45 



40 



35 

 0) 



to 30 



■+- 



c 



(U 

 o25 



20 



B 



c+ 



c- 



NEGRO AND WHITE ARMY OFFICERS 



Figure i. These curves, representing 

 mental tests of negro and white, American 

 army officers, show clearly the differences 

 in their intelligence. Both groups we.re 

 highly selected, but the negro group prob- 

 ably represents a more stringent selection 

 from the whole negro population, than the 

 white group does from the white popula- 

 tion. The negroes are not only inferior in 

 average intelligence, but they show a small 

 proportion of very superior men, as com- 

 pared with the whites. 



one of the following five designated 

 classes : 



A. Very superior. Equal to good 

 white sergeant or white officer ma- 

 terial. 



B. Superior. Level of good white 

 non-commissioned ofificers. 



C. Level of good white privates ; 

 the large average group of the white 

 draft. 



D. Inferior. Only just good 

 enough to make a satisfactory soldier. 



E. Very inferior. Too poor to 

 make a satisfactory soldier. 



The results of the investigation are 

 summarized as follows : 



"(a) Less than 2% of negroes are 

 cf A value to military service when 

 compared with white troops. 



"(b) About 25% are considered by 

 their officers as 'too poor to make a 

 satisfactory soldier.' Most of them 

 are D intelligent or less. 



THE RANGE OF INTELLIGENCE 



Figure 2. In the graph above, the length 

 of the columns represents the mental age 

 of the groups named, on the conventional 

 scale, now widely used, in which 20 years 

 is taken as indicating very superior adult 

 intelligence, and 16 years as the, intelligence 

 of the normal adult. An adult who has 

 the mentality of the normal 7-year-old 

 white child would generally be regarded 

 as an imbecile, or ve,ry low grade feeble- 

 minded. The negro drafted men, on the 

 average, are about half-way between this 

 point and the general le.vel of the white 

 draft, which in itself was nearly three 

 years below the level that has hitherto 

 been taken as the standard of normal adult 

 inte,lligence. 



"(c) Nearly all the negroes who 

 rate D- or E in intelligence and about 

 half of those who rate D in intelli- 

 gence are 'too poor to make a satis- 

 factory soldier.' 



"(d) D- intelligence is seldom more 

 than just barely satisfactory." 



The correlation between estimated 

 military value and intelligence rating, 

 as measured by the tests, was worked 

 out and found to be .6. 



These estimates are open to the . 

 charge that they were made by white 

 ofificers, and therefore subject to the 

 bias of race prejudice. Written com- 

 ment of the ofificers was invited and is 

 summarized as follows : 



"(a) All ofificers without exception 

 agree that the negro lacks initiative, 

 displays little or no leadership, and 

 cannot accept responsibility. Some 

 point out that these defects are great- 

 er in the Southern negfro. 



