Two Negro Problems Instead of One: A Challenge to Negro Colleges

Abstract

The reason for this anomalous situation is partially explained by the expansion of the American economy since World War I and the tremendous increase of Negroes receiving higher education. These economically and educationally favorable circumstances have permitted the development of a small but very vocal Negro middle class which is apart from the masses of Negro people. This group of middle-class Negroes has met every requirement for first class citizenship. They are refined, well dressed, well behaved, and ambitious. They have moderate incomes, drive late model automobiles, travel in pullman cars, in airplanes, and live in modern homes. If they were second generation Europeans they would have been completely integrated into American life. But due to the unwillingness of Americans to digest peoples of color, this group experiences most painfully the evils of second-class citizenship.