal hypothesis to any far
reach ing extent. Tais partic ular area, however, does lie
betwee n the ce ntral business area along Colo rado Boulevard
and the industrial and warehouse sectio n direct ly to the south .
It lies be tween the main line of the Santa Fe Railroad and the
spur track of the Union Pacific· Railr oa d . Its residenc:e s.are
old, frequently run-down frame building s.
The primary Ne gro area, in the nort hwest, lies in a
different surrou nding . It occ upies relatively hig h, desirable
land and is surrounded on every side by either mid dle class
or wealthy White reside ntial sections. On the west it run s
with in a block of Arroyo Boulevard with its wealthy homes:
overlo oking the Rose Bowl and the golf cn urse . Potentia ll y
most of the land no w occ up ie d by the primary Negro area is
very desirable reside ntial property and hence valuable real
estate. Undou btedly this accou nts in part for the antago nism
of so me of the Pasadena real est ate men tow ard the Negroes.
Ttte explanation of the processes that cause d the Ne..:
groes to se ttle in these two sect ions is not entirel y clear,
but several facts seem to be verifia ble. At the time that
the Negroes be gan to settle that area which we have te rmed
the primary area it was outside of the �1ty limits, had very
little in the way of public utilit ies, and the refo re was con
sidered rela t i vely undesirable. For thes:e reasons it was in
expe nsive and within the reach of the Neg ro's financial means'-
19
Subsequent city growth has roun4 the Negro re maining where he
first settle d, and has surrounded him with Whit e residences.
One other factor was undoubtedly active, part icularly
in the secondary area and to a lesser extent in th e primary
area. I'& has already been noted that some of the early· weal
thy White residents brought Negro servan ts. Mos t of these
wealthy families settled in the western part or Pasadena,
along what is now Orange Grove Avenue, or close to that sec•
tion. The Negro servants or these folks had to live crlose,
but not too close, to their employers, and thus were started
some of the Negro neighborhoods which still persist.
It is interesting to note ln passing that there is
very littl e, lf any, tendency to denote either of these Negro
areas as "Black Town•• or "Nigger Town" as :;is. true in many
urban communities. As tar as the writer could discover these
areas have no special designation in the vernacular of Pasa
dena.
Figure 2 also lndio.ates the tend ency of Japanese,
Chinese, and Mexicans to reslde in, or on the fringe of, the
Negro areas. However, the largest Mexican settlement is en ..
tirely apart from th ese sections, in the extreme east end ot
the city.
In addition to the two Negro districts discusaed, th ere
are about half a dozen other neighborhoods in the city in
which one or more Negro families live. This scatt ering of
20
no n-
Wh ite residents,:in otherwise White neigh borhoods consid
erably alarms many White c�tizens, particularly real estate
men.
It was to prevent further dispersion that the Pasadena
Improvement Association was formed. This organization is en
gaged in persuading property owners to restrict their prop
erty against non-White occ:upancy . Its work is - :fully described
in Chapter IV.
Tnere is some diff ere nce of opinion on the matter of
these isolated Negro groups. Unfortunately, th e 1935 distri
bution map is:-the only one availabl e;-so it is not possible
to verify either viewpoint without recourse to the property
deeds and records. One of the chief off"'icers in the Pasadena
Improvement Association told the writer that the
"
infiltration
"
of Negroes into the several White neighbo rhoods scattered all
over the c�ty was a comparatively recent movement.
5
This
c- laim was also endorsed by other prominent White citiz-ens,
all of whom felt that in recent years the Negroes bad encroach
ed on hitherto White neighborhoods in rapidly increasing
numbers.
Shedding a somewhat diff erent light on the matter was:
the statement of William Prince, one of the original colored
c�tizens of Pasadena, who came to the city from Tennessee in
5
Personal interview with the writer, April 10, 1941.
2l.
1886 and has lived there ever since.
6
Mr. Prince stated that
the majority of those Negro es living sc attered in the eas tern
part of �he ci ty have bee n there for many years . He cit ed
so me e xam ples. Mr. Pr ince, hims elf, bought land near the
co rner of Mount ain and Wor cester Str eets in 1887. Thi s is
now one of th ose is olated Negro neigh borhood s in a White area ,
but in 1887 it was op en country . The Negro famil ies li ving
on Oak Knoll Avenue in the well-t o-do sou thern part of" the
ci ty have bee n there for thirty years according to Mr . Princ e.
On Sierra Bonita Avenue is another group of se veral Negro
fam ilies , whose mo ving ther e
"
lowered the value or surr ounding
property
11
accor ding to White inrormant s. Here again Mr.
Pri nce says the color ed in habitant s owned and live d ther e
before the city had developed to any e�tent in that area . A
simi lar sit uatio n is found on Fiske Avenue in the northern
part or Pasade na, where one Negro pos tma n and his fam ily li ve
in a White neigh borhood . They are conside red int ruders by
many White res ident s, althoug h accordin g to se ver al Negro in
formant s this family has "re s1ded there tor at leas t twenty
five years , and the White nei ghbors built up to them from
every direc tio n after they had been es tablishe d for some time .
Undoubt edl y it is tr ue that many or these sca ttered
Neg ro famil ies have a long-sta nding claim to their locations,
6
Pers onal intervi ew With the wr iter , April 12, 1941.
22
and yet there can be no doubt that their prese nce, disper sed
through out the White community, is one or the chi ef factors
in alarming man y White per sona and in bringin g on discrimi
natory actio n .
CRAP'l' ER III
THE OCCUP ATIO NAL POSI TIO N OF THE NEGRO
IN PASADENA
One or the most im portant in dicati ons or the status
or the Negro in any comm unit y is the placB he occu pie s in its
economic struct ure . The Negro's Job is ln some cases a clue
to an understanding or his abilit y, but more often it is an
index or the place he occu pies in the think ing or �he domi
nant Whit e group , for it is rrequently the 1'1h1t e attitua.e that
prescribes an
d
11m1�s the areas in Which the Negro may work .
In metr opolitan areas , where the Negro ccmmun ity is
lar ge enough to have a relat ively independe nt social and eco
nomic structure of its own, the White intl uence is not so great
and the Negro has much more latitude in his ch oice of a voca
tio n. He may choose ,for examp le, to become a doctor, and if
hi s tr aining and abilit y are adeq uate he may pra�t ic e success
fully within his own racial group. Or he may bec Dme a teach
er 1n a Negro school , or oper ate a small business success�
tully, catering to Negro tr ade.
The circumstances in Pasadena are somew hat diffePent
from those in such large Negro comm uniti es. In Pasadena the
Negro popula tio n is small enough so that its int ernal ec onomicr.
struc ture is nec essarily limit ed. Its re latio n to the White
co mmunity, and also the nature of the econo mi c org aniz atio n of
24
that White community, make the Pasadena Negro peculiarly de
pendent upon the �te for his livelihood. This tact lends
sp ecial value to a brief stat ement of the Negro's occupational
position as one alue to his soe�al status;
D-ISTl!liBUTION OF THE GAINFULLY EJ4PLOYED BY SEX
Underlying the whole economic and ocaupational ques•
tion 1n Pasadena is the somewhat abnormal sex distribu,ion of
the gainfUlly employed. This sex distribution 1St in the
opinion of the writer, one or the results of the general eco
nomic situation in Pasadena rather than one of its causes.
Nevertheless, it 1s described· at this point because it makes
clearer the data to follow.
Table III compares the sex distribution of th e gain
fully employed with the sex ratio of the entire population
of Pasadena for both �tea and Negroes• Similar statis�ics
are also presented tor Springfield, Massachusetts, for the
purpose of comparison. Springfield was chosen because its
Negro populat ion is ap�roximately the same size as Pasadena's'
and because it represents an industrial type of community as
contrasted with Pasadena's residential Character.
In aommon with most urban communities Pasadena has
more women than men. This is true for both Negroes and Whites.
However, it is noteworthy that whereas in the total urban
population in the United States in 1930 there were 97.8 males
Both
sexes
Pasadena,
all races
32,207
.
Vw'hite
29,150
Negro 1,636
Springfield ' 66,518
all races
\Vhite 64,864
Negro 1,576
TABLE III
DISTRIBUTION BY SEX OF WHITES AND NEGROES GAINF ULLY ZLIPLOYED
IN PASADEKA, CALIFORNIA Aim SPRINGFIELD, l'lASSACHUS:i£TTS: 1930
1
Gainfully employed
2
Population statistics
Per Per
Both
Per
Male cent Female
cent Male
cent
Female
ma.le female
sexes
male
..
20,857 64.8 11,350 35. 2 76,086 33,740 44.3 42,3 46
18,702 64.2 69,143 43.6
10,448 35.8
30,133 39,010
899 54.9 737
45.1 3,015 1,353 44.9 1,662
46,949 70.6 19,569 29.4
149,900 72,688 48.5 77,212
45,843 70.7 19,021 29.3 146,665 71,031 48.4 75,634
1,032 65.5 544 34. 5 3,14 1
1,574 50.1 1,567
1
Statistics from the Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930.
2
All gainful workers ten years old and over.
Per
cent
female
55.7
56.4
55.1
51.5
51.6
49.9
1\)
\.11
26
per 100 females;·in Pasadena there were only 79 .5 males per
100 females • This unusual preponderance of' females furt her,
emphasizes the fact that Pasadena is a residential community,
with an unusually high proportion of retired persons; and an
absence or industry which would employ men .
An analysis of the sex. ratios among the gain fully em
plo yed reveals a noticeable difference between �tes and
Negroes in Pasadena. Among the White workers 64.2 per cent
are men and 35·8 per cent are wo men·. In contrast, Negro work
ers are only 54.9 per cent men and 44.1 per cent women. This
difference is seen more ciearly when it is considered that
44.3 per cent of all Negro women in the city were listed as
gainfUlly employed whereasl:;only 26 .a per cent of the White
women were so registered on the 1930 census.
Some of' the reasons for this high proportion of' Negro
wo men workers will be pointed out in th e following section.
Its impli cations for the social 1ife of the Negro group, par
ticularly with regard to juvenile delinquency, are great .
They are dealt with in Chapter v.
THE OCCU PATIONS OF NEGROES IN PASADENA TODAY
Several studies of occupations in Pasadena have been
conducted in recent years. None of these, however, distin
guished between Negroes and Whites. Nor are the oacupational
statistics of the Federal census broken down racially for
aities of less than one hundr ed thousand population.
The analysis of occupations here is based upon inter
views with persons intimately connected with the employment
situation in Pasadena , and upon a study of the occupations
of the parents of eighty-four Negro student s 1n the Pasadena
J\Ulior College. The limited scope of these data is acknow
ledged, but the picture pres ented is clear enough to provide
a basis for a re asonably accurate es timate of the ent ire
occupational problem.
All available evidence points to the conclusion that
the majority of Negroes. in Pasadena earn a living in one ot
two gener al fields. As one Negro wrote on the bottbm of his.:
questionna ire,
"
Negroes don
'
t have a chance to prove their
skill at most trades. Their work is limited to. • • 1m skilled
labor , an d personal and domestic work. Very few are given
anything else.
"
Mrs. De Parr, dir ector of.' the office of the State Em
ployment S8 rv1ce in Pasadena,. stated the fields or Negro em
ployment in different terms but included appr oximately the
same occupations.
l
She observed that most or the jobs avail
Able to Negroes are in �(1) domestic� (�) maintenance, or
(3) 1ns�itut1o nal" work. Whatever names are given to these
1 Interview with the writer, Karen 21, 1941.
28
fields of endeavor, the fact
.
is that such Jobs ·as chauffeur,
maid, butler, Janitor, gardner, truok dr iver, and common
l.aborer, maJte up 'the bul.k of Negro work in Pasadena.
The_two fields which occupy many Negroes in other
sections of the cotmtry fail them in Pasadena. Agricul. t ur.e,
which support s the bulk of Negroes in the South, is_ al.most
entirel.y lacking. So also is most or the heavy industrial.
work, which provides jobs for them in many Eastern cities.
In the absence of these two fields the Negroes are foreed in
large numbers into domesti� service, another one of their
tradition al areas or work. The comparatively larg e number of
wealthy �te familiess1n Pasadena, able to hire servants,
provides a further impetus to this trend.
Parents 2f Pasa dena Junior Oollese students. Tables
IV, V, and VI present the materials gathered in a study or
the occupations of the parents of eighty-four Negro students
at Pasadena Junior College.
2
The oceupations used ar..e those
stated by each student in registering, and recorded on his .
permanent record'sheet.
The writer went through all permanent record sheet s
on the East Oampus for the semester beginning September, 1940.
From the record of eaah Negro studen t hi s occupational inter-
2 The Pasadena Junior College includes the el.eventh,
twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth grades. All students in
this study were on the East Campus •.
•
29
est, his father's·ocoupatio n, and his mother's occupation were
secured. For a control group a number of White boys and White
girls---equal to the numbe r of Negro boys and Negro girls---
were selected. This was done by taking the card of the first
White boy following each Negro boy, and of the fir st White
girl follOwing each Negro girl in the alphabetic flle. The
same data were recorded for each group. Table V, pages 31
and 32, presents the analysis of the data for the Negro group,
and Table VI, pages 33 and 34, presents the analysis or the
Wh.1. te control group. In Table I V all of the material. dealing
with the parents' occupations is summ arized. For the statis�
tics dealing with occupational interests of the students see
pages 42 to 45.
It might be-argued that the parents of these students
would represent the 11Upper" classes of the Pasadena Negroes
rather than the entire group •. This may be true to a minor
degree, but the fact that most or the students are below the
thirteenth grade, and many or them still below the com.ptll-
sory school age, reduces the importance or the selective faa-tor.
The summary, in Table IV, substantiates the general
statements that have already been made about Negro employment
in Pasadena, particularly with regard to personal and domestia
work. Thirty-three and three tenths per cent or the fathers
and 25 per cent of the mothers are personal and domestic
servants.
3 0
TABDE IV
COMPARISON OF THE OCCUPATIONS OF PIRENTS OF EIGHTY-FOUR
NEGRO AND WHITE STUDENTS .AT PA S ADENA JUNIOR COLLEGE
Negroes Whites
Occupations
:fer cent :fer cent l'er o_ent Per cent
fathers mo thers fathers mo thers
Professions- 2.4 4.S 10. 7 10.7
Proprietors, managers 6.0 4.S 39.3 2.4
Clerical work 1. 2 o.o 7.1 1\.2
Skilled work 17.9 6.0 16. 6 1. 2
Unskilled work 15.4 o.o 1. 2 o.o
Personal and domestic-: 33-3
25.0 3.6 1.2
Miscellaneous 4.8 o.o 3.6 o.o
Housewife o.o 38. 1 o.o 58.3
No occupation stated 19.0 21.3 17.9 25.0
Total l.OO.O 1 . 00.0 100.0 100.0
31
TABLE V
OCCUPATIO NS OF THE PARENTS OF EIGHTY-FOU� NEGRO
STUDENTS IN PASADEN A JUN IO R COLLEGE
Occupation
Professio ns
Muslcian
Pharmacist
Teacher
Proprietor s ,
managers, etc •.
Business man
Cdntr ac:tor
Salesman
Clerical .!2£!
Post ofrice
cler k
Skilled �
Barber
Cosmeto logist
Lfitt er car-
rier
Mecha nic
Plasterer
Seamstr ess
Un skille d �
Garbage col-
lector
Lab orer
Odd Jobs
Truck worker
Number
or rathers
2
1
1
0
_2_
1
2
2
ll
. 1
!2_
2
0
4
7
2
0
1
9
1
2
Per cent
or rathers
1.2_
1.2
o.o
1.2
2.�
o.o
4.e
B.�
2.4
o.o
1�2
10. 7
1.2
2. 4
Number
or mothers
4
3
0
1
4
3
0
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
3
0
- 0
0
0
0
Per cent
or mothers
4.S
3.6
o.o
1. 2
o.o
o. o
6.0
o.o
o.o
o.o
3 .6
o.o
o.o
o.o
o.o
o.o
1
These data were taken from the indivi dual record
sheet for each student filed in the school records offic _e.
3
2
TABLE V ( CONTINUED )
OCCUPATIONS OF THE PARENTS OF EIGHTY-FOUR NEGRO
STUDENTS IN PASADENA JUNIOR COLLEGE
Occupati on
Num.ber Per cent Number Per cent
of fathers of fathers of mothers of mothers
Pers ona l and
domestic. 28
- 33·' �
25.0
H�otblaok 2 2.4 0. o.o
Butler 4 4.8 0 o.o
Ca retaker l 1. 2. 0 o.o
Chauffeur
9
10.7 0 o.o
COok 2 2.4 2 2.4
Gardener 4 4.8 0 o.o .
Janitor 5 6.0 1 1.2
La un dress 0 o.o 3 3.6
Maid and day
work 0 o.o 15 17.9
Porter 1 1�2 0 o.o
M1sc1t11aneous .·. 4 4.6. 0 o.o
-
Plano tuner 1 1�2 0 o.o
Sailor and
soldier 3 3.6 0 o.o
Housewife
....Q_
o.o
...R.
38.1
No occn.tpat1on
•
stat ed 16. 1� .o
18 21��
'I'Otal 84 100.0 84 100.0
33
TABLE VI
OCCUPATIONS OF THE PARENTS OF THE WHITE CONTROL
GROUP, EIGHTY-FOUR JUNIOR COLLEG E STUDENTS
Oeeupat1on
Number Per cent Number Per cent
of' fathers of fathers of mothers or mothers
Professions 10.7
10.7
Doct.or or
nurse 1 1. 2 3 3.6
Engineer 4 4.8 0 .. o.o
Lawyer 1 1. 2 0 o.o
Minister 1 1.2 0 o. o
Teacher 2 2.4 5 6.0
liriter 0 o.o 1 1.2
Proprietors;
m&n
!£S er s
1
en •.
2L
39.3
2 2.4-
Business man 10 11 .9 2 2.4
Farmer 4 4.8 0 o.o
Miner 1 1. 2 0 o.o
PUblisher 1 1.2 0 o. o
Salesman and
manager 17 20.2 0 o. o
Clerical work 6 7.1
__L
1.2
Bookkeeper or
accountant 4 4.8 1 1.2
·Clerk 1 1.2 0 o.o
StenographeP
or secretary 1 1. 2_ 0 o. o
34
TABLE VI {CONTINUED )
OCCU PATIONS OF THE PARENT S OF THE WHITE CONTROL
GROUP, EIG HTY-FO'UR JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENT S
Occ upations
Number Per cent Number Per c.ent
of fath ers of fath ers , of moth ers of mothers
Skilled work 14 16.6 1 1.2.
- - - Bar ber 1' 1.2 0 o.o
Carpenter 2 2.4 0 o.o
Cosmetologist 0 o.o 1 1.2
Mecha nic
5 6.0 0 o.o
Oi1 field
worker 1 1.2 0 o.o
Pai nter 1 1.2 0 o.o
Plumber 1 1.2 0 o.o
Telephone
co mpany 3 3.6 0 o.o
Unskilled � 1 1
.2
_Q_
o.o
- Odd jobs 1 1.2 0 o.o
Personal and
domestic
l
3.6
...!...
