Greenberg, Jack; and Others, 1995, undated - 110 of 114

    IN  THB

&itpmn£ QJmtrl of the Initrh Stairs
October Term, 1952

-a
No. 8

Oliver B rown, Mrs. R ichard L awton, Mrs. Sadie 
E mmanuel, et al.,

Appellants,
vs.

B oard or E ducation o f  T opeka, Shawnee County, 
K ansas, et al.

No. 101
H arry B riggs, J r ., et al., 

vs.
Appellants,

R. W. E lliott, Chairman, J. D. Carson, et al., Members 
of Board of Trustees of School District No. 22, Clarendon 
County, S. C., et al.

No. 191
Dorothy E. D avis, B ertha M. Davis and I nez D. D avis,

etc., et al.,
Appellants,

vs.
County School B oard of P rince E dward County, 

V irginia, et al.

APPENDIX TO APPELLANTS’ BRIEFS

The Effect* of Segregation and the Consequences of 
Desegregation: A  Social Science Statement



Statement of Counsel

The following statement was drafted and signed by 
some of the foremost authorities in sociology, anthropology, 
psychology and psychiatry who have worked in the area 
of American race relations. It represents a consensus of 
social scientists with respect to the issue presented in these 
appeals. As a summary of the best available scientific 
evidence relative to the effects o f racial segregation on the 
individual, we file it herewith as an appendix to our briefs.

R obert L. Carter,
T hurgood M arshall, 
S pottswood W. R obinson, III, 

Counsel for Appellants.



IN THS

f^upremr (Hour! nf tin' Init^in i&atPH
October Term, 1952

— o—  
No. 8

Oliver B rown, Mrs. R ichard L awton, Mrs. Sadie 
E mmanuel, et al.,

Appellants,
vs.

B oard of E ducation of T opeka, Shawnee County, 
K ansas, et al.

No. 101
H arry B riggs, Jr., et al., 

vs.
Appellants,

R. W. E lliott, Chairman, J. D. Carson, et al., Members 
of Board of Trustees of School District No. 22, Clarendon 
County, S. C., et al.

No. 191
Dorothy E. Davis, B ertha M. D avis and I nez D. D avis,

etc., et al.,
Appellants,

vs.
County School B oard of Prince E dward County, 

V irginia, et al.
----------------------o----------------------

APPENDIX TO APPELLANTS’ BRIEFS

The Effects of Segregation and the Consequences of 
Desegregation: A  Social Science Statement

I
The problem of the segregation of racial and ethnic 

groups constitutes one of the major problems facing the



2

American people today. It seems desirable, therefore, to 
summarize the contributions which contemporary social 
science can make toward its resolution. There are, of 
course, moral and legal issues involved with respect to which 
the signers of the present statement cannot speak with 
any special authority and which must be taken into ac­
count in the solution of the problem. There are, however, 
also factual issues involved with respect to which certain 
conclusions seem to be justified on the basis of the available 
scientific evidence. It is with these issues only that this 
paper is concerned. Some of the issues have to do with 
the consequences of segregation, some with the problems 
of changing from segregated to unsegregated practices. 
These two groups of issues will be dealt with in separate 
sections below. It is necessary, first, however, to define 
and delimit the problem to be discussed.

Definitions

For purposes of the present statement, segregation 
refers to that restriction of opportunities for different 
types of associations between the members of one racial, 
religious, national or geographic origin, or linguistic gToup 
and those of other groups, which results from or is sup­
ported by the action of any official body or agency represent­
ing some branch of government. We are not here con­
cerned with such segregation as arises from the free 
movements of individuals which are neither enforced nor 
supported by official bodies, nor with the segregation of 
criminals or of individuals with communicable diseases 
which aims at protecting society from those who might 
harm it.

Where the action takes place in a social milieu in which 
the groups involved do not enjoy equal social status, the 
group that is of lesser social status will be referred to as 
the segregated group.



