The Negro's church,.

Overchurching in Rural Areas

267

1925; that the number of Negro renters likewise declined
rapidly in the same period; and that the number of sharecroppers, the half-share tenants, actually decreased. He goes
on to say that the depression in the cotton areas has not only
occasioned a decrease in the number of Negro farmers but has
forced the masses, those remaining on the farms, downward
in the scale. Here and there it is possible to find farmers who
are making money; but the majority have been in serious
financial straits. The proportion of Negro croppers to the
total number of Negro farmers in the extreme southwestern
states increased from 39 per cent. in 1920 to 46 per cent.
in 1925.2
Of the 2,000,000 Negro farmers, it is calculated that 57.5
per cent. are laborers, 32.4 per cent. are tenants, and 10.1 per
cent. are owners. There has been an actual decrease in the
number of both Negro owners and renters.3
RURAL INCOME MEAGER
The incomes of Negro farmers are very low. Mr. Woofter
points out that the average income in cash plus family living
on St. Helena Island was only $420 in 1928; and Mr. Raper
in his study of Macon and Greene counties, Georgia, shows
that the average total income for Negro farmers in Greene
County is $339 and in Macon County $448. A study of the
North Carolina State Tax Commission made in 1927 shows
that the average cash income for southern farmers was $556,
and the average family living from the farm was $478, or a
combined cash income plus family living of $1,034. The
median or middle cash income was $250.4 Of course, it is
much less for Negroes. The large number of Negroes, 89.9
per cent., who do not own their farms is almost conclusive
proof that the membership in the Negro rural church is not
2Ibid, pp. 12 and 13.
Johnson, Charles S., The Negro in American Civilization (New York:
Henry Holt & Company, 1930), p. 38.
Woofter, T. J., A Study of the Economic Status of the Negro, p. 23.