The conventional wisdom is that due to intense discrimination, prior to the Civil Rights era blacks of all classes lived side by side. Individual socioeconomic status did not translate into improved locational outcomes according to this view. But several historical case studies suggest that upper–stratum blacks did indeed live in neighborhoods set apart from their poorer brethren. This study uses individual–level data from the 1910–1950 Public Use Microdata Samples to investigate how individual–level socioeconomic status translated into neighborhood–level outcomes for blacks. the study finds that among blacks, individual–level socioeconomic status played no role in determining residential proximity to whites. for blacks individual socioeconomic status was, however, an important determinant of other neighborhood outcomes.
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