The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot. Chicago Commission on Race Relations

The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot - Chicago Commission on Race Relations


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CONCLUSIONS

       CHAPTER XI SUMMARY OF THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

       THE SUMMARY

       I. The Chicago Riot

       II. The Migration of Negroes from the South

       III. The Negro Population of Chicago

       IV. Racial Contacts

       V. The Negro in Chicago Industries

       VI. Public Opinion in Race Relations

       THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

       APPENDIX

       A. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION

       B. THE STAFF OF THE COMMISSION

       C. EPITOME OF FACTS IN RIOT DEATHS

       INDEX

      LIST OF MAPS

       Table of Contents

FACING PAGE
The Chicago Riot 8
Distribution of Negro Population, 1910 106
Distribution of Negro Population, 1920 110
Proportion of Negroes to Total Population, 1910 116
Proportion of Negroes to Total Population, 1920 120
Homes Bombed 124
Negro Churches 144
Social Agencies 148
Homes of White and Negro Employees 154
Types of Negro Housing 184
A Changing Neighborhood 212
Recreation Facilities 272
Transportation Contacts, Morning 7:00 to 9:00 300
Transportation Contacts, Evening 4:00 to 6:00 300
Houses of Prostitution, 1916 342
Houses of Prostitution, 1918 342
Resorts 346
Industrial Plants 360

      FOREWORD

       Table of Contents

      There is no domestic problem in America which has given thoughtful men more concern than the problem of the relations between the white and the Negro races. In earlier days the colonization of the Negro, as in Liberia, was put forward as a solution. That idea was abandoned long ago. It is now recognized generally that the two races are here in America to stay.

      It is also certain that the problem will not be solved by methods of violence. Every race riot, every instance in which men of either race defy legal authority and take the law into their own hands, but postpones the day when the two races shall live together amicably. The law must be maintained and enforced vigorously and completely before any real progress can be made towards better race relations.

      Means must be found, therefore, whereby the two races can live together on terms of amity. This will be possible only if the two races are brought to understand each other better. It is believed that such understanding will result in each having a higher degree of respect for the other, and that such respect will form the basis for greatly improved relations between the races.

      The Commission on Race Relations, composed of distinguished representatives of both races, has made the most thorough and complete survey of the race situation that I have seen anywhere. While its field of study was necessarily limited to Chicago, the conditions there may be regarded as fairly typical of conditions in other large cities where there is a large colored population.

      The report does not pretend to have discovered any new formula by which all race trouble will disappear. The subject is too complex for any such simple solution. It finds certain facts, however, the mere recognition of which will go a long way towards allaying race feeling. It finds that in that portion of Chicago in which colored persons have lived longest and in the largest numbers relatively there has been the minimum of friction. This is a fact of the first importance. For it tends to show that the presence of Negroes in large numbers in our great cities is not a menace in itself.

      There is one recommendation (No. 31) to which I desire to call special attention: that a permanent local commission on race relations be created. When as Governor of Illinois I withdrew troops from Chicago after the riots, I was not at all persuaded that all danger of their recurrence was past. I kept observers from the Adjutant General's office on the ground to watch for any signs of fresh trouble. The Commission on Race Relations was appointed, and conditions at once began to improve. The activities of this Commission, composed of the best representatives of both races, were, as I believe, the principal cause for this improved condition.

      Causes of friction, insignificant in themselves, but capable of leading to serious results, were discovered by the Commission and by its suggestion were removed in time to avoid grave consequences. Gross exaggerations


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