The Negro's church,.

Is the Negro Overchurched?

219

operations. Using 500 as the minimum rather than the
2,000, the church situation in the twelve cities is as Table
XVI indicates.
Store-Front and House Churches More Numerous in the
North Than in the South
Interestingly enough, in these five northern cities store-front
and house churches are more numerous than churches with
church buildings. Only 444, or 43.1 per cent., of the 1,029
churches have church buildings. This leaves 585, or 56.9
per cent., that worship in houses, store-fronts, halls, houses
made into churches, or theaters.
Of the 1,075 churches in the seven southern cities just referred to, 883, or 82.1 per cent., have church buildings, leaving only 192, or 17.9 per cent., in store-fronts, houses or halls.
This wide difference is possibly explained by the fact that
Negroes in large numbers have lived in the southern cities
much longer than in northern cities; and by the further fact
that so many Negroes went North during the migratory
period that church homes could not be provided in sufficient
numbers to meet the emergency. Another factor accounting
for the large number of store-front and house churches in the
North has been given in chapter v where it was pointed out
how the psychological factor played a conspicuously important part in increasing the number of churches in northern
centers. (See Table 33 in the Appendix.)
Four Northern Cities More Poorly Churched Than
Overchurched
In Detroit, 66, or 45 per cent., of the Negro churches are
store-front or house churches; in Chicago, 248, or 72.1 per
cent.; in Baltimore, 101, or 54.3 per cent.; and in Philadelphia, 115, or slightly less than 48 per cent., are houses, storefronts, halls or theaters. With these high percentages of
store-front and house churches? it is only fair to say that these