Strange reversal of fortunes

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July 20th, 2018 at 10:28:37 AM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
Threads: 154
Posts: 5055
the increase in %Black came largely from white flight
I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]
July 20th, 2018 at 10:39:58 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: AZDuffman
I never got why Blacks were so attracted to DC. I would have thought it was always pricier than average, keeping poorer Blacks out.


It is pricey in Washington DC. I' ve always thought of Washington DC and Atlanta as having the greatest concentration of African American wealth in the country

% African American

Atlanta - year - D.C.
67.1% 1990 64.8%
66.6% 1980 70.3%
51.3% 1970 71.1%
38.3% 1960 53.9%
36.6% 1950 35.0%
34.6% 1940 28.1%
33.3% 1930 27.1%

Detroit
75.7% 1990
63.1% 1980
43.7% 1970
28.9% 1960
16.2% 1950
09.2% 1940
07.7% 1930
July 20th, 2018 at 11:17:04 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
I never got why Blacks were so attracted to DC. .


They flocked there after the Civil War because
they figured it was the seat of the nation and
would be more tolerant of their new freedom.
They stayed for generations because that's
what people do, stay where you're born.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
July 20th, 2018 at 11:44:41 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Post WW2 'white flight' sure helped but in Washington DC the availability of middle class jobs and middle class suburbs sure helped increase the black population in the Washington dc area. Sure inner city areas such as Adams Morgan got pricier and even became trendy after awhile but the suburban areas that were largely black got some white buyers who enjoyed the shorter commutes every day.

Atlanta used to have a white downtown surrounded by blacks but once you get to a turning point it simply became blacks. Municipal hiring was black irrespective of white flight and entrenched management.
July 20th, 2018 at 12:49:57 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Evenbob
They flocked there after the Civil War...They stayed for generations because that's what people do, stay where you're born.


You seem to be correct that there was a jump in the 1860s from 10,983 to 35,455. but the massive jump in AA population from 1940 to 1960 (average 4% per year) couldn't have come from births alone. There had to be migration. You can see the same jump in the AA population in Chicago as people moved from the poor rural South to cities.

%AA -- year- number AA people Washington DC
65.8% 1990 399,604
70.3% 1980 448,906
71.1% 1970 537,712
53.9% 1960 411,737
35.0% 1950 280,803
28.2% 1940 187,266
27.1% 1930 132,068
25.1% 1920 109,966
28.5% 1910 94,446
31.1% 1900 86,702
32.8% 1890 75,572
32.8% 1880 48,377
32.5% 1870 35,455
18.0% 1860 10,983
25.7% 1850 10,271
27.9% 1840 6,521
29.0% 1830 5,459
27.5% 1820 3,641
28.1% 1810 2,304

%AA -- year- number AA people Chicago
39.1% 1990 1,087,711
39.8% 1980 1,197,000
32.7% 1970 1,102,620
22.9% 1960 812,637
13.6% 1950 492,265
8.2% 1940 277,731
6.9% 1930 233,903
4.1% 1920 109,458
2.0% 1910 44,103
1.8% 1900 30,150
1.3% 1890 14,271
1.3% 1880 6,480
1.2% 1870 3,691
0.9% 1860 958
1.1% 1850 323
1.2% 1840 53
July 20th, 2018 at 1:00:41 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Pacomartin
%AA -- year- number AA people Washington DC


Big jump from 1950 to 1970, those
were tumultuous civil rights years.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
July 20th, 2018 at 1:48:27 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Evenbob
Big jump from 1950 to 1970, those
were tumultuous civil rights years.


The first Great African American Migration (1916–1930), which saw about 1.6 million people move from mostly rural areas to northern industrial cities, and a Second Great Migration (1940–1970), which began after the Great Depression and brought at least 5 million people—including many townspeople with urban skills—to the north and to California and other western states.

The Great Migration was one of the largest and most rapid mass internal movements in history—perhaps the greatest not caused by the immediate threat of execution or starvation. In sheer numbers it outranks the migration of any other ethnic group—Italians or Irish or Jews or Poles—to [the United States]. For blacks, the migration meant leaving what had always been their economic and social base in America, and finding a new one.-Nicholas Lemann



African-Americans as a Percentage of the Population By Large U.S. Cities
(Those With a Peak Population of 500,000 or More by 1990) Outside of the Former Confederacy

