The percentage of single people between the ages of eighteen and thirty
is far greater than that of the married ones, which is a natural
expectation. Of the five hundred and thirty persons interviewed, two
hundred and nineteen or forty-one and one-half percent were single;
one hundred sixty-two or thirty and one-half percent were married,
and had already brought their families here, while one hundred and
thirty-nine or twenty-eight percent were married, but were here without
their families. Ninety-eight of the families had children; thirty-nine
of the families had no children here, and seventeen families either
had some or all of the children in the South, while the remaining six
placed their children under the care of relatives or institutions. The
number of children per family of those who had their wives here, varied
from one to ten. Forty families had one child each; twenty-three, two
children each, fifteen had three children each, and twenty had four or
more children each. Nineteen families had one or more children under
twenty helping to support them, but only four had more than one child
assisting in the support of the family. Among the one hundred and
forty-nine persons whose families remained in the South, ninety-six had
children and seventeen had none. Of the remainder a number stated that
they had one or two of their children with them, while others gave no
definite information. Sixty-three of those who had children at home had
no more than two children each, while thirty-three had three or more
children at home. These figures seem to indicate that the migration is
largely that of small families.
The Negro migration from the South into Pittsburgh, while it has
been accentuated and accelerated by the present war, which created a
greater need for labor, is not in reality an altogether new thing for
Pittsburgh. There has been a steady influx of Negroes, though in small
numbers, since the pre Civil War days. Pittsburgh and Allegheny were
important stations of the Underground Railway, and many a Negro came to
Pittsburgh from the near-by slave states, as to a city of refuge. The
Negro population in Allegheny County grew steadily from 3431 in 1850
to 34,217 in 1910. The percentage of Negroes in the total population
of the County has continually increased within the last four decades.
(Two and two-tenths percent in 1880 and three and four-tenths in 1910).
Negroes have always been attracted by the opportunities which this city
with its abundance of work and good wages could offer them in improving
their economic status.
The recent unprecedented influx of Negroes had made the Negro
population in Pittsburgh increase more than twice as fast within the
last two years as during the entire ten years preceding. The percentage
of Negroes in our total population has leaped very suddenly. This fact
is sufficient to warrant our serious study and active efforts toward
the social orientation and adjustment of the new element in our midst.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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