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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 34. Accommodating Leadership - 2. The Interest of Southern Whites and Negroes with Respect to Negro Leadership - 3. In the North and on the National Scene
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722 An American Dilemma
the South are dependent upon the whites not only for a share in the public
services, but individually for small favors and personal protection in a
social order determined nearly exclusively by the whites, usually in an
arbitrary fashion. The importance of Negro leaders to the masses of
Negroes—as to the whites—is also increasing as it is becoming more rare
for Negroes to have individual white friends to appeal to when they are
in danger or in need of assistance.*^
Under these circumstances it is understandable that the individual Negro
who becomes known to have contact with substantial white people gains
prestige and influence among Negroes for this very reason. Correspond-
ingly, an accommodating Negro who is known to be influential in the
Negro community becomes, because of this, the more useful to the whites.
The Negro leader in this setting serves a ^‘function” to both castes and his
influence in both groups is cumulative—prestige in the Negro community
being an effect as well as a cause of prestige among the whites. Out of this
peculiar power system, a situation develops where Negro leaders play an
even more important role than is usual, according to the common American
pattern.
3, In the North and on the National Scene
In the North fewer white people are in a position where they have to
care much about how the Negroes fare, or what they think and do. The
Negroes, on their side, have the protection of fairly impartial justice and
of the anonymity of large cities. They also have the vote and can press
their needs in the regular fashion of American minority politics. They are,
therefore, decidedly less dependent on accommodating leaders to court the
whites. For neither of the two castes does the Negro leader fill such impor-
tant functions as in the South.
But the pattern of pleading to the whites through their own leaders, who
are trusted by the whites, is firmly rooted in the traditions of Southern-
)orn Negroes who make up the great majority of adult Negroes in the
North. Northern Negroes, also, are a poor group and are frequently in
heed of public assistance and private charity. They are discriminated against
in various ways, particularly with respect to employment opportunities.
They live in segregated districts and have few contacts with white people
in most spheres of life. Though they have the vote, they are everywhere
in a small minority. For all these reasons many of the Southern attitudes
and policies in regard to Negro leadership can be observed to continue in
the North.
* Factors which are decreasing the importance of accommodating Negro leaders to the
Negro masses in the South arc, on the other hand: the raised standards of legal culture
in the region, the increasing professionalism and independence in state and local government
administration, and particularly the growth of federal assistance and control. (See Parts
V and VI of this book.)
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