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"Complaints" were sometimes received from the race conscious people of Tuskegee that "white" women were seen with colored men, which was really true, although the women either "claimed" or "acknowledged" Negro ancestors. Visiting commanders and inspectors often assumed that one of the white stenographers was colored and that the colored Dental Officer was white. Such confusions visibly irritated extremely race conscious visitors. . . . . . . . .

Racial Comparisons

The most common of all ways to waste time in discussing problems relating to Negroes is indulgence in unlimited speculation concerning the comparative characteristics of Negro people and white people. . . . . . . . . . . . 

Many individuals of some scientific background remain apparently unaware of well-established evidence along these lines. The author participated in a flying aptitude test along with 80 Negro cadets, in which those administering the test were very surprised to discover that the average reaction-time for the entire group was actually slightly better than average for a group of white cadets from New England. Their attitude, despite their scientific training, remained similar to that of one Southerner who shook his head at the figures and remarked, "I always knew those Yankees were slow." Later, tests showed some falling off in the general averages of Negro groups, but the overlapping of the two groups was indisputable.15. . . . . . .

15 Unpublished Report of Flying Aptitude Tests Team, Maxwell Field, 1942.