The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot

Chapter X: PUBLIC OPINION IN RACE RELATIONS--Continued (1)

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B. INSTRUMENTS OF OPINION MAKING

I. THE PRESS

We cannot escape the conclusion that the press is the most
powerful institution in this country. It can make men, it can
destroy men. It can conduct crusades; it can put an end to
crusades. It can create propaganda; it can stifle propaganda.
It can subvert the Government; it can practically uphold
the Government. It is at once the most powerful agency for
good in the United States and the most dangerous institution
known under our system of Government. More than all this,
despite theoretical laws which restrain abuses of the Press,
so determined are the American people that its freedom shall
not be abridged that they have written into the Constitution
of the United States (Amend. I) the express provision that
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of
the press," and in practice the Press is free to destroy men,
institutions and races, or to make them live, the power being
limited only by the conscience and sagacity of the men who
compose this powerful Fourth Estate.

--EDMUND BURKE

Sound opinions depend always upon accurate statements of facts. Upon the objective information which the press is supposed to provide, the public depends to guide its thinking. If the information source is polluted, pollution may be expected in the opinions based upon it. When the public is deluded by distortions of fact, one-sided presentations, exaggerations, and interpretations of fact controlled by definite policies of whatever sort, a situation is created which will inevitably accomplish great damage.

Race relations are at all times dependent upon the public opinion of the community. Considering the great number of delicate issues involved, the careful handling of this kind of news is a question of great concern and has been the subject of much comment and criticism both by Negroes and whites. These criticisms are frequent and vehement. Negroes in Chicago almost without exception point to the Chicago press as the responsible agent for many of their present difficulties. Throughout the country it is pointed out by both whites and Negroes that the policies of newspapers on racial matters have made relations more difficult, at times fostering new antagonism and enmities and even precipitating riots by inflaming the public against Negroes. For example, the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, in its report on the church and social work, makes this comment: "We observe also with regret and deep concern ... the continuing incitement to riot by certain public officials and periodicals, especially the partisan press with its misrepresentation and inflaming spirit."

Said the _Survey_ magazine, May 15, 1920: "The custom of newspapers to ridicule the efforts of colored people is a gratuitous insult that they have to meet on every hand."

The _New Republic_ observes editorially: "Race riots within a week of one another occurred in Washington and Chicago.... The press made a race question of individual crime, and the mob, led by marines and soldiers, took up the issue which the press had presented to them."

Negroes are loud in their condemnation of the press throughout the country. Says one Negro newspaper:

Whatever be the cause of the motive, there is apparently a
well-organized plan to discredit the race in America and to
bring estrangement between fellow-Americans. A short-sighted
... press is contributing to this estrangement by playing upon
the passions of the undiscriminating, and thoughtlessly, by
its glaring and sensational headlines, emphasizing rumors of
alleged crimes by Negroes.

The Associated Negro Press accuses the Associated Press of fostering ill feeling and hatred between whites and Negroes. It says:

The Associated Press (white) ... always in its first paragraph
... attributes the source of trouble to our people "molesting
white women." That, the Associated Press knows, is always fuel
for the fire of the fury.... It arouses certain elements of
whites to indignation by the thoughts of the ever "burly black
brutes," and it stirs the people of our group to a state of
fighting, mad by the folly of it.

The _Philadelphia Tribune_, a Negro paper, said: "Daily papers keep up mob sentiment. They continue to fan the riot flames into a destructive blaze."

The method of news handling now in practice in the Chicago Press, white and Negro, appears to contribute in effect to strained relations between the races. This condition prompts a more than casual inquiry into these methods.

A few examples will illustrate. On the night of July 20, 1920, following the demonstration of a group of Negro fanatics, the self-styled "Abyssinians," a prominent newspaper printed in large headlines: "Race Riot--Two Whites Slain." The paper was an extra and widely distributed. At Sixty-third and Halsted streets four Negro ministers returning from a church conference in Gary, Indiana, were set upon by a mob of whites who had merely read the report, and were beaten unmercifully.

On January 23, 1920, the following article appeared in the _Chicago Herald-Examiner_:

STUDENTS DEFY NEGRO TEACHER

Pupils' Strike Starts at Altgeld School over Substitute;
Parents Support Them

A revolt which threatened to require settlement by the Board
of Education developed yesterday in the eighth grade of the
Altgeld School, Seventy-first and Loomis streets. Two of the
pupils have been suspended, others threaten a general walkout.
Pickets are to be established about the school today, several
students promised tonight to urge a general strike. The regular
teacher was ill with influenza yesterday.

PUT NEGRO GIRL IN CHARGE

The only available substitute was a Negro girl, Effie Stewart,
normal graduate and accredited eighth-grade instructor. She
was taken to the schoolroom by Principal J. W. Brooks and
given charge. As the principal left pandemonium broke loose.
Disregarding the efforts of the teacher to restore calm,
several of the boys arose and harangued the class to ignore
the substitute. Half a dozen of the pupils left the room.

REFUSE TO OBEY HER

The teacher directed one of the pupils, Paul Brissono, to
summon Principal Brooks to the room. Paul flatly refused. He
walked out and reported the trouble to his parents at 1406 West
Seventy-third Street. Genevieve Lindy, 6744 Laflin Street,
next was told to go to the Principal's office for help. She
declined and went home. Principal Brooks ordered both pupils
suspended. He said the facts would be placed before the district
superintendent, John A. Long. In the meantime many of the
parents of eighth-grade pupils took a stand supporting their
children.

The Commission sent investigators to check up the facts as a thorough test of a report which most whites believed and most Negroes did not believe. The Negro teacher in question, the school principal, the superintendent of schools, and some of the parents of white children in the school were interviewed. The following is the result of the Commission's investigation:

_a_) Every item noted by the press in this case was contradicted
by the principal and teachers.

_b_) Principal Brooks stated that "the only part of the story
that the newspapers gave straight was the color of the young
lady teacher."

_c_) Superintendent of Schools Mortensen stated that there
was no basis whatever for the story, and that no more trouble
happened than often happened when mischievous boys took
advantage of the absence of the regular teacher.

