THE NEGROES OF NEBRASKA - Social & Ecconomic Problems

(17) The Negroes of Nebraska constitute a significant factor in the economic life of the State. That the race has made enormous progress in its economic and social life in relation to that of the State as a whole since the first illiterate, unskilled ex-slaves appeared in Nebraska is obvious, yet the fact remains that there is much to be accomplished before Negroes may be considered as an integral unit in Nebraska's economic pattern. Here is a group of fourteen thousand people, faced with a problem common to all other racial groups, that of earning a living. A number of complications, including discrimination, whether tacit or open, low wages, long hours, irregular employment, and others, have not served to ease the economic pressure on the Negroes. If it be said that these complications arise from the fact that the race has borne a reputation for shiftlessness and irresponsibility, it may also be said that Negroes are not accorded the same incentive for advancement in employment as are other groups. It is possible that their chances for better jobs would be greater were they better prepared and trained for such jobs.

Whatever the causes, problems do exist among the Negroes, and manifest themselves in low standards of living, lowered vitality, behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, and others. There are members of both the Negro and white races to whom the inferior economic status of the Negro is evident. In an effort to develop a plan for improving this situation men of both races met in an Interracial Conference at Omaha, October 20, 1933, and studied the "Economic Life of Negroes." They found that Negroes are facing the following problems:

The traditional concepts of jobs for Negroes limit their opportunities for employment.

Negroes are limited to low-wage jobs requiring unskilled labor.

There is less demand for Negroes in domestic service.

The highest per cent of unemployed is among Negroes.

Whenever possible Negroes are replaced by white workers.

Negroes are denied membership in trade unions.

The standard of living among Negroes is generally low.

The Conference found that the principal causes for these problems were four:

Inefficient Negro workers are undesirable as employees.

The color of a Negro's akin arouses prejudice among some employers.

Very often employers and fellow-employees display a discriminatory attitude toward Negro employees.

(18) There is almost a total lack of organization among Negro workers.

As possible remedies for the problems the Conference offered the following suggestions:

Negro workers should organize to protect their interests and to give themselves the advantages of collective bargaining.

Training in citizenship should be made available to Negro youth.

Negroes should be given opportunities for vocational training, and should be trained toward increasing their efficiency as employees.

While this program as developed by the Interracial Conference may not be entirely adequate, nevertheless it embodies suggestions which, if adopted generally and in a spirit of cooperation by both races, could do much toward improving the economic status of the Negroes in Nebraska.

(19) The economic status of the rural-dwelling Negroes of Nebraska is comparable to that of the Negro urban dwellers. Since few of them have ever had the necessary capital to buy a farm the majority are renters. For one or another reason they have found it difficult to rent the better farms, those with good soil and modern improvements. The Negro tenant-farmer is further handicapped in that often he encounters difficulty in securing loans, without which the profitable operation of a farm may become problematical.

In comparison to other races, the incomes reported by Negroes show that their financial status as a group is on the same low level as that of their economic status in general. This is true even in instances where, as is often the case, every member of the family contributes something to the family's income. The two factors of low wages and irregular employment combine to create a situation for Negro families in which their yearly income is insufficient for their needs. Consequently they are usually in debt.

The persistence of this burden of indebtedness is easy to understand when one learns that the average yearly income of a Negro family, eighty-five per cent of which is contributed by the head of the family, with the balance divided about equally between wife and children, is around $750. Even among white-collar and skilled workers less than twenty per cent earn over $1,000 annually. Less than five per cent of all Negro wage-earners report a yearly income in excess of $1,500. An interesting sidelight on the wage situation is that light-skinned Negroes on an average earn five to ten dollars more per month than do dark-skinned workers.

In direct ratio to their low income, the standard of living among the Negroes of Nebraska is lower than that of any other group in the State. With so many of them unemployed and dependent upon relatives and welfare or relief agencies for subsistence, the burden borne by those who are employed is increased; and especially so to many whose income hardly suffices for the barest necessities of life. Even though the standard of living among the small percentage of those Negroes who earn in excess of $1,000 yearly is comparable to that of the members of other races in the same income bracket, their general living standard is apt to be low so long as their average income is below the average minimum considered as adequate in Nebraska.

In Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island, and, to a lesser extent, in other cities of Nebraska, Negroes are concentrated in districts sometimes referred to as Negro Town. In Grand Island the section where Negroes dwell is called Foggy Bottoms. As a rule these districts relegated to the Negroes are characterized by unpaved or poorly paved streets, inadequate street lighting, absence of playgrounds or other recreational facilities for children, and houses, many of them mere hovels, usually in dire need of repair.

