Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?

Using recent American Community Survey data this paper compares levels of black internal migration to metropolitan Atlanta and 70 other metro areas in the 1970s and the early 2010s, and it evaluates how much change has occurred, since 1980, in black-white socio-economic inequality (college graduatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Charles Jaret
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kennesaw State University 2019-02-01
Series:Journal of Public and Professional Sociology
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps/vol11/iss1/7/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849427451085586432
author Charles Jaret
author_facet Charles Jaret
author_sort Charles Jaret
collection DOAJ
description Using recent American Community Survey data this paper compares levels of black internal migration to metropolitan Atlanta and 70 other metro areas in the 1970s and the early 2010s, and it evaluates how much change has occurred, since 1980, in black-white socio-economic inequality (college graduation percentage and per capita income) to evaluate the idea of Atlanta as a “black mecca.” Key findings and conclusions are: (1) Atlanta has become the pre-eminent destination for black internal migrants, but contrary to popular opinion it cannot be characterized as mainly “black return migration” from the North to the South; (2) compared to most metro areas, Atlanta has had significant advancement in black educational attainment, but the percentage of college graduates among Atlanta’s whites has risen even more, so a large gap between the amount of white and black college graduates in Atlanta still exists, which disadvantages African Americans in competition for the best jobs, most of which require a college degree; (3) analysis of per capita income data does not support metropolitan Atlanta’s reputation as one of the top areas for black economic achievement or improvement; and (4) neither Atlanta nor most other metro areas show much improvement in black per capita income since 1980; and (5) the gap between black and white per capita income has actually widened in metro areas experiencing the most growth in high tech, information, financial, and business services.
format Article
id doaj-art-cb20518f8dec4e2a806d7d349a506663
institution Kabale University
issn 2154-8935
language English
publishDate 2019-02-01
publisher Kennesaw State University
record_format Article
series Journal of Public and Professional Sociology
spelling doaj-art-cb20518f8dec4e2a806d7d349a5066632025-08-20T03:29:02ZengKennesaw State UniversityJournal of Public and Professional Sociology2154-89352019-02-01111Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?Charles Jaret0Georgia State UniversityUsing recent American Community Survey data this paper compares levels of black internal migration to metropolitan Atlanta and 70 other metro areas in the 1970s and the early 2010s, and it evaluates how much change has occurred, since 1980, in black-white socio-economic inequality (college graduation percentage and per capita income) to evaluate the idea of Atlanta as a “black mecca.” Key findings and conclusions are: (1) Atlanta has become the pre-eminent destination for black internal migrants, but contrary to popular opinion it cannot be characterized as mainly “black return migration” from the North to the South; (2) compared to most metro areas, Atlanta has had significant advancement in black educational attainment, but the percentage of college graduates among Atlanta’s whites has risen even more, so a large gap between the amount of white and black college graduates in Atlanta still exists, which disadvantages African Americans in competition for the best jobs, most of which require a college degree; (3) analysis of per capita income data does not support metropolitan Atlanta’s reputation as one of the top areas for black economic achievement or improvement; and (4) neither Atlanta nor most other metro areas show much improvement in black per capita income since 1980; and (5) the gap between black and white per capita income has actually widened in metro areas experiencing the most growth in high tech, information, financial, and business services.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps/vol11/iss1/7/
spellingShingle Charles Jaret
Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
Journal of Public and Professional Sociology
title Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
title_full Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
title_fullStr Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
title_full_unstemmed Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
title_short Black Internal Migration and Inter-racial Socioeconomic Inequality in Atlanta and Other Metropolitan Areas: Has It Changed in the Past 35 Years?
title_sort black internal migration and inter racial socioeconomic inequality in atlanta and other metropolitan areas has it changed in the past 35 years
url https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps/vol11/iss1/7/
work_keys_str_mv AT charlesjaret blackinternalmigrationandinterracialsocioeconomicinequalityinatlantaandothermetropolitanareashasitchangedinthepast35years