3

In dealing with the question of the effects of segrega­
tion, it must be recognized that these effects do not take 
place in a vacuum, but in a social context. The segregation 
of Negroes and of other groups in the United States takes 
place in a social milieu in which ‘ ‘ race prejudice and 
discrimination exist. It is questionable in the view of 
some students of the problem whether it is possible 
to have segregation without substantial discrimination. 
Myrdal1 states: “ Segregation * * * is financially possible 
and, indeed, a device of economy only as it is combined 
with substantial discrimination’ ’ (p. 629). The imbeded- 
ness of segregation in such a context makes it difficult to 
disentangle the effects of segregation per se from the effects 
of the context. Similarly, it is difficult to disentangle the 
effects of segregation from the effects of a pattern of 
social disorganization commonly associated with it and 
reflected in high disease and mortality rates, crime and 
delinquency, poor housing, disrupted family life and general 
substandard living conditions. We shall, however, return 
to this problem after consideration of the observable effects 
of the total social complex in which segregation is a major 
component.

II

At the recent Mid-century White House Conference on 
Children and Youth, a fact-finding report on the effects of 
prejudice, discrimination and segregation on the person­
ality development of children was prepared as a basis for 
some of the deliberations.2 This report brought together 
the available social science and psychological studies which 
were related to the problem of how racial and religious pre­

1 Myrdal, G., An American Dilemma, 1944.
2 Clark, K. B„ Effect of Prejudice and Discrimination on Per­

sonality Development. Fact Finding Report Mid-century White 
House Conference on Children and \outh, Childrens Bureau, Fed­
eral Security Agency, 1950 (mimeographed).



4

judices influenced the development of a healthy personality. 
It highlighted the fact that segregation, prejudices and 
discriminations, and their social concomitants potentially 
damage the personality of all children—the children of the 
majority group in a somewhat different way than the more 
obviously damaged children of the minority group.

The report indicates that as minority group children 
learn the inferior status to which they are assigned—as 
they observe the fact that they are almost always segregated 
and kept apart from others who are treated with more 
respect by the society as a whole—they often react with 
feelings of inferiority and a sense of personal humiliation. 
Many of them become confused about their own personal 
worth. On the one hand, like ail other human beings they 
require a sense of personal dignity; on the other hand, 
almost nowhere in the larger society do they find their own 
dignity as human beings respected by others. Under these 
conditions, the minority group child is thrown into a conflict 
with regard to his feelings about himself and his group. 
He wonders whether his group and he himself are worthy 
of no more respect than they receive. This conflict and 
confusion leads to self-hatred and rejection of his own 
group.

The report goes on to point out that these children 
must find ways with which to cope with this conflict. Not 
every child, of course, reacts with the same patterns of 
behavior. The particular pattern depends upon many 
interrelated factors, among which are: the stability and 
quality of his family relations; the social and economic 
class to which he belongs; the cultural and educational 
background of his parents; the particular minority group 
to which he belongs; his personal characteristics, intelli­
gence, special talents, and personality pattern.

Some children, usually of the lower socio-economic 
classes, may react by overt aggressions and hostility



5

directed toward their own group or members of the dominant 
group.3 Anti-social and delinquent behavior may often be 
interpreted as reactions to these racial frustrations. These 
reactions are self-destructive in that the larger society not 
only punishes those who commit them, but often interprets 
such aggressive and anti-social behavior as justification 
for continuing prejudice and segregation.

Middle class and upper class minority group children 
are likely to react to their racial frustrations and conflicts 
by withdrawal and submissive behavior. Or, they may 
react with compensatory and rigid conformity to the pre­
vailing middle class values and standards and an aggressive 
determination to succeed in these terms in spite of the 
handicap of their minority status.

The report indicates that minority group children of 
all social and economic classes often react with a generally 
defeatist attitude and a lowering of personal ambitions. 
This, for example, is reflected in a lowering of pupil morale 
and a depression of the educational aspiration level among 
minority group children in segregated schools. In pro­
ducing such effects, segregated schools impair the ability 
of the child to profit from the educational opportunities 
provided him.

Many minority group children of all classes also tend 
to be hypersensitive and anxious about their relations with 
the larger society. They tend to see hostility and rejection 
even in those areas where these might not actually exist.