1.2
Chauffeur 2 2. 4 0 o.o
Coo k 0 o.o 1 1.2
Gardener 1 1.2 0 o.o
Misce11a.n eou s
_L
3.6 0 o. o
- Movie worker 1 1.2 0 o.o
Reti red l 1.2 0 o.o
Watchman 1 1.2 0 o.o
Housewife 0 o.o
...!±2_
58.;,?
No occupation
stated 1
2 1
1·2
21 2
2
.0
Tota1 84 100.0 84 100.0
35
Unskilled work is listed for 15.4 per cent of' the
fathers . Tfiis figure may well be higher in reality , for
studen ts tmdoubtedly tend to describe their paren ts ' posit ions
as advantageously as possible.
In comparing the oc� upations of the Negroes wit h the
Whit es it is found that only in the field of skil led work are
the percentages approximately the same. When the perce ntages
for professions, proprietors, managers, and clerical workers
are combined it is found that a total of 47.1 per cent of the
Whit e fathers are included in these occup e�.t ions, but only g.o
per cent of the Negro fathers., On the other hand, 53·5 per
cent of the Negro men are class ified as unskilled , personal,
domestic, or miscellaneous , while only 8.4 per cent of the
White men are found in these fi elds.
No attempt was made to study the incomes of these va
rious groups, but it is safe to conclude that the Negroes
tend to hold positions which pay lower salaries than those
olf' the Whites . That th e Negroes feel this to be the case is
ill ustrated by the comment of one Negro woman who wrote on
her questio nna ire , 111 wish something could be done about the
ter�1ble working hours domestics face . Makes us almost hate
White people who have so much money and don't want to be de
cent to colored help when it comes to pay!t!t They hire us
mea ning tO' pay us less.�·
One other fact that is revealed in Table IV should be
36
pointed out. We have already discussed the relatively hi�
proportion of Negro women who work . This �: se ems to hold true
for the mothers of the Negro Junior Cbl lege students also .
Only 38.1 per cen t or the Negro mothers were listed as house�
wives, as compared with 58.3 per cent of the White mothe rs .
If we add to these figu res the number or mothers for whom no
other occ upation was stated� assuming most of these to be
housewives,· the discrepanc7 between Negroes and 'lhi tes is still
greater . The tota ls thus obtained are 59.4 per cent of the
Neg ro mothers (not gainfully emp loye�), co mpared to 83.3 per
cent of the White mot hers .
The reaction of the Negroes to this whole occupati onal
problem is discussed in Chapter VI.
City employees . One point in the occupational prob1em
at which feelings have been stirred rather deeply is in re
gard to the hiring of Negroes by the ei ty. These facts ar e
inc:lud.ed here becaus e they provide another valuable cr lue to
the social status of the Negroes in Pasade na .
The following paragraph is quoted from an ed1 tor1al in
the Californ ia Eag1e, a Negro newspaper published in Los
Angeles.
FDr some months we have been having our attention cal l
ed to the critical econom1 c:: plight which the Race is ex
perienc ing. Consider ation has been given to the fact that
the C 1ty of Pasaden a 4oes not hir e a si ngle policeman,
fir eman , re gular day-time sehool teacher, mete r-reader,
or any other type of employee for the utilities ; no
�
not
even a jan itor or an elevat or boy in the City Hall.
The ed itorial goes on to q� ote a letter "from a· Pasa
dena c�t izen" who complains-that "• •• with few and nota ble
excep tio ns, posi tions filled by Negro citizens are to be
found in the str eet-cleaning, sewage-dis posal , and garbage
can di visionS• '"
A1though this statement is made by an in dignant Negro
citizen it is by no means an overst atemen�. In fact . the
writer was unable to di scover even the 11 few and nota ble ex•
ce ptions" men tioned.
37
One of the Pasadena C�ty Dtr ectors confirmed this 1n
formati on .
4
He stated that all Negroes emp loyed by the ci ty
are in the park, s-treet , and refuse departm ents. All of
these are emp loyed as laborers, none as skilled wor kers, and
none as janito rs, elevator men, stenogr aphers, or in more
adv anced posttions. The reason given for the fact that no
Negro girls are hire d as steno�phers was that it just
"wouldn 't work out" to have a Negro and a Wll ite girl working
s1d e by side in the office .
According to this _ dty of fic ial there is no special
etrort to employ Negroes on a nq q.o ta•�. basis---that is , in pro
portion to their numbers in the population . At the pr esen t
3
Ed itor ial in the California Ea51 e, Augus t l, 1940 .
4
Personal interv iew with the writer, April 10, 1941 .
38
time about 49 Negroes are on the city pay roll . Thi s con
s$itutes about 6 per cent or the total num ber of city em
ployees.
There are at leaa� three public agencies in Pasadena
that do hire Neg roes to a limited exte nt. On the staff' of
th e Pasadena office of' the Coun ty Dep artment of' Cha riti es
there is one full-time Negro case worker. In the Pasadena
of'f' ice of' the Stjate Employment Serv ice is anot her ful l-time
social worker. The latte r works with both White and Negro
clie nts, and is a highly respecte d mem ber of the starr. The
Federal Post Office in Pasa dena also hires a num ber of Negroes.
The Post Office Jobs are greatly sought after by the Negroes,
and are widely consider ed to be among the best local positio ns
open to Negroes .
Bef'e nse industries. The em ployment situation in "de
fense in dustries" is not specifically a Pasadena problem.
It is ,ment ioned briefly here, however , because it does touch
the live s of Pasadena Negroes and has aroused considera ble
discus sion among th em.
The claim has been made by Negroes that at present
they are being discri minat ed against by factories engaged in
def'ense production, part i cularly air plan e manuf acturing plants •
The existence of this condit ion was adm itte d by the dire� tor
of the Pasade na office of the California State Empl oyment
3
9
S6rvie e,
5
who said that the office is eonti nually approac hed
by competent Negro mechanics who desire jo bs: in airplane
factorie s. These men can seldom be placed although they
possess skills for which the airp lane tac:t.o ries are searching .
In order to further ver ify these repor ts, the writer
talked with one of the person nel men engaged in hiring wor k
ers for one of the major airplane producing comp anies in
Southern California , lo cated not far from Pasadena. Accord
ing to this informa nt, although the com pany has hired many
thousands of men in the past year and is still badly in need
of skilled work ers , "t here isn't a Negro in the entire plant•• .6
The com pany has a definite policy of not hiring Negroes be
cause "m any of the Whi te men would object to wo rking with a.
Negr o".
UNDPLOD4ENT
Pe rti nent to the whole question or occ upatio ns, and
also to the larger issue of social status, is the une mplo yment
problem . The following da.ta ,a re taken from the Federal Cen
sus or Parti al Employme nt, Unemplo yment, and Occupat ions made
in 1937·
A total of 3,
5 18 persons in P4sadena reg istered as
5
Interview with the wri ter, April 21, 1941 .
6 Interview with the writ er, April 11, 1941.
40
totally unemployed and wanting work. Of these, three hundred
and ten, or 8. 81 per cent, were Negroes. Under
"
em ergency
wo rkers
"
,
"
working at Y.P .A., N .Y.A. , 0� 0 e'O �, or other emer
gency work 11 there were 1, 297 Pasadenans registered. Of these
19 9 , or 15. 54 per cent , were Negroes .
From these figur es it will be seen that the proportion
of Negroes among the totally une mployed is almost double their
proport ion in the population. Although this comparison is of
doubtful value, it is indicative of the Negro's unc ert ain
econ om ic position. In the emergency projects the Negroes
held in 1937 considerably more positions than t.neir numbers
in the popul ation wo uld aoeount for.
In the introduction to the census rep ort it is sug
gested that those persons who registered as "totally unem
ployed
"
and those who registered as
"
em ergency worker s" might
be con sidered as a single cla ss for general purpos es where
one summary figure on "un employed" is desired. When this com
bina tion is made for Pasadena the result is a total unemploy
me nt figure of 4, 815 , or which 509 , or 10. 6 per cent, are
Negroes • This is to be compared with the figure of 4. o8 per
cent which 1s , the es�imate of Negroes in Pasadena's population
at that time .
OCCUPA TIONAL INTERESTS OF PASADENA
JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
41
Having investigated the present ocau pational position
of the ad ul� Negroes in Pasadena , i� is intere sting and worth
while to examine briefly the vocational plans and interest s
of some of th e younger generation or Pasadena Negroes. The
data used were collected in the s�udy or eight y-four Pasadena
Junior College Negroes described earlier in th is chapter.
Tlie results are presented in Tables VII, VIII , and IX.
The most obvious and st riking fact revealed by an
analysis of �he da�a is that Negro youths in Pasad ena are
aiming at an economic and occupa�ional lev el far "above" �hat
of th eir parents. Needless. to say, this is :true of th e youth
or all races in Ame rican schools. The Wh ite cont rol grou p in
th e present st udy also shows a tendency to aim at the upper
rungs or the occ upational ladder. The discrepancy betw een
s�ud ents' interests and parents ' jobs, however, is more mark ed
in tne Negro group than in th e White group, mainly because or
tne lower occupational st anding or the Negro parents.
There is remarkably little diffe rence be tween the voca"'P.
tional choices of the Negro stud ents and �he White students.
as will be seen in a comparison of Tables VIII and IX.. For
example, sa.4 per cent or the Negroes and 54.e per cent or the
Whites expect to go into professions. The greatest difference
Occupations
Professions
Proprietors,
managers , etc .
Cl erical work
Skilled wor k
Unskilled work
Perso nal and
domestic
Miscellaneous
House wife
No occupation
stated
TABLE VII
COMF ARI SON OF THE VOC ATIONAL PREFERENCES OF EIGHTY-FOUR
NF.GRO STUDENTS AT PASADENA JUNIOR COLI.l�GE lHTH
THE OCCUPATI ONS OF THEIR PARENT S
Preferences of students Occupations of parents
Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of
both sexes boys girls fathers mothers
52.4 55.2 50 .9 2.4 4.8
1.2 3.4 o.o 6.0 4.8
3.6
o.o 5.5
1.2 o.o
7.1 6.9 7.2 17.9 6.0
o.o o. o o.o 15.4 o.o
o.o o.o o· .o 33 .3 25.0
1.2 3.4 o.o 4.8 o.o
o.o o .o o.o o.o 38 .1
34. 5 31. 0 36.4 19.0 21.3
�
1\)
TABLE VIII
VOCATIONAL PREFERENCES OF EIGHTY-FOUR NEGRO
STUDENTS AT PASADENA JU NIO R COLLEGE
Voc -s. tion al Both [P er cen t
Boys
Per ce nt
Girls
preference sexe s of tota l
of boya
Profes sio ns 44 52 .4
..J&..
55.2
_g§_ -
Architect 2 2.4 2 6.9
0
Artist 1 1.2 1 3.4 0
Doct or and
nurse 9 10.7 2
6
.9
7
Engi neer 2 2.4 2 6.9 0
Lawye r
3 3.6 2 6.9 1
Librarian 2 2.4 0 o.o 2
Musicia n 11 13.1 2 6.9
9
Optom etr ist 1 1.2 1 3. 4 0
Pharm acis t 1 1.2 1 3.4
0
Scie ntist 2 2.4 0 o.o 2
Social
worker 1 1.2 1 3.4 0
Teacher 8 9. 5
1 3.4 7
Proprieto rs,
managers
_!_
1.2 1
3
.4 0
-
Business mar 1 1.2 1 3.4 0
Cle rica l ,!2!:!
..2.
3
.6 0 o.o
_L -
Office wor k 2 2.4 0 o.o 2
Ste nographel 1 1.2 0 o.o 1
Skilled �
_§_
7
·1 2
6
.2
4
- -
Cos metolo-
gist 1 1. 2 0 o.o 1
Craft work 1 1. 2 0 o.o 1
Mecha nic 1 1.2 1 3. 4
0
Posta l car-
rier 1 1.2 1 3.
4 0
Sea mstr ess 2 2.4 0 o.o 2
lU scel1 aneous
..J:._
1.2
_!_
3.4
0
-
BOxing 1 1. 2 1 3.4
0
!i£ ;erefere nce
�
34-i
_2_
21.0 20
Totals 84 100.0 29
100.0 55
43
Per ce nt
of girls
50. 9
o.o
o. o
12.7
o.o
1. 8
3.6
16. 4
o.o
o.o
3.6
o. o
12 . 7
o.o
o. o
5·5
3
.6
1.6
7
·
2
1.8
1.8
o.o
o.o
3. 6
o.o
o. o
36.4
100.0
TABLE IX.
VOCATI ONAL PREFERENCES OF EI GHTY -FOUR WHITE
STUDENTS AT PASAD ENA JUNIOR COLLEGE
Voeat.ional BOth Per cent
Boys
Per cent
Girls
preference sexes of to:ta.l of boys
Professio ns 46 54 .8 16
22·
2
_2Q_ -
Ac:tor or
speaker 2 2. 4
0 o.o 2
Arc hitect 2 2.4 2 6.9
0
Doctor or
nurse 6 7•1 0 o.o 6
Engineer 10 11�9 10 34.5 0
Laver 2 2.4 1
,; .4 1
Libraria n 2 2.4 0 o. o 2
Musicia n 4 4.8 1 3.4 3
Scientist,
mathema-
tic ian 3 3. 6 1 3.4 2
Tea cher 15 17· 9 1 3.4 14
Proprietors,
manag ers, etc.
__!_
1 .2 1
3. 4
0
- -
Bustness man 1 1.2 1 3
.. 4 0
Olerical �
_§_
7.1 0 o.o
__§_ -
Stenographer
or secre-
tar y 6 7·1 0 o.o 6
Per cen
of girl
2
4.
6
3.6
o. o
10.9
o.o
1.8
3.6
5.5
3.6
25.5
o.o
o.o
10.9
10.9
t
s
TABLE IX (CONTINUED )
VOCATIONAL PREFERENCES OF EIGHT Y-FOUR WHITE
STUDENTS AT PASADENA JUNI OR COLLEGE
vo catio nal Both Per ce nt
Boy s
Per ce nt
Gi rls
prefere nce sexes of tota1 of boys
-
Skilled � 11!
13. 1
6 20.
7
_2_
Aviator 2 2.4 2 6. 9 0
Comme rcia l
arti st 2 2.4 2 6.9
0
Cosmetolo-
gist 1 1. 2 0 o. o 1
Costum e
design 3 3. 6 0 o. o
3
Draftsman 1 1. 2 1
3 .4 0
Electricia n 1 1.2 1 3 .4 0
Linotype
oper ator 1 1.2 0 o.o 1
lfi sc:e l1aneous 1 1.2
- .l:...
3.
4
_Q_
Soldie r 1 1.2
(
1 3.4 0
Housewi fe 1 1.2 0 o. o 1
- - -
No preferen ce
sta ted
_lL
21.4
_2_
1
1
·2 _!2_
Totals , 84 100.0 29 100.0 55
Per ce nt
of gir l s
9
.1
o.o
o. o
1.8
s
.
s
o.o
o. o
1.8
o.o
o. o
1.8
2�.6
100.0
46
between the vocati onal choices of the two races lies in the
fact that 34.5 per cent of the Negro youth stat ed no prefer
ence while only 21.4 per cent of the Whites were und ecided •.
This , no dou bt, is a reflection of the dilemma �acing the
Negro stude nt.
A comparison of the vocati ona1 choices of the Negro
stu dent s with the occupa tions of their parent s, as shown 1n
Ta ble VII , reveal s the extent of the difference betw e en the
t•o . Fifty-two and four te nths per cent of the youth expect
to enter professions, whereas only 2.4 per cent ct the fa thers
and 4.8 per cent of th e mothers are listed as profess ional.
None of the young people expect to go into unskilled work,
but 15.4 peri cent of the fathers are uns kille d workers . Again, .
none of the student s expect to be personal or dome stic : wor kers,
but 33.3 per cent of the fathe rs, and 25 per cent of the moth
ers are in this field . Obvi ously, the majority of -these young
people are going to face a difficul t adjustment in a few years
unl ess the situation into which they will step cha nges rad1 -
ca 11y before they leave school.
As has alread y bee n note d, this problem is not pecu
lia r to the Negroes, but it is per hap s unusually acute in
their cas e . In order to tr y to prepare th em for what is like
ly to come, the school counse lors att empt to guide them into
non-pro fessio nal fields. This well-meaning effort, howeve r,
frequently 1s mi sun derstood. One Negro boy told the writer,
47
"• •• When my couns el or trie d to persu ade me to put cook ing
in my sc hedule, you know, that hurt me ." He added that many
Neg ro youths had noticed that counselors trie d to put them
into such cour ses and that many of them rese nted it .
That a great deal of frustration and perso nality mal
adjustme nt must result when these young people face the nec
essity of accommodat ing the msel ve s to the actual world of
work cannot be doubted. Some of their reactio n s to the prob
le m are reco rde d in Chapter VI.
In summ arizing the occupational position of Pasadena
Negroes it may be concl uded that : first, domestic and perso n
al se rvice, and uns kille d labor provide the ma jority of jobs
held by Negroes ; sec ond, there is an unusuall7 high propor
tion of Negro women gainfully emp loyed: third, there is a
co nsiderably higher rate of unemployment among the Neg roes
than among the Whi tes ; and fourth , the Negro young people are
planning on enter ing vocations muc h higher in the eco nomic
sc ale than those in whic h their parents wor k •.
CHAPTER IV
ATTITUD ES OF THE WHITES TOWARD THE NEGROE S
Writing of the Negro youth in the South, Charles s.
Johnso n recent ly said ,
It has bee n impo ssible to escape the shadow of the
white world over their li vee,· whether in their contacts
with the eco nomic institutions of the area or in the
intimacy of their own hum ble home s. The whole acmp le x
of life fOr these youth and their fam ilies, their work,
their p�ay , their relations with their fell ows generally ,
their outlook and aspirations , their opportunit ies for
develo pment and self -ex pre ssion, their attitud es. and se n
timent s, are con ditioned in one .w ay or another by the
tradit1on fll y sanctioned patterns of race relations in
the area •.
In Pasadena, as in the South and elsew here in Amer ica
where Negro minorit ies live, the co nstant and all-powerful
impaot of White domina nce is probabl1 the strongest influenc e
on Negro lives. This influence is somet imes constructive,
ofte n not . It is ·the purpose of this cha pter to describ e
some of the fac tor s in Pasadena that furni sh cl ues to the
prevailing attitude s among the Whit es toward the Negr oes.
I • EVIDENCE OF ANTAGON ISll
Histortea l case s 2! prejudice aga inst � Negroes.
