Chapter X: PUBLIC OPINION IN RACE RELATIONS--Continued (3)

Whatever the relative degree of culpability, "yellow" journalism
is as reprehensible when supported by a part of the Negro press
as it is when upheld by a part of the white press. The Negro
might just as well learn now the lesson which the white man
must learn if he would save the civilization which he has been
laboring so long to perfect, i.e., that one's color and race
do not excuse wrongdoing. If it is wrong for a white newspaper
to make white people hate colored people, how can it be right
for a Negro newspaper to make colored people hate white people?

A. CLASSIFICATION OF ARTICLES

The news items in Negro papers show a bias in reporting the opposite of that of many white papers. They emphasize the Negro's view, frequently to the point of distorting fact. If anything, they might be said to provide a compensatory interpretation of the news. The three Negro newspapers selected for study mentioned and briefly characterized in the foregoing pages will show a classification of news items appearing during a forty-week period.

In addition to general news items concerning Negroes, the _Defender_ gave one page to sporting news, one page to theatrical news, two pages to personal news items sent in by correspondents in other cities, and one page to local personal items. On its editorial page two and one-half columns each week were devoted to health articles by Dr. Wilberforce Williams.

The _Whip_ gave one page to sports, one to theatrical news and organization articles, one to out-of-town personal news items and one to local personal items. Its editorial page devoted one column to "Legal Hints to Women," one-half column to "Health Hints," one column to "Legal Catechism," and two columns to editorials from other papers.

The _Searchlight_ gave one page to theatrical, local personal news, and church notes. The editorial page contained two half-columns each week by "The Man about Town."

TABLE XXXIII

===============================================================
|"DEFENDER"| "WHIP" |"SEARCHLIGHT"
SUBJECTS +----------+----------+-------------
| Local Articles
---------------------------+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 53 | 46 | 42
Racial clashes | 6 | -- | 1
Education | 2 | 9 | 11
Business | 4 | 26 | 14
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 5 | 66 | 65
Vice | 14 | 8 | 10
Bombing | 5 | 10 | 10
Politics | 26 | 60 | 61
Social work | 6 | 9 | 17
Public meetings | 2 | 16 | 13
Religion | 7 | 18 | 34
Science | 2 | 5 | 4
Negro progress | 2 | -- | 17
Negro soldiers | -- | 6 | --
Courts | 4 | 24 | 2
Discrimination | 3 | 9 | 1
Race contacts | -- | -- | --
Lynchings | -- | -- | --
Industrial relations | 8 | 10 | 1
Philanthropy | -- | 2 | --
Personal | 9 | -- | 34
Jim Crow | 1 | 1 | 3
General local welfare | 2 | 11 | 3
Art | -- | 3 | 1
General race relations | -- | 22 | 1
+----------+----------+-------------
| Local Space
+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 586 | 497 | 669
Racial clashes | 42 | 156 | 16
Education | 21 | 52 | 46
Discrimination | 23 | 62 | 101
Business | 58 | 199 | 187
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 23 | 555 | 441
Vice | 112 | 89 | 201
Bombing | 50 | 121 | 98
Politics | 512 | 741 | 893
Social work | 24 | 41 | 110
Public meetings | 84 | 130 | 66
Religion | 59 | 238 | 257
Science | 59 | 30 | 46
Negro soldiers | -- | 57 | 48
Courts | 19 | 130 | 9
Race contacts | -- | 116 | --
Industrial relations | 72 | 400 | 13
Philanthropy | -- | -- | --
Personal | 113 | 45 | 176
Jim Crow | 6 | 8 | 98
Art | -- | 12 | 2
General local welfare | 35 | 78 | 13
General race relations | -- | 273 | 156
South | 7 | 105 | 152
Africa | 4 | -- | --
Migration | -- | -- | --
+----------+----------+-------------
| Out-of-Town Articles
---------------------------+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 282 | 152 | 32
Racial clashes | 19 | 18 | 4
Education | 54 | 42 | 74
Business | 31 | 10 | 14
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 81 | 104 | 138
Vice | 31 | 3 | --
Bombing | -- | -- | 2
Politics | 27 | 46 | 85
Social work | 12 | 6 | 42
Public meetings | 14 | 12 | 8
Religion | 36 | 23 | --
Science | -- | 4 | --
Negro progress | 28 | -- | 40
Negro soldiers | 11 | 11 | 33
Courts | 15 | 24 | 15
Discrimination | 30 | 21 | 10
Race contacts | 9 | 3 | 3
Lynchings | 32 | 54 | 32
Industrial relations | 8 | 16 | 22
Philanthropy | 11 | 4 | 2
Personal | 105 | 9 | 5
Jim Crow | 6 | 6 | 2
Art | 1 | 7 | 5
General race relations | 15 | 60 | 44
South | 38 | 50 | 5
Africa | 1 | 12 | 4
Migration | 2 | 3 | 5
+----------+----------+-------------
| Out-of-Town Space
+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 1,082 | 833 | 191
Racial clashes | 136 | 148 | 43
Education | 174 | 223 | 421
Business | 112 | 40 | 73
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 216 | 434 | 538
Vice | 154 | 7 | --
Bombing | -- | -- | 5
Politics | 132 | 233 | 365
Social work | 40 | 41 | 164
Public meetings | 103 | 76 | 35
Negro progress | 82 | 244 | 198
Soldiers | 50 | 46 | 153
Courts | 120 | 108 | 66
Discrimination | 145 | 13 | 49
Race contacts | 44 | 32 | 13
Lynchings | 239 | 407 | 215
Industrial relations | 29 | 67 | 119
Philanthropy | 32 | 21 | 11
Personal | 213 | 48 | 20
Jim Crow | 36 | 21 | 13
Art | 2 | 22 | 19
General race relations | 124 | 382 | 308
South | 202 | 42 | 69
Africa | 21 | 55 | 18
Migration | 6 | 8 | 26
---------------------------+----------+----------+------------

NOTE.--A much smaller period for study for Negro papers is necessary
since practically all items appearing contain some reference to race.