_d_) Miss Stewart, the colored substitute teacher involved,
stated that she was assigned to the Altgeld School on Monday, to
the Pullman School Tuesday, and back to the Altgeld Wednesday.
On Monday she had charge of the eighth grade. About twenty-five
minutes before recess five or six boys came to her stating that
they had been appointed as monitors for that day and asked to
be excused. This request was granted by Miss Stewart. Shortly
afterward Miss Deneen, a white teacher, brought the boys back
into the room, stating that they had been disorderly; she
deprived them of their monitorship. One boy, Paul, mentioned
in the article, resented this and was impudent to Miss Deneen.
He was suspended by Miss Deneen to take effect the next day
and to return only on condition that he made apologies for
his conduct. He was present in the room on the same afternoon.

Miss Stewart first knew about the supposed strike when she read
it in the morning paper. She stated that she had no trouble
with any of the students during the entire day, and there was
no occasion to call in the principal, Mr. Brooks. Miss Deneen
also had some trouble with a girl in the same room. Miss Stewart
had no trouble either with Paul or the girl mentioned in the
case. Mr. Brooks at no time during that day was called into
the room.

_e_) The parents of the children were incensed over the false
publicity given them.

_f_) The suggestive effect of this report was immediate. At
the Coleman School, according to the principal, the children
were greatly excited over the account and looked upon it as
a precedent which had not occurred to them. She thought that
such publicity, even if true, could have no good effect upon
the minds and conduct of the children.

The prominence given to the idea of "striking" also had its effect. Discussions of strikes for other causes followed in the Pullman School. Later, in February the students of the Crane Technical School threatened a strike because of the removal of a teacher from the junior staff to the high-school staff.

On June 18, 1918, a Negro organization expressed the views of Negroes on the _Chicago Tribune's_ handling of a news article entitled: "Negro Benefit Carries Mammy to Pearly Gates." The occasion of the article was a musical recital given by Negro artists at the Auditorium and patronized by many cultured whites and Negroes. It was a benefit performance in aid of the families of Negro soldiers. The letter of protest to the editor of the _Tribune_ read:

On Saturday, June 15, there appeared in your paper what
purported to be an account of a meeting and concert at the
Auditorium held for the benefit of Negro soldiers' families.
Despite the fact that it was distinctly a patriotic affair,
presenting on its program colored artists of unquestioned
talent, and rendered in such a manner as to evoke the warmest
praise from an appreciative and music loving audience, your
reporter saw fit to tell of it by reciting what he knew or
thought he knew about Negro "mammies."

The body of the article contains sixty-two lines. Thirteen
of these are devoted to mention of the names of the colored
artists, ten to a description of the crowd, which, by the
way, was inaccurate, fourteen to another list of notables in
attendance and twenty-five to an enraptured dissertation on
"mammies." Not only is this reference grossly irrelevant, but
to colored people it is positively distasteful as everyone
should know by now.

The caption of the article "Negro Benefit Carries Mammy to
Pearly Gates" could by no stretch of fancy be taken as the
heading for an account of a musical concert.... There is no
complaint against the limited appreciations of your reporter,
neither do we protest against his fondness for the adolescent
idol of his black mammy; but as a news item the account is
ridiculously improper and out of place.

The patriotic endeavors of the colored people of this city have
more than once been discouraged by just such thoughtlessness
and incomprehension. You would do a great service to colored
people and to our government in the prosecution of the war if
in such accounts as appear you cause to be eliminated such
personal reminiscences and irritating irrelevancies as are
calculated to make patriotism difficult and racial relationship
unsettled.

1. GENERAL SURVEY OF CHICAGO NEWSPAPERS

It was assumed by the Commission that so far as the ordinary reading public is concerned the study of the three Chicago white daily papers with the largest circulation and the three Negro weekly papers most widely read would provide an adequate basis for a test of news handling, and for measuring the effect on the public of accounts of racial happenings. The papers selected are listed in Table XXX.

TABLE XXX

For the two-year period 1916 and 1917 the Commission listed from the _Chicago Tribune_, the _Chicago Daily News_, and the _Chicago Herald-Examiner_ 1,551 articles on racial matters. Of these articles 1,338 were news items, 108 were letters to the press, and 96 were editorials.

Table XXXI classifies these items according to subject:

TABLE XXXI

Number
Subject of Articles
Riots and clashes 309
Crime and vice 297
Soldiers 199
Politics 99
Housing 89
Ridicule 63
Illegitimate contacts 61
Sports 56
Migration 45
Personal 39
Special columns 33
Education 18
Meetings 17
Art 8
Business 5
-----
Total 1,338

These figures do not represent all articles appearing on racial issues during the two-year period. Many additional articles appeared in early editions and not in the editions examined.

Generally these articles indicated hastily acquired and partial information, giving high lights and picturing hysteria. Frequently they showed gross exaggeration. The less sensational articles, permitting a glimpse of the stabler side of Negro life, were less than seventy-five. The subjects receiving most frequent and extended treatment in these three papers were: crime, housing, politics, riots, and soldiers. In analyzing the articles themselves, under these specific headings, it appears that the appeal to the interests of the public is founded on definite assumptions in the public mind. It has come to be recognized by both whites and Negroes, but more especially by the latter, that crime is most often associated with the publication of Negro news in white newspapers.

_Crime._--The University Commission on Southern Race Problems in a recommendation to the white college men of the South said:

Colored people feel very keenly about the way crime committed,
or alleged to have been committed, by Negroes is played up
in the newspapers. We never see the Negro's good qualities
mentioned. As a rule, when a Negro's name appears in the
newspapers he has done something to somebody, or somebody has
done something to him. It may be true that the newspaper's
attitude toward the Negro does not influence white public
opinion as much as the Negro thinks, but it is bound to affect
the point of view of those white people who do not know the
Negro.

