The statement sometimes made that in 1865 the Negro was a landless and penniless race is far from the truth. Some slaves had property that they had secured through opportunities given them by their owners. No doubt free Negroes secured at least a small share of the public domain. Many slaves upon being given freedom by benevolent masters, were also given money or property at the same time.
Cases of this sort were frequent during slavery times. Several such instances are given in the Staunton (Va.) Democrat during 1846-1848. Such cases as the following were not uncommon:
“A Negro man named Lerr; age about 35 years; a slave for life $700.” “A negro man named Jacob; age about 24; a slave from life—$600.”[123:1]
These were two items in an inventory of the estate Phillip B. Saddler returned to the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore in 1860.
Even The Liberator mentions some cases of the kind. For example:
A man in Kentucky willed to his slaves, whom he made free, horses, wagons, farming implements, and $4,000. Another, also in Kentucky, freed a Negro family of four, purchased an excellent farm for them, paying fifty dollars an acre, and in addition gave them a wagon, a pair of mules and a quantity of provisions. These are given merely as examples of what was constantly taking place.[124:2]
Indeed, there were many rich free Negroes in the South at the time of the Civil War. Although there is abundant evidence that the free Negroes, as a rule, were an indolent, thriftless, and even vicious class, some of them, no doubt on account of the reënforcement of white blood in their veins, were industrious and prosperous.
At Charleston, S. C., alone in 1860, there were 355 free Negroes who paid taxes.[124:3] Of these 226 owned real estate valued at $1,000 or more, each. Some of them had $10,000 to $40,000 worth of property. Altogether they had almost $1,000,000 worth.
In Louisiana also, as might be expected, there were many wealthy free Negroes. Most of these were descended from the French and the Spanish planters and their Negro slaves. One free Negro family of Louisiana was said to be the richest Negro family in the United States before the War, having property valued at several hundred thousand dollars.[125:4] Frederick Law Olmsted, who traveled through the State about 1855, was told that some of the free Negroes owned property worth $400,000 or $500,000, which included some of the best sugar and cotton plantations. Indeed, all over the country might have been found free Negroes with more or less property. The greater part of it, no doubt, had been given them by white masters or white relatives.
In reference to the amount of property held by Negroes at the time of the Civil War, William H. Thomas, a Negro writer, says:
“We have no trustworthy data by which to measure the wealth of those residing in the North, though it is known to have been considerable; but in the South, where separate racial statistics were kept, the value of property owned by free Negroes was between $35,000,000 and $40,000,000.”
In 1860, there were in the neighborhood of 250,000 free Negroes in the South and around 225,000 in the North. Then, if the free Negroes of the South had nearly $40,000,000 it would seem a fair estimate that in both sections the free Negroes had at least $60,000,000. Taking this for granted, as money at six per cent compounded, annually, doubles every twelve and one-half years, the $60,000,000 at interest until the present (1917) would have amounted to about $960,000,000. If the 10,000,000 Negroes of the country at present had as large amount of property in proportion, as the less than 500,000 free Negroes of 1860, they would be worth more than $1,200,000,000.
However, in 1903, it was estimated by a committee of the American Economic Association that all the taxable property in the United States owned by Negroes in 1900 amounted to only $300,000,000. The $60,000,000 at six per cent would have amounted to about $400,000,000 by that time.
In 1913, in an address before the Negro Business League which met in Philadelphia, Booker T. Washington said that Negroes pay taxes on $700,000,000 worth of property. Many other students of the Negro question both black and white have placed about the same estimate upon Negro holdings. Even if true, the amount would be about $200,000,000 less than the $60,000,000 at interest to the same time.
Now, assuming that Negroes actually owned $700,000,000 worth of property in 1913, what does it signify? The value of all property in the United States is now estimated at almost $250,000,000,000. Now, suppose that it was $210,000,000,000 in 1913, this would be just three hundred times the estimated value of Negro property at the time. In other words, 10,000,000 negroes owned one three-hundredth as much as 90,000,000 whites. Thus one white man on an average would have as much as thirty-two Negroes.
Even were it true that the Negro race began with nothing after the War, likely thousands of white men who became millionaires had just such a start. One such white man, especially, is, no doubt, worth as much as the 10,000,000 Negroes claim to be, even though he has given to charity almost half as much more.
Indeed, the $700,000,000 in question is but little more than two-thirds as much as the whites in the United States, according to the Chicago Tribune,[128:5] gave to charity during 1916. Again, the $700,000,000 lacks nearly $200,000,000 of being equal to the taxable basis of Baltimore. It would be difficult to secure statistics in reference to the matter, but there could be little doubt that the first immigrants to the United States after the Civil War, including the descendents of such to the number of 10,000,000,—immigrants who came with practically nothing, no money in the majority of instances and ignorant,—now are worth many times $700,000,000.
