University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-01-10

A visitor at the Boone County Fair,
Judging from the complexion of the
noisy crowd, especially at night,
would think that about seven-eighths
of the population of Columbia is black.
If he happened to walk north of the
city hall or for a few blocks and
saw the large number of negroes that
live in one small house. he would feel
sure of it, But as matter of fact
the negro population of Columbia
has not increased at all in late years.
while the white population has made
rapid increase.
The estimated population of Colum-
bia is 10000. exclusive of the student
population. OF these, 800 are white
people and $500 are negroes. In 1900
one-third of the people in Columbia
were negroes.
The death rate for negroes in CO.
lumbia is two and one-half times the
death rate for white people. Last year
there were reported 76 deaths and 1872
births for the white, population and
90 deaths and % births among the
negroes. The death rate for negroes
is - per 1000 and for whites is lO.l
per 1000. This shows that the vitality
of the white people in Columbia is
much greater than that of the negroes.
tuberculosis caused PIG per cent of
the deaths among the negroes.
Few Skilled Laborers.
Fifty per cent of the white laborers
have some trade or are classed as skill
ed labOrers. Only rs per cent of the
negro laborers are skilled There are
COZ men and 323 women among the
negroes who are unskilled laborers
The minimum wage paid them
about s. week, and few get any more
than that because they are only casual
workers and only work when it is alb
solutely necessary.
The houses in which the majority of
the negroes live are very poor. They
have no water or sewer connection,
are poorly lighted and ventilated ex-
cept. as in the case of many, where
the house itself offers very little pro-
testion against the rain or cold. A
large number of people live in each one
of the houses. Blue Row." Batter
toms Flats" or Hopper's Flats" each
probably contain larger number of
people, dogs and other animals than
any other house of the same size in
! Columbia. This section is response
BILE for most Of Columbia's crime.
But not all the negroes are shiftless
or criminal. There are in Colum-
bia several educated, intelligent ne
groes who have made a success in life
that many white people could not make
under similar circumstances. A news
paper is published for the Columbia
negroes and those in this vicinity,
called the Professional World.
St Paul's Methodist Episcopal Afri-
can NJ. Z. Church, Baptist and Christ
ian. Attendance at the negro churches
differs in one respect from the attend
ance at other churches i'm that the
largest attendance is at night at the
negro churches and i'm the morning
at the white churches. The total men,
bership of the negro churches is about
775. The two negro Methodist church.
es do not have young peoples So
ciety similar to the Epworth League
of the Methodist Church, but the Af-
rican Methodist Church has a Young
Peoples Entertainment Club which
gives a musical entertainment every
Friday night with an average attend
ance of 100. They also have numer-
Gus Sunday School picnics. The st.
Paul's NJ. f. Church has Grand Ly-
ceum" for recreation and culture and
this organization has about $50 men,
bers.
4 Church Entertainment.
A class of University students stud
led the negro problem in one of the
mission study courses given by the
Y. NJ. c. A. last year and at the con-
clusion of their course visited the
young peoples society of the negro
church. Singing was the big feature.
After that a man recited one or two
lines that sounded little like Shakes
peare and this was followed by a quo
tation from some other author by an
other performer, and then another