Black flight
Encyclopedia
Black flight is a term applied to the out-migration of African American
s from predominantly black or mixed inner-city areas in the United States to suburb
s and outlying edge cities of newer home construction. While more attention has been paid to this since the 1990s, the movement of blacks to the suburbs has been underway for some time, with nine million persons having migrated from 1960-2000. Their goals have been similar to those of the white middle class, whose out-migration was called white flight
: newer housing, better schools for their children, and attractive environments. From 1990 to 2000, the percentage of African Americans who lived in the suburbs increased to a total of 39 percent, rising 5 percent in that decade. Most who moved to the suburbs after World War II
were middle class.
Early years of residential change accelerated in the late 1960s after passage of civil rights legislation ended segregation
, and African Americans could exercise more choices in housing and jobs. Since the 1950s, there began a period of major restructuring of industries and loss of hundreds of thousands of industrial jobs in northeast and Midwest cities. Since the late 20th century, these events led to reduced density in formerly black neighborhoods in cities such as Chicago
, Detroit, and Philadelphia, which have also had absolute population decreases, losing white population as well. Since the 2000 census, the number and proportion of black population has decreased in several major cities, including New York
, Los Angeles
, Atlanta, Boston
, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
More importantly, in addition to moving to suburbs, since 1965 African Americans have been returning to the South in a New Great Migration
, especially since 1990 to the states of Georgia
, Texas
, and Maryland
, whose economies have expanded. In many cases, they are following the documented movement of jobs to the suburbs and the South. Because more African Americans are attaining college degrees, they are better able to find and obtain better-paying jobs and move to the suburbs. Most African-American migrants leaving the northern regions have gone to the "New South
" states, where economies and jobs have grown from knowledge industries, services and technology.
Achieving higher education has contributed to an increase in overall affluence within the African-American community, with increasing median income, both in absolute terms and in relation to that of European Americans. According to a 2007 study, average African-American family income has increased, but the gap with white families has increased slightly.
documented changes in a city in Morocco
. As poor rural migrants moved into the center city during urbanization, the older, more established and wealthier populations moved to the outskirts. This pattern of class and education succession has been seen in United States cities, where poor immigrants and migrants have occupied older areas of affordable housing, but when economically established, they move to better areas, often in the suburbs. In recent decades, such ethnic succession seen first in center cities has been taking place in the suburbs, too.
Since the 1960s, many middle-class African Americans have been moving to the suburbs for newer housing and good schools, just as European Americans had done before them. From 1960-2000, the number of African Americans who moved to suburbs was nine million, a number considerably higher than the Great Migration
of Africans from the rural South to the North during the first half of the century. As C. Hocker writes,
In the last 25 years, for example, the population of Prince George's County, Maryland
, where suburban housing was developed near Washington, DC, became majority African American. By 2006 it was the wealthiest majority-black county in the nation. Similar to White Americans, African Americans continue to move to more distant areas. Charles County, Maryland
has become the next destination for middle-class black migrants from Washington and other areas; by 2002, the students in the school system were majority black. Charles County has the fastest-growing black population of any large county in the nation except the Atlanta suburbs.
In 1950 few northern cities yet had large percentages of blacks, nor did southern ones: Washington, DC was 35 percent African American and Baltimore
was 24 percent. From 1950-1970, the black population increased dramatically in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Newark
, Chicago
, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Indianapolis
. By 1960 75 percent of blacks lived in urban environments, while whites had been moving to suburbs in large numbers following WWII. Black flight has altered the hyper-urban density which had resulted from the Second Great Migration
to cities from 1940-1970, with hyper-segregation in inner-city areas, such as in Chicago, St. Louis, and East St. Louis.
Job losses in former industrial cities have often pushed population out, as people migrate to other areas to find new work. In the 1950s and 1960s, numerous blacks from Chicago
began to move to suburbs south of the city to improve their housing. Industry job losses hit those towns, too, and many people have left the area altogether. Chicago lost population from 1970-1990, with some increases as of the 2000 census, and decreases again from 2000-2005. Since 2000, nearly 55,000 blacks have left Chicago, although one million still live in the city. The migrants caused losses in businesses, churches, and other African-American community institutions. The concentration of poverty and deterioration of inner-city public schools in many cities also contributes to pushing black parents to move their families to suburban areas, with traditionally better funded schools. Detroit and Philadelphia are two other major industrial cities that have suffered dramatic population losses since the mid-twentieth century due to the loss of industrial jobs.