The $700,000,000 may also be considered from another point of view: The “Negro Year Book,” 1913 credits the Negro with $700,000,000 worth of property and speaks glowingly about the increase of the previous ten years. The statement is made that farm land and buildings owned by the Negro increased from $69,639,426 in 1900 to $273,506,665 in 1910, and that during the same period the total value of Negro farm property, including live stock, and implements and machinery increased from $177,408,688 to $492,898,216.
Now, the Census shows that in 1900 Negroes owned 13,770,801 acres of land entire and 2,205,297 acres in part. If their share of the land owned in part were half, then, the Negroes had in possession 14,873,449 acres. In 1910, they owned 15,961,506 acres entire and 3,114,957 acres in part. Allowing them the same share of that held in part as for 1900, gives them in 1910, 17,518,984 acres. However, only about two-fifths of the land owned by Negroes is arable, the larger part being woodland, swamp, rough and stony land, much of which is almost valueless.
According to the “Negro Year Book,” Negro farm land and buildings increased in value from $7.98 an acre in 1900 to $17.40 an acre in 1910.[129:6] If this is true; the value of the Negro lands and buildings in 1900 was $118,690,124 instead of $69,639,426; and in 1910, $304,830,032 instead of $273,506,665.
Again, Negroes operated in 1910, 893,370 farms while but 241,221 of these were owned or partly owned by them. An idea of the value of the farm stock on these farms, and the Negroes’ lack of thrift as well, may be had from a statement made before the Negro Conference at Tuskegee Institute in 1915:
“An investigation has shown that there are 20,000 farms of Negroes on which there are no cattle of any kind; 27,000 on which there are no hogs; 200,000 on which no poultry is raised; 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on 750,000 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 farms no sweet potatoes are grown, and on 200,000 farms of Negroes there are no gardens of any sort.”[130:7]
According to the Census, however, on farms operated by Negroes, farm implements and machinery increased from $18,859,757 in 1900 to $34,178,052 by 1910, while live stock increased in value from $84,936,215 to $184,896,771. Adding to these amounts for 1910 the above sum of $304,830,032 for Negro lands and buildings a total of $523,904,855 is obtained for 1910 instead of $492,898,216, which is the Negro Year Book estimate.[131:8] So here credit may be given the Negro for the larger amount.
Again, according to the Census of 1910, Negroes owned around 220,000 homes other than farm homes. No estimate as to their value is given. Although $400 each is undoubtedly a high valuation they may be roughly estimated at that. This amounts to $88,000,000. Booker T. Washington claimed for Negroes just before his death, 43,000 business interests.[131:9] The observation of the writer is that Negro business interests average much less than $1000 each. Indeed, great numbers not more than $100 or $200 each. However, if they average $1000 each they amount to $43,000,000.
By adding the three items: $523,904,855, the value of Negro farm property; $88,000,000, Negro-owned homes other than farm homes; and $43,000,000, the value of the Negro business interests; a grand total of $654,904,855 is obtained. Thus it would appear that in 1913 Negroes might have had around $700,000,000 worth of property in their possession.
Naturally the next question that comes to mind is this: How much does the Negro owe?
Scarcely without exception the white man is his creditor, consequently what the Negro owes is to be subtracted from the amount of his possessions.
According to the Census of 1910, something like 65,000 Negro farms and 50,000 Negro-owned homes have mortgages or similar encumbrances against them. It is unlikely that this is true to any large extent except as regards the more valuable Negro properties. If the average farm mortgage is $500 and the average home mortgage $300 both together will amount to $47,500,000. It is reasonable to suppose also that the 43,000 business interests owe at least $15,000,000.
Again, while more than 150,000 Negro farms and about as many more Negro homes were reported by the census as free of encumbrance, nevertheless, it is not unlikely that they owe a large amount of money in notes, bills, etc. Nor need it be forgotten that often Negro tenants owe their landlords fully as much as the entire value of such tenant’s personal property.[133:10] Many Negroes in one way or another owe about as much as they are worth. This is undoubtedly true of some white men, also, but the point is, what Negroes owe they owe to white men. A well-to-do farmer told the writer a few years ago that he held various kinds of small claims to the amount of more than $4000 against the Negroes of his community. So, $50,000,000 should not be an excessive estimate for such Negro liabilities.
By adding these various items; $47,500,000 in mortgages and liens against Negro farms and homes; $15,000,000 against Negro business interests; and $50,000,000 against Negro farm owners, home owners, tenants, etc., gives a grand total of $112,500,000. Subtracting this from $654,904,855, which was found to be the value of Negro property, leaves $542,404,855 as the value of Negro property when debts are paid.