3 Bren man, M., The Relationship Between Minority Group Iden­
tification in A Group of Urban Middle Class Negro Girls, / .  Sac. 
Psychol., 1940, 11, 171-197; Brenman, M., Minority Group Mem­
bership and Religious, Psychosexual and Social Patterns in A Group 
of Middle-Class Negro Girls, J. Soc. Psychol, 1940. 12. 179-1%; 
Brenman, M., Urban Lower-Class Negro Girls, Psychiatry, 1943. 6, 
307-324; Davis, A., The Socialization of the American Negro Child 
and Adolescent, J. Negro Educ., 1939, 8, 264-275.



6

The report concludes that while the range of individual 
differences among members of a rejected minority group is 
as wide as among other peoples, the evidence suggests that 
all of these children are unnecessarily encumbered in some 
ways by segregation and its concomitants.

With reference to the impact of segregation and its con­
comitants on children of the majority group, the report 
indicates that the effects are somewhat more obscure. Those 
children who learn the prejudices of our society are also 
being taught to gain personal status in an unrealistic and 
non-adaptive way. When comparing themselves to mem­
bers of the minority group, they are not required to evalu­
ate themselves in terms of the more basic standards of 
actual personal ability and achievement. The culture per­
mits and, at times, encourages them to direct their feelings 
of hostility and aggression against whole groups of people 
the members of which are perceived as weaker than them­
selves. They often develop patterns of guilt feelings, 
rationalizations and other mechanisms which they must 
use in an attempt to protect themselves from recognizing 
the essential injustice of their unrealistic fears and hatreds 
of minority groups.4

The report indicates further that confusion, conflict, 
moral cynicism, and disrespect for authority may arise in 
majority group children as a consequence of being taught 
the moral, religious and democratic principles of the broth­
erhood of man and the importance of justice and fair play 
by the same persons and institutions who, in their support 
of racial segregation and related practices, seem to be act­
ing in a prejudiced and discriminatory manner. Some 
individuals may attempt to resolve this conflict by intensify­
ing their hostility toward the minority group. Others may 
react by guilt feelings which are not necessarily reflected 
in more humane attitudes toward the minority group. Still

* Adorno, T. W .; Frenkel-Brunswik, E .; Levinson, D. J.; San­
ford, R. N., The Authoritarian Personality, 1951.



n(

others react by developing an unwholesome, rigid, and 
uncritical idealization of all authority figures—their par­
ents, strong political and economic leaders. As described 
in The Authoritarian Personality,5 6 they despise the weak, 
while they obsequiously and unquestioningly conform to the 
demands of the strong whom they also, paradoxically, sub­
consciously hate.

With respect to the setting in which these difficulties 
develop, the report emphasized the role of the home, the 
school, and other social institutions. Studies 6 have shown 
that from the earliest school years children are not only 
aware of the status differences among different groups 
in the society but begin to react with the patterns described 
above.

Conclusions similar to those reached by the Mid-century 
White House Conference Report have been stated by other 
social scientists who have concerned themselves with this 
problem. The following are some examples of these con­
clusions :

Segregation imposes upon individuals a distorted sense 
of social reality.7

5 Adorno, T. W .; Frenkel-Brunswik, E .; Levinson, D. J . ; San­
ford, R. N „ The Authoritarian Personality, 1951.

6 Clark, K. B. & Clark, M. P., Emotional Factors in Racial Iden­
tification and Preference in Negro Children, J. Negro Educ., 1950, 
19, 341-350; Clark, K. B. & Clark, M. P., Racial Identification and 
Preference in Negro Children, Readings in Social Psychology, Ed. 
by Newcomb & Hartley, 1947; Radke, M .; Trager, H .; Davis, H., 
Social Perceptions and Attitudes of Children, Genetic Psychol. 
Monog., 1949, 40, 327-447; Radke, M .; Trager, H .; Children’s Per­
ceptions of the Social Role of Negroes and Whites, / .  Psychol., 1950. 
29, 3-33.

7 Reid, Ira, What Segregated Areas Mean; Brameld, T „  Edu­
cational Cost, Discrimination and Naticmal Welfare, Ed. by Maclver, 
R. M., 1949.



