Chapter XXIV: Section 2: provides (2)

A number of the schools have orchestras or occasional musical programs. The investigator heard one orchestra of eleven pieces in Doolittle School (85 per cent), which played remarkably well. All but one of the children were Negroes. A teacher in Webster School (30 per cent), where there was reported to be constant friction between Negro and white children, gave an incident of a Negro boy in the school playing the violin with a white accompanist and being enthusiastically applauded by the children.

The principal of a 92 per cent Negro school (Colman) reported an unpleasant experience when pupils from her school were invited to take part in a musical program at a West Side Park.

A group of sixty went with two white teachers in charge. On
the way over a group of foreign women called out insulting
remarks to the teachers, but no one paid any attention. After
the program the group started marching out of the park and
were met at the gate with a shower of stones. The teacher
told the children to run for their lives, and they all had
to scatter and hide in the bushes in the park or run toward
home if they could. A rough set of boys had got together and
were waiting for those children, stones all ready to throw.
Since that time we have never accepted an invitation to sing
outside our own neighborhood. Invitations have come from time
to time, but the children all come with excuses. All of them,
children and parents throughout the neighborhood, are afraid
but you can't get anyone to come out and say it.

_Attitude of parents._--Principals and teachers were questioned about their relations with the parents of both Negro and white children--whether they received co-operation from the parents in matters of discipline; what was the attitude of the parents toward Negro teachers; and whether many requests were received from Negro or white parents for transfers to schools where there were fewer Negroes.

In general it may be said that the principals who found Negro parents unco-operative, unambitious, and antagonistic were those who believed in separate schools, found Negro children difficult to discipline, and would have no Negro teachers in their schools. Such principals declared that Negro parents were "10 to 1 in the complaints brought into the office,"[38] and that "they fuss over everything and tell their children not to take anything from a white child." They also cited cases of insolence and threats which appeared to be exceptional rather than typical.

Some teachers said the reason they did not receive any co-operation from Negro mothers was because a large proportion of them were working. Tardiness and absence were due mainly to this cause, according to one principal, though a teacher of a room for retarded children in another school said there was little tardiness and practically no absence in her group. This teacher expressed the conviction, as did many others, that Negro parents were appreciative of school advantages and eager to have their children learn. Principals who came in contact with both Negro and foreign parents found the Negro parents much more interested and ambitious than the foreigners. Even the principal of a school 30 per cent Negro (Webster), who was somewhat prejudiced in her attitude toward Negroes in the school, said she had more Negro than white boys able to go to work whose parents wished them to remain in school.

Negro teachers were apparently acceptable to Negro parents, only one of the principals or teachers interviewed reporting objections by Negro parents. One teacher in a school 30 per cent Negro (Webster) said that Negro parents had their children transferred there from schools with more Negroes, so that they would have white teachers. The district superintendent said he had had some difficulty in placing Negro teachers in Negro schools, which he attributed to the fact that Negro parents felt that Negro teachers had not had the same opportunity for thorough training as white teachers. Some Negro parents, however, had indicated that their attitude was not due to belief that Negro teachers were inadequately trained, but to fear that too general placing of Negro teachers over Negro pupils was a step toward segregation.

The principal of a school 90 per cent Negro (Keith) thought Negro mothers preferred Negro teachers because several had said to her that the "colored teachers understand our children better."

The district superintendent in the area including most of the schools largely attended by Negroes said that few requests for transfers were made during the year, but he believed more were made at the request of Negro than of white parents. A number of these Negro children transferred not to go to a school largely white but to a school 70 per cent Negro, because they said they were afraid to go to the school in their own district which was across Wentworth Avenue. The race feeling between certain groups in this district was very intense, according to the superintendent. It was especially violent between the Negro children and the Italians and between the Jews and the Bohemians. The principal of a school 93 per cent Negro (Raymond) also testified to the spirit of antagonism along Wentworth Avenue:

Wentworth Avenue is the gang line. They seem to feel that
trespass on either side of that line is ground for trouble.
While they will admit colored members to the school without
any trouble for manual training, they have to be escorted over
the line, because of trouble, not from members of the school,
but groups of boys outside the school. To illustrate: We took
a kindergarten group over to the park. One little six-year-old
girl was struck in the face by a man. The condition is a
tradition. There does not seem to be any malice in it. "He is
from the east side," or "Hit him, he is from the West Side,"
are remarks frequently heard.

Transfers from schools with a predominant Negro membership were reported by one or two principals and teachers in schools with a Negro minority, who said that the Negro mothers objected to having their children in schools "where there are so many common niggers." One of the principals said she had many requests from Negro mothers for transfers from the branch of the school with 90 per cent Negroes to the main school with 20 per cent. The Commission did not find in its inquiry among Negro mothers that such an objection was prevalent, but that most of the transfers requested were due to the reputation of the school for being overcrowded, poorly taught, and generally run down.

2. HIGH SCHOOLS

_Classroom and building contacts._--In the high schools the ordinary contacts in classes and about the building become subordinate to the more difficult problems created by the increased number of social activities--athletics, gymnasium exhibitions, clubs, and parties.