Again, in regard to the statement above that Negro farm property increased in value from $222,485,096 in 1900 to $523,904,855 in 1910 one may need to be reminded that live stock and land about doubled in money value during this time and that by 1913 they had more than doubled. This was due mainly to the wonderful increase in the output of gold mines thus making money cheaper. With this depreciation in the value of money the Negro, of course, had nothing to do.
Except for this, it is unlikely that the $222,485,096 the valuation of Negro farm property in 1900 would have increased to more than $265,000,000 in 1910 instead of $523,904,855. For during the time the Negro added but 2,645,535 acres which may be valued at $21,000,000. The remaining $23,000,000 being sufficient to allow for the improvement of the land, if any, and any actual increase of cattle and farm machinery. Now, subtracting $265,000,000 from $523,904,855 leaves $258,904,855 which was due to rise in price rather than to effort on the part of the Negro. Again, subtracting the $258,904,855 from $542,404,855, the value of all Negro property after their debts were paid, leaves $283,500,000 which, except for the circumstances over which the Negro had no influence, would have been the actual wealth of the Negro about 1913, instead of $700,000,000 as claimed.
Of this amount, no doubt, quite a large part was given to individual Negroes by whites for one reason or another. I have already adverted to the fact that during slavery times Negroes often received both money and property from kind-hearted masters, along with their freedom. How much has been given them since emancipation would be hard to determine. Only a short while ago, indeed, the New York Tribune mentioned a white woman who had left her Negro maid $12,000 in cash, and other valuables in addition.[135:11]
Moreover, it has been estimated, that of the $28,496,946, the value of plant equipment and endowment of Negro private schools, five-sixths was contributed by whites and only one-sixth by Negroes.[135:12] During the years 1912 and 1913 white people gave nearly $2,000,000 towards Negro education.[135:13] Nor does there appear to be any falling off in the white man’s gifts to Negro schools. In the early part of the year 1917, the Rockefeller Foundation appropriated to American schools and colleges $575,200, of which $197,000, several times their share, was given to Negro schools.[135:14] In addition, Federal and State institutions for the higher education of the Negro have an income about $1,000,000 and property valued at $6,000,000.[135:15] Nor is this all, no doubt, Southern whites have contributed several times as much to Negro education by taxation as has been given otherwise.
Again, the amount of money and lands that the Negro secured during the reconstruction period might be an interesting subject for investigation. The Negro legislator had the same privilege as the white one to sell his vote and influence. Nor could there be little doubt that he failed to use the opportunity. The following story is credited to Senator Z. B. Vance of North Carolina:[136:16]
A Negro member of the North Carolina legislature was found chuckling to himself over a pile of money which he was counting. “What amuses you so?” he was asked. “Well, boss,” he replied, grinning from ear to ear, “I’s been sold in my life ’leven times, an’ fo’ de Lord, dis is de fust time I eber got de money.”
During the Reconstruction period taxes became so oppressive that thousands and thousands of farms and plantations were sold at auction for taxes. In some places land became almost valueless. It is hardly to be doubted that many Negroes who got easy money through politics at this time failed to use some of it in the purchase of land.
Now, what is the reason for the poverty of the Negro? Indeed, from the foregoing it must appear that poverty is a more appropriate word to use in such connection than wealth. The answer is not far to seek. It is the natural result of the Negro character, disposition, and training. The following letter is suggestive:
“ . . . ‘I have done my work practically the whole summer with the exception of a few weeks that I had a trifling no account Negro, and even then I had to do the best portion of it in order to get them to accomplish anything. When they would wash and iron, those days I did everything else and they helped a little with the ironing, for if I didn’t they would never get through. They [Negroes] are absolutely worthless, and if I didn’t have small children I wouldn’t let one light within a mile of me. . . .”[137:17]
A Negro who worked in the strawberry section of Delaware told the writer a few years ago that although he usually worked in the daytime he roved about every night. It happened that once, when he had been carousing as usual on the night before, that he was put to harrowing strawberries. About three o’clock in the afternoon the overseer came along and found that he was harrowing up the strawberries from one end of the row to the other,—he was so sleepy. The overseer simply told him to put his horse in the stable and go to bed, which he did. As he got some sleep, when night came he was out again for a great part of the night; and so on.
As a laborer, the Negro is not so satisfactory as formerly. The old-time Negro, trained in slavery to work, has about passed away and his successor is far less efficient and faithful to duty. Lately, large numbers of Negro laborers have shown a tendency to leave the farms for work on railroads, in sawmills, and in the cities, large numbers migrating to the cities of the North. They like to work in crowds and this often results in making more work for the police.
From the good wages Negro laborers have received for several years, many of the more far-sighted have saved enough to buy little homes. A few of the more ambitious may continue to save, but far the greater part are then perfectly satisfied and settle down to a life of ease and contentment. By raising a hog or two, a few chickens, some garden vegetables, and, with a day’s work now and then, they pass their time in a way suited to their indifferent nature.
