‘The Negro problem’ framing always blamed Black people themselves

Evidence

Deployed as the title of an 1891 racist tract by a future Virginia senator, “the Negro problem” was meant to characterize the question of what was to be done with black people. Of course, the question goes all the way back to the founding of the nation, as the likes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison worked to reconcile the reality of slavery with their ideas of democracy. Yet what is consistent across these periods is that in terms of “the Negro problem,” the Negro is the problem—this approach is framed by how he should fit into society when freed from bondage, what will be his place among his obvious superiors, and how we might respond to his demand for equality. And the problem often takes the form of the pressing question “What more does the Negro want?” — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 329

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise origin of ‘the Negro problem’ as an 1891 racist tract — dates, framing, and the ‘what more does the Negro want’ formulation.