As between North and South this press handling of racial matter seems but a question of degree. For a public which depends upon newspapers for its information an inordinately one-sided picture is presented. This emphasis on individual crimes specifying Negroes in each offense tends to stamp the entire Negro group as criminal. The following headings in white newspapers will suggest the inference of the public as to whether or not Negroes are criminally inclined:

NEGRO ROBBERS ATTACK WOMAN NEAR HER HOME
Tear Open Her Waist in Search for Money, but Fail to Find $6 Which She Had

POLICE HUNT FOR NEGRO WHO HELD UP WOMAN
Scour Englewood District for Short Black Man Who Threatened
Girls with Revolver

NEGRO SLAYER ESCAPES FROM JAIL

AUSTIN WOMAN ATTACKED IN OWN HOME BY NEGRO

WOMAN SHOCKED BY NEGRO THIEF
Mrs. John W. Beckwith Surprises Black Burglar in Her Home

RESCUE NEGRO FROM MOB THAT THREATENED LYNCHING
Morgan Park Police Save William Shaw Who Attacked Woman from
Infuriated Crowd

NEGRO ATTACKS WOMAN. HER SCREAMS BRING HELP
Mrs. Joseph Westhouse Dragged into Dark Passageway on South Side Street

ARREST NEGRO SUSPECT. FIND MUCH IN POCKET
Earnest Wallace Identified by Three Men as Ku Klux Robbers Who
Held Them Up

MASKED NEGRO ROBS AS WHITE
Arthur Hood Learns to Disguise Voice in Prison; Uses Talent

GIRLS FLEE FROM NEGRO
Accused Wm. Brewere of Following Them

NEGRO TROOP RUNS AMUCK. THREE MEN ARE WOUNDED

NEGRO STANDS WITH KNIFE OVER SLEEPER IN PARK

NEGRO CAMP INTRUDER ARRESTED AFTER FIGHT

CORONER CLEARS POLICEMAN FOR KILLING NEGRO

NEGRO SHOT DEAD TRYING TO ESCAPE AFTER CRIME

NEGRO ATTACKS DANCER IN ROOM OFF LOOP STAGE
Purpose Robbery

SAILORS CHARGE NEGRO INSULTERS IN EVANSTON

The frequent mention of Negroes in connection with crime by the white press has the following effects:

1. It plays upon the popular belief that Negroes are naturally criminal.

2. The constant recounting of crimes of Negroes, always naming the race of the offender, effects an association of Negroes with criminality.

3. It frequently involves reference to sex matters which provides a powerful stimulant to public interest.

4. It provides sensational and sometimes amusing material, and at the same time fixes the crimes upon a group with supposed criminal traits.

The beliefs handed down through tradition concerning the weak moral character of Negroes and their emotional nature are thus constantly and steadily held before the public. Police officers, judges, and other public officials are similarly affected, consciously or unconsciously, by these beliefs and by the constant mention of Negroes in relation to crime. Arrest on suspicion, conviction on scanty evidence, and severe punishments are the results. A vicious circle is thus created.

Crimes involving only Negroes as offenders and victims receive little newspaper attention. It might be supposed that they are uninteresting because there is no element of race conflict. As long as crimes are committed within the group, and this group is regarded as an isolated appendix of the community, there is little public interest in them, and consequently little news value. When, however, a member of the isolated group comes into conflict with the community group, whether in industry, housing, or any relation, it assumes a wider significance, and the information appears to become news of importance in the judgment of the press.

Instances of purely Negro crime, which in the community at large would have a strong appeal to public interest, take on news value only when the ludicrous or grotesque can be pictured. For the most part, this type of article is written by a reporter with some reputation for wit. He inserts the expected Negro dialect, whether with or without warrant, and proceeds to make an amusing story.

_Negro soldiers._--News interest in articles on Negro soldiers appears to be founded largely on sentiment. During the war Negro soldiers, especially from Illinois, were given unstinted praise by the public and the newspapers. Illustrative headlines follow:

CHICAGO SOLDIERS ARE READY
Col. Dennison Declared to Reporter That Regiment 1,038 Strong Ready
for Call to War

COLORED MEN SERVED IN THE COLONIAL ARMY
Washington Favored Their Enlistment, but for a Time There Was Opposition

TO TRAIN COLORED MEN FOR OFFICERS

COLORED TROOPS TO GO SOUTH
Baker Says the 8th Illinois Will Be Sent to Camp Logan

DRAMATIC FAREWELL TO COLORED TROOPS
Cheers of Crowd Show Chicago Loyalty to Men of 8th Infantry

COLOR LINE WORRIES EXEMPTION BOARDS
Negro District Officials Wonder How They Can Furnish 40 Per Cent All White

TOBACCO FOR NEGRO SOLDIERS
Texas Club Will Give Midnight Benefit to Aid Fund

NEGRO STEVEDORES TO FRANCE
Colored Workers Are Being Organized into Four United States Regiments

ARMY IGNORES COLOR LINE
Negro Troops Ordered to Every Cantonment Where Available. War
Department Not Affected by Protest, Latest Ruling Shows

8TH REGIMENT IS ORDERED TO HOUSTON
Chicago Colored Infantry to Be Accorded Same Privilege as White Soldiers.
Overrule City's Protest

COLORED SOLDIERS HELP LOAN
Col. Dennison's Men in the 8th Infantry Are Enthusiastic

8TH REGIMENT READY TO BEGIN BOND DRIVE
Spirit Shown by Officers Insures Good Response from Colored Soldiers

ORGANIZE NEGRO LABOR UNITS
U.S. Army Will Soon Have 24 Companies of Colored Volunteers

_Politics._--In politics the listed articles were confined almost exclusively to suggestions of corruption, unfavorable criticism of Negro politicians, and treatment of Negro political support of Mayor Thompson as blind, careless, and venal loyalty.

The following headings on listed news items will indicate the character of emphasis:

MAYOR'S RULE SCORED BY VOTERS' LEAGUE
Since Harding retired from Council, Moores has collapsed entirely. In combination
with his colleague, Oscar De Priest, colored, he has become a partisan, willing to
go to any length in behalf of the politicians fighting the Council.

M.L.V. URGES DEFEAT OF MAYOR'S CLIQUE. SECOND WARD, NEGRO
WARD, NO RECOMMENDATIONS

HOT ON TRAIL OF VOTE FRAUDS LETTER
E. H. Green's (Negro) Communication to Dr. Leroy N. Bundy (Negro)
May Reach Grand Jury
Alderman De Priest (Negro) Involved
All Interested in Rounding Up Colored Republican Voters Talk of Colonizing

FIVE IN HOT FIGHT IN SECOND WARD
It is said, however, that W. R. Cowan (Negro) and L. B. Anderson (Negro)
have best chance.