A concrete example may be of interest. A pure Negro, about thirty-five years of age, a few years ago, purchased about half an acre of land on the bank of a “branch” near a small village in Maryland. For a few dollars he bought an old discarded house about one hundred and fifty yards away, and with the aid of neighbors moved it on his lot. It is doubtful if both the lot, and the house (after being moved and repaired) cost him more than one hundred dollars.
This Negro has been living in it for years and seems perfectly contented. His family consists of himself, wife and three daughters eleven to seventeen years of age. The surrounding country is one of the best tomato growing sections in the United States and during about six weeks of the tomato season tomato pickers are in great demand and make good wages. During this time the Negro man and his family usually work hard; for they pick by the basket and make in the neighborhood of two hundred dollars. This is practically their year’s work. The remainder of the year they do but little. They have a garden, pigs, and chickens. It would be an easy matter for this family to get ahead in the world; but they prefer the easy life of comparative idleness,—for this was their incentive to secure a home.
This is also one of the main reasons, no doubt, for the great increase in Negro tenant farmers, especially that of share tenants. The latter class increased about thirty-six per cent between 1900 and 1910. Many of these seldom work a full day at a time. As they usually put off cultivating a crop to the last moment, if a wet season happens to set in, it is soon greatly damaged by a growth of grass. As a tenant farmer, the Negro realizes that he is more independent, his time is his own, and that he can usually work when he pleases. A great part of his time is given to various Negro recreations,—such as visiting, riding and driving, crap-shooting, preaching, attending revivals, and camp-meetings.
So the cause of the Negro’s failure to secure a reasonable share of wealth is not lack of opportunity,—for (at least, in the South) he has every opportunity that he could wish in order to do so,—but rather to his racial traits or characteristics,—some of which are: a happy-go-lucky disposition, indolence, shiftlessness, laziness, indifference, lack of mental stamina and ambition, and strong criminal tendencies.
FOOTNOTES:
[123:1] Baltimore Sun, Dec. 18, 1909.
[124:2] Liberator, Jan. 20, 1854, and Nov. 9, 1860.
[124:3] Ibid., May 11, 1860; E. Collins, “Memories of the Southern States,” p. 44.
[125:4] Liberator, March 18, 1859. Also, Olmsted, “Seaboard Slave States,” pp. 633-640.
[128:5] The Chicago Tribune, Dec. 30, 1916, gives a list of gifts to charity during 1916 as near $1,000,000,000.
[129:6] According to the census, “The average value of farm property per acre was $27.01 for farms operated by Negroes in 1910 as compared with $13.08 for 1900, and $47.72 for farms operated by whites in 1910.” There was no indication whether all land or merely arable land is meant. About three-fourths of the farms operated by Negroes are rented. Observation convinces me that farms owned by Negroes are not more than half so valuable an acre on the average as the land rented by them, for from necessity they buy the least valuable land. This being true, Negro lands in 1900 could not have been worth more than $6.00 an acre and about $13.00 in 1910. However, in making any calculations as to the value of Negro lands and property, I will take the Negro Year Book estimate and apply it to all Negro land.
[130:7] Scott and Stowe, “Booker T. Washington,” p. 171.
[131:8] The estimate of $7.98 an acre in 1900, and $17.40 an acre in 1910, according to the “Negro Year Book” mentioned above, is undoubtedly too high by at least one-third, but I use it so as to give them the advantage rather than otherwise. I know a body of 1,300 acres of land in my own county, Dorchester, Md., consisting of some cleared land, woodland and brushland, which a real estate man told me could be bought at five dollars an acre. This is such land as the Negro usually buys. Only a short distance from the body of land mentioned in this note land is valued at from twenty-five to one hundred dollars an acre.
[131:9] Among the Negro business interests are 64 banks which are often mentioned in Negro speeches. It seems, however, that two of them have failed. The total capital of these banks is said to be $1,500,000. In striking contrast are the 27,000 white banks with $2,162,900,000 capital. Petersburg, Negro settlement in Md., mentioned above, has two Negro stores with hardly $100 worth of goods, each.
[133:10] I make no mention of the little personal property often not taxed many poorer Negroes possess, for the reason that usually such Negroes owe retail store keepers even more than their little property would sell for.
[135:11] New York Tribune, Jan. 25, 1917.
[135:12] “Negro Education,” Government Printing Office, 1917, Vol. I, p. 8.
[135:13] U. S. Educational Report, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 612-13.
[135:14] Baltimore Sun, Jan. 30, 1917.
[135:15] “Negro Education,” Government Printing Office, 1917, Vol. I, p. 12.
[136:16] James Ford Rhodes, “History of United States,” Vol. VI, p. 305.
[137:17] Quotation from a letter shown to the writer, which was written by a woman in Richmond.