As has already been stated, the written histor ies of Pasa�
dena• s .e arly ye ars are a1mo st sile nt on the subJect of Neg roes
1
Charles s. Johnso n , Growi ng Y2 !a � Black Belt
(Washington , D. C� .Am e.ri can Coun cil on Educat ion, l94ry-;- p. 274.
49
and their relations with the Whites� Howeve r, from one brief
episode related in a histor y of Pasadena by J. W. Wood, it is
to be gathered th at even in the earliest days of the city
th ere was feelin g agains t the Negroes. The follow ing quota
tion is taken from the book.
The story of the foun ding or the first church built
by th e colored people in Pasa dena, is of more than pass •
ing interest because of the difficul ties th at beset the
little band of earnes t me n and women engaged in the en
deav or. Many obstacl es and much hostility had to be over
come, one insta nce of which was an effort to burn their
house of worsh1p, ) and also efforts to preven t attempted
purchase 'Of sites. These att empts were met with deter
mination and frustrated, ha ppily, and the t' irst church is
now a prosperous congregation
2
with property valu ed at more
than tlo,o oo , t· ree from debt.
The present wr iter was able to intervi ew th e Negro who
was responsible for purchasin g th at first piece of property,
He is Wi lliam Prince, alr ea dy quoted in earlier chap ters . The
0determ ination
"
which Mr . Wood descr ibed in his account re-
sulted in Mr. Prince and his brother guard ing the property
for a numb er or nigh ts with ri fles in tne1r han ds.
Howeve r, acacrding to Mr . Prince, such acts of vandal
ism and attempted intimidation were perpet rated by a c.ompara
tively small number of people. Many White friends of the
Negroes came to their defense. Never theless, , the story indi
cates that pre se nt antagon ism had its roots years ago in the
earliest days of the ci ty.
2
J. w. Wood, Pasa dena, Historica l and Personal
(
Published by the author, 191
7
), PP • 325-6 :--
50
Results .9! !!!! wri ter 's questi onnair e s.t, udy . Yor the
purpo se of determini ng to some degree the pre sent attitu des
or the 1fh1 te re sident s in Pasadena toward their Negro feller••
citiz ens a questio nnaire was rorm ula�ed and ci rc ulated. It
is, of course , acknowledged here that such a questi onnair e ,
beca use of its very nature , will inev itably have weakne sses .
Its re sults are ope n to questio n. However , in the absence of
any bette r way of measu ring pubiic re eling on the su bj ec t, it
wa s expedi ent to re sort to the questi onnai re as one in dica
tion of the prev ailin g se ntiment .
The questio ns in mos t eases wer e desi gned to appro ach
the probl em from the sta ndpoint of potential and pr actica l
si tuations rather than abs�ract value ju dgment s. A copy of
the questi onnaire us ed is appended to this repor t .
In order to make possible a. :gener al statement regard
ing the attitude of Pasadena's citi zens, it would have bee n
necessar y to distribut e the questio nnai re to a sci entifically
se lecte d sampling of the entir e populatio n, based on age,
oc cupatio n, and other factor s . Such a tas k being beyond the
seope or this proj ect, c:u�rtain group s re pre se nting vari ous
elements in the popul atio n were se lecte d ar bitr arily . The
conc lusio ns, then, to be drawn from the questio nnaire ar e not
tiO be constr ued as repre sen ting accurately the to�al pu blic
opinion , but rather th�y must be r estr icte d to the group s
con tacrte d.
5
1
:
A total of 244 questionnai res were answer ed and ta bu
late d . Not every question was answered in each questionnaire,
which will acc :ount for seemi ng disarepanc ies in the resu lts.
Ta bla X prese nts the list of groups cooper ating• The letter
bero re eac h group is the key to be used in the t ables summ ar
izing the results•
The analyses 9f th e results and th e conclusions are
prese nted separately for each question and in the order in
which th e questions appeared on th e questionnair e .
Questio n l, shown in Table XI , asked for an estimate
of the num ber of Negr oes in Pasade na. This question was in
clu ded beca use before th e present study the write r was � under
the impre ssion that there were more Negro es in Pasa dena than
there are . It was felt that any widespread te ndenc y thus to
overest imate th e Negro population would be significa nt from
th e standpoint of this "·stu dy. About 40 per ce nt did over esti
mat e, about 29 per ce nt were approxim atel y accu rate, and 10
per ce nt undere stim ated. Such a te ndenc y to judge the Negro
population high mig ht be due to a variety of causes. Cer tain
ly it indic
ates at least a det ·ini te awareness on the part of
tne- White c1t1zens of th e prese nce of tnis racial mi nority.
This aware ness could reflect eith er a favorable or an unt ·avor
able impre ssion, but in the case of Pasa dena it indicates a
predominantly unfa vorable reac tion as su bseq uent questions
show.
'fABLE X
GROUPS CONTACTED IN THE QUES TI ONNAIRE STUDY,
NUMB ER OF RESPONS ES, AND KEY USED IN REPORT ING RESULTS
Key Group
Num ber of
peo ple
A -- An avarage mi�dle-cl ass neigh borhood •
a� -- Young people of high school and junior
• • • 3
7
col lege age •- • ••••• •••• •••• • 52
c An adult church grou p • • • • • • • • • •
D A group of te achers se lecte d because of
• 26
exper ience with the Negro stude nts
E -- An unsel eated group of te achers from
• • •
• 43
the entire Pasadena syst em • • • • • • • .48
F -- A small women's grou p including both pro
fessio nal and non-professio nal women • • • 12
G -- Nurses in a Pasadena hospit al • • • • • •
Total • • •
• 26
244
52
53
TABLE XI
ESTIMATES OF NEGRO POPULATION IN PASADENA
Que stion !• Would you estimate the num ber of Negroes
in Pasadena' s 84,000 peop le at :
Answer
Groups
A B c D E F G T� taa Per ce nt
About 1,700 (or
2%>
'3 5 3 4 7
1 2 25
10.4
About 3, 500 {or 4%)
11 13 5 13 16
3
8 69 28.8
About · 6,B OO (or B%}
7 10 5 17 14 4 12 69 28.6
Abou t 12, 500 (or 15
%)
1 9 7 5
2 1 25 10.4
Have no idea 14 15 5 3 10 2
3 52 21.6
54
The seco nd questio n , shown in Table XII, as ked how the
Neg roes .. effect the desir abilit y of the city as a resid ential
co mmun ity". This is the most gene ral and qual itative quest ion
as ked. Per haps the faet that it is not sp ecif ic or well
defined makes it a better indicator of real feeli ngs than a
questio n which evo kes more ratio nal thought in answeri ng . At
any rate a str ong majority, 77.6 per cent, indicated that they
felt tha t the Neg roes lower the res ident ia� valu e of Pasa
dena---in spite of the fact that many who answe red liv e in
sec tio ns far removed from Ne gro residenc es. Only one perso n
'
out of the 244 answered that the Negroes
'
improve the city.
The remaining 22 per ce nt felt that the presen ce of Ne groes
makes no differe nce.
T
h
e church group and the te achers who were sele cte d
bec ause of experi ence with Negro stude nts are the two groups
showing the most marked degree of fe eling against Negr oes on
this quest ion. The unse lec ted te achers show the greatest
tol eranc e.
It would be the judgment of the write r that this parti
cular distr ibution of answers is prob ab�y caused by the faat
th a� both the partic ular church and th e sc hool which figur e in
this que stio n are locat ed clos e to the primary Negro ar ea.
Presum ably many of the church mem bers and many of the selecte d
te achers also resid e in that vicinity, c�ose to th e Negr o
neig hborhood. In this �espe ct they differ from most of the
TABLE XII
EFFECT OF NEGROES ON RESI DENTIAL VALUE
OF THE CITY
Question g. How do the Ne groes in Pasaden a effect
the desir abilit y ot the city as -a resident ial comm unity?
Ans wer
Groups.
A B 0 D E F G TetaJ.
Improve it
1
1
:Mak e no differe nce
9 12 2 4 18 4 4
53
Make it less desir able 27 40 24 38 29 8 21 187
55
Per
ce nt
.4
22.0
77•0
56
other groupe considered, which are scattered quite generally
throug hout the eity .
It is the writer • a, � observat io n that the gr eatest part
of the Negro area in the city is well -kept and attractive.
Most of it could not be dist inguished from an average White
neig hborhood by outward appearanc es alone . There:ror e the ob
jections of Whi tes displayed in thi s question must in most
cases be based on reasons other than neigh borhood appearance .
The next question, shown in Table XIII , deale with . the
problem of a Negro fa mily moving into a Whi�e neighbo rhood.
It has all of the weaknesses to be found in any hypothetical
question but is, nevertheless, an indicatio n of attitude. It
is significan t that 72 per cent of those who answ ered belie ve
that they would either move away if a Neg ro family entered
their neig hborhood, or would agitate to have tne Negroe s re
moved. We assume that these two answers indicate about the
same feelin g and that the particular reaction would depend
upon circumst ane�s, such as home ownership .
None of the peP aons answering would be please� to have
Negroes' move into the neig hborhood, and only 14 per cent would
aceep t them as neigh bor s .
Alth ough the questionnaire did not ask for the reasons
which lie behin d the attitudes revealed in this question ,
interviews and comment s written on the questionnaires point
to t.he influence of Negr oes on property values as the basic.,;
57
T.A:BLE XI II
ATTITU DES TOWARD NEGRO NEIGHBORS
Que stion z. If a Negro family were to move into your
neig hbo rho od, would you: "
Answers A
Be please d
Accept them as
neig hbors 4
Just ignor e their
presence 6
Agitate to have
them removed- 17
Move yourself 10
B
11
10
24
7
Groups
C D
3 4
2 4
12 16
8 16
E F G Tot al Per cent
0 o.o
5 2 4
J3 14.0
7 1 3 33 14.0
19 4
5 97
41. 1
14
5
13 73 30.9
58
diffiaulty . One perso n comment ed on the que stio nnaire,
"· •• the value of proper ty has dropped to low levels. I am
a property owner and I have felt the stigm a in my sec tio n."
Another said, "I thin k it is a .known ract that Negroes bring
the value of property down ." And one unusually candid te acher
wrote , "Proper ty ri ghts make one favor inJus tice at tim es."
This hyp othesis, that property values are at the root
of the problem, is further substantiat ed by the fact that of
all those co ntacte d the persons shoWing the least prejudice
on this q,u estion were the st.u dents, who probably are less
co nscio us of propert y values th an the adults.
Questio n 4, shown on Table XIV, asks directly whether
or not Negroes ought to . be req uired by "reg ulatio ns11 to live
in a sectio n of the ci ty. by themsel. ves• Need less to say , such
"regulations" are impossi ble under th e Constitutio n and do not
exist legally anywhere in the United States. In spite of this
fact, the greates t unanimi ty or opini on di splayed in the en ti re
que stionnaire was found in the answer to this questio n . Eig hty
nine per ce nt of those answering favored regulations segregat
in g Negroes. Only 5. 5 per ce nt disapproved , and the remaining
5 .5 per ce nt "don't know" .
Of espec ial in terest is the n�ct that the church group
was una nimous in co ncu rring with the suggestion. Here again
1t should be point ed out that the church 1s loca ted not far
from the Negro area, and many of its members are property own
ers in that part of the ci ty .
59
TABIIE XIV
ATTITUD ES TOWARD NEGRO SEGREG ATION
Quest ion
�·
Would yo u favor regulations req uiring
the Negr oes to li ve in a se ctio n of the city by themselve s?
Answers
A B
Yes 34 4 5
No 3
Don't know 3
4
Groups
0 D E
26
35
40
3 5
4 2
F G
Total Per cent
11 24 215 89 .0
1 1 13 5·5
l 14
5·5
60
�he neigh bor hood group , although living at a consider
able distance from the Negro sections , was also unanimously
in fa vor of enforc :ed segregat ion, with the exception· of three
persons who were unc �rtain . No one in this grou p disappr oved.
Here again is a property ownin g al ass.
Question 5, Table XV, asks for opinions regarding
Neg roes in the schools. Of those answerin g this question
58 .6 per cent would ra.vor a school with no Neg roes ; 26.9 per
cent belie ve that "a few" Neg roes in the school are desir able,
or at least allow able;: and 14.5 per cent say it "doesn 't matter" .
Here , of course , the teach ers• and students' attitudes
are especia lly sign ificant . Of all those groups answering,
the teachers are by far the least oppose d to having Negr oes
in the sch ools. The student s are the next most tolerant gro�
on this issue . It is worth y of not e that those two group s
most concerned with the racial situation 1n the schools, and
most familia r with 1t, are also the most willing to have
Neg roes in the schools.
These result s would see m to indic at e that the strongest
feeli ng for separat e sch ools for the Negr oes is to be foun d
among those least fami lia r with the situat ion, and least af
fecte d by it .
With regard to the two different teach ers • grou ps, it
will be noticed that there is very little difference evidenced
. I
between the selected and the unse lected groups•
TABLE XV
PREFERENCE IN REGARD TO NEGROE S IN SCHOOLS
Questio n .2.• Ir it were possible and convenient,
would you prefer to atten d (or have your children att- snd)
a sc hool hav ing :
61
Ans wer
Groups
Total Per ce nt
A B c D E F G
:Many Negr oes 0 o.o
Only a rew 10 8 5 15 19 2 3 65 26.
g
No Negroes 23 29 19 20 21 9 21 142 58.6
Doesn't matt er 4 15 2 4 7 1 2
35_
14. 5
--
62
It is interes ting to compare the resu lt s on this ques�
tion with those on the two questions re garding re sidentia l
prefe re nces. It is evident that the tea chers are much more
willing to min gle with Negr oes �i n scho ol than they are to live
near them. This again indicates that pr obab� y ecronomi c con
sider ations are more active than perso nal anti pat hies in form
ing Pasadena rao.e attitu des .
The next three question s asked for opinions regardi ng
th e part Negr oes play in cBrtain of the social pro blems of
the city.
Que stion 6, shown in Table XVI , has to; do with the com
pariso n of Neg roes and Whites in regard to cri me in Pasadena.
In view of the answers to the pr ecedi ng questions it is some
what surpri sing to discover that those answering the question
naire showed only a ver y slight ten den cy to attri bute more
cr ime to Negroe s than to Whites •·
A,majority, 57.5 per cent, answered, "a bout the sam e" .
T
he remainder were divided between the feeling that Negroe s
commit "more" and the belief that they commit 11 fe1t'er11 cri mes
than Whites in proportion to their num bers. About 25.6 per
cent were of the opinion that the Negro cri me rate is higher,
and 17 per cent believed that it is lower tha n the White ra te .
Question 7, Table XVII, asked the opinion of those
answer ing about the relative amo unt of infectious disease
among Whites and Negroe s• There was a decided tendenc y to
TABLE XVI
OPINIONS OF WHITES REGARD ING NEGRO
CRIME IN PASADENA.
63
Que stion 6. . D you think that the Negroes in Pasa dena
commit more , about the same , or fewer crimes than the Whites
in proportion to their num bers?
Answer
Groups
Tdtal Per cent
A B c D E F G
More 10 16 7 10 6 1 8 59 25.6
About the same 16 28 18 20 30 6 15 133
57.5
Fewer
6 8 l 10 8 5 1 39 16.9
TABLE XVII
OPINIONS REGARD ING INFEGT IOUS DIS EASE
AMONG NEGROE S IN !»ASA.DENA
64
Question 1• Do you believe that the Negroes in Pasa
dena are more health y, about the same, or less health y th an
the Whites in regard to infectious diseases?
Answer
Groups.-
Total Per cent
A B c D E F G
More healthy 1 1 2 1 5
2
. :3
About the sa me 14 20 11 21 22 11 5 104 47.3
Less healthy 16 31 13 15 19 1 20 111 5
0.4
65
attr ibute more infectious dise as e to the Negroes than to th e
Whites in propo rtion to their numbe rs. Fifty and four tenths
per cent indicated that they believe th e Negroes in Pasadena
to be less health y th an the Whites, an d almost all of th e re
main der ans wered that the two races are "about th e same" .
It is interestin g to note that in the nurses' group
the propo rtion who felt the Negroes to be less healt hY than
the Whites, 80 per cent , is cons iderably la rger than in any
oth er group , and larger than the prop ortion for th e questio n
as a whole. On th e oth er hand, th e teacher s were inclined to
believe that the Negroes and the Whit.es are
"
abou t th e sa me11 ••
The last question, number 8, shown in Table XVII I,
ask ed a simila r questio n regarding fin ancial relief in th e
city. Here again th e resu lts show a consid erable tenden�y
on th e part of those answering to attribute mor e of th e bur
den of relief to the Negroes than to the Whites. This view
was held by 50.6 per cent . However , a subst antial 40.3 per
cent consid ered the two races to be about th e same in this
resp ect and th ere was even a minority of 9.1 per cent who)
felt that the Negroes were less depen dent on relief than the
Whites. There was com parative agreement among the various
groups on this poin t with the exception of the small women' s
or ganization whose deviatio n fro m the mean is not par ticularly
si gnificant as the membership is so sma ll and div ersified that
TABLE XVI II
OPINIO NS REGARD ING FINANCIAL REL IEF
AMONG NEGROES IN PASADENA
66
Qu estion � · Do you believe that the Negroes in Paaa�
dena obtain more , abou t the same, or leas} fin anc ial relief
and charity than the Whites in propor ti� n to their num bers?
A nsw er
Groups
Tota l Per cen t
A B c D E F G
:Mo re 17 26 15 20 19 3 12 112 50.6
About the same 1' 21 8 14 16
7 10 89 40.3
Leas 2
5
2
3 5 3 20 9.1
67
no conc lusions can be drawn .
In Chapter V the results or the last three questio ns
are co mpared with the actual statis tics on these three socia l
problems, and in Chapt er VI the White opinio ns are co mpared
wit h Negro opinio ns on the same questio ns .
At the end or the questio nnaire a blank spac e was
provided for anyone who wished to make additi onal comme nts.
A num ber of pers ons availed themsel ves of this opport unity .
The following are the state men�s made . They are not so rted
by attitu de, and are not c.omm ented upon or edi ted in any way.
T�ey are sim ply presented as random opi nio ns upon the subj ect
at hand and as such are of some value here .
These co mments run the entire gamut from a very broad
toler ance to a vi ndict ive anta gonism. On the whole they
reflec t about the same attitu des as were shown in the questio ns ,
th emsel ves, and in about the same propor tio ns. their chie f
value lies in the fact that they were ent irely anonymous and
were co mpletel y volunt ary . Thus they probably represent
expressio ns as frank as o._o uld be obtained in any way .
68
Neighbor hood groUR ·
"They are all God's . chi ldren sam e as the whi tar-sk inned
folks .
They are cap able of high sch olarships and lea der
ships even under restr icted opportun ities ...
"I think the Negroe s to a great ext
e
nt are much better
off than are the Whites in this city . They see m to ba�
better cars, home s, and clothee than many of the White
people who consider them se l. ves above the lower cl ass. le vel."
