Farmers 79,893 Farm laborers 527,937 Dressmakers and seamstresses 26,961 Semi-skilled operatives in cigar and tobacco factories 13,446 Teachers 29,244 Hairdressers and manicurists 12,660 Housekeepers and stewards 13,250 Laundresses not in laundries 283,557 Laundry operatives 21,084 Midwives and nurses (not trained) 13,888 Servants 401,381 Waiters 14,155 This has been the gift of labor, one of the greatest that the Negro has made to American nationality. It was in part involuntary, but whether given willingly or not, it was given and America profited by the gift. This labor was always of the highest economic and even spiritual importance. During the World War for instance, the most important single thing that America could do for the Allies was to furnish them with materials. The actual fighting of American troops, while important, was not nearly as important as American food and munitions; but this material must not only be supplied, it must be transported, handled and delivered in America and in France; and it was here that the Negro stevedore troops behind the battle line—men who received no medals and little mention and were in fact despised as all manual workers have always been despised,—it was these men that made the victory of the Allies certain by their desperately difficult but splendid work. The first colored stevedores went over in June, 1917, and were followed by about 50,000 volunteers. To these were added later nearly 200,000 drafted men.