8

Segregation leads to a blockage in the communications 
and interaction between the two groups. Such blockages 
tend to increase mutual suspicion, distrust and hostility.8

Segregation not only perpetuates rigid stereotypes and 
reinforces negative attitudes toward members of the other 
group, but also leads to the development of a social climate 
within which violent outbreaks of racial tensions are likely 
to occur.9

We return now to the question, deferred earlier, of 
what it is about the total society complex of which segrega­
tion is one feature that produces the effects described 
above— or, more precisely, to the question of whether we 
can justifiably conclude that, as only one feature of a com­
plex social setting, segregation is in fact a significantly 
contributing factor to these effects.

To answer this question, it is necessary to bring to 
bear the general fund of psychological and sociological 
knowledge concerning the role of various environmental 
influences in producing feelings of inferiority, confusions 
in personal roles, various types of basic personality struc­
tures and the various forms of personal and social dis­
organization.

On the basis of this general fund of knowledge, it seems 
likely that feelings of inferiority and doubts about per­
sonal worth are attributable to living in an underprivileged 
environment only insofar as the latter is itself perceived 
as an indicator of low social status and as a symbol of 
inferiority. In other words, one of the important determi­
nants in producing such feelings is the awareness of social 
status difference. While there are many other factors that 
serve as reminders of the differences in social status, there 
can be little doubt that the fact of enforced segregation is 
a major factor.10

8 Frazier, E., The Negro in the United States, 1949; Krech, D. & 
Crutchfield, R. S., Theory and Problems of Social Psychology, 1948; 
Newcomb, T., Social Psychology, 1950.

6 Lee, A. McCiung and Humphrey, N. D., Race Riot, 1943.
10 Frazier, E., The Negro in the United States, 1949; Myrdal, G., 

An American Dilemma, 1944.



9

This seems to be true for the following reasons among 
others: (1) because enforced segregation results from the 
decision of the majority group without the consent of the 
segregated and is commonly so perceived; and (2) because 
historically segregation patterns in the United States were 
developed on the assumption of the inferiority of the 
segregated.

In addition, enforced segregation gives official recogni­
tion and sanction to these other factors of the social com­
plex, and thereby enhances the effects of the latter in 
creating the awareness of social status differences and 
feelings of inferiority.11 The child who, for example, is 
compelled to attend a segregated school may be able to 
cope with ordinary expressions of prejudice by regarding 
the prejudiced person as evil or misguided; but he cannot 
readily cope with symbols of authority, the full force of the 
authority of the State—the school or the school board, in 
this instance—in the same manner. Given both the ordi­
nary expression of prejudice and the school’s policy of 
segregation, the former takes on greater force and seem­
ingly becomes an official expression of the latter.

Not all of the psychological traits which are commonly 
observed in the social complex under discussion can be 
related so directly to the awareness of status differences— 
which in turn is, as we have already noted, materially con­
tributed to by the practices of segregation. Thus, the 
low level of aspiration and defeatism so commonly ob­
served in segregated groups is undoubtedly related to the 
level of self-evaluation; but it is also, in some measure, 
related among other things to one’s expectations with 
regard to opportunities for achievement and, having 
achieved, to the opportunities for making use of these 
achievements. Similarly, the hypersensitivity and anxiety 
displayed by many minority group children about their

11 Reid. Ira, What Segregated Areas Mean, Discrimination and 
National Welfare, Ed. by Maclver, R. M., 1949.



10

relations with the larger society probably reflects their 
awareness of status differences; but it may also be influ­
enced by the relative absence of opportunities for equal 
status contact which would provide correctives for prevail­
ing unrealistic stereotypes.

