A Common Destiny Blacks and American Society (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Black Participation in American Society
Black Participation in American Society
Pages 55-112
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From page 56... ...
Kenneth Hayes Miller Bargain Hunters (1940) Oil on canvas National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
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From page 57... ...
That period marked the end of an era in American race relations and is a good baseline against which subsequent social conditions can be appraised. However, as noted in Chapter 1, comparisons of social positions in the 1940s with those of the 1980s invariably lead to assessments of large improvement.
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From page 58... ...
In organized sports and arts and entertainment, in the absence of much governmental pressure, levels of black participation and equal treatment have been higher than those in most other areas of social life. In contrast, black participation in predominantly white residential neighborhoods has shown little change since 1960 despite some governmental pressure.
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From page 59... ...
With its potential violence and basic inequality, segregation was a potent system of white control over the black population. While most black people did not have to confront lynch mobs, the potential for such violence loomed before them, and they could not depend on the legal system for protection (Franklin, 1969;Raper, 1933~.
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From page 60... ...
The images and understandings of black Americans held by whites were distinctly shaped by existing prejudices, and the gulf between these two groups was immense. Yet North-South differences and pressures toward change during World War II suggested both that the future would bring change in black-white relations and that many people, especially in the South, would resist.
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From page 61... ...
Later, there was movement into other northern areas, but many cities in the North-Minneapolis, Akron, and the manufacturing centers of upstate New York-attracted few black migrants and still have small black populations (see reviews in Farley, 1987; Letwin, 1986~. Blacks who moved to the North were relatively successful.
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From page 62... ...
the problems of declining northern cities were caused by the arrival of a poorly educated rural black population. They suggested that the southern blacks were culturally and intellectually unsuited for the complex life of the modern city.
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From page 63... ...
Some important increases in black participation occurred in war industries, especially in shipbuilding and steel. In general, these increases came as pressures from the wartime economy and from civil rights groups grew more intense, forcing industry to hire more black workers (Weaver, 1946~.
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From page 64... ...
Indeed, the issues of concern to blacks during the war years prefigured those that would become central to the civil rights movement and to the general issue of equal opportunity. Conflicts over public accommodations, occupational mobility, housing, and media images were important both in the civilian and military domains.
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From page 65... ...
~ve Order 11063 bars discrimination in federally assisted housing. 1964 The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in public accommodations and employment.
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From page 66... ...
As black participation increased, the significance of a few black people in a social domain diminished, but there were increasing questions about how many more black people would enter and what positions they would hold. With this shift of emphasis, if further change did not follow soon, appointment of the first black or the first few blacks in an institution became increasingly seen as tokens instead of signs of real change.
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From page 67... ...
These policies of segregation and differential treatment of black military personnel led to many nonviolent and violent confrontations between blacks and whites, both at home and in European and Asian theaters of war (Childs, 1987~. The policies and the incidents repeatedly demonstrated the second-class status of black Americans.
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From page 68... ...
. Jackie Robinson breaks the racial barrier in modern major league baseball when he joins the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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From page 69... ...
Wharton, Ir., becomes first black president of a major, predominantly white university (Michigan State University)
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From page 70... ...
President Truman's order to the military to institute equal treatment was issued in response to pressures from black leaders and civil rights organizations. In particular, A
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From page 71... ...
These two branches of the military service have continually had low rates of black participation in their officer corps. In 1986, 30 percent of the Army was black; the percentages for the other services were Marines, 20; Air Force, 17; and Navy, 14.
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From page 72... ...
Several features of~ the data warrant comment. t~rst, black participation in both enlisted grades and officer ranks has increased, with the greatest increases in the lowest levels.
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From page 73... ...
Black enlisters, especially in the Army, have higher educational levels than whites, and black enlisters have higher aptitude scores than the general black population. Among white males and females, the lower the score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT)
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From page 74... ...
Considerable concern has been noted in the scholarly literature over the possibility that the relatively low rates of white enlistment and retention would result in "resegregation" of the military forces. Clearly, however, a high overall proportion of black personnel does not necessarily entail either segregated occupations or segregated units.
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From page 75... ...
, the Supreme Court held that segregation of public schools violated the constitutional rights of black children. With that decision and the implementing decree of May 1955 instructing lower courts to order a prompt and reasonable beginning of desegregation to be accomplished "with all deliberate speed," the Court removed the state-enforced basis for exclusion and separation in the schools.
