Did Black skilled industrial workers support the northern Black Metropolis of the early 20th century?

Abstract

AbstractThe rise of a Black skilled industrial workforce in major northern cities was a significant development in the early 20th‐century United States. The emergence of this workforce coincided with a growing belief that these cities' Black communities could support Blacks' entry into professional, entrepreneurial, public service, and cultural occupations of the Black Metropolis. A question thus arises: Did the Black skilled industrial workforce advance Blacks' entry into these occupations? Regression analyses of census data suggest that Black skilled industrial workers did help promote Blacks' employment in a narrow range of Black Metropolis occupations, notably, entertainment, music, photography, art, and writing, implying that an upper stratum of the Black working class supported Black cultural expression. The results accord with the argument that the northern Black Metropolis fostered vital cultural institutions for Blacks in the early 20th century but offered fewer opportunities for Blacks' economic advancement through professions and businesses.