Reviews of the 2000 census showed that African Americans have also left New York, but continued in-migration of young whites and immigrants has appeared to stabilize the white proportion of residents. Joseph J. Salvo, director of the New York Department of City Planning’s population division, noted the diversity within the white population, as older European Americans are replaced by new immigrants, including the many Hispanics who identify as white. Similarly, black out-migration from Boston
since 2000 resulted in the city's becoming majority white again by 2006. In 1970 at the peak of African-American expansion in Washington, DC, blacks comprised 70% of the capital's population. The percentage of black population has decreased significantly - to 55.6% in 2007, down nearly 8% since 2000, and much more since the 1970s.
California cities, a destination for black migrants from 1940-1970, have changed as well. The state has lost black migrants for the first time in three decades. San Francisco has had the largest decrease in black population, 23 percent from 1990 to 2000, but Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego also have had losses. In Los Angeles
, the percentage of population that is black has dropped by half to 9.9% since 1970, a proportion that also reflects recent increased Hispanic
and Asian
immigration.f
The large inner-city area of South Los Angeles
offers an example of change caused by ethnic succession, where new immigrants replace former residents who move away or where an older generation is replaced by young people with children. In 1985 African American
s made up 72% of the population of the area. By 2006 the black proportion of the population had decreased to just 24%. The Latino
population had risen from 21% in 1985 to 69% in 2006, as one population replaced another. From 2004-2005, Latino demand for housing caused prices to rise more than 40 percent in Watts and South Central Los Angeles.
With the reverse movement of the New Great Migration
, the South has been the gaining region for black migrants coming from all three other census regions, especially from 1995-2000. The chief gaining states have been Georgia
, North Carolina
, Florida
, Maryland
, Virginia
and Tennessee
. In the same period, Georgia, Texas
and Maryland attracted the most black college graduates. Houston and Dallas center cities have lost black population as the middle class has moved to the suburbs. In a change from previous settlement patterns, new regional migrants settle directly in the suburbs, the areas of largest residential growth and often the location of jobs as well. In addition to Atlanta, the top metropolitan areas attracting African Americans include Orlando
, Tampa
and Miami, Florida; and Charlotte, North Carolina
.
. Owners who want to move to smaller housing cannot afford it. In other cases, rising home values increase property tax assessments to a level which longtime homeowners cannot afford.
communities are being replaced as the residents move to the suburbs. There is a large and growing Black population in Toronto's western and eastern suburbs, such as: Brampton
, Mississauga, and Ajax
. Low-income, inner city neighbourhoods previously associated with Black Canadians in Montreal & Toronto such as Jane-Finch, Regent Park
, Malvern
have shown a decline in Black population in recent years, coupled with an increase in Asian
and Latin American immigrant populations.
and as compared to the 2000 census, after inflation
is considered. African Americans occupy a higher percentage of high-paying jobs within the USA than they used to. This has led to a rapidly increasing black upper-middle class
. Many of America’s suburbs are becoming diversified with black and white residents coexisting in affluent neighborhoods. With the economic division within similar classes declining between races, African-American movement to the suburbs has resulted in some suburbs becoming more diverse. Other times middle and upper class blacks have chosen to settle in chiefly African-American communities, so their children can grow up in a strong community of their own.
