CHAPTER IV.--Constructive Suggestions Page 68

APPENDIX Page 71

PREFACE.

The main purpose of this study was not merely the attempt at a piece of research. The writer undertook it originally in the early spring as a student volunteer with the sole aim of doing his share in the development of a more virile civic consciousness in Pittsburgh, and to contribute something toward the orientation and adjustment of the newcomers in our community. Thanks to the generous co-operation of Mr. Walter A. May, the writer was enabled to devote all his time since June 1917 to the completion of this study. An attempt has been made to interpret the data from the social point of view. The conclusions are not offered as final but it is hoped they may serve as the basis for a practical community program and perhaps for further study.

The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Prof. Francis D. Tyson for his counsel and assistance in planning and organizing this study. Without his co-operation, the study could not have been undertaken or completed. The writer also acknowledges his thanks to Mr. George M. P. Baird of the English Department, University of Pittsburgh for reading the manuscript and making many suggestions as to style. Much thanks is also due to Mr. Edmund Feldman for his valuable assistance in preparing the tables and making the graphs. To the Irene Kaufmann Settlement and its resident workers, the writer wishes to express his gratitude and appreciation for their co-operation and hospitality.

A. E.

Pittsburgh, Pa., December 1, 1917.

INTRODUCTION

This little study of the Negro Migration to Pittsburgh was first suggested as a thesis subject in a university class in Social Economy in May, 1917. Our great steel city of the North calls many unskilled workers to its mills. The migration of Negroes to fill the gaps in the ranks of this labor force, opened up by the cessation of European immigration following the war has been under way for nearly eighteen months. Expanding steel production continues to call for more workers. From the first labor agents of railroads and steel mills as well as private employment agencies have been at work gathering in the new army of laborers.

By last spring newspaper reports of housing congestion, and of suffering from pneumonia and other diseases, and tales of the increase of crime and vice were being spread. There was spoken comment of the new situation on every hand. But these reports were inaccurate; they gave no concrete estimate of the number and character of the newcomers; and no definite statement of their life here or the problems of community adjustment created by the influx of strange people.

It is to be hoped that the attempt at an intensive and supervised investigation represented by these pages will prove of value to those members of both races who have already seen in the migration new opportunity for a people whose need has been bitter, as well as a chance for manifold human service. Perhaps the all-too-faulty product may justify the painstaking effort of the investigator who toiled through the hot summer months and the generosity of the public-spirited citizen whose interest made the study possible.

The report may be of value also in offering suggestions to those workers in other cities who are dealing with the same many-sided and baffling problem, so full of pathos and tragedy and so expressive of the need of community co-operation. At least they may avoid the pitfalls upon which we have stumbled. For Pittsburgh it may well be that the material gathered here will be used to assist in carrying forward a constructive program for adjusting the new workers permanently to our community life. Industrial production here in a time of crisis depends in part upon our Negro labor supply, the stability and efficiency of which can be permanently secured only by successful experiments in the fields of housing, health, and recreation.

FRANCIS TYSON, _Professor of Social Economy_.

University of Pittsburgh, December, 1917.

GENERAL CONDITIONS AMONG NEGRO MIGRANTS IN PITTSBURGH