NEGRO IN AMERICA, THE. The first mention of the Negro in America is found in the records of the voyages of Columbus. In 1501, or earlier, Negro slaves were familiar in the West Indies, African slaves having been brought over by the Spanish émigrés. From 1505 to 1510 there are records of King Ferdi nand sending slaves to the West Indies. In 1516, 30 Negroes accompanied Balboa and assisted him in building the first ship constructed on the Pacific Coast. On accession to the Spanish throne in 1517, Charles V., also Emperor of Ger many and the Netherlands, granted the exclusive monopoly to Flemish noblemen to import annually 4,000 Africans to Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rico. (References: Lowery, "Spanish Settlements Within the Limits of the United States, 1513-1561"; Wright, "Negro Companions of Spanish Ex plorers," American Anthropologist, Vol. IV., N. S., 1902.") In August, 1619, a Dutch vessel brought to Jamestown 20 Negroes, who were sold into servitude. Virginia did not give statutory recognition to slavery as a system until 1661. In the records of the county courts, Negroes are desig nated as "servants," never as "slaves." (See Russell, "The Free Negro in Vir ginia, 1619-1865," pp. 22-25; Ballagh, "White Servitude in Virginia," p. 45.) The Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from Barbadoes 1636 or 1637; into New York about 1650; into Maryland 1632. In New Jersey the date is indefinite, although the word "slave" occurs in 1664. In Delaware about 1702. First heard of in Pennsylvania in 1688 through the memorial of Francis Daniel Pastorius of Germantown. Slavery was recognized officially in Connecticut in 1650; in Rhode Island in 1652; in New Hampshire in 1714; in North Carolina in 1715; in South Carolina in 1682; in Georgia in 1749. These dates are sig nificant in that they show the presence and distribution of the Negro over the area of the United States. (See Braw ley, "A Short History of the American Negro"; "The Negro Year Book.") Population.—In 1625, six years after the first Negroes were brought to Vir ginia, there were only twenty - three, twelve males and eleven females. In
1659 there were 300; in 1683, 3,000; in 446; New York, 91,709; New Orleans, La., 89,262; Baltimore, Md., 84,749; Philadelphia, Pa., 84,459. Four cities of 25,000 or more, with one-half the popu lation Negro, are Jacksonville, Fla., 50.8 per cent.; Montgomery, Ala., 50.6 per cent.; Charleston, S. C., 52.8 per cent.; Savannah, Ga., 51.1 per cent.
The balance of distribution and the percentage of population has been some what disturbed by the migration of 1918, but it seems to have readjusted itself to pre-war conditions in the large South ern cities.
Economic Conclitions.—The Negro is capable of the hardest kind of work under climatic conditions often intoler able to whites. During the period of slavery the race was engaged chiefly in agriculture and in manual labor. The following tables show the distribution by occupation: In 1910 the number of Negroes 10 years of age and over in gainful occupa tions was: 5,192,535, or 71.0 per cent. of total Negro population of this age; by sex the number was, males, 3,187,554; females, 2,013,981. Negroes constitute 13.6 per cent. of all persons in gainful occupations.
1708, 12,000; in 1712, 23,000; in 1756, 120,156; in 1774, 200,000, or 14 per cent of the population. The first census in 1790 showed the Negro constituting 19.3 per cent, or 757,208, of which 697,899 were slaves. In 1910 the census returns give 9,827,763.
Distribution of Population.—Negroes are distributed in the United States as follows: The South, 8,749,427; the North, 1,027,674; the West, 50,662. In 1910 classification by sex was as follows: Males, 4,885,881; females, 4,941,882.
Georgia has the largest Negro popu lation of any State. In 1910 there were 1,176,987. The State of Mississippi the largest percentage, 56.2 per cent.
The five cities with the largest Negro population are: Washington, D. C., 94, A larger proportion of persons 10 years of age and over in the United States were engaged in gainful occupa tions in 1910 than in 1900. This in crease was especially marked for the Negroes.