TABLE XXXIV

===========================+=============+=============+==============
| "DEFENDER" | "WHIP" |"SEARCHLIGHT"
SUBJECTS +-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------
|Article|Space|Article|Space|Article|Space
---------------------------+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------
General race relations | 12 | 137 | 39 | 525 | 53 | 868
Propaganda | 3 | 60 | 3 | 65 | 1 | 6
Constructive suggestions | 11 | 168 | 15 | 306 | 5 | 92
Criticism of leaders | 3 | 30 | 10 | 185 | 5 | 31
Criticisms of white | | | | | |
persons or organizations | 6 | 101 | 6 | 83 | 4 | 59
Political propaganda | 30 | 398 | 10 | 154 | 17 | 251
Discrimination | 7 | 65 | -- | -- | 5 | 36
Industry | 5 | 39 | 4 | 65 | 6 | 39
Education | -- | -- | 3 | 35 | 5 | 53
South | 5 | 68 | 5 | 96 | 6 | 52
Negro progress | 5 | 57 | 9 | 265 | 14 | 111
General news, etc. | 3 | 42 | 12 | 174 | 9 | 83
Housing | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 6
Miscellaneous | 3 | 39 | -- | -- | -- | --
Provoked by incidents | | | | | |
inimicable to Negroes | 1 | 9 | 1 | 15 | -- | --
---------------------------+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------

_Crime publicity._--Sensational news was featured in each of the papers, especially cases in which whites and Negroes were involved. The intention appeared to be to present the Negro's side of the story. A measurement of news interest on different types of crime articles is possible in Table XXXV with space in inches.

TABLE XXXV

LOCAL AND OUT-OF-TOWN CRIMES COMBINED

=============+==============+==============+==============+===============
| CRIMES | CRIMES | CRIMES | CRIMES
| INVOLVING | INVOLVING | INVOLVING | INVOLVING
| ONLY NEGROES | NEGRO V. | WHITES V. | ONLY WHITES
NEGRO | | WHITE | NEGROES |
NEWSPAPERS +--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------
| No. of |Space| No. of |Space| No. of |Space| No. of |Space
|Articles| |Articles| |Articles| |Articles|
-------------+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------
_Defender_ | 233 |1,032| 90 | 467| 55 | 260| 4 | 31
_Whip_ | 75 | 495| 70 | 440| 44 | 350| 8 | 44
_Searchlight_| 26 | 121| 37 | 440| 11 | 67| 1 | 2
-------------+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------

The method of presentation of articles revealed the strongest characteristic of Negro journalism. In this connection a random selection of headlines is interesting:

CRIMES INVOLVING WHITE ASSAILANTS AND NEGRO VICTIMS

"Free White Woman Who Killed Attorney"
"Threatens Mother and Babes with Axe"
"Bowman Milk Driver Brutally Assaults Woman"
"Crime of Postmaster Starts Serious Trouble"
"Commits Suicide to Escape Mob"
"Baby Girl Assaulted by White Farm Hand"
"Maid Is Robbed by White 'Iceman'"
"Stepped on Man's Foot in Street Car; Shot"
"Wouldn't Say 'Mister'; Is Beaten to Death"
"Kills White Man for Girl's Honor"
"Convict White Man on Rape Charge"
"Protects Wife's Honor; Slain by Land-Owner"
"White Tenants Kick on Living in Same Building with Owner"
"White Woman Confesses Lies on Colored Men"
"Kills Negro Minister for Stepping on His Foot"
"White Confectioner Arrested for Refusing to Serve Trotter"
"To Pay $750 for Attack on Negro Woman"
"White Girl Robs Father's Bank; Elopes with Negro Taken in Rooming
House; Half of Stolen Wealth Recovered"
"Two Boys Shot; Crowd Blames White Man"

CRIMES INVOLVING NEGRO ASSAILANTS AND WHITE VICTIMS

"Laundryman Stabbed in Controversy over Price"
"Boy Pupil Rebels at Scolding; Shoots Teacher"
"Slayer Captured, Tried, Hanged, in 24 Hours"
"Quarrel over Price of Cotton; Farmer Is Shot"
"Hold Three for Murder of White Infantryman"
"Haunted by Man's Face He Killed; Surrenders"

CRIMES INVOLVING ONLY NEGROES

"Woman Who Took a Life to Die Herself"
"Mother Kills Self and Babe with Gas"
"Wife Slayer Must Serve 20-Year Term"
"Raids on Homes Net Pullman Goods"
"Woman Dynamites Jail to Free Her Lover"
"Bullet Strikes Brass Chain, Man's Life Saved"
"Girl to Die on Gallows; Slew Rival"
"Cost Girl Her Life to Stop Love Affair"

Definite differences of news value were noted, between articles appearing in Negro papers and those in white papers on the same topics. The items, for the most part, carried a specific appeal. Where the item was of general interest and appeared in both white and Negro papers, the facts usually corresponded.