The dean of Englewood High School, which has only about 6 per cent Negro children, said that the white and Negro children mingled freely with no sign of trouble or prejudice but thought that if more Negro children came to the school the spirit would change. A teacher in this same school who had formerly been at Wendell Phillips, where the majority are Negro, said that a spirit of friendliness had grown up there between the two races, and race distinction had disappeared.

There was only one Negro teacher in the high schools of Chicago at the time of this investigation, the teacher of manual training at Wendell Phillips. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and had substituted around Chicago for several years. Although they spoke very highly of him, none of the principals of three high schools with small Negro percentages and in which there were vacancies could use him. The principal of Wendell Phillips, with a large proportion of Negroes, told, however, of a different experience when this teacher was at that school. "In answer to complaints by pupils I told them that this man was a graduate of the University of Illinois, a high-school graduate in the city, and a cultured man. 'Go in there and forget the color, and see if you can get the subject matter.' In the majority of cases it worked."

Racial friction about the buildings and grounds was not reported by any of the high-school principals. "I have not known of a fight between a colored and a white boy in fifteen years," said the principal of Hyde Park.

Two principals said that the Negro children voluntarily grouped themselves at noon, either eating at tables by themselves in the lunchroom or bringing their own lunches and eating in the back part of the assembly hall. The gymnasium instructor at Wendell Phillips said that she had no difficulty in her work if she let the children arrange themselves. The gymnasium instructor at a school with a small proportion of Negroes said that the white girls had objected to going into the swimming-pool with Negro girls, but that she had gone in with the Negro girls, which had helped to remove the prejudice.

_Athletic teams._--In the field of athletics there seems to be no feeling between the white and Negro members of a school team, but the Negro members are sometimes roughly handled when the team plays other schools. "The basketball team is half and half," said the principal of Wendell Phillips. He reported some friction in previous years but said that "this year it is not shown at all." "They played a strenuous game with Englewood last week. A colored boy was roughly treated by the other team. Our white boys were ready to fight the whole Englewood team."

The principal of Hyde Park High School also said that there was no feeling in his school against Negro members of athletic teams, and that he did not know of a single instance in which a Negro boy was kept off an athletic team if he was the best for the place.

Two Seniors in a high school mainly white (Tilden) thus described the way they handled the Negro members of a visiting basket-ball team:

On the way over here fellows on the outside bawled them out,
but our fellows sure got them on the way home. There were three
black fellows on the team and those three got just about laid
out. Our team wouldn't play them, so there was a great old
row. Then, when they went home some of our boys were waiting
for them to come out of the building to give them a chase. The
coons were afraid to come out, so policemen had to be called
to take them to the car line. The white fellows weren't hurt
any, but the coons got some bricks.

_Transfers between high schools._--Requests for transfers from Wendell Phillips to Englewood and Hyde Park schools had been made by both white and Negro children, according to the principals of the latter schools. The permits of the Negro children had frequently been revoked after they had been admitted to classes, and the children returned to Wendell Phillips. A teacher at Wendell Phillips pointed out the injustice of transferring a child in the middle of a term. After a child has been admitted to classes he should be permitted to remain through the semester, she believed, for otherwise a full term's work was lost because the courses in the schools were different. "All this transferring is nonsense, anyway," she said. "Children should be made to go to school in the district where they live and that would end the trouble."

This teacher told of an incident at Tilden School when a group of Negro boys registered for entrance:

About sixty colored boys entered Tilden High School either
for the regular high-school course or prevocational work and
were thrown out by the Tilden boys. They made it so hot for
the colored boys that the sixty had to withdraw. Some came
back here; others dropped out of school entirely. It's pretty
bad when one set of boys can put out another set and nothing
is done to punish one and call back the other group.

Two boys at Tilden who took part in this affair gave this version of the incident:

About thirty colored boys registered at Tilden last fall, but
we cleaned up on them the first couple of days and they never
showed up again. We didn't give them any peace in the locker
room, basement, at noon hours, or between classes--told them
to keep out of our way or we'd see they got out. The fellows
who were in school before we didn't tackle--they know where
they belong. There's one colored fellow in our class everybody
likes. He's a smart nice fellow to talk to, and he doesn't
stick around when you don't want him. He didn't say anything
when we made the new coons step around, but I guess he didn't
like it very well.

It was this same group of boys who objected to playing a visiting basketball team with three Negroes on it and "just about laid them out."

_Social activities in high schools._--In high schools, with their older pupils, there is an increased race consciousness, and in the purely social activities such as clubs and dances, which are part of high-school life, there is none of the general mingling often found in semi-social activities such as singing and literary societies. Although Negro pupils do not share in the purely social activities, they do not organize such activities among themselves.

"The colored never come to social affairs," said the dean of one school. "They are so much in the minority here that they leave all organizations to the whites." The principal of this school told of having seen two colored girls at a class party who danced together for a while and left. "It is the only time I've seen the two races at the same social gathering."

The dean of Englewood said: "We have colored children in singing clubs, in the orchestra, in literary societies, in class organizations, and on athletic teams. Always when there is a class party there will be five or six colored children. They will always dance together, but they are present and welcomed by the white. Between dances it is not uncommon to see white and colored talking."