The preceding view is consistent with the opinion stated 
by a large majority (9 0 % ) of social scientists who replied 
to a questionaire concerning the probable effects of en­
forced segregation under conditions of equal facilities. 
This opinion was that, regardless of the facilities which 
are provided, enforced segregation is psychologically detri­
mental to the members of the segregated group.12

Similar considerations apply to the question of what 
features of the social complex of which segregation is a 
part contribute to the development of the traits which 
have been observed in majority group members. Some of 
these are probably quite closely related to the awareness 
of status differences, to which, as has already been pointed 
out, segregation makes a material contribution. Others 
have a more complicated relationship to the total social 
setting. Thus, the acquisition of an unrealistic basis for 
self-evaluation as a consequence of majority group member­
ship probably reflects fairly closely the awareness of status 
differences. On the other hand, unrealistic fears and 
hatreds of minority groups, as in the case of the converse 
phenomenon among minority group members, are prob­
ably significantly influenced as well by the lack of oppor­
tunities for equal status contact.

With reference to the probable effects of segregation 
under conditions of equal facilities on majority group 
members, many of the social scientists who responded to 
the poll in the survey cited above felt that the evidence is

12 Deutscher, M. and Ohein, I., The Psychological Effects of 
Enforced Segregation: A Survey of Social Science Opinion,
J. P s y c h o l1948, 26, 259-287.



11

less convincing than with regard to the probable effects 
of such segregation on minority group members, and the 
effects are possibly less widespread. Nonetheless, more 
than 80% stated it as their opinion that the effects of such 
segregation are psychologically detrimental to the majority 
group members.13

It may be noted that many of these social scientists 
supported their opinions on the effects of segregation on 
both majority arid minority groups by reference to one 
or another or to several of the following four lines of 
published and unpublished evidence.14 * First, studies of 
children throw light on the relative priority of the aware­
ness of status differentials and related factors as compared 
to the awareness of differences in facilities. On this basis, 
it is possible to infer some of the consequences of segre­
gation as distinct from the influence of inequalities of 
facilities. Second, clinical studies and depth interviews 
throw light o il  the genetic sources and causal sequences 
of various patterns of psychological reaction; and, again, 
certain inferences are possible with respect to the effects 
of segregation per se. Third, there actually are some 
relevant but relatively rare instances of segregation with 
equal or even superior facilities, as in the cases of certain 
Indian reservations. Fourth, since there are inequalities 
of facilities in racially and ethnically homogeneous groups, 
it is possible to infer the kinds of effects attributable to 
such inequalities in the absence of effects of segregation 
and, by a kind of subtraction to estimate the effects of 
segregation per se in situations where one finds both segre­
gation and unequal facilities.

13 Deutscher, M. and Chein, I., The Psychological Effects of
Enforced Segregation: A Survey of Social Science Opinion,
J. Psychol., 1948, 26, 259-287.

14 Chein, I., What Are the Psychological Effects of Segregation
Under Conditions of Equal Facilities?, /nternational J. Opinion and 
Attitude Res.. 1949, 2, 229-234.



12

III

Segregation is at present a social reality. Questions 
may be raised, therefore, as to what are the likely conse­
quences of desegregation.

One such question asks whether the inclusion of an 
intellectually inferior group may jeopardize the education 
of the more intelligent group by lowering educational 
standards or damage the less intelligent group by placing 
it in a situation where it is at a marked competitive dis­
advantage. Behind this question is the assumption, which 
is examined below, that the presently segregated groups 
actually are inferior intellectually.

The available scientific evidence indicates that much, 
perhaps all, of the observable differences among various 
racial and national groups may be adequately explained 
in terms of environmental differences.15 It has been found, 
for instance, that the differences between the average 
intelligence test scores of Negro and white children de­
crease, and the overlap of the distributions increases, pro­
portionately to the number of years that the Negro children 
have lived in the North.16 17 18 Related studies have shown 
that this change cannot be explained by the hypothesis of 
selective migration.11 It seems clear, therefore, that fears 
based on the assumption of innate racial differences in 
intelligence are not well founded.