"I think they are just about the average of the human
race. � North Carolina, -- 20 years . (In each case this
repre se nts former residence .)
"I bel ieve the Negro less objectio nable than the Whites
who sell liq uor. '! Illi noi s -- 21 years ; Nebraska -- 45
yean .
"Study Glendale's rules for Negroes. Stop ,the hiri ng
of Neg roes in the home s as this tends to make them feel
superior to the avera ge Whi te." Pennsylvania -- 18 years.
"Having grown up in the South, I realize that Negroee
given an opportunity to develop among their own race are
mu ch happier than in being throom in with other races on
a supposed eq ual rating and yet being ignored or even snub
bed by the other raees." Kentucky -- 22 years•
"With libe rties granted them they become too officious
and dom ineer ing, in fact unbeara ble.11 Missouri -- 30 years.
"Can you see any reason for White children using a
plunge at same time as Negr oes? I can not." Te nnessee
l8 ye ars ; Golor ado -- 3 years.
"The Negro is�in our midst , through no fault of his own .
The White man brought him here against his will and made
him a citizen of our Unite d States, so the least the White
man c.an do now , is to tolerate him and treat him as a
brother Amer ican . n
Church group .
0Negroes should definitely have their own socia l and
edu cational func tions . I have notice d in public places
many times Negro girls are very haughty . Negr o children
in sch ools abuse their privile ges and have a tendency to
69
create disrespect ror order among th e �te children .
A bad inrluen ce on tneir grow1ng minds. u New York --
2 years ; Connecticut -- 8 years.
"The Negro of Pasadena reels no inferiority becaus e
or his colo�. He has bee n so educat ed. He has greater
liberty here than in any city in the cou nt ry." Illinois
-- 20 years.
•N eighboring cit ies with no Negro popu lation have less
trouble with race que stions than Pasadena.
"Recent trou ble about our Brookside Plunge convinces
us that to give an inch to the Negro , they will de mand a
foot, and expect a yard .
"Negroes have a place in tne world and on equal basi s
nt h Whites, but not on social basis and should be com
pelled to live apart rrom Whites." Minne sota -- 5 years J
WaShington -- 22 years.
"I could never permit myself to become disturbed over
the Negro situ ation any more than other racial differ ences •
We have to learn to live with all peop�es regardless of
where we are located. Everything pertaining to our liv
ing is associated somewhe re along the line with peoples
or certain races and coun tries . If then, we can
' t get
along without them, we certainly should not make their
problems more diffi cult for them becau se of our foolish
pride and silly prejudices � I have always found that a
friendly relationship with Negroes with out becoming inti
mate can certai nly do no harm and is conduc ive to bett er
underst anding betwee n the two races." Ohio -- 23 years•
Nu rses group.
"Please have the Negroes segregated in Pasadena ...
Canada•.
"I believe the Neg roes should have their own schools.
They bring the stan dard of any school down ."
Student grou p.
"I don ' t think the Negro es should be given as many
privilege s as they get . I don' t think they should be
allowed to mingle with the Whi te people ." Illinois -
li years.
70
"
I believe they should be seg regat ed.
"
"
The Negroes are steadily growing in num bers in Pasa
dena, restrictio ns have not been adequa te;;the Negroes
are so sci�tered and the value o-r proper ty has dropped to
low lev els . I am a property owner and I have felt the
sti� a in my sectlo n .
I think the Negroes would be happier and the Whites
would respect them more if they were segregat ed .
"
"I never knew before I came here that so many Negroes
lived in Californ ia. I though t of them as only in the
co tton states.
"
Montana - - 17 years .
11
I have liv ed in C4liforn1a for slx .. years , but alae
raised by parent s who lived by strict southern customs .
The way I regard Negroes is ver y different than one whe
has li ved in the North all o-r his life. I perso nal ly be
lie ve in the segreg ation of the tw o races.
"
Virgin ia.--
12 years.
"
I think they are given too muc h freedom in the city
and especially in the· schools. I think Pasade na should
furn ish a school for the Negroes .
"
Illinois -- 5 years.
"
It would certainly improve our bea ut i ful Pasadena
if Negr oes were moved out altogeth er. The adm inistra tion
think more of the Negroes than the White people. If they
must live in Pasadena arrange it so they attend their own
school, live in their own section .
"
Missouri -- 5 years;;
Cblorado -- • years .
"
I belie ve that there should absolutely be a scho ol
for Negroes only and not have them mixed with Whites not
only for ou r benefit but theirs also.
"
"
In the first place I think it is a known fact that
Negroes bring the value of property down ,therefore to
most people it woul d be undesi ra ble but for myself I
don
'
t ca re. I think there should be no race prejudice
but I myself ju st disregard them .
"
Delaware - - 3 years.
"
Send them baek to Africa. ..
"
"
Send them back to Africa•
"
New York -- 5 years.
"
The Negro situation in Pasadena in regards to schools
is an unf ortuna te one and one which mo st of us 'd eplore
!
"
71
"On the majority , I find that the Negroes in Pasadena
keep themselves up as well or better than some Whit e
people."
Teachers grou p.
"Toler ance is the desired end, not race eq uality."
Iow a -- 40 years .
"Something should be done to improve the Negro quest ion
in this city." Texas -- 4 years.
"Property right s make one favor inJu stice at times.•
Illi nois -- 27 years , Florida,_-- 1 year.
"The Negroes in Pasadena are of a very fine type , com
paratively speaking , and naturally achieve a somew hat
higher s�atus th an do Neg roes in other places in the United
States." Oragon -- 4 years ; Iowa - - 23 years .
"I am keenly interested in the betterment of the Negroes.
I think, compared to what I have seen in other stat es,
such as the southern, they are making strides here. I
earnestl y encourage their rising above race prejudice by
means of education and personality devel opment . When they
'a rrive' they will find their places• It may take several
generations . I also think that the unes capable fact of
amalgam ation will modify types and render the indivi dual
more accep table." Lived in six states and many places.
ui hold no brief' for Negroes, for the most part they
are good cit izens , so me superior to Whites. I think ther e
is more caus e for real concern over Jew s than :Negr oes."
Iowa -- 4 years ; Minnesota -- 21 years .
"In my opinion I believe the Negroes of Pasadena have
more privileges than Negro es in any other city of its size.
I also wish this city had a sep arat e school for Negr oes."
Canada -- 11 years .
"I think it would be wiser for them to have their own
district, their own schools , and their own parks, play
groun ds , swimming pools , theatres , etc." Iow a -- 18 years ;
China -- li years .
"I belie ve that , as a class, the Neg roes of Pasadena
are not inferior to the White race . This is especially
true of the sch ool populatio n in 'm anners and morals',
72.
but for living and recreation I belie ve the races shou ld
be segreg ated." Oregon -- 1 year.
"Would sugge st tnat realtors agree not to sell property
to Negroes as is the ease in Glendale. No Neg roes live -
there." Missouri -- 19 years ; Color ado -- 3 years.
"If buying a home I would be sure it was restricted."
Wisconsin -- 15 years.
"I belie ve the Negroes should be taught in sep arat e
schools. 11 Pennsylvania -- 20 years .
!h! Pasadena Improvement Asso ciation. There are two
other indications of the present feeli ng toward Pasadena Ne
groe s that are worthy of note. The first is an orga nization
called the Pasadena Improvement Association .
This is a body of Pasadena' s "business and profe ssional
men" , to use their own phrase, who have bee n incorpor ated as
the Pasa dena Improvement Associa tion since July 1, 1939· The
directors of the associat ion inclu de nine bankers , six real
estat e men, three attorne ys, one Pasadena City Director, and
others . The orga nization is endorsed formally by the Pasadena
Chamb er of Commer ce, Pasadena Junior Cha mber of Commerce, Pasa
dena Merch ants' Association , Pasadena Civitan Club, Pasadena
Realty Board , and Pasadena Property OWners • Division . The
association maintains offices in a downtown office building .
The purp ese of this org ani zation is to persuade and
assist property owne rs to place restrictions upon the1r prop
erty which will "limit us e and occ upancy of property to mem
bers of the Eli te or Caucasia n Race only" . Although oat en• ·
73
sibly this is not aimed at any particular race the commonly
und erstood purpo se , as expressed by one of the association' s
officers in an int erview, is "to restrict property again st
Negro occupancy" .
The re asons for �he prog ram are, in th e frank words
of the association 's of ficer who was 1nt erviewe� "purely
materia listic" . Tha� is, accord ing to this inform ant , the
property values in Pasadena are being destroyed by Negr oes
moving in . Wherever a Negro family enters a ne igh bor hood,
value s go down . Just at this point it is interesting to make
not e of the comme nt s of sever al Negro leaders in the city Who
complained to the writer that the Negroes almost invari ably
have to pay higher rent s than White people do for comparable
property and fac�lities � A further stu dy along this line
would be req ui red to verify this contention .
The met hods used in the program of property restriction
are simple . "An Agreement and Declaration of Race Restrictions"
has been drawn up and prin�ed. The heart of this agreement is
to be found in the follow ing quo tat ion :
That no portion or par t of said lots or parcels of land
shall be used or occu pied by , or be perm itted to be used
or occu pied by , any person not of the whi�e or Cauc asian
race. That no person shall live upon said property a�
any timEr whose blood is not entirely �h at of the Cauca sian
race, but if persons not of tne Cauca sian race are kept
thereo n by such Caucasian oc� pant stric�l y in the capacity
of serv ant s or em ployees of such oc cup ant , su ch circum
stances shall not eonstitu te a violation of this covenant .
74
It may be pointed out that no provisi on is made for the means
of determining whose blood l.s "entirely that of the Cauo.asian
race" , not an easy distinction to make .
At present this agreement is being carried to Pasadena
home-owners by a group or men who work for the association on
a co mm ission basis . Each person who signs pays five dollars
to meet orfice expenst1s , printing , notary, rec ording, and in
cidental expens e &.:. Of this five dollars a percentage goes to
the worker who makes the solicita tion .
One officer of the association exp ressed the feeling
that some people are objecting to the plan on the basis of
the price , but not on moral or ethical ground s. One of the
commission workers also commented on these objections . When
asked on what grounds people object , he replied, "Briefly ,
there are too many nigger-lovers in Pasadena.u
However, in spite of scattered object ions of this kind,
about 7,500 pieces of property have been restrict ed, or about
60 per cent of all residential property in the city . Part of
this property was restricted prior to the present drive , but
the majority of the work has been done since the Pasadena
Improvement Association was organized.
The land on all sides of both large Negro areas has
been restrict ed •. However, the restricted sections seldom
approach closer than one block from present Negro dwellings.
Obviously, people owning residences immediately adJacent to
Negro families ca n see little to gain by restrict ing their
proper ty.
75
This wide spread movement to restrict property, which
is designed primarily to protec t proper ty values, is another
indicat io n of the tremendous part played by eco nomic factors
in determinin g raci al atti tudes. The write r talked with many
�t e resid ent s whose entir e prejudice against the Negroes
see med to be based on this one difficu lty---the maintena nce
of property values.
Needless to say , this organisation and its work does
not represe nt the whole of Pasadena's populatio n, and yet its
succe ss, its perso nnel, and its endorse ments are sig nificant
indicators of the atti tudes of a large group .
A cop y of the "Agreement and Decla ratio n of Race Re
strictions" is appe nded to this report .
The Brooksid e Plunge Case. There is in Pasadena a
muni cipal park called Brookside Park, in which is loca ted a
public swimming pool. One day a week , Tuesday, is designated
as "Inte rnat io nal Day" , on which anyone may use the pool. On
oth er days only Caucasians are adm itte d.
In 1939 , suit was broug ht by si x in divid uals of the
Negro race who applie d for a writ of mandate addressed to the
Board of Directors of the City of Pasadena, as a board and
se veral ly � and also to othe r offic ials of the cit y, inc luding
76
the Cit y Manage r, Supe rvisor of Parks, and Supe rintendent of
Plung es. The sui t so ught to compel the cit y of Pasa dena to
allow the Negro pet itio ners to swim in the B�ookside Park
Plunge on every day that it is open to the pub lic.
The op inion was voice d to the writer by several pro
minent men, Wi1o se name s are wi thheld at theJ.r request, that
the case was insti gated and su pported by the Natio nal Ass oc 1..
ation for the Adva ncement of Cclor ed People . Thi s judgment
is base d partl y on the fact th at Mr. Griffith, lawyer for the
Ne groes , is�an officer of that body, and that Mr. Pic kens,
also an officer, "fle w here from New York and sat WJ.th Griffith
during th e trial" . The latter co ntentio n was denie d by sev.
era l Negro le aders in inter views with the writer. These men
maintained that Pic kens was on his regular trip to the West
coa st and tha t the N. A. A. C�P. is naturally inte reste d in the
case but is-n ot acti�e in it.
The following are brief s ummari es of some of the city's
argumen ts as given to the writer in inte rvie w with Harold P.
Hula, City Attorne y , Dece mber 29, 1939.
1. �he se gregation of Neg roes and Caucasia ns in this
insta nce is a valid exe rcise of po lice po wer and is not offen
si ve to the "eq ual protection" claus e or the United States
Constitution (the fourte enth amendmen t) as_ lo ng as su bsta n
tia lly eq ual facil iti es are provided for bo th races. The city
argues that si nce the Ne gr oes constitu te only abou t 4.6 8 per
77
cen t of the populat ion and are allowed in th
�
plunge one day
a week or about 14 per ce nt of the time they really have more
than the
u
equal
"
facilities or rights guarant eed under the law .
2.
T
he 14th amendment guarantees equal
p
olitic al and
'
civil-rights, but not equal social ri gh ts. The rig ht to swim
is a socia l righ t according to the city . Here the cit y uses
a '.statement by Booker T. Wash ingto n ,
"
In all things that are
purely socia l we ca n be as separate as the fin gers , yet one
as the han d in all things essentia l to mutual progress .. .
Mr. Hula said that to his know ledge sw imming pool
rights have never before bee n made the issue in a court case
so there are no legal precede nts.
3
. Because the White people would not use the pool
wit h Negroes , the city claim s that it would lose money by
grant ing the privilege s asked.
4. The Negroes challenged the city under state as
well as federal statutes •. This, the city maint ains, cannot
be done as ,a mun icipal ity is not subject to state sta�utes
unl ess such a provision is definitel y made in the sta tute.
The Superior Court before which the case was tried de
cided in ravor ot' the city, but not on the substantive issue .
The rul ing made was �ha t the Neg roes had techni ca lly erred in
bringing an ap plica tion for mandamus which is not the pr oper
remedy in such a case.
The case has been ap pealed and is now aw aiting a hear-
in g before the Appellat e Court. The new briefs argue bot h
the te chnical and tne real issues .
The opinio n of the Pasa dena Negroes in gener al on the
case was not determined for thi s study . Howe ver, se veral lead
'
ers among them were int ervi ewed. The feel ing of some was that
it was a mista ke to bring suit as inte rracial relati ons are
being stra ined and the net result will inevi tably be bad .
Othe r leaders took the opposite viewpoint and suppor ted the
petitio ners .
One solutio n to the entire problem has bee n sug geste d
by se veral prominen t White busine ss men and cit y offlc�als .
It is that a separate Negro co mmun ity and recreat io nal ce nter,
including a housing project and a swimming pool, be erecte d by
the city . This has not bee n endorse d or acte d upon officia lly.
In me ntioning this suggestio n to some of the Negro
leaders , th e writer was surprise d to receiv e an emph atic dis
approval of the entir e idea. One man, a leading Negro past or,
said that in his opinio n , the majority of the Negroes in Pasa
dena would not be satis fie d with se parate facilitie s, eve n
th ough they were equ al . He expresse d the belief that such a
plan would be co nsi dered discriminat ing and that nothing would
be entirely satis fac tory short of equal and unre st!J iated use
of the same facilities as th e Whites. A questio nna ire given
to Negroes, the re sults of which are reporte d in Chapter VI,
throws further lig ht on this problem.
79
The entire c
a
se, wi th its attendant publicity, has un
dou b� edly resulte d in an increa sed aware ness of the Ne gro�
White proble m in Pasadena . Beth races have ex perie nce d a
deep enin g of existi ng prejudices, and fee ling has undou bted ly
. .
bee n aroused in some cases whe re it did not ex ist befor e .
II . RACIAL POLICIES OF CERTAIN LOCAL INSTITUTIONS
AND ORGANIZA TIONS
Another sourc e of inform a� io n abou t the at�i tudes of
Whites �o wa.rd Negroes is �o be found in the policies that
have bee n adopted by certain public institutions of Pasadena,
such as th e schools, and by some of the socia l and serv ice
organizations such as the Y.M.C .A. , the scouts, and others.
Sch ools. Techni cally , at least. , there is no dif fer
ence whatsoever in the treatment given Negro es and Whit es
in the schools. They atte nd the same institutions under
exactly the sa me co nditio ns. Even for the purpose of school
recor ds the races are not separ ated or tab 'tllate d in any way.
In one of the largest sahoo ls in Pasadena �he records office
was una ble �o tell the writer how many Ne groes were registe red.
It was explained that this is the result of a definite policy
a1med at avoiding any distinctions.
In the Pasadena Jun ior Colle ge phl s1cal educa tion de-
partment all classes are ope n to all races• The swi�ng
80
pool is us ed by mem bers o:r both rao•s at the same ,1:-ime . The
only raoa restriction in classes-in social dancing is that
there mu st be a Negro couple enrolle d , not an individ ual .
Negroes can attend all sehool da nces .
However, these stateme nt s of senool policy obviou sly
cannot guarant ee equal treatment by all' teacher s in th e
sonools . The fact that almost half of th e teach ers answerin g
the que stionnaire would prefer sch ools with no Negroes makes�
one wonder about the proba bility of their giving Negroes and
Whites equal treatment , alth oug h such a prefe rence by no
mea ns makes fair treatment an impossibility . The feelings
of the Negroes on this matter ar e revealed in the que stion
naire resu lt s in Cha pter VI .
Youth club s and social service organizations. The
follo wing brief stat ements of policy were obtained by the
writer in inter views with leaders in the respective or gani
zations . They are presented here as further indications of
th e prevailing Whi te attitu de.
There are forty-se ven �Y Scout troops in Pasade na . ,
One.of these is a Negro troop, and one other Negro troop is
being formed at present . Out or a total of 98o Boy so�ut s
in Pasadena fo urt een are now Negroes , or about 1.4 per cent
of the total numb er or · s«ou ts.
In spite of this low percentage it is claimed that
81
there is no attempt made to discr iminate against Negro tro ops.
All privileges of scouting, including the sumaer camp , are
available to both races.
In the Girl Sc out s there are no Negro troops in Pasa.
de na. One such group which funct ioned last year is now
disban ded. There is a rul ing now in force, though, to the
e.ffect. that gir l s of any race may form a troop if they have
facilities and leadersh ip. One reservation is made , ho weve r,
barring Negro troops from the Girl Scout Camp rec ently com
pleted near Pasadena . In general, i� may be ·said that Negro
girls are allow ed to become scouts , but are not especially
encou raged to do so .
