Native-born African Americans Research Articles

Immigrant assimilation and male labor market inequality

Abstract At the height of the US civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, foreign-born persons were less than 1 % of the African-American population (Kent, Popul Bull, 62:4, 2007). Today, 16 % of America’s African diaspora workforce consists of first- or second-generation immigrants and 4 % is Hispanic. Intergenerational improvement is an important source of wage convergence of black immigrants. Unskilled immigrants who arrive in the USA as children and adolescents experience substantial wage assimilation, especially Caribbean-English and African-English immigrants. But both unskilled immigrants arriving as adults and all skilled immigrants fail to catch up to the wage status of either native-born whites or native-born African-Americans. After living in the USA for 9–15 years, first-generation black immigrants will have wage penalties at least as large as native-born African-Americans. The immigration process selects black immigrants who have or who would have achieved middle income or higher status in their country of origin. As such, black immigrants tend to have above average observable characteristics. Nevertheless, black immigrants do not obtain wage assimilation equal to native-born non-Hispanic white male workers. JEL Classification: J15, J31, J61, J62, J7

Housing hardship and energy insecurity among native-born and immigrant low-income families with children in the United States.

The costs for rent and utilities account for the largest share of living expenses, yet these two critical dimensions of material hardship have seldom been examined concurrently in population-based studies. This paper employs multivariate statistical analysis using American Community Survey data to demonstrate the relative risk ratio of low-income renter-occupied households with children experiencing "rent burden," "energy insecurity," or a "double burden" as opposed to no burden. Findings suggest that low-income households are more likely to experience these economic hardships in general but that specific groups are disproportionately burdened in different ways. For instance, whereas immigrants are more likely to experience rental burden, they are less likely to experience energy insecurity and are also spared from the double burden. In contrast, native-born African Americans are more likely than all other groups to experience the double burden. These results may be driven by the housing stock available to certain groups due to racial residential segregation, decisions regarding the quality of housing low-income householders are able to afford, as well as home-country values, such as modest living and energy conservation practices, among immigrant families. This paper also points to important policy gaps in safety net benefits related to housing and energy targeting low-income households.

Immigrants in New York City: Reaping the Benefits of Continuous Immigration

Using New York City as an example, this essay examines how American cities that have a long and continuous history of absorbing immigrants develop welcoming institutions and policies for current immigrants and their children. Cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, and New York have been gateway cities for many previous waves of immigrants and continue to absorb new immigrants today. The ethnic conflicts and accommodations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries continue to shape the context of reception of today's immigrants. In contrast to “new destinations,” which in recent years have often been centers of anti-immigrant sentiment and nativist local social policies, New York has generally adopted policies designed to include and accommodate new immigrants, as well as repurposing institutions that served earlier European immigrants and native-born African Americans and Puerto Ricans. The continuing significance of race in the city is counterbalanced in the lives of immigrants by a relative lack of nativism and an openness to incorporating immigrants.

The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Poverty: Analyzing the Dimensions by Race and Immigration

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on poverty transitions, with an emphasis on native-born African–Americans and immigration. A probit model is estimated using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which evaluates the impact of EITC participation and immigration on transitions out of poverty. The EITC is found to be a useful tool in combating poverty and is effective for African–Americans, though only for women. More importantly, the results show that the implementation of state-level EITCs can mitigate the adverse effects of immigration for native-born African–Americans.

Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot (review)