COLORED MAN IN SENSATION
St. Louis Dentist Said to Have Revealed Election Fraud

EAST ST. LOUIS BRIBERS SAFE
Attorney-General Brundage says they are immune under law. These men were
accused in confession of Bundy (Negro).

BLACK AND TANS WIN POINT
Will Have Half the Delegation from Louisiana to Republican
National Convention

DE PRIEST QUITS ELECTION RACE AT G.O.P. ORDER
Indicted Alderman Ducks Impending War in Second Ward

3,000 NEGROES CHEER ATTACK ON ROOSEVELT

NEW YORK ELECTS ITS FIRST NEGRO TO THE LEGISLATURE
Ed. A. Johnson

MAYOR LOSES BIG WARDS
In recognition of what the second ward did, the administration has made more
Negro appointments than ever before in Chicago. Yesterday the City Hall forces
were led by Alderman De Priest, Corporation Counsel Ettleman, Dr. A. J. Cary,
and Edward Wright. Morris won by 4,050 over Bibb.

IMPORT NEGROES FROM THE SOUTH TO SWING MID-WEST

NEGRO LEADER EJECTED FROM HUGHES QUARTERS
E. H. Green Told to Move On When Authorship of Letter Is Traced

NEGRO VOTE MANIPULATION ALLEGED IN EAST ST. LOUIS

_Housing._--The subject of the housing of the Negro is interesting because of its peculiar connection with: (_a_) segregation; (_b_) bombing; (_c_) neighborhood antagonisms; (_d_) alleged depreciation of property; (_e_) Hyde Park-Kenwood efforts to keep Negroes out of the district.

During 1917 the _Tribune_ carried six articles on Negro housing. One was the mention of the purchase of a $75,000 lot by Mme. C. J. Walker, a colored woman living in New York. Two related to the efforts of white residents to keep Negroes out of white residence districts; two were devoted to the effort of white residents to put Negroes out of white districts; and one to a meeting of realty men at which, it was alleged, angry Negroes "blasted harmony on a housing plan." The plan in question was a segregated Negro district to which Negroes objected. Trends of subjects treated in news items are given:

ST. LOUIS VOTES TODAY ON NEGRO SEGREGATION

OFFERS HER HOME TO NEGROES ONLY
West Side Woman Adopts Novel Revenge in Row with Neighbors
Due to Spite Fence

NEGROES MAY BUY HOUSE ADJOINING SPITE FENCE
Owner of Property Will Sell to Colored People Only in Plan for Revenge

RACE QUESTION LEFT TO BLACKS
Negro Committee Given Power to Act in Morgan Park Feud

COMMITTEE REPRESENTING BOTH SIDES TO SUGGEST SOLUTION AT
NEXT MEETING
Com. L. T. Orr and Chas. R. Bixby, White, and G. H. Jackson, and
G. R. Faulkner, Colored

RACE QUESTION TAKEN TO COURT
Morgan Park Negro Alleges Conspiracy to Close His Building

NEGRO SUBURB PLANNED AFTER ENGLISH GARDENS
Dunbar Park, Prepared by Frances Barry Byone

OAK PARK NEGRO HOME SET AFIRE. SEES WHITE MAN
Shoots as Arson Suspect Stumbles over Hedge Screaming
Second Attempt at Blaze

NEGRESS BUYS LONG ISLAND LOT AMONG HOMES OF RICH
Mme. C. J. Walker $75,000 Lot

SEGREGATION OF NEGROES SOUGHT BY REALTY MEN
Plan Legislation to Keep Colored People from White Areas

ANGRY NEGROES BLAST HARMONY IN HOUSING PLAN
Bolt Meeting at Realty Board with Threats to Fight

NEGRO OWNER OF FLAT HOUSE TO WAR BACK
Eugene F. Manns--Property in Morgan Park

COURT BLOCKS NEGRO INVASION
Injunction to Halt Move until Improvements Are Put In

RACE SEGREGATION IS RENT BOOSTER'S AIM
Owners Hope to Prevent Encroachments of Either Colored or White Citizens

TRY TO KEEP NEGRO OUT OF BLACK BELT
Colored Organizations Do Not Want Newcomers to Go to Old District

URGE RACE SEGREGATION LAW
Members of Real Estate Board to Move to Save South Side

TAKE UP HOUSING OF NEGROES
Two White and Two Colored Realty Dealers Consider the Problem

_The migration._--The migration provided a subject of sufficient interest to stimulate a number of articles. Hordes of illiterate and impecunious Negroes were pouring into the city, according to some reports, at the rate of forty carloads a day; they brought smallpox and low living standards, imperiled health, and created a dangerous problem for the city. The combined estimates from day to day in the press would give a number of arrivals in Chicago, equal to or even more than the migration to the entire North. Thus the articles ran:

COMMITTEE TO DEAL WITH NEGRO INFLUX
Body Formed to Solve Problems Due to Migration to Chicago from South

WORK OUT PLANS FOR MIGRATING NEGROES
Influx from the South Cared For by the Urban League and Other Societies

OPPOSES IMPORTING NEGROES
Illinois Defense Council Moves to Stop Influx from South

2,000 SOUTHERN NEGROES ARRIVE IN LAST TWO DAYS
Stockyards Demand for Labor Cause of Influx

RUSH OF NEGROES TO CITY STARTS HEALTH INQUIRY
Philadelphia Warns of Peril, Health; Police Heads to Act

NEGROES ARRIVE BY THOUSANDS--PERIL TO HEALTH
Big Influx of Laborers Offers Vital Housing Problem to City

SEEK TO CHECK NEGRO ARRIVALS FROM THE SOUTH
City Officials Would Halt Influx until Ready to Handle Problem

NEGROES LEAVING SOUTH; 308,749 IN FEW MONTHS

DEFENSE BOARD WARNED AGAINST NEGRO INFLUX
Investigators See Peril Such as Resulted in East St. Louis

HALF A MILLION DARKIES FROM DIXIE SWARM TO THE NORTH TO
BETTER THEMSELVES

NEGROES INCITED BY GERMAN SPIES
Federal Agents Confirm Reports of New Conspiracy in South; Accuse
Germans for Exodus from South

