The Negro problem
The Negro problem is a sociological concept representing the economic and social conditions that blacks encountered in the Southern United States after the Reconstruction era. In some instances, the concept was analyzed in an ironic sense, by emphasizing that blacks were not a problem, but rather were the victims of racism perpetrated by the white majority in America. The concept was discussed by academics, commentators, and sociologists from around 1870 to 1950, but is no longer employed, except when retrospectively interpreting historical works. Modern sociologists use more generalized concepts, such as race relations, that can be applied to any country and any ethnicity.
History
One of the references to the concept of the "Negro problem" was in 1884, when Nathaniel Shaler wrote an article in The Atlantic titled "The Negro Problem". Shaler was an academic who practiced scientific racism, and viewed the Negro problem as an issue of how the superior white race in the United States should deal with newly-freed slaves. Shaler wrote "Although these defects may not atfirst sight seem in themselves very serious
differences between the two races,
yet they are really the most vital points
that part the men who make states from
those who cannot rise above savagery."
In 1890, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech titled "The Race Problem", in which he made it clear that the notion of a "Negro Problem" was offensive to him and many blacks, saying "... I object to characterizing the relation
subsisting between the white and colored people of this country as
the Negro problem, as if the Negro had precipitated that problem,
and as if he were in any way responsible for the problem. Though
a rose by any other name may' smell as sweet, it is not in good taste
to give it a name that suggests offensive associations." Douglass asserted that Southern whites had recently been using the concepnt of a "negro problem" in a deliberate attempt to prevent Southern blacks from gaining political power, saying:
In 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered a speech in which he proposed a social and economic policy, called the Atlanta Compromise, that embodied Washington's solution the Negro problem in the South.
Booker T. Washington edited a collection of seven essays, published in 1903, with the title The Negro Problem. The essay "The Talented Tenth", contributed by W. E. B. Du Bois, suggested that the leaders and academics of African Americans are the appropriate people to address the negro problem.
Du Bois, in his influential 1903 book The [Souls of Black Folk], echoed the earlier sentiments of Frederick Douglass, by rejecting the notion that the Negro problem was the responsibility or burden of African Americans. In the very first paragraph, Du Bois established the theme of the book, asking "How does it feel to be a problem?" He wrote:
Historian Kevin Gaines cites Du Bois as an example of a Black leader that utilized racial uplift ideology to combat the racism evidenced by the frequent use of "Negro problem" by whites.
Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey addressed the Negro problem in a 1922 essay titled "The True Solution of the Negro Problem", where he wrote "As far as Negroes are concerned, in America we have the problem of lynching, peonage and dis-franchisement. In the West Indies, South and Central America we have the problem of peonage, serfdom, industrial and political governmental inequality. In Africa we have, not only peonage and serfdom, but outright slavery, racial exploitation and alien political monopoly. We cannot allow a continuation of these crimes against our race. As four hundred million men, women and children, worthy of the existence given us by the Divine Creator, we are determined to solve our own problem, by redeeming our Motherland Africa from the hands of alien exploiters and found there a government, a nation of our own, strong enough to lend protection to the members of our race scattered all over the world, and to compel the respect of the nations and races of the earth."
During WW II, the United States government continued to segregate black soldiers from white soldiers. This resulted in resentment and lack of morale within the ranks of African American soldiers. Military leadership characterized this as the "negro problem", and attempted to mitigate the problem useing a variety of propaganda techniques, including the employment of Joe Louis in promotional movies and tours.
In 1944, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal published a major academic work, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. His 1944 study of race relations was funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York. The foundation chose Myrdal because it thought that as a non-American, he could offer a more unbiased opinion. Myrdal's volume, at nearly 1,500 pages, painstakingly detailed what he saw as obstacles to full participation in American society that American blacks faced as of the 1940s. American political scientist, diplomat, and author, Ralph Bunche—who was the first African American to receive a Nobel Prize—served as Gunnar Myrdal's main researcher and writer at the start of the project in the fall of 1938. The book sold over 100,000 copies and went through 25 printings before going into its second edition in 1965. It was enormously influential in how racial issues were viewed in the United States, and it was cited in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case "in general". The book was generally positive in its outlook on the future of race relations in America, taking the view that democracy would triumph over racism. In many ways, it laid the groundwork for future policies of racial integration and affirmative action.
In 1964, James Baldwin stated that he was unsure what the concept of "Negro problem" meant, writing "What do people mean
when they say, 'the Negro problem'? I
have never quite known what they
meant."