A NEGRO CITY.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 193, 19 October 1925, Page 6

A NEGRO CITY.

NEW YORK BLACK BELT. LARGEST IN, THE WORLD. 'Fhc cosmopolitan city of New York 1 has many amazing things hidden away i within its boundaries. Of all the in- i tensely interesting populations which i shelter there one stands out alone, 1 not so much because of its pictures- i queness or its tenacity in foreign customs and foreign ideals, but be- i cause it represents the greatest prob- ' lem with which America has to cope. The Italian, Jewish, Slav, Chinese, : Japanese, and other quarters may be picturesque and problematic enough, but it is the negro quarter, the home of the descendants of emancipated slavery, the centre of the great colour problem, which arouses the greatest interest, and sets the wheels of speculation revolving. Mecca of the Blacks. A writer in the Saturday Evening Post has revealed to the world,, the inner history of the negro city within New York. It is an astonishing history in that it shows the extent to which the American negro has adapted himself to city life, and has, like anv foreign immigrant, congregated in a suitable area, and there thriven. Harlem Is the city within a city, and it is called the Harlem Black Belt. It has a population of close on 200,0.00 negroes, and is the largest negro city in the world. You board a Bronx local train and note the complexion of the passengers. From one-half to nine-tenths are negroes on their way to the Black Belt. There is no need to wonder whv r fhey congregate in that area. This is one of the few places in the world where a negro may achieve wealth and distinction among his own people. There is no need for. him to bother with whites or solicit, thei: custom or patronage. He may trade with or work for his own people, and in view of the manner in which the negro population is considered in America, one can understand why he prefers, that course. So Harlem becomes the Mecca of all the black people. of the United States, and the population is growing daily. Not all those within the Black Belt in New York are American negroes. There are some 40,000 West Indians quartered there. Some of these people speak Spanish, French, or Portuguese, and some speak English not American English, but English English, as is spoken by educated Londoners. There is an amazing hubbub of language in Harlem. Breaking through the comparative quietude of the Latin tongues come something resembling an Oxford accent mingled with the "soft tones of the American South.l You go into a restaurant, in Harlem and you immediately think that the waiter is giving you an imitation of a stage Englishman. You are tickled to death until you discover later that you have been had. With all this, Harlem is a quiet city. Possiblv the noisiest faction is made up of the 10.000 ja-zz musicians who live there, but they are not so noisy after all.

Not a Ramshackle District. Whereas the whole world knows something of this negro city, New York is barelv acquainted with its existence. Gotham goes its way unobservant and uninterested. That, however, is typical of Greater New York. Two hundred thousand people in a population of something like 8 000 000 represent only a very small community. Millions of white people ride under and over Harlem each day in the subways or elevateds without knowing exactly where it is The Black Belt of New York is about blocks long. It, was not always a negro centre. Once upon a time it was Dutch. Then it changed over to Irish. Later Germans claimed it ana after them came the Jews. The Black Belt is a good district. All the ' hol^c s are well built: none are of wood. The district contains a model tenement block designed by the late Stanford White, whose demise, it, will be remembered. was responsible for the imprisonment for life of an American millionaire named Thaw. This is not a ramshackle district as the pictures of‘it show. The buildings are solid and have stood up to successive waves of immigration. It may remain negro indefinitely, and then again, it may not. Quite likely another 20 years will see it a white quarter again. But should that happen, the negro city will merely have moved. The advantages of congregation have been proved to" lie so great to these people that Ihev will never scatter.

If history repeats itself, the negro centre will move again. It has always been a moving factor in the population of New York. As far back as 1 850 the New York negroes lived in Broome, Spring ancl Lispenard Streets. When Washington Square and Lower Fii'lh Avenue became the centre of fashionable life, the negroes, following their work, moved up to a fringe of houses in that vicinity. The streets they lived in now constitute a part of Greenwich Village, which has since become an Italian quarter, but has been so for the last 25 years, bill there are still a few negro families left. In 1890 the negro centre, had moved to I lie Lower Thirties and Upper Twenties west of Sixth Avenue. A decade later a move was made In West Fifty-1 bird Street, which became famous because that was Ihe golden age of negro entertainers. And there are still a few negro families Ihere who have not cared to move on. Then came the move to Harlem. Harlem had been nverbuill and lacked adequate transportation facililies. Many of its houses were empty. A negro business man got to work and introduced negro families. The while landlords, resenting Ibis, lormed a company lo buy up lenemmils and evict Ihe blacks, but Ihe Hood had sel in. The negroes, realising that renting was out of the question, sel about luiying their homes on the fime-pay-mriil system. The whiles then Iried Id induce financial institutions md In renew the mortgages, and were, ami are. in some exlenl, successful. <

Happy Inhabitants.