The extent to which increased economic prosperity among African Americans has led to integration among whites and blacks is debatable. Some scholars suggest that the narrowing economic divide is helping the USA to become an increasingly color-blind society, but others note the de facto segregation in many residential areas and continuing social discrimination.
and its suburbs and Dallas, Texas
. Other issues in Dallas include an increase in immigration of Hispanics. In the 1980s and 1990s, the school district had a majority of black students. Today it has a preponderance of Hispanic
students, in a kind of ethnic succession that reflects residential changes in the city. Hispanics constitute 68 percent of students, while blacks are 26 percent, and whites are 5 percent. In addition, 87 percent of the Hispanic students qualify as "economically disadvantaged," and many are just learning English. Middle-class blacks are moving to suburbs in a repetition of earlier migration of middle-class whites. The issues of schools and residential patterns are strongly related to economic class, as well as parents' preferring that their children go to schools with native speakers of English.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s from predominantly black or mixed inner-city areas in the United States to suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s and outlying edge cities of newer home construction. While more attention has been paid to this since the 1990s, the movement of blacks to the suburbs has been underway for some time, with nine million persons having migrated from 1960-2000. Their goals have been similar to those of the white middle class, whose out-migration was called white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
: newer housing, better schools for their children, and attractive environments. From 1990 to 2000, the percentage of African Americans who lived in the suburbs increased to a total of 39 percent, rising 5 percent in that decade. Most who moved to the suburbs after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were middle class.
Early years of residential change accelerated in the late 1960s after passage of civil rights legislation ended segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
, and African Americans could exercise more choices in housing and jobs. Since the 1950s, there began a period of major restructuring of industries and loss of hundreds of thousands of industrial jobs in northeast and Midwest cities. Since the late 20th century, these events led to reduced density in formerly black neighborhoods in cities such as Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, and Philadelphia, which have also had absolute population decreases, losing white population as well. Since the 2000 census, the number and proportion of black population has decreased in several major cities, including New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Atlanta, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
More importantly, in addition to moving to suburbs, since 1965 African Americans have been returning to the South in a New Great Migration
New Great Migration
The New Great Migration is the term for demographic changes from 1965 to the present which are a reversal of the previous 35-year trend of black migration within the United States...
, especially since 1990 to the states of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, whose economies have expanded. In many cases, they are following the documented movement of jobs to the suburbs and the South. Because more African Americans are attaining college degrees, they are better able to find and obtain better-paying jobs and move to the suburbs. Most African-American migrants leaving the northern regions have gone to the "New South
New South
New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a phrase that has been used intermittently since the American Civil War to describe the American South, after 1877. The term "New South" is used in contrast to the Old South of the plantation system of the antebellum period.The term has been used...
" states, where economies and jobs have grown from knowledge industries, services and technology.
Achieving higher education has contributed to an increase in overall affluence within the African-American community, with increasing median income, both in absolute terms and in relation to that of European Americans. According to a 2007 study, average African-American family income has increased, but the gap with white families has increased slightly.
History
In his After the Fact (1995), the anthropologist Clifford GeertzClifford Geertz
Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until...
documented changes in a city in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. As poor rural migrants moved into the center city during urbanization, the older, more established and wealthier populations moved to the outskirts. This pattern of class and education succession has been seen in United States cities, where poor immigrants and migrants have occupied older areas of affordable housing, but when economically established, they move to better areas, often in the suburbs. In recent decades, such ethnic succession seen first in center cities has been taking place in the suburbs, too.
Since the 1960s, many middle-class African Americans have been moving to the suburbs for newer housing and good schools, just as European Americans had done before them. From 1960-2000, the number of African Americans who moved to suburbs was nine million, a number considerably higher than the Great Migration
Great Migration
Great Migration, Great Migrations, or The Great Migration may refer:In history:* Great Migration of Puritans from England to New England * Great Serb Migrations from the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg Monarchy...
of Africans from the rural South to the North during the first half of the century. As C. Hocker writes,
"The fact is African Americans desire the same things all Americans want for their families: employment opportunities with well-paying positions that can keep up with -or stay ahead of- the cost of living; the chance to own affordable homes in safe neighborhoods; quality options for educating our children; and the social and cultural amenities that make it all worthwhile. Right now, the South, more than any other region of the country, is living up to that promise."
