THE NEGROES OF NEBRASKA - The Negro Finds A Job

(21) In the industrial life of Nebraska Negroes are faced, as in their entire economic life, with the problem of an inferior status. Unemployment is wide-spread among the group. The majority of those who are working do so under the handicaps of low wages, seasonal employment, and lack of opportunity for advancement. Several reasons could be advanced as to why the industrial status of Negroes is so low: first, the supply of unskilled labor greatly exceeds the demand; second, many Negro workers have not qualified themselves to meet increased standards of efficiency; third, most trade unions in Nebraska exclude Negroes from membership; fourth, segregation and other manifestations of race prejudice tend to prolong the period of economic and social maladjustment.

During the early years of their settlement in Nebraska Negroes accepted any employment offered them. Jobs open to them were usually of the personal service type, such as porters, janitors, and waiters, though many of them found jobs as day laborers. Gradually they began to get a foothold in the industries, especially in the packing plants and in various branches of service on the railroads. The hotels have been a source of employment to many Negroes of both sexes. Today Negroes are represented, though not always proportionally, in almost every field of employment, and impartial employers report that their reliability and efficiency is in general equal to those of any racial group.

Although the number of rural dwelling Negroes in Nebraska has always been small there are less of them at the present time than ever before. One reason for the drop in the number of Negro farmers is the several consecutive years of drouth; white farmers as well have been similarly affected. The main factor, however, probably lies in the fact that Negroes, principally because of financial handicaps, have in general been unsuccessful in Nebraska as farmers.

(22) The number of Negro farmers in Nebraska increased through the first few decades of the State's history and reached its peak in 1890, when 114 farms were operated by Negroes. Of these 67 were owned by members of the race; the rest were rented. By 1935 only 14 farms were still owned by Negroes, out of a total of 38 operated by them. These 14 farms were valued at $149,530, and consisted of 4,454 acres under cultivation. When one compares the number of Negro farms with the total number of farms in Nebraska, about 134,000, it is evident that the number of rural Negroes is almost negligible. Most of them are located in the western part of the State, with several in Scotts Bluff County. Negro farmers, including tenant farmers, are found in 21 of Nebraska's 93 counties.

A further index to the economic status of the urban-dwelling Negroes of Nebraska appears when one considers their occupational classification. Of those actually holding jobs, about sixty per cent fall into the unskilled group. Since this figure would be much higher if all those now unemployed were working, it indicates the high concentration of Negro wage-earners in the low-income bracket. About twenty-seven per cent are semi-skilled, eight per cent are skilled, and about five per cent hold white-collar jobs. Less than four per cent of all Nebraska's Negroes are included in the professions.

The bulk of Negro labor is found in the packing industries, the railroads, and in hotels, restaurants, and clubs. A large percentage is employed in general house work. Among skilled workers about twenty-six per cent are employed, forty-nine per cent are unemployed, and the rest, twenty-five per cent, are on relief, either direct or work relief.

Actually Negroes are distributed throughout almost every type of employment in Nebraska, in common with all races, though their representation in the high-income, more skilled fields is not proportional. In the packing industry, however, and in others where they have similarly been employed for a number of years, more responsible positions are becoming available to them.

It has been a source of some satisfaction to the Negroes themselves to know that with the passage of time more and more members of the race achieve the status of permanent employment. This process of stabilization is slow, it is true, but they have made noticeable progress. The situation is yet far from ideal; Negro workers remain on one job about three years, and in the same trade an average of fifteen years.

This excessive turnover of Negro workers in industry has been a matter of concern to members of both races. Whether the cause lies with employer, employee, or the nature of the job itself cannot always be stated. The issue is still further obscured by the opinion of twenty-seven out of thirty-one employers who, employing 1,160 of the 1,175 Negro workers involved, stated that their work was as good as, and in a few individual cases even better than, that of other races.

Realizing the desirability of a stable and harmonious industrial life for the Negroes of Nebraska, an interracial committee of representative employees and social workers has offered the following recommendations toward this end:

Colored employees should meet with their employers and seek a solution of their problems through mutual discussion.

Opportunities for further training to increase their efficiency should be made easily available to Negro workers.

Discriminating employment agencies, qualified to convince applicants for employment of the need for preparation to fit the job, should seek to place employees on jobs which their training enables them to handle efficiently.

(23) Systematic attempts to educate workers and employers regarding their mutual dependence and responsibility should be made through constructive conversation, meetings, published articles, and lectures.

In spite of the economic advances made by Negroes in the years since they first came to Nebraska, they still feel that they are at a disadvantage, principally because of their race, when they compete with workers of other races. They feel that their place in the general industrial life of the State is lower than it should be, and look to the social leaders, both white and Negro, to enlarge their opportunities.