An incident showing lack of feeling against individuals of special achievement was given by the principal of this last school:

Several years ago we organized a voluntary orchestra which met
after school. The director accepted all applications, among
them a number of colored boys. The white boys balked; it should
be white membership or they would leave. As it was near the
end of the year the orchestra was dissolved. The next year I
suggested to the teacher that he fill the orchestra places by
a general tryout, so understood, but really with the policy
of excluding the colored. This was done and a white orchestra
organized. Shortly, the father of H. F., a colored boy who had
been excluded, protested in my office, saying that his boy
had been excluded because of race prejudice and that he was
going to carry his protest to the Board of Education, for he
knew his boy played better than any boy in school. I admitted
that it was a choice in the school of white orchestra or no
orchestra, but that if his boy was the fine musician he said
he was I would gladly see what could be done. Soon after that
H. appeared on a school program and played with remarkable
skill and technique. He was applauded enthusiastically and
recalled three times. Straightway the orchestra members asked
him to play with them. He became unusually popular throughout
the school. His standing was the highest and he was awarded a
scholarship of $100 allowed by the Board of Education for the
best student. He was also chosen to represent the school on
the Northwestern University scholarship, and in his Freshman
year he won another scholarship for the next year. The death
of his parents made it necessary for him to leave college to
support his brothers and sisters. At this time he was stricken
with infantile paralysis. The interest on Liberty bonds taken
out by the high school is paid in to H., and when the colored
people gave a benefit for him the pupils sold 500 tickets. He
is improving and teaching violin to thirty pupils at present.
His sister is in the school now on a scholarship and is doing
remarkably well also.

At Wendell Phillips the situation was quite different, for there were no school or class social affairs which were general. There were invitational affairs to which the Negroes were not invited. All the clubs in the school were white, Negroes being excluded. The principal said he would not insist on mixed clubs until he saw the parents of the children mixing socially. The glee club was an especially difficult problem because of its semi-public as well as social character. The Negro children maintained that a glee club composed entirely of whites was not representative of a school in which the majority were Negroes. The Negroes had not responded to the suggestion of the principal that they form a glee club of their own, and as the white children would not be in a glee club with Negro children, there was constant friction over this club.

Other principals expressed the conviction that the racial problem of school social affairs could not be solved until the prejudice and antagonism of adults had disappeared. One principal said he had had to call off an arrangement for a class affair because the hotel would not accommodate the Negroes. Another principal thought that the schools would not wait to follow the lead of the parents in forgetting the race prejudice but would themselves be the greatest factor in destroying it.

_Relations with parents._--In most cases the high schools were receiving splendid support from Negro parents in matters of discipline. "I have never had a case where the parent did not back up the teacher in the treatment given to a colored child," said one principal, speaking of cases where children had got into difficulty when they complained that the teacher had "picked on them" because they were Negroes. The parents always made the child withdraw the statement and admit that the trouble was not due to color at all.

3. TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS

Reports were received from three technical high schools, Lane, Tilden, and Lucy H. Flower. Lane and Tilden had few Negro students, while in Lucy H. Flower the Negroes were about 20 per cent. The principals of Lane and Tilden said they were not conscious of any racial difference in their pupils, that no special methods of instruction were necessary for the Negro children, that there were no quarrels with a racial background in the schools, and no voluntary or compulsory groupings of white and Negro. The principal of Lucy H. Flower found racial differences between the Negroes and whites which she believed created special problems of education and discipline. The children got along together very well in school, and whatever quarrels there were, the principal thought were due to personal dislikes rather than to race prejudice. The colored girls grouped themselves voluntarily at noon and at dismissal time, and the white girls did the same.

III. RETARDATION

1. RETARDATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

With the assistance of the Board of Education a selection was made of three groups of schools to be studied for comparative retardation. The group comprised six schools having the largest percentage of Negro children, six attended mainly by whites in neighborhoods where the family income might be comparable, and twelve attended mainly by children of immigrants. Table XII gives the number and percentage of accelerated, normal, and retarded children for each school, for each group, and for the whole group of twenty-four schools.

This table shows the much greater amount of retardation among schools attended by Negroes than in schools attended by white Americans or by children of immigrants. The percentage for the group attended by Negroes is 74, while for the different schools in the group it varies from 67 to 81. For the two groups of schools attended by white Americans the percentage of retardation is the same, 49, though there is greater variation among these schools than among the schools attended by Negroes. In the group attended by children of immigrants, for instance, only 32 per cent are retarded in the Jungman (Bohemian) School, while 71 per cent are retarded in the Holden (Polish) School. A similar discrepancy appears in the group attended by white Americans, where the figure is 40 per cent for the Armstrong School and 62 per cent for the Byford School.

