The Present Position of the Negro Farm Population: The Bottom Rung of the Farm Ladder

Abstract

No segment of the population of the United States is so disadvantaged as the present Negro farm population. Not only does it have the historical handicap of having come late, and under abnormal conditions, upon the scene of American civilization. It has been identified throughout its history with what is now the most dependent of all re-. gions of the nation, the South, and what is admittedly the most subordinate of all the occupations, agriculture. Added to these three encircling circumstances of time, place and job, the Negro farmer finds himself hedged about by the fact that he is the member of a minority race, discriminated against, in varying degrees, at all levels of attainment. And, what is more important, he is in the main the member of an exploited class. To get a perspective on this Southeastern Negro agriculturist and his five-fold disadvantage, let us imagine that we are looking through field glasses at the circumstances which surround and restrict him, and at the methods he has employed to break through these barriers. We shall start with as broad a view as we can, and with each turn of the lens, narrow the circle until. the principal object looms clear. HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHIC AND OCCUPATIONAL BARRIERS