The Role Of Segregation In Middle Class America

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

Scholars have argued that the resettling was done as whites chose to segregate themselves from urban culture but more importantly minorities. Opponents of the theory believe this is not true as (Howell & Timberlake 2014) explain that “in the late nineteenth century the outskirts of cities had jobs and establishments that catered to the poor and working class thus, Blacks were likely to be suburbanized as well as their White counterpart.”(80) However, due to the urban population decline a negative effect on the tax base created a financial

The article states “that income alone cannot explain, nor would it likely end, the segregation that has defined American cities and suburbs for generations” (Eligon and Gebeloff). Wealthy African American families are seen as still living in poverty stricken areas, even with their large income salaries (Eligon and Gebeloff). Essentially, there is a larger factor that is affecting where African Americans live. The many previous years of racism and ethnic discrimination are ultimately determining the location African Americans stay. When African Americans older generations could not buy an enjoyable house and pass down their riches, the newer generations have a difficult time putting themselves in a position to buy a house in a nice neighborhood (Eligon and Gebeloff). If an African American family is fortunate enough to live in a more upscale neighborhood, they are not always accepted by the members of the community (Eligon and Gebeloff). My aunt has recently moved into a suburban, mostly white neighborhood, and I have seen this taken place first hand. Within the first few months of their move in, my aunt and her family would receive questionable looks from neighbors as if they were not welcoming their newfound neighbor. While racism from neighbors is a large factor, there is another important element of racism that takes

In order to support his opinion, the author uses historical references to the enormous impact of racial inequality on African American lives. Additionally, Desmond names a set of historical data and rates of the poor African Americans in cities to enhance the reader’s understanding of this complex situation. African Americans were also more likely to get the apartment with broken furniture, windows, and other facilities that confirmed the existence of racial inequality (Desmond, 2016, p.249). To reassert his position, Desmond provides offensive statistics that millions of people are evicted from American homes, and most of them are African American (Desmond, 2016, p.293). As a matter of fact, the author proves that housing discrimination based on race is the primary cause of

Equality was once a repulsive concept within America, today it seems to be a foregone conclusion. Indeed, we have made so many strides in the way that we view race that it seems a gross misstep every time that it needs to be addressed. Even our President, an African American who overcame tremendous odds to rise to the highest office does not have the answers to our issues with race, rather he calls on us all to “ask some tough questions about how we can permit so many of our children to languish in poverty, or attend dilapidated schools, or grow up without prospects for a job or for a career.” For most, these questions point to sources outside of themselves, but perhaps there a bit of introspection is the answer. Systematic segregation can

Society, as we know it today, consists of people who have evolved and developed mentally, culturally, geographically, and physiologically. Because people come from different walks of life, segregation has played a significant role in America. It is seemingly inescapable. The term segregation is known for its infamous history and the negative impact it has had on society. Due to its reputation, it is very uncommon that one studies the word in a positive way contrary to its negative connotation, to find that it has two sides, both pros and cons. Due to this fact, in this paper I will discuss the pros and cons that can be associated with segregation.

There have been many articles published about the transformation of cities in regards to industrial improvements, communities blooming with mass migrations, and standards of living. A number of different cultures have migrated to rural and urban populations and among those mass migrations there were African Americans. Although immigrants went through hardships such as harsh living conditions and low status, they didn’t have to go through as much trouble as African Americans did. African Americans who moved into the city were not on top of the priority list to most. They were not given the time of day to their needs. Race affected these urban dwellers because of discrimination, living conditions, and inequality.

It was a way to constraint African Americans to areas that were far away from those with status, class, and power. Segregation led to discrimination in economic opportunities, housing, and education. The black culture has suffered from the barriers that were placed through segregation. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 tried to limit some of the discrimination associated with segregation. It was discovered that even a “rising economic status had little or no effect on the level of segregation that blacks experience” (Massey and Denton 87). The authors imply that “black segregation would remain a universal high” (Massey and Denton 88). The problem with the continuing causes in Segregation is that even though the Fair Housing act was placed, many realtors still discriminate against blacks “through a series of ruses, lies, and deceptions, makes it hard for them to learn about, inspect, rent, or purchase homes in white neighborhoods” (Massey and Denton 97). Segregation and discrimination have a cumulative effect over time. Massey and Denton argued that the “act of discrimination may be small and subtle, together they have a powerful cumulative effect in lowering the probability of black entry into white neighborhood” (98). William Julius Wilson had

As an inhabitant of planet earth, I have watched the people grow and prosper and then fall back to old habits. Years ago, we were separated by race and even though we claim that time is over, it is not. Our country is a great example of segregation because we not only segregate by race, but by gender and sexual orientation as well. America was founded on preconceived expectations of gender and race leading to a segregation of consciousness that structures opinions around the injustices of stereotypes.

Race is invisible to white, because they don’t have to think about it. When white people are in poverty, they never think to consider their skin color as a factor to why they are. Whites are mostly oblivious to this happening in general, because it does not happen to them.

To provide insight on just how segregated the city is, in order to even out the demographics of the city’s neighborhoods, some 72% of black or white residents would have to move to a different census tract, this according to a commonly used segregation measure called the index of dissimilarity (Luhby, 2016). Because of this, it is apparent that the lives of black and white Chicago residents could hardly be more different. In addition, these statistics are not new, in the not so distant past, the city had hushed housing and mortgage policies that kept black residents confined to Chicago’s lower class neighborhoods, for this reasons, many of Chicago’s black families rented for generations past as a result of the lapse in ownership opportunities. So, as a result it is summed up well by Chicago city planner Lauren Nolan who contests that "The scars of segregation, redlining, housing policies and discrimination are still very visible today," and perhaps are best seen on Chicago’s south side where streets still remain borders between race and income

During the early 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was considered to be one of the most racially divided cities in the United States despite the city's population of approximately 350,000 people and 60 percent being white and 40 percent being African Americans. Birmingham, Alabama’s law enforcement, firefighters, salesperson in department stores, school bus drivers, bank tellers, and cashiers had no employed African Americans. African Americans who were secretaries were not allowed to work for white professionals. Many jobs available for African Americans consisted of manual labor in factories, provided maid and yard services, or working in other African American neighborhoods. Jobs that had to lay off employees for whatever reasons would often lay

The redlining practices of the Federal Government established economic segregation in San Antonio. Denying minorities access to federally backed home loans put them at an economic disadvantage when it comes to accumulating wealth. This also creates a cycle of poverty and crime in those neighborhoods.

In America on average only 27% of African American Students’ class mates are Caucasian due to a divide between white and minority populations which has lasted for decades (Rivkin n.pag.). A system of racial division has evolved in the shadows and takes on many forms, most of which are fairly discrete. Racially separated communities have formed through a variety of mediums in a slow and persistent manner. However, the effects of a residential divide are direct, immediate, and numerous. A racist agenda within the development of American communities has further isolated the American people from each other by a means of systematic urban segregation.

A new study, based on censes figures from 1950 to 1980 shows that “the United States largest cities have growing concentration of black Americans living in property”. While the overall rate of property in the nation increased slightly in those years to about 13 percent in 1980, the number of people in property in the 50 cities jumped 12 percent at a time, when the cities were losing population. During this time the urban problems are getting worse at precisely the time the nation is doing less about them. Black living in property in major cities has become a big concern for many political scientists, who see the increasing isolation of the poor as perpetuating the