Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 12. Assistance to Youth - 13. General Relief and Assistance in Kind
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
362 An American Dilemma
the Negro population. As usual, however, this general average conceals the
differences between the South and the North. In the Fourth Corps Area,
comprising 8 Southern states, 21 per cent of the C.C.C. boys, in May, 1939,
were Negroes. Since no less than one-third of all males 14 to 24 years of
age in these states in 1940 were nonwhite, this means that Negroes were
grossly under-represented in the program. In the rest of the country, on the
other hand, Negroes had more representatives proportionately in the
C.C.C. camps than they had in the general population.®-
The N.Y.A. programs show similar conditions. In January, 1940, 13 per
cent of the workers on the N.Y.A. out-of-school program were Negroes.
The corresponding proportion for the school program was 10 per cent.
Excepting college, and graduate aid, Northern states gave Negroes a much
larger share of this assistance than corresponded to their proportion in the
population j
but in the South they did not receive as much of it as their
relative numbers would warrant. In some cases this depended on the dif-
ficulties in the South of getting local sponsors for Negro projects. In
respect to the school aid, of course, one could explain it simply by the fact
that there are much fewer Negroes, in proportion, in secondary and higher
schools than there are whites. This explanation has, however, the character
of a vicious circle. The purpose of the school aid, of course, is to help low
income boys and girls get an education. The fact that so few of them get
it is an indication of the need for additional assistance rather than a reason
for limiting the aid.®®
13. General Relief and Assistance in Kind
For categories of people in need of aid, other than those mentioned,
there are no chances of receiving any federally subsidized cash relief. In
the South this means that their chances of receiving any cash relief at all
are extremely small. Ordinary direct relief is insignificant in most of the
Southern states. In February, 1941, the proportion of households receiving
general relief varied in the South from 2.7 per cent (West Virginia) down
to 0.3 per cent (Mississippi). The average benefits per month ranged, in
January, 1941, from $25 (District of Columbia) to less than $3 (Missis-
sippi).®^
There are few data on the subject by race, owing to the fact that general
relief is entirely a responsibility of the states and localities. This lack of
information, however, does not matter much. The existence or nonexistence
of discrimination against Negroes is in this case much less significant than is
the fact that both racial groups are inadequately provided for in the South.
Of great quantitative importance, on the other hand, is the direct distri-
bution of federal surplus commodities through local relief agencies. In
June, 1 94^9 over 10,000,000 persons, or 3 per cent of the total population,
were receiving this kind of assistance, either in combination with other relief
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
