The early twentieth-century “Black Metropolis”: urban geographic principles

Abstract

Did Black Metropolises, that is, large black communities in major cities, hold unique opportunities that helped blacks to advance occupationally in the early twentieth century? The present study addresses this question, using Census data to test hypotheses, based on urban geographic principles, about the distribution of Black Metropolises’ locational advantages. The results show that blacks’ representation in key middle-to-upper-status occupations declines precipitously across Black Metropolises, often following an exponentially descending Pareto curve, suggesting that blacks’ opportunities to enter such occupations are concentrated into a small number of large urban black communities. The results further indicate that the locational-advantage benefits of the largest, most segregated, and most centrally positioned Black Metropolises are limited to a few high-status professions and a narrow range of occupations involving cultural expression, entertainment, and public service. These findings challenge claims that blacks’ socioeconomic standing was substantially uplifted in the early twentieth century by unique opportunities in large black communities of major cities.