TABLE XII

NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN IN ACCELERATED, NORMAL, AND RETARDED GROUPS
IN SCHOOLS ATTENDED MAINLY BY WHITE AMERICANS, BY NEGROES, AND
BY CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS

=========================================================================================
School |Accel.|Percent-|Normal|Percent-|Retarded|Retarded |Percent-|Total |
| | age | | age | |Ungrad.[39]| age | |
-------------------+------+--------+------+--------+--------+----------+--------+-------+
Attended mainly | | | | | | | | |
by white Americans:| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Armstrong | 202 | 21 | 365| 39 | 355 | 19 | 40 | 941 |
Byford | 118 | 9 | 361| 29 | 783 | -- | 62 | 1,262 |
Harper | 291 | 17 | 609| 35 | 829 | -- | 48 | 1,729 |
Howe | 220 | 17 | 421| 35 | 577 | -- | 48 | 1,218 |
Key | 173 | 25 | 205| 29 | 314 | -- | 46 | 692 |
Morse | 169 | 14 | 450| 37 | 581 | -- | 49 | 1,200 |
+------+--------+------+--------+--------+----------+--------+-------+
Total |1,173 | 17 | 2,411| 34 | 3,439 | 19 | 49 | 7,042 |
| | | | | | | | |
Attended mainly | | | | | | | | |
by Negroes: | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Coleman | 54 | 8 | 124| 17 | 561 | 2 | 75 | 743 |
Doolittle | 267 | 16 | 261| 16 | 1,099 | 24 | 68 | 1,651 |
Douglas | 136 | 9.3 | 197| 13.7 | 1,126 | -- | 77 | 1,463 |
Keith | 77 | 11 | 93| 14 | 497 | -- | 75 | 667 |
Moseley | 62 | 7.5 | 95| 11.5 | 551 | 122 | 81 | 830 |
Raymond | 112 | 13 | 179| 20 | 578 | -- | 67 | 869 |
+------+--------+------+--------+--------+----------+--------+-------+
Total | 708 | 11 | 949| 15 | 4,412 | 148 | 74 | 6,217 |
| | | | | | | | |
Attended mainly by | | | | | | | | |
children of | | | | | | | | |
immigrants: | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Bohemian: | | | | | | | | |
Bryant | 385 | 21 | 735| 37 | 809 | 15 | 42 | 1,944 |
Hammond | 161 | 12 | 503| 34 | 795 | -- | 54 | 1,459 |
Jungman | 375 | 35 | 350| 33 | 357 | -- | 32 | 1,082 |
| | | | | | | | |
Polish: | | | | | | | | |
Chopin | 298 | 17 | 631| 36 | 818 | 1 | 47 | 1,748 |
Hibbard | 392 | 29 | 445| 32 | 535 | -- | 39 | 1,372 |
Holden | 122 | 11 | 208| 18 | 759 | -- | 71 | 1,089 |
| | | | | | | | |
Italian: | | | | | | | | |
Goodrich | 157 | 14 | 240| 22 | 693 | -- | 64 | 1,090 |
Jackson | 360 | 15 | 731| 32 | 1,174 | -- | 53 | 2,265 |
Jenner | 176 | 11 524| 33 | 875 | -- | 56 | 1,575 |
| | | | | | | | |
Jewish: | | | | | | | | |
Herzel | 609 | 25 | 731| 30 | 1,085 | -- | 45 | 2,425 |
Lawson | 466 | 16 | 944| 32 | 1,407 | 20 | 52 | 2,837 |
Von Humboldt | 528 | 22 | 848| 34 | 1,072 | -- | 44 | 2,448 |
+------+--------+------+--------+--------+----------+--------+-------+
Totals |4,029 | 19 | 6,890| 32 |10,379 | 36 | 49 |21,334 |
Totals for | | | | | | | | |
three groups |5,910 | 17 |10,250| 30 |18,230 | 203 | 53 |34,593 |
-------------------+------+--------+------+--------+--------+----------+--------+-------+

The retardation figures for the group of twenty-four schools studied are close to those for the city at large, 53 per cent retarded in the special group and 51 per cent for the city at large. In the accelerated group the percentage of accelerated Negro children, 11, is smaller than the percentage of accelerated white children, 17, or the percentage of accelerated foreign children, 19. This variation is not so striking as that in the normal group where only 15 per cent of the Negro children appear to make normal progress as compared with 34 per cent of the white children and 32 per cent of the foreign children. From this it would appear that there are factors in the lives of many Negro children which prevent them from making normal progress.

The degree of retardation, as shown in Table XIII is again quite different for the white and Negro groups.

The largest single groups of backward white American and foreign children are retarded less than one year (42 per cent of the white American and 39 per cent of the foreign group), and the numbers decrease rapidly as the degree of retardation increases. In the case of the Negroes 19 per cent are retarded less than one year. The decrease as the degree of retardation increases is slower than in the white groups, and many more children are retarded two, three, four, five years and more. In the white American group only one child out of 3,439 retarded children is retarded five and one-half to six years, while there are forty-one in the corresponding Negro group out of a total of 4,412. One white child is retarded six and one-half to seven years, while seventeen Negro children are retarded this amount; twelve foreign children out of 10,379 retarded children are retarded six to ten years, and thirty-seven Negro children are found in these groups.

Though the main reasons for the high degree of retardation among Negro children are set forth in the next section under "Causes of Retardation," a partial explanation is to be found in the fact that Negro parents are frequently more interested in keeping their over-age children in school than white parents, especially foreign parents, whose anxiety to have their children leave school as soon as they are old enough to get work-permits is well known.

