St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1956-05-18
Do Negroes Wont
To Be Whife7 No,
Says SCHUYLER

Joined the capitals social set.
In Negro society today, the ac.
quirement Of a wife indistinguish.
able from a Nordio Is no longer a
mark Of social arrival The black
girls at dances are no longer wal
fcwers and the appearance Of an
ebon lass in a chorus line no long
er fetches gales Of derisive Negro
laughter. There are few, II any
churches remaining where black
members are conspicuously alb
sent. However, Negro society here
has always been ahead Of the East
Indian, Latin American and Car,
ibbean people among whom a
rigid color caste system remains
intact.
Gone Is the one-time boast OF
Negro handles OF their preference
for yellow taxls, yellow money
and yellow women" Taxis are
now multicolored and available
10 all. gold certificates disappear
cd with Roosevelts New Deal, and
black women with poise, educa-
tion and money have risen high In
the social scale. As visiting
black Brazilian recently exclaim-
ed. admiringly. where else In the
world viii you see a black woman
driving a Cadillac ?"
Apprehensive white America IT.
self IL responsible for the brown
skin militancy and solidarity II
now deplores. a solidarity trans
cending petty divisions and APP
pealing TO pride OF race. In law
and practice II imposed the zone
drop" theory according TO which
pseudo-science, everyone with one
drop Of tho potent Negro blood"
u dubbed a Negro while one drop
of white blood" il too weak 10
make a Negro a Caucasianl This
Is scioncei When the United States
Supreme Court invoked a far more
valid sociology In It's desegrega-
tion decree, II enraged the South
rons.
The precise color graduations
obtaining In other multi-racial
countries fostered division within
non-white groups. American zone
drop" perfeotionists forced all
non-whites together without dis
tinction into one pariah class This
unique American practice was
summed up In the popular song Of
fifty years ago, can Coons Look
Alike"
Those with light skins. better
manners and a little literacy
(mostly gained as house servants
for white planters who were not
infrequently their relativos) could
not escape TO the white groups in
Latin America. They were com
PEELED TO identify themselves with
the swarm OF black field hands
and proletarians. They supplied
the early Negro leadership, train
cd and uplifted the masses and In.
stilled them with race pride and
resentment OF their lot. Thus, the
hobgoblin OF black unity which
still excites many Negrophobes is
a white creation.
II was In the South. where so.
cial relationships have always
been on a more personal plane
that this hason OF mmatto kin
folk somewhat tempered the post
bellum savagery OF the emergent
Cracker element, itself emanci-
pated by the Surrender.
In addition TO these light Ne
groes, free and slave, there was a
considerable number OF unmixcd
Europeans shanghaied into chattel
servitude and sold as Negroes by
grasping slave dealers. These
latter regularly curlcd the hair
OF hapless Nordic bondsmcn 10
still the qualms OF prospective
buyer alarmed by white skins and
blue eyes, II was then widely be-
lieved by Southern racial experts.
sull addicted 20 fngcrnail ev-
dence OF Negro ancestry. that cur
ly hair indicates African blood.
Many Of these whites intermixed
with their black fellow-chattcls
As a commentary on the post
bellum practices Of the south's
new rulers, II Is interesting that
the pre-Civil War freedman.
though enjoying few citizenship
rights, was generally unmolested
In the slave states. He rode with
free whites on trains. In stage
coaches and on steamboats,, often
WAS a STAKEHOLDER, and was not In.
frequently married 90 a white wo,
man. one such ran private
school for the sons OF wealthy
whites, An entire regiment OF mul,
attoes, free and supplying Their
own equipment. offered their ser.