It may also be noted in passing that the argument 
regarding the intellectual inferiority of one group as com­
pared to another is, as applied to schools, essentially an

16 Klineberg, O., Characteristics o f American Negro, 1945; 
Klineberg, O., Race Differences, 1936.

16 Klineberg, O., Negro Intelligence and Selective Migration, 
1935.

17 Klineberg, O., Negro Intelligence and Selective Migration,
1935.



13

argument for homogeneous groupings of children by intelli­
gence rather than by race. Since even those who believe 
that there are innate differences between Negroes and 
whites in America in average intelligence grant that con­
siderable overlap between the two groups exists, it would 
follow that it may be expedient to group together the 
superior whites and Negroes, the average whites aaid 
Negroes, and so on. Actually, many educators have come 
to doubt the wisdom of class groupings made homogeneous 
solely on the basis of intelligence.* 18 Those who are opposed 
to such homogeneous grouping believe that this type of 
segregation, too, appears to create generalized feelings of 
inferiority in the child who attends a below average class, 
leads to undesirable emotional consequences in the education 
of the gifted child, and reduces learning opportunities which 
result from the interaction of individuals with varied gifts.

A second problem that comes up in an evaluation of the 
possible consequences of desegregation involves the ques­
tion of whether segregation prevents or stimulates inter­
racial tension and conflict and the corollary question of 
whether desegregation has one or the other effect.

The most direct evidence available on this problem comes 
from observations and systematic study of instances in 
which desegregation has occurred. Comprehensive reviews 
of such instances 19 clearly establish the fact that desegrega­

18 Brooks, J. J., Interage Grouping on Trial-Continuous Learn­
ing, Bulletin 4pS7, Association for Childhood. Education. 1951 ; 
Lane, R. H., Teacher in Modern Elementary School, 1941 ; Edu­
cational Policies Commission of the National Education Asso­
ciation and the American Association of School Administration 
Report in Education For All Americans, published by the N. E. A. 
1948.

18 Delano, W., Grade School Segregation: The Latest Attack
on Racial Discrimination, Vale Law Journal, 1952, 61, 5, 730-744; 
Rose, A., The Influence of Legislation on Prejudice; Chapter 53 in 
Race Prejudice and Discrimination, Ed. by Rose, A., 1951; Rose, A., 
Studies in Reduction of Prejudice, Amer. Council on Race Relations, 
1948.



H

tion has been carried out successfully in a variety of situa­
tions although outbreaks of violence had been commonly 
predicted. Extensive desegregation has taken place with­
out major incidents in the armed services in both Northern 
and Southern installations and involving officers and enlisted 
men from all parts of the country, including the South.20 
Similar changes have been noted in housing21 and in­
dustry.22 During the last war, many factories both in the 
North and South hired Negroes on a non-segregated, non- 
discriminatory basis. While a few strikes occurred, refusal

20 Kenworthy, E. W., The Case Against Army Segregation, 
Annals of the Atnerican Academy of Political and Social Science, 
1951, 275, 27-33; Nelson, Lt. D. D., The Integration of the 
Negrp in the U. S. Navy, 1951 ; Opinions About Negro Infantry 
Platoons in White Companies in Several Divisions, Information and 
Education Division, U. S. War Department, Report No. B-157, 
1945.

21 Conover, R. D., Race Relations at Codornices Village, Berke­
ley-Albany, California: A Report of the Attempt to Break Down 
the Segregated Pattern on A Directly Managed Housing Project, 
Housing and Home Finance Agency, Public Housing Administra­
tion, Region I, December 1947 (mimeographed ) ; Deutsch, M. and 
Collins, M. E., Interracial Housing, A Psychological Study of A  
Social Experiment, 1951; Rutledge, E., Integration of Racial Minor­
ities in Public Housing Projects: A Guide for Local Housing 
Authorities on How to Do It, Public Housing Administration, New 
York Field Office (mimeographed)

22 Minard, R. D,, The Pattern of Race Relationships in the Poca­
hontas Coal Field, J. Social Issues, 1952, 8, 29-44; Southall, S. E., 
Industry’s Unfinished Business, 1951 ; Weaver, G. L-P, Negro Labor, 
A National Problem, 1941.



15

by management and unions to yield quelled all strikes within 
a few days.23.