The situat ion at the Y. M.C.A. is interesting . Ther e
are no Negr oes who are regular mem bers . They are not allowed
to join , nor to us e any of the Y.M .C . A. facilities , as indi
vid ual s. This ruling was made by the board or direc tors , and,
according to a Y.M.C. A. official, was int roduced because of
fear that Negro mem bers would cause a drop in total member
Ship , which in turn would result in financial difficult ies.
Once more th e financial cons ideration is at the root or a
discriminator y measure .
However, there is another side to tne picture . Un der
tne auspi ces of the Y. M.C. A. an extens ive program of boys
'
club s has been developed . The boys range in age from twelve
to twenty- five, and are or gani zed in churches, nel.g hborhoo ds,
82
and schools. They oper ate with a typical Y.M.C.A. program
of athle tics , ca mping, social and religious activiti es, and
make frequent use of the Y.M .C .A . faciliti es as groups .
•
A total of 440 boys were actively partic ipat i ng as
me mbers ::of these clu bs in March, 1941 . Of thi s num ber 9l, or
20.7 per cent , were Negroes. This, of course, is con sider
ably above the percen tage of Negroes. in the o. ommun i ty .
Most of the Negro olu b members are in 100 per cent
Negro clu bs , but a few of the groups :are mixed . The oiub
lea ders are older boys , both White and Negro , and they meet
together in leadership classes i meeti ngs, and other func tions .
On several occasions during the yea r all of the cl ubs
mee t together at the Y. M .G.A . f&r an afternoo n or evening or
activiti es. On these occasions the Negroes and Whit es swim
together, play basketbal l, and engage in other activ iti es
with no color line drawn . The writer attended one such even
ing meeting at whi ch about one hundred boys, ages twel ve to
fiftee n , were present. At least 40 per cent were Negroes.
One problem which attends thi s program ari ses in the
fact that Negro teams consistently win the greatest portion
of the ath1etic contests •. This is true to such an ext ent
that Whi te boys sometimes beco me di scouraged. The di rector
of the clu b activit ies explained thi s Negro athletic supre
macy, which is also very evident in public scho_ol athletics, .
as due to two factors . The fir st of these is natural abili ty,
8
3
and the second, comp ensation for lack of a real ch ance to com
pete with Whi tes in other lines.
In the- Y. W. O .A. Negroes are allowed as mem ber s , but
are denied the use of the swimming pool, except in cases where
a large group reserve s it at a specifie d time. Negroes are
also discouraged from staying overn ight in the Y.W.C.A. rooms.
TWo adult
N
egro clu bs,. num bering about twenty five each, are
sponsored in the Y.W. program, and there are Negro unit s in
the Girl Reser ves .
The Camp Fire Girls have no Negro groups in the city
although there are some Negro Camp Fire Girls in other cities .
The stateme nt made by one of the officers was, ••we felt there
were more girls th an we coul d reach among the Whi tes so there
was no reaso n for going beyond them." If a reque st came fr om
a Negro group and they could provide adeq uat e leadersh ip , they
would be allowed to orga ni ze , but the off ice would not be like
ly to su ggest su ch a move . The reque st would have to come from
the Negroes themse lves .
One more you th or ganization deserves mention. The Boys '
Club , affiliated with the Boys ' Clubs of America, has 442 mem
bers in Pasadena. The ages range chiefly from twelve to seven
teen ; activities inc lu de hobbies , art , recrea tion, athletic
teams , and other leisure-time pursuit s. The purpo se is to
provid e recreational facilities for boys unabl e to join the
more expensive organi zations .
84
It is the policy of the Boys ' Club to allow 15 per
ce nt of its mem bers to be Negroes •. In former years this pro
portion was much higher. The 15 per ce nt ruling was set up
bec ause of the objecUons of some of the adult White contribu
tors who did not ca re to give to a group co ntainin g so many
Negroes. As a result or this financial pressure the 15 per
ce nt limit was placed in effect.
One other organi zation mus• be mentioned for its wor k
in bringing about better Negro-White relations in Pasadena.
The Fellowship or Reco nciliation has helped at least one
neigh borhood Negro youth cl ub , and is active in other inter
racia l endea vors.
The organizations desc ribed in this section, in spite
of the fact that they have racial restric tions in varying
degrees, must be classifie d �& cons �ructive agencies on the
whole. With all of their li mitations, most of them are doi ng
something to improve the racial pict ure in Pasade na. Their
work along these lines would probably expand consi derably if
it were not for the attitude held by so many adult leaders in
Pasa dena, expresse d to the writer by one man in the following
words , "If we weren't doing so much for the Ne groes here, we
wouldn't have so many of them co ming to the cit y and causing
this problem."
CHAPTER V
VALIDITY OF THE OPINI ONS OF THE WHITES CONCERNI NG
THE RELAT ION OF �HE NEGRO TO CERTAIN SOCIAL PROBLEMS
In the que sti onnaire reported in Chapter IV the Whi tes
were ask ed their opi nions reg arding Ne gro partic ipatio n in
Pasa denaJs crime, infec tiou s dise ase, and relief proble ms.
There was a definite te ndency on the part of those answering
to att ribute to the Negro es a larger part in these soc ial
pro ble ms than the number of Neg roes in the po pulatio n would
'
justify. The Ne groes were tho ught to com mit more crimes,
have more infec tiou s dise as e , and req uire more financial re-
lief than the Whites in prop ortion to their num bers .
The sta tistics pres ente d in the pres ent chapte r were
gathere d to tes t the validity of these White opinio ns. It
is assum ed, howe ver, that the opinions thus expres sed were
based, in most cases , on gener al atti tu des to ward the Neg roes
rather than on real acq uaintance with the facts •.
The sou rces used make it neces sar y to brea k dow n the
crime st atis tics in�o juvenile deli nque ncy and adult crime •.
Juvenile del inquency . Two so urces of data on juve
nile del inq ue ncy in Pasa dena were used : the Juvenile Crime
Pre ventio n Bureau or tne Pas adena Police Depa rtment and the
of f·i ce of th e Supe rvisor of Attendance oi' the Pasa dena C-1 ty
86
Schools. These two sets of data are presented sep arately here .
The Juven ile Crime Preve ntio n Bureau statis tic s had
not bee n broken dow n raciall y , but the wri ter was allowed to
do this. Before this was done, Captai n Morgan, head of the
Bure au, expresse d the opi nio n that Negro young people give less_
trou ble th an the Whit es. He has also made thi s sta tement in
publi c addresses •. Last year, at'ter Hallowe'en, he personally
congratulat ed Mrs. Mary Reese Johnso n, a Negro you th wor ker,
on the fact that the police had had lit tle, if any, trou ble
wit h Negro youths on Hallow e'en. These facts are recDrded be
cause it is si gni fi cant that thi s is the attitu de of the Bu
reau, and wi ll partia lly answer any ob jea tion that might be
rai se d claiming that Whi te orricers will be unduly stri ct wit h
Negro ofrande rs.
The perio d covered is January 1, 1939, to December 22,
1939. Pre vious to thi s peri od records were not availa ble.
Ages are up to and inc lu ding ei ghtee n ye ars. Off'en ses cover
ever ything bringing police action-- -inc luding traffic offenses,
mi sdemean ors, and felo ni es.
The total num ber of of'fe nses during this period was
1764 . or these 119, or 6. 7 per cent, wer e committed by Negroes: ..
Thi s proportio n is somew hat higher than the 4.6 8 per cent of
Negr oes in th e esti mates or tota l populat io n. Howev er, these
populat io n est imat es do not apply particu larly to thi s age
group and th ere fore may be inaccu rate.
87
The other so urce of deli nquency statis tics , the office
of Earl Smith, Super vi sor of Attendanc e for the Ci ty Schools,
gi ves fi gu res that are more valid for se veral reaso ns. The
defi nitio n of delinquency in terms of the typ es of o, ffenses
is more satisf actory bec ause traffic offenses are not inciu ded
unless they entail mansl aughter, felo ny, hit -and- run driv ing ,
or repeated drivin g a:t' ter suspe nsio n ot · licen se. The Polic e
Department sta tis tic s, on t
h
e other hand, inc luded all traf- fic offe nses. The other offenses in cluded in the Attendance
Offi ce recor ds are petty theft, grand theft, burgl ary, morals
and sex offenses, tr uancy, in corri gi bil ity , and li quor offe nses.
Anothe r poi nt of super ior it y lie s in the fact that the
Att� ndance Office count s the number of delinq uents, whi le the
Police Depa rtment records the number of offenses. Thus in
the Attenda nce Offic e fig ures a deli nquent who commi ts ei ght
offenses appears only once, not eig ht tim es, as in the Police
sta tis tics .
Table XIX compa.
;- es the Negr oes and Whites in Pasa den a's
school populatio n with regard to delinque ncy. The fig ures
for Mexica ns and Ori entals, whic h would be needed to complete
the pictu re, are omitt �d because they do not bea r on the pre
se nt probl em. The sta tis tics prese nted make it ver y clear
that Negro youth are gui lty ot ·, or at least are apprehended
in consider ably more acts or delinq uency than Whi te youth .
During the school yea r 1956-37, 14.3 per cent of all delin -
TABLE XIX
COMPAR ISON OF NEGRO AND WHITE JUVENI� DELINQUENCY
AMONG PASAD ENA STUDENTS
A. Whites
Per ce nt
School of Whites Num ber of' Per cent
Year in scho ol White Of tota l
popula tion delinq uent s delinq uents
1936-37 89.6 187 67.0
1937-38 89 . 9
291 72.4
1958-39 89.7
321 76.8
B. Neg roes
Per cent
School of Neg roes Num ber of Per cent
Year in school Negro or total
population
l
delinq uents delinq u ents
1936- 37 3. 7
40 14. 3
1937-38 3.7
41 10 . 2
1938-39 3·9
46 11.0
88
1
The proportio n of Negroes in the sc hools is smaller
than in Pasad ena as a whole because th e school distri� t in
cl ude s several nea rby comm unit ies in which no Neg roes live.
89
que nts were Negroes, while onl y 3. 7 per cent of the sc hool
population was Negro. A similar condition existed in 1937- 38
and in 1938-3 9. On the other han d, the White delinq uency was
67 per cen t of the total in 1936- 37, while Whi tes cons titu ted
89.6 per cent of the school populat ion .
These three years were the only ones for which such
statistics are avai lable and do not cover a suffi cie nt period
to allo w conclusions to be drawn concerni ng tren ds . However,
it is worthy of note that the White per centage s of delin quency
increased during these three years while the Negr o proportion
had a net drop. Increased ac :ti vity among youth orga niz ations
that serve Negroes is the only reason sugg ested for this tr end.
A sep arate study of the problem would be required in
order to aseerta1n the par ticu lar caus es of the high rate or
delin quency among Pasa dena Negroes . Howe ver, on the basis of
the present investig ation sever al probabl.e ca uses ca n be
poin ted ou t . Three or these are rather cer tain in their ef
fect. First, it was noted in Chapter III that an abnorm all y
high proportio n of Negro mothers are gainfull y emplo yed, which
obvious ly lessens parental supervi sion. Second, many or the
recr eational facilities availa ble to White youths are closed
to Negroes, thus making the problem of leisure -time activ ities
a serious one. And, third, the occupational position of the
Negroes incr eases delinq uency in two wa ys , by lower ing the
gener al economic level of the Negro community , and by making
90
it more diffic ult for Negro youth to fin d part-time jobs that
would occu py their spare ti me . Under these cir c� umsta noes it
is not diffic ult to acco unt for th e differentia l noted betwee n
Negro and Whi te delinq uency.
The statistics of the Federal Children's Bureau, as
quoted by Elli ott and Merrill,
l
reveal th at the Pasadena situ
atio n is ·si milar to that of th e nation as a whole. Accor ding
to 1930 statistics the Negroes contr ibuted 18 per cent of the
nation' s delinq uency; whereas, Negroes ao ns�itu ted only 9. 7
per ce nt of th e total population.
The much lower proportio n of Negroes show n in the Pasa
den a Police Department's statistics ca n probably be explained
largely by the fa�t that all traffic offenses were inclu ded .
The White youth are freq uent offenders in this categ ory.
Table XX opmp ares th e frequency of differ ent types of
deli nquency among Negroes and Whit es . The most outstanding
difference show n is that th ere is a much highe r proportio n of
petty theft among Negroes than among Whi tes. In th e three
years for which we have data, petty theft constitu ted only
47 .9, 42 .1 , and 41.0 per ce nt of White offenses, but for the
same years 78.1, 63.6, and 60.9 per cent of Negro oases were
petty theft. White delinq uents ran much more to grand thef t ,
l
Mabel A. Elliot t and Francis E. Merrill, Social Dis-
organizatio n (New Yor k : Harper and Broth ers Publishers, 1934) ,
p. 87 .
TABLE XX
TYPE OF OFFENSES COMII IT TED BY NEGRO AND WHI TE
JUVENILE DELI NQUENTS IN PASADENA l
Type of
Whi tes Negro es - of tense
1937 1938 1939 1937 1938
1938 1939 1940 1938 ' 1939
91
1939
1940
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Petty theft 47. 9
42.1 41.0 78.1 63.6
Grand theft 9. 4 15.1 5 ·7 4. 9 6.8
Burglary 12. 8 16.0 23.8 4. 9 15.9
Sex & mora1s 18. 9 19.7 10.7 7-3
11.4
Truancy 3.4 1.4 4.6 2 .4 o.o
Incor rigi-
b111 ty 3. 8 2. 7 9. 3 2.4 2.3
Li quor 3. 0 2 .3 1.9 o.o o.o
Traffic: .4
·1
1.5 o.o o.o
Arson and
ra1se alarm .4 o.o 1.5 o.o o.o
1
Statis tics from the office of th e Super vi sor of
Attenda nce of the Pasadena U� ty Sch ools.
60.9
6.5
6. 5
10.9
2. 3
4.3
4.3
o.o
o.o
burg lary , and se x offenses than did Negroes. On the whole,
ther efore, we may say that Negro offenses , although more
numerous th an White, te nded to be of a less seri ous nature,
in the eyes of the law at least .
9
2
Cautio n must be used in int erpret ing data of this type
beca use of the possi bil it y that Negro offende rs, beca use of
their racial stat us, may be apprehended more readily and dealt
wi th more severely than Whi te you th. However, the present
study did not di scover any dir ect evi dence of thi s type of
discr im in atio n in Pasadena.
Adult crime . In order to stu dy the crime record in a�.
ye ar for which ac curate �p ulatio n statistic s were availa ble
for compari son, the Pasadena Jai l Record for the yea r 1930
was examined and Negro offenses were sep arated from all oth ers .
These offenses inc lude all oas es which in volved a Ja il record.
They are not entir ely aeoura te for the purposes of this ' a:t udy
because they inc lude so me oases of vagran cy and some out- of
tow n offenders arreate d for other juri sdi
these wi ll te nd to be cancelle d and the fi gure s should be of
so ma value.
There were 2,525 .jail cases in Pas adena in 1930. Of
these 168, or 6. 6 per cent of the total, were Negr oes. At
that ti me 4 per cent of the cit y's populat io n was Negro; so
the percentage of crimes committe d by Negro es was only slig htly
higher th an would be expect ed on the basis of populat ion.
This differe ntia l of only 2.6 per -cent is remar kably
low when co mpared wit h the co untry as a whole, where a dis
proportio nate num ber of Negroes co me into conf lic t with the
law. In Detr oit, for exam ple, Negroes made up 7.4 per cent
of th e populat io n in 1924, but figured in 24.4 per cent of
th e arrests.
2
9
3
In explaining th e high crime rate among Negroes, Elliott
and Merrill point out a num ber of underlying ca uses. Among
these are unf avorabl e economic and social co nditio ns and ra-
cia l discr iminat io n . When it is taken into consideration that
both of these factors are operatin g in Pasadena, it is re
markable that the Negro crime rate should be so little above
that of the Whit es. This is especia lly tr ue when the rela�
tivel y high economi c and social sta tus of Pasadena's White
populat io n is cons idered .
Table XXI present s the Police Department bookings for
most of the year 1939 by type ox off ense. In this year th e
propo rtion Of Negroes booked was about 4 per ce nt above their
propor tio n in the total populat ion.
For many types of offense the fig ures are much to o
small to be signif ica nt, and per haps even th e totals cover
1926,
cit.,
2
The Negro in Detr oit , Mayor' s Inter racial Commit tee,
unpu bl is hed rep ort, cite d by Ellio tt and Merrill, 22•
p. lj6 .
TABLE XXI
BOOKINGS BY THE PASADENA POLICE
DEPARTME NT , FEBRUARY 1 'T O NOVEMBER 30, 1939
Off ense Total Negroes
'Ho micid e 7 1
Rape 10 2
Robbe:ry 2 0
Aggrav ated assault 6 1
Burglary 26 2
Theft 58 6
Auto theft 22 1
Other assault s 21 8
Forgery 27 0
Embezzelment abd fraud 1 0
Stole n proper ty 2 0
Weapons
a 0
Sex. offenses (except rape) 83 19
Famil y and children 50 12
Drug laws l- 0
Li quor laws 23 4
Dr1mken ness 882 33
Disorderly conduct 74
18
Vagr ancy 169 8
Gam bling
9
3 18
TeJ tals 1559 133
94
Per cent
Negro
14.3
20.0
o.o
16.
6
7.7
10. 3
4.5
38.1
o.o
o.o
o.o
o.o
22.9
24.0
o.o
17.4
3
.
7
24.:-s
4
.7
19. 3
8.5
Negroes in total populat ion about 4. 68 per cent
95
too short a .. period to make it possible to draw valid c. onclu
sio ns . It will be notice d, however, th at wherever the tota l
number of offenses is la:rge , as in drunkenn ess and vagrancy,
the percentage of Negro offenses is not far from the popula
tio n esti mate, 4.68 per cent. On the oth er ha nd , in sex of
fenses (except rape ) , disorderly conduc.-t, and gambling the
Negro perc entage is: high and th e tota l num ber of offenses ia= ;
large enou gh to give some validity to the re sults.
It must be co nclu ded that the available statistics
show a slightly hig her crime and juvenile delinq uency rat e
in Pasadena for Negroes than for White s. Ttie discrepancy iso
greater for delinquency th an for adult crime , but the delin
quency rate appears to be on the decrease �
Intec . tiou s disease. Ta.ti les JCXII and XXIII pre sent sta �
tis tio B c�mp iled by the writer from the records of the Pasa
dena Health Department. They repre sent cases which were re
ported , under law• .b y the doctor s . Some error is inevita ble
in thi s syste m of reporting diseases, but the resultin g fig ures::
are the most accu rate available.
