The census reports on occupations for 1900 appeared to indicate that in such trades as carpentry, plastering, black smithing, etc., Negroes were losing ground. The 1910 census on occupations indicates that the Negro has made gains in practically all the trades in which he appeared in 1900 to be losing ground.
In recent years there has been a large increase in the number of Negroes working in factories. They are, to a large extent, doing the rougher, semi skilled work. A marked tendency to ward more highly skilled labor is notice able. In 1900 the number in factory in dustry was 131,216; in 1910 the number was 358,180; an increase of 226,964, or 173 per cent.
According to the census of 1910 there were, excluding the 10,601 boarding and lodging housekeepers, 38,382 Negroes en gaged in business enterprises. This did not include those operating blacksmith, barber and shoe shops, and several other classes of business connected with the trades for which separate returns for proprietors and employees were not made. Probably 5,000 or more should have been added, making the total about 43,000. It is estimated that there are now 50,000 or more Negroes engaged in business.
The general effect on the Negroes of the United States by the World War was greatly to increase the number of occupations in which they were engaged. In Pittsburgh industrial concerns alone there were in 1916, 2,650 Negroes em ployed, while in 1918 the number had in creased to 8,325. (Epstein, "The Negro Migrant to Pittsburgh.") The following table shows the general progress of the Negro since 1866, the end of the Civil War: published was in 1865, "The Christian Recorder." Negroes now own and pub lish 450 periodicals, of which 70 are religious, 85 educational, 7 organs of national associations and general litera ture, 30 fraternal organs, and 220 news papers.
The first Negro lawyer, Allen B. Macon, was admitted to practice law in Worcester, Mass., 1845. There are now 779 Negro lawyers. There are 33 na tional associations of various kinds; social settlements by Negroes are dis tributed throughout the country; over 60 fraternal organizations, with a total membership of Of these, the Knights of Pythias have $1,000,000 for endowment and $2,500,000 of property; the Odd Fellows $2,000,000 of property and the Masons $1,000,000. These fra ternal organizations are largely for the purpose of improving health, social and economic conditions.
The list of books published by Negroes is necessarily faulty and incomplete. The earliest production in the United States was "Twelve Years a Slave," by Solomon Northrup, Buffalo and London, 1853; the next, "The History of the Un derground Railroad," by William Still, Philadelphia, 1872. Hundreds are listed, The social and moral condition of the Negro is rapidly improving, owing chiefly to education and to a better economic position in the community. Wherever economic conditions of the Negro improve, family life and morals improve. Poverty, overcrowding in the cabins in the South and tenements in the North, and segregation in the worst quarters in the city, result in destruc tion of family life, and in disease and crime.
The Negro has improved to a larger extent educationally than in any other line. (See "Negro Education in the United States.") The first periodical not including special studies on social and economic questions. (Reference, "A Select Bibliography of the Negro Ameri can," W. E. B. DuBois, Atlanta Uni versity Publication, No. 10, 1905; "Bib liography of the Negro in America," report of the United States Commis sioner of Education, 1894, Vol. I.; "Se lect List of References on the Negro," A. R. Grifin, Library of Congress, Sec ond Edition, 1906.) Negro Migration.—Within three years, following the outbreak of the war it Europe, more than 400,000 Negroes moved north. In extent, this movement is without parallel in American history.
The real beginnings of Negro migration within the limits of the United States began between 1815 to 1850, with the flight of fugitive slaves to the North west. But the migration of 1917-1918 was more nearly similar to the exodus of 1879-1880 to Kansas, and the one to Arkansas and Texas in 1888-1889.
The real causes of the recent migra tion as expressed by refugees were the agricultural depression in the lower Mis sissippi valley, resentment against polit ical conditions in the South, desire for economic and industrial opportunity, and inadequacy of school facilities for Negro children. This migration was hailed as the "Exodus to the Promised Land," and was characterized by an unusual degree of excitement. It had no conspicuous leaders, and although apparently sudden and spontaneous, it was in reality an ac centuation of a process which had been going on for a hundred years. The total increase in the Negro population between 1900 and 1910 was 11.2 per cent. In the past 50 years the Northern move ment has transplanted about 4 per cent. of the entire Negro population. Chicago increased her Negro population 46.3 per cent., and Columbus, O., 55.3; an in crease wholly at the expense of the South, for the rural communities of the Ncith are very sparsely populated with Negroes, and the increment accruing from birth is almost negligible.
When there is any migration south ward it is largely in the western South Central division, while the migration northward has been more evenly dis tributed by divisions, except that a com paratively small number have gone to the New England States. Previous to the World War, the States having the greatest gain from Negro migration were Arkansas, 105,500; Pennsylvania, 85,000; Florida, 84,000; New York, 58, 450; Illinois, 57,500.
The migration of 1916-1917 brought in its wake a train of industrial and racial conflicts in East St. Louis, Chicago, and some other cities, but they seem to have subsided quickly. The problem of the refugees was handled by the Urban League with intelligence and efficiency, best !displayed in Detroit, where there was a minimum of suffering, in comparison with the congestion of emigrants. (Ref erence, "Negro Migration During the War," Emmett J. Scott, Preliminary Economic Studies of the War, No. 16, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.)