The difference again lies in emphasis and prominence. Headlines for the same news, as shown in white and Negro papers, follow:

WHITE NEWSPAPERS NEGRO NEWSPAPERS

"Jim Crow Law Is Upheld by "Highest Court Upholds Jim Crow Law.
U.S. High Court" Separate Cars for White and Colored
[_Chicago Tribune_, People Declared Legal in Kentucky"
April 20, 1920] [_Chicago Searchlight_,
April 24, 1920]

"Miscegnation is O.K.'d in New "Morris Gets Civil Rights into
Constitution. Negroes Given Constitution. Victory for Race Won
All the Rights of Whites" at Springfield"
[_Chicago Tribune_, [_Chicago Whip_,
Nov. 6, 1920] July 10, 1920]

"Phillips High School for "Jim-Crow School Scheme Exposes
Colored Pupils, Principal Attempt to Inaugurate Separate
Suggests" Schools in Chicago--Discovered
[_Chicago Tribune_, and Opposed"
March 8, 1920] [_Chicago Searchlight_,
July 31, 1920]

"Accuse Perrine of Color Line
Ruling. Principal of Wendell
Phillips Openly Attacked by
Public Who Saw Children Jim
Crowed at Commencement; Ask His
Removal; Ministers Feared as
Betrayers"
[_Chicago Defender_,
July 3, 1920]

_Group control._--Although the Negro population does not rely upon the Negro press for authentic general news it does rely upon it for news concerning Negroes. The _Chicago Whip_ devotes two columns of the paper to a section called "Under the Lash of the Whip," the "You Know 'Em, Editor," and "Nosey Knows." Persons who become offensive to the principles supported by the _Whip_ are put "Under the Lash." "Nosey Knows" and the "You Know 'Em, Editor" attempt to hold individual conduct of Negroes to conventional standards by the threat of semi-publicity, for example:

You know those new "loop hounds." I know them because they go
to the loop for the purpose of visiting--no object of buying
anything. Well, tell them it's alright to go to the loop, but
they don't have to attract everybody's attention for blocks
around with their loud talk, using their ignorant, non-sensical
expressions. And should they get hungry while down there and
feel like having lunch, don't stand outside the door of a
restaurant with a surprised look on their faces--just tell
them to walk right in, in an orderly and sensible manner and
order what they want. They don't have to slip in like thieves.

You know the restaurants where those household insects known
as flies are very prevalent. I know you know them, because
they are all along State Street, Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth.
Well, if you don't mind, kindly tell some of those proprietors
that there is a way of ridding their places of such nuisances.

You probably don't know that lady who resides in a prominent
building in the vicinity of Thirty-first Street and Indiana
Avenue, and who tried to enveigle a young girl on the street
car to her flat by telling her that she could meet some high
class doctors and lawyers there. Well, you may not know her now,
but if you watch the columns of the _Whip_ you will know her
because she is gradually working her way to the penitentiary
by the route of the seduction law. Everybody will know her then.

The _Searchlight_ carries a column by "The Man about Town" which is similar in character. Two examples of its criticism of Negro conduct were:

The gang that hangs around the "pillars of knowledge" in the
county building every day at noon is becoming so obnoxious
that they are attracting the attention of everybody who enters
the building.

Politicians from every section of the city crowd there and
shoot off their "hot air" in a loud tone of voice. They seem
to think that the future of the country depends on what they
say or do.

They have become so bold in their actions they have begun to
stop some of our race women and engage them in conversation
around that historic spot.

Now boys, cut out that "rough stuff" and take a walk around
the block at noon and let the fresh air blow on your beautiful
carcass; if you don't the sheriff will ask you to do so, or
he may take some of you fellows to the North Side. Don't make
yourself a nuisance around the city hall and county building.
Hear me, boys.

Another thing that is very disgusting is the arrogance of the
girl waitresses in some of these race restaurants. Instead of
striving to please the patrons they act as though they were
doing you a personal favor to serve you, and when you are
through with your meal you must thank them for so doing and
leave a piece of money at the cash stand for them. If you don't
do that the very next time you go into that restaurant the
waiter will not want to wait on you. The poor proprietor of
the place, if he or she is one of the "brothers" or "sisters,"
is almost helpless in the matter because if he opens his mouth
to one of these so-called waitresses about the mistreatment
of their guests he is minus a waiter. Go down in the loop and
see how the other folks attend to business and treat patrons.
Awake, folks, from your slumber; you are fast asleep. Do you
hear me?

A fight on vice in the Second Ward was begun by the _Searchlight_ and finally given strong emphasis by the local daily papers.

B. NEGRO NEWSPAPER POLICY

Although Negroes for their general news depend upon the white press, with its superior facilities, they look to the Negro press for full and specific news covering the activities of Negroes. The editorial columns, as well as the arrangement of news items and writing of headlines, are aimed at building up the morale of the Negro group. Frequently an attempt is made to get these papers into the hands of whites to acquaint them with the Negro's point of view.

A conference was held by the Commission with several Negro newspaper men. The Negro press was represented by R. S. Abbott, editor and publisher of the _Chicago Defender_; Nahum D. Brascher, editor-in-chief, and Claude Barnett, director of the Associated Negro Press; Willis N. Huggins, editor of the _Upreach Magazine_; and R. E. Parker, editor of the _Chicago Advocate_.

