Negro Societies 



The investigators, with the time at their disposal, couhl not undertake 

 the task of ol)taining detailed and accurate information concerning the 

 Negro Lodges and Clubs; there are too many of them and they are too 

 hard to discover. The Colored Church, School, and Lodge Hall compose 

 a group of buildings freciucntly come upon through the county; benevol- 

 ent societies thrive, and they care for you when sick, bury you, and 

 look after your family. There are also many lodges and societies of other 

 sorts. These all Y)\-dy a prominent part in the social life of the negroes, 

 more prominent jjrobably than the similar organizations do for the whites. 



As to the Distribution of Organizations 



If the assumption is a valid one that the Secret Fraternal Organiza- 

 tions ha^•e relati\'ely little social importance and that the open organiza- 

 tions or clubs afford the better index of the social life, then certain 

 significant conclusions seem safely established, (a) The social organi- 

 zation of the county is highly uneven as regards geographical distribu- 

 tion. Four districts are altogether without societies, and a fifth has 

 only two athletic associations. 57% of, the existent societies are in the 

 suburban sections. (It must be remembered that Sandy Spring is 

 being excluded from this present discussion). All of the Scientific 

 Clubs and Citizen's Improvement Associations are in these suburban 

 sections. The best organized localities are those with the best trans- 

 portation facilities and the best roads, (b) Only a small proportion 

 of the i)opulation in any instance is provided for in these organizations. 

 There are no societies for the laboring and tenant classes; the existent 

 societies are those of the farm owners and town folk, (c) It will be 

 pointed out in the succeeding section that these conditions are paralleled 

 with respect to existing recreation facilities and developed social life, 

 those districts which are deficient with respect to organization being 

 deficient in both those respects also. 



RECREATION AND SOCIAL LIFE 



"The things we do, when we do what we please, are vitally related 

 not only to health, but also to morality and the whole development of 

 the finer self. The forms of our pleasure-seeking disclose what we really 

 are. Those nations which devoted their leisure to re-creating health 

 and building up beautiful bodies have tended to survive, while those 

 which turned, in the marginal hours, to dissipation ha\-e written for us 

 the history of national downfall. A daily life in which there is no time 

 for recreation may be fraught with as much exil as a leisure given over 

 to a futile frittering away of energ>'." (Dr. Luther H. Gulick). The 

 day has passed when there is need of advancing to thoughtful students 



46 



