The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-08-12
NEGROES GO SOUTH
AS RACE RIOTS END
THEIR DREAM ENDED, THEY'RE
FLEEING BACK HOME. NORTH
is NOT AS PAINTED.

CHICAGO, IIl.-Although the race
riots have been checked by the mill
tia and the situation is now well in
hand, the call of the South is being
answered by scores of negro families
today. Chicago packers and owners
of the stock yards, principal employ
ers of negro labor, have reached an
understanding to return negro labor
ers to the South. White men will be
given preference in employment.
The negroes came to Chicago with
pictures of social equality, equal pay
and political advantages; they left
with scenes of bloodshed and death
scared into the brain. They tasted
the horrors of race rioting, which re-
suited in the death of many men and
women of both races and hundreds
of wounded. The North was not as
It had been painted.
Brought During War.
Southern negroes were introduced
into the stock yards and other indus
trial plants during the war. To get
them here industrial agents invaded
the South, telling the blacks of the
wonderful opportunities that await
ed them in Chicago. Perhaps the
strongest appeal was series OF car
ICONS, in pamphlet form, distributed
in negro schools and churches and
other places where colored people
gathered.
One showed an apartment house,
the side wall removed, disclosing the
interior. In one apartment lived a
white family; across the hall was d
negro family. An arrow pointed to
it with the words "Social Equality"
Another cartoon showed the interior
of a public school attended by white
and negro children. Equal Educa-
tional Advantages" were the words
above the door. Still another showed
a pay window at the stock yards. Be-
fore it white and negro men were
passing, receiving fat pay envelopes.
Equal pay read line in black
type. =.
The negroes came-more than fiji
tv thousand of them-from Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Some of them realized their hopes
and prospered. They lived in neigh
borhoods with the whites; their chill
dren attended school with white chill
dren; their pay was the same as the
whites.
Then the war ended and men were
out of work. Soldiers were returning
to their jobs. Negroes were thrown
out of employment. Some OF them
become criminals. In the nelghbor-
hoods where they made their homes
the white people resented their pres
ence. Landlords raised rents until
they were almost prohibitive. Little
negro children were pelted by white
children going to and from school.
There was constant friction between
the races.
A recent Sunday afternoon, when
thousands surged to the beaches
seeking relief from the heat, a group
of white and negro bathers clashed.
The whites objected to the negroes
on their bathing beaches and negro
bow was killed when bather threw
stone. The race riot was begun.
Dream Is Blasted.
Chicago has emerged from the race
riots. but the negro's dream is blast
ed. Those who recently came from
the South want to return, and are
returning as fast as they can secure
passage. The negroes who have Nv
ed in Chicago for years will remain.
But leaders of both races admit 1t
will be long time before the scare
of the riots has been etfaced.
In official quarters the opinion IS
held there will be at least limited
segregation of the races. Plans are
discussed for providing negro faml-
lies with better housing conditions IN
neighborhoods exclusively colored:
There is no longer any thought OF
social equality, but the better ele-
ments of both races believe an un-
derstanding will be reached where
each will respect the rights of the
other and live in harmony, as they
do in the better apportloned commu-
mites of the South.
Deaths Total 81.
The race riots have so far claimed
thirty-two lives and resulted IN
scores being wounded and much
property damage. Two more deaths
from wounds were reported.
So greatly improved were condl-,
tions that the city council deferred
Mayor Thompson's plea for 1000 ad-
ditional police. Reports received at
the council chamber indicated the MI
litia had the situation well IN hand
Both whites and negroes received the
+ronns as neacemakerS.