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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XI. An American Dilemma - 45. America Again at the Crossroads in the Negro Problem - 2. Social Trends
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Chapter 45. America Again at the Crossroads 999
self-evident. Southern liberals were demanding with increasing courage and
determination that the doctrine ^^separate, but equal” should be followed
out in its ^^equality” aspect as well as in its ^^separateness” aspect—^that
segregation should not be utilized as a means of discrimination.
The separation of the two groups in the South was, meanwhile, becoming
more and more perfected as the frequency of personal master-servant
relations was decreasing and as the segregated Negro institutions and
Negro professions were being built up. There even seemed to be a growing
mental isolation between whites and Negroes. Behind this potentially most
dangerous development was not only the exclusionist policy of the whites,
but also the sullen dissatisfaction and bitter race pride of the Negroes them-
selves. They were ^^withdrawing” themselves as a reaction to the segregation
and discrimination enforced by the whites.
In the North the sudden influx of Southern Negroes during the Great
Migration caused a temporary rise in social discrimination. Since, in spite
of this, there was much less of it in the North than in the South, the migra-
tion meant a decrease of social segregation and discrimination for the Negro
people as a whole. It also seemed that, despite the sharp temporary rise on
account of the migration, the trend in the North, too, was toward decreas-
ing race prejudice.
In the administration of justice there was a definite improvement in the
South, even if Negroes in that region are still far from enjoying equality
before the law. There was a slow rise in the quality of the police and the
courts. Lynching, peonage, and other conspicuous aberrations of justice
were becoming stamped out. This development was spurred by the increas-
ing interest and interference in the judicial order of the region, shown by
the federal courts and other federal agencies, and also by the state govern-
ments. The activity of such private organizations as the N.A.A.C.P. and
the Interracial Commission were also of paramount importance for this
development. More fundamentally the prestige of law was rising in the
South and people were becoming more law-abiding. These changes were
related to a general rise in education of the Southerners and to their fuller
participation in the larger American culture.
In the North the Negro continued to enjoy full equality before the law.
There was some strain in the North during the Great Migration, some-
times mounting to race riots during which the arm of the Jaw was not
always just and impartial. But on the whole the judicial order of the
region was upheld, and equality in justice was not a major problem.
In the ’political sphere, the South continued to disfranchise the Negro,
contrary to the clear precept of the American Creed and the Constitution.
The masses of whites were also kept from political participation. Real
issues were kept out of politics and there was a great amount of corruption.
But these things proved increasingly difficult to keep up. Economic and
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