The Omaha guide., 1956-09-28
Southern Negroes Victims
OF An Economic Squeeze
Life Magazine Survey Shows

Poor Land, Competition fronR
Southern Whites, Drive Negroes
North Where Jobs More Plentiful.
But Still Low-Level
NEW YORK, September 19-
The U. S. Negro is caught in an
economic trap which has domin-
ated his life and had major ef-
feet on national population pat
terms for half a century. The
Southern Negro's fifty-year strug-
gle to get out from under the
deadly cycle of poor land, compe-~
tition from poor whites, and poo
educai on is told in the currens
September 24) issue of LIFE Mag
azine.
The article points out that since
1900 there have been two major
Negro migrations-large numbers
have moved entirely out of tine
South and large numbers have
moved, within the South, from
farm to city. The reasons for the
moves have been primarily eco
nomic.
"The social unpleasantnesseS CT
segregation have no doubt fnflw
enced many to leave the South
but the majority have moved IN
search of better livelihood
LIFE says.
Pressure Of Poor Farmland
Rural Negroes have always
lived on bad farmland in the
South, from which it has become
increasingly difficult to make .
living. In 1854 the median CASH
income of Negro farm families
in the South was $742, whereas
that of White farm families was
S1516 But when the Negro
leaves his poor farmland and
moves to Southern city he en-
coun ters massive competitions
from rural Whites who have also
moved off the land in search OF
factory jobs.
Employers will not hire .
Negro for any job if there Is a
White man available for the
same" LIFE says. Even if dis
elimination in employment based
solely on color were set aside, the
Negro could not compete with the
White. Functional illiterates lthe'
term for adults with less than
fifth-grade education) are three
times more common among young
Southern Negroes than among
young Southern Whites. More
over, such schooling as the Negro
does receive generally is far in
ferior to that received by Whites
Difficult in North Too
Failing to find satisfactory
lob in a Southern city, the Negro
moves North. There he finds II
easier to get a job, but the job
is still usually on the common
labor level. Northern employers
do not have the South's great pool
of underemployed White farm
labor to draw upon, and in the
past Is years have had great need
for the unskilled and semi-skilled
labor the Negro can supply.
But the proportion of Negroes
who reach the top of the ladder
in the North is scarcely higher
than that in the South. In corne-
parison to the total of 8.5@o u
Negroes who rise to become man
ayers, officials, proprietors, crafts
men and foremen' in the South.
the figure in the North is 10qos
the LIFE article says.
One Tenth of U. b
The Negro population has con-
stituted one tenth Of the overall
u. S. population since 1900. In
1900, however, 85qo of all u s.
Negroes lived in the South, and
of these, three fourths lived M
rural areas. Today, only 639o OF
all u. S. Negroes live in the South
and, of these, only half live im
rural areas.
In 1900 Negroes exceeded @ea
of the population in six Southern
states. Now they exceed 40gs in
only one state-Mississippi eHAHal
The ratio of Negroes to Whites
has decreased in all Southern
states, and is increasing today on
ly in certain Northern states. such
as New York and Illinois, which,
receive heavy migration from~tliee
South. OF the six million Negroes
who live in the North today, 2.8
million were born in the South.