Relevant to this general problem is a comprehensive 
study of urban race riots which found that race riots oc­
curred in segregated neighborhoods, whereas there was 
no violence in sections of the city where the two races 
lived, worked and attended school together.2*

Under certain circumstances desegregation not only pro­
ceeds without major difficulties, but has been observed to 
lead to the emergence of more favorable attitudes and 
friendlier relations between races. Relevant studies may 
be cited with respect to housing,25 * * 28 employment,29 the armed

23 Southall, S. E., Industry’s Unfinished Business, 1951; 
Weaver, G. L-P, Negro Labor, A National Problem, 1941.

24 Lee, A. McClung and Humphrey, N. D., Race Riot, 1943; 
Lee, A. McClung, Race Riots Aren’t Necessary, Public Affairs 
Pamphlet, 1945.

25 Deutsch, M. and Collins, M. E., Interracial Housing, A Psy­
chological Study o f A Social Experiment, 1951; Merton, R. K .; 
West, P. S .; Jahoda, M., Social Fictions and Social Facts: The
Dynamics of Race Relations in HUltown, Bureau of Applied Social 
Research Columbia, Univ,, 1949 (mimeographed) ; Rutledge, E., 
Integration of Racial Minorities in Public Housing Projects; A 
Guide for Local Housing Authorities on How To Do It., Pubiic 
Housing Administration, New York Field Office (mimeographed) ; 
Wilner, D. M .; Walkley, R. P .; and Cook, S. W., Intergroup Con­
tact and Ethnic Attitudes in Public Housing Projects, J. Social Issues, 
1952, 8, 45-69.

28 Harding, J., and Hogrefe, R., Attitudes of White Department
Store Employees Toward Negro Co-workers, / .  Social Issues, 1952, 
8, 19-28; Southall, S. E., Industry’s Unfinished Business, 1951; 
Weaver, G. L-P., Negro Labor, A National Problem, 1941.



16

services 27 and merchant marine,28 29 30 recreation agency,39 and 
general community life,80

Mach depends, however, on the circumstances under 
which members of previously segregated groups first come 
in contact with others in unsegregated situations. Avail­
able evidence suggests, first, that there is less likelihood 
of unfriendly relations when the change is simultaneously 
introduced into all units of a social institution to which 
it is applicable—e.g., all of the schools in a school system 
or all of the shops in a given factory.31 When factories 
introduced Negroes in only some shops but not in others 
the prejudiced workers tended to classify the desegregated

27 Kenworthy, E. W., The Case Against Army Segregation, 
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
1951, 275, 27-33; Nelson, Lt. D. D., The Integration of the 
Negro in the U. S. Navy, 1951; Stouffer, S., et a!., The American 
Soldier, Vol. I, Chap. 19, A Note on Negro Troops in Combat, 
1949; Watson, G., Actio-n for Unity, 1947; Opinions About Negro 
Infantry Platoons in White Companies in Several Divisions, Infor­
mation and Education Division, U. S. War Department, Report No. 
B-157, 1945.

28 Brophy, I. N., The Luxury of Anti-Negro Prejudice, Public 
Opinion Quarterly, 1946, 9, 456-466 (Integration in Merchant 
Marine) ; Watson, G., Action for Unity, 1947.

29 Williams, D. H., The Effects of an Interracial Project Upon 
the Attitudes of Negro and White Girls Within the Young Womens 
Christian Association, Unpublished M. A. thesis, Columbia Univer­
sity, 1934.

30 Dean, J. P., Situational Factors in Intergroup Relations'. 
A Research Progress Report. Paper Presented to American Soci­
ological Society, 12/28/49 (mimeographed) ; Irish, D. P„ Reactions 
of Residents of Boulder, Colorado, to the Introduction of Japanese 
Into the Community, / .  Social Issues, 1952, 8, 10-17.

81 Minard, R. D., The Pattern of Race Relationships in the 
Pocahontas Coal Field, J. Social Issues, 1952, 8, 29-44; Rutledge, E., 
Integration of Racial Minorities in Public Housing Projects; A 
Guide for Local Housing Authorities on How to Do It, Public 
Housing Administration, New York Field Office (mimeographed).



17

shops as inferior, “ Negro work.’ ’ Such objections were 
not raised when complete integration was introduced.

