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The black population in the U.S. is returning to the South – a region that they have spent most of the past century leaving. The non-Hispanic black population of the South increased at a greater rate than the other three regions of the U.S. combined (Northeast, Midwest and West). This increase represents 58% of the U.S. total black population. This increase is almost double the number of blacks that the South gained in the 1980s. Why are blacks moving back to the South?

  • Booming economy in the South, jobs and greater employment opportunities
  • Historic roots in the region, networks of family and friends
  • A growing middle class black population
  • Improved racial climate

Blacks represent 19% of the total U.S. population, whites 66% and Hispanics 12%. While Hispanics as a group have grown tremendously, their population gains in the South are predominantly in Texas and Florida. In other southern states, the black population is substantially larger.

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According to William H. Frey, a demographer at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center (www. prb.org), the identification of blacks with their race is stronger in the South than in other parts of the country. The 2000 Census question that permitted respondents to describe themselves by selecting more than one race bore this out. In multiethnic states and in states with small black populations, the percentage of blacks selecting "black only" was high but not unanimous. In California, 92% of blacks chose this option, and in Oregon only 78% did. In contrast, among both fast- and slow-gaining states of the South, an almost unanimous "black only" response was recorded. In eight southern states and in the District of Columbia, at least 98% of black respondents chose this option, a higher percentage than in other largely black-white states of the Northeast or Midwest. These responses reflect lower rates of interracial marriages, but also a greater tendency among southern blacks to identify with African American race.

Critical Thinking

Question 1: What are the possibilities for improving racial and ethnic conflicts as a result of the return of blacks to the South? What kinds of conflicts might we expect to increase?

Question 2: Why do you think that blacks in the South demonstrated a stronger identification with their race? What other kinds of explanations might there be for these kinds of responses on the Census 2000 form?

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