Geography in Black America
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African American Migration
American Urban Segregation

Despite stereotypes and history that depict the south as racist, the north is by far more segregated than the south. As a matter of fact the northeast and midwest are the most segregated areas in the United States. In the large urban cities of the north, African American populations remain mostly in the neighborhoods that were left to them as a result of “white flight” that took place after the civil rights movements and the riots of the 1960s.

As blacks moved to new neighborhoods, whites moved further away to avoid forced school integration and the threat of dropping property values.  Detroit is the most extreme example of this. It has become the most segregated metropolitan area in the nation. While 88% of the city’s population is Black, more than 95% of it’s suburban population is White.
Least Segregated Metro Cities

1.Albuquerque, NM
2.Orange County, CA
3.Tucson, AZ
4.San Jose, CA
5.Salt Lake City
6.McAllen, TX
7.Phoenix
8.Las Vegas
9.Honolulu
10.      Riverside, CA
Most Segregated Metro Cities

1.Detroit 
2.Gary, IN
3.Milwaukee
4.Chicago
5.Cleveland
6.Buffalo
7.Newark, NJ
8.New York
9.Cincinnati
10.      St. Louis
The South - The New North

In the nineteenth century, most free people who left the South migrated to the northern states in search of a better life. They clustered in small communities in the larger cities and helped establish the Black urban North.

During what is known as the First Great Migration some 1.5 million Black people moved north between 1916 and 1930. The Second Great Migration, between 1940 and 1970, brought 5 million Black Southerners North and West.

By 1970, 47 percent of the nation's African Americans lived outside the South, and more than 80 percent were in urban areas. That’s when the migration patterns reversed and Blacks began returning south in large numbers.

As they returned south, many followed the same paths that their predecessors used when they migrated north. Theses routes were along the old railroad routes: from eastern cities toward the Carolinas; from Ohio and Michigan cities toward Alabama; from Chicago toward Mississippi; and from Los Angeles toward East Texas.

Although some African-American migrants were returning home, many were actually born in the North and were seeking economic opportunities rather than familial ties. They headed in large numbers for rapidly growing metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Nashville.
MAP: African Americans Going South
The map below shows the migration patterns from the northern states and California to The South between 1995 and 2000.
8 Mile road has long served as a cultural and racial dividing line between the predominantly poor African-American city of Detroit and its wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs. Besides the Detroit suburbs of Southfield and Oak Park, the counties north of 8 mile road; Oakland and Macomb are still predominately white and wealthy.

For example the city of Detroit whose population was 81.55% African-American, south of the city limit (8 mile rd) had a median family income was $33,853, and 26.1% of the population lived below the poverty line. In contrast North of the city limit the median family income for Oakland County, whose population was 82.75% white, was $75,540, and only 5.5% of residents lived below the poverty line.


Detriot - 8 Mile Road
The south side of 8 Mile Road (which is Detroit), is the location of many gentleman's clubs, as Oakland County (north of 8 Mile Road) prohibits those types of clubs within its borders.
*All statistics used here are from the US Census Bureau 2005 American Community Survey, unless otherwise noted
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