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1382 An American Dilemma
Ralph Bunche pays his tribute to a passing generation in the following words:
“The fine old gentlemen of the earlier days, with all of their old-fogeyism, tolerance
and patience, worshipped a different god. They were under the spell of the aristocratic
whites of their day; they took as their model the best educated and most cultured men
of their period, and they attempted to acquire and did acquire many of the graces and
talents of this group without, through lack of riches, being able to cultivate their more
costly vices.
“It does seem that the current generations of Negroes have lost something valuable
in the transition, and this not merely in poise, dignity and the graces, but also to a
damaging degree in the qualities of honor, principle, integrity and intellectual honesty.’^
(“Conceptions and Ideologies of the Negro Problem,” unpublished manuscript, pre-
pared for this study [1940], p. in.)
Marcus Wilson jernegan. Laboring and Defendant Classes in Colonial America^
idoy-iySg (1931), p. 9. See also Chapter 5, Sections 4 and 5; and Louis Wirth and
Herbert Goldhamer, “The Hybrid and the Problem of Miscegenation” in Otto Kline-
berg (editor). Characteristics of the American NegrOy prepared for this study; to be
published, manuscript pages 208 and 138-139.
Wirth and Goldhamer, 0^. manuscript page 134 and sources cited by them.
“Along with the advantageous social position of the mulatto there- has been a
pronounced disadvantage for blacks in the ideological heritage of society generally. The
concept of blackness has held, in the popular mind, an unfavorable connotation. ‘Black
is evil,’ ‘black as sin,’ ‘black as the devil,’ are phrases which suggest the emotional and
aesthetic implications of this association. The evil and ugliness of blackness have long
been contrasted in popular thinking with the goodness and purity of whiteness. Whether
with respect to men or things this color association has been deeply meaningful; it
is an inescapable element of the cultural heritage.” (Charles S. Johnson, Growing Uf in
the Black Belt [1941], p. 257.)
“The interviews revealed results similar to those of the tests. Some of the reactions
to blackness were as follows: ‘Black is too black,’ ‘Black is ugly,’ ‘Black people are mean,*
‘Black isn’t like flesh,’ ‘Black is bad because people make fun, and I don’t think it looks
good either,’ ‘Black people can’t use make-up,’ ‘Black people are evil,’ ‘White looks
better than black,’ ‘No black people hold good jobs,’ ‘Black people can’t look nice in their
clothes,’ ‘You can’t get along with black people,’ ‘Black looks dirty,’ ‘Black people have
to go to the kitchen and scrub,’ ‘Even in college they don’t want to take in black
students.’ Black youth are called by such derisive names as ‘Snow,’ ‘Gold Dust Boys,’
‘Blue Gums,’ ‘Midnight,’ ‘Shadow,’ ‘Haint,’ ‘Dusty,’ ‘Polish,’ and ‘Shine.’ . . .
“In the second place, the belief that ‘black people are mean’ can easily make such
people ‘mean’ if the behavior toward them is habitually based on such an assumption-
In the end the reaction of such dark persons reinforces the stereotype.” (Ibid.y pp.
259-262.)
Donald R. Young observes rightly; “The common preference for the ‘mammy’
type of servant or the ‘darkey* type of gardener, butler, odd-job man, and flunkey is
not in opposition to this statement, for the very preference of these types helps keep
them in the dead-end employments just mentioned, certainly not employments which
lead to advancement.” {American Minority Peofles [1932], p. 397.)
Davis, Gardner, and Gardner tell us about the supreme importance of the com-
plexion for class status in a Southern city. “Other qualifications being nearly equal.
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