NORTH DOES NOT WELCOME INFLUX OF SOUTH'S NEGROES

NEGRO INFLUX BRINGS DISEASE
Health Commissioner Orders Vaccination of Arrivals to Check Smallpox

_Racial contacts._--Aside from the riots and clashes the most intensively featured articles were those dealing with intimate racial contacts. They dealt with intermarriage, positions of authority for Negroes, intermingling of the races in resorts, and love affairs--in fact, the usual taboo themes and "forbidden" interracial practices. Some of these subjects are thus indicated:

WIFE VANISHES--HUSBAND SEEKS NEGRO

MAY PUT WOMAN ON TRIAL FOR PAYING NEGRO'S FARE
San Diego Case First Instance of Man Not Being Taken under Mann Act

LITTLE MARJORIE GAY, BUT AGED MAMMY MOURNS
Colored Woman Who Raised White Girl Says Officers Are Influencing Child

A STRANGE, TRUE STORY
On Frank Jaubert, manager of New Orleans City Belt Railroad, who was accused
of being a Negro. Reference to Marjorie Delbridge case.

MAMMY LOSES FIGHT TO KEEP DELBRIDGE GIRL
Girl Declared Incorrigible, Delinquent and Ward of Juvenile Court

DIXIE WOMAN TO GIVE MAMMY AND HER CHILD NEW HOME TOGETHER
Mrs. Brock Also Had a Mammy

ALL HER TROUBLES NEAR HAPPY END AS NEW HOME LOOMS WITH MAMMY

MAMMY KIDNAPS HER CHILD
Negress Seizes Delbridge Girl; Flees in Auto

MAMMY DENIES KIDNAPPING WARD
Search for Marjorie Delbridge Leaves Disappearance a Mystery.
Mrs. Brock Through

2. INTENSIVE STUDY OF CHICAGO NEWSPAPERS

A careful study of the three selected white daily papers was made covering 1918, the year preceding the riot, to note relative space, prominence, importance, and the type of articles on racial matters. During the year 534 articles appeared on racial matters distributed among the three papers as follows:

NEWS ITEMS ON RACIAL MATTERS--1918

No. Items
_Chicago Daily Tribune_ 253
_Chicago Herald-Examiner_ 157
_Chicago Daily News_ 124
---
Total 534

TABLE XXXII

CLASSIFICATION OF ARTICLES ACCORDING TO SUBJECT AND NEWSPAPER DURING 1918

Key:
A = No. of Articles
B = Amount of Space in Inches

=============================+==========+==========+==========+==========
| |"HERALD- | |
|"TRIBUNE" |EXAMINER" | "NEWS" | TOTAL
SUBJECT +----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----
| A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B
-----------------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----
Crime and vice | 70 | 231 | 58 | 181 | 21 | 122 |149 | 534
Soldiers, war work | 33 | 136 | 21 | 88 | 28 | 196 | 82 | 420
Politics | 21 | 78 | 12 | 28 | 14 | 63 | 47 | 169
Riots | 15 | 80 | 5 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 103
Lynchings | 24 | 57 | 15 | 43 | 4 | 21 | 43 | 121
Editorials | 6 | 34 | 8 | 67 | 6 | 28 | 20 | 129
Organizations and movements | 13 | 25 | 8 | 22 | 4 | 27 | 25 | 75
Housing | 12 | 28 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 46
Personal and miscellaneous | 15 | 35 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 33 | 25 | 85
Industry, labor | 11 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 14 | 47
Athletic, sports | 8 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24
Letters to editor and | | | | | | | |
"Voice of People" | 13 | 107 | 9 | 30 | 21 | 34 | 43 | 171
Migration | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 126 | 11 | 130
Propaganda | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6
Race relations | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9
Radicalism | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 10
Guide post | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59
Intermarriage | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7
Education | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8
Segregation | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15
Social service | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8
Theatrical | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1
-----------------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----

Most of the published information concerning the Negro and issues involving him magnifies his crimes and mistakes beyond all reasonable proportions. The Chicago public is aware of the sentiment against morons created by the newspaper practice of calling persons who attack women or girls morons--an unscientific classification, of course, since all who attack women are not morons. Negroes frequently say that if each crime committed by a "red-headed" man were listed as a crime committed by a "red-headed" man, a sentiment would soon be created sufficiently hostile to provoke prejudice against all red-headed men.

In 1918 there were more than 90,000 Negroes in Chicago. Practically all of the more serious crimes in this group, especially those involving whites and Negroes, were given publicity. This simple notation of crimes may be a part of the routine of journalism. It does not, however, explain the obvious appeal to passion found in many of them or even the prominence given to articles of a certain type. Crimes, riots, intermarriage, lynchings, and radicalism were the subjects of articles which, in their repetition and accumulative significance, presented a disproportionately unfavorable aspect of the Negro population.

The _Chicago Tribune_ published, in 1918, 145 articles which, because of their emphasis on crimes, clashes, political corruption, and efforts to "invade white neighborhoods" definitely placed Negroes in an unfavorable light. Of this number, twenty-three appeared on the first page of the first section and twenty on the first page of the second section. It also published eighty-four articles dealing with Negro soldiers, sports, industry, and personalities, which, aside from flippancy in treatment, did not place Negroes in an unfavorable light. Of this number, two were on the first page of the first section and three on the first page of the second section. The relative length of articles indicates another possible effect on the public. The unfavorable 145 articles contained 487 inches of printed matter, while the less colorful items contained 223 inches.

Front-page space amounting to eleven inches was given to favorable articles, and 158 inches to unfavorable. Of the articles concerning Negro soldiers appearing on the first page, four of the eleven inches concerned a report that two Negro soldiers had been killed following a dispute at Camp Merritt between a white sergeant and a Negro trooper.

The _Herald-Examiner_ published ninety-seven unfavorable and thirty favorable articles. Of this number, thirty-one unfavorable and six favorable appeared on the front page.

The _Chicago Daily News_ devoted thirty-three articles to unfavorable publicity and fifty-one to publicity of a favorable sort. Of these, eighteen unfavorable and eighteen favorable appeared on the first page.