_Causes of retardation._--It is generally understood of course that comparisons of Negro with white children are hardly fair, since Negro children have not had the same opportunities as whites to make normal progress.

A study was made of the reasons why children were retarded in the groups of schools attended mainly by Negroes, by white Americans, and by children of immigrants. Records were obtained at the schools for 1,469 Negro children and 1,560 white children who were listed according to the Board of Education's classification for retarded children.

Table XIV shows clearly that the predominating cause of retardation among Negroes is late entrance, which, according to the board's classification, means that they did not enter school until more than six years of age. This is generally explained by the fact that the family came from the South, where there was no school near enough for the child to attend, or the school was overcrowded, or the family was uneducated and indifferent. In some cases the parents have come North, leaving the child with grandparents who made no effort to see that it went to school.

TABLE XIII

NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN TABLE XII WHO ARE RETARDED ONE-HALF
TO ONE YEAR, ONE YEAR TO ONE AND ONE-HALF YEARS, ETC.

=============================================================
| YEARS
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
| ½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 3½
SCHOOL | to | to | to | to | to | to | to
| 1 | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 4
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
Attended mainly by white Americans:
Armstrong | 143 | 84 | 62 | 31 | 15 | 13 | 3
Byford | 317 | 175 | 105 | 64 | 54 | 20 | 11
Harper | 364 | 234 | 106 | 67 | 28 | 12 | 6
Howe | 275 | 128 | 93 | 57 | 9 | 9 | 2
Key | 141 | 106 | 33 | 19 | 20 | 2 | 2
Morse | 229 | 160 | 81 | 56 | 27 | 14 | 8
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
Total | 1,470 | 887 | 480 | 294 | 143 | 70 | 32

Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman | 109 | 114 | 109 | 66 | 50 | 46 | 27
Doolittle | 229 | 175 | 146 | 152 | 117 | 86 | 69
Douglas | 190 | 198 | 191 | 142 | 126 | 83 | 71
Keith | 94 | 66 | 71 | 78 | 54 | 34 | 30
Moseley | 95 | 104 | 96 | 54 | 59 | 31 | 34
Raymond | 135 | 115 | 111 | 69 | 50 | 39 | 27
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
Total | 852 | 772 | 724 | 561 | 456 | 319 | 258

Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Bohemian:
Bryant | 369 | 224 | 107 | 51 | 36 | 15 | 3
Hammond | 306 | 225 | 114 | 69 | 47 | 13 | 10
Jungman | 173 | 87 | 49 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 2

Polish:
Chopin | 323 | 216 | 125 | 57 | 43 | 23 | 16
Hibbard | 252 | 158 | 68 | 28 | 18 | 5 | 4
Holden | 216 | 190 | 112 | 91 | 60 | 36 | 18

Italian:
Goodrich | 236 | 185 | 104 | 68 | 42 | 28 | 10
Jackson | 369 | 284 | 202 | 141 | 84 | 53 | 16
Jenner | 281 | 253 | 135 | 86 | 42 | 32 | 20

Jewish:
Herzel | 521 | 294 | 124 | 71 | 38 | 19 | 9
Lawson | 574 | 370 | 233 | 109 | 65 | 24 | 19
Von
Humboldt | 498 | 145 | 145 | 76 | 37 | 17 | 6
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
Totals | 4,118 | 2,710 | 1,518 | 874 | 524 | 271 | 133
----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----+----
Totals | 6,440 | 2,249 | 2,722 | 1,729 | 1,123 | 660 | 423
for three groups | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE XIII
(continued)

======================================================
| YEARS
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
| 4 | 4½ | 5 | 5½ | 6 | 6½ | 7
SCHOOL | to | to | to | to | to | to | to
| 4½ | 5 | 5½ | 6 | 6½ | 7 | 7½
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Attended mainly by white Americans:
Armstrong | ... | 4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Byford | 32 | 2 | 2 | ... | ... | 1 | ...
Harper | 4 | 3 | 1 | ... | 1 | ... | 1
Howe | ... | 4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Key | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Morse | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ... | ... | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Total | 40 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1

Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman | 18 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2 | ... | ...
Doolittle | 44 | 37 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | ...
Douglas | 45 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 10 | 7 | ...
Keith | 32 | 17 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | ...
Moseley | 26 | 20 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3
Raymond | 12 | 10 | 6 | 2 | ... | 1 | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Total | 177 | 117 | 74 | 41 | 24 | 17 | 3

Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Bohemian:
Bryant | 1 | 2 | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ...
Hammond | 8 | 2 | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ...
Jungman | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...

Polish:
Chopin | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ... | ... | ...
Hibbard | ... | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Holden | 13 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 2 | ... | ...

Italian:
Goodrich | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ... | ...
Jackson | 13 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ... | 1 | 1
Jenner | 10 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ...

Jewish:
Herzel | 4 | 4 |... | 1 | ... | ... | ...
Lawson | 7 | 4 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ...
Von
Humboldt | 6 | 2 | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Totals | 81 | 36 | 25 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 1
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Totals | 298 | 167 | 103 | 59 | 31 | 21 | 5
for three groups | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------

TABLE XIII
(continued)

=============================================
| YEARS
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
| 7½ | 8 | 8½ | 9 | 9½ | 10
SCHOOL | to | to | to | to | to | to
| 8 | 8½ | 9 | 9½ | 10 | 10½
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Attended mainly by white Americans:
Armstrong | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Byford | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Harper | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ...
Howe | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Key | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Morse | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Total | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ...

Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Doolittle | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ...
Douglas | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 2
Keith | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Moseley | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ...
Raymond | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Total | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2

Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Bohemian:
Bryant | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Hammond | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Jungman | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...

Polish:
Chopin | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Hibbard | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Holden | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1

Italian:
Goodrich | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Jackson | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Jenner | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ...

Jewish:
Herzel | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Lawson | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
Von
Humboldt | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Totals | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | 1
----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Totals | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3
for three groups | | | |
---------------------------------------------
TABLE XIV

REASONS WHY 1,469 NEGRO CHILDREN AND 1,560 WHITE CHILDREN WERE RETARDED
IN GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR SCHOOLS

Abbreviations:

LE - LATE ENTERING
Fn - FOREIGN
PD - PHYSICAL DEFECT
IH - ILL HEALTH
FD - FAMILY DIFFICULTIES
DV - DEFECTIVE VISION
DH - DEFECTIVE HEARING
VM - VARIANT MENTALITY
Bd - BACKWARD
LM - LOW MENTALITY
Fm - FEEBLE-MINDED
IA - IRREGULAR ATTENDANCE
TG - TEMP. IN GRADE
DC - DEMOTED FOR CONDUCT

==================================================================
SCHOOLS |TOTAL |LE | Fn | PD | IH | FD
--------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
|N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W.
--------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman, | 29| 1| 20|...|...|...|...|...| 1|...|...|...
92 per cent Negro attendance | | | | | | | |
Doolittle, | 603| 6|190|...|...| 6| 3|...| 68|...|141|...
85 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Drake, | 72| 58| 41| 11|...| 3|...|...| 4| 15|...| 3
24 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Farren, | 171| 7| 49|...|...|...| 1| 1| 34| 1| 21|...
92 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Felsenthal, | 173| 69| 58| 13| 3| 2|...|...| 6| 12| 56| 15
20 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Forrestville,| 93| 5| 34| 2|...|...| 2|...| 4|...| 10|...
38 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Haven, | 71| 59| 56| 9|...| 6|...|...| 2| 9|...|...
20 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
McCosh, | 18| 31| 7| 4|...| 2|...| 1| 5| 8|...|...
15 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Oakland, | 50| 44| 18| 6|...|...| 1|...| 4| 5|...| 6
26 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Raymond, | 133| 6| 64| 2|...| 2| 1|...| 7| 1| 18|...
93 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Webster, | 52| 31| 27| 7|...| 1| 1|...| 5| 9| 6| 2
30 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Attended mainly by White Americans:
Fiske | 2| 88|...| 3|...| 16|...| 2|...| 1|...| 34
Rowland | ...| 101|...| 13|...| 7|...| 2|...| 17|...| 3
Kenwood | ...| 25|...| 1|...| 5|...|...|...| 4|...| 4
Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Farragut | ...| 107|...| 12|...| 10|...| 2|...| 11|...| 6
Goodrich | ...| 92|...|...|...| 28|...| 3|...| 8|...| 7
Jackson | ...| 255|...| 32|...| 48|...| 12|...| 38|...| 38
Jungman | ...| 21|...| 11|...| 2|...|...|...|...|...| 1
Kosciuszke | ...| 144|...| 23|...| 17|...| 4|...| 9|...| 18
Lawson | 1| 155|...| 7|...| 15|...| 1|...| 19| 1| 20
McCormick | ...| 21|...|...|...| 2|...| 1|...| 7|...|...
Seward | ...| 131|...| 19|...| 29|...| 2|...| 14|...| 10
Smyth | ...| 57|...| 3|...| 14|...| 1|...| 9|...| 4
Swing | ...| 46|...| 9|...| 2|...| 1|...| 7|...| 4
--------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Totals by |1,469|1,560|564|187| 3|217| 9| 33|140|204|253|175
races | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Totals of | 3,029 | 751 | 220 | 42 | 344 | 428
both races | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE XIV
(continued)