City 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1900 -1990
Detroit, Michigan 1.4% 1.2% 4.1% 7.7% 9.2% 16.2% 28.9% 43.7% 63.1% 75.7% +74.3%
Cleveland, Ohio 1.6% 1.5% 4.3% 8.0% 9.6% 16.2% 28.6% 38.3% 43.8% 46.6% +45.0%
Baltimore, Maryland 15.6% 15.2% 14.8% 17.7% 19.3% 23.7% 34.7% 46.4% 54.8% 59.2% +43.6%
St. Louis, Missouri 6.2% 6.4% 9.0% 11.4% 13.3% 17.9% 28.6% 40.9% 45.6% 47.5% +41.3%
Chicago, Illinois 1.8% 2.0% 4.1% 6.9% 8.2% 13.6% 22.9% 32.7% 39.8% 39.1% +37.3%
Philadelphia, PA 4.8% 5.5% 7.4% 11.3% 13.0% 18.2% 26.4% 33.6% 37.8% 39.9% +35.1%
District of Columbia 31.1% 28.5% 25.1% 27.1% 28.2% 35.0% 53.9% 71.1% 70.3% 65.8% +34.7%
Cincinnati, Ohio 4.4% 5.4% 7.5% 10.6% 12.2% 15.5% 21.6% 27.6% 33.8% 37.9% +33.5%
Buffalo, New York 0.5% 0.4% 0.9% 2.4% 3.1% 6.3% 13.3% 20.4% 26.6% 30.7% +30.2%
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 0.3% 0.3% 0.5% 1.3% 1.5% 3.4% 8.4% 14.7% 23.1% 30.5% +30.2%
New York City, New York 1.8% 1.9% 2.7% 4.7% 6.1% 9.5% 14.0% 21.1% 25.2% 28.7% +26.9%
Boston, Massachusetts 2.1% 2.0% 2.2% 2.6% 3.1% 5.0% 9.1% 16.3% 22.4% 25.6% +23.5%
Pittsburgh, PA 5.3% 4.8% 6.4% 8.2% 9.3% 12.2% 16.7% 20.2% 24.0% 25.8% +20.5%
Kansas City, Missouri 10.7% 9.5% 9.5% 9.6% 10.4% 12.2% 17.5% 22.1% 27.4% 29.6% +18.9%
Columbus, Ohio 6.5% 7.0% 9.4% 11.3% 11.7% 12.4% 16.4% 18.5% 22.1% 22.6% +16.1%
Indianapolis, Indiana 9.4% 9.3% 11.0% 12.1% 13.2% 15.0% 20.6% 18.0% 21.8% 22.6% +13.2%
Minneapolis, Minnesota 0.8% 0.9% 1.0% 0.9% 0.9% 1.3% 2.4% 4.4% 7.7% 13.0% +12.2%
Los Angeles, California 2.1% 2.4% 2.7% 3.1% 4.2% 8.7% 13.5% 17.9% 17.0% 14.0% +11.9%
San Francisco, CA 0.5% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.8% 5.6% 10.0% 13.4% 12.7% 10.9% +10.4%
Denver, Colorado 2.9% 2.5% 2.4% 2.5% 2.4% 3.6% 6.1% 9.1% 12.0% 12.8% +9.9%
Seattle, Washington 0.5% 1.0% 0.9% 0.9% 1.0% 3.4% 4.8% 7.1% 9.5% 10.1% +9.6%
San Diego, California 1.8% 1.5% 1.3% 1.8% 2.0% 4.5% 6.0% 7.6% 8.9% 9.4% +7.6%
San Jose, California 1.0% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.6% 1.0% 2.5% 4.6% 4.7% +3.7%
Phoenix, Arizona 2.7% 2.9% 3.7% 4.9% 6.5% 4.9% 4.8% 4.8% 4.8% 5.2% +2.5%
July 20th, 2018 at 2:06:09 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Pacomartin
Second Great Migration (1940–1970), which began after the Great Depression and brought at least 5 million people—including many townspeople with urban skills—to the north.


I've talked to many people years
ago who said before WWII, the
area in the city where the blacks
lived was very defined. It exploded
after the war and what were once
very nice sections of town became
overtaken by blacks and quickly
were run down and became the ghetto.

Today they live in sections of the city
where, when I was in the taxi biz in
the 80's, no blacks lived at all. Where
crime was very rare, now it's an every
day thing. Where once you never
locked your doors at night, those people
have sold and moved away entirely.

There is a lot of truth to the old adage
'there goes the neighborhood'. I remember
on the west side when a few blacks
started moving in. Then it became a
deluge and now you can't even safely
walk down the streets in the daytime
anymore. For a hundred years it was
all Polish and E European Catholics,
a solid safe place to live.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
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