Some Aspects of the Negro Market

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THE Negro market in America, as far as numbers are concerned, comprises about one tenth of our nation. If developed to the average per capita buying level, this portion of our domestic market would be of greater importance than our entire export market. And the Negro, as a consumer, is forging ahead more rapidly than is the average American citizen. Yet, both in sales and in market research this tenth of our population is relatively neglected. In our market activities we need to set the Negro market off by itself for purposes of study and development, and we must rigorously analyze this market and all its elements in order that it can be built up to its highest potentialities. In this way we shall not only help the Negro tenth of our population, but we shall greatly expand and improve our national market as a whole. Realizing these facts, the Afro-American chain of newspapers, in cooperation with the Urban League, retained the Research Company of America to make a careful study of the Negro market in the northern cities. They wanted much more complete and dependable facts about this market than had previously been collected and analyzed. The tables presented are taken from the study recently conducted and completed by the Research Company of America. These tables represent only a fragment of the many questions asked Negro families in what is believed to be one of the most comprehensive surveys ever conducted among Negroes. This study covered a stratified sample of a carefully selected cross-section, by census tracts, of a minimum of i ,OOO typical Negro homes in each of the following cities: Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia-a total of more than 3,00o Negro homes. Only Negro interviewers were used. The original briefing and instruction session lasted 2? hours. Interviewers were given supplemental briefing each day. Adequate emphasis was placed on the importance of the study. Each interviewer was charged with an individual responsibility. Field interviewers were spot-checked regularly and daily to insure accuracy in their reporting. The majority of the field staff was recruited from the student body of Negro universities, with the voluntary collaboration of their faculties who rendered important assistance. Other interviewers were school teachers and social service workers or those engaged in related fields. The Urban League was also extremely helpful and cooperative. These studies were under the constant personal supervision of the author; and most important, no incentive was offered to respondents for their free answers. The average economic status of the Negro families in Washington, D. C., is materially higher than in the other two cities studied. This differentiation among the Negroes is reflected in their buying habits. In Philadelphia, 65 per cent of all Negro families have weekly earnings between $20 and $57.50, but the proportion in the $38-$57.5o group is now generally higher than in the $20-$37.5o group. In Washington, about 30 per cent of families earn $58 or more, as compared with about 25 per cent in Baltimore and about 20 per cent in Philadelphia. On the average, one and one