Mr. Brascher, of the Associated Negro Press, said:

The colored newspapers have recently gotten up to the point
where most of us are proud to have them seen in the hands of our
white friends and it is only through them that they can really
get our viewpoint. We cannot hope to have the daily newspapers
give our viewpoint and the aspirations and struggles that we
are making, and some of the things that we are suffering. I
am very much interested in having the editorial feeling of
the newspaper get to the white people. Sometimes they may
be termed as radical. I found in recent months that some of
the weekly papers published in the South are saying things
editorially that I would question about saying even here in
Chicago, and, as we say in common parlance, getting away with
it. I have in mind now one particular instance. In Houston,
Texas, week before last, the entire circulation list of the
_Houston Informer_ was stolen out of its office. The theft
was attributed to the new organization of the Ku Klux Klan.
The daily papers of Houston came out condemning that move, and
also condemning the idea of the Ku Klux Klan, and this young
man has an editorial in last week's issue that is one of the
strongest I have ever seen on the matter, backed probably by
some of the strong things that have been said in the daily
papers.

Now if we could have people of Chicago know just how the
sentiment is changing in the South in favor of a square deal and
mutual toleration, we could soon get to a point where there'd
be no fear on either side of working out our salvation, you
might say, along co-operative lines.

Another instance concerned the _Plain Dealer_ in Birmingham,
Ala. The Ku Klux Klan paraded the streets of that city about
three weeks ago and in an editorial this paper came out and
stated that if that was done to frighten the colored people,
they had to do something different, because whenever they
began to terrorize and came down into the neighborhood where
colored people lived somebody there would be ready to meet
them. That is a pretty strong statement for Birmingham, and
they got away with it.

The _Chicago Defender_ gives the greatest amount of space to criminal news of a sensational type in the field of racial happenings. It is a great favorite in the South with Negroes because it publishes news condemning the practices of the South in terms forbidden to southern Negro journals. Of a circulation of 185,000, two-thirds of which is outside of Chicago, it was largely responsible for stimulating the migration to the North.

The term "Negro" is used occasionally in the _Defender_. Its policy is to use the term "race" man, where it is necessary to distinguish Negro from other groups. Adopting the opposite policy from the white papers, it places "white" after persons not Negroes to mark the distinction. Concerning this, Mr. R. S. Abbott, editor of the _Defender_, said:

We use that as a bridge, as you might say, which we intend to
blow up pretty soon. We are leading the people away from the
word "Negro," especially in our papers. And in cases where
white men are well known in the country we never even put
"white" after their names. We never put "colored" after a
colored man's name in this city.

The _Defender's_ editorials are as a rule carefully written, balanced, and critical, at times in contrast with the popular appeal of the news articles. The _Whip's_ editorials usually are on some aspect of the general race problem in the United States. They are characterized by strong pronouncements of the views of Negroes and violent criticism of practices alleged to be inimicable to Negroes. An editorial from each of the papers will indicate the trends of interests. The first is from the _Defender_:

JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES

Character is what we are; reputation is what other people think
we are. We get only the respect we demand; no more, no less.
One of the greatest barriers to our progress is the individual
who attempts to curry the favor of the whites by whom he is
employed by openly humiliating and insulting others of his
same flesh and blood. Because sections of this country reek
with color prejudice, must we lend a helping hand to those
who foster segregation, discrimination and "Jim Crowism" in
general? And yet that is just what many are doing.

In the railroad service as waiters and porters we have a
monopoly, and those whose runs require them to cross the Mason
and Dixon line are often confronted with situations that require
good common sense in handling. In many states the law requires
the blacks and the whites to be separated on transportation
lines, dining-rooms, places of amusement, etc. There is no
question as to whether these laws are just or unjust. They
are at least temporary laws and must be obeyed. But there is
something mentally wrong with the porter or the waiter who
lends himself to such measures, whether under orders from his
superiors or not.

Admitting that to disobey such orders means the loss of a
job, there are other jobs that pay a better wage where a
man does not have to sacrifice his principles to hold. What
other group of people in the world have those that could be
induced at any price to place their heel on the neck of even
the humblest member of their race? Are we less human, less
interested in the welfare of our race than they? Are we still
puppets, still chattels, still ignorant of the fact that as
we respect ourselves, so others will respect us? This matter
is put squarely up to you, Mr. Porter; to you, Mr. Waiter.
Will you play the part of a man and refuse to humiliate your
people? Will you cease playing the part of a spy? Will you
singly and collectively tender your resignation to employers
who require you to "Jim Crow" one of your own? If you will do
these things there is only one thing that can happen--a speedy
repeal of the offensive legislation.

Recently a young woman who was able to "pass" entered the
Washington (D.C.) railroad station café and was given a seat
at a table with several other ladies. Soon there entered
two refined, well-dressed, unmistakably colored, young women
who took seats at an unoccupied table. Immediately a colored
waiter rushed over to them and after a few minutes of whispered
conversation the embarrassed patrons followed the waiter to
a far corner of the café, where semi-screened off they were
permitted to dine. So enraged was the first young woman that
she boldly went to the desk where stood the white higher-ups
and several waiters, and gave them a curtain lecture they
doubtless will not soon forget, not failing to tell them her
own nationality. This incident happened in Washington, the
seat of our government, where the doctrine of democracy is
preached but not practiced.

