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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Social Inequality - 29. Patterns of Social Segregation and Discrimination - 2. Segregation and Discrimination in Interpersonal Relations
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Chapter 29. Social Segregation and Discrimination 613
only at the request of the white person. Since the invitation is often not
extended, it frequently happens that Negroes are standing in the presence
of whites, even those who are of the same or lower socio-economic status
as themselves. In conferences and public places, Negroes sit down without
invitation, but there is usually segregation: Negroes will sit at one end of the
conference table, or in the rear of or on one side of a courtroom, or in the
balcony or gallery of a theater which they are permitted to enter. In the
North, Negroes, when they are allowed to enter, take seats much in the
same manner that whites do. Whatever segregation in seating there is in the
North would seem to have a voluntary or class basis rather than a strict caste
basis as in the South. Many theaters in the North, however, refuse to let
a Negro enter, or, if they are in a state with a civil rights law, they try to
find some excuse to make him stay away voluntarily. Where seats are
reserved, the management will often try to sell seats to Negroes in a special
section. Changing seats on the part of individual whites also will sometimes
isolate Negroes in a Northern theater.
In general, the American is a great and indiscriminate hand-shaker.
The ceremony is to him a symbol of friendliness and basic human equality.
The partial taboo against shaking hands with Negroes is, therefore, signifi-
cant. Formerly there was practically no hand-shaking between members of
the two races except for that occurring when a Negro house servant would
greet his returning master. The taboo is much less strong now, but the rela-
tion—in so far as it exists—is, as we have mentioned, entirely one-sided:
the white man in the South may offer to shake hands with the Negro, but
the Negro may not offer his hand to the white man. A white woman prac-
tically never shakes hands with a Negro man. The greeting of the Negro
has traditionally been a bow and a removal of the hat. This, too, has
become much less demanded. While talking, the traditional pattern was for
the Negro to remain with hat off, with eyes directed on the ground, and
with foot scraping the ground to ^^demonstrate” that he was incapable of
standing and talking like a human being. This pattern, too, has rapidly been
going into discard.
If he had to come into a white man’s house, the rule was, and still is in
most parts of the South, that the Negro must enter by the rear door. Since
Negroes could plan this activity in advance they often avoided it by avoid-
ing the need to talk to a white man in his house (by deliberately waiting
until he came out to the street, or by going to his office, or by calling to him
from the street or from the front yard). This etiquette form still exists for
the most part, but many exceptions could be cited. Also, the increase in the
number of houses without back doors is helping to break down the pattern.
When a white man enters a Negro’s house, he cannot be expected to show
any signs of respect. He will enter without knocking j
he will not remove
his hatj he will not stand up when a Negro woman enters the room; he
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