The available evidence also suggests the importance of 
consistent and firm enforcement of the new policy by those 
in authority.32 It indicates also the importance of such 
factors a s : the absence of competition for a limited number 
of facilities or benefits;33 34 the possibility of contacts which 
permit individuals to learn about one another as indi­
viduals;31 and the possibility of equivalence of positions 
and functions among all of the participants within the 
unsegregated situation.35 These conditions can generally 
be satisfied in a number of situations, as in the armed 
services, public housing developments, and public schools.

32 Deutsch, M. and Collins, M. E., Interracial Housing, A Psy­
chological Study of A Social Experiment, 1951 ; Feldman, H., The 
Technique of Introducing Negroes Into the Plant, Personnel, 1942, 
19, 461-466; Rutledge, E., Integration of Racial Minorities in 
Public Housing Projects; A Guide for Local Housing Authorities 
on How to Do It, Public Housing Administration, New York Field 
Office (mimeographed) ; Southall, S. E., Industry’s Unfinished 
Business, 1951; Watson, G., Action for Unity, 1947.

33 Lee, A. .McClung and Humphrey, N. D., Race Riot, 1943; 
Williams, R., Jr., The Reduction of Intergroup Tensions, Social 
Science Research Council, New York, 1947; Windner, A. E., White 
Attitudes Towards Negro-White Interaction In An Area of Chang­
ing Racial Composition. Paper Delivered at the Sixtieth Annual 
Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, 
September 1952.

34 Wilner, D. M .; Walk ley, R. P .; and Cook, S. W., Intergroup 
Contact and Ethnic Attitudes in Public Housing Projects, J. Social 
Issues, 1952, 8, 45-69.

35 Allport, G. W., and Kramer, B., Some Roots of Prejudice, 
J. Psychol., 1946, 22, 9-39; W'atson, J., Some Social and Psycho­
logical Situations Related to Change in Attitude, Human Relations, 
1950, 3, 1.



18

IV
The problem with which we have here attempted to deal 

is admittedly on the frontiers of scientific knowledge. 
Inevitably, there must he some differences of opinion among 
us concerning the conclusiveness of certain items of evi­
dence, and concerning the particular choice of words and 
placement of emphasis in the preceding statement. We 
are nonetheless in agreement that this statement is sub­
stantially correct and justified by the evidence, and the
differences among us, if any, 
and would not materially 
elusions.

F loyd H. A llpoet 
Gordon W. A llpoet 
Charlotte B abcock, M. D. 
V iola W. B ernard, M, D. 
J erome S. Bruner 
H adley Cantril 
I sidor Chein 
K enneth B. Clark 
Mamie P. Clark 
Stuart W. Cook 
B ingham Dai 
A llison Davis 
E lse F ren kel-B ru nswi k 
Noel P. Gist 
D aniel K atz 
Otto K linebebg 
David K rech 
A lfred McCluno Lee 
R. M. MacI veb 
R obert K. Merton 
Gardner Murphy 
T heodore M. Newcomb 
Robert R edfield

are of a relatively minor order 
influence the preceding con-

Syracuse, New York 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 
Chicago, Illinois 
New York, New York 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 
Princeton, New Jersey 
New York, New Y"ork 
New York, New York 
New York, New York 
New York, New York 
Durham, North Carolina 
Chicago, Illinois 
Berkeley, California 
Columbia, Missouri 
Ann Arbor, Michigan 
New York, New York 
Berkeley, California 
Brooklyn, New York 
New York, New York 
New York, New York 
Topeka, Kansas 
Ann Arbor, Michigan 
Chicago, Illinois



19

Ira DeA. R eid 
A rnold M. R ose 
Gerhart Saenger
R. Nevitt Saneord
S. Stanfield Sargent 
M. B rewster S mith  
Samuel A . Stouffer 
W ellman W.arner 
R obin M. W illiams

Dated: September 22, 1952.

Haverford, Pennsylvania 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 
New York, New York 
Poughkeepsie, New York 
New York, New' York 
New York, New York 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 
New York, New York 
Ithaca, New York



20

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24

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