The Negro at Work in New York City: A Study in Economic ProgressHaynes, George Edmund
History
The Negro at Work in New York City: A Study in Economic Progress
Haynes, George Edmund
African American businesspeople; African Americans -- Employment -- New York (State) -- New York; African Americans -- History
In domestic and personal service, the verdict from a large body of
evidence is that, judged by the testimony of employers as to the
length of time employed, the capability, sobriety and honesty of the
workers, Negroes furnish a reliable supply of employees that need only
to be properly appraised to be appreciated. What is needed for the
workers in this class of occupations and for those in the skilled
trades, is that more attention be given to adequate training, that
more facilities be offered and that a more sympathetic attitude be
shown them in their efforts for better pay and better positions.
In reviewing the Negro's business operations judgment should be
tempered by consideration of his past and of the tremendous odds of
the present. There are handicaps due to the denial of the chances of
getting experience, to inefficiency born of resulting inexperience,
to the difficulty of securing capital and building credit and to the
low purchasing power of the patronage to which a prejudiced public
limits him. He is not only denied experience, sorely limited in
capital and curtailed in credit, but his opportunities for securing
either are very meagre. In spite of all this, there has been progress
which is prophetic of the future.
From the days of slavery Negroes have tried the fortunes of the market
place and under freedom their enterprises have increased in number and
variety. At the present time Southern-born and West Indian Negroes
form the bulk of the business men, the latter far in excess of their
proportion in the Negro population. This success of West Indians is
partly a result of training and initiative developed in a more
favorable environment, as they had the benefit of whatever
opportunities their West Indian surroundings offered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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