Blacks

The fact that the maps shows a large area of concentrated Black settlement exists

in 2010 confirms indirectly the fact that Los Angeles County is still quite highly

segregated between Blacks and Whites. (Scroll down to see three maps.) As

measured by the index of dissimilarity the county is the fourteenth most highly

segregated of the fifty U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of Blacks

http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report2.pdf Although its latest D-

score is .65, segregation has slowly but steadily diminished over the last half

century. Our calculations of the same statistic for 1960 showed Los Angeles

County at that time was the second most segregated metropolitan area in the

country, with .90 as its index of dissimilarity. Only Chicago was slightly more

segregated in 1960.

Change. The desegregation since 1960 was most directly the result of Blacks

moving slowly but steadily out of their segregated ghettos in 1960 and into what

had been mostly White suburban neighborhoods. The map shows the most recent

two decades of this out-movement.

The clusters of red dots shows that the major sources of the diminished numbers in

L.A. County are the old Black concentrations or ghettos that had been built up in

the days of segregated housing. In that period, from roughly 1920 through the

1960s, White society generally did not permit Blacks to own or rent housing

outside certain areas. Together with discrimination in the job market and typically

low levels of educational attainment, even Blacks who owned houses in these areas

often did not have the money to maintain the housing very well. This resulted in

increasingly poor and crowded housing in the ghettos. The largest ghetto was then

known as South Central, as it was focused along Central Avenue, though now it is

often referred to as South Los Angeles. Other segregated ghettos can be spotted on

the map as the larger clusters of red dots (neighborhoods of Black decline):

Pasadena and Altadena, Pacoima in the east San Fernando Valley, and old

formerly segregated neighborhoods in Monrovia, Long Beach, and San

Bernardino.

When segregation was weakening during the late 1960s, some middle-class Blacks

moved westward into the Baldwin Hills or Inglewood into homes vacated by

Whites. That is why on the map the largest cluster of red dots also includes on its

fringes these more upscale Black populations. A close look at the map in these

cities shows intricate patterns of change: Black populations in some neighborhood

increased since 1990, but in other neighborhoods Black numbers decreased.

An even larger shift of Blacks brought them into more distant places. This

dispersal really took off in the 1980s and, as the map shows, continued during the

last two decades. In most cases Blacks are living in apartments and single-family

houses formerly occupied by Whites. Blacks in the San Fernando Valley, for

example, have become widely distributed, though primarily in neighborhoods

where housing costs are relatively low or average. In more distant places like

Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, and Moreno Valley some Blacks were able to

purchase new homes, priced low because those locations meant long commutes to

jobs.

This change map demonstrates very powerfully the wide dispersal of Blacks in

Southern California in the last half-century. The dispersal has been made possible

by the increased educational attainment of Blacks and by reduced employment and

housing discrimination. Also important has been the fact that there have been many

families – mostly Mexican immigrants and their children -- eager to rent or buy

less expensive homes, many of which were in Black areas and owned by Blacks.

The income from such home sales helped make possible Black movement to

outlying areas.

We can highlight the importance of this Black suburbanization beyond Los

Angeles County. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of Blacks in the five-county

area increased by 1 percent. That small average change hides the fact that Blacks in

Los Angeles County decreased by 14 percent during this period.

Percentage and income. Part of the former ghetto of South Central can be

easily seen in on the map of Black percentage. However, the area that appears as

red on the map actually represents a westward shift of the old ghetto a half century

ago. The oldest and poorest housing had been east of Interstate 110, such as in

Watts. As most Black residents left that area, Mexicans and other Latinos arrived.

For several decades there has been a slowly diminishing percentage of Blacks in

that eastern section. The map of household income shows that Blacks still living in

this area are among the poorest Blacks in the L.A. area.

During this entire period most Whites had been moving westward or southward,

partly to find newer housing in the suburbs and partly to avoid living in mostly

Black neighborhoods. That latter motivation is usually called “White flight”. The

departure of Whites opened up housing in places to the west like Baldwin Hills,

Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Compton. In this way, the Black enclave has been

steadily moving westward and southward.

As the map shows, Blacks are no longer the majority in tracts east of Interstate 110

and from Watts northward because of the in-movement of Latinos. But there still is

a large area, shown in red, in which Blacks comprise at least 45 percent of the total

population. The western side of that red area represents mostly a middle-class

Black population, living in Windsor Hills, View Park, Baldwin Hills, and

Inglewood. Blacks have also developed a strong social, cultural, and commercial

focus in nearby Leimert Park.

Some of the old Black residential concentrations may have disappeared, apparently

the case with Pacoima and Monrovia, for example. However, ethnic enclaves

typically contain shops, churches, and professional offices catering to an ethnic

clientele, and it’s likely that many of these service and commercial functions

remain. In general, across the United States, suburbanization has meant the

residential dispersal of ethnic populations while many of their churches and social

and service institutions remain in the old ethnic neighborhoods.

The fact that some Blacks are dispersed into some higher-income neighborhoods

with Whites is evidence of the partial breaking down of residential segregation. For

example, such places are found around the fringe of the San Fernando Valley: in

parts of Chatsworth, Santa Clarita, Lake View Terrace, and in the still somewhat

hippy mountain community of Topanga.

Ventura and Orange have few Black residents compared to the other counties, a

fact that can be seen indirectly on the large number of tracts shaded gray on the

map of median income. The fact that so many tracts in these two counties contain

fewer than 100 Blacks is probably due at least in part to higher home prices in

those tracts. The greater Black population along the coast around Oxnard

represents in part families connected with the U.S. Navy bases at Port Hueneme

and Pt. Mugu.

