156 Negro Migration 



But in the past sixty years the differing response to economic 

 opportunity has created a wide range of Negro classes. In 

 the rural districts the farm laborer, tenant and owner are 

 on very different planes, and in the city the common laborer, 

 the domestic, the skilled tradesman, the business man, and 

 Negro leader are quite distinct types. 



As the more energetic atnd successful respond more 

 quickly to opportunity and move toward it, many of the 

 leaders of the race are now located in the city group. In 

 fact, with the centralization of Negro churches, lodges, 

 business, and newspapers in the city, the leadership of the 

 colored people seems to be definitely centered in the urban 

 districts. 



ORGANIZATION 



Agricultural Organisation. — The constant shifting of the 

 colored population also has deep rooted effects on the organ- 

 izations in which the Negro participates. Throughout 

 Part I the plantation and other forms of rural organization 

 were considered as causes of migration, but the loss of 

 population in turn has its reaction upon this rural organiza- 

 tion. It was noted that in 1865-70, in the area from which 

 the ex-slaves began to move, many planters began to aban- 

 don the gang labor system, offering share tenancy as a basis 

 for keeping the Negro contented with farm life. Simi- 

 larly in 1916-17, the loss of labor and the boll weevil reacted 

 upon the farmers of Georgia, and in order to meet the situ- 

 ation, less cotton was planted per hand. With more diversi- 

 fied food crops the farmers found that they could cultivate 

 more land with much less labor. In fact the Negro migra- 

 tion in this respec t is enfo rcin g the diye rsificatiQiuof agri- 

 cultu re and the introduction of machinery, two of the most 

 nee ded reforms in the Cotton Belt system of cu ltivation. 

 Though the shortage of labor works a hardship during 

 the transition period, in the long run its results will be bene- 

 ficial, if it leads to the termination of the tyrannical rule 