These obstacles are all being removed slowly, and in the meantime the Harlem negroes are happy. Ac- ■ cording to their chronicler, “they live; , they like Harlem; they sing, they , dance, they have parades almost every j day, lodges and churches flourish in astounding numbers; no one is alarmed because 20,000 of them reside there, and by degrees are creating a community life of real promise. Among them are writers, surgeons, doctors, artists, scientists, actors, entertainers, singers, musicians, and educators. They also have a number of sound and flourishing businesses.” It is estimated that negroes own more than £12,000,000 worth of land and buildings in Harlem, and they are steadily acquiring more. As the Black Belt spreads there is always opposition on the fringes. The white population wilts in the face of the onward march and moves elsewhere, while the negroes are manoeuvred into offering high prices and rents. The economic law, however, intervenes, and prices do down. You can’t command high figures when your properties are empty. Still, even with this expansion. Harlem is crowded. Thousands of families with insufficient space for .themselves take in roomers, but the houses are better than those to which the negroes have been accustomed, and the sanitary laws are strictly enforced. The only thing strange to Harlem in this march of the negroes is the colour of the inhabitants. Otherwise the negro seems to be able to adapt himself. There are shops of the delicatessen variety which were there during the regime of the Germans and Jews, which are still doing business. The negroes smoke the same brands of tobacco as their predecessors, buy the same groceries and trade with the same druggists. They have introduced no innovations in clothing or shoes. The newspapers sold in Harlem are the same as those sold anywhere else. <<vith the exception of three or four negro populations, which, however, have a comparatively small sale. In religion the negro is extremely orthodox Protestant. In politics he is a regular Republican, except for the West Indians, who lean towards Independence. The negro goes for the same sports as other people, joins the Y.M.C.A, barracks for his favourite white baseball team, and goes in large numbers to the fights. Harlem is not very exotic, nor is it troublesome to the police, or the charity organisations.

Extremely Loyal. In spite of segregation in the South and general contempt, the American negro remains extremely loyal. And he does not hate the South, with its Jim Crow laws and customs. He migrates to Harlem for economic reasons alone, knowing that high wages and good jobs await him. And he is not, according to his character, a . person who harbours resentment or i bitterness. He has a large capacity of forgetting the unpleasant things of ! life, and lie does not seek the society , of whites. That is why Harlem is so ; popular. There he has “his own pic- , ture theatres, his own legitimate i theatres, his own dance halls, restaurants, pool rooms, hotels, swimming pools, lodges, churches, places for ; transacting business and everything he needs, including country clubs.” And in the happy atmosphere of Harlem lie feels a sincere pride in his own race. Pace riots are unknown there, because there is no gang labour , involving the transport of large num- \ hers of negroes suddenly to a new i environment, to perform a specific j type of hard work. i What does the Harlem negro do with himself? Statistics show that 1 in 1920 there were .5380. nr 9 per cent, engaged as long-shoremen. Laundry . work and domestic service maimed , 2-1.4 38 negro women. There are 24.- ; 500 men engaged as porters, waiters. , messengers, liftmen, chauffeurs, op ; pioiloi s. There are very iew skilled . craftsmen among the negroes, and Ihev have done nothing in the field <>' finance. Yet the negro is gradually pushing his way into other fields ol - employment. Ten years ago there . were no negro clothing, workers m New York. To-day Ihcre are (.000. , re 2085 textile workers where, I Imre were none 10 years ago. am i there are 500 real estate agents. Most of I lie business acumen in ITarlnm m displayed l»y Ihe West Indians who • incidentally are m»1 popular wdh Hr olhers. Allogelher Hie Black Hell city ol jl urh-in is a railin' wonderful aehievninii. On llm face of it it looks os it 'll had come In slay, for llm reason Ih a I so much of il is owned h> Ihe negroes 11ie m se I v e> . And limn they have Ini I)i in their own destiny, winch counts for a lot.