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Overview: Then and Now
Pages 33-54

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From page 34...
... '., ,, ,. a: Ellis Wilson Field Wits (no date)
From page 35...
... During the span of these four and one-half decades, five major events transformed race relations in America. First and most fundamental, three decades of South-North and rural-urban migration by the black population produced conditions leading to profound changes in blacks' social status.
From page 36...
... The social changes that have most affected the lives of blacks have invariably been directly or indirectly due to underlying conditions that have had important effects for all Americans. Thus, a great urbanization and suburbanization of the entire American population accompanied black migration; the civil rights movement revolutionized American institutions, not just black ones; changing economic conditions have affected the well-being of all Americans; and while changes in family composition have not been nearly as significant among whites as among blacks, general changes in family structure have been consequential and in similar directions.
From page 37...
... to the status of black cohorts born at successive 10-year intervals. Using a few general measures-expected life span, electoral participation, educational attainment, and lifetime earnings-we describe the comparative status of several cohorts at age 25.
From page 38...
... 1914 1924 1934 1944 1954 DATE OF BIRTH Source: Data from decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys.
From page 39...
... , this amounted to 36 percent of the expected lifetime median earnings of a white male of the same cohort (see Figure 1-3; see Note at the end of this chaper for details of the calculation)
From page 40...
... 1 of 3 blacks of eligible age reported voting in the 1940 presidential election; this compared with a reported voter turnout rate of 7 of 10 among whites (see Figure 1-4~. Living under these circumstances, with minimal education and very poor earnings, health conditions were often hazardous.
From page 41...
... 1960 1970 1980 YEAR Source: Data from decennial censuses and Current Population Surveys.
From page 42...
... Intense public debate continues about the actual status of black Americans and about public policies aimed at affecting that status. These changes were reflected in the comparative social status of the last cohort at age 25 (born in 1959)
From page 43...
... Changes in the labor market opportunities available to blacks are illustrated by the fact that the median earnings of $71,000 that black men born in 1914 could expect to earn over their lifetimes after age 25 had grown by a factor of 6 to $427,000 for black men born in 1959. Yet, while the relative expected lifetime earnings of black men had risen 15 percentage points, black mens' expected median lifetime earnings were one-half that of white men of the same age cohort, a small improvement over 45 years (see Figure 1-3~.
From page 44...
... In general, changes in earnings status are quite different from the overall steady increase in black status indicated by measures such as political participation and life expectancy. The 1939-1984 penod, during which each of the birth cohorts in our study reached maturity, has seen steady increases in the regional dispersion of blacks, their educational attainment, and their life expectancy.
From page 45...
... What changes have occurred in economic position, health, education, political participation, residence, civil rights, community associations, self-conceptions, and attitudes? The subsequent chapters report detailed findings and conclusions as they pertain to these deceptively simple questions.
From page 46...
... For example: · Have the educational opportunities available to black people improved? Have public policies had important effects?
From page 47...
... DETERMI NANTS OF BLACK STATUS Black status results from American social institutions and the race relations that have developed within that institutional structure. Statistical indices of blacks' social positions are concrete indicators of that status.
From page 48...
... For example, between 1940 and 1970, large losses of black jobs due to the mechanization of southern agriculture and the expansion of industrial employment opportunities for blacks outside the South accelerated the urbanization of the black population. These changes set the stage for at least two important alterations in black status and in black-white relations: urbanized blacks, especially outside the South, gained the elective franchise and greater access to political office, and industrial employment raised black incomes so that blacks' power as consumers affected a variety of black-white relations (Chapter 5~.
From page 49...
... The commission found that "young black job seekers" faced discrimination from employers-many of whom held very negative stereotypic perceptions of blacks. The commission also found that large numbers of unemployed black youths lacked the "basic entry level skills" required to compete effectively for jobs (U.S.
From page 50...
... Similarly, national high school dropout rates among blacks are about 25 percent, but many large city school districts such as New York and Chicago report black and Hispanic dropout rates twice as high, about 50 percent. Recent concern has focused on the fact that national black infant mortality rates are twice the white rate, but in the District of Columbia, Chicago, and Detroit, black infant mortality rates in 1985 were almost 3 times higher than the national white rate.
From page 51...
... DESCRIPTION OF THE REPORT The following nine chapters of this report present detailed findings and conclusions on a wide range of measures of black status. In the next chapter, we assess change and continuity since 1940 in black-white relations and in the extent and nature of black participation in predominantly white social institutions.
From page 52...
... We close this overview with two observations. One is that the unique historical experience of black Americans is a strong living force in the present, encouraging pride in achievement against great odds and in unique cultural contributions to national life.
From page 53...
... , median earnings figures for each age were estimated by linear interpolations across the earnings brackets. Rather than assuming that a man at the median received the same earnings for every year he was in one of the five age brackets, a year-by-year profile was estimated by linear interpolation.


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