In the tot al results, for th e diseases selected, the
Negroes played just abou t the part th eir num bers would lead
one to expect in 1920 , 19 25 , and 1930 . In 1935 their per
centage was sligh tly above th e normal expectan cy.
An examinatio n of th e separate diseases , however , re-
Year
1920 --
1925 --
1
TABLE XXII
NEGROES IN CERTAI N IN FECTI OUS DI �EASES
IN PASADENA, 192 0 AND 1925
-
Total Ne gro
Di sease cases cases
Scarlet fever 104 0
Chicken pox 464 6
Measle s 728 30
Pneumon ia 71 0
Tu berculosis 108 3
Tota ls 1475
39
96
Per cent
Negro
o.o
1.3
4.1
o.o
2.8
2.6
Ne groes in total pop ulation • • •• • 2. 4 per cent
Scarlet fever 28 0 o.o
Chicken pox 456 1 0.2
Measles 35 0 o.o
Pneum onia 81 6 6.6
Tuber culosis 77 4 5. 2
Syphi li s 65 9 13.8
Gonorrhea 37 3 8 .1
Totals '(89 2
3
2 •. 9
-
Sta ti stics from the Pasa dena Healt h Depar tme nt.
�
Year
1930 --
1935 - - TABBE XXI II
NEGROE S IN CERTAIN IN FECTI OUS DI SEASES
IN PASADENA , 1930 AND 1935
1
Tota l
Negro
Di sease cas e s
oases
Scarlet fever 41 0
Chic ken pox 343 3
Measles 734 23 Pneumon ia
·
r
3 0
Tuberc ulosis 163
7
Syphi lis 123 28
Gonorrhea 50 4
TotaJ..s 15 27 65
97
Per cen t
Negro
o.o
o .e
3.1
o.o
4
.3
23.7
8.0
4. 2
Neg roes in total populat io n • • • • • 4.0 per cent
Scarlet fever 120 4
.). }
Chic ken pox 382 31 8.1
Measles 142 4 2.8
Pneumon ia 37 0 o.o
Tubercu losis 115 4 3. 3
Syphi lis 103 27 2o .c
Gonorrhea 106 21 19.8
Totals 1005 91 9. 1
1
Statistics from the Pasadena Health Dep artment .
vea l s a notic ea ble in eq uality . In the two venereal di seases,
syphi lis and gonorr hea; Ne gro cases are consi der ably more
numerous than White cases in pro,ortio n to num bers in th e pop-
ulatio n . Howeve r, in every other di sease li ste d , except
tub erculosi s, the Neg roes had a markedly better rec_ord than
the Whites . They se em to have bee n notably free from pneu
monia and scarlet fever, for in both of these di se ases they
had a perfect recor d in three out of' the four ye ars. In spi te
of this, the Negroes• hi gh rat e or vene real di sease brin gs the
average for all of th e di seases down to a point where it is
just about proportio nate to th e Ne gro populatio n.
Vene real di sease has long been a problem of great
magnitu de amon g Negro groups in ever y part of the coun try .
Pasa dena is evidentl y no excepti on .
Need for fin ancial aid and relief. Two source s were
-- -- .;;;..;;.. = ..;;....:;;;..
used to determine the fi nancial relief given to th e Ne
g
roes
in Pasa dena by public agenci es: t�e County Dep artment of
Charities and the S.R. A. These do not, of course, repre se nt
the entir e fi el d of reli ef but were the only age ncies with
applica ble sta tis tics .
Aca.ordi ng to Mrs.- Mary Jane Strong, socia l case worker
for the Los Angeles Count y Department of Charities, Pasad ena
Di stric t , the follo win g are approxim atel y accurate fi gures
for Decem ber 28 , 1939· The tota l num ber of cases on the rolls
or the County Relie f Agency in Pasadena on that date was 716 .
99
Of thi s ·tota l, 64, or 8.9 per cent, were Negroes. At th i s ti me
about 4.6 8 per cent of Pasa dena's populatio n was Ne gro .
On December 2
7, 1939, aca :ordi ng to Mr. Phillips , eta ;;.
ti sti cia n t' or th e S. R.A . o:f fic e in Los Angeles, there were
2392 cases o:f relief in Pasadena handled by that age ncy. Of
these, 185, or 7.7 per cent, were Negroes.
Here agai n , as in the crime and di sease sta tis tics. the
Negroes show a sligh tly hi gher rate th an their propor tio n in
the populatio n would justif y. Howeve r, again it see ms evide nt
that the tradit io nally accepte d ocau pati onal positio n o:f the
Negro in the c�ty , with its low sala ri es and hi gh rate of
une mploy ment, is the proba ble explanatio n . It is impo ssible
to predict the resu lts whi ch would follow a ch ange in the
Negr o's oaaupational stat us , bu t all in dica tions point to
thi s one ci rcumsta nce as the root of many of their problem s.
The comment of Mr. Ransome Car ver, Director of th e
Pas adena Commun ity Ohe st, was, "the Negro is the last man
hire d and the first man :fi red." Assuming that thi s is fre
quently true , it is surpri sin g that Negro relief rates are
not higher than the records show them to be.
Ne vertheless, whatever the causes may be, it must be
concluded from the evide nce prese nted here that the Negr oes
are responsible for slig htly more of Pas adena's deli nque ncy,
cri me, inf ectio us di sease , and fin ancia l relief than the
Whites in proportion to their num bers in the popu latio n .
CHAPTER VI
THE REACTION OF THE NEGRO TO HIS STATUS
In hi s disc ussio n of status and personality Bogardus
l
lists four factors which ent er into status. Tlie last of
these is the react ion of the in divid ual to the status imputed
to him by the group . No dise uss1o n of status is complete
withou t the cons iderat ion of this important factor. There
fore , the pr es ent chapter is dev oted to a cons ideration of the
reactions of so me of Paeade na�s Negro es to the various aspects
of their social and economic life in Pasade na, partic ularly
with refere nce to their rela tions.w ith the Whites.
THe materia l used in thi s chapter was se cured in in t er
views with Negroes and with Whites who are wel1 aaq uain ted
wit h the Negroes; from unpu bli shed pape rs wri tte n by a Negro
student in high sehool. ; ·from editorials pu blished in ac Negro
newsp aper ; and from a question naire construct ed for thi s study
and di st�ibu ted to one hundred and eleven Negro es in Pasade na.
The result s of the quest ionn ai re st udy, because they come
from a rel ativel y small group of Neg r oes selecte d at ra ndom,
cannot be made the basis for broad generali zations. Howev er ,
the attitu Qes re corded in the questio nnai re s parallel. elose l.y
those revea led by the other so urces and therefore may be
l
Emory S. BOgardu s, Fundame ntal s of Social Psycb. OlOf!j
(seco nd edition; New Yo rk : :D. A�pleton-Century Compa nJ, 1931l,
p. 84 .
101
assumed to represe nt reas onably well the feel ing of a large
sh are of the Negro grou p ..
THE NEGRO'S EVALUAT ION OF HIMSELF AS A CITIZEN
In Chapter IV the opinions of Whites regarding Negro
crime, disea se, and reli ef were recor ded; and in Chapter V
the validity of those opi nions was teste d by a stu dy of the
Negro' s record in these social prob lems. Tc complete this evi
dence it is necess ary to see how the Negro evalu ates himself.
on these matters, and to compare his opinions with the opin
ions of the Whites and with the facts themsel ves. The foll ow
ing Negro opinio ns were revea led in the questi onnair e study.
Crime . The best availa ble records showed that the
Negro is resp onsi ble for a slig htly disp ropor t ionate amount
of Pasa dena's er ime and juvenile delinq uency, es pecially the
latter. However, if the majority of Negroes are cogn izant
of this fact, they are unw illing to admit it, even on an anony
mous questio nnaire.
Only 7.4 per cent of the Negroes answering the questio n
indicated a. belief that Negroes commit more crime than Whites
in proport ion to their numbers in Pasa dena. Only 28.7 pe r
cent felt that the two races were about the same , and the major
ity, 63.9 pe r cent , belie ved that Negroes have a better crime
record than the Whites.
102
Comparison of this Negro reactio n wit h the answers of
Whi tes to the same questio n see ms to reveal a str onger race
pre j udice on the part of the Negroes than on the part of the
Whites . See Ta ble XXIV . The latter answered "about the sa me"
on 57.5 per cent of the questio nnai res as co mpared with 28 .7
per cent of the Negroes who were of this opi nion. Only 25.6
per cent of the Whites attribu ted more crime to Negroes than
to themselves, whereas 63.9 pe r ce nt of the Negroes were in
cli ned to the vie w that Whites are the most frequent offenders.
In fecti ous disease . In regard to infec tious disea se,
as shown in Table XXV, both Negro es and Whites were inc lined
to attribute a highe r proportio n of cases to the other race .
The Negroes showed less incl inatio n to do this than the Whites •.
Only 36.4 per cent of the Negroes said that Whites were less
healthy , but 50.4 per cent of the Whi tes said Negroes were
less healthy . The Negroes thought the two races to be "about
the same" on 60 per cent of the questio nnair es, while only
47 .3 per cent of the Whites answered in this way .
Fina ncia l relief. Table XXVI co mpares the White and
Negro opi nio ns regarding fi nancial relief •. Each race was
strongly inc line d to attribute to the ot he r the largest share
of the cit y's relief and charity cases. Approxima tely the
same proportio n of each group, 40. 3 per cent and 42.7 per cent,
thought the two races to be about equal in regard to relief,
TABLE XXIV
CO MPA RISON OF NEGRO AND WHIT E OPINIO NS REGAR DIN G
CRIME IN PASADENA I
103
Question. De you think that the
N
egroes in Pasadena
commit more , about the same , or fewer crime s than the Whites
in proportion to their numbe rs?
Answer
Negroes commit more
Negroes commi t about
the same
Negroes commit fewer
Per cent
of Whites '
answers
25 .6
57·5
16.9
Per cent
of Negroes '
answers
7• A
28 .7
63.9
1
Re sult s of the writer's ques�1onnaire stud y .
TABIIE XXV
COMPARISON OF NEGRO AND WHI TE OPINI ONS REGARD IN G
INFE CTIO US DI SEASE IN PASADENA
104
Question . Do· you belie ve that the Negro es in Pasadena
are more health y , about tne same, or less healthy th an the
Whites in regard to infect i ous di sease ?
Per cent Per cent
Answer
of Whi tes' of Negr oes'
answers answers
Ne gro es more health y 2.3
36.4
Negr oes about the same 4
7· 3
60.0
Negr oes less healthY !::> 0.4 3.6
TABLE XXV I
COMPARISO N OF NEGRO AND WHITE OPINIONS REGARD ING
FINANCIAL RELIEF IN PASADENA
Que stion . Do you believe the Negroes in Pasadena
obtain more, about the same, or less· financial relief and
charity than th e Whites in proportion to tneir numbers?
Per cent Per cent
Answer
of Whit es
'
of Ne groes '
answers answers
Negroes reo:e ive mor e 50. 6 5.a
Negroes receive about
the same
40. , 42.7
Negroes receive less:: 9.1 51.5
105
and about half of eac h group said that the other race con
tribu tes a di spropor tio nate part of the charity cases .
106
In summary , then, roughly half of th e Negroes te nd to
attribute more of Pasadena's o�i me, infec ti ous di sease, and
relie f to the Whites th an to their own race in proportio n to
their num bers. On the other hand, appro ximat ely thi s sa me
per cent age of Whites belie ve that Negr oes are resp onsi ble for
a di sproportio nate part of these soci al proble ms. The other
half of each grou p is made up mostly of those who belie ve the
tw o races are "abou t the same" . A few in each group belie ve
the mem bers of their own race to be the worst offenders.
THe slig ht di fferenc e that does appear to exi st betw ee n
the opi nio ns of the two races point s to the Whites as being
per haps a litt le less prejudi ced again st the Neg roes on these
matt�:trs th an the Negr oes are against the Wh ites. In addi ti on
to this fact, the slig htly dispr oportio nate part played by
the Negr oes in these social problems, as revealed in Chapter
V, makes the White opinio ns somew hat the more accurate of
the two.
It may be conclu ded from these facts that the Pasadena:
Negro has approxim atel y the same degree of prid e and faith
in hi s own rac e as the Whi te has in hi s, at least in regard
to these partic ular· proble ms. Thi s is undou bt.edly true unless
the answers placed on the questio nnair es are to be bra nde d
as ratio nali zatio n or decep tio n. The wri ter has di sc.overed
107
no reaso n to discou nt thus the resu lts .
THE NEGRO
'
S BVALUAT ION OF HIS OWN ABILITY
Typical of the opinions of Pasad ena Negroes regarding
the occu pational ability of their race is the following com
ment written on one qu estionnaire , "The Neg roes in Pasadena
are given little chance to prove their skill ••• , but in any
field they ar e equally capa ble if given a fair chance.n
Th e wide&p read belief among Negroes that they are ju st
as capable as Whites when given an equal oppor tu nity is shown
in Table XXVII . In every occu pational fiel d listed , except
one, the majority of Negr oes answered that uNegroes and Whites
are equally capable" . The one exception was in perso nal and
domestic wor k, where the maJority checked Negroes as being
more capable than Whites. Tli ere was a ali ght tendency to feel
that in professions and in bus iness the Whites have more abil
ity . About on e third of tho se answering gave Negroes the ad
vantage over Whi tes in uns killed labor. On th e whole, how
ever, the tendency was to ju dge the two races equally capable.
THE NEGRO 'S REACTI ON TO CERTAI N FACTORS IN HIS SOCIAL STATUS
The rea ct ion of the Pasadena. Negro to his social status
can best be describe d by treating his attitude s tow ard each
of the sever al racial problems separ ately. The most important
of these are discus sed here.
10 8
TABLB XXVII
OPINI ONS OF PASADENA NEGROES REGARD ING THE CAP ABIL ITY OF
NEGROES AND WHI TES IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIO Na
l
Belie ve Believ e B&lie ve
Negroes Negr oes and Ne groes
Occupation more capable Whi tes eq ually less capabl
than Whi tes capable th an Whi tes
Professio ns l 84 10
Skil le d wor k 11 78 10
Busin ess 5 68 19
ClePi cal wor k 6
6'7
11
Uns kille d WOPk 36 58 3
Perso nal and
domestic woP k 58 34
2
.
1
Result s of the questio nnair e stu dy.
e
10 9
Occupation al position. The pre vious sec tion estab
lished the faet that the Ne gro regards himself to be the eq ual
of the White in most vocations. Need less to say, the dis
cr epancy betwee n this fait h in hims elf and the actual occ upa
tional positio n that he has in the city is a source of con
si derable di ssatisfaction. He usually arrive s at the conclu
sion that his relativel y low economic status 1s entirely the
result of wides pread dis crim inatio n agains t his race by the
dominant White group.
The following co mments written by Negroes on the q�es
tio nnair e illustr ate their feeling.
To get the same opportunities or positio ns a White
person gets, the Negro must not only be eq ually qualifie d
as a White but he must be better qualifi e d.
I beli eve the Negro is not given an eq ual chance to
show what he can do . If given the chanc e he would be
able to do just as good as the Whi te perso n , or any other
pers on or better.
• • • the cr ime of our democr acy is that out side of
professio nal fields and pers onal and domestic wor k, the
Ne gro does not have the same opportu nity to demonstrate
such capac ities.
All men are cr eated eq ual and if given a chance ca n
do anything they so desir e .
I do think if the Ne gro is given an eq ual chance to
use their professio nal and busi ness training there will
be a mor e democr atic feeling between the Ne gro and other
races .
A Ne gro boy now in high school was graphic in deserib
ing his dilemma in regard to voca tio nal plans. He said dur
ing the intervi ew that "the Whi te folks just think of Negroes
11 0
as cooks and serv ants." Howe ver, he defi nitel y belie ves
th at whenever Neg roes are gi ven a chance they mig ht do even
better than White s, "as they do in athle tics " . He outli ned
his proble m thus:
I' m twenty years old. I want to get marri ed , but I
say to my gir l, "You got to work for two or three years
if we get marri ed." If I try to get a job the best I can
hope for is #18 or f20 a week as a caretaker or city
laborer and no chance to advance. A man can' t get mar
ri ed on th at.
In an autobi ogr aphy wri tte n for a high school Englis h
class th i s same youn g man said
I have, during the last two yea rs, drawn some defi nite
conclu sio ns. Among the m is the fact th at my oppor tunit y
to succeed is measu red not by my ability but rather by my
color. Thi s conclusion has now taken the form of an acute
proble m .
Thi s state ment seems to sum up rather we ll the thinking
or many of the Negroes wi th wttom the wri ter talked.
Another in dicatio n of the attit ude tow ard thi s problem
is found in that se ctio n of the questio nnaire which asked the
Neg ro to compare hi s occupati onal chances wi th those of oth er
races in Pasade na. As would be expected all of those answer-
in g ra�ed the Whi te as havin g the best chance. It is sig ni
fica nt, howev er, that 53.8 per cent of the Neg roes thou ght
that a Negro has a poorer chance of getting a job th an has a
Japanese, a Mexi can , or a Fil ipi no of equal abi lity . In ot her
word s, all of the Neg roes marked the Whi tes first in choi ce,
and a majority of them marked the mselves as last choi ce, wi th
Japanese, Mexi cans, and Fili pino s comi ng in betw een.
111
A sep arate study wo uld be req uired to ascertain the
true relation of the Ne gro to these ot her minorit ies with
regard to occ up atio nal compe titio n . The important tact for
th e purpo ses of thi s stu dy is that the Negro rates himself
at the bottom of th e scale, for in doin g so he revea ls . his··
strons fee ling on the matter of his oc cupatio nal positio n.
Another poin t at which the Ne gro has expresse d himself
with regard to employment isc·i n co nnection with "city jo bsn .
This situatio n was descr ibed in Ch apter III. Many of the
Neg roes have reacted to it rather strongl y . The followin g
quot atio n, objectin g to what is termed the "quotatt or "per
capita" arrangement in hiring Negr oes, is perhaps as good a
state ment of the feel �ng of a large number of Neg roes as could
be found .
T�is 'p er capital stuff has long seem ed to us a bit of
nonse nse! Am I, a Ne gro, to be one-te nth as loyal as my
white neig hbor? Am I, a Neg ro, to be one- tenth as saholarly
as my white classmate? Does the Star Spangled Bann er
cover but a part of me---Ju st beca use I am a Negro? At
tax p&Jing ti me, we Negro es are ta x payers •. In ti me of
war, we are soldi ers . In =urt , we are offenders. And
before a bombastic, lying politician who see ks our votes,
we are e.itiz ens� But , my frie nd, when we go to get jo bs
w1 th the beautiful city of Pasadena, our status becomes' :
changed . We b1t come Ne groes. And , if we are good, and
plenty lucky , we can get on 'w ith the
i
arbage boys' to
fill an 'o pening under a Negro Q,uo ta'l
Undou btedly the bitt erne ss of �his stat ement exce eds
2
Quote d from an open lett er from a Pasadena citizen,
published in the California Eagle, a Los Ang eles Ne gro news
paper; August l, i940 .
th at felt by some Pasadena Negroes. Nevertheless, it is
representat ive of many , and milder th an some .