In the last 25 years, for example, the population of Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
, where suburban housing was developed near Washington, DC, became majority African American. By 2006 it was the wealthiest majority-black county in the nation. Similar to White Americans, African Americans continue to move to more distant areas. Charles County, Maryland
Charles County, Maryland
Charles County is a county in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 146,551. Its county seat is La Plata. This county was named for Charles Calvert , third Baron Baltimore....
has become the next destination for middle-class black migrants from Washington and other areas; by 2002, the students in the school system were majority black. Charles County has the fastest-growing black population of any large county in the nation except the Atlanta suburbs.
In 1950 few northern cities yet had large percentages of blacks, nor did southern ones: Washington, DC was 35 percent African American and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
was 24 percent. From 1950-1970, the black population increased dramatically in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. By 1960 75 percent of blacks lived in urban environments, while whites had been moving to suburbs in large numbers following WWII. Black flight has altered the hyper-urban density which had resulted from the Second Great Migration
Second Great Migration (African American)
The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...
to cities from 1940-1970, with hyper-segregation in inner-city areas, such as in Chicago, St. Louis, and East St. Louis.
Job losses in former industrial cities have often pushed population out, as people migrate to other areas to find new work. In the 1950s and 1960s, numerous blacks from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
began to move to suburbs south of the city to improve their housing. Industry job losses hit those towns, too, and many people have left the area altogether. Chicago lost population from 1970-1990, with some increases as of the 2000 census, and decreases again from 2000-2005. Since 2000, nearly 55,000 blacks have left Chicago, although one million still live in the city. The migrants caused losses in businesses, churches, and other African-American community institutions. The concentration of poverty and deterioration of inner-city public schools in many cities also contributes to pushing black parents to move their families to suburban areas, with traditionally better funded schools. Detroit and Philadelphia are two other major industrial cities that have suffered dramatic population losses since the mid-twentieth century due to the loss of industrial jobs.
Reviews of the 2000 census showed that African Americans have also left New York, but continued in-migration of young whites and immigrants has appeared to stabilize the white proportion of residents. Joseph J. Salvo, director of the New York Department of City Planning’s population division, noted the diversity within the white population, as older European Americans are replaced by new immigrants, including the many Hispanics who identify as white. Similarly, black out-migration from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
since 2000 resulted in the city's becoming majority white again by 2006. In 1970 at the peak of African-American expansion in Washington, DC, blacks comprised 70% of the capital's population. The percentage of black population has decreased significantly - to 55.6% in 2007, down nearly 8% since 2000, and much more since the 1970s.
California cities, a destination for black migrants from 1940-1970, have changed as well. The state has lost black migrants for the first time in three decades. San Francisco has had the largest decrease in black population, 23 percent from 1990 to 2000, but Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego also have had losses. In Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the percentage of population that is black has dropped by half to 9.9% since 1970, a proportion that also reflects recent increased Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
and Asian
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
immigration.f
The large inner-city area of South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
offers an example of change caused by ethnic succession, where new immigrants replace former residents who move away or where an older generation is replaced by young people with children. In 1985 African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s made up 72% of the population of the area. By 2006 the black proportion of the population had decreased to just 24%. The Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
population had risen from 21% in 1985 to 69% in 2006, as one population replaced another. From 2004-2005, Latino demand for housing caused prices to rise more than 40 percent in Watts and South Central Los Angeles.
With the reverse movement of the New Great Migration
New Great Migration
The New Great Migration is the term for demographic changes from 1965 to the present which are a reversal of the previous 35-year trend of black migration within the United States...
, the South has been the gaining region for black migrants coming from all three other census regions, especially from 1995-2000. The chief gaining states have been Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. In the same period, Georgia, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Maryland attracted the most black college graduates. Houston and Dallas center cities have lost black population as the middle class has moved to the suburbs. In a change from previous settlement patterns, new regional migrants settle directly in the suburbs, the areas of largest residential growth and often the location of jobs as well. In addition to Atlanta, the top metropolitan areas attracting African Americans include Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
and Miami, Florida; and Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
.
Gentrification
In some cases, longtime black renters have been priced out of inner city neighborhoods because of rising rents caused by gentrificationGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
. Owners who want to move to smaller housing cannot afford it. In other cases, rising home values increase property tax assessments to a level which longtime homeowners cannot afford.
