analyze handling of matters relating to race relations; study of rumor and its effects, and of racial propaganda of white and Negro organizations.
We believe that the large volume of information collected will prove, when properly set forth, of great value not only in Chicago but in other communities where public-spirited citizens are endeavoring to establish right relations between the two races. This end can be attained only through a more intelligent appreciation by both races of the gravity of the problem, and by their earnest efforts toward a better mutual understanding and a more sympathetic co-operation.
Hoping that our appreciation of the trust you have reposed in us may appear in some measure in the aid our report may give toward working out better race relations, we are,
Very respectfully yours,
(Signed by members of the Commission and its Executive Secretaries)
State of Illinois
Office of the Governor
Springfield
January 3, 1921
My dear Mr. Bancroft:
I have received and read with great interest your letter of January 1st transmitting to me a detailed statement of the work of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations appointed by me after the race riot in Chicago in 1919, which is signed by yourself as chairman and by the other members of the Commission.
I am greatly pleased to know that the Commission has been able to accomplish so much through its investigations and that there has been such hearty co-operation on the part of many citizens to make the inquiry in this important field as valuable as possible.
I shall look forward with more than ordinary interest to the appearance of the completed report in printed form. I suggest that the Commission arrange for its publication as soon as possible in order that your findings and recommendations may be made available to all students of race relations in our country.
I desire to express to you and through you to the members of the Commission my great appreciation of the service which you have rendered to the people of Chicago and of Illinois in connection with the Commission. I have been advised from time to time of your continuing interest, your fidelity in attendance upon the meetings of the Commission, and your earnest desire to render as accurate a judgment as possible.
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) Frank O. Lowden
Hon. Edgar A. Bancroft
Chairman, Chicago Commission on Race Relations
In accordance with Governor Lowden's suggestion the Commission herewith presents its report, with findings and recommendations, hoping that it may prove of service in the efforts to bring about better relations between the white and Negro races.
THE PROBLEM
The relation of whites and Negroes in the United States is our most grave and perplexing domestic problem. It involves not only a difference of race—which as to many immigrant races has been happily overcome—but wider and more manifest differences in color and physical features. These make an easy and natural basis for distinctions, discriminations, and antipathies arising from the instinct of each race to preserve its type. Many white Americans, while technically recognizing Negroes as citizens, cannot bring themselves to feel that they should participate in government as freely as other citizens.
Countless schemes have been proposed for solving or dismissing this problem, most of them impracticable or impossible. Of this class are such proposals as: (1) the deportation of 12,000,000 Negroes to Africa; (2) the establishment of a separate Negro state in the United States; (3) complete separation and segregation from the whites and the establishment of a caste system or peasant class; and (4) hope for a solution through the dying out of the Negro race. The only effect of such proposals is to confuse thinking on the vital issues involved and to foster impatience and intolerance.
Our race problem must be solved in harmony with the fundamental law of the nation and with its free institutions. These prevent any deportation of the Negro, as well as any restriction of his freedom of movement within the United States. The problem must not be regarded as sectional or political, and it should be studied and discussed seriously, frankly, and with an open mind.
It is important for our white citizens always to remember that the Negroes alone of all our immigrants came to America against their will by the special compelling invitation of the whites; that the institution of slavery was introduced, expanded, and maintained in the United States by the white people and for their own benefit; and that they likewise created the conditions that followed emancipation.
Our Negro problem, therefore, is not of the Negro's making. No group in our population is less responsible for its existence. But every group is responsible for its continuance; and every citizen, regardless of color or racial origin, is in honor and conscience bound to seek and forward its solution.
Centuries of the Negro slave trade and of slavery as an institution have created, and are often deemed to justify, the deep-seated prejudice against Negroes. They placed a stamp upon the relations of the two races which it will require many years to erase. The memory of these relations has profoundly affected and still affects the industrial, commercial, and social life of the southern states.
The great body of anti-Negro public opinion, preserved in the literature and traditions of the white race during the long, unhappy progress of the Negro from savagery through slavery to citizenship, has exercised a persistent and powerful effect, both conscious and unconscious, upon the thinking and the behavior of the white group generally. Racial misunderstanding has been fostered by the ignorance and indifference of many white citizens concerning the marvelous industry and courage shown by the Negroes and the success they have achieved in their fifty-nine years of freedom.
The Negro race must develop, as all races have developed, from lower to higher planes of living; and must base its progress upon industry, efficiency, and moral character. Training along these lines and general opportunities for education are the fundamental needs. As the problem is national in its scope and gravity, the solution must be national. And the nation must make sure that the Negro is educated for citizenship.
It is of the first importance that old prejudices against the Negroes, based upon their misfortunes and not on their faults, be supplanted with respect, encouragement, and co-operation, and with a recognition of their heroic struggles for self-improvement and of their worthy achievements as loyal American citizens.
Both races need to understand that their rights and duties are mutual and equal, and that their interests in the common good are identical; that relations of amity are the only protection against race clashes; that these relations cannot be forced, but will come naturally as the leaders of each race develop within their own ranks a realization of the gravity of this problem and a vital interest in its solution, and an attitude of confidence, respect, and friendliness toward the people of the other race.
All our citizens, regardless of color or racial origin, need to be taught by their leaders that there is a common standard of superiority for them all in self-respect, honesty, industry, fairness, forbearance, and above all, in generous helpfulness. There is no help or healing in appraising past responsibilities, or in present apportioning of praise or blame. The past is of value only as it aids in understanding
