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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 7. Social Security and Public Assistance
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Chapter 15. The Negro in the Public Economy 355
economic drcumstances. Moreover, average relief grants per client have
often been smaller for Negroes than they have been for whites—and this
particularly in communities where Negro relief recipients, to an even
greater extent than white recipients, were selected from the poorest people.
In such cases Negro clients would have needed even greater assistance than
would have been needed by white clients, but relief agencies could not see
it that way. The difference, in many cases, may not be more than a few
dollars a month, but, still, it counts; for the general level of relief grants
in such communities always tends to be low.
The situation, however, is different in various regions. By and large,
there are three types of areas that need to be distinguished: urban North,
urban South, and rural South.
The urban North has the highest standards in all sorts of social welfare.
It shows much more of a consistent pattern than does the South, in respect
both to the general level of relief expenditures and to the apportionment
of public funds between Negroes and whites. There is no evidence of any
direct discrimination against Negroes in respect to any major relief pro-
grams. The proportion of Negroes on relief is everywhere higher than is
the corresponding proportion of whites, and the difference is so large that
it seems that Negroes have about the same chances of receiving public
assistance as do whites of equal economic status. Both the Consumer Pur-
chases Study and the National Health Survey indicate that, in the middle
of the ’thirties, roughly one-half of the Negro families in the urban North
were on relief. This usually was three to four times more than the corre-
sponding proportion of whites. The small residual of nonrelief families
with an income of less than $500 was not significantly higher for Negroes
than it was for whites.®®
In the urban South as well, there is usually a higher percentage of relief
recipients among Negroes than there is among whites. The difference, in
most cases, is quite marked, but it is, nevertheless, much smaller than in
the North. Taking a simple average of the relief rates, according to the
National Health Survey, for 9 large and middle-sized cities in the
South, one finds that in 1935, 25 per cent of the Negro and ii per cent
of the white families were receiving public assistance. The corresponding
figures for 9 small cities were 15 and 10 per cent, respectively—indicating
a much smaller difference. The ^nsumer Purchases Study gives about the
same impression; it was particularly in the small cities and villages that
the difference between the proportions of Negroes and whites on relief
was small. This study shows, moreover, that the residual of families who
were not on relief but who had incomes of less than $500 was small in the
white group in Southern cities and villages, but in the Negro group it was
high, often making up as much as one-third or more of all the families.
There was even a significant number of Negro families with less than $250
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