Race and Residence: The Shifting Basis of American Race Relations

Abstract

Racially-segregated ghettos evolved in the early decades of this century, first in northern cities and later throughout the nation. Levels of urban residential segregation for blacks have remained high over the years and—unlike the earlier pattern for European immigrants—have not declined as blacks have made economic progress. Despite modest declines in segregation in the sixties, metropolitan decline in the seventies and structural shifts in employment conditions for blacks have resulted in growing concern for problems of de facto segregation. Mounting attention to housing discrimination and the residential basis of current black-white tensions are discussed.