FUTURE OF NEGRO.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18166, 3 November 1930, Page 13

FUTURE OF NEGRO.

UNITED STATES’ OUTLOOK. INTERVIEW WITH DR. R. MOTON. Negro History Week has been recently concluded. It was celebrated hot only throughout all the coloured schools and colleges of the United States, but in many.white schools also. Few occasions therefore, could more opportune for a talk with • Robert Russa Moton, principal of luskesree Institute, Alabama, the great Nesrro educational centre founded y the late Dr. Brooker Washington fifty years a<ro. , , “In sr>Ro o'" m nT w difficulties and -me backwash, the outlook for the Negro in the United States was nevermore honetul than it is to-day, • Moton told me. “Negroes are still largely disfranchised in the South, but this is partly, though not wholly, due to their own indifference, for there has been a similar falling off in interest on the part of the Southern white man. . “As far as education is concerned there are to-day very much larger appropriations for Negro education than' ever before. It must be remembered that until quite recently the South did not believe in education for anyone except aristocrats, and if the latter objected to paying for schools for the poor white man, there was naturally nothing for the Negro. “This improvement in education is leading to a steady rise in the number of Negroes in professional pursuits. In the North especially there are leading doctors, lawyers, scientists, and men in the literary and artistic worlds who are coloured, while there is a greater 1 proportionate increase perhaps in the number of Negroes who are taking a prominent part In business. This is shown by the progress of the National Negro Business League of which I am president. This Includes bankers, men who have founded and still run insurance companies, as well as manufacturers of all sorts. Mr Anthony Overton, for instance, is responsible for concerns in all three categories. Note, too, that it is a ‘Business League’ and not a ‘Business Men’s League,’ as It is -ften termed, for many of our prominent members are women,, such as Mrs Maggie Walker, who is head of a bank at Richmond, Virginia. Co-operative Buying. "An example of successful Negro farming is the late Mr Will W. Chambiss, who, among other benefactions to his old school, left enough money for the erection of a ‘Children’s House’ here at Tuskegee for the large .mod-, ern school for the scores of children of teachers and faculty at Tuskegee, which opens in April. “Then there is a new movement, the Coloured Merchants’ Association, first started here In the heart of the South at Montgomery, and rapidly spreading. This is an answer to the increase of the chain stores and represents not only a ‘get /together’ movement of coloured merchants for co-operative buying but also their determination to improve the quality of the goods stocked and the general condition of their stores. “The chain of stores themselves are increasingly employing Negroes in areas- where their patrons are mostly coloured, and we have been asked to recommend cooured managers for some of these stores in the South.”

I asked Dr. Moton whether a racial clash for ecenomic reasons, might not occur as Negroes increasingly occupied positions of responsibility in the business world. “I do not think this will occur," he replied, ‘‘as far as the upper sections in the business and professional world are concerned. There may be difficulties among the labouring classes when there is competition for jobs, but I am hopeful that that will not be great.” Dead Theories. As regards the varying theories in the past with respect to the lines of Negro development, Dr. Moton said that the differences were breaking down between the policy of “accommodation” associated with the name of Booker Washington and the Separate and parallel development ideals of the Du Bois school of thought. Incidentally. Dr. Moton declared that the Marcus flarvev theories and his “Empire of Africa” ar° now dead. I have found this confirmed by leading Negroes of many shades of thought whom I have recently met. Referring the abuses the Principal of Tuskegee pointed out that with regard to lynching, for instance, there had been according to the Tuskegee ppnarfme.nt. of Records and Research nn'v ten during 1929. This was one hetfer than the Previous year and seven less than in 1 DPr>. It is true that there was a terrible lynching only a few davs ago in the neighbouring State of Georgia, but such outbreaks are becoming sporadic, and when they do occur they gain much more notice and white, public reprobation than formerlv. The Negro race in America to-day still has once preacher to every 534 people compared with one to 963 in the white community, but far fewer are entering the ministrv. and only 226 Negro theological students are today studying for their B.D. degree. “I am convinced, however, that the coloured people are not becoming less religious.” Dr. Moton asserted. “Their religious leaders are inclined to be too conservative, and the .younger generation does not understand the gospel thev nreach. We as a race are affected just as the white race, and I { believe 'that if the coloured young I man and woman are becoming less emotional with regard to religious matters they are becoming more thoughtful.” Everywhere I have recently been among the Negro community both in the Northern and Southern States, I have found very strong feeling about the utterances of General Smuts during his visit here. Referring to these Dr. Moton remarked: “At heart Deneral Smuts is still a Boer when it comes to his attitude to the race nnestfon. Nevertheless. I am convinced that he is kindly disposed, and that, he is -absolutely sincere in his desire to be of service.” Within the last few weeks the announcement, has been made .that the biennial award or a gold medal and ’OOO dollars by the Harmon Foundation of New York for outstanding service in the field of race relations has been bestowed on Dr. Moton. I hear it stated in certain -quarters that the medal may actually be presented to the Principal of Tuskegee by President Hoover himself. This would be a worthy additional recognition of a great man and leader.