See maps below.

Non-Hispanic BlackChange in Population

1990 - 2010

Major Road

County Boundary

GardenGrove

Palmdale

Lancaster

DowntownLA

L O S A N G E L E S

C O U N T Y

R I V E R S I D E

C O U N T Y

S A N B E R N A R D I N O

C O U N T Y

LongBeach

Walnut

Irvine

LagunaHills

Temecula

Monrovia

Santa Clarita

Oxnard

S A N D I E G O C O U N T Y

LomaLinda

Victorville

Hesperia

S a n t a M o n i c a M o u n t a i n s

O R A N G E

C O U N T Y

SantaMonica South

Central

Cerritos

Hawthorne

V E N T U R A

C O U N T Y

Riverside

MorenoValley

Corona

Fontana SanBernardinoSan Dimas

1 Dot represents 50 Persons

Gain

Loss

Change in Blacks

S a n G a b r i e l M o u n t a i n s

S a n F e r n a n d o V a l l e y

Simi Valley

Five-county 2010 population of Non-Hispanic Blacks is 1,170,986 and change in that population between 1990 and 2010 is an increase of 11,973.Census 2010 race data are from SF1. 1990 estimates of racepopulation in 2010 tracts are based on the 1990 Fullcount table created by John R. Logan, Zengwang Xu, and Brian Stults. http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Researcher/Bridging.htm

10 20 Miles0

Castaic

Altadena

Pasadena

Pacoima

Inglewood

BaldwinHills

Watts

Compton

Rialto

Ontario

Chino

Perris

101

33

126

126

138

138

118

170

9191

22

91

91

7474

79

79

60

71

73

60

1

1

14

23

1

101

101

395

210

110

605

405

405

710

405

5

5

5

5

10 10

210210

60

57

N2

14

138

1818

215

215105

10

15

15

15

241

45.6 - 89.8

26.8 - 45.5

16.9 - 26.7

9.0 - 16.8

3.1 - 8.9

0.8 - 3.0

0.0 - 0.7

Percent Non-Hispanic Black

10 20 Miles0

Major Road

County Boundary

Inglewood

Hawthorne

VAAdmin.

Watts

Compton

Ontario

Chino

Perris

MorenoValley

Palmdale

Lancaster

Altadena

DowntownLA

L O S A N G E L E S

C O U N T Y

R I V E R S I D E

C O U N T Y

S A N B E R N A R D I N O

C O U N T Y

LongBeach

SealBeach

PasadenaMonrovia

Pomona

Ventura

PortHueneme

PointMugu

S A N D I E G O C O U N T Y

SanBernardino

Victorville

Adelanto

S a n t a M o n i c a M o u n t a i n s

O R A N G E

C O U N T Y

BaldwinHills

Pacoima

Castaic

V E N T U R A

C O U N T Y

Riverside

Rialto

Fontana

Non-Hispanic BlackPercent of Population

2010

S a n G a b r i e l M o u n t a i n s

Fewer than 10 Non-Hispanic Blacks

75

112

188

375

1127

1500

375

98

Five-county population of Non-Hispanic Black or African American of a single race only is 1,170,986.Bar length indicates proportion of all valid tracts included in a category. In most cases a category includes 2, 3, 5, 10, 30, 40, or 50 percent of the included tracts. The bar length of the excluded tracts is not related to its tract count.

Number of Tracts

101

33

126

126

138

138

118

170

91 91

22

91

91

7474

79

79

60

71

73

60

1

1

14

23

1

101

101

395

210

110 605

405

405

710

405 5

5

5

5

10 10

210

60

57

N2

14

138

1818

215

215

105

10

15

15

15

241

134,465 - 250,000+

108,381 - 134,464

84,298 - 108,380

47,227 - 84,297

17,739 - 47,226

2500.0 - 17,738

Income in Dollars

Major Road

County Boundary

Inglewood

Topanga

Watts

Compton

ChinoHills

Perris

Temecula

MorenoValley

Palmdale

Lancaster

Altadena

DowntownLA

L O S A N G E L E S

C O U N T Y

R I V E R S I D E

C O U N T Y

S A N B E R N A R D I N O

C O U N T Y

LongBeach

Pasadena

Monrovia

Pomona

Ventura

PortHueneme

PointMugu

S A N D I E G O C O U N T Y

SanBernardino

Victorville

Apple Valley

S a n t a M o n i c a M o u n t a i n s

O R A N G E

C O U N T Y

BaldwinHills

Chatsworth

Lake ViewTerrace

Castaic

V E N T U R A

C O U N T Y

Riverside

Fontana

BlackMedian Household Income

2008 - 2012

S a n G a b r i e l M o u n t a i n s

Fewer than 100 Blacks

10 20 Miles0

105

105

210

631

842

210

1817

Number of Tracts

Bar length indicates proportion of all valid tracts included in a category. In most cases a category includes 2, 3, 5, 10, 30, 40, or 50 percent of the included tracts. The bar length of the excluded tracts is not related to its tract count.

101

33

126

126

138

138

118

170

91 91

22

91

91

7474

79

79

60

71

73

60

1

1

14

23

1

101

101

395

210

110 605

405

405

710

405

5

5

5

5

10 10

210

60

57

N2

14

138

1818

215

215

105

10

15

15

15

241