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1282 An American Dilemma
times higher in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, although in these Northern
states Negroes constitute only a small minority of the total population.
75
p. 281.
7« IbU., p. 284.
77 In April, 1 940, for instance, there were in this country 8,000,000 unemployed
persons, of whom 2,900,000 were taken care of by the W.P.A., C.C.C., or N.Y.A,
(those on the Student Work Program are not included in either of the figures). (See
Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1^40, Populations Preliminary Release, Series
P-4, No. 5.)
7 ® Sterner and Associates, of, cit,, pp. 239-241.
7® I’his discrepancy was particularly pronounced in Tennessee, where 23 per cent
of all unemployed workers, those on emergency work included, in 1940 were Negroes,
whereas the proportion of Negroes among relief workers was but 1
1
per cent. (Idem.
and Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940^ Populations Second Series, Tennessee,
State Table 16.)
Sterner and Associates, of, cit.s pp. 241-242. One of the reasons why Negroes are
discriminated against to such an extent in rural areas of the South is, of course, that
agricultural employers are against seeing Negroes get wages on relief work high enough
to compete with those paid on the farms. For similar reasons, in part, there is a pro-
nounced special discrimination against Negro women on W.P.A., as evidenced by the
following figures for February, 1939:
Negroes as a Percentage of
All W.P.A, Workers in: Male Female
1 3 Southern states and the District of
Columbia 26.2 15.9
All other states lO.Z 15-7
(Ihid.y p. 244.) Thus, the Southern states gave Negro women a share of the work
relief employment which was no greater than that given to them by states in the North
and Westj and it was only about half as great as the proportion of Negroes among all
unemployed women in the South in 1940. {Sixteenth Census of the United States:
1^40, Populations Preliminary Release, Series P-4a, Nos. 14 to 16.)
This phenomenon is due not only to the popular belief in the South that Negro
women always can and should earn their living as domestics. Even more significant,
perhaps, are the Southern segregational practices and the rules about local sponsorship
of W.P.A. projects. Negro men probably would be even worse oflf than they are under
present conditions had it not been for the fact that most W.P.A. projects for men are
outdoor projects. This means that, even according to Southern rules, both Negroes and
whites can work on the same project, although in separate gangs. Projects for women,
on the other hand, are indoor affairs. Seldom, if ever, is it possible in the South to have
a sewing room for Negro women in the same building where there is such a room for
white women. The consequence is that separate projects have to be organized for Negro
women if they arc to have any share in the jobs. Since there are few local agencies
which would even think of sponsoring projects especially for Negroes, Negro women,
in most places, have to be without them. (Sterner and Associates, op. cit.s pp. 245-246.)
It goes without saying that the situation is similar in regard to projects for profes-
sional and clerical workers. On the whole, there is a general complaint among Negroes
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