Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
History
Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
African Americans; United States -- Race relations
In slavery time many Negroes attended white churches and Negro children
were often taught by white women. Now, a Negro is never (or very rarely)
seen in a white man's church. Once since I have been in the South, I saw a
very old Negro woman, some much-loved mammy, perhaps--sitting down in
front near the pulpit, but that is the only exception to the rule that has
come to my attention. Negroes are not wanted in white churches.
Consequently the coloured people have some sixty churches of their own in
Atlanta. Of course, the schools are separate, and have been ever since the
Civil War.
In one of the parks of Atlanta I saw this sign:
NO NEGROES ALLOWED IN THIS PARK
_Colour Line in the Public Library_
A story significant of the growing separation of the races is told about
the public library at Atlanta, which no Negro is permitted to enter.
Carnegie gave the money for building it, and when the question came up as
to the support of it by the city, the inevitable colour question arose.
Leading Negroes asserted that their people should be allowed admittance,
that they needed such an educational advantage even more than white
people, and that they were to be taxed their share--even though it was
small--for buying the books and maintaining the building. They did not win
their point of course, but Mr. Carnegie proposed a solution of the
difficulty by offering more money to build a Negro branch library,
provided the city would give the land and provide for its support. The
city said to the Negroes:
"You contribute the land and we will support the library."
Influential Negroes at once arranged for buying and contributing a site
for the library. Then the question of control arose. The Negroes thought
that inasmuch as they gave the land and the building was to be used
entirely for coloured people, they should have one or two members on the
board of control. This the city officials, who had charge of the matter,
would not hear of; result, the Negroes would not give the land, and the
branch library has never been built.
Right in this connection: while I was in Atlanta, the Art School, which in
the past has often used Negro models, decided to draw the colour line
there, too, and no longer employ them.
Formerly Negroes and white men went to the same saloons, and drank at the
same bars, as they do now, I am told, in some parts of the South. In a few
instances, in Atlanta, there were Negro saloon-keepers, and many Negro
bartenders. The first step toward separation was to divide the bar, the
upper end for white men, the lower for Negroes. After the riot, by a new
ordinance no saloon was permitted to serve both white and coloured men.
Consequently, going along Decatur Street, one sees the saloons designated
by conspicuous signs:[1]
"WHITES ONLY" "COLOURED ONLY"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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