In the city population of the United States as a rule, females outnumber the males. This generalization holds true of the great majority of cities east of the Mississippi River. It is more true of the negroes than it is of the whites. In the southern cities and towns having at least 2,500 inhabitants in 1900, there were 9 more negro females than males in each 100 of negro population. Among children the two sexes were approximately equal in numbers, so that if the figures allowed us to exclude the children the preponderance of females would be still greater. The cause is doubtless to be found in large measure in the greater demand and greater opportunity for female labor in cities. At the present time rather more than half of the negroes over ten years of age are able to write. The per cent. of _illiteracy_ has decreased rapidly in the last ten years. In 1890 it was 57.1, while in 1900 it was 45.5. This rapid decrease in negro illiteracy has gone on parallel with the rapid decrease of illiteracy among whites. At the present time the negroes as a race show about seven times the proportion of illiterates that the whites do and about four times the proportion of illiterates found among southern whites, and these ratios between the two races have not materially changed since 1890. Illiteracy is much more prevalent in the country districts than it is in the cities. About half of the negroes living outside cities having at least 25,000 inhabitants are illiterate, while in these cities less than one-third are illiterate. The rapid development of the educational system among negroes in the South has left clear traces upon the proportion of illiterates in the several age classes. The highest proportion of illiterates is found among negroes at least sixty-five years of age, the lowest among negroes ten to fourteen years of age. The difference between these two age limits is rather greater than the difference between city and country negroes, the illiteracy of all negroes over sixty-five being rather greater than that of negroes in country districts, and the illiteracy of negroes between ten and fourteen years of age being rather less than that of all negroes living in cities having at least 25,000 inhabitants. If the per cent. of illiteracy among negroes should continue to dwindle in the future as rapidly as it did, 1890 to 1900, an improbable contingency, negro illiteracy would disappear by 1940.