The Great Migration: The Role Of Segregation In The United States

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In a logical sense, the idea of segregation circulates around the separation of someone or something from a particular setting or group. However, when this word is brought into the realm of everyday conversation, it portrays a negative connotation. Often more times than not, the concept of segregation associates with race separation in society. To set a minor example, this would be the separation of two groups of people such as Hispanics and Asians. In reality, when racial segregation is referred to, it typically insinuates the separation between white and black Americans. This concept has progressed throughout American history and dates back to the early years of slavery. Typically, when segregation in America is referenced, the Civil War …show more content…
This white-black line has “created a special case for segregation theory… one [in which] patterns for other ethnic and racial groups are [in]comparable” (“Segregation, Residential”). It is well known that these segregation levels have not been constant, but they are still prevalent in society. The greatest representation of these segregated zones can be noticed in metropolitan areas where the Great Migration, an interstate movement of African Americans, had its largest impact. Places such as Detroit and Chicago are fantastic examples to notice these demographic differences. Historically, the Great Migration developed these areas based on income and economic interests during World War One. Throughout the twentieth century, especially during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, blacks still continued to find a way to integrate in the suburbanized communities, but their effort continued to raise concern for segregation. A difference in income is evidence towards these separated societies of race. In a recent set of collective data from 2014, the Census Bureau report on income can support these differences with income between race. In 2014, it was reported that income decreased by 1.4 percent for African Americans, and as a result, “no progress was made in closing the black-white income gap between 2013-2014,” determining that a black household held 59 cents of a dollar to a white household (Wilson). These income gaps represent the difference seen in wage gaps constructed by leading businesses. This type of decline in a modern setting allows for the inevitable trend of the white-black line to reappear, thus creating a segregated society. According to the same census, poverty rates still remain to be around twenty five percent for African Americans in comparison to the white’s ten percent. Poverty settings are

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