Inner city home value appreciation
In other instances, longtime black homeowners in central city areas have "cashed out" at retirement age and profited from increasing home values. These longtime residents have relocated to more affordable condominiums in outlying suburban areas, or in other regions altogether.In Canada
The out-migration and suburbanization trend can also be observed in Canada. Although Canada's Black population has always been more middle-class than its counterpart in the United States, many urban Black CanadianBlack Canadian
'Black Canadians is a designation used for people of Black African descent, who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The term specifically refers to Canadians with Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin...
communities are being replaced as the residents move to the suburbs. There is a large and growing Black population in Toronto's western and eastern suburbs, such as: Brampton
Brampton
Brampton is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada.Brampton may also refer to:- Canada :* Brampton, a city in Ontario** Brampton GO Station, a station in the GO Transit network located in the city- United Kingdom :...
, Mississauga, and Ajax
Ajax, Ontario
Ajax is a town in the Durham Region in the Greater Toronto Area.The town is named for the HMS Ajax a Royal Navy cruiser that served in World War II. Ajax is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and the...
. Low-income, inner city neighbourhoods previously associated with Black Canadians in Montreal & Toronto such as Jane-Finch, Regent Park
Regent Park
Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in Old Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Regent Park is Canada's oldest and largest social housing project; built in the late 1940s. Formerly the centre of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood, it is bounded by Gerrard Street East to the north, River Street to the east,...
, Malvern
Malvern, Toronto
Malvern is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a population of 44,315. It is located in the northeast corner of the city, in the district of Scarborough. Scarborough was merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto in 1998...
have shown a decline in Black population in recent years, coupled with an increase in Asian
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Latin American immigrant populations.
Economic disparities
The economic disparities between some classes of European Americans and African Americans have diminished. Black Americans today have a median income level much higher than they did in the 1990 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
and as compared to the 2000 census, after inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
is considered. African Americans occupy a higher percentage of high-paying jobs within the USA than they used to. This has led to a rapidly increasing black upper-middle class
American Black Upper Class
The American Black Upper Class consists of African American professionals in fields such as law, medicine, business and entertainment that have incomes that amount to $100,000 or more...
. Many of America’s suburbs are becoming diversified with black and white residents coexisting in affluent neighborhoods. With the economic division within similar classes declining between races, African-American movement to the suburbs has resulted in some suburbs becoming more diverse. Other times middle and upper class blacks have chosen to settle in chiefly African-American communities, so their children can grow up in a strong community of their own.
The extent to which increased economic prosperity among African Americans has led to integration among whites and blacks is debatable. Some scholars suggest that the narrowing economic divide is helping the USA to become an increasingly color-blind society, but others note the de facto segregation in many residential areas and continuing social discrimination.
Other uses
The term "black flight" has also been used to describe African-American parents in some cities moving their children from public schools to charter schools or suburban schools featuring open enrollment. This has taken place in a variety of places, including Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and its suburbs and Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Other issues in Dallas include an increase in immigration of Hispanics. In the 1980s and 1990s, the school district had a majority of black students. Today it has a preponderance of Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
students, in a kind of ethnic succession that reflects residential changes in the city. Hispanics constitute 68 percent of students, while blacks are 26 percent, and whites are 5 percent. In addition, 87 percent of the Hispanic students qualify as "economically disadvantaged," and many are just learning English. Middle-class blacks are moving to suburbs in a repetition of earlier migration of middle-class whites. The issues of schools and residential patterns are strongly related to economic class, as well as parents' preferring that their children go to schools with native speakers of English.
See also
- Urban decayUrban decayUrban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
- Historic PreservationHistoric preservationHistoric preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
- Mortgage discriminationMortgage discriminationMortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion...
- Planned shrinkagePlanned shrinkagePlanned shrinkage is a public policy, practiced most notably in the 1970s in New York City, of withdrawing essential city services from neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, crime, and poverty so that neighborhoods may be claimed by outside interests for new development...
- RedliningRedliningRedlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
Further reading
- C. Hocker, Migration in Reverse, 2007
- Andrew Wiese, Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century, 2003