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From page 76... ...
By 1980, whites made up only 4 percent of the public school enrollment in Washington, 8 percent in Atlanta, 9 percent in Newark and 12 percent in Detroit (Orfield, 1983~. Residential segregation was high in the 29 metropolitan areas that contained one-half of the country's black population in 1980 (see Table 2-5~.
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From page 77... ...
BLACK PARTICI PATION I N AMERICAN SOCI ETY FIGURE 2-2 Black students attending public schools in which (a) 90 percent or (b)
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From page 78... ...
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From page 79... ...
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From page 80... ...
Furthermore, desegregation is most likely to reduce racial isolation as well as to improve academic and social outcomes for blacks when it is part of a comprehensive and rapid program of change in the schools; conversely, partial and slow implementation may worsen educational outcomes and black-white relations. We note also that school desegregation does not substantially affect the academic performance of white students, while it modestly improves black performance, in particular, reading (see Chapter 7~.
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From page 81... ...
In general, studies carried out in the 1960s and 1970s show only limited integration within desegregated schools, both in classroom behavior and in extracurricular activities (Hawley, 1981; Patchen, 1982; Rist, 1979~. Rese~gre,gat~n Within Desegregated Schools A primary distinction exists between formal desegregation and actual integration of schools.
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From page 82... ...
Although many studies have documented great black-white disparities, there is little hard evidence that ability grouping and differential punishment of black students are generally adopted in desegregated schools in order to resegregate students (Eyler et al., 1983~. However, there are indications that decisions about tracking and ability grouping are influenced by racial considerations.
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From page 83... ...
Such flight is especially likely to occur in school districts in the South, districts with a high degree of residential segregation, and those with a high percentage of black students (Armor, 1980; Coleman et al., 1975; Farley et al., 1980~. However, one of the most sophisticated studies found that substantial white flight generally occurs only in the first year in which significant desegregation occurs and that the percentage of white students assigned to black-majority schools is the critical determinant of the degree of white flight (Rossell, 1978:193-194~.
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From page 84... ...
Thus, to the extent that schools have actually been desegregated, parents and students who have experienced the change give the process their approval. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND WORK ENVIRONMENTS The 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations related to federal government activities and interstate commerce.
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From page 85... ...
There were no black officials, managers, or technicians employed by the networks at that time (Childs, 1987J. The 1968 Kerner Commission report criticized the mass media's failure to employ black reporters and editors and the exclusion of black professionals from the news gathering and editorial process (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968:Ch.
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From page 86... ...
Black auxiliary unions generally did not control their own affairs or have influence on their parent unions, and their members did not have seniority rights equivalent to the rights of members in the affiliated "white" locals (Weaver, 1946:218~. Black auxiliaries also did not usually receive a proportionate share of total employment (Northrup, 1944:6)
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From page 87... ...
The beginnings of antidiscrimination policies are shown to date from the New Deal period. Although the civil rights movement and dramatic media coverage helped to produce congressional action, the 1964 act had been preceded by a long process of increasing support for public policies aimed at producing equal employment opportunity (Burstein, 1985~.
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From page 88... ...
RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION As blacks migrated to cities, they were excluded from white neighborhoods. Initial discrimination in the early twentieth century involved municipal ordinances that specified where blacks and whites could live, but these did not survive court tests as they were held to infringe on the rights of property owners (Bell, 1986a:64-65; Johnson, 1943:173~.
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From page 89... ...
Black-white residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas was very extensive at every time.
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From page 90... ...
Asian-Americans and Hispanics were indeed segregated, but much less than blacks. While the black-white residential segregation measure in 1980 averaged 77 in the 29 metropolitan areas with the largest black populations (see Table 2-5)
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From page 91... ...
These geographic differences affect the opportunity structure for blacks, meaning that soloing the problems of poverty in Detroit or Chicago may not be the same as in Pittsburgh or Boston. BLACK PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL Ll FE Sl N C E 1945 CH URCHES AN D RELIGIOUS Ll FE Historically, predominantly white churches in the United States paid little attention to problems of discrimination or black-white relations in general.
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From page 92... ...
