Date of Award
6-1914
Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
Chief Instructor
Frank Hamilton Hawkins
Keywords
Worcester, Black history, African-American history
Abstract
This thesis reflects the time period in which it was written. Its title and the work itself may include outdated terminology, framing, or insensitive language.
Wherever in these United States the Negro is found in any appreciable number there arises incidentally the complex and perplexing problem known as the Negro or race problem.
While this problem is a national one various phases of it are peculiar to special localities, although no unfrequently placed are found where all, or nearly all, the aspects combine to make the local question extremely complex. Perhaps it is safe to say that no graver problem is presented to-day to the American people for sane and equitable solution.
For a long time interest in the social and economic condition of the Negro was neglected. The larger and dominant portion of the social group had a passive consciousness of the presence of the Negro among them; he lived, moved, and had his being part of the social organization; but there civic consciousness was at all focused upon him it was for the most part directed toward a denial, tacit or avowed, of his rights and claims to integral relations with the body politic. But at last the public mind awoke from its torpidity and indifference; men and women of far vision and continental sympathies realized the unfavorable situation of Negro citizens and set themselves to finding the causes which were working of the retardation of the Negro's development in the midst of a highly progressive civilization.
Before any corporal disorder can be intelligently treated a careful diagnosis of the cause of affliction must be made; likewise every social malady must be subjected to careful investigation before any therapeutic measures can be adopted. Investigations conducted in many of our large and populous cities have disclosed the fact that certain factors are working mightily to prevent the social, economic, and educational advancement of the Negro. To ascertain the social status of the colored people of Worcester, and to endeavor to determine the factors at work for their advancement or retardation the following investigations were undertaken by the writer.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Thomas I., "Sociological Study of the Colored Population of Worcester" (1914). Historical Dissertations & Theses. 63.
https://commons.clarku.edu/hist_disstheses/63
Worcester
Yes
