The Negro's church,.

CHAPTER XII

The Membership of 185 Rural Churches
Despite the fact that more than half the Negro population
of the United States is still to be found in rural areas, that
more than 76 per cent. of all Negro churches and fully 56
per cent. of Negro church-members are rural, and that the
Negro rural churches are so numerous that there is one for
each 91 members, this study includes a much smaller number
of rural than urban churches.
The reason for this has been partly accounted for in chapter
v, where it was pointed out that the American Negroes, in
quest of larger freedom in social, economic, civic and educational areas, are gradually becoming an urban people. It was
shown there that since 1900, and especially since 1910, the
Negro urban population has greatly increased, while the
Negro rural population has decreased rather rapidly. It was
also shown in that connection that as a result of the migration
of Negroes from rural to urban sections, both the number of
urban churches and memberships increased, especially in the
North; and further that there is a larger concentration of
Negro wealth and finance in metropolitan centers.
There are other factors, however, that account for this
greater emphasis on the urban church. In the urban study,
both the North and the South were included. The number
of Negroes in the rural North is almost negligible-not a sufficiently large number to warrant a study of the Negro rural
church in the North. There is not the diversity of types of
churches in rural areas as in urban localities. The rural
churches are more nearly the same in program, organization,
leadership, cost of buildings, number of churches in debt, and
membership size. A phase of this is demonstrated in chap230