Occupational representation by race, ethnicity, and residence in turn-of-the-century New Orleans

Abstract

In this article we expand Gilmore's 1944 study of New Orleans by investigating the manner in which cultural and developmental factors affected competition for residential location. The analysis of ethnic and spatial variations in occupational structure underscores the utility of considering traditional and modern aspects of spatial differentiation within a single city. A sample of male household heads drawn from enumerator's books of the 1900 Federal Census reflected differing occupational structures according to the race, nativity, and residence of the incumbents. The residential patterns of employed male household heads generally supported the view that the emerging capitalistic economy was spatially segregated from the traditional craft-guild economy. Self-employed craftsmen predominated in the Creole city, while skilled wage-workers were overrepresented in the Anglo-American sector. Race and ethnicity combined with sector to affect the occupational structure. In the Creole sector, blacks maintained the traditional dominance of craft occupations. Entrepreneurial positions were opening up in the commercially expanding Anglo sector for some groups—notably the foreign-born—but not for blacks. Skills and cultural preferences of the immigrants were clearly evident in their overrepresentation in both the craft and entrepreneurial occupations. In the Creole sector, the foreign-born were more likely to take advantage of the availability of traditional craft occupations. The extent of modernization combined with cultural factors in creating and maintaining occupational niches.