In Black and White: An Interpretation of the South

"Southern Women and Racial Adjustment" (1917)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [132 Lines —— 0.69 —— Norm PgEn [132 Southern Women and Racial Adjustment 1917 Note. In this paper Mrs. Hammond has told what the white women of the South have done and are doing for the unprivileged black women. It is a splendid story of gallant service. Its sanity and patriotism make their own high appeal. James H. Dillard Charlottesville, Va. October 15, 1917 Note by the Author. For the opinions expressed and the conclusions drawn in the following pages the writer alone is responsible; but she wishes to acknowledge her indebtedness to the following women, without whose kindly aid in gathering the facts set forth this paper could scarcely have been written: Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, president of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs during the last biennial period; Mrs. Edward McGehee, Mrs. John I. Moore, Mrs. W.S. Jennings, Miss Helen Norris Cummings, Mrs. Court F. Wood, presidents respectively of the State Federations of Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, Virginia, and the District of Columbia; Mrs. Z.I. Fitzpatrick, late president, and director-for-life of the Georgia State Federation; Mrs. C.P. Orr, formerly president of the Alabama State Federation; Miss Elizabeth Gilman, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Work for Colored People, Baltimore Civic League; Mrs. Gordon Green, president City Federation, Jackson, Miss.; Mrs. John Love, president of City Federation of Clubs and of City Federation of Missionary Societies, Meridian, Miss.; Mrs. W.L. Murdoch, formerly vice-president of the Southern Sociological Congress; Mrs. Lella A. Dillard, State president Georgia W.C.T.U.; Mrs. Elizabeth Preston Allan, chairman of the Committee for Colored Work, Y.W.C.A.; Mrs. W.C. Winsborough, secretary Woman’s Home Mission Board, Southern Presbyterian Church; Mrs. B.W. Lipscomb, Home Base secretary Woman’s Missionary Council, M.E. southern women and racial adjustment 133 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [133 Lines —— * 278 —— Norm * PgEn [133 Church, South; Mrs. L.S. Arrington and Mrs. W.D. Haas, superintendents Social Service, North Georgia and Louisiana Conferences, Woman’s Missionary Council; Mrs. H.M. Wharton, chairman Personal Service Committee, Southern Baptist Woman’s Home Mission Board; Mrs. Wm. McGarity, secretary Texas Baptist Home Mission Society; Mrs. Bolton K. Smith, president of the Bishop’s Guild, State of Tennessee. The writer also wishes to thank the following colored women for their kindness in furnishing facts in regard to colored women’s organization and work: Mrs. Booker T. Washington, editor National Association Notes; Mrs. E.E. Peterson, national organizer for colored women, W.C.T.U.; Mrs. H.L. McCrory, president of the Colored Branch, Associated Charities, Charlotte, N.C.; Mrs. Sarah Collins Fernandis, executive secretary of the Advisory Committee, Civic League, Baltimore. She would also thank Bishop Lloyd, president of the General Board of Missions of the Episcopal Church, for many courtesies; Bishop Guerry, of South Carolina; and Professor Imes, of Tuskegee Institute. L. H. Hammond Dalton, Ga. October 1, 1917 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [134 Lines —— 0.0p —— Norm PgEn [134 And here to us the eternal charge is given To rise and make our low world touch God’s high. —Alfred Noyes: “In Time of War” Southern Women and Racial Adjustment The manners and morals of every community reflect the standards sanctioned or permitted by its privileged women. Individuals stand above this common level, blazing ethical trails into the unmoral wilderness of our wider human associations, and draw after them, here and there, adventurous groups; but there can be no mass advance until the individual impulse toward righteousness , which is justice in its finest sense, is reinforced by a common standard embodying a force greater than the individual. These common standards are furnished, actively or passively, by the privileged women, from whose homes they spread into the community. Racial adjustment , like many other moral issues, waits on the...