The national governing bodies of many churches issued similar statements during this period (Yinger, 1986:24~. To what extent has this stated resolve to include black Americans in the functioning of the nation's predominantly white religious institutions succeeded~ Predominantly black and predominantly white churches are still by far the norm in American society.
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From page 93... ...
reported that about onethird of black Roman Catholics attended mixed churches. Most of these studies referred to "interracial" rather than to black-white mixing, so one cannot determine the degree of black participation in predominantly white churches precisely.
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From page 94... ...
The GSS data show that among those surveyed who attend church, blacks and whites living in mixed neighborhoods are more likely to attend mixed church services than those who live in all-white or all-black areas. Among the same group, one-half of those who live in a mixed neighborhood have attended mixed churches; the number is slightly more than one-quarter for those who live in racially separate neighborhoods.
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From page 95... ...
, "The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest of the Baptist churches, and predominantly white, has long been regarded as among the least inclined toward an integrated denomination." Some of its leading ministers denounced desegregation sharply during the 1950s and 1960s. Three large black Baptist denominations (National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc., National Baptist Convention of America, and Progressive Baptist Convention, Inc.)
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From page 96... ...
In 1986, the NBA had 3 black head coaches and 2 general managers; 15 percent of assistant coaches were black (Eitzen, 1986:38-39~. At the collegiate and high school levels, there were also few black coaches at predominantly white schools: as of 1986, there were no head football coaches in major colleges and just a small number of head basketball coaches.
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From page 97... ...
Bill White, a former all-star first baseman, was named president of basciball's National League in February 1989. White thus became one of the highest ranking individuals in professional sports and the first black person to head a moor sports league.
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From page 98... ...
There is indirect evidence of unequal opportunity for equal ability. On the basis of average performance, entrance requirements to the major leagues are more rigorous for blacks.
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From page 99... ...
and white entrepreneurs produced stereotypes and burlesqued versions of black humor, dance, and music. Thus, "white blackface minstrels" were able to introduce to white Americans black artistic material "before blacks themselves could appear on Jim Crow stages" (Hughes, 1976:687; see also Ely, 1985~.
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From page 100... ...
Black musical performers have been prominent in both popular music and concert stage and opera. Roland Hayes, Paul Robeson, and Marian Anderson antedated the long roster of present-day operatic figures.
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From page 101... ...
In the 1970s and 1980s, a substantial body of novels and other creative writings by black women attained both popularity and favorable critical attention, including Alice Walker's The Color People, which was made into a controversial Fin, and Toni Morrison's awardwinning novel Belted. Nine black American authors have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in literature or a National or American Book Award, and in the last two decades black authors have appeared on best-seller lists in small but increasing numbers.
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From page 102... ...
The largest selling album in history is Michael lackson's Thriller, and two other black performers, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston, have albums on the top-ten list for the 1980s. Perhaps exemplifying the emergence and increased acceptance of the black American performing artist in modern music was trumpeter Wynton Marsalis's winning of Grammy awards as both the top jazz soloist (1983-1985)
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From page 103... ...
For example, large-scale desegregation of public schools occurred in the South during the late 1960s and early 1970s and has been substantial in many small and medium-sized cities elsewhere; however, the pace of school desegregation has slowed, and black-white separation is still significant, especially outside the South. And because of the differential effects of educational tracking and differential social punishment rates, considerable separation of black and white students continues to exist even within desegregated schools.
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From page 104... ...
Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. 1986b Memorandum, an addendum to the paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Rcscarch Council, Washington, D.C.
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From page 105... ...
Stanley 1986 Black Athletes in American Society Since 1940: Continuity and Change in Racial Barriers to Equal Participation. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National [Research Council, Washington, D.C.
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From page 106... ...
Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Farley, Reynolds, and Walter Allen 1987 The Color Line and the Quality of American Life.
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From page 107... ...
Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Langberg, Mark, and Reynolds Farley 1985 Residential segregation of Asian-Americans in 1980.
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From page 108... ...
Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Murphy, M
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From page 109... ...
Washington, D.C.: National Urban League. Schofield, Janet 1986 School Desegregation and Black Americans.
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From page 110... ...
Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Sumner, David E
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From page 111... ...
Milton 1986 Black Americans and Predominantly White Churches. Paper prepared for the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
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