Reviewed by: Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot Cheryl Greenberg (bio) Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot. By Edward Shapiro. Lebanon, NH: Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2006. xviii + 252 pp. Significant events like riots are not only part of history, they generate their own histories, and so it is with the riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1991. When a member of the convoy escorting the Lubavitcher Hasidic Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson collided with an oncoming car, the resulting crash wounded one Guyanese child, Angela Cato, and killed her cousin, Gavin. Crowds gathered and became protesters; protesters became rioters. A few hours after the accident, several young black men shouting antisemitic insults stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum, a non-Hasidic, Jewish student, who died of his wounds early the next morning. The riot continued for three days before police brought it under control. The anger on both sides took far longer to calm, and the many conflicts it raised—between black and Jewish community groups; between Lubavitcher and non-Lubavitcher Jews; between West Indian and native-born Blacks; between black and white New York residents; between Mayor Dinkins and many of his constituents; and between the Democratic mayor and the Republican Senator D'Amato and Dinkins's Republican challenger Rudolph Giuliani—affected both local and national politics for more than a decade. It is these intertwined histories that Edward Shapiro relates in a book both thorough and compelling. Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, Crown Heights is a systematic examination of community understandings of and attitudes toward the various events surrounding the riot: the precipitating accident, the deaths first of Cato and then of Rosenbaum, the slowness of police to quell the violence, the performance of Mayor David Dinkins, and the several trials of Charles Price and Lemrick Nelson, Jr., accused of murdering Rosenbaum. Not only did Blacks and Jews differ in their analysis of each of these issues, they differed on whether the riot itself should be understood as rooted in antisemitism, racism, political impotence, poverty, neighborhood frictions, or the cynical manipulation of agitators. But neither the Jewish community nor the black community were themselves monolithic; many Jews were suspicious of the Hasidic community and critical of its insularity; native-born African-Americans and West Indian immigrants had had a history of conflict beginning well before 1991. Thus internal divisions over the events proved as sharp as the more visible external ones, and Shapiro is careful to point these out as well as assess the merits of their respective claims. [End Page 108] Shapiro uses journalistic accounts, legal documents, political essays, speeches, and historical and sociological analyses to good effect, identifying claims and counter-claims, and evaluating their probity with evidence and a careful reading of historical context. He strives for balance, although the archives he consulted and interviews he conducted appear to be almost exclusively within the Jewish community. There may be good reason for this; nevertheless Shapiro is far more effective in articulating the Jewish perspectives than those of African-Americans or West Indians, which he is able to unearth only from published sources. Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, Shapiro himself seems to have concluded that the riot was indeed centrally an expression of antisemitism, and the municipal responses to it motivated more by political correctness than moral rigor (although he is reticent to express his views explicitly). The whole episode was, therefore, more threatening and dangerous to the Jewish community than many there acknowledged. Still, Shapiro flags failings on the Lubavitcher side as well, beginning with the Rebbe's refusal to offer condolences to the Cato family or express his sorrow for the events that occurred. Those who remember the riot as well as those who study it will appreciate the range of views Shapiro presents and his detailed investigations, although given the intensity of emotions surrounding the Crown Heights riot, in the end few are likely to alter their views. Cheryl Greenberg Trinity College Cheryl Greenberg Cheryl Greenberg is Professor of History at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Her most recent book is Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century (2006). Copyright © 2007 American Jewish Historical...

IMMIGRATION AND THE FUTURE OF BLACK POWER IN U.S. CITIES

AbstractAs a result of urban immigration and White flight over the past three decades, the demography of U.S. cities has changed rather dramatically; approximately one-half of the largest hundred cities are now composed of minority majorities. Many urban scholars expected these demographic shifts to enhance the prospects for minority electoral alliances. In reality, however, few such alliances have emerged. This paper looks to explore the barriers to effective coalition building between native-born African Americans and their immigrant counterparts. In the first half of the paper, I explore the psychological barriers to mass coalitions, focusing on the negative stereotypes and perceived zero-sum conflict that exist between native-born African Americans and Latino immigrants. The second half of the paper argues that material and symbolic incentives fuel ongoing competition between Blacks and Latinos in the political sphere. The paper concludes with a discussion of how immigrant-induced diversity coupled with existing racial hierarchies work against future Black empowerment. Even when changing urban demography makes Whites a numerical minority, White voters often retain their status as urban power players through their ability to divide minority voters at the polls. Divisive electoral strategies that offer political rewards to one group at the expense of others threaten Black incorporation in the urban arena. Unless minority leadership changes the incentive structure embedded in the traditional modes of municipal governance, Whites will persist in their economic dominance, while disadvantaged immigrants and Blacks will continue to make political choices that yield small, short-term rewards at the expense of greater social and economic justice.

Recent Cuban Immigrants and Native-Born African Americans Leaving Welfare

Studies of the economic well-being of women leaving welfare generally focus on the efforts of the welfare leaver herself. We argue that it is also important to take into account the employment and earnings of others in her household. Among women in Miami-Dade County (Florida) who left welfare between October 1999 and January 2000, our data show that households with multiple earners fared far better than others across several indicators of economic well-being. More detailed analysis indicates that the multiple-earner strategy was a likely option primarily for leavers whose sociodemographic characteristics already gave them labor market advantages. Important differences exist in welfare-leaving outcomes between Cuban and native-born African Americans, who together account for most of Miami’s welfare leavers.

Cigarette Smoking Among Native and Foreign-Born African Americans

PURPOSE: To examine differences in current smoking status and the number of cigarettes consumed daily between foreign and native-born African Americans, and the impact of demographic and socio-economic status (SES) factors on smoking behavior. METHODS: Data were obtained from combining the 1990–1994 National Health Interview Surveys and consisted of 16,738 U.S. born and foreign-born African Americans between 18 and 64 years of age. The statistical analysis included cross-tabulations and weighted multiple logistic regression (MLR) using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Survey Data Analysis (SUDAAN) computer programs. RESULTS: Adjusted MLR analysis revealed that native-born African Americans were more likely (odds ratio (OR) = 2.7, p < 0.001) to be current smokers than foreign-born blacks. Within the native-born group, smoking prevalence decreased with increasing education and income, but these associations were not found for foreign-born blacks. Women in both groups were less likely than men to be current smokers. Statistically significant differences were not found between the two groups in the number of cigarettes smoked per day. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis of nativity and smoking behavior further demonstrates the social diversity among African Americans and suggests the differential impact of social and cultural factors on smoking behavior within racially classified social groups. In areas where there are substantial numbers of foreign-born blacks, researchers should consider differentiating smoking status by nativity. Though differences in smoking prevalence were apparent for native and foreign-born American Americans, prevention and cessation programs are needed for both groups.