_Bombing publicity._--The bombing of the homes of Negroes is an expression of lawlessness which in an orderly community should not be tolerated. The primary function of the newspaper is to report the facts. Upon this basis the public may then pass its judgment. In the case of a bombing it might be supposed that an orderly community would wish to know the persons involved, the damage effected, the motive, the action of the police and the result of efforts to capture the perpetrators of the act. Ordinarily this is done in most cases of lawlessness and in bombings not involving racial issues.

Of the forty-five racial bombings which took place in Chicago between July 1, 1917, and June 18, 1920, fourteen were not mentioned in any of the six large dailies of the city.[88] Of the remaining thirty-one, seven were reported in one paper, ten in two papers, nine in three papers, while five appeared in four papers. Not one of the forty-five cases appeared in more than four papers. Although there might have been a total of 270 news reports of these bombings only seventy-four actually appeared. Of the forty-five bombings the _Tribune_ and _Herald-Examiner_ each reported twenty, the _Post_ fourteen, the _News_ eleven, the _Journal_ eight, and the _American_ one. In all cases the reports openly recognized that these bombings were not the result of individual grievances but involved organized effort and activity on the part of groups or communities in the practice of throwing racial bombs. It was generally referred to as a "race bomb" or "race war bombs." Typical headings were:

_Journal_, April 7, 1919:
RACE HATRED BOMB HURLS SIX FAMILIES FROM BED

_Journal_, November 19, 1918:
BOMB HOME OF AGED NEGRO. EXPLOSION SEEN AS PROTEST BY WHITES

_Journal_, March 6, 1920:
ATTRIBUTE BOMB TO SOUTH SIDE RACE WAR

_Journal_, March 31, 1920:
ANOTHER BOMB IN RACE WAR. OWNER SELLS BUILDING TO NEGROES
DESPITE OBJECTION OF NEIGHBORS

_Herald-Examiner_, May 25, 1920:
NEGRO CLUB IS BOMBED. SOME BLAME POLITICS

_Chicago Tribune_, May 25, 1920:
NEW RACE WAR WRECKS PORCH OF NEGROES' CLUB. THE CLUB IS
COMPOSED OF 600 COLORED PERSONS

_Herald-Examiner_, June 13, 1920:
TWO BUILDINGS BOMBED. RACE PREJUDICE BLAMED

_Herald-Examiner_, December 28, 1919:
RACE WAR BOMB INJURES WOMAN

_Herald-Examiner_, September 24, 1918:
POLICE SAID BOMB WAS INTENDED TO INTIMIDATE NEGROES WHO
RECENTLY MOVED INTO THAT NEIGHBORHOOD

_Herald-Examiner_, April 7, 1919:
A RACE WAR IS GENERALLY BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BEHIND A
BOMB EXPLOSION EARLY THIS MORNING AT
4212 ELLIS AVE.

_Herald-Examiner_, April 4, 1920:
RACIAL DIFFERENCE RESPONSIBLE FOR BOMB

_Journal_, March 20, 1919:
BELIEVE BOMB THROWING CONTINUATION OF A FEUD CARRIED ON BY THE WHITES
AND BLACKS IN THE DISTRICT WHERE NEGROES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED
TO OCCUPY BUILDINGS FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY WHITE PEOPLE

In two instances a racial bombing was considered significant enough to occupy more than nine inches of one column. This space was given by the _Tribune_ and the _Herald-Examiner_.

Jesse Binga, a Negro banker, was bombed five times. The article in the _Daily News_ was five inches long. In the _Herald-Examiner_, April 20, 1919, there appeared an article, "Curious Boy Drops Bomb as It Explodes." The article covered eleven inches, of which eight inches were given to the story of a boy who picked up a bomb in the street and dropped it as a lady signaled him to drop it because it might be an explosive. At the end of this article were appended three inches containing a narrative of a racial bombing at 4722 Indiana Avenue where Wimes & Lassiter, Negro real-estate dealers, had an office.

The fifth bombing directed against Mr. Binga is treated humorously in spite of the serious damage done to his home.

The average length of racial bombing articles was about four and one-half inches. The explanations of motive offered were stereotyped in character and involved assumptions which it is not considered necessary here to analyze. It was explained that the person bombed was a Negro or that he had moved into a "distinctly white residential district," against which encroachment bombing had been instituted as an intimidating or expulsive measure. It was sometimes stated that the person was a real estate agent negotiating with Negroes concerning property in "restricted" districts. This sort of explanation was either stated in the headline or appended at the end in a brief sentence. The reports in the papers apparently undertook merely to notify the public that bombings had happened. The following are examples of press treatment of race bombings:

_Herald-Examiner_, May 25, 1918:
This building was occupied by Negro families.... The white residents
objected to the Negroes.

_Post_, November 19, 1918:
BOMB SHATTERS NEGRO HOME IN "WHITE DISTRICT"

_Tribune_, March 19, 1919:
BINGA PROPERTY WAS WRECKED
Binga is an agent for buildings. He is colored, and has been leasing apartments
formerly occupied by white tenants to colored.

_Post_, March 20, 1919:
Police are investigating whether the bombs were thrown by members of the
Janitors' Union retaliating against Jesse Binga, colored real estate dealer who had
been hiring non-union janitors, or whether intended as another warning to the colored
people to keep out of residential districts that have been hitherto exclusively white.

_Post_, April 7, 1919:
BOMB EXPLODES IN FLAT WHERE NEGRO MOVED IN

_Tribune_, April 7, 1919:
BOMB SET OFF IN NEGRO FLATS
White residents of the district had held indignation meetings because he had
peopled his building with colored folks.

_Herald-Examiner_, April 20, 1919:
OFFICE OF WIMES & LASSITER, NEGRO REAL ESTATE DEALERS,
WAS THE TARGET

_Tribune_, May 18, 1919:
NEGRO FAMILY ON GRAND BOULEVARD OBJECT OF BOMB

_Post_, June 13, 1919:
TWO BOMB BLASTS ON FRINGE OF NEGRO DISTRICT

_Post_, January 6, 1920:
BOMB DAMAGES HOME OF NEGRO ON GRAND BOULEVARD
Ernest Clark moved in recently. He is a Negro. All his neighbors are white.