It must not be inferred that all opportunities for the economic and industrial advance of the Negro element of Nebraska are being stifled. Negroes are consistently penetrating fields of endeavor hitherto closed to them; in small numbers, it is true, though this is not strange in view of the obstacles to be overcome. The depression years were especially felt in Nebraska, a predominantly agricultural State which was forced to weather several successive years of drouth and crop failures. The employment rolls have therefore been severely curtailed. It seems a valid assumption that Negro advancement toward stable and more general employment has thus been seriously hindered.

In support of their contention that, given equal advantages and opportunities with other races, Negroes can be as efficient and reliable as whites, it is significant that in most cases where they have been so employed they have fulfilled their obligations creditably.

There are almost 14,000 Negroes in Nebraska, yet only between 3,000 and 4,000 are engaged in gainful employment. This figure does not include women and children in domestic service. The total monthly income of Negro workers, less than $200,000, when calculated on the basis of per capita, income, amounts to approximately $15. Although slightly augmented by the meager earnings of employed women and children, the average income of Negroes is below that considered as sufficient to maintain a minimum standard of living in America.

In the industries, at least, the wages paid Negroes are identical with those paid workers of other races performing identical tasks. Here their employment status is perfectly normal, and they have voiced no complaint. Their greatest cause for resentment lies in the fact that they do not have proportional representation in the higher wage brackets.

Negro workers find another cause for complaint in that so many of the jobs allotted to them are of a seasonal nature. Less than thirty per cent of the potential working group have full-time employment. About forty per cent at any one time are without jobs, so that approximately thirty per cent are intermittently employed.

The problem of earning a living places the average Negro of Nebraska under a condition of life-long economic pressure. Many Negroes are born into poverty-stricken homes and are forced to leave school at an early age in order to go to work and help augment the family income. Those who follow this course seldom rise above the status of unskilled workers. Since the employment of unskilled workers is usually uncertain, those among them who earn in excess of $500 in any single year are the exceptions. Situations such as this are to be found in any group, but the Negroes feel that a disproportionately large number of their people are thus economically and financially handicapped. It is chiefly the workers in the lowest paid types of employment, also, who have any reason for complaint concerning the conditions under which they work. Many of them put in long hours at their jobs, under all sorts of (24) conditions, with no extra pay; whereas those in the higher-paying groups work the same hours and under the same conditions as employees of other races. Moreover, when Negroes on the better jobs have to work overtime, as all employees occasionally do in the industries, they are paid the customary over-time extra wage.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 Negro women are employed in Nebraska. Those employed as elevator operators, charwomen, and hotel maids average about $10 weekly, yet $3 is about the average weekly wage for all Negro working women. Since the bulk of the women are employed in domestic service it can be seen that their earnings in this field are extremely low.

About five per cent of the Negro workers of Nebraska are members of a trade or labor union whose membership is limited to Negroes. Another one per cent hold membership in locals admitting Negroes and whites impartially. The remaining ninety-four per cent for one reason or another are not affiliated with any organized labor group. In spite of the fact that the majority of Negro laborers can satisfy the requirements for membership in a union, the percentage of non-members remains high because of the indifference of the workers toward union affiliations, and also because many locals do not encourage Negro membership. Most Negro members of trade or labor unions belong to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, or to the Brotherhood of Dining Car Waiters, both all-Negro unions. These unions are the modern counterparts of the first semblance of a trade organization among Nebraska Negroes, which arose in Omaha in 1887. The colored barbers, deciding that it was "unprofessional," as they termed it, for them to work beside white barbers, struck and refused to return to work until their white competitors were removed to other shops.

The business life of Nebraska Negroes has developed from the zero level of 1865 to the point where, today, they operate around two hundred concerns of all types, catering to all classes of patronage. The total number of live enterprises varies considerably from time to time, since the average life of a Negro business establishment in Nebraska is about two years. This high business mortality is due principally to the factors of insufficient working capital, faulty management, and lack of experience. Representative of the moat successful individuals and concerns among Negro business people of Omaha are Mrs. Kate Wilson, who operates a school of cosmetology; Milton Johnson, drug store proprietor; Carey Brothers, grocers; Shipman Brothers, contractors; and, in the field of catering, Thomas P. Mahammit and Mrs. Helen Mahammitt. There are, of course, others who have achieved more or less success in business, but space does not permit mention of more than a few. Noteworthy are J. S. Craig, who, in 1884, owned and operated the first steam laundry in Hastings, and whose territory extended as far as Denver, Colorado; also a Mr. Lewis, who opened, in 1890, at 10th and Capitol Streets in Omaha, the first hotel catering entirely to Negro guests.

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