112
Pbr the purpo se or illustr ating the growth of re sent
ment in th e minds of Negroes who come up ag ainst the color
bar, it will be worthw hile to examine the stor y of one young
Negro. His name will be with held .
The young man in que Btio n was brought up in Pasadena
and att ended high school there. He was gradu ated with a high
scholastic stan ding and with the respect and admiratio n of
his tea chers and his fellow stu dents. In spite of lack of
money he ch ose to continue his educatio n . By working long
hours in th e afternoon and at nig ht, he put himself throug h
th e unive rsity, and again was graduated with a high standing.
Returning to Pasadena he searched for work. After
some months of vai n applicat io ns for other positions, he fi
nally was forced to accept a job on th e cit y' s garbage dis
posa l force .
In intervi ewing White leaders on other matte rs per
taining to the stu dy the writer was surprised at the fre quency
with which thi s young Negro was brou ght into th e co nversation
by interviewees . Fin ally one prominent educator was asked,
"What is there about th i s boy that causes everyone to bring
up his story?'' A:t' ter some th ought th e answer was , "Well, I
guess we all have him on ou r conscie nce." Thus it will be
seen that his ina bility to r1nd work was probably not due to
113
lack of apprecia tio n for his wo rth.
However, the fact that he was forced int o garbage col
lectio n is not the si gnif icant fac.t , for at this particu lar
ti me many White boys were also unable to ffnd goo d posit ions .
The important thing is that in his min d his race is the fac
tor which ha s close d the doors of oppor tunity to him.
On his questio nnaire, in answer to the questio n , "in
what ot her sta tes besid es Californi a have you livedn, his
answer was , 11 Chaosu . And at the end of the questio nnai re he
added a stat ement that reveals all too clea rly the depth of
the baffled, resentful pessimis m to which his experience has
driven him .
The remainder of hi s questionnair e was filled out with
unusual thoug htfulness and a remarka ble degree of toler ance.
His reac .t io n to the whole situatio n see ms to be one of hurt ,
bitter resentment .
This case diff ers from many others like it only in the
unusually high cali bre of the young man inv olved, and his
reactio n differs from the usual one chiefly in the degree of
intell igence with whic h he analyzes the difficu lty and ex�
presses himself.
Educati onal oppo rtunit ies. In regard to eq uipment,
buildi ngs, teachers, and all other tangible aspects of the
educatio nal syste m Negroes and Whites are equally privileged
in Pasadena . The two race s use all of the same sc hool facil1-
114
ties toge-t her.
Nevertheless, many of the adult Negroes feel that the
children of their race are- not accorde d equal treatmant with
in the sch ools. In answer to the questio n, "Do you believe
that Negro stu dents in local sch ools are given a fair chance?",
only 8 per cent answer ed 11Y es� 43.8 per cent answere d "Not
quite" , and 48. 2 per cent answered "Definitel y not" .
In spit e of this, no marked tendency was sh own to pre
fer se par ate Negr o sc hools. Tpe great majority of Negroes
indicated that it would not matter to them whether the sc hools
had "no White stu dents", "a few White student s", or ••mostly
White stu dents".
Contacts with Whites in resi dentia l and soc ial sit u-
�----� ---- -- --- �
ations. White citizens in Pasa dena frequently exp ress the
opinio n that the Negro's chief am bitions are to mingle with
White people socially and to live in White neighborhoods.
The whole questio n of Negro attitu des toward perso nal inter
racial contacts is important to the pres ent stu dy.
In the questionnaire stu dy the Negroes were as ked which
they would prefer to have as neig hbors--- Wh ites, Negroes, or
both. Of those answering only 1 per cent said "Whites",
11. 4 per cent checked "Negroes " , 37.1 per cent checked "both" ,
and the remainde r, 50.5 per cent , sai d that it a.o es n't matter.
If these answers were relia ble there is little ten dency to
prefer White neighbor hoods .
115
Close ly rela�ed to thi s q�estio n is the work of the
Pasadena Im provemen t Associa tio n, whi ch was describe d in Chap
te r rv. Thi s organi zatio n's drive to restri ct property against
Negro occu panc y has aroused c.ons1der ab1e antagon ism on the
part of the Negroes •. In frequent editor ial s within the las t
yea r the California Eagle, a Los Angeles Negro newspa per, bas:
use d such terms as "un- Ameri can" , .. race- baitin g" , "racket 11 ,
11 Slu ms" , .. ghetto " , and "segreg ated area" in di scussing the
activit ies of the associa tio n . Althou gh these comme nts did
not come from Pasadena Ne groes, they are si mi lar to those
he ard in Pasade na.
An office r of the Pas adena Impr ovement Asso ci atio n
.state d in an in tervi ew that the restric tio ns being im pose d
are aimed at help in g the Negroes as well as the Whit es. As
a whole the Negr oes are unabl e to int erpret the si tuation in
this way. Their contentio n is that while they have no partic•
ular desir e to liv e in Whi te neig hborhood s , they do want the
p
r
ivile ge of li ving whe rever they choose.
The attitu de of some Neg roes toward the use of public
swim mi ng pools with Whites has alrea dy been revealed in the
di sc lls sio n of the court case involving the right of Neg roes
to use Brookside Plunge . Opin io n among th e Neg roes is evi
dently divided on the advisa bility of having brought sui t
agai nst the city .
Thi s di visio n is indi o:ative of two basi c:; philosop hi es
11 6
which split the Negro grou p into two sections on many issues .
There are those �e groes, many of them youn g, who fee l that
only 'b7 fighting eve ry step of the waJ will their race receiv e
recognit ion . Oppo sed to this grou p is another ele ment in the
Ne gro population which feels that an open fight with the
Whites for eq ual rig hts can only result in ill will and fur
ther curtailment of ex1s1Jing rights. o Need less :to say, the
lines are not clearly drawn be tween these two co ntrastin g
groups, but in general they are to be found on opposite sides
of any such questio n as the Brookside Plunge case.
A similar division of Negro opini on is displa yed on
the questio n of the desira bility of having a recreat ional
center and swimming pool eq ually as. fine as Bl'Ooks ide con
structe d exclusivel y tor Negr oes.. This- plan has been sug
gested by se veral White leaders as a solution to the prese nt
problem. On the questionnaire the
Neg roes were aske d whether
or not they wo �_d favor such a projeot. T hey were almo st
eq ually divided, 41.7 per cent answering "Yes" · and 39.8 per
ce nt reply ing "No" . The r�ining 18 .5 pe r ce nt were und ecid ed.
Ther:, reason for opposing such a recreational center,
as exp resse d by se veral Neg roes in interviews, is that any
thing which seg regates the two races is another wedge between
them and has a bad effect .
It may be conc lude d that the chief element in the
reactio n of Ne groes to inter racial co ntacts is an insiste nce
117
that no color line be drawn , not bec ause the indiv idual Neg ro
prefers to associ ate wi th or live near Whi tes, but because
he feels that any other arrangement is a nee dless and dan
gerous curtailment of hi s libe rty.
NEGRO ATTIT UDES TO WARD THE TOTAL RACE PROBLI£M IN PASADENA
The foregoi ng discussion has in dic ated Neg ro attitud es:::
toward particular aspe ct s of the race problem. A c� nelu d1ng
section on the feelings .. of Negroes tow ard the situatio n taken
as a wh ole is now neces sary to complete the pict ure of the
Ne gro' s reaction to his status.
In the questio nnaire the Negr oes ·were asked how they
fel t that "the positio n of Negr oes in Pasadena compares with
that in other cities or the count ry, taking into cons iderat ion
employment , educatio nal, political , and social factors" .
They were given five choices in their answe rs . Of those that
replie d , 39 .3 per ce nt said that Pasadena is about average.
Ver y fe w bel ieved that it is better than average-- -only 2. 8
per ce nt checked "am ong the best" and only 1.8 per cent
chec ked "be tter than most" . All of the rest •ere on the
other side of the question. 31.7 per ce nt saying that Pasa
dena is "worse than most• cities, and 24.3 per cen t sayin g
that it is "among the worst" . Thi s makes a total of 55 per,
cent who feel that Pasadena is below the average in treatment
of Ne groes.
��8
Althou gh these opinions cannot be ta ken as a true in
di catio n of the actual compari so n of Pasadena with othe r
ci ties , they do point out a strong degree of di ssatis factio n
on the part of the Ne groes. Thi s is a signific ant facLor
regard�ess of its . justifi cati on .
These resu lts are es peciaLly intere stin g in vie w of
the fao� that over half of those who answered the questio n
nair e in di cate d that they have liv ed in the South at some ti me.
One of these former southern Negroes exp�a1ned hi s statement
that Pasade na is }' amon g the worst" by sayin g that in the So uth
the Ne gro's social position is well-defined , and within h1sc
sphere he has con,1dera ble freedom. In Pasadena , however,
there is a strong pretense made of complete racia l tolerance,
but ver y little toler ance actually practice d.
Tne Negroes were also asked what they thought to be
the trend of race relatio ns in Pasadena . T
h
is questio n pro
duced the greates t una�i mity of answers shown on the enti re
questio nnaire . Of those answering, 70.4 per cent said that
in the past fi ve ye ars Negro-Wh ite rela tions have 11bec ome
more str ained " . Most of the remainin g 29.6 per ce nt said that
relatio ns had remained abou t the same, or that they did not
know . Only about 7 per cent said that condi tio ns have im prov ed.
These results wi ll i�lustrate to a certai n degree the
ser io usness with whi ch racial is sues are regarded by Pasadena
Ne groes. The atti tudes of' in di vid ual Neg roes faced by thi s
119
problem fall largely into t•o opposin g outlooks, as has al
rea dy b.een sugge ste d . One of these is the somew hat bellig
erent sta nd taken by some Negroes who feel th at only by sta nd
in g up for their rig hts wi ll they progress. , The othe r is the
belief that moder atio n and gradual improvement of conditio ns,
wit h no ope n conflict , will produce more lastin g resu lts.
But , whic hev er vi ew is taken, the feeling that unde r
lies it te nds to be one of uneas in ess, of te nse ness, of str ong
and continu al awaren ess of racia l pressur es. Thi s se nse of
im pe nding trouble is illu str ated by the followi ng comment
writte n on a questio nnaire :
I would like to see a labor rela tio ns board and an
I nter-r acia l Commi ssio n made up where proble ms of su ch
coul d be worked out. Then there wouldn't be tha� feeli ng
of somethin g going to happen be tween the Whites and the
Negroes! Relations hi ps are terribly str ai ned in Pasa dena •.
Another Ne gro also su ggeste d a joint Ne gro-Whi te coun
cil as a solu ti on.
I would li ke to see all the religio us groups se t up
an In terracia l Oouncj,.l to work out social problems. Then
our people would have no prejudices and vi ce-v ersa.
Def i nit ely our folk can't help but hate Whites when they
consta ntly do so much to make us unhap py.
A young Negro who also se nse d what he belie ved to be
a growing seri ousness in the si tuatio n wrote:
Pasa dena Whit es should awaken to the realiz atio n th at
THEY are creating a mino rity proble m! One which is grow
ing in int ensit y and one whi ch wi ll be tremendous if they
don't awaken and attempt to do something about it .
It may be safel y said that a great many of the Negroes
are perplex ed by th e entir e problem, unable to see any way out
12 0
of th e di fficu lty, and th us are forced into a sor t ot' hope
less accepta nce of the conditio ns. Thi s does not mean th at
they are, as one White perso n put it , "happy and sa tisf ie d
as long as they sta y in their place" . Thi s st udy di d not
reveal many Negro es who feel that they have a 11 place11 apart
from other races.
Per haps the feeli ngs of th at large part of the Neg ro
group who are more or less overw helme d by the problem is best
expressed by one of them who wrote on her questi onnaire :
"May God help the si tuatio n as a whole.1 4
'l' he chi ef di vi sion of Negro thinking, the n , seems to
be betwee n those who endorse thi s se ntiment in it s general
spi rit , and those who have came to the belief that there will
be no such power ful assi sta nce to their cause, th at they must
help thems elves.
CHAP'l'ER VII
SUIOIARY AND CONCLUSI ONS
The first Negro families came to Pasadena very early
in its history---within the first ten years after the c.'ity
was founded in 1873 · By 1890 there were seventy-five Negro
residen ts. This num ber has grown unt il today there are ap•
proximately 4, 026 Negroes . They constitute about 4.68 per
ce nt of the ci ty' s present populatio n according to recent
estimates.
Even in the early days .'of Pasade na's history there
was fric tio n betwee n the Negroes and the Whites, and at least
one efrort was made prior to ].900 to disc:rourage the Negroes
from moving in. Stnce then, the pattern of race relations
in the city has varied from time to time, and from group to
grou p . At present Negro-White co ntacts and co nflic t s are
among the most vital of Pasadena's proble ms .
Land values, the plans of real estate men, the loc ation
of available work, property restric tions • and othe r econo mic·
and social factors caused th e Negro population to settle
largely in two areas in the cit y. These sec tions are not far
apart, one in the nor thwest and th e other in the south west
part of the cit y ; but they are separated by an extension of
the central business• district. Although most of PAsadena's
Neg roes liv e in one of these two areas . there are also a num-
122.
ber or famil.ies scattered about in other sectio ns. These
is ol.at ed Ne gro groups are the cause or consider abl.e dissa tis
factio n on th e part of so me Whites who fear a further dis
persio n of the col. ored populatio n .
An inve stig atio n of the occupational positio n of the
Negroes revealed that they find wor k most freq uently as per
sonal and domestic se rvants. Approxim atel y one thir d of the
gain ful.J.y employed men and a. larger propor tion of the women
are employed in thi s fiel d . Ne xt in importa nc� is the gen
eral c1assifi catio n of uns killed work whi ch provid e s jobs for
at least 15 per ce nt of the men. Arousing consider able dis
satis faction among the Negroes ,is the raot th at the ci ty
hi res Negr oes only as laborers . Anoth er aggravating circum
stance is the polic y of near by air plane manufacturing planta'
not to hi re Negroes in any capacit y.
Foresh adowing future personal disappoi ntment is the
fact , revea1ed in the stu dy , that the majorit y of Negro hi gh
sch ool and junior colleg e stude nts are planning to enter
fiel ds in which there is ver y lit tle oppo rtuni ty for a Negro.
As mi ght be expecte d no ne of the stu dents expeets to enter
domestic or unskil.le d work, the two fiel ds in whi ch most of
their parents work.
The in vestig atio n revealed that many White reside nt s
of Pasadena have a consider able degree of antagonis m agains t
the Negroes. The questi onnair e stu dy showed that the Whites
123
te nd to regard the Negroes as a detr iment to the cit y as a
resid ential co mmuni ty. If a Negro famil y moved into their
nei ghborhood , most White s would ei ther move away or agi tate
to have the �eg roes moved. In fact , most of them would go
stlll further and advoca te some·type of 11 regula.t io ns
n
req t,tir
in g that l� egroes li ve in a sectio n by the msel ves. The Whit es.
also ten de d to attribut e to the Negroes.& di sproport io nate
part in the cit y' s crime , infec ti ous dise ase, and fin ancial
relief problems.
Another indi c.atio n of the prejud ic e agai nst Negroes
is a well - orga ni zed and successf ul drive by prominent Whi te
busine ss men to restric t all resi dentia l proper ty ag ainst
Ne gro occupanc y . About 60 per cent of the cit y has now been
restr i cted •.
A suit, now pendi ng in court, was brought by aeve ral
Ne gro es last year to forc.e the c1. ty to allow Negroes to use
a muni cip al swimming pool on the same basi s as Whites .. Thi s
again ill ustrates the polic y of many White peopl e in Pasaae na
and the antag oni sm whi ch resu lts among the Negr oes.
Alth oug h sch ools do not di scrimin ate agains t Negroe s,
many youth orga ni zatio ns in Pasa dena do . The scou ts, th e
Y.M. C .A. , and other such groups make a limi t ed place in their
programs for Negr oes, but seldom on the same basi s as Whites �
On tes ting the validi ty of th e Whi te opin i o ns regarding
Negro crime , inf ecti ous disease , and reli ef it was found that
124
the Negr oes contri bute slightly more to each of �hese pr ob
lems than their proport io n in the popu lation would justify.
In most cases the differenc e betwe en the Negro perc entage in
a particular pr oblem and the Negro percentage in the popula
tion was not more than 3 to 5 per ce nt. Juveni le delinquency
and ve nereal disease were the two places at which the Neg ro
re cord wa s most ou t of pr oportion to their num ber s .
The reactio n of the Negro to hi s sta tus 1n Pasadena
vari es with hi s in divid ual experi enc e and hi s te mperament •.
Howev er, there was revealed a very definite con seiousness of
the racial problem on the par t of pr acticallY all Negroes.
Many of them feel very strongly on the su bject of what they
claim to be White inju stices. Most of them feel that Negroe s,
are not given a fair opportunit y to co mpete with Whites on
an eq ual basis in occ upational fields.
Some of the Negr oes reveal a bitter and belligerent
attitude, while so me are much more mi ld in their reactio n
and are inclined to make the best of the situation. Almost
all are conscious of the strained Negro -Whi te relations and
displ ay cons ide ra ble con cer n over the growing an�ago nism
sh own by both ra ces.
Conclusio ns. The scop e of thi s stu dy is to o limited
t o permit the drawing of conc lusions which could be ap plied
to any but the loca l situation. It cannot be said that the
results represent accurately even the attitudes of all Pasa-
125
dena citi zens , for the data used were not taken from a sci -
entifi cally determined sampling. Nevertheless, certain ten
tative conclusio ns ca n be sta ted which apply at least to th ose
particu lar sit uations and grou ps of �ersons stu died.
It h as long been recognized by stu dents of race rela
�ions th at one of the fundam ental eauses of preju dice is
economic co mpetitio n.
l
The present stu dy reveal s that thi s
is also tr ue of the Pasadena race problem . Competit io n for
jobs and th e effect of Negro occupancy on property values
appear to the writer to be the chief ca uses of anti-Negro
feelin g among Pasa dena White citiz ens . Many White pers ons
wha have no personal objectio ns to Negroes have allowed con
cern over property values to inf luence them to sign restrictio n
agreements and otherwi se to ta ke steps to segregate th e Negroes.
Another common sou rce of race ant agonism, adverse
sensory react1ons,
2
is also found in th e Pasa dena problem.
T
he opposition of Whites to the use of swim ming pools by
Negroes is undou btedly based largely on th is factor, although
in thi s case the adverse sensory reactions are co upled wit h
the fear of loss of revenue beca use of decreased White
patronage.