_Daily News_, February 2, 1920:
WHILE A BOMB WAS EXPLODED ANOTHER BATTLE IN THE SOUTH SIDE
RACE WAR OVER THE SEGREGATION OF BLACKS IN
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS

_Daily News_, February 10, 1920:
BUILDING RECENTLY SOLD TO APPOMATTOX CLUB, A NEGRO ORGANIZATION

_Daily News_, February 13, 1920:
TWO BOMBS TOSSED
... against encroachment of Negroes in white residential districts.

_Herald-Examiner_, March 11, 1920:
SOUTH SIDE HOUSE SOLD TO NEGROES BOMBED

_Journal_, March 24, 1920:
BOMB SHAKES BUILDING. DEAL FOR SALE OFF
The prospective buyer was talking with ---- when there came a loud noise.
[Buyer was colored.]

A typical example of newspaper reports of the bombings of Negro homes appeared in the _Herald-Examiner_ of April 4, 1920:

BOMB BLASTS IN FRONT OF NEGRO FLAT BUILDING

A black powder bomb was exploded last night in front of the
vestibule of a four-story flat building 423 E. 48th Place,
occupied by Negroes. The building is owned by Robert B. Jackson,
who lives on the second floor. He recently purchased it from
Louis Cohen. The apartment is in the neighborhood peopled
mainly by whites, and the police believe racial differences
are responsible for the bomb. The explosion did slight damages.
No one was hurt.

One of the typical shorter reports also appeared in the same paper May 25, 1918:

BOMB EXPLODES BEFORE HOME OF NEGRO FAMILIES

A bomb exploded in the front of 4529 Vincennes Avenue early
this morning, wrecked the front porch of the structure and
broke windows for a block around. The building is occupied by
Negro families. White residents objected to the Negroes.

Similar language was used in all the articles.

Most of the articles carried a suggestion of a race war on the South Side. Many of the reports helped to contribute to popular anticipation of future trouble. For example, in the _Post_ of January 6, 1920, page 1, column 3, a bombing was reported thus: "A bomb early today damaged the residence at 4404 Grand Boulevard which was said to have been a Negro 'sniping-post' during the race riot last summer."

The home at 4404 Grand Boulevard was owned and occupied by Mrs. Byron Clarke, and was not a sniping-post during the riot. It had been bombed four times, once while officers were guarding it. All papers used the expression, "No one was hurt." Property destruction was usually dismissed with statements like these: "All the glass was shattered"; "the front porch was demolished"; "about $---- damage was done"; or "the damages were slight." The _Daily News_ was exceptional in using the word "outrage" three times.

Two reports gave accounts of arrests, and all others in which police activity was mentioned merely said, "The police are investigating." None of the articles gave the results of any such investigation, other than that the police generally attributed the "hurling of the bomb" to the occupants of a black touring-car. The articles contained no condemnation of the bombings as lawlessness or crime except in the case of a bombing at 3401 Indiana Avenue, where a child was killed May 1, 1919. The _Chicago Tribune_ spoke of this death as an incident of that bombing.

One of the two arrests above referred to was that of a janitor who was not able to explain sufficiently his presence in or about a building which had just been bombed. He was taken into custody but was soon dismissed. The other arrest was that of the nephew of a prominent business man living in the neighborhood of the bombed property.

During the time from February, 1918, to February, 1919, prior to the Chicago riot, there were eleven bombings in the city. If each paper had reported each bombing there would have been sixty-six reports. Only seven reports actually appeared. During the six weeks immediately preceding the Chicago race riot, there were seven racial bombings. Of a possible forty-two reports, only four appeared, or two bombings in two papers. Thus violent and criminal expressions of hostility which might have been checked by arousing the public conscience silently continued. The resentment of Negroes increased, and the ignorance of the larger white public remained undisturbed. The articles were apparently written without much investigation. Upon the fifth bombing of Mr. Binga's home, the _American_, _Herald-Examiner_, and _Chicago Daily News_ quoted Mr. Binga as saying, "This is the limit; I am going." Mr. Binga declares that he did not say this, that he did not even see a reporter, and that he had not moved.

During the nine months following the riot, publicity on bombings increased to several times the former amount. Beginning in March, 1920, the articles again showed slackened interest. The _Tribune_ and _Herald-Examiner_, usually giving most frequent publicity to such matters, missed about every other one. The _Post_ had no reports, the _Journal_ two, the _News_ four, and the _American_ none. Seven bombings took place from March 1 to July 1.

The apparent indifference toward race bombings in the minds of editors, officials, and the public was indicated by the relative prominence given to a race bomb which threatened life and damaged property as compared with an "odor bomb" dropped in a moving-picture theater.

On the first page of the _Tribune_ of February 11, 1921, under the caption "Crow Raid Opens Inquiry into Bombs," were seventeen inches of space reporting cases of "odor bombs" and emphasizing the determination of the state's attorney to make investigation. At the bottom of the adjoining column were four inches devoted to a dynamite race bomb which damaged a three-story apartment and involved menace to life. No reference was made to any effort by the state's attorney or the police to investigate. Similar prominence was given to the "odor bomb" in the _Herald-Examiner_.

An editorial in the _Tribune_, February 14, 1921, condemning bombing made no reference to the fifty-six race bombings of recent record, but did refer to other bombing aimed at white citizens. The editorial reads:

THE BUSINESS OF BOMBING

Anthony D'Andrea, whose aldermanic campaign meeting Friday
night was broken up by a bomb which injured seventeen persons,
speaks with some indignation on the matter as indicating a bad
moral slump in political methods. If it had been a union labor
bomb, apparently, it would have been of no great importance.

"I'm a union man myself," he explains. "I wouldn't care if
they threw a bomb at my house. That's all in the game."

On the latter point D'Andrea is right. It is "all in the game,"
but the game is one which gets out of control of the players.
It is because bomb throwing has come to be accepted as "all in
the game" of union labor warfare that it is now being extended
to political warfare. The man, the gang, or the organization
which sanctions or adopts bombing as a method of obtaining
results in ordinary activities cannot expect to be able to
restrict the use of such methods to one line of business.

