The forum. [volume] (Springfield, Ill.) 1904-192?, 1916-11-04
CAUSE or UNREST AMONG 7
C0L0RED LABORERS SOUTH
Movement Northward Due to Low
Wages and Other Handieaps

II
Wilson Jefferson, in concluding in
the Evening Post of New York an
exhaustive discussion of the effect of
the European war upon the colored
American. says: To get glimpse of
the possibilities wrapped up in Negro
labor one has only to investigate the
more progressive of the manufacture
ing cities of the south. Birmingham,
Ala, depends almost wholly upon the
Negro for its unskilled and semiskilled
labor. Nashville. Atlanta. Memphis
and Jacksonville do likewise But In
all of these towns, save in some In
stances in Birmingham. wages are too
low. housing conditions are poor and
the advantages for recreation and
pleasure exceedingly limited.
1t will be from these localities that
Negroes will emigrate to the middle
west and east and to localities where
wages are good and where there are
opportunities for pleasure and self Inn
provement No class of labor remains
satisfied indefinitely under oppressive
conditions. The Negro laborer is no
exception to the rule. He has tried
the south. He Is willing to try the
east and middle west All he has
awaited is a genuine CALL based upon
a real and lasting need.
This movement eastward and west
ward OF unskilled Negro labor Will
both directly and indirectly help the
professional Negro. The younger ele-
ment of Negro workers, those of ambi-
ton and Of some training in the
schools, will be constantly emerging
from the unskllled to the semiskilled
and skilled classes, with a consequent
increase in their payrolls and a bet
terment In their methods of living.
This will give the Negro profession
al man q hold In many not strictly
Negro communities and will give him
what n few of his colleagues now pos
sess In the larger centers-a clientele
that win be of all colors and of all
races. 1t will allow those of marked
natural ability to rise higher in their
profession than they would If limited
In their practice to only one race and
class.
A decidedly better treatment of the
Negro, both In the north and In the
south, will grow out of this scattering
of the race, The old condition grew
out of the fact that the demand for his
labor has been limited and the supply
unlimited. Other influences, some silt
lister and some not so sinister, have
worked against him. In the south 1t
has been that old and seemingly inerad-
ical prejudice which would give to him
only those things which the white man
did not want.
Not lnfrequently the ostraeism that
came to the Negro in the east and mid
die west came by virtue Of the fact
that in religion, in race and sometimes
IN politics he has been an outsider. 1t
is not unnatural in the small communi-
ty for the priest TO intercede with the
employer for his flock and for those of
his persuasion. Neither is II out of
the ordinary for the politician to de-
sire to control jobs out of the narrow
range of political appointments.
Closer ties still are those of race and
language and nationality. The Negro
heretofore, with merely sentiment on
his side, has not been able to overcome
these barriers. But. IL all signs fail
not, the conflict now raging will so
lessen the effectiveness of these agen-
cies that the black man will not find
it difficult to win place and hold it
L., fop tn faI aannnYs1ta
scheme of things.