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
This has caused the tenant, Henry Scism, to leave, and Frank Grant to
sell his little house at a sacrifice and leave. It comes to us that
Frank Grant is a quiet, innocent, hard-working citizen. Therefore,
we, the undersigned officers and citizens of Habersham County,
Georgia, pray you to offer a liberal reward for the arrest and
conviction or these unknown parties--say $100 for the first and $50
for each succeeding one.
(Signed) C. W. GRANT,
_County School Commissioner_.
J. A. ERWIN CLERK, S. C.,
M. FRANKLIN, Ordinary
J. D. HILL, T. C. H. C.
But, of course, nothing could be done that would keep the Negroes on the
land under such conditions.
_Why Negroes Are Driven Out_
What does it all mean? Listen to the explanation given by a prominent
white man of Habersham County--not to me--but to the Atlanta _Georgian_,
where it was published:
"It is not a problem of Negro labour, because there is little of that kind
there. The white labour will not work for the fruit growers at prices they
can afford, even when it is a good fruit year. Often they decline to work
at any price. They have many admirable qualities; among them is a spirit
of pride and independence, which, rightly directed, would uplift and make
them prosperous, but which misguided and blind, as it sometimes is, keeps
them in poverty and puts the region in which they live at great
disadvantage.
"Landowners and employers, native, and new, are indignant but helpless.
They are in the power of the shiftless element of the whites, who say, 'I
will work or not, as I please, and when I please, and at my own price; and
I will not have Negroes taking my work away from me.' This is not a race
question, pure and simple; it is an industrial question, a labour issue,
not confined to one part of the country."
Here, it will be observed, the same complaint is made against the "poor
white" as against the Negro--that he is shiftless and that he won't work
even for high wages.
Generally speaking, the race hatred in the South comes chiefly from the
poorer class of whites who either own land which they work themselves or
are tenant farmers in competition with Negroes and from politicians who
seek to win the votes of this class of white men. The larger landowners
and employers of labour, while they do not love the Negro, want him to
work and work steadily, and will do almost anything to keep him on the
land--so long as he is a faithful, obedient, unambitious worker. When he
becomes prosperous, or educated, or owns land, many white people no longer
"have any use for him" and turn upon him with hostility, but the best type
of the Southern white men is not only glad to see the Negro become a
prosperous and independent farmer but will do much to help him.
_Vivid Illustration of Race Feeling_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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