Citation

Herskovits MJ. Am. J. Sociol. 1930; 35(6): 1052-1062.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1930, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/215262

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is difficult to detect changes of any magnitude in the status of the race problem in the United States on such a short-term base as that afforded by one year's time. However, there have been certain developments which show, after a fashion, the trends that may be looked for. In the case of the Indian, the new administration has replaced the old commissioner of Indian affairs with two men who have given years to sympathetic study of the practical problem. However, the statements of the Secretary of the Interior show a regrettable lack of comprehension of the point of view of the Indian himself in the proposed "Americanization" of the aboriginal American stock. In immigration, the proclamation of the new quotas based on "national origins" is the outstanding fact, and there is also to be noted the extension of the restrictionist feeling in the introduction of bills applying the quota system to countries of the new world. As to the Negro, there is a balancing of hopeful and sinister aspects, with perhaps a revealing light on how little progress has been made toward easing racial tensions when the incident of Mrs. Hoover's "mixed" tea-party, which included the wife of Representative Oscar De Priest, is considered and contrasted with the same furor raised by President Roosevelt's dinner to Mr. Booker T. Washington almost thirty years ago.