The average house occupied by Negroes is a one-story building of four rooms. Nebraska's 14,000 Negroes are crowded into somewhat over 2,000 such structures. A comparison of the average monthly rental paid by Negroes, approximately $15, with the average figure of $35 for the State as a whole, indicates that the houses used by Negroes are generally in poor condition.

In keeping with their low economic statue, the incidence of home-ownership among Nebraska Negroes is low. About fifteen per cent of Negro homes are owned by Negroes, and the majority of these are encumbered.

The average monthly expenditure for food among Negro families likewise is low. The greater number, allotting about twenty to twenty-five dollars per month, and even less, for that (20) purpose, are ill-fed. Their expenditures for other necessities, including clothes, are in the same ratio.

The problem of health among the Negroes of Nebraska bears a close correlation with their standard of living, which is in turn dependent upon their economic status. Mortality among the group is excessively high in comparison with the average mortality for all other races. The Omaha Urban League, recognizing that lack of knowledge in health habits is a factor in maintaining the Negro death rate at its present excessive figure, in 1928 began the annual observance of National Negro Health Week, the first week in April, which is a phase of the National Urban League program, and which advocates cooperative promotion of practical health movements and activities.

The high death rate among Negroes assumes a more serious aspect when one considers that, although their death rate is greater than that of other races, and although their birth rate is likewise greater than that of other races, in Nebraska their death rate is greater than their birth rate. In 1938, for example, there were among Negroes 207 deaths, but only 173 births. The greatest mortality, found among Negro infants, is generally attributed to the necessity for Negro mothers to work outside the home, lack of sufficient parental care of infants, and lack of proper pre-natal and post-natal care for mothers and babies.

Poor sanitation, delayed medication, quack doctors, and congested dwellings are all factors contributing to the high death rate among Negroes. These are conditions which may be considered as outgrowths of their low economic status, and which are apt to remain in one form or another so long as an excessively low standard of living persists among the Negroes of Nebraska.

Although it is no longer accepted by scientists that Negroes, because of their racial heritage, are more susceptible to some diseases than are other races, the fact still remains that the death rate among them from certain diseases is greater than that for other racial elements in Nebraska. This condition will no doubt persist so long as their health habits remain at their present low level in conformation with their low standard of living. The most prevalent causes of death among Negroes are those characteristic of a population whose economic status and medical facilities are below normal. These are tuberculosis, heart disease, pneumonia, and syphilis.

The medical facilities available to Negroes are the same as those used by all races in Nebraska. Yet their economic plight often denies to them proper medical treatment at a time when it could be most beneficial. The income of so many of them, just barely sufficient for the daily necessities of food and shelter, leaves no margin to be spent toward the prevention and for the treatment of illness.

There is no hospital in Nebraska which is operated wholly for the benefit of Negroes, but hospitals are available to them when they need hospitalization. The various clinics conducted in Omaha and Lincoln are open to Negroes, and are used by them, though they do not visit the clinics with the regularity that they should.

In 1890 a Colored Woman's Club, affiliated with the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was organized in Nebraska with the purpose of teaching Negro women something of the laws of healthful living, child welfare, and motherhood. Since 1928 the Visiting Nurse Association has endeavored to help Negro mothers by visiting them in their homes and by encouraging them to bring their babies to health clinics for examination at regular intervals.

The incidence of crime among the Negroes of Nebraska is disproportionately high, just as their economic statue is disproportionately low. Lack of employment, poverty, and a general (21) unadjustment to the economic and social life of the community are unquestionably factors in the behavior problems of the Negroes. Further investigation reveals that, although Negro criminals are more numerous than white criminals in proportion to their population, their crimes consist almost wholly of petty offenses. The ratio of female to male offenders is quite high, but that of young offenders is low, so far as actual crimes are concerned.

There is a high percentage of delinquency among the Negro youth. This is hardly surprising when one considers that the congested slums where so many of them live do not constitute a proper environment for growing children. In addition parental discipline, with both parents often working away from home, is necessarily lax. With limited opportunities for wholesome recreation, in comparison with other groups, a high delinquency rate is not surprising.

Although most of their arrests are for misdemeanors, Negroes, comprising about one per cent of the State's population, nevertheless total, in the cities at least, about ten per cent of all those arrested; twenty-five per cent of female offenders are Negroes. These figures strongly indicate that faulty economic and social adjustment constitutes an important factor in the problem of Negro crime.

Although the figure varies from time to time, usually about thirty-seven per cent of the Negro population of Nebraska is directly or indirectly dependent upon the governmental relief programs. This number includes those receiving direct relief as well as those depending upon work relief. Negroes are represented in almost every department of the relief program, from the white-collar projects on down to the direct relief agencies.

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