ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses general views on the larger American society; many general statements about the Negro and race relations belong to the same type of judgment. Although the Negro problem is a moral issue both to Negroes and to whites in America, it gives primary attention to what goes on in the minds of white Americans. There is a "Negro problem" in the United States and most Americans are aware of it, although it assumes varying forms and intensity in different regions of the country and among diverse groups of the American people. The relationship between American society and the Negro problem is not one-sided. The entire structure of American society is itself greatly conditioned by the presence of the thirteen million Negro citizens.