Assimilation Differences among Africans in America

Data from the 1990 [U.S.] Census of Population are used to assess the earnings attainment of male African immigrants their Caribbean-born counterparts and native-born African Americans. Although Africans earn more than both Caribbean immigrants and native-born blacks controlling for relevant earnings-related endowments erases the African advantage and elevates Caribbean earnings above those of the other two groups. The findings also trace a substantial African (but not Caribbean) disadvantage wherein university degree holders particularly those with degrees earned abroad receive little if any reward for their degrees. Implications of the findings are discussed. (EXCERPT)

Promises, Promises

Promises, Promises Deborah Dash Moore (bio) Roger Waldinger. Still the Promised City? African-Americans and New Immigrants in Postindustrial New York. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996. x + 374 pp. Figures, tables, appendixes, notes, and index. $35.00. The answer to Roger Waldinger’s title question is: Yes, but it all depends on what was promised and to whom. Since Waldinger’s title evokes Moses Rischin’s history of east European Jewish immigrants, it is worth noting at the start that no other immigrant group, and certainly not African Americans, have found in this metropolis such fulfillment as Jews. Rischin calls New York The Promised City, a site of Jewish collective aspirations as well as individual ambitions that competed with the biblical promised land. Yet if the promises are scaled down to less prophetic dimensions of security, social mobility, a decent livelihood, and dreams of a better future, then even postindustrial New York can be said to be delivering the goods, albeit in different forms and at varied speeds to new immigrants and African Americans. New York does not lend itself easily to analysis. It is enormous and atypical. As Waldinger repeatedly emphasizes, it is “a minority majority” city, which means that its story goes “beyond black and white,” as he persuasively puts it in his conclusion. Furthermore, New York for well over a century was a white ethnic city that resisted easy characterization since it lacked a single majority population. In taking up the challenge of making sense of the city, Waldinger also faces the scholar’s legitimate concern that his larger argument might be dismissed by readers as applicable only to New York and thus irrelevant to other American cities. Sagely he addresses not only the specifics of his subject but also current debates about urban decline and African American socioeconomic failure. The result is a stunning synthesis that offers a richly nuanced interpretation of postindustrial New York even as it suggests a compelling new model to understand class, race, and ethnicity in urban America at the end of the twentieth century. One can only hope that Waldinger’s interpretation proves as powerful on the national scene as some of his predecessors who took New York City as their laboratory. Waldinger posits a single explanation to account for immigrant and African-American economic behavior. He combines the concept of the ethnic [End Page 509] queue, in which newcomers enter the job market behind earlier arrivals and then gradually move up the ladder as those ahead of them advance, with the immigrant and ethnic niche. Immigrants establish economic niches and these often develop by the second generation into ethnic niches. Mobility does not necessarily involve abandoning ethnic niches for widely scattered jobs. Given the reality of job competition, ethnic networks retain their importance for second-, third-, and even fourth-generation white workers. “This book tells us that getting a job remains very much a matter of whom you know” (p. 302). Yet changes do occur, and Waldinger argues that history and politics often affect the outcome. To understand why immigrants and African Americans develop different niches and socioeconomic trajectories in the city, one cannot ignore racial discrimination and the ethnic exclusiveness that accompanies ethnic niches. Both influence job strategies and one can often see the historic imprint of past discrimination and exclusion in current occupational patterns. Waldinger’s analysis refutes two popular accounts explaining why African Americans, unlike European immigrants, failed to find economic opportunity in American cities. One explanation suggests that there was a mismatch between African-American skills and jobs available, that blacks arrived in the cities just as the good, unskilled factory production jobs were disappearing, and that newer opportunities for employment required levels of education and skills that segregated schools failed to provide. An alternative account points to restructuring that comes with postindustrialization, generating lots of unskilled and poorly paid service jobs that have been filled by new immigrants who have elbowed aside native-born African Americans in a polarized economy. Neither interpretation fits New York. The reality is far more complex. First, factory jobs never provided African Americans with an economic niche so the decline of such jobs did not affect them. Second, African...

Age-Linked Institutions and Age Reporting among Older African Americans

With economic and technological development, numerical age became an important dimension of social differentiation in the U.S.. The vast majority of American now have the ability to report their own age and the ages of relatives with accuracy. Nevertheless, studies have found that age misreporting remains substantial for older African Americans. This article describes levels of age misreporting and investigates the determinants of age reporting accuracy on the death certificates of a national sample of native-born African Americans aged 65 and older. Consistent with previous studies, levels of age misreporting are found to be high. When checked against childhood census records, only 53% of the death certificate ages are correctly reported; more than 10% are misstated by five years or more. Multivariate results provide compelling evidence that the quality of age reporting critically depends on interaction with age-linked institutions