What was the status of black Americans in the early 20th century? To elaborate, I need to understand history before writing an English composition.

In the history of the United States, various ethnic groups often lived together as one group when they first immigrated to the United States. However, once they established a foothold, the boundaries of this kind of residence

will be broken. But black people are different. Ever since they entered the city in large numbers, they have maintained their habit of gathering together to this day. According to

statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 60% of blacks live in large cities and are highly concentrated.

Three-fifths of the communities in which they live are The person is black and the community is relatively closed off. As we all know, black neighborhoods are so-called "problem neighborhoods" in American cities today, with widespread social problems such as poverty, unemployment, crime, and single-parent families. This article intends to analyze the formation and current situation of black ghettos, explain the reasons for their emergence, and explore the way out for their governance. The governance of black ghettos is also a hot topic of social concern in the United States.

1. The formation of black settlements

The formation of black settlements can be roughly divided into three stages: (1) 1900-1940: the emergence of settlements. (2) 1940-1970: Development of settlements. (3) 1970 to present: deterioration of settlements.

Before 1900, whether in northern cities or southern cities, the racial segregation between blacks and whites was very serious. One of the reasons was that they were absolutely Most blacks lived in remote areas of the South. In 1870, this number was 80%. At that time, the urbanization rate was extremely low. With the severe shortage of labor in the North during World War I and after the war, and the weakening of the Southern agricultural economy, the "pull" and "push" generated by these two aspects caused a large number of blacks to leave their homeland in the South and go to North

Seeking a better life, this was the first great migration of black people in American history. The result of this great migration was that between 1910

and 1920, 572,000 black people left the South. In the 1920s, there were 877,000 black people. In the 1930s, due to the Great Depression, the number

There was a slight decrease, but the momentum of 473,000 people was maintained. A large number of black people poured into the big cities in the north. In addition to seeking jobs, the first problem they encountered was housing. It was against this background that black settlements emerged.

When discussing the reasons for the formation of black ghettos, American scholars pointed out sharply that the formation of black ghettos is not simply caused by the increase in the number of black people

but by the ability to accommodate There are fewer and fewer residential areas for black people. In other words, white people's racial discrimination against black people directly led to the creation of black ghettos. The first method used by white people was violence. From 1900 to 1920, there were racial riots in New York, Chicago and other places. The houses of black families living in non-black areas were

p> was destroyed, and black people who rashly entered white areas were beaten, shot, or even lynched. In this way, in order to avoid racial disasters, black people gradually formed their own communities. These communities were called "black belts", "black cities" and even "nigger towns" by white people. As the black community

expands, the methods adopted by white people have also changed from simply using violence to adopting some "legal" covert methods, such as establishing community organizations,

called community improvement Safety and housing prices are actually to prevent black people from moving in and maintain racial boundaries. They threaten to buy with a strike

Real estate developers who sell houses to black people do not patronize stores that have business dealings with black people. The most important thing is The method is to use "restricted housing covenants" to restrict the owners. The owners must declare that they will not sell or rent their properties to black people. If they violate it, the owners will be sued. , until 1948 when the Supreme Court ruled that "restrictive residential covenants" were illegal.

Before 1940, the more famous black areas in northern large cities included the Watts District of Los Angeles, Harlem in New York, and the South Side of Chicago

Colorado. Because the South lagged behind the North in terms of industrialization and urbanization, black ghettos began to form in Southern cities only after 1940.

The second stage of the formation of black ghettos was after 1940, especially after World War II. In addition to the rapid expansion of urban population and housing shortage, federal government policies accelerated the development of black settlements during this period, making

larger second-generation and even The third generation of black ghettos emerged.

After World War II, black people once again left the southern remote areas and poured into big cities. In the 1940s, there were 1.7 million people.

In the 1950s, the number was 1.5 million. In the 1960s, there were 1.4 million people, more than the first black migration. In the two decades from 1950 to 1970, the proportion of blacks in Chicago rose from 14% to 33%, in Philadelphia from 18% to

34%, and in Kerry Franklin rose from 16% to 38%, Detroit rose from 14% to 44%. In 1970, the proportion of blacks in Newark was 54%, and in Washington it was 71%. The sudden increase in the number of black people, coupled with the suspension of many domestic housing construction projects due to participation in the war, the demobilization of a large number of military personnel after the war, and the arrival of the post-war baby boom, housing shortage has become a social problem, and the first to bear the brunt Most of them are black people, and the black areas are overcrowded.

The role of the federal government cannot be shied away from the problems that caused the development of black settlements after the war. This is manifested in two aspects. First, some government-funded housing projects are obviously racially discriminatory; second, the "urban renewal movement" has not solved the problem of black people living there. problem and make it more serious.