Originally the bomb was a political weapon, as in the hands
of the Russian nihilists. In late years it has grown popular
with labor leaders of a certain class. Such bombings as the
recent one at the Tyson apartments, ascribed by the police to
labor troubles, and the repeated odor bomb outrages at movie
theaters, are sufficient illustrations of its use by labor.
The post-office bombing in 1918 and the numerous so-called
race-bombs exploded on the South Side are illustrative of the
widening use of bombs. In such progress D'Andrea should not be
surprised that the bomb is being adopted by ward politicians.
Properly applied, a good bomb can be expected to neutralize
half a dozen or so precinct captains. Bomb throwing is becoming
a business.

Friday night's bombing is a perfectly logical development. As
a result several men may be cripples for life, if they do not
die. It is time such logical developments are stopped. Among
the scores of bomb outrages of the last few years, so far as
we recall, there has not been a single case of punishment of
the perpetrators. They are justified in believing that they are
safe. As long as they retain that belief they will continue
to extend the business of bombing. One thing will stop it.
That is drastic punishment. Any person who throws a bomb is
a potential murderer. Life in prison is none too severe a
penalty. Good detectives can trap some of these men and good
prosecution can send them to prison. It should be done and
done now.

_The Abyssinian affair._--The "Abyssinian affair" referred to earlier in this part of the report, was treated with remarkably good judgment by the press. It is to be believed that further clashes were avoided by the effective way in which the newspapers pointed out that the demonstration was the work of fanatics rather than a race riot. Two days later, however, the _Chicago Tribune_ published an article ascribing the Abyssinian murders to "racial reds." The article ran:

"ABYSSINIAN" MURDERS BARE RACIAL "REDS"

Leaders Lay Unrest to Du Bois Creed

Shocked by the fantastic violence of Sunday night, when a United
States sailor and a citizen were killed by pseudo-Abyssinian
zealots, thoughtful colored leaders began a determined effort
yesterday to stamp out anti-white exploitation and to bring
about better understanding....

This type of exploitation, they say, is aimed at the more
ignorant among the colored masses. It carries the same appeal
as the glittering promises of the I.W.W. and the Communists
to the illiterate and ignorant among the whites.

According to Negro leaders, this exploitation is based upon the
theory of _social equality_. Its motive can be seen, they say,
in recent utterances and writings of Negro intellectuals, in
which a high pitch of "social equality" fervor is established
as a panacea for the ills of the race. This theory, translated
and exaggerated into ambiguous prophecies by the soap-box
orator, is slowly being percolated through the masses of a
race as yet generally unprepared by education to understand it.

Chief among the writers whose works have been of this
intellectual caliber is Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois.... His latest
volume, a "best seller" entitled _Darkwater_, has been widely
circulated. It is a volume of almost super-intellectual caliber,
and is bitter in tone.

In _Darkwater_, which is taken simply as a typical volume,
are found the teachings, colored leaders say, which have been
seized upon by those who, under the shadow of Dr. Du Bois'
reputation among colored folk, would seek to incite and exploit.

The "colored leaders" quoted were F. L. Barnett, R. S. Abbott, and A. H. Roberts. They did not impute any such danger to Mr. Du Bois' books. Mr. Barnett, for example, mentioned the exploitation of the "Back to Africa" movement by Jonas and Redding, while Mr. Abbott and Mr. Roberts spoke of the lack of sympathy among Negroes for criminal types like Jonas and Redding. The article then stated the "Du Bois Creed," saying:

The agitators have used considerable skill in exploiting the
Negroes by use of doctrines which they have taken from Dr. Du
Bois, as expressed in _Darkwater_. Here are some of them:

"The world market most widely and desperately sought today
is the market where labor is cheapest and most helpless and
profit is most abundant. This labor is kept cheap and helpless
because the white world despises 'darkies.'"

This is given as the underlying premise for the late war.

"But what of the darker world that watches?" the author
continues. "Most men belong to this world. With Negro and
Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds
of the population of the world. A belief in humanity is a
belief in colored men. If the uplift in mankind must be done
by men, then the destinies of the world will rest ultimately
in the hands of darker nations."

The article quoted from _Darkwater_ a chapter, which, by cutting the text, left a suggestion of sex intimacy between a colored bank messenger and a white girl very different from the intention of the author. The entire article was calculated, through its suggestion and insinuation, to rouse racial antagonism. It is doubtful whether the "Abyssinian" leaders, who were ignorant fanatics little known within the Negro group, had read Du Bois' books. With all its wildness and fatuousness the movement was directed away from America and from whites. A photograph of Du Bois was published with the caption:

KARL MARX OF NEGROES
Noted Colored Philosopher Whose Works Are Used by Agitators to
Stir Race Hatred

_Miscegenation._--Similarly dangerous treatment is apparent in an article which appeared in the _Tribune_ of November 6, 1920, under the heading: "Miscegenation is O.K.'d in New Constitution."

The article called attention to a proposed provision in the new state constitution of Illinois against public discrimination on account of color, which was intended to put into the constitution rights already guaranteed by state laws. According to the article this law was tentatively agreed upon "during the newsy days surrounding the Republican National Convention and escaped the notice of the public generally." The article said:

Under the basic law, if adopted, a colored man and woman
will be entitled to buy vacant seats of a grand opera box,
otherwise occupied by whites. A Mongolian--if a citizen--and
a mesochromic bride cannot be denied a vacant flat in the most
"exclusive" apartment building.

A law prohibiting the Japanese, as in California, from owning
land, will be illegal. Two colored people may take two of the
four seats in the Blackstone restaurant beside the wives of
two packers.

A member of the convention said yesterday that it is as broad
and comprehensive as it can be made. He claimed that this
sentence in the constitution will prevent the Legislature
from prohibiting in any way the colored citizen from getting
all the rights and privileges accorded to other citizens.
According to this constitutional delegate and lawyer the new
constitution, as now worded, will prevent segregation of the
Negroes, Jim-Crow cars, or special schools for the colored.

A Negro lawyer said that the Morris section only recognizes
openly the rights of equality which were settled by the Civil
War and enunciated in an amendment to the federal Constitution.

The remainder of the article dealt in brief with fifteen other decisions of the Convention. These decisions were merely stated and not commented upon.

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The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race RiotChapter X: PUBLIC OPINION IN RACE RELATIONS--Continued (1)

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