The Urban Status of Rural Migrants

Abstract

shorter period than was anticipated. But as differentials are removed there is left less zest for segregation in all aspects of civic life. Further, as the educational and economic status of Negroes improves there is, paradoxically, more apparent racial solidarity among them, which tends to encourage self-segregation. What conclusions, we might ask, can be drawn from these currents of change? Is it that opportunities for Negroes should be further restricted so that they will not develop self-respect and awareness of their own rights as American citizens? Thinking Southerners do not advocate this, and it is doubtful whether such a policy, even if systematically attempted, could be successfully put into effect. General ameliorative programs designed to develop the economy and social organization of the South as a whole are certainly desirable, and would mitigate many sources of friction. But these again would have the effect of raising the status of the Negro along with that of the southern population as a whole, and of placing him in conflict with the traditional conceptions of caste. It would seem, therefore, that the most fruitful avenue of inquiry, as far as the future of race relations is concerned, is to seek some acceptable methods of revising the racial attitudes and beliefs of the white South, and overcoming the educational and cultural lag in both the Negro groups and certain elements of the white population. We shall probably have in the South for some time yet what Dr. Robert E. Park described as a process which involves the accommodation of a moving equilibrium of diverse groups. The objective will be that of attaining the most satisfactory and useful ends that are consistent with the interests of the groups in conflict, and with the total welfare of the region and the Nation.