Things worth having are worth fighting for. We must make
sacrifices. If it is the policy of certain business places
to discriminate let us not be a party to the discrimination.
Let it be firmly fixed in the mind that we are a vital part
of this nation's life, that we are a necessary "evil," that
our places cannot and will not be filled with whites, no
matter how drastic is our stand, providing we have right on
our side, which we undoubtedly have in this instance. This
heart to heart talk applies to those engaged in other lines of
endeavor as well as it does to those who follow railroading.
Many who run barber shops, for instance, display the sign,
"For whites only." If we did not realize that these evils are
the direct result of ignorance and lack of racial pride, it
would indeed be discouraging. But, truly, we are still a child
race. We must not be flattered by the tales of our marvelous
advance during the last fifty years into dropping our oars
and resting on our laurels, for we have barely started up the
hill called success. When we have reached the first milestone
on our journey--racial solidarity--the rest of the way will
be comparatively easy. Success has come to the Jew and to the
Japanese because they are clannish. Black isn't a bad shade;
let's make it popular in complexions as well as in clothes.

This is from the _Whip_:

WHO'S AFRAID?

If the white races of the world are so sure of their inborn
and inherent supremacy, if they are so sure that they are the
salt of the earth and the born rulers of human kind, it appears
to us as strange indeed that they should fear that their glory
will be usurped, their power depreciated, and their world-wide
domination seriously challenged.

As a general rule, the giant does not fear the pigmy, neither
does man, the acme of civilization, fear that his civilization
will be eclipsed by a new order of apes. Should the tribes
and clans of the highest developed gorillas seek to overrun
the accomplishments of humanity, no one would say, "Beware of
monkey domination." Man, according to his own concepts, is only
a little lower than the angels and the monkey just a little
lower than himself. The white races claim that their darker
brothers are lower in the graduated scale of their own making
than themselves, yet they cry out, "Beware of the Yellow Peril
and behold the Black Plague."

If the white races possess the keys to knowledge and the
passwords to progress as well as the elixirs of strength,
why should they fear danger of "Black domination" and "Yellow
dictation"? The white man, even through the maze of his own
conceit and out of the trance of his self-hypnotism, sees that
"he and his heirs" shall not forever inherit the face of the
earth.

The black and yellow races are breaking the white man's monopoly
of organized brain and wealth. The white man sees this and in
his own bigotry knows that these people are not his inferiors
in latent abilities. He knows that the same fire of genius
burns in the breasts of the black and yellow races as did in
the dark and mediaeval ages. He knows that black and yellow
men can unravel the mysteries of nature and the intricacies of
science. He knows that creative and constructive ability has
been beaten down by his might but yet it lives. The white races
know that their present achievements are small in comparison
with those which will be accomplished. It is feared that in the
future, not in the mediate or immediate, but not far distant
nevertheless, that the sleeping giant will awaken, shake off
the listlessness of a thousand years and put into action again
the powerful dynamo of his great reign and shake the world
again.

We do not object to the cry of "Beware of the Yellow Peril
and behold the Black Plague." It is the involuntary shriek of
danger which is a part of man's reaction. White people know
that they are not superior to the dark races. They know that
the raillery about dark people being innately and inherently
inferior is nothing more than the outcropping of race prejudice,
color hatred and ignoble fear. They fear that should they lose
the power of might and brute force, and equal opportunities
are gained by the dark people, that they will be dethroned
and surpassed. For this reason they warn of the unfitness and
undesirability of their darker brothers. They ruthlessly declare
that Japanese, East Indians and Negroes are not their equals
and justify all of their tyranny upon this foolish subterfuge.

We are tired of subterfuge and evasiveness. If the white man
wishes to maintain his power at the expense of the dark people
of the world, let him cease his prattlings about charity, human
kindness and benevolence. Let him admit that he is afraid of
the rising tide of color and fear shakes his entire system.
Let the world know that the cry of inferiority and unfitness
is not conscientious and that apprehension clouds the brow of
white humanity.

An editorial in the _Searchlight_ read:

CLEANING UP THE "BLACK BELT"

"Death Corner" has a local reputation which bespeaks an
abominable state of affairs. Nice respectable persons dare not
visit it unless heavily escorted. The "East Side" in New York
provokes a shiver by the very sound of the name. The "Black
Belt" carries the same dark background of hovering evil. One
is expected to regard black belts as isolated plague-spots
full of lurking pitfalls for unsuspecting innocents. It is
spoken of as "that Black Belt down there." Little girls go
there and go wrong and you never hear of them again. When
trouble is threatened in the city the police force is dumped
into it with clubs and pistols and rifles, patrol wagons,
flivvers and ambulances. For you can never tell what is likely
to break out in a place with so many mysterious corners and
vicious characters. When the morals of the city come under
scrutiny the crusaders send up a howl of helplessness for the
rampant vices in that "Black Belt down there." The entire city
believes it to be a bad place. The neglect of it is a standing
disgrace to the city, and yet the only means of cleaning it up
and bringing it up to the standard of the community as a whole
discovered so far is by keeping the handful of white persons
out of it. The protests against the mixed cafés, by far the
loudest and most severe, seem to represent the sole spirit
and motive of the effort. No attention is paid to the iron
circle tightening around this section and making it practically
impossible for Negroes to move out. No attention is paid to
the rundown schools in the district. No one is interested in
providing recreation facilities for the thousands of colored
children growing up in the streets. No one of these reformers
and critics has suggested that a branch of the public library
be made convenient. The Juvenile Protective Association, an
association whose purpose is to prevent criminality, walks
around the district and speaks about it as disparagingly as
the rest. The old Committee of Fifteen had no representative
there to detect the out-cropping of vicious places. It had been
thus for the eight years of its existence. And yet epithets
are hurled at the district, and it is called bad names and
the city turns up its nose and goes on.

C. NEGRO NEWS SOURCES

Negro newspapers are published weekly because they cannot compete with the daily papers in providing any part of the public with news from day to day.

