The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-08-19
IS THE NEGRO TO
DISAPPEAR 200
YEARS HENCE?
Steady Decrease in Percentage
of Negro Population In North
Carolina Raises Interesting
Question.

The colored population. of Pas
quotank county has shown sub
stantial decrease in ten years, ac-
cording to census reports made
available this week. In 1910 more
than half the population of this
county. were Negroes. The per
centage was SOL co1ored, to be
exact. The 1920 census shows
the percentage of Negroes to be
A4 per cent.
Chowan County with a population
54.5 per cent >colored in 1910 now has
49.7 per cent colored.
Perquimans, Dare Hyde, Beaufort
Washington and Hyde counties in
Northeastern North Carolina also re-
cord lower percentage of colored peo-
pie, but in Camden, Currituck and Gates
the percentage of lcolored population has
increased. Gates was 44.9 per cent col
ored in 1910; Gates is 1872 colored in
1920. Currituck's percentage of colored
people has increased from 1873 per cent
in 1910 to 1858 per cent in 1920. In
Camden the percentage of colored pop
ulation has increased from 1872 to 39.5.
For the whole state there has been
a decrease in the percentage of Negro
population. In 1910 the states per-
centage of colored people was 31.6. To-
day it is 29.S. 69.7 per cent of the
population of North Carolina is white
The Negro. population, which was 697,-
S43 in 1910 increased to 763, ,4O7 in
1920; but the white population which
was 1.50O,511 in 1910 increased to l.
7S3.779.
Reviewing these census figures caus-
es the News & Observer to raise the
question:
"Is the Negro race vanishing race?
Will two centuries hence find it extinct
in the land to which it was brought
captive four hundred years ago? Will
the much vexed trace problem" event
ually solve itself through inability of
the African people to compete with an
Aryan people in an alien climate?
Records of the United States census
together with records from the Regis
try of Vital Statistics maintained by
the State Board of Health indicate that
the answer may be affirmative. The ra-
ito of Negro population in the State
has declined slowly but steadily for the
past 40 years. There is wide gap be-
tween the net gain per thousand white
population and the net gain per thous-
and negro population annually.
Gap in Death Rate
''The Negro birth rate is still ahead of
its death rate, and they are being born
into the world faster than they are dy-
ing, but they are being crowded out
In North Carolina last year 333 white
babies were born to every 100000 white
people. For a similar number of ne
groes, 31S babies were born, giving the
white population a margin of 10 per
100000
During the same period. the death
rate per 100000 white people was JIG,
and the death rate among negroes 1S9
per 100000. The net gain of white over
black was 73. The net gain in births
over deaths by whites was 217, while
the negro population showed a net gain
of only 149 per 100000 of population.
Census for 20 Years
Census figures running back 20 years
show an interesting comparison of the
relative numbers of negroes and whites !
in the State. For three decades the
negro held his own without change, then
swung upward for a decade until 1880. |
and then sharply downward. During
the past 80 years the Negro has shown
a net loss in proportion of seven per !
cent of the population. The figures |
sinca 1870 follow.