Philadelphia
1 2019-05-10T02:00:29+00:00 Alexander Konchak 0b9ad8238aee0f53579473c7d02a7f7624fee622 44 2 Map of Philadelphia plain 2019-05-10T02:11:44+00:00 Alexander Konchak 0b9ad8238aee0f53579473c7d02a7f7624fee622This page is referenced by:
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Part I: Segregation in the United States
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A short history of Segregation in the United States
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Racial segregation in the United States is often thought of in the context of Jim Crow laws in the American South. This type of segregation was codified and enforced through the law. These laws quickly took hold after reconstruction efforts in the South ended and persisted until the 1960’s when the 1964 Civil Rights Act formally ended segregation. However, this is not the complete story.
Although, segregation is no longer de jure it would be a mistake to consider the United States as unsegregated. Segregation is still ongoing albeit it is now de facto instead of de jure. The University of Virginia created a racial dot map that shows where racial groups live in the US. To showcase this example here is a map of Philadelphia.
A study by the Brookings showed that although communities are becoming more integrated many areas are still very segregated. Furthermore, the same study also showed that around half or Black Americans would need to move to make the country fully integrated. (Frey 2018). This is a legitimate problem because segregation has actual effects.
Black Americans are more likely to also live in areas of concentrated poverty which include a litany of problems from higher crime rates and dropout rates to poorer physical and mental health along with other issues. Minorities are disproportionately affected by concentrated poverty. In the earlier 2000’s poverty was further concentrated and during the Great Recession the process was quickened and exacerbated. In the time period from 2010-14 Black Americans were 5 times more likely to live in an extremely poor neighborhood as whites. Hispanic Americans were also affected by this resurgent in the concentration of poverty as the share of residents in poor neighborhoods rose 4.7%. The share of Black Americans living in concentrated poverty also increased by by 3.9%. (Kneebone and Holmes 2016). A key issues when discussing this problem is that this segregation was caused not by mistake or by a series of unlikely events. Instead it was caused directly by government policy.