In 1933, the government established the Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) with the purpose of ensuring that urban residents receive reasonable housing loans. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veterans Administration (VA) were successively established. The FHA and VA were established during the war. Later, millions of dollars of loan funds were injected into the housing industry, promoting the rapid development of the housing industry, especially in the suburbs.

In terms of their loan disbursements, these two institutions follow the practice of the Homeowners Loan Corporation of dividing residential areas into four categories. The classification determines the flow of loans. Black areas are classified as Category 4, red areas, which are "dangerous areas" and are basically unavailable for loans. Moreover, the FHA also publicly stated that "in order to maintain stability in the neighborhood, it is necessary to The property continues to be occupied by the same social and racial class." For example, between 1934 and 1960, compared with St. Louis City, where the black population accounted for 40%, and St. Louis County, which was a predominantly white suburb.

St. Louis County received nearly six times as many loans as St. Louis City. Due to the authoritativeness of FHA classification, it also affects the flow of private loans, resulting in a lack of capital flow in black areas in inner cities, a sluggish real estate market, and falling housing prices. Homes are left vacant and abandoned.

According to the "Residential Act of 1949" and the "Residential Act of 1954", starting from the late 1940s, the "urban renewal movement" appeared in American cities, which is where local authorities With the help of federal funds, cities were renovated, especially the slums in urban centers or inner cities. On the surface, it should be beneficial to black areas, but the actual effect was the opposite. At that time, some public opinion criticized the "urban renewal movement" as simply meaning "black people moving." The reason is that most of the black areas are close to the downtown business district and have good geographical locations, which attract developers to carry out commercial development in these areas.

Instead of Transformed into affordable housing for poor people, especially black people.

Taking Atlanta as an example, due to the clearing of low-income community housing near the "Central Business District" (CBD), a large number of residents lost their homes. By the end of 1968, 95% of these people

It's black people, replaced by gymnasiums and some commercial buildings. In addition, in "urban renewal", there are often "more houses torn down than to be rebuilt", despite the federal government's repeated orders in 1968 that no city should demolish more houses.

< p>houses instead of building new houses, but it still caused population expansion and housing shortages in black neighborhoods.

Due to white resistance, the resettlement of black residents who lost their houses due to slum clearance has become very difficult. The only way out is

to move to existing black areas far away from the CBD. . Taking Atlanta as an example again, the low-income residential areas (public housing) that were newly built and soon to be completed in the late 1960s are located in the west and southeast sides of the city. These areas are where traditional black people live. district.

At that time, the West and Southeast Sides were already overcrowded and could no longer accept residents, and the schools and municipal facilities here were also overwhelmed.

Atlanta’s black leaders believed that the resumption of the city government would The resettlement project was to redevelop black areas and called for low-income housing to be built in the north and northeast of the city (white residential areas), which met with strong resistance from white people. For blacks in Atlanta, the result of the "urban renewal movement" was a highly dense population. In 1967, 88% of the city's high-density areas were inhabited by blacks. In the west and southeast, in 1959, the black community population accounted for 35.7% of the city's population and occupied 16.7% of the land.

The population in 1965 was 43.5% of the city's population. It occupies only 22% of the area, and its residential segregation index has grown from 87.4 in 1940 to 91.5 in 1950 and 93.5 in 1960, ranking third in the country. The congestion in black areas is four times In white neighborhoods, 40% of black people live in overcrowded housing.

In order to fully accommodate black people in black areas, developers also want to save costs, and public housing has developed towards high-rise buildings.

For example, the Robert Taylor Housing District in Chicago , 2 miles long, spanning 4 blocks, with 28 16-story towers, it is currently one of the poorest communities in the United States, and its original site was Chicago's traditional black neighborhood in the 1940s. belt area.

Due to the high concentration of black people and the poor living environment, it paved the way for black urban riots in the 1960s.

The third stage of the development of black ghettos was after 1970. Although the United States experienced the civil rights movement and economic prosperity,

The situation of black ghettos in inner cities still has not been understood. Instead of improving, it got worse, and as the black middle class began to leave the inner cities, class divisions began to emerge in black ghettos.

The three civil rights bills passed in the 1960s, especially the Housing Act of 1968, gave blacks the right to freely choose where to live. However, due to deep-rooted racial discrimination, Due to conceptual and economic reasons (except for a small number of black people in the middle and upper classes), the vast majority of black people still live in inner-city neighborhoods, and 60% of black people are concentrated in 30 metropolitan areas across the country. The following table reflects from one side

Racial discrimination and prejudice are the fundamental reasons for the existence of black ghettos.

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