White men
frequently lecture before negro schools. Since the beginning of the Great
War negro women have been encouraged to aid in Red Cross work. Negroes have
been appointed members of city or county committees of defense and have
worked with the whites in many branches of patriotic endeavor. Negroes
have subscribed liberally in proportion to their means for Liberty Bonds
and War Savings Stamps and have given liberally to war work.
The growth of a sense of responsibility for the welfare of the negro
upon the part of the more thoughtful and more conscientious portion of
the white population has reduced racial friction in many communities.
White women are evincing more interest in the morals of black women than
was usual fifteen or twenty years ago. Ostracism is more likely to visit
a white man who crosses the line. There is no means of knowing the
actual amount of illicit intercourse, but the most competent observers
believe it to be decreasing. Though the percentage of mulattoes has
increased since 1890, according to the census, the figures are
confessedly inaccurate, and the increase can be easily accounted for by
the marriage of mulattoes with negroes, and the consequent diffusion of
white blood. An aspiring negro is likely to seek a mulatto wife, and
their children will be classed as mulattoes by the enumerators.
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