=============================================================
SCHOOLS | DV | DH | VM | Bd | LM | Fm
--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--
|N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W.
--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--
Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman, |...|...|...|...|...|...| 4|...|...|...| 1|...
92 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Doolittle, | 7|...|...|...| 35|...| 73|...| 10|...|...|...
85 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Drake, |...| 2|...|...|...| 7| 7| 12|...| 1|...|...
24 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Farren, | 3|...| 1|...| 12| 2| 18|...| 11| 2|...|...
92 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Felsenthal, |...| 2| 1|...| 7| 1| 33| 10| 3| 4|...|...
20 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Forrestville,| 1|...|...|...| 4|...| 30|...| 1|...| 1|...
38 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Haven, |...| 4|...|...|...| 3| 7| 19| 2| 4|...|...
20 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
McCosh, |...| 1|...|...|...|...| 1| 1| 1| 6|...|...
15 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Oakland, | 1| 2|...| 2| 3| 6| 3| 5| 4| 3| 1|...
26 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Raymond, |...|...|...|...| 1|...| 11|...| 6|...| 6|...
93 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Webster, |...|...|...|...|...| 1| 4| 2| 9| 6|...|...
30 per cent | | | | | | | | | | |
Attended mainly by White Americans:
Fiske |...| 1|...|...|...|...| 1| 21| 1| 2|...| 1
Rowland |...| 4|...|...|...| 9|...| 28|...| 10|...| 1
Kenwood |...|...|...|...|...| 2|...| 5|...| 1|...|...
Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Farragut |...| 3|...|...|...| 5|...| 23|...| 32|...|...
Goodrich |...| 3|...|...|...| 2|...| 23|...| 10|...|...
Jackson |...| 8|...| 1|...| 3|...| 45|...| 8|...|...
Jungman |...|...|...|...|...|...|...|...|...|...|...|...
Kosciuszke |...| 2|...|...|...| 12|...| 4|...| 8|...| 1
Lawson |...| 2|...| 1|...| 25|...| 39|...| 19|...| 2
McCormick |...|...|...|...|...|...|...| 1|...| 8|...|...
Seward |...|...|...| 1|...| 2|...| 13|...| 11|...| 5
Smyth |...| 2|...|...|...|...|...| 14| 1| 5|...|...
Swing |...| 2|...|...|...| 1|...| 6|...| 6|...| 1
--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--
Totals by | 12| 38| 2| 5| 62| 81|192|271| 49|146| 9| 12
races | | | | | | | | | | | |
--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--
Totals of | 50 | 7 | 143 | 463 | 195 | 21
both races | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE XIV
(continued)

======================================
SCHOOLS | IA | TG | DC
---------------+---+---+---+---+-------
|N. |W. |N. |W. |N. |W.
---------------+---+---+---+---+----+--
Attended mainly by Negroes:
Colman, | 1| 1|...|...| 2|...
92 per cent | | | | |
Doolittle, | 68|...| 8|...|...|...
85 per cent | | | | |
Drake, | 19| 5|...|...|...|...
24 per cent | | | | |
Farren, | 21| 1|...|...|...|...
92 per cent | | | | |
Felsenthal, | 13| 2|...| 1|...|...
20 per cent | | | | |
Forrestville,| 6| 3|...|...|...|...
38 per cent | | | | |
Haven, | 4| 5|...|...|...|...
20 per cent | | | | |
McCosh, | 3| 9|...|...|...|...
15 per cent | | | | |
Oakland, | 12| 9| 1| 2|...|...
26 per cent | | | | |
Raymond, | 19| 1|...|...|...|...
93 per cent | | | | |
Webster, | 1| 2|...|...|...|...
30 per cent | | | | |
Attended mainly by White Americans:
Fiske |...| 6|...| 1|...|...
Rowland |...| 7|...|...|...|...
Kenwood |...| 3|...|...|...|...
Attended mainly by children of immigrants:
Farragut |...| 3|...|...|...|...
Goodrich |...| 8|...|...|...|...
Jackson |...| 19|...| 2|...|...
Jungman |...| 7|...|...|...|...
Kosciuszke |...| 39|...| 9|...|...
Lawson |...| 5|...|...|...|...
McCormick |...| 1|...|...| 1|...
Seward |...| 20|...| 5|...|...
Smyth |...| 5|...|...|...|...
Swing |...| 2|...| 4|...|...
---------------+---+---+---+---+----+--
Totals by |167|161| 9| 24| 3|...
races | | | | | |
---------------+---+---+---+---+----+--
Totals of | 328 | 33 | 3
both races | |
---------------------------------------

The next most important cause of retardation among the Negroes is family difficulties. The fathers are often kept away from home weeks at a time by their work. A large number of the mothers are working, and the parents' lack of education is frequently the cause of a home life that is below standard, physically and morally.

Among the whites, late entrance, inability to speak the language, ill health, backwardness, and low mentality are the main causes of retardation. While it is often maintained that the Negro is the mental inferior of the white, these figures do not bear out that contention. Also the retardation figures do not show the home life of the Negroes to be productive of as much ill health as is the case with the whites.

Approximately the same number of Negro and white children were retarded because of irregular attendance.

In addition there were forty-two Negro children and 155 white children who were classified under two, three, or four different causes for retardation. Children who were late entering also had some physical difficulty, or children who were retarded because of family difficulties were also of poor mental endowment. In some cases such double classification represented a realization by the teacher that retardation is a complicated and delicate thing which cannot be explained by one hard-and-fast reason. Others, finding it difficult to decide whether children were backward, of low mentality, or feeble-minded, classified them under all three causes. In two instances Negroes were found to be retarded because they were late entering and "foreign"--that is, they were handicapped by an "initial lack of the English language."

