History of US Economy Since World War II by John F. Walker Harold G. Vatter

Author:John F. Walker, Harold G. Vatter [John F. Walker, Harold G. Vatter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science, Public Affairs & Administration
ISBN: 9781317468554
Google: 92fbCQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-06-11T16:09:30+00:00

46. The Social and Economic Status of the Black Population

Bureau of the Census

Excerpted from The Social and Economic Status of the Black Population in the United States: An Historical View, 1790–1978 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, no date).

The 1940s marked the beginning of the predominantly one-way migration stream of blacks from the South to the North; this movement continued to the 1970s. (The South lost close to 1.5 million blacks in each of those decades.) One of the major factors contributing to this migration was that the wartime acceleration of the movement of blacks from the South to job opportunities in the industrialized areas of the North. As a further consequence, the geographical distribution of the black population changed; by 1970, only 53 percent of blacks lived in the South, and 81 percent lived in urban areas.

A large increase in average life expectancy at birth for blacks was recorded during the World War II period: seven years for black males and females. As the major diseases of the early 1900s—childhood and infectious diseases—were brought under control by an improved standard of living, expanded public health programs, etc., progress was made in reducing mortality levels among blacks. Fertility levels for black women began to increase in the late 1940s and reached an apex in the 1950s.

Progress in educational attainment was most impressive for the black population, especially for young black adults. Most of the change has occurred since 1960. For instance, in 1940 (the first census in which information on years of school completed was collected) one out of ten blacks twenty-five to thirty-four years old had completed high school; two decades later, in 1960, the proportion was three out of ten; and only one decade later, in 1970, about five out of every ten blacks twenty-five to thirty-four years old were high school graduates.

Information on the composition of black families, available only since 1940, indicates a trend of declining proportions of families with both a husband and a wife present and increasing proportions maintained by a woman. Specifically, in 1940, 77 percent of black families had a husband and wife present; by 1970, the figure was reduced to 68 percent. Concomitant to the trend of declining proportions of families with a husband and wife present has been a decline in the proportion of black children living with both parents.

In 1940, blacks were greatly concentrated in the lowest-paying, least-skilled jobs; few had white-collar or craft positions. By 1970, advances had been made, with the proportion of blacks in white-collar jobs quadrupling from 6 percent in 1940 to 24 percent in 1970.

The Census Bureau began collecting income information by race on a continuing basis in 1947. Since then, there has been overall moderate income growth for black families, interrupted by several recessions. From 1947 to 1969 (after accounting for inflation in terms of 1974 dollars), the most pronounced upgrading (36 percent increase) in the income levels for blacks occurred during the period 1964 to 1969.

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