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6 The Limits of Interracial Cooperation
- Indiana University Press
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6 The limits of Interracial cooperation In February 1926, W. e. B. du Bois told readers of the Crisis that the commission on Interracial cooperation (cIc) represented “the definite breaking up of the effort of the south to present morally and socially a solid front to the world.”1 He arrived at this judgment gradually, knowing that many equal-rights activists would disagree, and despite mixed signals regarding the interracial cooperation movement’s stand on segregation, black welfare, education, the vote, and lynching . du Bois felt certain, at least, that the movement was more than a postwar reaction to migration, riots, and radicalism, and that it sincerely opposed the klan and enjoyed the support of many southern black leaders; less clear were the movement ’s democratic aims, its economic outlook, its ultimate social objectives, and its views on race itself. at the close of the decade, du Bois would conclude with disappointment that, in fact, white southern liberals such as Jack Woofter were dishonest and incapable of leading real and lasting change. By the beginning of 1923, the cIc had established itself as a significant presence in southern life, and it continued to grow across fifteen states, with a core membership of fifty-nine white and black leaders. The previous summer, at one of its regular gatherings at the Blue Ridge assembly, the commission decided that more public information should be generated through an improved news service, directed by the methodist evangelist Robert B. eleazer.2 a circulation list of eleven hundred southern dailies and four hundred national and regional publications widened the cIc’s reach and promoted liberalism among young white journalists on a range of issues. The cost of maintaining a regional profile was enormous, and alexander knew he could not rely indefinitely on the resources of the ymca, which gave the cIc over $500,000 between 1919 and 1921. He secured new backing from churches and the Phelps-stokes Fund and later from the laura spelman Rockefeller memorial (lsRm), the general education Board, the carnegie corporation, and the Rosenwald Fund. The lsRm, for example, gave $210,000 to the cIc during the 1920s, because leonard outhwaite, the charity’s race programs administrator, was impressed by alexander’s ability to get moderate blacks and whites working together. He noted Isaac Fisher’s comment, “Through the agency of the Interracial commission , the saner members [of each race] are being brought into contact with each other and are encouraged to find that there are so many of their kind.” Jack Woofter later remarked that heavy reliance on northern philanthropy excused the cIc from having to try harder in the south, whereas in the long-term a “greater 143 144 | Race Harmony and Black Progress effort to build indigenous financing would have been more effective.”3 This was ironic, given that Woofter’s recruitment by the cIc had increased its dependence on northern charities for staff salaries. alexander struggled constantly to meet the cIc’s operating costs, totaling well over $1 million for the decade. In 1923, alone, the budget was $117,000: the central office in atlanta cost $55,500, half going on the salaries of alexander ($6,000), eleazer ($4,800), the director of women’s work, carrie Parks Johnson ($3,600), and six office staff; the salaries of the eleven state secretaries cost $31,500 and their office and travel expenses a further $30,000. The six white secretaries were paid more than the five black secretaries, so that Woofter received $3,000 annually for running the georgia state committee on Race Relations (gscRR), while kentucky state secretary James Bond earned $2,200, and their respective office and travel expenses were similarly graded.4 after three years as secretary of the gscRR, Woofter sought a new role within the cIc. He had struggled with the traveling involved in the position of state secretary and in January 1923 asked the cIc to hire a black assistant secretary, “as he could not get around to the different local committees.” The necessary funds were not forthcoming, so he devised a membership scheme for the gscRR to generate income. In 1924, the atlanta branch of the national Urban league agreed to release the Reverend J. W. Jackson to work full time “in cooperation with dr. Woofter on this gigantic task of blending the races into a solid americanism.” a year later, Woofter described Jackson’s appointment as an experiment and claimed there was insufficient work to justify it, revealing that some of...