For out-of-town news, the news letters of correspondents and accounts of incidents by specially designated representatives make up a large portion of the reports. All the papers have the service of a clipping bureau. Items in local papers are noted and, when practicable, the newspapers telegraph to some responsible person in town to send a full account of the incident. Traveling men from Chicago and friends of the paper scattered throughout the country also contribute to the news supply. News letters containing personal items are still continued in the _Defender_ and are said to be responsible for the first extension of its circulation. The _Defender_ and the _Whip_ have small staffs of reporters to cover local news. The objects of the Associated Negro Press were thus outlined by Mr. Barnett, a representative of that organization:

It is an organization of affiliated newspapers. We serve
eighty-nine newspapers throughout the country, the total
circulation of these papers as given to us for advertising
purposes running a little in excess of 400,000....

We handle items only that are of national importance because
we are a national news service. We gather all out of town items
that we are able to gather for the same reason, if they are of
national importance. As a news service we would not take any
purely local item in Chicago unless it would interest readers
in every section of the country. We also get service from a
clipping bureau.

It all relates to the interests of the colored people. If there
is anything which affects the country at large, which also
has either an indirect or a direct influence upon our group,
we feature it, but as a rule most of the news which we gather
is about things which particularly affect colored people.

II. RUMOR

Rumors which significantly affect race relations consist largely of unfounded tales, incorrectly deduced conclusions, or partial statements of fact with significant content added by the narrator, all of which are given easy and irresponsible circulation by a credulous public during the excitement of a clash. Examples of this type of irritating untruth were found in the Chicago riot.

The number of Negroes killed during the riot (twenty-three Negroes and fifteen whites) has been magnified in popular accounts beyond all reasonable limits of credibility. It is popularly believed that more persons were killed than official records indicate. The exaggeration has not been confined to reports involving Negroes. For example, there was a report in circulation that more than seventy-five white policemen were killed during the riot. The rumor was traced to the half-jesting remark of a policeman that, as a member of a benefit organization, he had paid death dues on a number of policemen greater than the total deaths of the riot as popularly estimated at the time. This number was placed at seventy-five. The director of the Civic Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, writing to a friend in Chicago, asked for authentic information concerning the number of Negroes killed during the riot. He sought the information because, he said, the industrial editor of the _Outlook_ had told him that police officers said that "more than 2,000 Negroes were killed in the race riot," and that a certain labor report placed the number at 1,700. Suspecting that even the latter number was too large, although the police mentioned 10,000 wounded and killed, he wrote for information.

1. AN IMPRESSION STUDY

A special impression study was made with a class of forty-nine students in the University of Chicago, to measure the effect upon them of word-of-mouth rumor, gossip, and newspaper stories concerning the 1919 riot. Specific questions were asked concerning their understanding as to the number of whites and Negroes killed and their source of information. The students ranged in age from twenty to twenty-five years. Each was asked to indicate in the order of their influence upon him the sources of information which gave him his understanding of the magnitude of the riot. The following is a compilation from their statements.

Ten were out of the city at the time and got their information chiefly through newspapers published elsewhere. Their average opinion of the number killed was fifty-five. Thirteen were informed chiefly by second-hand stories quoting relatives who were in Chicago, policemen interviewed, and others, and their general impression of the number killed averaged 209. Thirty-three got their information from newspapers both in and out of the city, and their average impression of the number killed was 115. Twenty-four of those who were residing in Chicago got their information chiefly from newspapers published in the city, and their average impression was that 131 were killed.

A point of interest in comparison is that those who were out of town and read out-of-town newspapers believed seventy-three were killed, while those who got their information through local publications thought 131 were killed. One young woman made this interesting comment:

I think a very conservative estimate of the number killed
would be about 450 or 500. My first source of information,
newspapers. My father also told me of the affair and he is a
medical director of an insurance company and therefore was in
a more or less good position to know.

A young man said:

There were at least 200 people killed in the race riot.
Sources of information: a policeman who was stationed at
Forty-seventh Street and Wentworth, my own direct observations,
and conversations with people who live in the Black Belt.

Another young man said:

About 200 were killed. Chief source of information a review
of Carl Sandburg's pamphlet, and newspaper stories.

Another young woman thought that about 150 were killed. She said that her father maintained an office at Forty-third Street and St. Lawrence Avenue, which is in the Negro district. Another said:

If I remember correctly, about forty black and white people
were killed and several hundred wounded, and there was a loss
of several thousand dollars worth of property by fire. The
chief information that impressed me was personal experiences.
I witnessed one mob of 2,000 whites take a Negro on the West
Side and burn him to death. The newspaper gave me my information
of atrocities on both sides.

Another stated that he believed the number killed in the race riot in Chicago was about 275, and continued:

I base my guess on reports of the newspapers, i.e., the dailies
of the city and particularly one weekly paper which in my
opinion is entirely unbiased in such matters, the _Weekly
Socialist_. I personally saw four Negroes lynched and shot to
death.

It might be expected that a fairly balanced type of impression would come from university students. The effect of rumor stands out from the examination of this highly selected group. In exaggeration the word-of-mouth rumors led, followed by rumors circulated by newspapers and alleged first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses.

Rumors from policemen and relatives placed the average number of persons killed at 209, the largest average of the lot. This is significant when taken with the reports given in the foregoing pages which emanated from policemen. Undoubtedly their experiences were of such a nature as to make exaggeration easy and plausible. They were living in conditions far from normal, and their impressions were greatly magnified by the stress and the excitement of events. The out-of-town students were less affected by word-of-mouth rumor, and consequently their impressions showed the smallest average of persons killed.

