Racial Segregation Trends in Birmingham, Alabama

Abstract

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 25, No. 1, May 1985, pp. 30-43 RACIAL SEGREGATION TRENDS IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA Bobby M. Wilson The effect of the 1954 Brown I decision on school segregation was the overruling of the "separate but equal" doctrine of the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. (J) It was not until the Brown II and subsequent Supreme Court decisions, however, that the problem of how to desegregate schools was considered. (2) Residential segregation was considered to be one of the main obstacles to desegregation. Although residential segregation may have decreased since the Brown decision and may continue to decrease in the future, its effects, are often being counterbalanced by the decrease in the white proportion of central city populations. It is suggested that the inability of cities to desegregate their schools increasingly evolves out of the process of cities becoming predominantly black. Since the Brown decision major population changes are not only creating the potential for racial separation, but also the potential for social and economic inequality as exemplified by the increasing black central city and predominant white suburbs. This racial polarity is creating racial homogeneity not only among schools, but also among community contacts, stores, and other community facilities . In the same decade in which the Brown decision was handed down, the white population within central cities of U.S. metropolitan areas did not grow. The black population increased over fifty percent. These trends continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These changes resulted in almost sixty percent of the black population in 1980 residing in central cities compared to only twenty-five percent of the white population. The combination of a natural increase in the black population , black in-migration and white out-migration is responsible for these changes. However, white out-migration from central cities has been most responsible more recently for the significant changes in the racial composition of inner-cities populations. (3) As a result, blacks now make up twenty-two percent of central city population which is double their proportion in the total population. Dr. Wilson is Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Geography at the University ofAlabama in Birmingham, AL 35294 Vol. XXV, No. 1 31 The purpose ofthis paper is to determine the influence ofresidential segregation and changing racial composition on municipal desegregation prospects in Birmingham, Alabama since 1970, particularly school desegregation . The problem of municipal segregation is defined as a lack of interracial contacts in the utilization of services or functions offered by the municipality for its citizenry. While municipal boundary lines may mean very little for interracial exposure involving the patronization of stores, and the frequenting of various facilities in the private sector, this is not the case in the utilization of services offered by the municipality . Given the significant change in the racial composition of many large cities, only by redrawing municipal boundary lines to coincide with the larger county or metropolitan area may there exist a racial balance sufficient enough to carry out desegregation. The success of any desegregation plan would depend upon the extent to which it increases interracial contacts. The extent to which there is an increase in interracial contacts would depend not only upon the elimination of residential segregation within the municipality, but also upon the extent to which there is a racially balanced population. CHANGES IN THE RACIAL COMPOSITION OF BIRMINGHAM POPULATION. During the period between 1900 and 1910 Birmingham earned the title "magic city" by experiencing a 245 percent increase in population, the largest increase in the U.S. for any city over 100,000. The growth ofthe steel industy was mainly responsible for this increase. The steel industry depended upon an ever increasing supply of cheap labor during these early years of its expansion. In Birmingham blacks provided much of this labor. (4) From 1890 to 1940 the black population increased 868 percent. The white population increased 964 percent. Because both black and white populations were increasing, there was little change in the city's racial composition (Fig. 1). Racial segregation was fostered by new housing construction designed for occupancy on a segregated basis. Available land provided black households with housing space without having to invade white neighborhoods. Birmingham used de jure forms...