1
Emory s. Bogard us, 11 Caus es of' Race Antagoni sm, .. �-
io logy and Socia l Research,
2
4:166-70 , November-December, 1939 ·
2
Ibid.
126
It ma� be co ncluded that on the whole Negroes in Pasa
dena are norm al and desir able citi zens when ju dged on the
basis of their relative partici patio n in crime, delinq uency,
in t ·ectioua disease , and relief . It see ms safe to co nclude
that the slight excess of Negroes over Whites in these soc
ial probl ema can be attrib uted largely to the co mparat ively
more difficult eco nomic situ atio n in which the Negro is plac.ed
by vir tue of his race. When the extent of this factor is �on
si dered, it is remarkable that there is not a greater differ
entia l betwee n
Negro and White records in crime, dis ease, and
relief.
It is ce rtai n also that the impact a£ racial disc ·rim
inat io n , particularly in the matter of occu patio nal opportuni
ties , is havin g a noticea ble effect upon the attitu des of many
Pasadena Negroes. In the ease of so me , particu larly youn
g
men and women, this effect amount s to a serio us perso nality
disor ganizatio n .
The present stu dy does not warrant any conclusio ns
regarding a solu ti on to the problem . However, it very def
inite ly indi cates that, in the face ot · prese nt trends, so me
intell ig ent measu re s to promote better Negro-White relatio ns
will be required to avoid more serio us soc ial maladjus tments.
BIB L IOG RAPHY
SELECTED BIB LIOGRAPHY
(Background Mat erials)
A. BOOKS
Baker, Paul E. , �-Whi te Adjus tment .
Press, 1934 . 267 pp.
New York : Associatio n
Baker, Ray Sta nnard, Following the Color Line. New Yor k :
Dou bleday, Page and dompany:-1 908 . �pp .
Beasley , Delila h L. , Negro Trail Blaz ers .£! California. Los
Ange les , Californ ia : Times- Mirro r Print in g and Binding
House, 1919 . 323 pp �
Big gers , John D. , Adm inist rator, Censu s of Part ial Employm ent ,
Unemployment , �O ccupati ons. Washin gton , D.C : Unit ed
St ates Governmen t Print ing Office , 1937.
Boaz, Franz, The Mind of Primiti ve Man . New York:· The Ma cmil
la n Company, 1921:- 294 PP • .
Bogard us, Emory S. Fundament als of Social Psyc hology, New
York : D. Applet on-Centu ry Company, 1931 •. 444 pp •.
, Immigrat ion and Race At ti tud es. Boston : D.O.
------�H�e-a�th� and Company, 1928:--2 68 pp.
Bond, J. M., "The Negro in Los Angeles." Unpu blish ed Doct or' s
diss ertat ion, The University of Southern California ,
Los Angel es, 1938 . 365 leaves.
Brown , Julia E. , "Social Distance Betw een Whites and Negroes
in th e Unite d St ates Today." Unpu blis hed Mast er's th esis,
The University of South ern California, Los Angeles , 1938.
139 lea ves.
Chicago Commissio n on Race Relat ions, The Negro In Chicago .
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press , 1�2 . 672 pp.
Cottr ell, Edwin A. , Pasa dena Social Agencies. Sta nfor d Uni
versity , 1940 . 378 pp •.
Dowd , Jerome, The Negr6 In America n Life.
tu ry Co mpany, 192 • 61 1
PP•
New York : The Ce n-
F1not, Jean , Race Pre,ju di ce . New York: E. P. DUtton andi
0dmpany ,
-
r9Q7 . 3 20 pp .
Gregor y , John W. , The Kenaae £! Colour . London: Seeley ,
Servi ce, and Company , Limi ted, 1925. 264 pp�.
Holmes, Samuel J., '!'he Negr oes " Stru55l e for Survi val .
Berkele y , Cali forn i a : · Universi ty of Cali forn i a Pre.s.s·j
1937 . 296
PP•' ·
Horowi tz, Eug ene L� , The Dev.elopme nt £! Att-i tud es Toward
:!ill,! Negro . New
Y
ork, l9
3 6
. 4
7
PP •' .
129
Johnson, Charles s. , Growing QE. .!!!, the Black �· Wa shi ngton,
D. 0� American Coun ci l on Eduaat 1on, 1941 • . 360
PP •
Mathe ws, Basll J., The Clas h of Color. New York : Geor ge H.
Doran COmpany , 1924. 18lpp .
Muntz, Earl E., Raae Contact. New Yor k : The Ce ntury Company,
1927 . 407 �
Reid, Ira De A. , In a.. Minor �· 1· Washingt on, D. C: Am erican
Council on EdUaa tio n , 1 4 •
Reuter, Edward ff'•, Tne Amer i can Race Problem . New Yor k :
Tlitom as··Y. Crow i!'I COmpany, Iffl. 44S pp •.
Thompson, Edgar T�, edito r , Race Relatio ns and th e Race Prob
�· Durham, N. 0: Duke University
P
r
iii (,
�39:--3)8pp
.: .
Weatherfor d , Wil li s D. , Race Relatio ns. Boston: D. c. Heath
and Company, 1934. -;90
PP
•
·
Wo od, J. w., Pa sadena , Calif ornia. Hi storical � Perso nal.
Publis hed by t
h
e author, 1917 .
B �: ARTIC LES
Boaz , Franz, 11 Rac�e Prejudice from the Scie ntis t's Angle, ..
Forum , 98 :9 0-4, Augus t, , 1937.
BOgardus , Em ory s. , "Causes of Race Antago nis m, " Sociolo �
and Social Resea rch, 24 :166
-
70 , Nove mber-D ecember, r;; g.
Ferguson , Geor ge o. , "The Psych ology of the Neg ro," Archives
of Ps ychology, No . 56. New Yor k : The Sci ence Press-,
Apri l, 1916.
130
Horowitz, E:tJ.gene L., .. The Development of Att itu de tow ard the
Negro," Archives of Ps ychology, No . 194. New Yo rk :
The Sc� ence Press, Janua ry, 1936 .
Johnson, G. B.', "Ne
t? ro Racial Movement s and Leaders hip in the
Unite d Sta tes, American Journal of Sociolog y , 43:57-71 ,
July, 1937 ·
Thomas, W. I., "The Psych olog y of Race Preju dice,n American
Journal £! Sociology, 9:593-611 , March, 1904 •.
Villard, o. G. , "Justice for the Neg ro ; Rac.e Discriminati on
in the Army , Navy , and Industry, " Ch ristia n Ce nt ury,
57 :1582-84, December 18 , 1940 .
Young, Erle F., ttlihat Is Race Prejudice , 11 Journal of Applied
Sociology, 10 :134-40, November-Dece mber, 1925 .
Zeligs, , Rose, "Tr acing Racial At ti tudes Through Adolese snce, •!
Sociolog� and Social Rese arch, 23:45-54, Septemb er
Octo ber, l� •.
APPENDIX
AGREEMENT AND DECLARATION OF RACI IISTRICTIONS
;:: �!�r
tt,tl32
THIS AGREEMENT made and entered into this ......... .....•. day of ---····--- -···· ···· ············· ·-··-· 19 -.,
by and between the subscribers hereto,
WITNESSETH:
THAT, WHEREAS each of the parties hereto is the owner of or has an int.nlt or estate in, or a lien or �
upon, the real property designated and particularly described opposite their reqective signatures, all of which aa1d
real property is situated in that portion of the City of Pasadena, County of Loa Anarel es, State of California, aDd
within a certain district therein which is described as follows, to-wit :
Bounded on the North by ...... ·-···'················ ······ ················ ············ ········ ···-··-· - ·········· ······· ························· ····-··--
on the East by ... .. ..... .. . . : .... ......... ......... . . .... .... ............. ................ �· -·· ·- ········· ···· · -······-··-····· ············· ········ ···· ···· ··· ··· ····--·-···
on the South bY······················· ·························································· ·············· ·········- ······-········· ·········· ·················· ··············
and on the West bY························· ··········· ····························· ·················· ·············-··· ···-··················· ·················· ·············-
WHEREAS, the several parcels of land within the above described area which are now occupied are occupied, with
only a few exceptions, exclusively by persons of the White or Caucasian race; and
WHEREAS, it is for the mutual benefit and advantage of each of the parties hereto, and for the benefit and
advantage of each and every parcel of land within the district aforesaid, whether the same are now occupied or not,
that each and every parcel of land within said area shall be limited and restricted to occupancy by, and that the same
shall be occupied exclusively by persons of the White or Caucasian Race: .
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises, and in consideration of the advantages to be derived
by each of the parties hereto by the making of this agreement, and further, in consideration of th e benefits which
will accrue to the real property of the undersigned, respec tively, or in which they are respectively interested, IT IS
HEREBY MUTUALLY COVENANTED AND AGREED by and between the parties hereto that up to and including
the first day of January, 19 .... .. . .. . , each and every of the lots or parcels of land designated and particularly described
opposite the respective signatures of the parties hereto shall be subject to the following restriction and covenant which
shall apply to and be binding upon the parties hereto, their and each of their heirs, devisees, executors, adminis
trators, successors and assigns, namely:
That no portion or part of said lots or parcels of land shall be used or occupied by, or be permitted to be used or
occupied by, any person not of the White or Caucasian race. That no person shall live upon said property at any time
whose blood is not entirely that of the Caucasian race, but if persons not of the Caucasian race are kept thereon by
such Caucasian occupant strictly in the capacity of servants or employees of such occupant, such circums tances
shall not constitute a violation of this covenant.
IT IS UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED that said covenant is made for the benefit of each lot or parcel of land
described after the respective signatures of the parties hereto as against each and every other of said par cels or por·
tions thereof, and that said covenant is made for the benefit of each party hereto, and that said covenant shall operate
as a covenant running with the land, and that the same is created as mutual, equitable servitude in favor of each of said
lots or parcels as against each and every other of said lots or parcels.
IT IS FURTHER UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED, and it is hereby expressly declared, that the foregoing cov·
enant shall inure to the benefit of and bind each and all of the parties hereto ; and that said covenant shall extend
to and shall bind the heirs, devisees, executors, _administrat ors and assigns of the parties hereto, and of each of them,
and that any breach of said covenant or agreement may be enjoined, abated or remedied by appropriate proceedi ngs
by the parties hereto, or by any of them, their and each of their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators and as·
sig ns; or compensation recovered for any and all damage which may be occasioned by any such breach.
IT IS FURTHER COVENANTED AND AGREED that, in case it shall be found conven ient or expedient to do
so, the signature of any party or parties may be subscribed upon separate instruments containing substantially the
same covenants and agreements as herein contained, instead of having all of ·s uch signatures appended to one
single copy of the same, and that when thus executed all such instruments and copies of the same shall be resd to
gether and shall be deemed to be and that the same shall constitute one single instrument, and that the covenants and
agreements as contained and set forth in any and all such instruments shall be deemed to have been made with and
shall bind, and shall inure to the benefit of each and every other person who shall have signed this agreement or dupli
cate copies of the same, his and each of their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, and shall have the same
force and effect as though the signatures of all parties had been appended to a single cov:v of this agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, �e have hereunto set our bands and have set opposite our respective names a
description of the property owned by us, respectively, or in which we are interested, and which is affected by the
covenants of this agreement.
X
A STUD Y OF NEG ROES IN PAS.ADENA
Instruct iona :
(1) Do not sign your name .
(2} If you have lived for more than one year in another state or
country please indicate places and approxim ate length of tim e.
__years
__years
( 3) Check the answers which bf! 11t fit �rou r i!"J'led ie.to react ion to the
qu estion . Please � B£i att empt !£ reason � rat ionalize, but
answer according to your first feel ing reaction.
(1) Would you est im ate the numb er of Negro es in Pa sadena's 84, 000
people at :
About 1, ?00 (or 2%)
Jl.b out 3,500 (or 4%)
hbout 6,800 (ora%)
About 12 ,500 ( or 15%
)
Have no idoa
(2) How do the Negroes in Pasadena effect tho desirability of the ci ty
as a residential c omm un ity?
Im prove it
Make no diff erence
Make it le ss desirable
---- (3) If a Negro famil y were to move into your ne ighborho od would you :
Be :pleased
i .. cccpt the m as na ighbors
Ju st ignore the ir presence
Agitate to have them removed
Move yourself
(4) Would you favor regulat ions requirin g the Negroes to live in a
section of the city by themselve s?
Ye s
No
Don't know ----- (5) If it were :po ssible and convenient would you orofer that your
chi ldren att end a school having:
Many Negroes
Only a fow
No Ne groes
Do ocn' t nattor ____ _____ _
1
33
A STlJDY OF NEGROES IN P .ASJ:J)ENA (2)
(6) Do you thin k that the Negr oes in Pasadena commit mo re , about the
same , or fewer , crime s than the whites in proportion to their num bers?
More
About the same
Fewer
(7) Do you believe that the Negroes in Pasadena are more healthy, ab out
the same , or less �eal thy, than the whit0s in re gard to infectious
diseas es?
More heal thy
About the same
Lc so healthy
(8) Do you believe that the Negroes in Pasad ena obtain mo re , about the
same , or less, financ ial rel ief and charity than the whites in
proportion to their numb ers?
More
About tho same ____ __
Loss
(q) If thoro are any other c omm ent s you wi sh to make you may do so here :
134
RACE ATT ITUD ES IN PASADENA
Ins tructions :
1. Do not sign your name .
2. The following general in formation is importan t .
(a ) Sex : �� le Femal e •
(b ) Occ upatio n :-
-
•
(c) Pl ace of work: In Fisadena Outside of Fis adena •
(d ) List a� st ates besides Cal iPo rnia in which you have ---- li ve d for more than one ye ar .
3. In the foll owi ng quest ions ple ase ch e�c �k�t �h�e - a- n�s we �r --Wh �i �c�fi �b-e -s �t-- -
fi ts � fi rst fe el ing you � upon reading the quest ion.
1. If you had your choice woul d you pre f er to work for a Ne gro or a Vfui te
empl oye r, if the pay and th e working conditions wer e equal ?
Negro
_
White Doesn' t matte r •
2. If there wer e a Negro, a Whit e , a Japane se, a Mexi can, and a Fili p ino ,
all of equ al abil ity, seeking wo rk in Pasadena which woul d have tho
be st chance , ne xt be st, etc. Numbe r 1,2 ,3, etc.
Ne gro Vlhit o
-
Japane se Mexican Fil ipin o
3. If you had your choico , and the school fac ilit ie s wer e all equall y good,
would you pref e r to attend, or have your children att end, a sch ool with
No Vihi to s tudonts A fow Whi to st udents
·
Most ly White srud" ents _ Doosn' t matte r
4. Do �you beli eve thn t Ne gro st udents in local school s aro given
a fa ir chnnco 7
Yos Not qui to Dof inite ly not
5. If you had your choice which woul d you pref er to have as ne ighbors ?
Vfhitcs Negroes Both Doesn' t matter
6. VTould you favo r having tho ci ty provide a re creational contor and
swimmi ng pool equal ly as fin e as Droo ksido excl usivel y � Negroes?
Ye s No Don' t know
-
135
7. Ho> ·r d.o you fo ol tho.t tho position of Negroes in Pasadena co mpa res wit h
that in ot he r ci ties of th o countr,y. tak ing into cons ide r ation empl oyment,
aducationa 1, pol iti cal and social fac tors ?
Pasadena is among the be st Bett o r th an most about ave rag e
Worse than most Among tho worst •
-
s. In the po.st fi� year s woul d you an y that Ne gro-Whi to relati ons
in Paso.deno. have
Imp rove d
Don' t know-
Rema ined about tho s�e
•
Becam e mo re strained
136
9. Do you thirik that th o Negroe s in Pasaden a commit moro, about tho sam e,
or f'o wor, cri me s th an tho i!Vhi tos in proportion to the ir numb ers ?
More About th o some Fewe r
10. Do you be l ieve thnt the Negroe s in Po.s ndona o:rc moro heal thy, o.bou t
tho sa... '!lo , or lo ss hc !:l.l thy, them tho 'Whi te s in reg ard to infectious
diseases ?
J.!o ro he c. l t by About the s c..:mo Loss hc o.l tey
11. Do you beli eve that the Ne groe s in Pasadena obto. in mo re , about the sumo ,
or lo ss, f'in.. ".. ncinl relief on d chnri ty tho.n tho Whi to s in proportion
to their num bers ?
More About tho sam e Loss •
-
12. After onch type of work check the column you bel ieve to be correct .
Take into cons ide ration tho entire racial pi cture , not just tho
local conditi ons .
Prof' ossio nnl
Negroes more Negroes and
ca.po.blc tho.n '\'T hito s equal ly
�� itos co.po. blo
Ski lled wo rk (mo chenica, etc . )
BusinG ss
-------- Clo ri cnl work
(s tcnographcrs, etc . )
Unskilled labor
Po rsono.l c. nd domestic work
Ne groe s loss
cnpo.blo than
Whi to s
13. If there uro o.:ny comments you wi sh to mo.ko you may do so hero:
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
The social problems that arise when a small racial minority lives in the midst of a community occupied predominantly by another race have long aroused the interest of social investigators. This situation has been a common one in the United States, where many races have at one time or another played the role of the minority in some community. Probably most frequently, however, it has been the Negro who has faced the necessity of adjusting himself to this role of a minority group member.
Linked assets
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Crimi, James E.
(author)
Core Title
The social status of the negro in Pasadena, California
School
Department of Sociology
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
Sociology
Publication Date
06/01/1941
Defense Date
06/01/1941
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
adult crime,attitudes,birth rates,Brookside Plunge case,city employees,College students,Crime,Defense industries,financial aid,financial relief,infectious disease,juvenile delinquency,OAI-PMH Harvest,occupation,Pasadena Improvement Association,Population,Prejudice,racial policies,Schools,segregation,social problems,social service organizations,social status,Unemployment,youth clubs
Place Name
California
(states),
Los Angeles
(counties),
Pasadena
(city or populated place),
USA
(countries)
Format
application/pdf
(imt),
masters thesis
(aat),
vii, [2], 2-136 leaves : ill., forms, maps ; 28 cm.
(aacr2)
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by Interlibrary Loan Department
(provenance)
Advisor
Bogardus, E.S. (
committee chair
), Letever, D. Welty (
committee member
), Vincent, Melvin J. (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m20
Unique identifier
UC11294085
Identifier
etd-crimijames-308321.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-260991 (legacy record id),usctheses-m20 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-crimijames-308321.pdf
Dmrecord
260991
Document Type
Thesis
Format
application/pdf (imt),masters thesis (aat),vii, [2], 2-136 leaves : ill., forms, maps ; 28 cm. (aacr2)
Rights
Crimi, James E.
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Tags
adult crime
attitudes
birth rates
Brookside Plunge case
city employees
financial aid
financial relief
infectious disease
juvenile delinquency
Pasadena Improvement Association
racial policies
segregation
social problems
social service organizations
social status
youth clubs