States which are predominantly rural and in
which the percentage of white illiteracy is also high. The percentage of
native white illiteracy in the rural districts of the South Atlantic
States is 9.8 and in the East South Central is 11.1 per cent. Negro
illiteracy in the corresponding divisions is 36.1 per cent and 37.8 per
cent. In the urban communities of these divisions, illiteracy on the
part of both whites and negroes is less. Native white illiteracy is 1.1
per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively, while negro illiteracy in the
towns was 21.4 and 23.8 per cent respectively.]

The negroes along with the whites have suffered and still suffer from
the inadequate school facilities of the rural South. The percentage of
illiterate negro children between the ages of ten and fourteen in the
country as a whole was only 18.9 per cent compared with the general
average of 30.4 for the negroes as a whole. It is evident, then, that as
the negroes now fifty years old and over die off, the illiteracy of the
whole mass will continue to drop, for it is in the older group that the
percentage of illiterates is highest. It must not be concluded from
these figures that negro illiteracy is not a grave problem, nor that
negro ability is equal to that of the whites, nor that the negro has
taken full advantage of such opportunities as have been open to him. It
does appear, however, that the proportion of negro illiteracy is not
entirely his fault.

The negro fleeing from discrimination in the South has not always found
a fraternal welcome in the North, for the negro mechanic has generally
been excluded from white unions and has often been denied the
opportunity to work at his trade.[1] He has also found difficulty in
obtaining living accommodations and there has been much race friction.
It is perhaps a question worth asking whether any considerable number of
white men of Northern European stock are without an instinctive dislike
of those manifestly unlike themselves.

[Footnote 1: The American Federation of Labor in 1919 voted to take
steps to recognize and admit negro unions.]

The history of the contact between such stocks and the colored races
shows instance after instance of refusal to recognize the latter as
social or political equals. Indian, East Indian, and African have all
been subjected to the domination of the whites. There have been many
cases of illicit mating, of course, but the white man has steadily
refused to legitimize t