The percentage of illiterate negro children between the ages of ten and fourteen in the country as a whole was only 18.9 per cent compared with the general average of 30.4 for the negroes as a whole.

It is evident, then, that as the negroes now fifty years old and over die off, the illiteracy of the whole mass will continue to drop, for it is in the older group that the percentage of illiterates is highest.

It must not be concluded from these figures that negro illiteracy is not a grave problem, nor that negro ability is equal to that of the whites, nor that the negro has taken full advantage of such opportunities as have been open to him.

It does appear, however, that the proportion of negro illiteracy is not entirely his fault.
The negro fleeing from discrimination in the South has not always found a fraternal welcome in the North, for the negro mechanic has generally been excluded from white unions and has often been denied the opportunity to work at his trade.[1] He has also found difficulty in obtaining living accommodations and there has been much race friction.
It is perhaps a question worth asking whether any considerable number of white men of Northern European stock are without an instinctive dislike of those manifestly unlike themselves.
[Footnote 1: The American Federation of Labor in 1919 voted to take steps to recognize and admit negro unions.] The history of the contact between such stocks and the colored races shows instance after instance of refusal to recognize the latter as social or political equals.

Indian, East Indian, and African have all been subjected to the domination of the whites.