_Intensive study of 116 retarded Negro children._--The presence of retarded Negro children in the Chicago public schools within recent years has been regarded by many teachers and principals as a problem of Negro education. Some assume that this retardation is due to an inherent incapacity for normal grade work. Inquiries of the Commission early disclosed the fact that although the retardation rate of Negro children was higher than that of white, the great majority of the retarded Negroes were from southern states, and that Negro children born in the North had, as a rule, no higher rate of retardation than the whites. In the belief that the causes of retardation among Negro children could be found in the same factors of social background and environment which operates to retard white children, an intensive study was made of 116 Negro children taken at random from among all the retarded Negro children in several schools to learn what elements in their former life and present home environment might explain their retardation.

Out of the 116 children 101 had been in school before coming to Chicago. Of these eighty-six had lived in the South and attended southern schools. Since this group was chosen at random, the large proportion from the South tends to bear out the statements of school principals and teachers that Negro children from the South constitute the bulk of retarded children. Previous school records were obtained for eighty-four of these eighty-six southern children, and in sixty-four cases the children were retarded when they came to Chicago. Many of them were retarded two and three years, and some three, four, five, and even six years. Forty-seven of the sixty-four were retarded more than one year. In a number of cases children who were in the normal grade for their age in the South were put back one or two grades when they entered Chicago schools because they were not equipped to do the work of this grade in the North.

The states from which these children came are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Twenty-three of the eighty-six children who had lived in the South were from Mississippi--the largest group from any one state--and of these three were up with their normal grade, eleven were retarded three or four years, one was retarded six years, and one who was in the normal grade in the South was demoted two years. One reason for the poor record of these Mississippi children is undoubtedly to be found in that state's inadequate compulsory-education law which provides a school term of eighty days in districts which do not reject the law. Eight of the Mississippi children lived on plantations which were so far from school that regular attendance was impossible.

Information gathered concerning the parents of these 116 retarded children showed that in eighty-six cases the father was living with his family. In six cases the father was dead, in one case he was insane, in fifteen cases he had separated from or deserted the mother, and in eight cases there was no report on the father.

The mother was found to be living with her family in 112 cases. In two cases the mother was dead, and in two cases she had deserted father and child.

All of the eighty-six fathers who lived at home were working, though one was reported as working irregularly, and two as having deserted their wives occasionally for periods of several weeks. In two of the cases where the father had separated from the mother he was reported as contributing to the support of the child.

In forty out of the eighty-six cases where the father was living at home and working, the mother was also working, and in the fifteen separation cases where the mother was supporting the child, she was working. The fact that a total of fifty-five out of 112 mothers, or 49 per cent, were working is undoubtedly a large factor in the retardation of the children. The statement was frequently made by teachers that 40 or 50 per cent of the Negro mothers worked, and that the child was therefore neglected, and the teacher could get no co-operation from the mother, as she was never free to come to school to talk over matters affecting the child.

Some teachers felt that many mothers worked where there was no economic necessity, as the father was earning enough to support the family. It should be noted in this connection that at the time this material was gathered there were more opportunities for work than there were men to fill them. Under ordinary conditions there would doubtless be a certain amount of unemployment in these Negro families which would cause more mothers to work from economic necessity. Many of the families investigated, where both parents were working, were reported as getting on very well, though there were some cases of real poverty. In a number of instances the families could not seem to make ends meet on a good income because they were ignorant and did not know how to spend their money, or because they had not been able to adjust themselves to city life.

Of the eighty-six fathers who were working, few were in skilled occupations which would command a substantial wage. Most of the mothers were engaged in work that took them away from home. A few did sewing, hairdressing, and laundry work in their homes, but the large majority went out to work. Work carried on in the home frequently has as bad an effect on the child's school attendance as the mother's absence, for the child is sometimes kept at home to help and often finds the work more interesting than school.

The following occupations of mothers of retarded children were noted:

Day work 22
Stock Yards 12
Hairdresser 4
Laundry 4
Maid 4
Barrel factory 3
Seamstress 3
Domestic service 2
Box factory 1
Car cleaner 1
Cleaning (hospital) 1
Dishwasher 1
Elevator 1
Foundry 1
Housekeeper 1
Lamp-shade factory 1
Waist factory 1

_Education of parents._--Of the eighty-six fathers, thirty-one were illiterate, and forty-eight had gone to elementary school but had completed only the second, fourth, or sixth grade. Five of the fathers had gone to high school, and two were college graduates.

The figures are slightly better for the mothers. Out of 112, twenty-one were totally illiterate, seventy-six had gone to elementary school, ten had been in high school or college, and five were not reported on. Eighty-eight per cent of the mothers, therefore, and 91 per cent of the fathers had less than a high-school education. Though there were many illiterate or poorly educated parents who were eager for their children to have advantages which they never had themselves, others, as in any illiterate group, no matter what the color, failed to appreciate the importance of school.

_Home discipline._--A number of teachers reported that they were unable to discipline the children in school because they were undisciplined at home. In seventy-three of the 116 homes there was found to be discipline, in twenty-two a lack of discipline, and twenty were not reported on. Discipline seemed to be the responsibility of the mother in the large majority of cases, and many of the twenty-two undisciplined children were boys who were beyond the control of the mother. In every case but four where there was no discipline the mother was working, so that the child did not receive much care during the daytime and the mother was too tired to bother about discipline at night. Lack of discipline can also be traced to the fact that the child has not always lived with the parents but with relatives who have been lax in the matter of discipline.