56 Negro Migration 



efficient, productive and capable of contributing to the im- 

 provement of the living conditions of the neighborhood. 

 The extent to which race friction is allayed in the future 

 will depend upon the success of the leaders of the two races 

 in working out a system of institutions adapted to this end ; 

 upon the length of time which elapses before the land is 

 filled up and before competition becomes sharper ; and upon 

 the degree to which Negroes avail themselves of their pres- 

 ent opportunity to become attached to the land. 



During the past fifty years the Negro in Georgia, and 

 all over the South for that matter, has certainly showed a 

 marked tendency to become a more independent farmer. 

 The extent to which he has availed himself of his oppor- 

 tunity in agriculture has furnished grounds for op- 

 timism from some people and for pessimism from others. 

 Noting that he started as a landless slave, the optimists point 

 to the acquisition of land and the entrance into the higher 

 classes of tenure as indicating that no race on earth has 

 made such progress, under such conditions, in fifty years. 

 W. E. B. DuBois remarks in the Negro Landholder in 

 Georgia (p. 648) that, 



"No such curious and reckless experiment in emancipation 

 has been made in modern times. Certainly it would not 

 have been unnatural to suspect that under the circumstances 

 the Negroes would become a mass of poverty stricken vaga- 

 bonds and criminals for many generations to come, and yet 

 this has been far from the case." 



On the other hand pessimists note the almost unparalleled 

 opportunity which the Negro has had to acquire a land 

 tenure, and the aid which he has received in individual 

 cases from white friends. From this they conclude that 

 there have been fundamental racial traits which account for 

 the fact that such a small proportion of the Negro popula- 

 tion has availed itself of the opportunities. The truth prob- 

 ably lies half way between the two. The Negro has 



