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1372 An American Dilemma
dangerous. “Outward submissiveness and respect may thus be, as often as not, a mask
behind which these youth conceal their true attitudes.” {lbid,y p. 296.) In this situation
voluntary withdrawal becomes the natural solution. Johnson observes that: “In most
cases the youth expressed themselves as preferring not to associate with whites, and
viewed their segregation with indifference.” {Ibid.y p. 288.)
Davis and Dollard, who studied two small cities in the Deep South, give much the
same picture, except that the urban youth seem to invest more explicit dislike and even
hatred in their attitude of withdrawal:
“This finding runs counter to the widespread social dogma which states that the
southern Negro docs not experience his caste restrictions as punishments. The dogma,
popular as it may be, is not borne out by the thousands of pages of interviews which
have been recorded for Negroes of all social classes in Old City and its rural back-
ground, in Natchez, and in New Orleans. Within their conversation groups these
Negroes In the Deep South were often found detailing the instances in which they
had been threatened or humiliated by white people and expressing great hostility and
resentment toward the local white group. In fact, the antagonism voiced by the local
white people toward Negroes, although it was certainly violent, and fully supported
by group approval, was scarcely more violent than that which Negroes, including the
youngest adolescents, expressed to the white group as a whole.
“. . . indeed it becomes clear that only a vested societal interest in caste can account
for the established dogma that most Negroes arc completely ‘accommodated’ to their
’aste status and that they are simple-natured, childlike beings with childish needs.
It is necessary for the society to inculcate strong defensive teachings of this kind to
prevent general human recognition of the basic deprivations and frustrations which
life In a lower caste involves. But it is certain that the sting of caste is deep and sharp
for most Negroes.” ( 0/>. cit,, pp. 244-245.)
Arthur F. Raper, Preface to Peasantry (1936), p. 276.
Negro Youth at the Crossways (1940), pp. 70-71.
Some communities—notably in Texas, the Far West and New England—exclude
Negroes entirely.
“Across the Tracks is a life but little known to the Whites, who rarely go there.
Everything that happens on the white side, however, is known to the Negroes, who
have constant access to white homes and business places. This disparity of information
is both a natural and a significant factor in the relations of the two groups.” (Hortense
Powdermaker, After Freedom [1939], pp. 11-12.)
“Almost every white woman feels that she knows all about her cook’s personality
and life, but she seldom does. The servant is quite a different person Across the Tracks
and is not as a rule communicative about the life she leads there. She, on the other
hand, has ample opportunity to know intimate details concerning her mistress’s life and
family. Under her mild ‘Yes, Ma’am,’ and ‘No, Ma’am,’ there is often a comprehen-
sion which is unsuspected and far from mutual.” {Ibid.^ p. 119.)
This is somewhat less true in the coal and steel industry in the South and, gener-
ally, in the North. See Appendix 6.
There are some quantitative studies which bear out this point. The Chicago
Commission on Race Relations made a study of all articles dealing with Negroes in
three leading Chicago newspapers during 1916-1917. Of the 1,338 articles, 606 dealt
with crime and vice, riots and clashes. In 1918, the same three newspapers published
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