fe as
renters or wage-earners made their way upward to ownership in so many
cases that by the end of the century, one-fourth of the colored laborers
on the land owned the soil they tilled.

In the meantime, the South, though relatively poor, made relatively
large expenditures for the education of the colored population. By the
opening of the twentieth century, facilities were provided for more than
one-half of the colored children of school age. While in many respects
this progress was disappointing, its significance, to be appreciated,
must be derived from a comparison with the total illiteracy which
prevailed under slavery.

In spite of all that happened, however, the status of the negroes in the
South continued to give a peculiar character to that section of the
country. They were almost entirely excluded from the exercise of the
suffrage, especially in the Far South. Special rooms were set aside for
them at the railway stations and special cars on the railway lines. In
the field of industry calling for technical skill, it appears, from the
census figures, that they lost ground between 1890 and 1900--a condition
which their friends ascribed to discriminations against them in law and
in labor organizations and their critics ascribed to their lack of
aptitude. Whatever may be the truth, the fact remained that at the
opening of the twentieth century neither the hopes of the emancipators
nor the fears of their opponents were realized. The marks of the
"peculiar institution" were still largely impressed upon Southern
society.

The situation, however, was by no means unchanging. On the contrary
there was a decided drift in affairs. For one thing, the proportion of
negroes in the South had slowly declined. By 1900 they were in a
majority in only two states, South Carolina and Mississippi. In
Arkansas, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina the proportion of
the white population was steadily growing. The colored migration
northward increased while the westward movement of white farmers which
characterized pioneer days declined. At the same time a part of the
foreign immigration into the United States was diverted southward. As
the years passed these tendencies gained momentum. The already huge
colored quarters in some Northern cities were widely expanded, as whole
counties in the South were stripped of their colored laborers. The race
question, in its political and economic aspects, became less and less
sectional, m