African Americans
in Cities
By: Joshua Paustian
Slavery and a Fight for Freedom
• Slavery in the U.S.
began as early as the
17th century
• White landowners saw
Blacks as “inferior”,
and less important
• Over 400,000 Blacks
were forced into slave
trade in the U.S.
• 1807 marks end of
slave trade, yet
domestic slavery
grows
• Emancipation
Proclamation of
1863 sets slaves
Mass Migration
to Cities
• Post-Civil War led to an urban shift
among Blacks
• Crop damage, depression, and
WW1 lead to urban shift in the
1910s
• Living/working conditions are poor
• The Great Depression hits Blacks
the hardest
• Unemployment rates are 2-3 times
worse than white populations
• Migration continues through 20th
Century; but Blacks are last in line
Pushing for Policy Change
The fight for equality and desegregation continues
throughout the 1950s and 60s
• 1954- Brown v. Board of
Education finally ends the
“separate but equal” doctrine in
public schools
• 1960s- Looting and burning
riots plague inner city areas
• Late 1960s- “Black Power”
becomes a popular movement
Redlining: Then & Now
• Federal government programs
of the 1930s began developing
new housing for middle-class,
white families
• Color-coded maps
distinguished Black
neighborhoods that were “too
risky” for mortgages
• Today, African American incomes and
wealth still lag drastically behind,
especially among those in inner city
housing
• Blacks still populate 13% or urban
areas, but only 8% of rural ones, and
continue to be crowded into small
areas of land
Case Study: Milwaukee
Substance Abuse
• Both substance and homelessness play off each
other to provide dire living conditions in inner cities
& Homelessness • A 2008 study reported substance abuse to be the
largest cause of homelessness
Perspective
in Society
BLM Protesters • Inequality for African Americans has been
picking up lots of steam across movies, media
attention, books, and more are of recently
The Hate U Give (2018)
Marshall (2017)
What I’ve Learned
EDUC 206 Has:
This Research
Reveals:
• African Americans • Broadened my
have never really understanding
caught up from
injustices in of a wide
American
variety of
• More light needs to
be shed on all types minority groups
of urban disparities • Placed me in
• Discussion, Forums,
and Protests need the shoes of
to be had people who
don’t have the
blessings and
upbringing I do
Sources
• Information (In Order of Appearance): https://news.uchicago.edu/story/closer-look-how-neighborhoods-shape-public-health
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/wwi/labor
https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American/Slavery-in-the-United-States
https://eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/events/reparations-reading-group-the-great-depression-the-
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-se new-deal-and-the-birth-of-industrial-unionism/
gregated-america
https://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Josh-Gad/dp/B076CVHLJ1
https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cityDCD/planning/plans/Citywide/plan/
Data.pdf https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580266/
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/black-incarceration-rate-united-states-https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-53375907
nationwide-problem
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/little-rock-nine-school-desegregation
https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf
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https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/2/21276966/antiracist-movies-str
eaming-racism https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/19/498536077/interactive-redlining-map-zo
oms-in-on-americas-history-of-discrimination
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=99538
https://www.milwaukeedowntown.com
• Photos:
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/learn/substance-abuse-by-city/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/02/08/1619-african-arrival-virginia/
2740468002/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-07/homeless-population-mental-illness-disab
ilityhttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-07/homeless-population-mental-illness-d
https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/essay/origins-slavery-0 isability
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/ku-klux-klan-kkk-media-debate https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/hiv-african-americans
https://momentousinstitute.org/blog/why-stereotypes-are-harmful
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312655