Personal experiences show more vividly than anything else the unreliability of much of the testimony from observation that gives such frequent rise to rumor. One student said he saw a mob of 2,000 whites take a Negro on the West Side and burn him to death. Records show that only one Negro was killed on the West Side (Joseph Lovings). He was shot and stabbed many times, but not burned.[92] Another student "personally saw four Negroes lynched and shot to death." No Negroes were lynched in the riot.

2. THE BUBBLY CREEK RUMOR

A persistent rumor during the riot served to provide an explanation of the unaccounted deaths of the riot. It had plausibility and soon was accepted and even repeated on the floor of Congress in Washington as a fact. Bubbly Creek is a small branch of the Chicago River extending to the Stock Yards. Into it flows a great deal of waste from the slaughter houses. The surface of the water is thick with the scum of decomposed substances, hair, and trash. Bodies could be thrown into it and remain undetected for a long time. A rumor became current that bodies of riot victims were thrown into this stream. It became so persistent that efforts were actually made to discover them. Even when no bodies were found, the rumor did not weaken. Examples of how it cropped up in various ways are given:

A man told a friend of mine, I can furnish the name of that
man; a man told him that he saw fifty-six bodies taken out of
Bubbly Creek. [A juror in the coroner's inquest.]

I heard the story that 100 men had been taken out of Bubbly
Creek. They used a net and a seine to drag them out. [A. L.
Williams, attorney, before the coroner's jury.]

There is a story that was repeated on the floor of Congress
that numerous colored people were caught down there [at the
Stock Yards] and thrown in Bubbly Creek, and their bodies
never recovered. A congressman from our district down there,
representing our Stock Yards district, told me that on the
floor of Congress it was recently stated that a man with a
dumb-bell in his hand stood there at the big rock entrance of
Exchange Avenue and knocked a half-dozen of these colored men
on the heads as they passed through that rock door there. [A
juror in the coroner's inquest.]

I hear they dragged two or three bodies out of Bubbly Creek.
[A witness before the coroner's jury.]

A meat curer in the superintendent's office of Swift & Company said: "Well, I hear they did drag two or three out of Bubbly Creek--dead bodies, that is the report that come in the yards, but personally I never got any positive evidence that there was any people who was found there."

The _Chicago Daily News_ of July 29, 1919, printed the subheading: "Four Bodies in Bubbly Creek." The article did not give details, but said: "Bodies of four colored men were taken today from Bubbly Creek in the Stock Yards district, it is reported."

In its final report the coroner's jury made a conclusive statement regarding the Bubbly Creek rumor which stamped it as pure rumor.[93]

3. RIOT RUMORS

The state of mind produced by rumors is manifest in other experiences of riot. The following is an example:

At Forty-fourth Street and Grand Boulevard, a corner on which the only Negro family in the block lived at the time of the riot, an elderly white man clad in a worn dressing-gown, carpet slippers, and a skull cap, excitedly rushed from his house to the curb and shouted to a crowd: "They're giving ammunition away to the niggers at the Eighth Regiment Armory!" The crowd became excited and finally threatened the house of the Negro family. A cry went up, "Hang the niggers! The niggers in the house are firing at every white man that passes!" The police searched the house and found an 1894 model rifle, ammunition, that would not fit, and a decorated sword. The six Negroes in the house were taken to the police station.

During the riot a white man was caught crawling beneath a house in which Negroes lived. In his pocket was found a bottle of kerosene. He confessed that his mission was arson and justified his intended act by repeating a rumor then current that Negroes had set fire to the houses of whites back of the Yards.

One Negro said that a mob of white men knocked a colored woman down, cut her up frightfully, and then took her baby and dashed its brains out on the street-car tracks. He was of fair complexion and could easily be taken for white. He said:

I came upon the mob as they were laughing and shouting. Why I
could have torn every one of the white cusses in a thousand
pieces. Just think, they stood there laughing and shouting
over what they had done. Why every drop of blood in my body
boiled and at that moment I swore to God in heaven that I'd
kill some white man if I swung for it.

This report was not substantiated by wide and thorough inquiry by the Commission.

_Rumor in the East St. Louis riot._--Under "Myths," hereinafter discussed, are given stereotyped sex stories circulated to produce antagonistic sentiment toward Negroes. Many rumors, however, which had no relation to sex crimes were circulated at the time of the East St. Louis riot. The following example taken from the testimony before one of the boards of inquiry pictures the effective use at East St. Louis of a rumor concerning an imaginary smallpox epidemic:

_Mr. Tower_: Other statements I heard were that people
feared an epidemic of smallpox; that the County Hospital had
been burdened for months with an average of thirty cases of
smallpox.... The whole County became fearful. You could hear
the same discussions away from East St. Louis. People were
inflamed, and their feelings were directed against the big
employers of East St. Louis feeling that they were responsible
for the great influx of Negroes.

4. RUMORS PREDICTING RIOTS

Rumors that persist usually have some plausibility. The series which follows contains elements of possible truth. Rumors predicting race riots in Chicago centered about fixed dates on which excitement often existed each year. Thus July 4, a holiday celebrated with fireworks and noise in which shots would not be noticed, was the date set in popular expectation for the Chicago riot that broke out almost three weeks later. Signs had been posted in Washington Park to the effect that Negroes would be driven out of the park on that date.

All this expectation undoubtedly caused preparation for trouble. It is conceivable that this preparation at least accentuated the violence of the riot which began on July 27.

