THE NEGRO IN 1913

Nineteen Hundred and Thirteen, a

Jubilee Year for the Negroes of

the United States

Beginning January 1, there were throughout the year, in one place or another, in a large or a small way, celebrations commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Negro Emancipation. Schools, churches, societies, and other organizations co-operated in holding these celebrations. In most instances they took the form of expositions of the progress the race had made during fifty years of freedom.

Many of these celebrations were held in connection with county and state fairs. At Jackson, Mississippi, the capital of the State, a celebration was held as an annex of the State Fair conducted by the whites. At New Orleans, during the week of September 22, a celebration was held under the auspices of the Louisiana Colored State Fair Association. The New Orleans Daily States gave special prominence to this celebration in one of its editions by devoting four and a half pages of illustrated matter relating to the progress of the Negroes in New Orleans, and in the country in general.

The largest celebration in any part of the South was held at Nashville during the week of September 15. This was in connection with the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention.

Three States appropriated money for the Fiftieth Anniversary Emancipation Celebration: New Jersey $20,000, New York $25,000, and Pennsylvania $95,000. The Pennsylvania exposition was held in September and the New York and New Jersey expositions in October.

The rapid acquisition of property has continued. Negroes in Virginia own 1,629,626 acres of land, assessed at $14,156,757. In 1911 they owned 1,596,047 acres valued at $8,390,085. The Negroes of North Carolina pay taxes on 1,387,635 acres. In 1910, according to the census, they owned 1,197,496 acres. The value of prop

erty returned by Negro tax payers in Georgia, $34,699,447, was an increase over the previous year of $677,068. This, in spite of the fact that there was an apparent decrease in the amount of land owned by the Negroes of that State. According to the returns for 1911, they were paying taxes on 1,639,919 acres valued at $10,358,653. In 1912 they paid taxes on 1,215,798 acres valued at $10,338,872. It is probable that through purchases and the increase in value of property already owned, the Negroes of the country during the past year increased the amount of their property holdings by $25,000,000.

There are in various sections of the country numbers of Negroes with large individual property holdings. Watt Terry, of Brockton, Massachusetts, is one of these. The Brockton Times of December 18, 1913, said: "Watt Terry, of Main Street, real estate dealer, is Brockton's third largest individual taxpayer, his assessment being exceeded only by that of George E. Keith and Ex-Governor W. L. Douglas. Mr. Terry is assessed on $475,400 valuation in real estate. He pays a tax of $10,166.40 on forty-six parcels of real estate and on personal property." The Mr. George E. Keith referred to is the managing director of the Walk-Over Shoe Company, and Ex-Governor W. L. Douglas is the head of the W. L. Douglas Shoe Company.

Robert E. Church, of Memphis, Tennessee, who died in 1912, was one of the wealthiest Negroes in the South. His property holdings, according to newspaper reports, amounted to approximately $2,000,000. Col. John McKee, of Philadelphia, who died in 1902, was also reported to have acquired over a million dollars worth of property. (See article Contributions of Negroes for Education.)

Sarah Rector, the Wealthiest

Negro in America

It is reported that the largest income tax in Oklahoma will be paid by a ten-year-old Negro girl, Sarah Rector. She is said to have an income of more than $112,000 a year. Being the descendant of a Creek freedman she received an allottment of 160 acres of land. On this allottment there was recently drilled a well producing more than $2,500 worth of oil a day. Sarah gets one-eighth as her share. Other wells are to be drilled on her land, which it is expected will increase her income.

Another indication of the economic progress of the race is t