White Flight / Black Flight: The Dynamics of Racial Change in an American Neighbourhood, by Raquel A. Waldorf
"Parkmont" (a pseudonym for a real town that served as the basis for this study) was a working class town in the 1940s, it had a large jewish population known locally as little tel aviv or kike's peak.
In 1990 it was only two percent black but by 2000 it was over 58.8 percent black with very few Whites.
In the 1960s, Whites became a presence in the predominantly Jewish area; the newcomers were mostly first and second generation italians with some irish. Parkmont was seen as high status to these groups.
Parkmont residents were cognisant of the possibility of black encroachment. Families in Parkmont took comfort in the fact that their community had remained solidly White. They felt protected in their defended community which was characterised by strong leadership and involved residents. Parkmont had an unwritten code that prevented blacks from finding any affordable homes that might be for sale - removing For Sale signs from view.
In the 1960s the county instituted a busing policy to force racial integration and Lombard School came under the new policy and black peoples were now admitted.
The Parkmont population responded by removing their children from the schools. After the Lombard School became 'integrated', Parkmont began to experience White flight. The first people to move away from the area were jewish families.
As houses were going for sale all over the place one new black park mount resident reminisced, "it was just like the plague was coming like once the blacks started buying it's like the plague when we came up here it was nothing to have 10 or 12 for sale signs for a block Whites didn't want to live around us so they left they were out of here it was like we gotta go we gotta go as houses were going for sale all over the place i told my husband one time i'm like damn you know we went to sleep and we woke up and the whole neighborhood is black we didn't used to see that many blacks it's like we went to sleep in the winter and it changed just that quick".
House prices fell in Parkmont because the total number of residents decreased over time.
The total population in 1970 was 9,313; by 2000 this had gone to 7,768.
The percentage of black people in 1990 was 2.2%, by 2000 it's 58.8%;
the White percentage was 99.6% back in 1970, that went down to 33.2% by 2000.
After the White exodus there were three types of residents left:
- elderly stayers
- pioneers (the first black residents)
- second wavers (black residents who moved in later)
The original population taught the pioneers how to integrate into the community and its social norms. Parkmont had a lot of very well established social norms for example at one day a week was trash day, everybody was expected to mow their lawns, paint their fences, and shovel the snow.
However, by the time most of the original population had left a lot of these social norms went by the wayside. Established local businesses and stores closed down and attempts to replace them struggled. Many residents expressed unhappiness with the quality and the stability of the new local stores and restaurants after their poor uh and also complained about their poor and shabby decor.
There was frequently overflowing trash near bus stops. Old businesses now had ugly security bars instead of their nice old storefronts. While some lawns were still neatly manicured others had garbage strewn on the grass. It was common to see homes that show signs of age with old broken or worn out doors peeling paint bare lawns cracked cement and rusted railings. Often found on the doorsteps of homes were dirty faded outlines of methuses.
It was frequent to see houses that are boarded up or one that is abandoned and surrounded by tall weeds. This was described as a neighborhood in chronic decline just 10 years after these changes.
While the pioneers learned to adopt the old social norms, they failed to pass these on to the second wavers who did not show them any uh respect. As soon as the pioneers learned of what was going to happen with their neighborhood they also moved away and so Parkmont experienced what is known as black flight following the white flight.
One pioneer aged 37 said, "before you didn't really have to go outside your home and sweep up trash you just had to go and do your leaves and a little litter but now it's mcdonald's papers it's cups it's whatever".
Another pioneer said, "when we came here and wanted to be accepted it was mostly a White neighborhood we came in and we had no problems we didn't want to cause any problems we just wanted to work take care of the home fix it up live and be happy the new people that came up here didn't care as much the first group that came up here we tried to fit in we did as everybody else did we didn't throw stuff around when we came in we would get out and we'd sweep up the front of our house and clean up to keep it the way it was".
The pioneers moved for aspirational and assimilationist reasons. George, another pioneer, noted that when White stayers were present, "we didn't have too much of a problem because they stayed on top of it...he stayed on them he'd be knocking on the door you get that abandoned car off the block he'd call somebody to get it off the street".
George's daughter, Sonia McCall, said, "it's horrible I've seen it over the years how the neighborhood has changed when I moved up here it was real quiet you didn't see no boys in the corner you didn't have all this activity I think the problem is that when people was moving in they brought their sons kids and a lot of parents they think just as long as the kids don't mess up the house the kids can stay out they out on the street".
Nina Jones, a pioneer and teacher, stated, "right now we're gonna we're trying to move...I don't recommend it for people who want children or who have children I don't recommend it because you want an area where number one the kids can be outside and play you just never know what's going to jump off here the neighborhood is failing and if it's like this now what's it going to be like in 10 years from now".