Hallowe'en night, when ruffians could mask and take reprisals with less fear of identification or detection than ordinarily, was the next date in popular expectation. An official report to Washington by a governmental agency on "Radicalism among Negroes," carried the rumor thus:

... A report was received at this office to the effect that
an uprising of Negroes in Chicago has been planned for the
night of October 31, 1919. This report came in a somewhat
vague form, through children attending schools located in the
colored districts. The Negroes were aroused over a report to
the effect that the white residents of a certain South Side
district were planning to drive out all colored inhabitants.
The police were informed of the situation.

No riot occurred at or near that date.

May 1, 1920, was next rumored as the date when a riot would start surpassing in violence any that had yet occurred. Labor parades were planned in Chicago for May 1, 1920. It is also moving day, many residence leases then expiring. Thousands of Negroes, it was widely said, would be told to leave Hyde Park. Negroes, it was further said, had no intention of leaving and would oppose ejection even with force. This rumor was taken up and circulated by responsible authorities. As early as April 20, 1920, this article appeared in the _Herald-Examiner_:

U.S. SEES RACE RIOTS HERE MAY 1

Warning that race riots may occur in the South Side Negro
districts May 1 was sent yesterday to John H. Alcock, first
deputy superintendent of police, by the army intelligence
department. The exact nature of the warning could not be learned
and no information could be obtained as to the supposed source
of the predicted trouble, but it is expected to arise when
Negro families move into new homes in white sections of the
South Side.

Numerous bombings have given strength to the belief that more
trouble may develop this summer. Official notice to the police
department is said to have been made by E. J. Rowens of the
army intelligence staff.

No comment on the warning could be obtained from Chief of
Police John J. Garrity or Superintendent Alcock. Capt. Michael
Gallery of the Deering St. Station said that he believed such
reports were absurd.

"I have been all through the Negro section of my district
today," said Capt. Gallery. "All is serene and the Negroes are
happy. I do not believe that there will be any trouble this
summer."

Capt. Thomas Caughlin of the Cottage Grove Ave. Station in
whose district the riots started last summer, said he was
always prepared and on the lookout for trouble in his territory.

An inquiry based upon this "May 1" rumor came to the Commission. The manager of a West Side restaurant told the Commission that a Negro girl in his employ had asked him whether it would be safe for her to come to work on that day. Her sister had been warned in a friendly way by white fellow-waitresses in a downtown restaurant that she should not risk coming to work that day, "because there is going to be a race riot."

On May 1, as was to have been expected, thousands of persons were armed and ready for the anticipated clash.

No riots occurred. The report was later denied by the Army Intelligence Department.

Labor Day, 1920, was next set. Rumors flying fast were picked up by agents from the state's attorney's office. Reports by these agents from day to day show the persistence of the rumor. For example:

The U.S. Club which had planned to hold a meeting August 28,
did not hold the meeting because they expected another race
riot on Labor Day.

On August 28, Negroes in the barber shop on ---- State Street
were carrying guns. Many went to Gary and Hammond to stock up
against Labor Day but found that hardware dealers would not
sell.

On August 29 little else was talked about in the Black Belt
outside the coming riot on Labor Day. The statement of Garrity
[chief of police] that an extra cordon of police would patrol
the Black Belt was taken as confirmation of the rumor August
20.

_An averted clash._--Seeley Street on the West Side is a district where Negroes infrequently go. On the night of May 1, one of the dates scheduled in rumors and reports for a race riot in Chicago, the daughter of a pressroom foreman was returning home at night. As she passed an alley a man grabbed her by the arm and attempted to drag her into the alley. She managed to struggle away and ran home, reporting the incident incoherently to her father. Immediately he armed himself and went out looking for the assailant.

Near the alley where the incident occurred, a lone Negro was standing dressed in overalls. Across the street was a clubroom in which were a number of white men. When he saw the Negro his first impulse was to shoot. The Negro, however, gave no indication of being hunted, but reached into his pocket, looked at his watch, and continued to stand there.

It occurred to the father that he had not learned from the girl whether it was a white man or a Negro who had attempted to attack her. He went back home and asked, and she said it was a white man.

5. RUMORS CONCERNING NEGRO RADICALS

During the country-wide excitement over radicals caused by the activities of the Department of Justice in the fall of 1919, the Chicago office of the United States Army Intelligence Bureau sent to Washington reports concerning Negro organizations. These reports were founded upon scarcely anything more than suspicion due to lack of information and acquaintance with the Negro group. One section of a report made in October, 1919, read:

A convention of the colored organization known as the National
Urban League was held in Detroit on October 15, 1919, at which
Eugene Kinkle Jones, Negro agitator, presided. Mr. Jones has
his headquarters at 127 East 23rd Street, New York City. Wm.
D. Haywood was invited to speak at this convention.

The National Urban League is an organization of responsible Negroes and whites, with branches in thirty-one cities. It numbers among its executive officers L. Hollingsworth Wood, A. S. Frizzell, Robert R. Moton, Mrs. Julius Rosenwald, George W. Seligman, and Mrs. Booker T. Washington. Its avowed purposes are:

1. Try to show social welfare agencies the advantage of co-operation.

2. Secure and train social workers.

3. Protect women and children from unscrupulous persons.

4. Fit workers for work.

5. Help to secure playgrounds and other clean places of amusement.

6. Organize boys' and girls' clubs and neighborhood unions.

7. Help with probation oversight of delinquents.

8. Maintain a country home for convalescent women.

9. Investigate conditions of city life as a basis for practical work.

Concerning the reference to William D. Haywood and E. K. Jones, this statement was received by the Commission from E. K. Jones: