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Ecology Of Negro Communities In Los Angeles County: 1940-1959
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Ecology Of Negro Communities In Los Angeles County: 1940-1959
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Content
Copyright by
Dorothy Slade W illiam
1961
ECOLOGY OF NEGRO COMMUNITIES
IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY: 1940-1959
t> y
D orothy Slade W illiam s
A D issertatio n P re se n te d to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t of the
R equirem ents fo r the D egree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Sociology)
Jan u ary 1961
UNIVERSITY O F SO U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES 7, CALIFORNIA
This dissertation, written by
................DQroihy.J3Lside..WiUiams.................
under the direction of A.er...Dissertation C om
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
Date...... J a n u a r y . .196 ,1.
D IS S E R T A T IO N C O M M IT T E E
Chairman
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is indebted to W orkm an T abulating
Com pany fo r the a ssista n c e gran ted in the p ro cessin g
of data. S pecial thanks to M r. W illiam A. Bonk, the
A s sista n t O p eratin g M anager of th is com pany, who
gave his tim e and se rv ic e . A ppreciation is also e x
p re sse d to the m em bers of the d o cto ral com m ittee fo r
guidance, e sp e c ia lly D r. M aurice D. Van A rsd o l, who
gave so w illingly of h is tim e, knowledge, and e x p e ri
ence .
ii
TABLE O F CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . .
LIST O F TABLES . . . .
LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONS
C hapter
I. THE NATURE O F THE S T U D Y ...................
Introduction
Statem ent of the P ro b lem
T h eo re tica l F ra m e s of R eference
F o rm u latio n of H ypotheses
D efinitions of T e rm s
Significance of the Study
P lan of the D isse rta tio n
I I. REVIEW O F THE LITERATURE . . .
Com m unity R e se a rc h and M ethodology
The N egro Com m unity
The N egro in L os A ngeles County
III. M ETHODOLOGY. . . ............................
G en eral D escrip tio n of the R e se a rc h D esign
S o u rces of D ata
M ajor N egro C om m unities
S election and D escrip tio n of V a ria b les
M easu rem en t of V a ria b les
P ro c e d u re
L im ita tio n s of the Study and Special F e a tu re s
S um m ary
iv
C h ap ter
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPM ENT OF
THE NEGRO C O M M U N IT Y ..............................................
E a rly Beginning
C e n tra l Avenue
T em ple S tre e t C om m unity
The Boyle H eights C om m unity
The H olm es Avenue A re a
W atts
W est Je ffe rso n C om m unity
Sum m ary
SUCCESSION C Y C L E ................................................................
N egro S uccession in Los A ngeles County, 1940-1950
S uccession in L os A ngeles C ity, 1940-1956
P ilin g -u p T ra c ts
L ate C onsolidation T ra c ts
C onsolidation T ra c ts
E a rly C onsolidation T ra c ts
Invasion T ra c ts
Sum m ary
CONCOMITANT CHANGES OF THE
SUCCESSION CYCLE
Home O w nership
Room Crow ding
E ducation
Age
Sum m ary
CHANGES IN THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION O F THE
LOS ANGELES COUNTY NEGRO POPULATION . .
C om m unity C oncentration of N egro Population in
L os A ngeles County
C hanges in P a tte rn s of N egro E cological S uccession
in L os A ngeles County
C e n tra l Avenue C om m unity
T em ple S tre e t C om m unity
L ittle Tokyo Com m unity
W atts C om m unity
P age
56
73
134
C h ap ter P age
W est A dam s C om m unity
W est Je ffe rs o n C om m unity
W ilm ington C om m unity
W illow brook C om m unity
P a c o im a C om m unity
G rad ien t H ypothesis
Sum m ary
VHI. SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S IO N S .......................................... 152
T e s ts of H ypotheses
S tages of S uccession
R elevance to P re v io u s R e se a rc h
N egro C om m unities in Los A ngeles County
L im ita tio n s and Im p licatio n s
B IB L IO G R A P H Y ............................................................................................. 163
APPENDIXES
Appendix A: S upplem entary T ab les on Population
D i s t r i b u t i o n ............................................................ 171
A ppendix B: C ensus T ra c t C lassific atio n fo r S uccession
A n a ly sis, 1950 174
A ppendix C: C ensus T ra c ts E xcluded from S uccession
A n aly sis, 1950 177
A ppendix D: S ta tistic s on C ensus T ra c t C h a ra c te ris tic s
1940 and 1950 ............................................................ 180
Appendix E: C om m unity Id en tificatio n fo r C ensus T ra c ts
U sed in S uccession A n aly sis, 1950 . . . . 189
LIST OF TABLES
T able Page
»
1. C r ite r ia fo r classify in g census tra c ts according to stage
of su ccessio n : 110 census tra c ts with 250 o r m ore non
white inhabitants in 1950 49
2. P opulation of W hite, N egro, Jap an ese, C hinese and
civilized Indian by w ard, Los A ngeles, 1890 .................... 59
3. T otal and N egro Population of Los A ngeles in 1900,
by w a r d s ............................................................................. 61
4. P e rc e n ta g e change of population, piling-up tra c ts : Los
A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956 ............................ 86
5. P e rce n tag e change of population, late consolidation tra c ts :
Los A ngeles C ity 1940-1950 and 1950-1956 87
6. P e rce n tag e change of population: “ C onsolidation tra c ts ,
1950 — late consolidation 1956” ......................................... 89
7. P e rce n tag e change of population “ consolidation tra c ts
1950 — late consolidation 1956” : Los A ngeles City
1940-1950 and 1950-1956 ....................................................... 91
8. P e rce n tag e change of population: e a rly consolidation
tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956 93
9. P e rce n tag e change of population: invasion tra c ts , Los
A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956 . 94
10. P e rce n tag e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied dw elling units
by rac e: piling-up tra c ts , Los A ngeles City: 1940
and 1950 99
11. P e r cent of non-w hites resid in g in Los A ngeles City
ow ner-occupied dw elling units: piling-up tra c ts ,
1940 and 1950 101
vi
vii
T able Page
12. P e rce n tag e change in occupied dw elling unit c h a ra c te r
istic s: piling-up tra c ts , Los A ngeles C ity: 1940 and
1950 102
13. P e rce n tag e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied units: late
consolidation tra c ts , Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 102
14. P e r cent of non-w hites resid in g in ow ner-occupied dw ell
ing units: late consolidation tra c ts ; Los A ngeles C ity
1940 and 1950 103
15. P e rce n tag e change in occupied dw elling unit c h a r a c te r
istic s: late consolidation tra c ts , Los A ngeles C ity,
1940-1950 ...................................................... 104
16. P e rce n tag e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied units: con
solidation tra c ts 1950 and 1956; Los A ngeles C ity,
1940 and 1950 105
17. P e r cent of non-w hites resid in g in ow ner-occupied dw elling
units, “ consolidation tra c ts , 1950 and 1956,” Los
A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 .................................................... 106
18. P e rce n tag e change of occupied dw elling unit c h a r a c te r
istic s: consolidation tra c ts 1950 and 1956, Los
A ngeles City 1940-1950 ........................................................... 107
19. P e rce n tag e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied dw elling units,
“ consolidation tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation tra c ts
1956,” Los A ngeles C ity 1940 and 1950 ............................ 108
20. P e r cent of non-w hites resid in g in ow ner-occupied dw ell
ing u n its, “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 and late co n so lid a
tion tra c ts , 1956,” Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 108
21. P e rce n tag e change of occupied dw elling unit c h a r a c te r
istic s: “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation
tra c ts 1956,” Los A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 . . . . . 109
22. P e rce n tag e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied dw elling units,
e a rly consolidation tra c t; Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and
1950 I l l
v iii
T able Page
23. P e r cent of non-w hites re sid in g in ow ner-occupied
dw elling u n its: e a rly consolidation tr a c ts , Los
A ngeles C ity; 1940 and 1950 ................................................... I l l
24. P e rc e n ta g e change in occupied dw elling unit c h a r a c te r
is tic s : e a rly con so lid atio n tr a c ts , Los A ngeles C ity,
1940-1950 ..................................... I l l
25. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of ow ner-occupied units:
invasion tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 . . . 112
26. P e r cent of non-w hites re sid in g in ow ner-occupied
dw elling u n its, invasion tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity,
1940 and 1950 113
27. P e rc e n ta g e change of dw elling unit c h a ra c te ris tic s :
invasion tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 . . . . 113
28. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of occupied dw elling units with
1.01 o r m ore p e rso n s p e r room : piling-up tr a c ts ,
Los A ngeles C ity , 1940 and 1950 .......................................... 115
29. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of occupied dw elling units with
1.01 o r m o re p e rso n s p e r room : late consolidation
tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 117
30. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of occupied dw elling units with
1.01 o r m o re p e rso n s p e r room : “ consolidation tr a c ts
1950 and 1956,” L os A ngeles C ity; 1940 and 1950 . . 119
31. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of occupied dw elling units o ccu
pied by non-w hites with 1.01 o r m o re p e rso n s p e r
room : consolidation tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation
t r a c ts '1956; L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 . . . . 120
32. O ccupied dw elling un its with 1.01+ p e rso n s p e r room :
e a rly conso lid atio n tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940
and 1950 121
33. O ccupied dw elling un its with 1.01+ p e rso n s p e r room :
invasion tr a c ts , Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 122
ix
T able P age
34. M edian n u m b er of school y e a rs com pleted fo r the popu
lation tw enty-five y e a rs old and over: piling-up
tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 124
35. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of non-w hite population by ed u
catio n a l attain m en t: piling-up tr a c ts , Los A ngeles
C ity, 1940-1950 124
36. M edian n u m b er of school y e a rs com pleted fo r population
tw enty-five y e a rs and over: late consolidation tr a c ts ,
L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 .......................................... 126
37. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of non-w hite population by e d u ca
tio n al attainm en t: late consolidation tr a c ts , Los
A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 ...................................................... 127
38. M edian y e a r of school com pleted of population co n so lid a
tion tra c ts ; 1950 — late consolidation, 1956, Los
A ngeles C ity, 1940-1950 ............................................................ 127
39. M edian y e a rs of school com pleted of population: co n so li
dation tr a c ts 1950 and 1956, L os A ngeles C ity, 1940
and 1950 128
40. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of ed u catio n al attainm ent: e a rly
consolidation tr a c ts , Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 129
41. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of educational attainm ent:
invasion tr a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950. . . 129
42. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of non-w hites by age: piling-up
t r a c ts , L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1950 131
43. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of non-w hites by age: late
consolidation tra c ts ; L os A ngeles C ity, 1940 and
1950 132
44. P e rc e n ta g e d istrib u tio n of non-w hites by age: c o n so li
dation 1950 — late consolidation, 1956; Los A ngeles
C ity, 1940 and 1950 .................................................. 133
45. C ensus tr a c ts of C e n tra l Avenue C om m unity, by
S uccession stag e: 1950 and 1956 .......................................... 141
X
T able Page
46. C ensus tra c ts of W est Je ffe rso n C om m unity, by s u c c e s
sion stage: 1950 and 1956 ......................................................... 145
47. P ro p o rtio n of N egroes in N egro com m unities by d irectio n
and distance from civic c e n te r, Los A ngeles County,
1940, 1950 and 1956 ..................................................................... 148
48. M edian grade com pleted of N egro com m unities by d ire c
tion and distance from civic c e n te r, Los A ngeles
County, 1940 and 1950 150
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
F ig u re Page
1. N egro C om m unity Expansion .................................................... 64
2. C lassific atio n of 36 C ensus T ra c ts O utside of
Los A ngeles C ity, A ccording to Stage of
S uccession, 1950 .......................................................................... 77
3. L ocation of C ensus T ra c ts of Los A ngeles C ity by
Stage of Succession: 1950 79
4. C lassificatio n of C ensus T ra c ts by Stage of S uccession:
Los A ngeles C ity, 1940 and 1956 81
5. Spatial A rran g em en t of 98 C ensus T ra c ts Located
within Los A ngeles C ity L i m i t s .......................................... 84
CHAPTER I
THE NATURE OF THE STUDY
Introduction
As Los A ngeles County responds to the fa c to rs inherent in its
grow th, the arra n g em e n t and re a rra n g e m e n t of its population along
sp a tia l, so cial, econom ic, p o litical and c u ltu ral lines becom es evident.
A m a jo r change in the county is a rapid population grow th which has
in c re a se d beyond a ll expected fo re c a s ts . F o r the past 110 y e a rs Los
A ngeles County has been the fa s te st growing of the fifty -eig h t counties
in C alifo rn ia, having a population of 1,610 in 1850 and an e stim ate d
population of 6,016,405 fo r Jan u ary 1, I960.*
An im p o rtan t source of the changes in the siz e , com position
and d istrib u tio n of the county’s population has been an in cre asin g p ro
portion of N egro in -m ig ra n ts. While the to tal population of Los
A ngeles County in cre ased from 2,785,643 in 1940 to 4,151,687 in 1950,
the num ber of N egroes alm o st trip led during the sam e decade, grow ing
fro m 75,609 to 217,881. N egroes constitute one of the fa s te s t grow ing
*Los A ngeles C ham ber of C om m erce, R eport of R e se a rc h
D epartm ent (Los A ngeles: C ham ber of C om m erce, May, 1960).
1
2
m in o ritie s in the county and are now in cre asin g m o re rapidly during
th is period than at any o th er tim e in the county’s h isto ry .
E ncouraged by C a lifo rn ia ’s in d u stria l developm ents during and
since W orld W ar II, educational op p o rtu n ities, favorable clim atic con
ditio ns, and knowledge gained from re la tiv e s, approxim ately 3,600
people se ttle in the county e v ery week, one th ird of which a re N egroes.
In cre asin g population p re s su re has intensified com petition betw een
w hites and N egroes fo r living sp ace. W hites have shown co v ert, legal,
and illeg al re sista n c e to N egroes by open d e m o n stratio n s, form ing p ro
tective a sso ciatio n s, and the use of o th er techniques of so c ial control."*
Redevelopm ent and urban renew al p ro jec ts now being consid
e re d fo r a re a s of N egro concentration o ffer h ig h er p riced housing than
the average N egro p resen tly living in such a re a s w ill be able to pay.4
The Olym pic F reew ay com ing betw een A dam s and W ashington B oule
v a rd s w ill displace som e of the b e st available hom es of m any N egroes
living in that community.® In m any neighborhoods, p a rtic u la rly on the
e a s t side of town, rezoning is bringing in c o m m ercial building and light
in d u strie s. With the m ajo r portion of the housing m a rk e t closed, these
d islo cated p e rso n s w ill probably seek housing in a lre a d y overcrow ded
^Annual R eport of the Los A ngeles County C om m ittee on
Human R elations fo r the Y ear Beginning May 1, 1957, and Ending A pril
30, 1958 (Los A ngeles, 1958), p. 1.
3Ibid., pp. 12-17. 4Ibid., p. 4. 5Ibid.
3
a re a s . The m ovem ent of these people w ill a lte r the basic p attern of a ll
com m unities involved, as w ell as the organization and stru c tu re of the
county as a whole.
N egro-w hite econom ic d ifferen tials o r d e sire s to be n e a r r e l
atives and frien d s would have been sufficient to produce highly concen
tra te d and seg reg ated Negro com m unities in the Los A ngeles a re a .
Added to these fa c to rs has been the fric tio n of race prejudice, which
keeps m ost N egro in -m ig ra n ts together even a fte r they have becom e
differentiated with re g a rd to occupation, incom e and statu s and econom
ically p rep ared to com pete fo r b e tte r living conditions. Econom ic arid
so c ial o b stacles preventing N egro in -m ig ra n ts from occupying re s id e n
tia l a re a s in accordance with white sta n d ard s of room density and living
fac ilitie s produce p attern s of occupancy of even g re a te r crow ding and
congestion. Such conditions are a m a jo r obstacle to the sa tisfa c to ry
com m unity adjustm ent of the N egroes. The fac to rs that tend to se p a
ra te the N egro com m unity from o th er com m unities and to r e s tr ic t the
a re a occupied by N egroes, also tend to concentrate the N egro popula
tion, m ultiply the adjustm ent p ro b lem s, d e crea se opportunities fo r
in teg ratio n into com m unity life, and lead to so cial d isorganization.
Im plications of the facts of c u rre n tly growing N egro population
of Los A ngeles are c le a r. The im pact of changes in the siz e , com posi
tion, and d istrib u tio n of N egro population w ill be felt throughout the
to ta l com m unity; w hether in the form of changes in land values,
4
governm ent policy, proxim ity to em ploym ent, or the need fo r additional
com m unity fa c ilitie s. F o r, if N egro population growth continues
unabated and if N egroes a re continually confined to c e rta in se g reg a ted
com m unities e ith e r by custom o r p re s su re , blighted a re a s and slu m s
w ill probably be c reated fa s te r than any agency and p ro g ram w ill be
able to elim inate them .
Statem ent of the P ro b lem
T his study locates the m ajo r N egro com m unities in Los
A ngeles County and exam ines the so cial and ecological fa c to rs affecting
th e ir location and th e ir in te rn al stru c tu re . The re s e a rc h deals with
qualitative and quantitative v ariatio n s existing betw een th ese com m uni
tie s and analyzes so cial, econom ic and ecological changes which have
o ccu rred during the 1940-1959 period. The study is focused on the
effect of N egro population in cre ase upon the location and nature of the
N egro com m unities in Los A ngeles County. T his investigation f e r r e ts
out changes which have taken place in the N egro population of Los
A ngeles County fo r the period covered by this study. It notes w hether
th ese changes have been in the quantity, quality o r re d istrib u tio n of this
population grouping. The significance of the m ajo r changes w ill be
analyzed.
T h eo re tica l F ra m e s of R eference
P io n e e r attem pts to d e scrib e the fa c to rs affecting the sp a tia l
5
6
d istrib u tio n of com m unities include the work of C. J. G alpin and
R obert E. P a r k .7 The fo rm e r devoted his re s e a rc h studies and an aly
se s to ru ra l a re a s and the la tte r to the city. P a rk and his su c c e ss o rs
believed that a knowledge of anim al ecology could be applied to urban
life by using anthropological m ethods and techniques. P a r k 's proposal
se t into action a s e rie s of notew orthy contributions using the ecological
fram e of re fe re n c e .
E rn e st W. B u rg e ss, a c o llab o ra to r of R obert E. P a rk , e x
pounded his own hypothesis about urban growth and developm ent.
Advancing the idea that urban a re a s co n sist of concentric zones,
B u rg ess explained in d etail hypotheses which had been suggested by
R ichard Hurd,® a re a l e sta te agent. C ities expand fro m the c e n te r out
w ard and se v e ra l zones of sp ecialized land u se s are developed. A ccord
ing to B u rg ess these include:
I. The “ L oop" o r c e n tra l b u sin ess d is tric t, com m only called
“ Dow ntow n."
II. The Zone in T ran sitio n . Surrounding the c e n tra l b u sin ess
d is tric t a re a re a s of resid e n tia l d e te rio ra tio n caused by the
encroaching of b u sin ess and in d u stry from Zone I.
C
C. J . G alpin, The Social A natom y of an A g ric u ltu ra l C om m u
n ity , R e se arch B ulletin 34 (M adison: A g ricu ltu ral E x p erim en t Station of
the U n iv ersity of W isconsin, 1915).
7
R obert E . P a rk , “ The U rban C om m unity as a Spacial P a tte rn
and a M oral O rd e r ," in E rn e st W. B u rg ess (ed.), The U rban C om m uni-
(Chicago: The U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1926), pp. 3-18.
Q
R ichard M. H urd, P rin c ip le s of Land V alues (New York:
R ecord and Guide, 1911), pp. 56-74.
III. The Zone of W orkingm en’s H om es, inhabited by the w ork
e r s in in d u strie s who have escaped from the a re a of d e te rio ra tio n
(II) but who d e sire to live within e asy a c c e ss of th e ir work.
IV. The R esidential Zone of H igh-C lass ap artm en t buildings o r
exclusive “ re s id e n tia l” d is tric ts of single fam ily dw ellings.
V. The C o m m u te rs’ Zone beyond the city lim its; within a
th irty -s ix m inute ride of the c e n tra l b u sin ess district.®
B u rg ess pointed out that this proposition was an a b stra c t schem e and
la te r an aly ses of it have revealed h is assum ptions and the needed m odi
ficatio n s. N um erous m onographs in urban sociology have used the
concentric zone hypothesis and the g rad ien t theory of sp atially d is tr i
buted data.
The concepts of zones, n a tu ra l a re a s , gradient, su ccessio n
have se rv ed as an aly tical tools fo r num erous sociologists of urban
phenom ena. W ithin th is fram e of reference, data concerned with so c io
c u ltu ra l a re a s , p erso n ality types, housing, tran sp o rta tio n , and fo rm s of
p erso n al and so c ia l diso rg an izatio n have been e x a m i n e d .S e v e r a l
re s e a rc h investigations have applied the concentric zonal hypothesis
®Ernest W. B u rg e ss, “ The Growth of the City: An In tro
duction to a R e se arch P r o je c t,” in R obert E . P a rk , E rn e st W. B u rg ess
and R oderick D. M cK enzie, The C ity (Chicago: The U n iv ersity of
Chicago P r e s s , 1925), pp. 47-62.
10N els A nderson, The Hobo (Chicago: The U niversity of
Chiago P r e s s , 1925); E . F ra n k lin F r a z ie r , The N egro F am ily In C hi
cago (Chicago: The U n iv ersity of C hicago P r e s s , 1932); C lifford Shaw,
e t a l., D elinquency A reas (Chicago: The U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s ,
1929); R obert E . F a ris and H. W arren Dunham , M ental D iso rd e rs in
U rban A re as (Chicago: The U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1939).
7
11 12 13
to such urban c e n te rs as Long B each, D etroit and R o ch ester and
accepted it as valid. O ther in v estig ato rs of urban stru c tu re have r e
jected the validity of the zonal theory and explained its assu m p tio n s,
14
lim itatio n s and qualifications.
In 1937, M aurice R. Davie tested the B u rg ess hypothesis by
applying it to the city of New Haven, C onnecticut and found in New
Haven tw enty-tw o differen t a re a s which differed from the g e n e ra liz a
tions of the B u rg ess hypothesis. None of the c h a ra c te ris tic s of these
a re a s fe ll into a concentric zone pattern. Davie concluded that m any
cities show:
(1) A c e n tra l b u sin ess d is tric t, irre g u la r in size but sq u are o r
re c ta n g u la r ra th e r than c irc u la r, (2) co m m ercial land use extend
ing out from the ra d ia l s tre e ts and concentrating at c e rta in s t r a
tegic points to fo rm su b -c e n te rs, (3) industry located n e a r the
m eans of tran sp o rta tio n by w ater o r ra il, w herever in the city this
m ay be, and it m ay be anyw here, (4) low grade housing n e a r in d u s
tr ia l and tra n sp o rta tio n a re a s , and (5) second and f ir s t- c la s s
housing anyw here e ls e .1®
E lsa E . Longm oor and E rie F . Young, “ E cological I n te r
rela tio n sh ip s of Juvenile D elinquency, Dependency, and Population
M obility,” A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology, XLI (M arch, 1936), pp. 598-
610.
12
S tu art A. Queen and Lew is F . T hom as, The C ity (New York:
M cG raw -H ill Book Com pany, Inc., 1939), pp. 252-259.
13
Raymond V. B ow ers, “ E cological P a tte rn in g of R o ch ester,
New Y o rk ,” A m erican Sociological Review , IV (A pril, 1939), pp. 180-189.
14
Ja m e s A. Quinn, “ The B urgess Zonal H ypothesis and Its
C r itic s ,” A m erican Sociological R eview , V (A pril, 1940), pp. 210-218.
^ M . R. D avie, “ The P a tte rn s of U rban G row th,” in G. P .
8
The B u rg e ss th eo ry w as fu rth e r c ritic iz e d by H om er Hoyt
who m ade a study for the F e d e ra l Housing A d m in istratio n in 1939.
Hoyt conducted an in v estig atio n of 142 d ifferen t c itie s to d e term in e the
n atu re of urb an grow th. He pointed out the follow ing m odifications to
B u rg e ss' proposition:
(1) High c la s s a r e a s a re not located in the la s t co n cen tric zone on
the p e rip h e ry but only in one o r m o re s e c to rs ; a s the city grow s,
the upper c la s s e s keep m oving fro m the c e n te r, abandoning a re a s
to the low er c la s s e s , which extend th e ir h a b itats from the c e n te r
tow ard the o u tsk irts in a re a s of a tria n g u la r ra th e r than c irc u la r
shape.
(2) H igh-grade re s id e n tia l a re a s o rig in a te n e a r the re ta il and
office c e n te r but tend to p ro ceed along e stab lish ed lin es of tra v e l
tow ard an o th er ex istin g nucleus of buildings o r trad in g c e n te rs ,
p re fe ra b ly tow ard high ground o r a long lake, riv e r, o r ocean
front.
(3) The h ig h e r-p ric e d re s id e n tia l neighborhoods tend to grow
tow ard the hom es of the le a d e rs of the com m unity. ^
Hoyt s till used co n cen tric zones but divided them into se c to rs
and concluded th a t grow th tends to follow the m ain a r te r ie s of tra v e l
fro m the c e n te r of the city ra d ia lly outw ard. New s e c to rs develop
along th ese a r te r ie s .
A ccording to H a rr is and U llm an, the land use p a tte rn of
M urdock (e d .), Studies in the Science of Society (New Haven: Yale Uni
v e rs ity P r e s s , 1937), p. 159.
16
H om er Hoyt, The S tru c tu re and G row th of R esid en tial
N eighborhoods in A m e ric an C itie s (W ashington, D. C . : G overnm ent
P rin tin g O ffice, 1939).
17
Ib id ., p. 76.
18
C. D. H a rris and L. U llm an, "The N ature of C itie s, " The
A nnals of the A m e ric an A cadem y of P o litic a l and Sociel S cience, 242
(N ovem ber, 1945), pp. 7-17,
9
c itie s is bu ilt around s e v e ra l nuclei ra th e r than a single nucleus.
T hese m ay be c e n te rs of finance, com m erce, in d u stria l, re ta il o r p o li
tic a l life which re s u lt fro m the req u ire m e n ts fo r sp ecializatio n and the
advantages of proxim ity of like a ctiv itie s.
Among the o th er c ritic s of the B u rg ess hypothesis a re H arland
19 20
B artholom ew and Howard W. G reen. B artholom ew m ade a detailed
field su rv e y of land u tilization in six teen cities to which he d eclared the
B u rg ess hypothesis did not apply. G reen applied the hypothesis to the
c u ltu ra l a re a s of C leveland and the fo u r la rg e st adjacent c itie s. His
findings co n trad icted the conclusions of the concentric hypothesis.
21
W alter F ire y s tre s s e d the im portance of intangible non
m a te ria l values in the d istrib u tio n of the population and fu rth e r sub-
22
stan tiated the principle advanced by R obert S. and Helen M. Lynd and
23
Hoyt which em phasized the influence of sym bolic values in cre atin g
ecological a re a s .
19
H arland B artholom ew , U rban Land U ses (C am bridge: H a r
v ard U niversity P r e s s , 1932), pp. 80-81.
20
How ard W. G reen, “ C u ltu ra l A reas in the C ity of C leveland,”
A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology, XXXVHI (N ovem ber, 1932), pp. 356-367.
21
W alter F ire y , Land Use in C e n tra l B oston (C am bridge:
H arv ard U n iv ersity P r e s s , 1947), C hapters I and II.
22
R o b ert S. Lynd and Helen M. Lynd, M iddletown in T ra n sitio n
(New Y ork: H a rco u rt B race and Com pany, 1939), pp. 81-82.
Hoyt, loc. c it.
10
W ithin the fram ew ork of th is d iscu ssio n is the concept of
“ n a tu ra l a r e a s ” which in its e a rly inception was used to delim it an
a re a which depended m ore on nonde lib e r ate, nonplanned op eratio n of
in te rac tio n a l p ro c e sse s than on d elib erate design and planned a re a con
tro l. Zorbaugh defines the n a tu ra l a re a as a “ geographical a re a
c h a ra c te riz e d both by a physical individuality and by the c u ltu ra l c h a r-
24
a c te ris tic s of the people who live in it. The m ain point of this theory
se em s to be that m em b ers of the sam e relig io u s, ra c ia l, national o r
cu ltu ral group have a tendency to live in the sam e a re a . It tends to
explain seg reg atio n as a voluntary p ro ce ss w hereby people who are
c u ltu rally o r otherw ise rela te d tend to live in se p ara te a re a s . E m pha
sis is placed upon n a tu ra l ra th e r than so c ial o r po litical fa c to rs.
A ll of the above authors have attem pted to explain how the u r
ban com m unity has becom e divided into interdependent a re a s fashioned
by a com bination of n a tu ra l and planned fo rc e s that give each unit its
position in the whole. They had noted that th ere is a tendency fo r each
population or econom ic function to becom e located in one o r m ore
a re a s having c e rta in c h a ra c te ris tic s beyond those c re a te d by the im
m ediate occupants and that th ere a re d istrib u tiv e p ro c e ss e s at w ork
which produce the sp a tia l p a tte rn of the com m unity and its co n stellatio n
24
H arvey D. Zorbaugh, “ The N atu ral A re a s of the C ity” in
E . W. B u rg e ss (ed.), The U rban Com m unity (Chicago: The U n iv ersity of
Chicago P r e s s , 1926); P a u l H att, “ The C oncept of N atu ral A re a s ,”
A m erican Sociological R eview , Vol. XI (August, 1946), pp. 423-427.
1 1
of su b -co m m u n ities. Investigating the re a so n s fo r sp atial d iffe re n tia
tion, th ese th e o ris ts have sought th e ir a n sw e rs in the in terp lay of
psychological, econom ic, c u ltu ral, in stitu tio n al, and geographical d e
te rm in a n ts. It is ag ain st th is background that an attem pt is m ade to
analyze the N egro C om m unities in Los A ngeles County and to exam ine
the hypotheses advanced by B u rg ess and O tis Dudley Duncan and
B everly Duncan, u rb an so cio lo g ists a t U niversity of Chicago, who use
B u rg ess a s background for m uch of th e ir w ork.
F orm ulation of H ypotheses
l£rom his study of the urb an com m unity, E rn e st W. B u rg ess
advanced the concept of g rad ien t and defined it a s "the ra te of change
of a v a ria b le condition like hom e ow nership, b irth s or divorce from
9 ^
the standpoint of its d istrib u tio n over a given a re a . " T his concept
of g rad ie n t sta te s th at the p a ttern of d istrib u tio n of a v a ria b le changes
continuously in one d irec tio n with in creasin g distance from the c en ter
to the p e rip h e ry and fu rn ish es the th e o re tic a l background for the f ir s t
hypothesis of th is investigation. C om m unities with the highest p ropor
tio n s of N egroes w ill show a p ro g re ssiv e d e c re a se in th e ir proportion
of N egroes with the in cre asin g distance from the c e n te r of the city
outw ard. Subsequently, a sub-hypothesis w ill be teste d on the
E rn e s t W. B u rg e ss, The D eterm ination of G radients in
Sociologies
12
g ra d ie n t d ifferen tiatio n of the so cial sta tu s v a ria b le of education.
O tis Dudley Duncan and B ev erly D uncan advanced a second m ajo r
h yp othesis to be te s te d in th is study: a re a s inhabited by a su b sta n
tia l num ber o r p ro p o rtio n of N egroes tend to in c re a s e th e ir N egro
p ro p o rtio n s, w hether rap id ly o r slow ly, w h ereas a d e c re a se seldom
o c c u rs once an a re a h as reach ed a p ro p o rtio n of ten p e r cent
n c
N eg ro es. Thus th is study focuses on the co n cen tratio n , seg reg atio n
and su c ce ssio n of the N egro population in Los A ngeles County over
the period c o n sid ered . G radient hypotheses have been te ste d fo r such
so c ia l phenom ena a s delinquency, c rim e , m ental d is o rd e rs , su ic id e s,
27
fam ily disorganization, m o rta lity , land and p ro p e rty v alu es.
D efinitions of T e rm s
The follow ing definitions, explanations and d e sc rip tio n s of key
concepts of th is d is s e rta tio n a re p ertin en t to its c le a r com prehension:
E cology, a te rm , borrow ed from the field of biology, which
w as f ir s t used in 1878 by the G erm an b io lo g ist and philosopher, E rn e s t
28
H aeckel, but it w as the Dane E ugenius W arm ing who brought the te rm
26
O tis Dudley Duncan and B everly Duncan, The N egro P o p u
lation in Chicago: A Study of R esid en tial S uccession (C hicago: U n iv e r
sity of C hicago P r e s s , 1957), p. 11.
27
Quinn, op. c i t . , pp. 515-540.
^® Ernest H aeckel, The H istory of C reatio n (New Y ork: D.
A ppleton, 1896), I I , p. 354.
13
n e a re r the so c ial sc ie n c e s. He drew attention to the fact that different
kinds of plants tend to grow to g eth er, and like hum an com m unites, have
a tem p o ral beginning, experience changes and finally e n te r into decline
29
and a re su p ersed ed by o th er plants.
The adaptation of ecology as a sociological theory was accom -
30
plished in A m erica by R obert E z ra P a rk . P a rk , along with E rn e st
W. B u rg ess and R oderick D. M cKenzie, has shown that the com m unity
can be view ed as a so c ial aggregate which co v ers a c e rta in a re a in
space and is divided into zones and reg io n s.
Human ecology has been defined by McKenzie as the study of
arra n g em e n ts and p a ttern s that people m ake fo r living in space:
It d eals with the sp a tia l a sp ects of the sym biotic relatio n s of
hum an beings and hum an in stitu tio n s. It aim s to d isc o v er the p rin
ciples and fa c to rs involved in the changing p a tte rn of sp atial
a rra n g em e n ts of the population and in stitu tio n s resu ltin g from the
in te r-p la y of hum an beings in a continuously changing cu ltu re. . . .
The su b ject of hum an ecology can be cla ssified under th ree g en eral
c ateg o ries; ecological organization, which re p re se n ts the sp atial
a rra n g em e n ts of populations and in stitu tio n s at any given tim e
e ith e r within a local com m unity o r w ithin a la rg e r constellation of
com m unities; ecological dom inance, which re p re se n ts the dynam ic
o r functional a sp ects of sp a tia l relationship; and ecological su c
cessio n which d e sc rib e s tem p o ral changes in the hum an com m uni-
29
E ugenius W arm ing, P la n t C om m unities (n.p.: n .n ., 1895).
30
R obert E . P a rk and E rn e s t W. B u rg e ss, An Introduction to
the Science of Sociology (Chicago: U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1921),
pp. 161-216.
31
R. D. M cKenzie, “ Human Ecology,” E ncyclopedia of Social
S ciences (New Y ork: The M acm illan Company, 1931), V, pp. 314-315.
14
In re g a rd to the p re se n t d isse rta tio n which is concerned with
the ecology of N egro com m unities in Los A ngeles County, in te re s t is
focused on ecological organization and su ccessio n of these com m unities
as rev ealed by p ro c e sse s of change such as grow th, expansion, decline
o r tra n sitio n , seg reg atio n , invasion and su ccessio n .
A N egro com m unity is defined as a te r r ito r ia l a re a co n sistin g
of two hundred and fifty o r m ore inhabitants whose in te rp e rso n a l con
ta c ts and acquaintances a re estab lish ed through such so c ial in stitu tio n s
as N egro ch u rch es, fra te rn a l o rd e rs and so c ial clubs. Sm all se rv ic e
b u sin e sse s such as ta v e rn s, re s ta u ra n ts , and hotels and p erso n al s e r
v ice s such as beauty and b a rb e r shops c a te r alm ost ex clu siv ely to
N egro patronage. T his sub-com m unity can fu rth e r be differen tiated by
its physical, so c ial, and psychological isolation.
A ccording to Hylan Lew is and M ozell Hill:
E ach N egro com m unity re p re se n ts a unique se t of sh ared
resp o n se s to selectiv e A m erican attitu d es, custom s and institutions
th at keep N egroes in som e degree sep arate and deprived. . . . A l
though the d e ta ils and settin g s of ra c ia l beh av io r v a ry en o rm o u sly ,
the follow ing fe a tu re s a re com m on to N egro com m unities in the
United S tates w h erev er found: (1) a group of people who sh a re and
organize ex p erien ces of being tre a te d as N egroes; (2) capacity fo r
e le m e n ta ry identification o r em pathy with o th er N egroes; (3) c i r
culation of a ll types of m edia of in -group sym bols and m yths,
which are larg e ly pragm atic v a ria tio n s on com m on A m erican
th e m e s — su c c e ss , happiness, self fulfillm ent, su rv iv a l, d e m o c ra
cy, and so fo rth .
32
Hylan L ew is and M ozell H ill, “ D esignation, In teg ratio n , and
the N egro C om m unity,” The Annals of the A m erican A cadem y of P o liti
c al and Social Science, Ira De A. R eid, ed., 304 (M arch, 1956), p. 117.
15
The N egro com m unity c o n sists of a s e t of rela tio n sh ip s that
e x ist betw een people—relatio n sh ip s rev ealed in the functioning of fam ily,
school, church, com m unity c e n te rs, clubs, asso c iatio n s and som e o th er
p e rip h e ra l in stitu tio n s and s e rv ic e s . It is defined through so c ial in te r
action and includes a com plex netw ork of hum an relatio n sh ip s which
e x ists from the view point of the p a rticip a n ts fo r a definite purpose. It
e x ists both as a physical and a psychological fact.
H ille r o b serv es that locality, and a re a o r space, is taken as a
datum in defining so c ial re la tio n s. It is sym bolic. When locality
o r space has such a sym bolic sig n ifican ce, adm ission th ereto
constitutes a te s t of a cc ess to co rresp o n d in g so cial re la tio n s,
w hether these be p re sc rib e d o r o th erw ise. As soon as adm ission
into defined space is allow ed, v ario u s n o rm s, such as c e rta in legal
rig h ts and duties are expected to o p e ra te. . . . Thus the so -c alled
law of se ttlem e n t is seen to r e s t n o rm ativ ely given presuppositions
which a re bu ilt up with re fe re n c e to in g re ss into a recognized s o
c ial space and which have v aried in fo rm and content in different
tim es and c u ltu r e s .^
L os A ngeles County, e stab lish ed in 1850, is one of the tw enty-
seven o rig in al C alifornia C ounties and one of the la rg e st counties in the
United S tates. It is b o rd ered by K ern County in the n o rth , San B e rn a r
dino County in the e a st, V entura in the w est and O range County in the
south. It extends about seventy-five m iles in the n o rth -so u th d irectio n ,
seventy m ile s in the e a st-w e st d irec tio n and has a se a co ast line of
som e seventy-five m ile s, and co v ers 4,080 sq u are m ile s, an a re a som e
33
E . T . H ille r, “ The C om m unity as a Social G ro u p ,” A m e ri
can Sociological R eview , 6 (A pril, 1941), pp. 195-197.
18
eight hundred m ile s la r g e r than the com bined sta te s of D elaw are and
Rhode Islan d . It c o n sists of sixty-tw o in co rp o rated c itie s and n u m e r
ous u n in co rp o rated a re a s .
G radient is the ra te of change of a v ariable condition such as
hom e ow nership, sex and age groups, poverty, d ix o fce, o r delinquency,
fro m the standpoint of its d istrib u tio n ov er a given a re a . It is used to
m ea su re the degree of dom inance which a c en ter e x e rc is e s in s u c c e s
sive zones out tow ard its p e rip h e r y .^
C oncentration is the p ro ce ss by which people tend to com e to
g eth er in lim ited a re a s . E cological concentration involves changes in
the sp a tia l d istrib u tio n units within a hom ogeneous a re a so that a p ro - *
g re ssiv e ly g re a te r difference in num bers o r density of population ex -
35
is ts among its s u b -p a rts .
S egregation is used with refe ren c e to the concentration of
sp ecific types of population o r in stitu tio n al organizations w ithin a given
a re a . It is a sifting, so rtin g o r selectin g p ro cess by which people o r
in stitu tio n s are form ed into co n trastin g , substantive s u b -a re a s . It
im p lies a tendency tow ard the exclusion of units of the seg reg ated type
fro m o th er s u b - a r e a s .36
Invasion o ccu rs when a new type of people, in stitu tio n al
34
Ja m e s A. Quinn, Hum an Ecology (New Y ork: P re n tic e -H a ll,
In c., 1950), pp. 275-276.
35Ib id „ p. 333. 36Ibid., p. 305.
17
organization o r activity c e n te rs in an a re a p rev io u sly occupied by a
d ifferen t type, re su ltin g in group d isplacem ent o r a change in land use
37
p a tte rn s.
S uccession is the end of the invasion cycle and is m arked by
the change in the population com position, organization and c h a ra c te r-
38
is tic s of an a re a dom inated by new in v ad ers.
Significance of the Study
A gainst the background of an urban a re a can be seen d iv erse
nuclei o r collections of people m ore o r le s s se t a p a rt fro m each o th er.
S om etim es these a re a s a re ra th e r c le a rly m arked off by n a tu ra l o r
a rtific ia l b o u n d a rie s. T hese sub-com m unities with th e ir people and
in stitu tio n s m ay have a nam e and a h isto ry which fu rth e r identifies
them as com m unities o r distinctive sectio n s of a la rg e r a re a . T his
study, which analyzes the siz e , com position and d istrib u tio n of the
N egro population in v ario u s sub-com m unities gives factu al inform ation
concerning the tren d s in the c h a ra c te ris tic s and d istrib u tio n of the N e
gro C om m unities as w ell as d e sc rib e s the in te rn a l d ifferen tiatio n of
th ese com m unities. It provides a fram e of re fe re n c e fo r a study of the
grow th and p roblem s of this population group, gives factu al inform ation
which w ill show the considerable range of v a ria tio n s am ong d ifferen t
se c to rs of the N egro population as cla ssified by cen su s tra c ts and
37Ibid., pp. 358-380. 38Ib id .> pp. 361-370.
18
c o m m u n ities. In addition to e sta b lish in g knowledge concerning the
a ctu al d istrib u tio n of the N egro population over the county, it w ill indi
cate w hether th ere is a tendency tow ard an equilibrium of se ttlem en t
and c h a ra c te ris tic s . Since th is d is s e rta tio n includes a rep lica tio n of
c e rta in a sp e c ts of a re s e a rc h p ro jec t of O tis Dudley Duncan and B e v er-
39
ly Duncan, it will se rv e to fu rth e r refine som e of the techniques and
su b stan tiate the findings advanced by them .
P lan of the D isse rta tio n
The re m a in d e r of the d isse rta tio n is organized as follow s:
C h ap ter II is a review of re s e a rc h lite ra tu re rela tiv e to com m unity
re s e a rc h , the N egro C om m unity, and the N egro in Los A ngeles County.
C h a p te r III in d icates the m ethodology, and re s e a rc h design. C h ap ter IV
d e sc rib e s the h is to ric a l background of N egro com m unities in Los
A ngeles County. C h ap ter V d e sc rib e s the su c ce ssio n cy cle. C hapter VI
su m m a riz e s the so c ia l concom itants of the su ccessio n cy cle. C h ap ter
VII is concerned with changes in the sp a tia l d istrib u tio n of the N egro
population. C h ap ter VIII su m m a riz e s the m ajo r findings of the study.
39
O tis D. Duncan, op. c it.
CHAPTER H
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
F ro m inform ation dealing with the ecology of the A m erican
com m unity, the A m erican N egro and the N egro in Los A ngeles County,
have been selected those in vestigations, re s e a rc h re p o rts , and stu d ies
which a re m ost d ire c tly related to the problem of this d isse rta tio n .
The wide range of lite ra tu re on the ecological organization and s tr u c
tu re of the com m unity has, by n e ce ssity , lim ited this review of the
lite ra tu re to investigations which place m ore em phasis on m ethods and
techniques of com m unity study than ecological theory. Studies of N e
g ro es w ere included only if they dealt with urbanization o r an an aly sis
of N egro com m unities o r neighborhoods. The investigations review ed
reg a rd in g the N egro in Los A ngeles range fro m re s e a rc h stu d ies con
cern ed m ainly with developing techniques fo r the study of urban c e n te rs
to re s e a rc h re p o rts conducted fo r v ario u s agencies in th e ir attem p ts to
find solutions to p rev ailin g so c ial problem s. A lm ost as wide as the
range in quality and quantity of d ata is the range in m ethodology and
techniques used in the lite ra tu re review ed, since it re p re s e n ts the
e a rly , as w ell as re c e n t, techniques used in the study of u rb an c e n te rs ,
ghetto, and population changes.
19
20
C om m unity R e se arch and M ethodology
Students of urban phenom ena have shown continuous in te re s t in
the sp a tia l d istrib u tio n of v ario u s asp ects of com m unity life. In v e sti
gations re la te d to the ecology of the com m unity m ay be cla ssified into
two types. F ir s t, a re so c ial s u rv e y s — stu d ies of the sp a tia l d istrib u -
1 2
tion of b io so cial phenom ena within the urban a re a . E . W. B u rg ess
defined the com m unity su rv ey as the scien tific study of the conditions
and needs of the com m unity fo r the purposes of p resen tin g a c o n stru c
tive p rogram of so c ial advance. Second is re s e a rc h pertaining to the
delim itatio n of n a tu ra l — as c o n tra sted to the p o litic a l— boundaries of
the lo cal com m unity.
The com m unity su rv ey , as a se rio u s proposition, a ro se out of
refo rm m ovem ents fo r the reo rg an izatio n of neighborhood and com m uni
ty life and th is fo r som etim e determ in ed the scope and m ethodology of
3
the in vestigations. The so c ial su rv ey was concerned with the e v e ry
day issu e s of com m unity life; it inquired into them , attem pted to an a
lyze what it found, form ulated proposed c o u rse s of action, and sought to
*Paul U. K ellogg, ed ., The P ittsb u rg h S urvey, 6 V ols., 1914,;
H a rriso n , S. M. Social C onditions in an A m erican City: A ium m ary of
F indings of the Springfield S urvey, 1929.
2
E . W. B u rg e ss, “ Social S u rv e y s— A F ield fo r C onstructive
S ervice in D epartm ents of Sociology,” A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology,
XXI (January, 1916), p. 492.
3
P auline V. Young, Scientific Social Surveys and R esearch
(New York: P re n tic e H all, Inc., 1939), pp. 9-17.
21
give wide c u rre n c y to its data and p ro p o sals. As a m ethod designed
p rim a rily to accom plish re s u lts through com m unity action, the so c ia l
su rv ey was su c ce ssfu l in m any in stan ces; but as a m ethod of studying
a ll phases of com m unity life so as to estab lish the facts of the life in
te rm s of the n a tu ra l h isto ry of the a re a , its econom ic foundations,
population and in te re s t groupings, fo rm a l organization and functions,
the so c ial su rv ey has dubious value fo r sociological g en eralizatio n s.
The so c ia l su rv ey was an elab o rate piece of so c ial d escrip tio n dealing
with g larin g e v ils and s ta rtlin g in ju stic e s. F ro m the point of view of
m ethodology, a distinctive featu re of the so c ial survey w as its em p h a
s is on lo cal p articip atio n and its chief contributions to com m unity
stu d ies was its em p h asis on co -o p erativ e m achinery and its wide use
of publicity devices designed to acquaint the public with its findings and
b rin g about the d e sire d im provem ents in the local situation. In A m e ri-
4
ca, the P ittsb u rg h and Springfield Surveys a re notew orthy.
Many of the stu d ies concerned with the delim itation of n a tu ra l
a re a s d eal with segm ents of life in the city of Chicago and include data
b earin g on so c ia l in te ra c tio n s. Among these m ay be placed such studies
4
K ellogg, op. c it.
22
5 6 7 8
as the G hetto, The G ang, The Hobo, The Gold C oast and the Slum .
In these studies of the rela te d so c ial types, the gang and the
9 10
delinquent, T h ra s h e r and Shaw, in plotting th e ir c ase s on the m ap,
found that gangs and delinquents p e r capita of the boy-population of the
sam e age groups showed a v ery g re a t preponderance in what B u rg ess
and o th ers have called the “ a re a of tra n s itio n .” In th is a re a , d e lin
quency and o th er so c ial and econom ic m aladjustm ents are a sso ciated
with invasion, a declining population density, excessive m obility, ethnic
h eterogeneity and a wide gap betw een land and re n ta l v alu es. Shaw11
12
and T h ra sh e r supplem ented the ecological approach by case stu d ies
which yielded fu rth e r knowledge of the contribution of ecological s tr u c
tu re to the function of so c ial in stitu tio n s in such a r e a s .
g
L ouis W irth, The Ghetto (Chicago: U niversity of Chicago
P r e s s , 1929).
F re d e ric M. T h ra sh e r, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in
Chicago (Chicago: The U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1927).
7
N els A nderson, The Hobo (Chicago: The U niversity of C hi
cago P r e s s , 1923).
8
H arvey W. Z orbaugh, The Gold C oast and the Slum (Chicago:
The U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1929).
g
T h ra sh e r, op. c it.
^ C liffo rd R. Shaw and H enry D. McKay, Juvenile D elinquency
and U rban A reas (Chicago: The U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1942).
12
T h ra sh e r, op. c it.
23
I O
A lm o st fifty y e a rs ago C. J . G alpin stim u lated in te re s t in
the study of the com m unity a s a g eo g rap h ical, a s w ell a s a social,
unit by pointing out how the b o u n d aries of a r u r a l com m unity m ay be
d eterm in ed through the device of loeating on a m ap the re s id e n c e s of
the m o re d istan t p a tro n s of its so c ial and econom ic in stitu tio n s. T his
technique fo r delineating the boundary of the a ctu al, a s opposed to the
legal, village com m unity is im p o rtan t b ecau se it inaugurated a new
e ra and in te re s t in delim itin g the m a rg in s of "both the u rb an and r u ra l
com m unity.
The potential developm ent of the n a tu ra l a re a concept im plied
in G alp in 's delineation of the v illage com m unity receiv ed new im petus
14
in M cK enzie's study of the city neighborhood. M cKenzie took a c
count not only of the d iv e rse n a tu ra l d iv isio n s of the city, but a lso the
sp a tia l d istrib u tio n of the population ele m e n ts and in stitu tio n s in the
city a s a whole. He advanced the notion th at the city is a co n fig u ra
tion of c e n tra l b u sin e ss, in d u stria l, and re s id e n tia l a re a s . In m aking
his a n a ly sis, he w as indebted to an e a r lie r study of city land
v alu es.
A s a check on h is m o re g e n e ra l s ta tis tic a l approach^ ham pered
13
C. J . G alpin, The Social A natom y of an A g ric u ltu ra l C om
m unity (M adison: A g ric u ltu ra l E x p erim e n t Station of the U n iv ersity of
W isconsin, 1915), R e se a rc h B ulletin 34.
14
R oderick M cK enzie, The N eighborhood. A Study of
C olum bus, Ohio (C hicago: The U n iv e rsity of Chicago P r e s s , 1923).
^ R ic h a rd M. H urd, P rin c ip le s of City Land V alues (New
York: The R ecord and G uide, 1911), pp. 56-74,
24
as it was by a rtific ia l w ard-line com pilations, M cKenzie and his a s s i s
tan ts m ade an intensive field study of 1,000 households, and a study of
in stitu tio n s— ch u rch es, schools, in d u strie s, and re c re a tio n . It becam e
c le a r that a close relatio n sh ip existed betw een population m obility,
econom ic sta tu s, and in stitu tio n al disorganization. The sp a tia l location
of in stitu tio n al clientele was m apped to show d istribution tre n d s.
M cKenzie studied the configuration of a re a s and the typical s e g re g a
tions of population elem en ts which, on com parison, m ay be found in all
c itie s. T his approach to the study of city as an expanding whole r e
ceived fu rth e r definition in the conceptual schem e of Burgess m entioned
in C h ap ter I.*®
17
U sing the census tra c t device, G reen com bined tra c ts to
conform to the boundaries of v ario u s health a re a s in C leveland in o rd e r
to study the sp a tia l d istrib u tio n and tren d s of change in re g a rd to sex,
age, ra c e , nationality, m a rita l condition, and occupation.
18
The notion of gradient, as proposed by B u rg e ss, has been
used to m ea su re the degree of dom inance which a c en ter e x e rc is e s in
^ E r n e s t W. B u rg ess, “ The Growth of the C ity ,” P ublication
of A m erican Sociological Society, XVII (1924), pp. 85-97.
17
H. W. G reen, Population C h a ra c te ris tic s by C ensus T r a c ts ,
C leveland, O hio, 1930; “ C u ltu ral A reas in the C ity of C leveland,”
A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology, XXXVIII (N ovem ber, 1932), pp. 356-367.
18
E rn e s t W. B u rg e ss, “ The D eterm ination of G radients in the
Grow th of the C ity ,” P ublication of A m erican Sociological S ociety, XXI
(1927), pp. 178-184.
25
su ccessiv e zones out tow ard its p erip h ery . The sm a ll units of s ta tis
tic a l com pilation in census tra c t cities m ake possible the application of
the device with a m inim um of re s e a rc h expenditure. The gradient con-
19
cept has been applied by P a rk in m easu rin g the extent of urban dom i
nance in its surrounding trad e a re a . S tartin g in C hicago, his d is trib u
tion m ap shows the m etro p o litan d ailies to be dom inant fo r a distance
of fifty m ile s from the city.
O th er stu d ies dealing with gradient type, ecological d istrib u -
20
tion of v a ria b le s, include the w ork of the D uncans. T hey found a
re sid e n tia l d istrib u tio n of occupational sta tu s and a corresponding d is
trib u tio n of socioeconom ic sta tu s with c e n traliza tio n in v ersely rela te d
to sta tu s.
21
Schm id and Van A rsd o l in a study of 468 c a se s of com pleted
and 1,055 c a se s of attem pted su icid es in S eattle, W ashington, during the
five y e a r period, 1948 to 1952, found that the highest ra te s both of
o c cu rren c e and residence of su icid es and attem pted su icid es w ere in
the c e n tra l b u sin ess d is tric t and ad jacen t a re a s , and the low est ra te s
w ere in the outlying re sid e n tia l a re a s .
19
R obert E . P a rk , “ U rbanization As M easured by N ew spaper
C irc u la tio n ,” A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology, XXXV (July, 1929), pp.
60-79.
^ O t is d . Duncan and B e v trly Duncan, “ R esid en tial D istrib u
tion and O ccupational S tratification,** A m erican Sociological R eview ,
LX (M arch, 1955), pp. 493-503.
^ C a lv in F . Schm id and M aurice D. Van A rsd o l, J r .,
2 6
22
In 1951, L illian Cohen studied the p attern of living of six -
hundred L os A ngeles room ing-house re sid e n ts by questionnaire and
in terv iew . Selecting th re e econom ically and so cially hom ogeneous
room ing-house a re a s , Hollywood, F ig u ero a and Downtown slum s —
a re a s seg reg ated on the b a sis of type of dw elling units and living
p a tte r n s — Cohen co n tra sted the upper and low er c la ss room ing-house
d is tr ic ts ir L os A ngeles and found that th ere w ere v ariatio n s in the
a sp ira tio n s, attitu d e s, voting in te re s ts and sexual habits of the inhabi
tan ts of these th re e a re a s . Although the conclusions of this study a re
not c le a rly draw n, the investigation indicates the possibility of varying
d ifferen ces in the ecological stru c tu re of the Los A ngeles C om m unity.
S ev eral investigations have been conducted rela tin g to re s i-
23
d en tial seg reg a tio n . F o r exam ple, Bell, who exam ined the Shevky-
W illiam s urb an typology in 1953, used th e ir index of seg reg atio n to
com pare the p a tte rn s of seg reg atio n in San F ra n c isc o with those of Los
A ngeles. He noted th at while th ere was considerable v a ria tio n in the
d istrib u tio n of the population of the two regions in the v a rio u s so c ial
“ C om pleted and A ttem pted Suicides: A C om parative A n a ly sis,” A m e r
ican Sociological R eview , XX (June, 1955), pp. 273-283.
22
L illia n Cohen, “ Los A ngeles Rooming House K aleid o sco p e,”
A m erican Sociological R eview , XVI (June, 1951), pp. 467-477.
23
W endell B ell, “ The Social A reas of the San F ra n c isc o Bay
R egion,” A m e ric an Sociological Review , XVIII (F e b ru ary , 1953), pp.
36-47.
27
a re a ty p es, the cen su s tr a c ts com posing a given so c ial a re a r e p r e
sented hom ogeneous populations even when those tr a c ts w ere located
in d ifferen t re g io n s. V ario u s seg reg atio n indexes have been proposed
and c ritic iz e d . Duncan and D uncan in 1955 c ritic iz e d a s inadequate
a ll of the indexes of seg reg atio n proposed thus fa r and em phasized
th at adequate indexes cannot be devised without dealing w ith th e o re t
ic a l is s u e s . They stated:
(1) S egregation cannot be m e a su re d without re g a rd to the sp a tia l
p a tte rn of w hite and non-w hite resid en c e in a city.
(2) T h ere is the problem of an a p p ro p ria te a re a l unit fo r r e
se a rc h on seg reg atio n .
(3) T h ere is a lack of c la rity and consistency in the sp e c ific a
tio n s fo r a seg reg atio n index.
(4) The m ath em a tica l a n a ly sis of seg reg atio n index fo rm u la s
d isc lo se a re a s of redundancy and am biguity am ong them , i. e . ,
it p e rm its a conclusion a s to the c irc u m sta n c e s in w hich the two
indexes w ill give in terch an g eab le re s u lts and in w hich they w ill
give incom patible re s u lts . *4
The m ethodological techniques for eco lo g ical in v estig atio n s
have im proved fro m a field of d e sc rip tiv e stu d ies lim ited to one c u l
tu ra l context to m ethods of studying w ith g re a te r p re c isio n the sp a tia l
and te m p o ra l d istrib u tio n of b asic phenom ena.
The N egro C om m unity
In c o n tra st to the lite ra tu re on com m unity stu d ies, th e re is a
9 A.
O tis D. Duncan and B everly D uncan, "A M ethodological
A n aly sis of S egregation In d e x e s ,1 1 A m erican Sociological Review , XX
(A pril, 1955), pp. 210-217.
28
paucity of in fo rm atio n concerning the N egro com m unity fro m the point
of view of th is study, i. e . , re s e a rc h which adequately d e lim its and
d efines the N egro com m unity a s an entity o th er than an a re a of p r e
dom inant N egro co n cen tratio n . Few stu d ies em phasize the ecologi
c al, so c ial, econom ic, and p o litical fo rc e s influencing the location,
grow th, siz e , and expansion of the N egro com m unity.
A la rg e nu m b er of p a st N egro com m unity stu d ies w ere con
ducted by a n th ro p o lo g ists and so c io lo g ists. T h eir p u rp o ses and m e th
ods a r e e x tre m e ly v a rie d . 25 In the m ajo rity , the c u ltu ra l o r ethno
g rap h ic ap p ro ach is used which w as developed by the a n th ro p o lo g ists
fo r the study of p rim itiv e c u ltu re s. A pplied to p rim itiv e trib e s , th is
ap p ro ach has th re e d istin c tiv e m ethodological a sp e c ts. F ir s t, it is
ethnographic: the c u ltu re of each trib e , band, o r village is studied in
its to ta lity , a ll fo rm s of beh av io r being seen a s functionally in te rd e
pendent p a rts in the context of the whole. Second, it is h isto ric a l: the
c u ltu re of each so ciety is tra c e d to its so u rc e s in a n c e s tra l o r a n te
cedent groups o r am ong neighboring peoples. T hird, it is c o m p a ra
tiv e: each group is view ed in the p e rsp ec tiv e of other groups which
have d ifferen t cultures^ and p ro b lem s and m ethods vhich are c ro s s -
ciitu rally defiled. TVo general c ritic ism s m ay be made of the way in
which the ethnographic, h isto ric a l, and com parative m ethods a re applied
25
Ju lia n H aynes Stew ard, A rea R esearch : T heory and P r a c
tic e (New Y ork: Social Science R e se a rc h Council, 1950).
29
to m odern com m unities. F ir s t, the m ethods have not been adapted to
m odern com m unities, which d iffer qualitatively fro m p rim itiv e ones.
Second, the h isto ric a l and-com parative m ethods have been used hardly
a t a ll.
The ethnographic m ethod has been applied in stu d ies of v il
lag es, tow ns, p a rts of c itie s, ra c ia l and ethnic m in o ritie s, and other
2 fi
sp e cia l portions or segm ents of society. E ach segm ent o r unit
ideally is studied a s a whole, the e n tire range of so c ial scien ce pheno
m ena being covered under such headings a s econom ic life, so c ial
s tru c tu re , p o litical organization, and relig io u s and in te lle ctu al a c tiv
itie s. In c o n tra st to the m ore specialized re s e a rc h , these stu d ies
iso late the phenom ena they study from th e ir com m unity. A ttem p ts a re
m ade to in te g rate a ll these so cial science data w ithin the lo cal fra m e
w ork. In th is re s p e c t a com m unity study m ight be co n sid ered an
in te rd isc ip lin a ry a re a study in m icro co sm , except that it is usually
m ade by p e rso n s from only one or two d iscip lin es.
The ethnographic m ethod is qualitative ra th e r than q u a n tita
tive. In general, it tends to deal with a ll the phenom ena which a re found
w ithin a locality. It is open to c ritic ism not because of its lack of
26
H ortense P ow derm aker, A fter F reed o m : A C u ltu ra l Study
of the D eep South (New York: The Viking P r e s s , 1939); A lliso n D avis,
et a l. , Deep South: A Social A nthropological Study of C aste and C lass
(Chicago: U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1941); St. C la ir D rake and
H orace R. Cayton, B lack M etropolis: A Study of N egro L ife in a
N orthern C ity (New York: H arco u rt, B race and Com pany, 1945); John
P o lla rd , C aste and C lass in a Southern Town (New Haven: Y ale U ni
v e rsity , 1937).
quantification but because it tr e a ts the lo ca l group as if the la rg e r s o
ciety did not e x ist. T his lim itatio n is acknowledged by m o st in v estig a
to rs of p a rtic u la r com m unities, who recognize th at th e ir studies need
to be re la te d to the la rg e r u n iv erse of so c ial and c u ltu ra l phenom ena.
T h ere a re few stu d ies which attem p t to show how the la rg e r society
affects the com m unity under investigation; and th ere are no studies
which undertake to conceptualize fully and in d e ta il the relatio n sh ip
betw een the com m unity and the so ciety as a whole. Any co n cep tu aliza
tion of th is relatio n sh ip w ill of co u rse depend a g re a t deal upon the
problem s being investigated.
N ev erth eless som e knowledge has been gained from this ap
proach which enabled the author to m ake m ore extensive use of the
h is to ric a l and com parative techniques, noting the n e c e ssity fo r m odifi
cation when and w here req u ired and recognizing that m odern com m uni
tie s d iffer q u alitativ ely fro m p rim itiv e ones. E ach com m unity is
studied as a segm ent and as a whole with em p h asis on population,
housing c h a ra c te ris tic s and th e ir changing com m unity s tru c tu re s .
Studies of the m odern com m unity w ere probably opened by the
27
Lynda’ stu d ies of M iddletown which em phasize the effect of techno
logical changes upon o ld er A m erican p a tte rn s. The L ynda’ second
27
R obert S. and H elen M. Lynd, M iddletown; A Study in Con-
te m p o ra ry C ulture (New Y ork: H a rco u rt, B race and Com pany, 1929).
31
28
volum e showed fu rth e r concern with the so cial and econom ic m alad
ju stm e n ts of A m erican life. T his survey, a pioneer study of an
A m erican com m unity, re v e a ls the problem of what happens when a
study fa ils to show how the la rg e r society affects the com m unity a s a
whole o r the relatio n sh ip betw een the com m unity and the la rg e r
w hole.
M ore re la te d to th is re s e a rc h p ro ject is the s e r ie s of rac e
re la tio n s studies whose chief in te re s t lie s in conflict ra th e r than in
29 30
cu ltu re or h isto ry . Thus P o w d erm ak e r's and D o lla rd 's studies
of the sam e N egro-w hite com m unity in M ississip p i a re s im ila r in
seeing in te rra c ia l re la tio n s a s a caste situation, with each ra c e sub
divided into c la s s e s (although they do not a g ree on c la ss grouping).
They d iffer, how ever, in that the fo rm e r is fa r m ore c u ltu ra l and
h isto ric a l, w h ereas the la tte r is concerned with psychological a tti-
31
tudes. D avis and the G ard n ers w ere sim ila rly concerned with the
re la tiv e statu s positions and a sso c iated a ttitu d es of the two ra c ia l
groups.
W illiam E. B. DuBois, a s e a rly a s 1899, studied the condi
tio n s of 42, 000 o r m ore N egroes in Philadelphia by the su rv ey m ethod.
28
R obert S. and Helen M. Lynd, M iddletown in T ran sitio n
(New York: H arco u rt, B race and Com pany, 1937).
29
P ow derm aker, op. cit.
D ollard, op. c it.
^^Davis, op. cit.
32
W illiam E. B. DuBois, The P hiladelphia N egro: A Social
Survey (Philadelphia: U n iversity of Pennsylvania P r e s s ” 1899).
32
He used fre e ly the cen su ses and official sta tis tic s to re la te the h isto ry ,
age, sex, education, occupation and health as w ell as th e ir fam ily con
d itions. Although th is house to house investigation was conducted to
aid local refo rm w ork it is a c ritic a l and d isc rim in atin g statem en t of
the conditions of N egro urban life.
33
In 1928, T . J . W oofter, who was concerned about fundam ental
adjustm ents accom panying the urbanization of the N egro, conducted
first-h an d o b serv atio n s in seven n o rth ern and nine southern cities in
the United S tates. W oofter’s study re p re se n ts an e a rly attem pt to tra c e
the effects of city life upon N egroes. It touches upon se v e ra l so cial
problem s including p a ttern s of ra c ia l sep aratio n , expansion, congestion
of N egro a re a s , fa c ilitie s, school fa c ilitie s, educational op p o rtu n ities,
neighborhood contacts and the physical fe a tu re s of neighborhoods.
W oofter attem pted to a sc e rta in to what extent th ese neighborhood fa c il
itie s w ere available to N egro in -m ig ra n ts and the m an n er in which the
new com ers adapted to neighborhood in stitu tio n s.
34
S ev eral stu d ies have been conducted which d e scrib e the
problem s of so cializatio n faced by urban N egro youth. T hese studies
attem pted to uncover and analyze the basic p ro c e ss e s which d eterm in e
33
Thom as J . W oofter, et a l., N egro P ro b le m s in C ities (G arden
C ity, New Y ork: Doubleday, D oran and Com pany, In c., 1928).
34
R obert L . Sutherland, C olor, C lass and P e rso n a lity (W ash
ington, D .C .: A m erican C ouncil on E ducation, 1941).
33
the so c ial attitude of N egro youth with p a rtic u la r re sp e c t to th e ir in te
g ratio n as N egroes in d ifferen t com m unities. T hrough the use of life
h isto ry docum ents, fam ily and case stu d ies, individual interview s and
attitude and psychological te s ts the authors seek to determ ine how the
p e rso n ality developm ent is affected by the conditions found in the p a r
tic u la r a re a .
35
C h a rle s S. Johnson, by use of p erso n ality te s ts and in te r
view s, studied the e x p erien ces of 2,000 N egro youth in eight so uthern
counties in an attem p t to show the rela tio n betw een p erso n ality d ev el
opm ent of so uthern r u ra l N egro youth and econom ic and so c ial condi
tio n s. He concludes that the prevalence of ex trem e poverty and e c o
nom ic in se c u rity is even m ore ham pering than race rela tio n s to d e s ir
able p e rso n al adjustm ent — a position difficult to prove tenable because
of the m u ltip licity of fa c to rs involved.
P e rh a p s m ore significant fo r this investigation is Johnson’s
36
P a tte rn s of S egregation, a study concerned with h isto ric a l and so c ial
a sp ec ts of ra c ia l seg reg atio n and d isc rim in atio n . It depicts how the
p ro c e ss of differen tiatio n and d istin ctio n as a re s u lt of n a tu ra l and
so c ia l se lec tio n op eratin g through com petition and conflict can set
35
C h a rle s S. Johnson, G row ing Up in a B lack B elt: N egro
Youth in the R u ral South (W ashington, D .C .: A m erican C ouncil on
E ducation, 1941).
36
C h a rle s S. Johnson, P a tte rn s of Segregation (New York:
H a rc o u rt B race and B ro th e rs , 1943).
34
individuals o r groups a p a rt. It tre a ts custom s a s codes and ru le s of
conduct which becom e em bedded in the conventions and the e s ta b
lished ra c ia l etiquette. The unspoken im p e rativ es of trad itio n , and
the so cial in stitu tio n s define, for a ll p ra c tic a l p u rp o ses, the re s p e c
tive sp h e re s of N egroes and w hites and the so cial m ech an ism s by
which th ese sp h e re s a re kept inviolable a re em phasized. It deals
with the a ttem p ts to regu late ra c e contacts and re la tio n s by le g is la
tion. Johnson shows how the definition of N egro sta tu s is in h eren t in
ra c ia l orthodoxies, taboos, and ste reo ty p es. In te rp re ta tio n s of p e r
sonal e x p erien ces and sentim ents com bine to fashion the b a sic so cial
a ttitu d e s and rea ctio n s of the m em b ers of the white society in th e ir
re la tio n s with N egroes a s a group. F u rth e rm o re , the study describes
and in te rp re ts b eh av io ral resp o n se s of N egroes to seg reg atio n and
d isc rim in atio n , the behavior of N egroes in varying types of in te r p e r
sonal re la tio n s with w hites, and som e of the psychopathological phe
nom ena resu ltin g from the effo rts of N egroes to m ake sa tisfa c to ry
individual and ra c ia l ad ju stm en ts.
The la rg e st N egro a re a s in Chicago and New Y ork have been
studied by E . F ran k lin F ra z ie r . T hese a re a s , containing m o re than
2, 000,000 N egroes, a re v irtu ally c itie s within c itie s. F r a z ie r 's The
37
N egro F am ily in C hicago, is a s ta tis tic a l sociological study of the
37
E . F ran k lin F ra z ie r, The N egro F am ily in Chicago (C hi
cago: The U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s , 1932).
35
d iso rg an izatio n and reo rg an izatio n of fam ily life resu ltin g from u rb an
ization. F r a z ie r u sed le tte rs , b io g rap h ies, interview s and fam ily h is
to rie s to draw attention to the im portance of the fam ily in the incidence
of c rim in a l, delinquent and a n tiso c ia l b eh av io r. T his book, a d e s c rip
tion and an aly sis of the N egro fam ily in the p ro c e ss of so c ial change,
view s the effects of m ig ratio n , seg reg atio n , and urbanization on N egro
fam ily life.
F r a z ie r d e scrib e d the Chicago a re a as a n arro w “ B lack B e lt”
extending fro m Tw elfth S tre et southw ard to 71st S tre et, lying betw een
C ottage G rove and W entworth A venue, whose length was approxim ately
five tim es its width. He divided th is belt into seven concentric zones,
cen tered in the m etropolitan Loop, with Zone VII fa rth e st out. His data
d isclo sed m any in te re stin g fac ts about sp a tia l d istrib u tio n by zones, of
which the follow ing a re illu stra tiv e . The proportion of heads of fa m i
lie s born in the South d e crea se d stead ily fro m Zone I outw ard. The
prop ortion of illite ra te s d e crea se d rap id ly , with the la rg e st d ecrease
o ccu rrin g fro m Zone I to Zone II. The p ro p o rtio n of m u latto es, fifteen
y e a rs of age and o v e r, g en erally in c re a se d with distance fro m the h e a rt
of the city, except that in Zone III, which contained a b rig h tlig h t and
gam bling a re a , an exceptionally larg e concentration o ccu rred . Home
ow nership in c re a se d fro m c e n te r to p erip h ery , as did the proportion of
p e rso n s in p ro fessio n s and sk illed occupations. The p e r cent of m ales
in the to tal population and the proportion of single m en d e c re a se d from
36
Zone I to Zone VII. The proportions of single and m a rrie d women
v a rie d slig h tly fro m zone to zone but showed no co n sisten t tren d of
change. Such d ata indicate that, in C hicago, the gradient p a tte rn of
d istrib u tio n within the N egro a re a p aralleled th at of the city as a whole
with som e exceptions in the b rig h t-lig h t d is tric t of Zone III.
Through this c arefu l zoning of the N egro population of C hicago
with re sp e c t to re sid e n tia l a re a s , and c o rre la te d s ta tis tic a l c o m p a ri
so n s, F r a z ie r e stab lish ed the fact that the d e crea sin g ra te s of the
d ifferen t indexes of so c ial problem s betw een these a re a s indicate that
th e ir incidence is not a m a tte r of the innate tra its of the N egro, but a re
the d ire c t re s u lt of com m unity situ atio n s.
F r a z ie r ’s study of the sp a tia l stru c tu re of New Y ork’s
38
H arlem showed that the H arlem a re a had a considerable degree of
independence fro m the r e s t of the m etro p o lis. In analyzing this a re a ,
F r a z ie r drew five concentric zones rad iatin g outw ard from the in te r
sectio n on 135th S tre e t and Seventh Avenue. He included the a re a lying
betw een the Hudson and H arlem R iv e rs, betw een 98th and 180th S tre e ts.
Zone I at the c e n te r of H arlem , rep o rted 99 p e r cent of its population as
N egro in 1930. In the o th er four zones, N egroes constituted r e s p e c
tively 87.8 p e r cent, 41.4 p e r cent, 22.7 p e r cent, and 6.2 p e r cent of
the population. The h isto ry of the a re a indicated that N egroes had
38
E . F ra n k lin F r a z ie r , “ N egro H arlem : An E cological
Study,” A m erican Jo u rn a l of Sociology, XLIH (July, 1937), pp. 72-88.
37
sp re a d , outw ard in a ll d irec tio n s fro m the o rig in al c e n te r of s e ttle
m ent, g en erally follow ing the lin es of le a st re sista n c e by occupying the
m o re -d e te rio ra te d re sid e n tia l a re a s . High cost a re a s of white r e s i
dence, such as R iverside D rive, blocked the expansion in c e rta in d ire c
tio n s. W ithin the a re a itse lf, gradients of change calculated in te rm s of
five concentric zones showed d istrib u tio n s s im ila r to those found in
independent c itie s. F o r exam ple, the p e r cent of n o n resid en tia l s tr u c
tu re s , p e r cent of room ing and lodging h o uses, p e r cent of single p e r
sons fifteen y e a rs of age and o v er, and prop o rtio rro f fa m ilie s on re lie f
g en erally d e crea se d fro m Zone I to Zone V; w h ereas p e r cent of popu
lation m a rrie d , num ber of children under five y e a rs p e r 100 wom en,
and b irth rate g en erally in cre ased from the c e n te r to the p erip h ery of
H arlem . T hese and o th er data collected by F r a z ie r indicate the d o m i
nance of 135th S tre et and Seventh Avenue as the c e n te r of the H arlem
C om m unity. T his study indicated that a local com m unity inhabited by a
seg reg ated ra c ia l o r c u ltu ra l group m ay develop the sam e p a ttern of
zones as the la rg e r u rb an com m unity. The N egro com m unity has a s
sum ed a definite sp a tia l p attern as a re s u lt of se lec tio n and se g re g a
tion.
39
In 1940, F r a z ie r published the N egro F am ily in the United
S ta te s, tra c in g the N egro fam ily fro m days of sla v e ry to the p re se n t.
39
E . F ra n k lin F r a z ie r , The N egro F a m ily in the United S tates
(Chicago: The U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s , 1939).
38
By the u se of case h isto rie s and s ta tis tic a l tab les, this book helps to
check the to o -freq u en t tendency to assum e that it is possible to g e n e r
alize about the N egro. F o r it re v e a ls wide v a ria tio n s in the sta n d ard s
of d ifferen t so c ial c la ss e s am ong the N egro population, as w ell as the'
s till w id er v a ria tio n s in the behavior of different individuals. It throw s
light on such sp ecific su b jects as N egro education, the N egro in b u si
n e ss and in d u stry , and N egro housing.
C ontributing to the th e o re tic a l background of this investigation
40
is the 1957 edition of F r a z ie r ’s The Negro in the United S ta te s, d e a l
ing with the p ro c e sse s by which N egroes are being in teg rated into
A m erican society.
41
D rake and Cayton em phasized so c ial m ilieu attitu d es of the
people and problem s of adjustm ent in B lack M etro p o lis, a sociological
study of N egro life in C hicago. T his re s e a rc h p ro ject, which began as
an investigation of the g e n eral so c ial conditions surrounding the p ro b
lem of juvenile delinquency on C hicago’s South Side, culm inated in a
d escrip tio n of the organization of the N egro Com m unity. T his book in
d icates the e sse n tia l m eaning of N egro isolation in C hicago. It in d i
c ates the whole policy tow ard ra c ia l and ethnic m in o ritie s and the
40
E . F ra n k lin F r a z ie r , The N egro in the United States
(Chicago: The U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s , 1957).
41
St. C la ir D rake and H orace R. Cayton, Black M etropolis: A
Study of N egro Life in a N orthern C ity (New York: H a rco u rt, B race and
Com pany, 1945).
39
im plication of th is policy fo r our civilization.
A pproaching the subject som ew hat differently is The N egro
42
G hetto by R obert C. W eaver, an extensive study of the N egro housing
situ atio n in this country, which em phasizes the econom ic fa c to rs u n d e r
lying the p attern of re sid e n tia l segregation in the N orth. In review ing
the im pact of W orld War II on segregation p a tte rn s, D r. W eaver
s tr e s s e s the changes in the incom e d istrib u tio n among N eg ro es. He
explains how h igher incom e with attendant ris e s in stan d ard s of living
and in c re a s e s in effective dem and fo r housing have m ade enforced
seg reg atio n even m ore difficult fo r N egroes to endure. F o r now larg e
nu m b ers of N eg ro es who fo r the f ir s t tim e in th e ir lives can afford
decent living q u a rte rs find that despite th e ir im proved econom ic s itu a
tion, they cannot escap e fro m th e ir black ghetto. P a rtic u la rly valuable
is W eaver’s judicious a sse ssm e n t of the p ro g ram s of the F e d e ra l
Housing fa c ilitie s in perpetuating p attern s of ra c ia l seg reg atio n in som e
a re a s and fo ste rin g nonsegregated housing in o th e rs.
Two m ajo r analytical contributions m ade by W eaver include
his em p h asis on the extent to which land values and the dynam ics of
land use m u st be understood in re la tio n to the pow er s tru c tu re of an
a re a and the role of re a l e sta te d e a le rs , investm ent and in su ran ce
com panies, title insurance com panies and banks as significant cau sa l
42
R obert C. W eaver, The N egro Ghetto (New York: H a rc o u rt,
B race and Com pany, 1948).
fa c to rs in u rb an land u tilizatio n . T hese groups e x e rc ise influence on
*
land use by m eans of th e ir econom ic pow er as w ell as through lobbies,
b o a rd s, a sso c iatio n s and o th er devices of p o litical p re s s u re . The
o th er im p o rtan t an aly tical contribution is W eaver’s dem onstration of
the m ythical c h a ra c te r of the proposition that N egroes d e p re ss p ro p
e rty v alues. He c le a rly show s th at th ere is no one u n iv e rsa l effect of
N egro occupancy upon p ro p erty v alu es and that w hatever influence
N egro occupancy has upon p ro p erty values m u st be view ed as p rim a r
ily an econom ic and not a so c ial phenom enon. He fu rth e r proposes the
estab lish in g of occupancy sta n d ard s through com m unity conservation
a g re em e n ts. T his device has a lre ad y been adopted in som e a re a s of
C hicago.
The re s e a rc h p ro ject on which this investigation has relied
heavily fo r suggestive hypotheses and an aly tical techniques is The
N egro Population of Chicago: A Study of R esid en tial Succession by O tis
43
Dudley Duncan and B ev erly Duncan. The Duncans used census data
fo r the period 1910 to 1950 to tra c e the grow th and d istrib u tio n of the
N egro population. Using the concept of su c ce ssio n as an an aly tical
tool, the incidence of N egro population change is analyzed in different
kinds of re sid e n tia l a re a s during the la te s t in te rc e n sa l decade. The
43
O tis Dudley Duncan and B ev erly Duncan, The N egro P o p u la
tion of Chicago: A Study of R esid en tial S uccession (Chicago: The
U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s , 1957).
41
D uncans found th at, desp ite an e x tra o rd in a ry rap id grow th, the p a t
te rn of N egro se ttle m e n t did not change rad ic ally during the fo rty
y e a rs . R a th e r, the p ro c e ss w as one of filling in a p a tte rn outlined
by e a r lie r N egro in v asio n s. In addition the study points out the con
sid e ra b le ran g e of so c ial and econom ic v a ria tio n s am ong d ifferen t
s e c to rs of the N egro population a s c la ssifie d by a re a of re sid e n c e .
T his v a ria tio n , in la rg e p a rt, tak es the form of zonal v a ria tio n s, i .e .,
g ra d ie n ts of in te n sity a cco rd in g to d istan ce from the c e n te r of the
city. A sp e c ia l a n a ly sis of re s id e n tia l d istrib u tio n of occupation
gro u p s am ong N eg ro es d isc lo se s that w ithin the N egro com m unity, a s
in the city of C hicago a s a w hole, sp a tia l d istan ce, o r se p a ra tio n of
occupation g ro u p s, p a ra lle ls th e ir so c ial d istan ce o r re la tiv e so c io
econom ic ranking.
The N egro in L os A ngeles County
T h ere is little in fo rm atio n concerning N egro com m unity life
in L os A ngeles County. W hile N egroes a re liste d am ong the o rig in a l
s e ttle r s of L os A ngeles County, the accum ulated knowledge and docu
m entation about the N egro u rb an com m unity is in its infancy. S e v e ra l
44
h is to rie s , fo r exam ple, m ake only scan t m ention of the e a rly N egroes
in L os A ngeles.
44
J . M. Guinn, H isto ric a l and B io g rap h ical R ecord of South
e rn C alifo rn ia (C hicago: Chapm an P ublishing Com pany, 1902); John S.
M cG roarty, L o s A ngeles fro m the M ountains to the Sea (C hicago:
A m e ric a n H isto ric a l Society, 1921).
42
The m o st com plete and d etailed so u rc e s of in fo rm atio n e s
se n tia l to th is investigation w ere th e se s, d is s e rta tio n s , and p ro je c ts
conducted by u n iv e rsity students and so c ial a g en c ie s. H isto rica lly ,
45 46 47
the r e s e a r c h stu d ies of Bond, R ich ard s, and R othstein w ere
v e ry helpful.
A lthough the M a s te r's th e s is by R othstein included fa c ts con
cerning the background of the N egro in Los A ngeles, the heavy grow th
of the N egro population, a d e sc rip tio n of the N egro com m unity and
its expansion, its m ain e m p h asis is on av ailab le housing and it does
not include a sp e c ts of econom ic and so cial life . M ore d etailed h is
to ric a lly and ecologically but lacking on econom ic a n a ly sis a re
48
B ond's findings concerning N egro life in L os A ngeles a s su m m a r
ized in te rm s of the so c ial d istan ce concept.
49
R ic h a rd 's a n a ly sis of the effects of the N e g ro 's m ig ratio n
to Southern C alifo rn ia p re se n te d knowledge of changes in the so c io
c u ltu ra l p a tte rn s of th ese individuals. M ention is m ade of fa c to rs in
A C
J . Max Bond, "The N egro in L os A n g eles" (unpublished
P h .D . d isse rta tio n , D ep artm en t of Sociology, U n iv e rsity of Southern
C alifo rn ia, 1936).
A C
E . R ich a rd s, "The S o c io -cu ltu ra l E ffe cts of the N e g ro 's
M igration to Southern C a lifo rn ia " (unpublished P h .D . d isse rta tio n ,
D ep artm en t of Sociology, U n iv ersity of Southern C a lifo rn ia , 1941).
47
Mignon E . R othstein, "A Study of the G row th of N egro P o p
ulation in L os A ngeles and A vailable Housing F a c ilitie s betw een 1940
and 1946" (unpublished M a s te r's th e s is , D ep artm en t of H isto ry , U ni
v e rs ity of Southern C alifo rn ia).
48
Bond, op. cit.
R ich a rd s, op. c it.
43
the so c ial environm ent which aided in bringing about changes in the
so c io -c u ltu ra l p a tte rn s. Among the changes in the so c io -c u ltu ra l pat
te rn s of the N eg ro ,m ig ran ts listed w ere changes in occupational sta tu s,
fam ily life, attitu d es tow ard m a rria g e o r divorce, church and God, rac e
and ra c e co n scio u sn ess resu ltin g from p articip atio n in m u lti-ra c ia l
o rg an izatio n s. A vailability of opportunity, and fa c ilitie s and the a tti
tude of the o ld er population tow ard new com ers are the fa c to rs which
R ich ard s p re se n ts as influencing the change in so c io -c u ltu ra l p a tte rn s.
S ev eral studies and re p o rts which w ere conducted fo r v a rie d
purposes o ffer inform ation and a ssista n c e fo r this p ro ject. Among
these w ere the re p o rts on M inority Housing in M etropolitan Los
50
A ngeles p rep a red fo r p resen tatio n to the C om m ission on C ivil
R ights scheduled to ap p ear in Los A ngeles, July 9, 1959, and The
51
H ousing Status of M inority F a m ilie s , 1956. T hese w ere stu d ies con
ducted by and fo r the Los A ngeles U rban L eague. The fo rm e r re p o rt
stated that the re sid e n tia l p attern in Los A ngeles C ity, Los A ngeles
County and L os A ngeles Standard M etropolitan a re a indicates that non
white fa m ilie s and individuals — p a rtic u la rly N egroes (1) occupy o ld er,
ob so lescen t and lo w er-q u ality dw ellings, (2) a re not adequately o r
50
“ M inority Housing in M etropolitan Los A ngeles,” A Sum
m ary R eport p rep a red by the H ealth and W elfare D epartm ent of the Los
A ngeles U rban L eague, Ju ly , 1959, p. 24.
51
F re d E . C ase and Ja m e s H. K irk, The Housing Status of
M inority F a m ilie s , L os A ngeles, 1956.
44
id eally d istrib u te d in th ese a re a s ; and (3) have fanned out in e a s te rn ,
so u th ern , w e stern , and n o rth -w e ste rn d ire c tio n s from the c e n tra l
city.
The L os A ngeles C hurch and Com m unity S trategy Study,
d ire c te d by H arvey A. E v e re tt and Ja m e s A. S c o tt^ of the A m erican
B a p tist Home M ission S o cieties, has re su lte d in a s e r ie s of su rv e y s
and ch u rch stu d ies, re p re se n tin g e ffo rts of the ch u rch es to m in iste r
m o re effectively to the com m unities. Some of th ese stu d ies have
pointed out the grow th and location, a s w ell a s the d istrib u tio n , of
the N egro population in L os A ngeles County.
T his review of the lite ra tu re has su m m arized the m ethods
and techniques fo r the ecological study of the com m unity w ith the
objective of analyzing the N egro sub-com m unity in Los A ngeles
County. It has shown (1) a se rio u s lack of factu al ecological data co n
cern ing L os A ngeles County and N egro com m unities within the county,
and (2) the u rg en t n e c e ssity fo r p ro p erly supporting o rganized e ffo rts
in th is a re a .
52
Condensed R eport of the L os A ngeles C hurch and C om m un
ity S trategy Study, Sponsored by the L os A ngeles B ap tist C ity M ission
Society (L os A ngeles: A m e ric an B ap tist Home M ission S o c ieties, 1956-
CHAPTER IH
METHODOLOGY
The d escrip tio n of the m ethodology of th is investigation is
divided into the following sectio n s: (1) a g en eral d e scrip tio n of the
re s e a rc h design, (2) a d e scrip tio n of N egro com m unities in Los A nge
les County, including the m ethods of th e ir selectio n , (3) the v ariab les
studied, th e ir in te rre la tio n sh ip , and techniques fo r m easu rem en t, and
(4) lim itatio n s and sp ecial fea tu res of the re s e a rc h design. M ethodo
lo g ical assum ptions underlying c e rta in of the p ro ced u res a re d iscu ssed
and definitions of te rm s included w here relev an t.
G eneral D escription of the R esearch D esign
B asically , th is investigation is a longitudinal study of changing
c h a ra c te ris tic s of N egro com m unities in Los A ngeles County fo r the
period from 1940 to 1959. T hese a re a s of the county are analyzed on a
com m unity and census tra c t b a s is . The m a jo r unit of analysis is the
census tr a c t which w as estab lish ed fo r county use in 1940. C ensus
tra c ts a re sm a ll, perm anently estab lish ed , geographical a re a s into
which larg e cities and th e ir environs have been divided fo r s ta tis tic a l
p u rp o ses. The average tr a c t has ov er 4,000 people and is orig in ally
45
46
laid out with attention to achieving som e uniform ity of population
c h a ra c te ris tic s , econom ic sta tu s, and living conditions. ^ The b asic
design w as to analyze the so cial c h a ra c te ris tic s of the N egro inhabi
ta n ts of census tr a c ts having a t le a st 250 or m ore non-w hite re sid e n ts
in 1950 (the base year) w ith an intent of exam ining the n atu re of changes
w ithin the N egro and am ong the N egro com m unities.
S ources of Data
A thorough a n a ly sis of the N egro com m unity in Los A ngeles
County re q u ire s a knowledge of the beginning of the com m unity and an
exam ination of the fa c to rs which a re resp o n sib le for its past and
p re se n t location, expansion, and segregation. F ro m lim ited h is to rie s
of C alifo rn ia, and previous re s e a rc h investigations, an account was
gained of the f ir s t N egro com m unity, which was located in the down-
o
town d is tric t around F ir s t and L os A ngeles S tre e ts about 1888. T his
h is to ric a l p ersp ectiv e showed that N egroes w ere fairly evenly d is
trib u te d --s p a tia lly throughout the county p rio r to 1900. A fter 1900,
the in cre asin g N egro population of the county w as c h a ra c te riz e d by
volu ntary and com pulsory concentration in c e rta in a re a s .
The b asic data fo r the s ta tis tic a l a n a ly sis w ere obtained from
Hj. S. B ureau of the C ensus, C ensus T ra c t M anual (W ashing-
ton: United S tates G overnm ent P rin tin g O ffice, 1958), p. 1.
2
J . Max Bond, "The N egro in Los A ngeles, " (unpublished
P h .D . d isse rta tio n , D ep artm ent of Sociology, U niversity of Southern
C alifo rn ia, 1936), p. 64.
47
the 1940 and 1950 cen su s tr a c t b u lle tin s fo r L os A ngeles County. Of
the 577 c en su s tr a c ts of L os A ngeles County in 1940, N eg ro es w ere
co n cen trated m o stly in the 110 w hich a re included in th is study. T his
num ber is la rg e r, than the num ber of non-w hite tr a c ts liste d by the
C en sus B ureau in 1940 and le s s than the 153 included in the 1950 vol-
3
um e.
M ajor N egro C om m unities
The m a jo r N egro co m m u n ities included a re C e n tra l A venue,
T em ple S tre e t, W est Je ffe rso n , W est A dam s, W atts, W ilm ington,
and P aco im a.
T hese com m unities a re c la ssifie d a cco rd in g to c rite r ia e s -
4
tab lish ed by D uncan and Duncan fo r studying concom itant changes a c
com panying se g reg a tio n in C hicago (T able 1). T his c la ssific a tio n
schem e used by the D uncans fo r su c ce ssio n a n a ly sis is used h e re a s a
b a s is fo r analyzing the changes in v a ria b le s over the 1940 - 1950
decade.
S uccession is co n sid ered to have four m ain sta g es: p e n e tra
tion, invasion, consolidation, and piling up. P e n e tra tio n is the in itia l
3
In 1940, th e re w ere 83 cen su s tr a c ts in L os A ngeles County
liste d a s having 250 o r m o re n o n -w h ites. In 1950, th e re w ere 153.
C ensus data fo r the y e a r 1943, 1946, 1953, 1956, included data for Los
A ngeles C ity only.
4
O tis Dudley Duncan and B ev erley D uncan, The N egro P opu-
latio n of C hicago (Chicago: U n iv ersity of C hicago P r e s s , 1957),
pp. 118-119.
48
e n try of N eg ro es into an a re a occupied by w hites. T his stage is ex
cluded fro m the a n a ly sis because the n atu re of cen su s data does not
m ake av ailab le inform ation on non-w hite c h a ra c te ris tic s until th e re
is a num ber of non-w hites beyond the p en etratio n stage. Invasion
o c c u rs when p en etratio n is follow ed by the m ovem ent into the a re a of
su b sta n tia l n u m b ers of N egroes; in th is study no tr a c t is co n sid ered
invaded un til it has a t le a st 250 non-w hite re sid e n ts. C onsolidation
r e f e r s to the continued in c re a se in num ber and p roportion of N egroes
in an a re a a fte r invasion has been accom plished. T h ree su b -c a te g o r
ie s of the consolidation stage a re recognized (see Table 1). ^ P iling
up m ean s the in c re a s e of N egro population a fte r N egroes have o ccu
pied the a re a .
It is w ithin th is fram e of re fe re n c e th at the tr a c ts and com
m u n ities a re analyzed by noting the p e rc en ta g es, and p ercen tag e
change, of the v a ria b le s included in th is d isse rta tio n .
Selection and D escrip tio n of V ariab les
The a ssim ila tio n of a la rg e num ber of N egro in -m ig ra n ts into
the county is likew ise re fle cted in the changes in the com position of the
to ta l N egro population. An a n a ly sis of th is com position w ill indicate
clo sely the s im ila ritie s and d ifferen c e s in v a rio u s N egro com m unities
a s w ell a s the county a s a whole. If convergence of the population is
o c c u rrin g , it m ight m ean th a t the N egro in -m ig ra n t can becom e b e tte r
a ssim ila te d into the existing com m unity so cial p a ttern and county a s a
5Ib id ., pp. 114-120.
49
TABLE 1 .— C rite ria fo r classifying census tra c ts according to
stage of su ccessio n : 110 census tr a c ts with 250 o r m ore non
white inhabitants in 1950*
STAGE DEFINITION
P ilin g up (none) 97.5 p e r cent o r m ore of population non
white in both 1940 and 1950
L ate consolidation 80.0. to 97.4 p e r cent of population non
(4 tra c ts ) white in 1940
90.0 p e r cent o r m ore of population
non-w hite in 1950.
250 o r m ore non-white"*residents in both
y e a rs
C onsolidation L ess than 80.0 p e r cent of population non
(48 tra c ts ) white in 1940
250 o r m ore non-w hite re sid e n ts in both
1940 and 1950
E a rly consolidation 2 p e r cent o r m ore of population non
(16 tra c ts ) white in 1940
250 o r m ore non-w hite re sid e n ts in 1950
but le ss than 250 in 1940
Invasion L ess than 2 p e r cent of population non
(30 tra c ts ) white in 1940 and le ss than 250 non
white re sid e n ts in 1940
250 o r m ore non-w hite re sid e n ts in 1950
♦Total includes 12 tra c ts not cla ssified h e re . Source:
O tis Dudley and B everly Duncan, The N egro Population of Chicago
(Chicago: U niversity of Chicago P r e s s , 1957), pp. 118-119.
50
whole. Am ong the v a ria b le s used o th er than ra c e a re age, education,
hom e ow nership, and p e rso n s p e r room . Age is m ea su re d by the
num ber of young p e rso n s in the categ o ry (10-14); m atu re (15-49); and
o ld er age (above 50) population. Age re fle c ts the categ o ry re p ro d u c
tive and w ork capacity of a population. E ducation in d ic ate s the ability
to a cc ep t econom ic opportunity. W here education is low, incom e is
u su ally low. E ducational sta tu s r e f e r s to the m edian educational a t
tainm ent of p e rso n s tw enty-five y e a rs old and o v er, p ra c tic a lly a ll of
whom have com pleted th e ir fo rm a l education. The educational level
of p e rso n s tw enty-five y e a rs old and ov er is a lso m easu red by the
num ber who have com pleted high school and college. Home o w n er
ship is re la te d to econom ic conditions. The num ber of p e rso n s p er
room is a m e a su re of housing population d ensity which in d ic ate s the
p ro p o rtio n of crow ded dw elling u n its. It is based upon the num ber of
households with 1. 01 o r m ore p e rso n s p e r room .
The v a ria b le s a re defined a s follow s:
A. RACE (1940, 1950, 1956)
1. P e rc e n ta g e of the to ta l population c la ssified
a s N egro.
2. P e rc e n ta g e of the to ta l population c la s s i
fied a s non-w hite.
51
B. AGE (1940 - 1950)
1. P e rce n tag e of the to ta l population c la s s i
fied under 15 y e a rs of age.
2. P e rc e n ta g e of the to ta l population c la s s i
fied 15 to 49 y e a rs of age.
3. P e rc e n ta g e of the to ta l population 50 or
m o re y e a rs of age.
C. OCCUPANCY STATUS (1940 - 1950)
1. P ro p o rtio n of to ta l occupied dw elling units
c la ssifie d a s ow ner-occupied.
2. P ro p o rtio n of to ta l occupied dw elling units
c la ssifie d a s tenant occupied.
D. EDUCATION (1940 - 1950)
1. P ro p o rtio n of the population 25 y e a rs of
age o r o ld er w ith four y e a rs o r m ore of high
school o r college education.
2. M edian school grade com pleted for population
25 y e a rs and o v er.
E . PERSONS PE R ROOM (1940 - 1950)
1. P ro p o rtio n of dw elling u n its with 1. 01 or
m o re p e rso n s p e r room for to ta l population.
2. P ro p o rtio n of dw elling u n its occupied by
n on-w hites w ith 1. 01 o r m ore p e rso n s p er room .
52
M easu rem en t of V a ria b le s
W *
F o r each of the five v a ria b le s of the com m unities the a p p ro
p ria te p ercen tag e w as obtained fo r 1940 and 1950 by cen su s tra c ts .
F o r population, the y e a r 1956 w as included. The p ercen tag e fo r popu
lation, ra c e , education, incom e, and hom e ow nership w as the b a sis
fo r the index of change. On a tr a c t by tr a c t b a s is the range and median
w ere com puted fo r both the n u m e ric a l v alu es and p ro p o rtio n al d is tr i
butions. The m ea su re m e n t of change w as obtained by use of the p e r
centage change form ula:
- x
— — 1— (100) = p e r cent of change
A
w here X* = o rig in a l am ount of a given v a ria b le in a cen su s tr a c t in 1940
X = new am ount of sam e v a ria b le in sam e census tr a c t in 1950
100 = constant
The change in each v a ria b le w as fu rth e r analyzed by sim ple
p ro c e s s e s of su b tra c tio n and addition which gave the d ifference and
am ount of change in each v a ria b le fro m one period of tim e to a n o th er.
Shifts in the m ean d istrib u tio n w ere a lso used to fu rth e r c la rify the
concept of change.
P ro c e d u re
The 110 tr a c ts used in the study co m p rised the b a sis of a n aly
s is . T hese tr a c ts w ere c la ssifie d acco rd in g to the v a rio u s sta g es of
su c ce ssio n d eterm in ed by the p e r cent of th e ir non-w hite p ro p o rtio n s
53
(see T able 1). E ach group of tr a c ts re p re se n tin g a stage of su c ce ssio n
w as analyzed on the b a sis of n u m e ric a l v alu es and p e rc e n ta g e s fo r the
rang e and m edian. The m ean of each v a ria b le w as com puted fo r each
group of tr a c ts f o r .1940 and 1950. Changes in th ese d istrib u tio n s a c
cording to ran g e, m edian, m ean, p ercen tag e change and difference
w ere noted. C o m p ariso n s of tr a c ts w ere o b serv ed . F o r exam ple,
fo r tr a c ts in the invasion stag e in 1940, the ran g e, m edian, m ean
sc o re , and p ercen tag e d istrib u tio n of hom e ow nership a re com pared
w ith th at of 1950. T hese sam e s c o re s a re com pared w ith those of
tr a c ts in o th er sta g e s of su ccessio n .
T hese tr a c ts a re la te r identified by th e ir location in the
N egro com m unity. C hanges in the N egro com m unity a re in te rp re te d
on the b a sis of tr a c t changes.
By the u se of th ese p a rtic u la r techniques, a co m p ariso n can
be m ade of the changes of a ll v a ria b le s from 1940 to 1950 and the
grow th o r decline of the population can be analyzed for in te rc e n sa l
y e a rs .
The hypothesis concerning the continued in c re a sin g proportion
of N eg ro es a fte r a p ro p o rtio n of 10% had been reach ed w as teste d by
determ ining f ir s t the proportion of N egroes in each cen su s tr a c t in 1940.
T h is re s u lte d in 29 tr a c ts having a t le a st ten p e rc e n t o r m o re N egroes
in 1940 being included in the a n a ly sis of th is hypothesis. T hese tr a c ts
w ere fu rth e r exam ined in 1946 and 1956 for p e r cent N egro of to tal.
54
The p ro p o rtio n of N egro to to ta l population for each of the
110 non-w hite tr a c ts w as com puted fo r 1940 and 1950 a s w ell a s d is tr i
butions fo r the o th er v a ria b le s. P e rce n tag e change for each v a ria b le
fo r 1940 and 1950 w as then calcu lated . To te s t the g rad ie n t hypothe
s is , the C ivic C en ter w as accepted a s the c en ter of the com m unity and
r a te s of changes fo r each v a ria b le w ere calculated.
L im itatio n s of the Study and Special F e a tu re s
In using the data gained fro m the cen su s publications the
a c c u ra c y of the b asic data w as accep ted . Although it w as not the in
ten t of th is study to d e sc rib e a ll of the c h a ra c te ris tic s of the N egro
com m unity, the inv estig atio n w as fu rth e r lim ited to se lec tin g those
v a ria b le s and tim e p e rio d s -for which data w ere av ailab le fro m cen su s
volu m es. In m any in sta n c e s, data of n e c e ssity w ere lim ited to white
and non-w hite c o m p ariso n s, and in the case of the p e rso n s p e r room
a n a ly sis to to ta l and non-w hite co m p ariso n s. E ven so, the non-w hite
a n a ly sis is lim ited to tr a c ts which have 250 o r m o re inhabitants.
W here av ailab le, the data for N egroes have been analyzed. The c e n
su s volum es define a s N egroes p e rso n s of m ixed white and N egro
p aren tag e and p e rso n s of m ixed Indian and N egro p aren tag e u n less the
Indian blood v e ry definitely p red o m in ates or the individual is accepted
in the com m unity a s an Indian. P e rs o n s of M exican b irth o r a n c e stry
55
who w ere not definitely Indian w ere c la ssified as w hite. All o th er non
white ra c e s are cla ssified in the resid u al category “ o th er r a c e s .”
N on-w hite population include b esid es N egroes, p erso n s who, by b irth o r
a n c e stry , are Ja p an e se , C hinese, A m erican Indian, o r of o th e r non-
g
white (p rin cip ally A siatic) stock.
Sum m ary
T his c h ap ter has d escrib ed the m ethodology of this in v estig a
tion in d etail. It includes a d e scrip tio n of the selectio n of the N egro
com m unities and the v a ria b le s which are analyzed on a census tra c t
b a sis. S ta tistic a l techniques used to analyze the changes in these
v a ria b le s a re sp ecified . L im itations due to availability of data have
been indicated.
g
United States B ureau of C ensus, Seventeenth C ensus of the
U nited S tates (W ashington: United States G overnm ent P rin tin g O ffice,
1950), P opulation in, I.
CHAPTER IV
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPM ENT
OF THE NEGRO COMMUNITY
E a rly Beginning
It is cu sto m ary to asso c iate the origin of the N egro com m unity
in Los A ngeles County with the purchase of Biddy M ason,* a lib e rate d
sla v e, who bought p ro p erty in the 400 block of Spring S tre et in 1881. It
was in this g en eral downtown a re a , around F ir s t and Los A ngeles
S tre e ts , that the N egro com m unity had its inception. But the h isto ry of
N egroes in the county began in 1781 when the in itial group of s e ttle r s
w ere induced by G overnor F elipe de Neve of Mexico to colonize the
2
a re a known as Pueblo L a R eina de Los A ngeles.
Among this group of s e ttle rs w ere twelve m en, eleven women,
eleven boys and twelve g irls . The tw elve m en co n sisted of two
S p an iard s, fo u r Indians, o r one p a rt Indian, two N egroes, one m ulatto
*J. Max Bond, “ The N egro in Los A ngeles” (unpublished
P h . D. d isse rta tio n , D epartm ent of Sociology, U niversity of Southern
C alifo rn ia), p. 47.
2
C h a rle s Dwight W illard, The H erald ’s H isto ry of Los A ngeles
C ity (Los A ngeles: K ingsley, B arn es and N euner C o., 1901), p. 64.
56
57
3
and one Chino. F o rty p e r cent of the group w ere of N egro o r M ulatto
orig in . T hese individuals lived harm oniously on the land given them by
the governm ent and form ed the e a rlie s t com m unity in Los A ngeles
County. L eg islativ e and executive duties w ere d istrib u ted among them .
Jo se V enegas, one of .the Indians, becam e the f ir s t alcalde o r m ayor in
4
1788. Jo se de L a ra , a Spaniard; Antonio M esa, and L ouis Q uintero
are rep o rte d to have been expelled from the group fo r failu re to sh a re
5
in re sp o n sib ilitie s.
Nine y e a rs la te r, in 1790, these e a rly s e ttle rs had in cre ased
th e ir num ber to 141 p erso n s who w ere cla ssified as S paniards, Indians,
M exicans, N egroes, and m u latto es. T h ere w ere about th irty adobe
houses su rrounding the public sq uare and o th ers sc a tte re d on the out-
g
s k irts . L a te r re c o rd s failed to identify any o rig in al s e ttle rs except
M oreno and R oderiguez, com m only held Spanish nam es. It is believed
that this group was am algam ated with the e a rly M exican s e ttle rs .
The co u n te rp art of the p resen t N egro population m ade its f irs t
appearance in the county when the 1850 census was taken. At that tim e
J -
tw elve N egroes w ere living in Los A ngeles C ity, re p re se n tin g 0.7 p er
3
T heodore H. H ittell, H isto ry of C alifo rn ia (San F ra n c isc o :
N. J . Stone and Com pany, 1897), Vol. 1, p. 433.
^W illard, op. c it., p. 121.
5Ib id „ p. 98.
6Ibid., p. 102.
58
7
cent of a to ta l population of 1, 610. Only one of th is group of tw elve
N eg ro es did not re sid e in the hom es of w hites. T his fac t se e m s to
in d icate th at they w ere se rv a n ts.
In 1862, N egroes w ere d istrib u te d over the city and not living
in any p a rtic u la r section. They bought and ren ted sm a ll ra n c h e s both
O
outside and w ithin the city lim its. It w as not until around 1880 that
any sem blance of an iso lated group of neighborhoods could be d e lin
eated . By th is tim e the N egro population had in c re a s e d . The to ta l
population of the city had ris e n to 11,183, while the N egro population
g
constituted 1. 6 p e r cent o r 188 p e rso n s. The f ir s t N egro n e ig h b o r
hood w as bounded by F i r s t and Vine S tre e ts and C o m m e rcia l and B an
ning S tre e ts . The next m ovem ent was to a section of Boyle H eights
and then to F urlong T r a c t- - a subdivision situ ated at F ifty -firs t S tre e t
and C e n tra l A venue. ^
H ow ever, in the next decade, from 1890 to 1900, the N egro
population showed a m o re rapid in c re a s e . The county w as divided into
a w ard sy stem and som e slight indication of the co n cen tratio n of the
N egro population can be seen . ^ A t th is tim e the seventh and eighth
7
U nited S tates C ensus B ureau, Seventh C ensus of the United
S tates: P opulation, p. 270.
g
H a rris N ew m ark, Sixty Y e a rs in Southern C alifo rn ia (New
Y ork: K n ick erb o ck er P r e s s , 1916), p. 137.
9
U nited S tates C ensus B ureau, T enth C ensus, 1880.
Bond, op. c it. , p. 169.
1 1 I b id ., p. 49.
59
TABLE 2 .— Population of W hite, N egro, Ja p an e se , C hinese
and civilized Indian by w ard, L os A ngeles, 1890*
W ard White N egro C hinese Japanese
C ivilized
Indian
1 5,206 88 21 1 2
2 8,263 178 182 4
3 7,192 140 152 8
4 5,692 59 44
5 2,345 52 29
6 3,094 73 42
7 6,307 396 128 11 13
8 5,453 211 1,261 2 1
9 3,653 61 12 18
T otal 47,205 1,258 1,871 26 35
*United States C ensus, 1890, Vol. I, p. 451.
w ard s had the la rg e s t N egro population (see T able 2). T h ere w ere no
d istin c t points of co n cen tratio n , although the highest p ercen tag e of
N eg ro es in any one w ard w as 31 p e r cent, which w as only 5. 8 p e r cent
of the to ta l num ber of N egroes living in the a re a . W ard m aps and
re c o rd s of city o rd in an ces of L os A ngeles p rio r to and including 1900
have been d e stro y ed , th e re fo re it is im p o ssib le to locate a c c u ra te ly
the indicated a r e a s of N egro co n centration.
By 1900, L os A ngeles County had ex p erien ced a rap id develop
m ent. The A tlantic and P acific ra ilro a d lin es w ere com pleted in 1885
and oil w as d isco v ered in the N ew hall and V entura a re a . T hese two
fa c to rs , in addition to a m ild c lim ate, w ere an im petus to an a lre a d y
grow ing populous. The to ta l N egro population in c re a se d fro m l, 258 to
2, 841. Six of the nine w ard s had an in c re a se in N egro population and
th re e , a d e c re a se (see T able 3). The indications of co n cen tratio n of
the N egro population w ere becom ing m o re evident. The f ir s t e a r m a r ls
of the N egro com m unity, w hether due to econom ic o r so c ia l fa c to rs ,
w ere v isib le . C e n tra l A venue, the f ir s t and o ld est N egro com m unity
in L os A ngeles County, w as fo rm ed .
The grow th of the N egro population in Los A ngeles County has
been re fle c te d in the m ajo r com m unities of N egro co n cen tratio n . The
la rg e s t lo catio n s a re C e n tra l Avenue and the W atts-W illow brook a re a .
W est Je ffe rso n , T em ple S tre e t D istric t, Boyle H eights, and H olm es
Avenue w ere e a rly a re a s of se ttlem e n t for the N egro in -m ig ra n t.
61
TABLE 3. — T otal and N egro population of Los A ngeles in
1900, by w ards*
W ard
White
Population
N egro
Population
P e r cent of
W ard P opulation
1 8,341 86 1.0
2 12,137 261 2.1
3 12,063 79 0.6
4 16,785 204 1.2
5 10,747 118 1.1
6 14,044 335 2.3
7 13,532 764 5.6
8 8,594 185 2.1
9 6,239 99 1.5
T otal 102,479 2,131
*J. Max Bond, “ The N egro in Los A n g eles,” p. 53.
62
C e n tra l Avenue
T his com m unity had its inception at F ir s t and Los A ngeles
S tre ets in 1888. The c irc u m sta n c e s attending its origin are not defi-
12
n ite. Biddy M ason, an e x -sla v e , had purchased p ro p erty in this
g e n eral a re a . In 1910, a N egro m in is te r bought seven a c re s of land in
13
the neighborhood of T hird and T ractio n with the intent of developing
a N egro c e n te r. The Golden W est H otel, N egro ch u rch es, saloons and
sm a ll re s ta u ra n ts w ere soon e re c te d . A ctivities of the a re a expanded
in a ll d irec tio n s fro m the c e n te r of F ir s t and Los A ngeles S tre e ts.
About 1902 the c e n te r of the N egro population seem s to have
m oved e a st and south on W eller S tre et and a b u siness d is tric t was
14
form ed at Second and San P e d ro . The continuous flow of in -m ig ra n ts
affected expansion south along T h ird , F o u rth , and Fifth S tre ets and e a st
along C e n tra l Avenue. As N egroes moved n e a r the hom es of w hites,
the w hites m oved fa rth e r e a st along C e n tra l. In 1904 and 1905 the
N egro population went south on San P e d ro and e a st along Fifth and
Sixth S tre e ts to C e n tra l Avenue. By 1906 the N egroes had estab lish ed
a larg e colony, which was bounded on the south by Ninth S treet; on the
north by F o u rth S treet; on the w est by Maple Avenue; on the e a st by
15
C e n tra l A venue.
12Ibid., p. 64. 13Ibid., p. 65.
i4 15.. ..
Ibid. Ibid.
B i l l
! NON-WHITE POPULATION
(1940-1950)
INVASION
EARLY CONSOLIDATION
CONSOLIDATION
LATE CONSOLIDATION
64
E a rly in the h isto ry of the com m unity, the a re a was^ zoned
1 fi o
fo r in d u stry . B u sin ess e n te rp ris e s w ere d e siro u s of e stab lish in g
in d u stria l plants in th is com m unity b ecau se of its proxim ity to the
ra ilro a d y a rd s — a proxim ity w hich enabled the N egroes to se c u re th is
land. N eg ro es w ere offered p ric e s ranging from $20,000 to $30, 000
17
fo r lots p u rch ased fo r $300 a t an e a r lie r date. T his high ra te of
p ro fit w as not re s is te d . The sa le , how ever, n e c e ssita te d the N e g ro 's
s e a rc h fo r fu rth e r housing accom m odations in adjoining o r ad jacen t
a re a s .
The push along and beyond C e n tra l Avenue brought the
N egroes into conflict w ith w hites, and fo r m any y e a rs N egroes w ere
o b stru c te d by deed re s tric tio n s fro m m oving beyond Seventh S tre et
betw een Santa Fe Avenue and M ateo. T hese re s tric tio n s lim ited the
18
m ovem ent of the Ja p a n e se , M exicans, and Indians a s w ell. Some
of the N egroes found hom es in the neighborhoods of Sixth S tre et and
C e n tra l Avenue; o th e rs went to Boyle H eights.
The a re a continued to expand in a ll d ire c tio n s fro m the c e n te r
to accom m odate the rapidly grow ing N egro population. It becam e the
p o rt of e n try fo r in -m ig ra n t N egroes and the hub of N egro b u sin e sse s
19
and a c tiv itie s. The effect of the in c re a sin g population density, additional
16
W elfare C ouncil of M etropolitan Los A ngeles, B ackground
fo r P lanning, 1949, p re p a re d by E lizab eth R. F ra n k (Los A ngeles,
1949), p. 39.
17
Bond, op. cit. , p. 66.
19
W elfare C ouncil of M etropolitan L os A ngeles, op. c it. , p. 39.
65
b u sin ess activ ity and in d u stria l zoning was d e te rio ra tio n of the a re a
and neglect of p ro p erty . It eventually becam e a slum a re a with a high
percentage of substandard dw ellings, a high ra te of delinquency and a
low stan d ard of liv in g .^
O rig in ally the com m unity was located in tra c t 186, by 1940,
the m ain a re a consisted of tra c ts : 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253,
21
254, 255 and 256. Its n o rth ern boundary touches the point w here Sun
se t and N orth Broadw ay m eet. Its w estern a rm is ra th e r irre g u la r,
the longest line extending along F ig u e ro a S tre et. In s e v e ra l places the
w estern boundary becom es Maple Avenue and Los A ngeles S tre e t. At
one point the w estern a rm extends as fa r w est as A rlington and Tenth
A venues. At this p a rt the com m unity becom es a p a rt of the W est J e f
fe rso n a re a . The e a s te rn arm of the g re a t tria n g le ru n s down A lam eda
S tre et to Slauson A venue. Beyond A lam eda, the a re a extends e a s t to
%
Boyle Avenue and M ission Road to the n orth. Including the com m unities
which have becom e joined to the o rig in al C e n tra l Avenue com m unity,
the a re a to tals 20 to 25 city tra c ts and h a s a range in N egro population
fro m ten to 95 p e r cent, on a tra c t by tra c t b a sis (See Appendix). In
1940, the to ta l N egro population fo r the county was 75,209, fo rty -o n e
p e r cent of which lived in the ten census tra c ts which co m p rise the
on
Ib id ., p. 39.
21
E sh re f Shevky and M arilyn W illiam s, The Social A re a s of
Los A ngeles (Los A ngeles: U niversity of C alifo rn ia P r e s s , 1949),
66
C e n tra l Avenue com m unity. T his w as the la rg e s t co ncentration in the
county. It was the c e n te r of the N egro am usem ent zone and the la rg e s t
N egro churches and p ro fessio n al and public s e rv ic e s w ere situ ated
h e re . The population began to move to the n orth, w est and south.
Tem ple S tre et C om m unity
One of the four com m unities which cam e into ex isten ce to
accom odate the m oving N egro population fro m the C e n tra l Avenue a re a
was the T em ple S tre et Com m unity. T his com m unity began to form
22
around 1902. The a re a consisted of th ree blocks of m uddy, u n d e s ir
able, cheap land in the vicinity of oil w ells. Its boundaries w ere Hyans
S tre e t on the north, B everly B oulevard on the south, Reno S tre e t on the
w est and R am p art B oulevard on the e a st. The inhabitants, at firs t,
consisted m ainly of ru ra l so u th e rn e rs, whose m an n er of living was
based on r u r a l tra d itio n s. Like o th er a re a s the num ber and com position
of the population of the com m unity changed. By 1940, the a re a boun
d a rie s extended north along T em ple S tre e t to Union Avenue on the e a st,
Union Avenue to T hird S tre et, from T hird S tre et to H oover on the w est,
23
and north on H oover to M icheltoreno and back to T em ple S tre e t. The
pp. 125-139.
22
Bond, op. c it.
23
Mignon E . R othstein, “ A Study of the G row th of N egro P o p
ulation in Los A ngeles and A vailable Housing F a c ilitie s betw een 1940
and 1946” (unpublished M a ste r’s th e s is , D ep artm en t of H isto ry ,
67
a re a w as e a rlie r designated a s originally being located in tr a c t 106 and
la te r expanding into tr a c t 107, the a re a c la ssified a s W estlake in th is
24
d isse rta tio n . A t p re se n t it is in census tra c t 113 which had a popula
tion of 7,186 in 1940, tw elve N egroes, and 501 o th er non-w hites.
In 1940, S ilv erlak e, a sm a ll com m unity of 280 N egro people,
w as founded in tra c t 87 which is d irec tly north of the Tem ple S tre e t
C om m unity. It includes census tra c ts 59, 62, 63, 103, and 104. The
to ta l N egro population of the six tr a c ts was 275 out of a to tal population
of 29, 248. The m ajo rity of the N egroes a re found in tra c t 87, which
had a N egro population of 239 in 1940.
The Boyle H eights Com m unity
T his com m unity which began form ing sh o rtly a fte r 1900 was
bounded by Brooklyn Avenue on the north, the E v erg ree n C em etery on
the e a st, M ichigan Avenue on the south and Mott Avenue on the w est.
It w as orig in ally u n d esirab le te r rito ry , a cheap land a re a , located near
25
the downtown b u sin ess d is tric t. At the tim e of its origin, it was
26
surrounded by b ric k y a rd s, ra ilro a d y a rd s, and m anufacturing plants.
It w as thought to be an id eal location for the N egro laboring c la ss,
which included, w ith few exceptions, the en tire N egro population. At
f ir s t it w as located in tra c t 129 but w as la te r expanded to include
U n iv ersity of Southern C alifo rn ia, 1950), p. 31.
24
Ibid.
25
Bond, op. c it. , p. 68.
26J k i £ L
68
fifteen tra c ts num bering fro m tra c t 121 through tr a c t 135 having a to tal
N egro population of 702. The N egro population of th is a re a did not
in c re a se as g reatly o r rapidly as it did in o th er com m unities. The
com m unity boundaries in 1940 had expanded to M ission Road on the
n o rth -e a st, on the w est to Soto S tre et and on the e a s t to the city
27
lim its .
By the period of W orld W ar II, L os A ngeles had becom e one of
the g re a t in d u stria l c e n te rs of the country. Its designation as a p a rt of
the P a c ific C oast Defense A re a m ade it one of the nine m ajo r p ro d u c
tion c e n te rs in the nation. In addition, the county had the la rg e s t s e r
vice in d u stry a re a in the United S tates with co n sid erab le activity in
m o st m anufacturing in d u strie s.
D uring the w ar y e a rs , m any N egroes m ig rated into v ario u s
sections of the county to find em ploym ent in the a irc ra ft and in d u stria l
p lan ts. N egro com m unities sp ran g up in such places as San P e d ro ,
Long B each, Santa M onica, San F ernando, W illowbrook, and P asadena.
W ithin the city lim its of Los A ngeles grow ing N egro com m uni
tie s w ere developing on the o u tsk irts of Hollywood, L e im e rt P a rk ,
E xposition P a rk , W est A dam s, South V erm ont, B erk eley Square and
G reen M eadows. O ther N egro com m unities w ere located in such places
as Venice and W ilm ington.
69
The H olm es Avenue A re a
T his com m unity, fo rm e rly designated as the F u rlo n g T ra c t
a re a , began fo rm ing in 1903 at the so u th ern m o st tip of the C e n tra l
Avenue a re a . It w as opened to N egroes by a M r. F u rlo n g who is re -
28
ported to have been in te re ste d in the p ro g re s s of the N egro. The
o rig in a l boundaries w ere 51 S tre e t on the n o rth , A lam eda on the e a s t,
29
Long B each on the w est and 55th S tre e t on the s o u th . In .co m p ariso n
with the o th e r e a rly com m unities invaded by N eg ro es, this a re a was
co n sid ered m o re exclusive but o rd in a ry in co m p ariso n with su rro u n d
ing white a re a s . The £lite of the N egro ra c e se ttle d h ere in 1903. In
1930 this a re a becam e joined with the C e n tra l Avenue Com m unity.
W atts
W atts w as an a re a which cam e into ex isten ce as the population
of the C e n tra l Avenue com m unity m oved south betw een 1920 and 1930.
In the beginning it was d e scrib e d as being low, sandy and dam p. The
a re a had an absence of tr e e s , due to the sand and o th er so il conditions
and was c h a ra c te riz e d as the w ater basin fo r L os A ngeles sin ce it was
30
on a low er lev el than su rro u n d in g neighborhoods. Its b o u n d aries
w ere 92nd S tre e t on the n orth, C e n tra l Avenue on the w est continuing
to 108th S tre e t and S uccess Avenue, Im p e ria l Highway on the south, and
Mona B oulevard along 103rd S tre et to C ro e su s Avenue on the e a s t. It
28_, 29x. , . 30 ,
Ib id . Ib id . Ib id ., p. 87.
70
is usually thought of as a working c la ss d is tric t of sm all hom es f o r
m e rly occupied by M exican and Anglo re sid e n ts.
When the a re a f ir s t opened in the tw enties fo r N egro occu
pancy, it was located in tra c ts 285, 286, and 287, la te r expanded to in
clude tr a c t 517 and its e a ste rn boundary extended to the city lim its.
The to ta l population of the a re a in 1940 was 16,955 with 5,288 of this
num ber being N egroes. The N egro population h ere is expanding to the
southw est and north.
W est Je fferso n Com m unity
W estside Los A ngeles, extended along Je ffe rso n B oulevard
betw een N orm andie and W estern Avenues and south to T h irty -fifth
P la c e . T his was another low re n t, u ndesirable land a re a . “ Old s e t-
,,31
tie r s say it was sw am py and fev e r rid d e n .” It becam e a N egro
com m unity around 1926 and grew stead ily even during the d e p re ssio n
y e a rs . N egroes experienced m any conflicts such as law su its, th re a ts
and evictions in th e ir attem pts to settle in this com m unity. The boun
d a rie s of this com m unity continued to extend to 37th S tre et and W estern
A venue. In 1940, census tra c ts 204, 205, and ?09 through 216 m ake up
th is a re a . In 1940 the a re a expanded its n o rth ern boundary to 29th
S tre e t, its so uthern boundary to Exposition B oulevard and becam e
bounded on the w est by A rlington Avenue and V erm ont Avenue on the
31Ib id „ p. 90.
71
e a s t. In 1940, these ten tra c ts had a to ta l population of 38,497 and a
to ta l N egro population of 5,261.
In 1940, it was considered a m iddle c la ss d is tric t with m any
p ro fessio n al people, white c o lla r w o rk ers and governm ent em ployees.
It was in this a re a w here m any re s tric tiv e covenant c ase s o rig in ated .
T his com m unity sp re ad m ainly to the w est and north.
D uring th is period N egroes also lived in the w holesale a re a
which co n sisted of census tra c ts 118 and 119 and a to tal population of
7,109 with a N egro population of 72. N egroes w ere esp ec ially concen
tra te d in the L ittle Tokyo section betw een Union Station and F ourth
S tre e t. T his a re a is in proxim ity to bus depots and the Union Station.
The L ittle Tokyo sectio n c o m p rises census tra c ts 186, 187 and 188 with
a to tal population of 15,301. N egroes m ake up 712 of this num ber.
Many new com ers and unattached m en in room ing houses a re found he re.
Sum m ary
The f ir s t N egro com m unity in Los A ngeles County had its in
ception around F i r s t and Los A ngeles S tre ets about 1888. When the new
N egro im m ig ran t becam e p re sse d fo r space the population m oved to the
n orth, w est and the south. C e n tra l Avenue, the oldest and la rg e s t of the
N egro com m unities in Los A ngeles County serv ed as the hub of N egro
a c tiv itie s and living. It was fro m this c e n te r that N egroes sp re a d to
such com m unities as T em ple S tre e t, Boyle H eights, H olm es Avenue,
W est Je ffe rso n and W atts. By 1940, the N egro population had in cre ased
to 75,209 and housing had becom e a se rio u s problem . The port of
e n try fo r the incom ing N egroes w ere usually the a lre ad y estab lish ed
a re a s which w ere a lre ad y overcrow ded and congested.
D uring the w ar y e a rs , N egroes continued to in c re a se th e ir
num ber. Many sought hom es in the a re a s w here they w ere em ployed in
the a irc ra ft and in d u stria l plants. T his resu lte d in the opening up of
s e v e ra l new com m unities. H ow ever, the bulk of the N egro population
continued to be accom odated in the C e n tra l Avenue a re a which had e x
tended its a rm to join with such com m unities as W atts, H olm es A ve
nue, Boyle H eights and W est Je fferso n .
CHAPTER V
SUCCESSION CYCLE
R acial changes within com m unities in Los A ngeles County a re
p a rt of the la r g e r N egro population shifts which have been in p ro c e ss
fo r m any y e a r s .* Among the sequence of changes a sso ciated with the
developm ent of the N egro com m unity in L os A ngeles County has been
the occupancy of new a re a s of resid en ce by N egroes. Population growth
of groups occupying lim ited space is often accom panied by p re s su re
ag ain st physical self-co n tain m en t and in cre ased d e sire s fo r the exten-
2
sion of the a re a of occupancy.
T his ch ap ter f ir s t d e sc rib e s the cycle of N egro population su c
c essio n as it applies to Los A ngeles County fo r 1950. C ensus tra c ts
a re c la ssifie d according to stag es in the su ccessio n cycle, as d escrib ed
Q
in C h ap ter HI. H ow ever, a full understanding of the su ccessio n
^E lizabeth R. P ra n k , B ackground fo r Planning (Los A ngeles:
W elfare C ouncil of M etropolitan Los A ngeles, 1949), pp. 36-39.
2
Mignon E R othstein, “ A Study of the Growth of N egro P o p u
lation in L os A ngeles and A vailable Housing F a c ilitie s betw een 1940
and 1946” (unpublished M a ste r’s th e sis, Dept, of H istory, U niversity
of Southern C alifo rn ia, 1950), p. 28.
3
See page 49.
73
74
p ro c e ss is not possible without longitudinal data. C om parable data fo r
the a n aly ses of changes in the su c ce ssio n cycle since 1950 a re not
available fo r L os A ngeles County as a whole. Suitable Los A ngeles
city data, how ever, a re available fo r 1953 and 1956. D ata b ased on the
1956 L os A ngeles C ity cen su s w ere used fo r the purposes of a longitu
dinal an aly sis of the su c c e ssio n cycle. T his a n a ly sis co n stitu tes the
second p a rt of th is ch ap ter.
N egro S uccession in Los A ngeles County, 1940-1950
One hundred and fifty -th re e census tra c ts w ere c la ssifie d as
non-w hite in 1950. E ach of the non-w hite tra c ts had at le a s t 250 o r
m o re non-w hite re sid e n ts at th at tim e . Of the 153 tra c ts included in
the non-w hite categ o ry , 36 w ere located outside of the C ity of L os
A ngeles. T hese 36 tra c ts had a to tal population of 191,180 in 1940, of
which 17,255 o r 9.0 p e r cent w ere non-w hites. In 1940, N egroes con
stitu ted 8,817 o r 51.1 p e r cent of the non-w hite re s id e n ts. In 1950, the
to ta l population of the 36 county tra c ts had in c re a se d to 286,596. The
non-w hites had a gain of 29,063 p e rso n s which in c re a se d its 1940 to tal
to 46,318. N egroes had a n u m erica l in c re a se of 32,802 p e rso n s. At
th is tim e , non-w hite co m p rised 16.2 per cent of the to ta l population of
the tra c ts and N egroes had in c re a se d th e ir proportion of the non-w hite
c ateg o ry to 89.9 p e r cent.
C hanges in the p ro p o rtio n s of non-w hites in the to ta l
75
population and of Negroes in the non-white population were accompanied
by changes in the proportional distribution of non-whites throughout the
36 tra c ts during the 1940-1950 period.
These proportional changes are analyzed on the b asis of the
succession cycle shown in Figure 2. It may be noted that all of the 36
tra c ts a re classified below the consolidation stage showing that the
4
proportion of non-white residents was less than 80.0 per cent.
N egroes, who constituted 51.1 per cent of the non-whites in
1940, were largely concentrated in tra c ts 417, 445, 517, and 527. T ract
417 is a part of the city of P asadena, and tra c t 445 is in Monrovia.
Watts and Willowbrook are the identifying com m unities for trac ts 517
and 527, respectively. Figure 3 shows the location of these 36 trac ts.
In 1950, the Negro proportions of the non white population in
the 36 tra c ts had increased to 89.9 per cent. Ten of the 36 trac ts had
less than one per cent of the total population Negro. The ten trac ts
were located in the cities of T orrance, Dominguez, Gardena, Duarte,
B elvedere, Norwalk, Belvedere G ardens, W hittier and Hawthorne.
S everal com m unities had a re a s in which ten per cent o r m ore
of the total population consisted of N egroes. These were sections of
Long Beach, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Monrovia, F irestone P a rk , and
Willowbrook.
A m ore complete description of the stages of succession.is
given in C hapter III, page 49, of this study.
Fig. 2 .— C lassification of 36 Census T rac ts
Outside of Los Angeles City, According to Stage of
Succession, 1950.
Stage of Succession Census T racts
Piling Up None
Late Consolidation None
Consolidation (19) 327, 335, 338, 340, 341, 353,
374, 375, 377, 381, 418, 425,
427, 445, 446, 485, 517,*
527, 540
E arly Consolidation
(17)
303, 305, 306, 325, 373, 380,
414, 491, 513, 528, 564
Invasion (6) 324, 486, 487, 514, 516, 518
♦Refers to only 517A. 517B and C is now a
part of Los Angeles City.
Fig. 3 .— Location of Census T rac ts of Los Angeles City by
Stage of Succession: 1950. The 36 census tra c ts located outside of
Los Angeles City lim its are shown by the stage of succession. The
m ajority of the tra c ts are beyond the early consolidation stage.
^COMMUNITY EXPANSION
/ ¥ - V ^ = T ' fO X Spc^
NEGRO
m w auu';
W EST
ADAM
f r
AVEN
/ ' / / J a * i f
f o & i ' s l
w a v * ; *
W & k
W X v.yfA *
(E
WATTS
' / / / t v ' .
V ?
WILLOW
BROOK*
• n l ' ■ /•• ‘ - y • •* * -■
j-.iiftj i t r — ^_
W ILM INGTON
NEGRO COMMUNITIES
ORIGINAL AREAS
m EXPANSION TO 1956
Succession in Los Angeles City, 1940-1956
This section describes changes in the proportion of non-white
residents in 98 census trac ts located in Los Angeles City, as classified
according to the stages in the succession cycle. F o r a description of
the succession classification see Chapter 1 1 1 . Appendix B shows the
m arked difference in the non-white proportions of the selected census
trac ts and identifies each trac t by the stage of succession schem e. The
growing proportion of non-whites in these trac ts is dem onstrated in the
reclassification schem e shown in Figure 4. The shift of census trac ts
populations to the advanced stages of succession indicates the changes
in population composition of the areas included in the analysis.
This section focuses on the 98 census trac ts located in Los
Angele3 city as shown in the succession plan of Figure 4. The trac ts
had a total population of 595,273 in 1950 and 611,052 in 1956. The
succession plan of analysis, which is based upon the per cent of non
whites to the total population, provided the fram ew ork for reporting
changes in the growth, size, and distribution of the non-white popula
tion. It should be noted that the non-whites com prised 6.5 per cent of
g
Rothstein, loc. cit.
g
Twelve tracts were excluded from the succession cycle either
because of unusual population changes o r because they were astride'of
the city. T rac ts 5 and 31 of this group had a decline in non-white popu
lation from 1950 to 1956. By 1956, neither tract had 250 non-white
inhabitants. The other ten trac ts were located in Los Angeles
County.
80
F ig. 4 . — C lassification of census tra c ts by stage of su c c e s
sion: Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1956.
STAGE OF SUCCESSION 1950
Invasion
E arly
Consolidation
Consolidation
Late
C onsoli
dation
Piling
Up
C O
k §
5 •
in
03
fc
o
E arly
Con.
55
X fl
67, 124, 181, 4, 69, 121, 4, 48, 87,
H 169, 198, 199, 125, 131, 132, 97,105,106,
U
o
2 0 0 , 2 0 1 , 2 0 2 , 163, 180, 196, 107, 113, 116,
D
C O
206, 208, 2 1 1 , 203, 209, 210, 117,118,119,
0
o
219,220,221, 213, 246, 284, 127,128,129,
O
• H
■ M
222,242,244, 295 130, 133, 142,
H
T >
245, 258, 268, 143, 166, 167,
S
to
i— )
O
0 0
d
o
O
269, 170, 271,
273, 280, 283,
181,236,239
185, 186, 187,
188, 189, 191,
215,223,224,
225,247,285,
286,287,290,
292, 296
204,205,227, 214,
3 d
d O
J u
248, 249, 250, 216
251,253,255,
256
5 a
1 °
252,
254
the total population of Los Angeles County in 1950 and 10.9 per cent of
the population of the city of Los Angeles. Of the non-whites in Los
Angeles County in 1950, the num ber of N egroes were 217,881 o r 79.5
per cent. The growth of the Negro population from 1950 to 1956
in creased th eir num ber to 254,595 in Los Angeles City, o r 81.8 per
cent of the non-w hites. To rep o rt findings on changes in the Negro
population composition of Los Angeles City, the stage of succession
analysis fo r 1950 as shown in Figure 4 is utilized. The tra c ts which
shifted from the late consolidation in 1950 to the piling-up category in
1956 are reported as piling-up tra c ts. The spatial arrangem ent of the
tra c ts in the succession cycle is shown in Figure 5.
Piling-up T rac ts
7
Following the classification scheme of the Duncans, census
tra c ts with 97.5 per cent o r m ore of th eir population classified as non
white in both 1940 and 1950 were considered as piling-up tra c ts. In
1950, there were no census tra c ts in Los Angeles City which had m ain
tained a non-white or Negro population level of 97.5 per cent since
1940. T rac ts 252 and 254, which are located in the C entral Avenue
Community, had non-white proportions of 98.0 per cent in 1950. The
7
O tis D. Duncan and Beverly Duncan, The Negro Population of
Chicago (Chicago: The University of Chicago P r e s s , 1957), pp. 118-
119.
Fig. 5 .— Spatial A rrangem ent of 98 Census T rac ts Located
within Los Angeles City Lim its.
NON-WHITE POPULATION
(1940-1950)
m INVASION
m EARLY CONSOLIDATION
^ CONSOLIDATION
IB LATE CONSOLIDATION
84
tra c ts had an average population of 18,850 persons per square m ile at
that tim e. Negroes constituted 87.6 per cent of the total population of
tha tra c ts . The total population of these tra c ts increased from 10,290
in 1940 to 11,994 in 1950. This gain of 1,704 persons consisted largely
of N egroes, whose total rose from 9,426 o r 91.6 per cent in 1940, to
11,709 o r 97.6 per cent in 1950. As shown in Table 4, this increase in
absolute num bers of 2,283 in Negro population was alm ost four tim es
the amount by which the white population decreased for the sam e
period of tim e. The recorded d ecrease in white population during the
1940-1950 decade continued to 1956. During the 1950 to 1956 period
the total population of tra c ts 252 and 254 decreased to 10,111 from the
1950 total of 11,994, while the Negro population decreased from 11,709
to 9,943. Some of this decline can be understood in term s of population
out-m igration brought about by zoning for business and industry. In
recent y e ars, industry has expanded into this a re a from the wholesale
g
d istric t. Despite the decrease in all categories of the population d u r
ing the 1950-1956 period, the proportion of non-white residen ts in
tra c ts 252 and 254 increased to 99.0 per cent and the tra c ts were r e
classified from the consolidation stage of 1950 to the piling-up stage
for 1956. These tra c ts re p re se n t the highest relative concentration of
N egroes in Los Angeles County. In 1956 approxim ately 10,000 o r 3.9
g
F rank, op. c it., p. 39.
per cent of the Negro population of the City of Los Angeles resided in
these trac ts.
TABLE 4 .— Percentage change of population, piling-up trac ts: Los
Angeles City, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956
POPULATION CHANGE
RACE
TO>TAL POPULATION
1940 1950 1956
1940-1950
P e r cent
Change
1950-1956
P e r cent
Change
White 788 203 98 -74.2 -51.7
Nonwhite 9502 11,791 10,013 24. 1 -15.1
Negro 9426 11,709 9,943 24.2 -15.1
Total 10,290 11,994 10,111 16.2 - 9.4
Late Consolidation T racts
Census trac ts 214 and 226 are classified in the late consoli
dation stage of 1956. In 1950, the trac ts had a population of 17,409
persons per square m ile. These tracts had a non-white popu lation
g reater than 80.0 per cent in 1940 and g rea ter than 90 per cent in 1950.
Census tra c ts 214 and 226 rem ained in the late consolidation stage of
succession by both the 1950 and 1956 analyses. Although the propor
tion of non-white residents continued to increase during the period
from 1940 to 1956, it did not reach the level of the tracts in the piling-
up stage.
In 1940, non-whites constituted 87.4 per cent of the total
population; 72.5 per cent of the non-whites were Negroes. By the
end of the 1940-1950 decade the Negroes share of the population had
increased to 85.4 per cent, and by 1956 to 88.1 per cent. However, the
total population of the tra c ts decreased from 11,547 in 1950 to 9,339 in
1956. (See Appendix A.) This was approxim ately a 19.1 per cent d e
c re ase, as com pared with the 13.7 p e r cent increase between 1940 and
1950. By 1956, the total population of'the two tra c ts had decreased 8.0
per cent since 1940 and the non-white population had decreased 2.1 per
cent. The num ber of N egroes increased from 7,749 in 1940 to 10,125 in
1950 and decreased to 8,353 in 1956 which was only 604 m ore persons
than in 1940. This a re a seem ed to have followed the sam e trend of
decreasing total and Negro population, as other eastside Los Angeles
City com m unities.
The percentage changes in population can be noted from Table
5 below.
TABLE 5 .— P ercentage change of population, late consolidation tra c ts:
Los Angeles City 1940-1950 and 1950-1956
POPULATION CHANGE
RACE
TOTAL POPULATION
1940 1950 1956
1940-1950
P e r cent
Change
1950-1956
P e r cent
Change
White 1,280 832 648 -3 5 .0 - 22.1
Non white 8,873 10,715 8,691 20.7 -1 9 .9
Negro 7,749 10,125 8,353 30.6 -1 7 .5
Total 10,153 11,547 9,339 13.7 -1 9 .1
87
The white population declined between 1940 and 1950, but the
in crease in Negro population of 2,376 for the sam e period was su b stan
tial enough to ward off a d ecrease in total population. F ro m 1950 to
1956 both the non-white and white population d ecreased . The white
population, which had a percentage d ecrease of 22.1 from 1950 to 1956,
decreased fa s te r than the other groups. The d ecrease of N egroes is
probably explainable in term s of shift of Negro population to the w est-
side in the case of tra c t 226 which is located in the C entral Avenue
community. T rac t 214 is the a re a of settlem ent of the f ir s t Negro
inhabitants in the West Jefferson Community which during 1950-1956
was expanding fa rth e r west. By 1956, these inhabitants apparently had
begun to move west into the West Adams comm unity, which in this
Q
study includes the Crenshaw d istrict.
Consolidation T rac ts
This group of census tra c ts had less than 80.0 per cent non
whites in 1940, and 250 o r m ore non-whites in 1940 and 1950. F o rty -
eight tra c ts were classified in the consolidation category in 1950. The
m ajo rity of these tra c ts , 38, rem ained in the consolidation stage for
both the 1950 and 1956 succession analyses, but, from 1950 to 1956, ten
of the tra c ts increased th eir non-white proportions to 80.0 per cent o r
g
Los Angeles County Com m ittee on Human Relations, A C om
parative Statistical A nalysis of M inority Population for Los Angeles
County, C alifornia (Los Angeles, May, 1957), p. 13.
88
above and classified according to the late consolidation stage. To
understand the significance of this increased proportion of non-whites,
these ten tra c ts were analyzed separately. To distinguish the two
groups of consolidation tra c ts from each other, the 38 tr a c ts a re
re fe rre d to as "consolidation tra c ts , 1950-1956. " The ten tra c ts
which shifted to late consolidation in 1956 a re identified a s "consolida
tion tra c ts, 1950— late consolidation tra c ts, 1956. "
The 38 consolidation tra c ts , 1950-1956, experienced an in
crease in both white and non-white categories from 1950 to 1956. The
total population increased from 212, 224 in 1940 to 266, 202 in 1950, or
a 25. 4 per cent increase as shown in Table 6 . The white population
increased at a slower rate than eith er the total or Negro population
for a ten year period but had a m ore rapid rate of in crease during the
six y e a rs from 1950 to 1956.
TABLE 6 . — Percentage change of population: "consolidation tra c ts,
1950 and 1956": Los Angeles City, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956.
POPULATION CHANGE
TOTAL POPULATION 1940-1950 1940-1950
RACE P e r cent P e r cent
1940 1950 1956 Change Change
White 175, 250 193, 098 210, 478 10. 2 9. 0
Non-white 36, 974 73,104 77, 891 97. 7 6 . 5
Negro 17 , 476 58, 541 58, 952 212. 0 8.1
Total 212,224 266,202 288,366 25. 4 8 . 3
8 9
The difference in the rate of change for the various categories
of the population can be seen from Table 6 . All groups showed an in
c re a s e , although the Negro population was increasing much fa s te r than
the o thers. By 1956 could be seen a re v e rse of the changes in popula
tion in crease which took place in 1950. The whites were in advance in
the race of population in crease.
In 1950 the num ber of persons per square mile ranged from
775 for tra c t 48 to 32,181 for tra c t 187. The m ean average for the
group of tra c ts was 16,779 persons per square m ile. Of the 48 tra c ts
classified in the consolidation stage in 1950, ten had shifted to late-
consolidation by 1956 (See Figure 4). All of these consolidation tra c ts
1950 — late consolidation tra c ts 1956 had 80.0 per cent o r m ore n o n
white population by 1950, and only two had less than 90.0 per cent by
1956. F ro m 1940 to 1950 the total population of these tra c ts increased
from 47,736 to 55,720. Whites constituted approxim ately 44.6 per cent
of the total population in 1940 but only 12.2 per cent in 1950, and 7.8
per cent in 1956. This steady d ecrease in the white group can be con
traste d with the increasing proportion of non-whites who were p re
dom inately N egroes. In 1940, there were 26,370 non-whites in these
tra c ts , 94.4 per cent of whom were N egroes. By 1950, the non-white
population had increased 49,393 and the Negro proportion to 97.5 per
cent of the non-white group. The d ecrease of the total population after
1950 was slow er than the d ecrease of the white group. Table 7 shows
90
the rate of change in the population of these tra c ts.
TABLE 7. — P ercentage change of population “ consolidation tra c ts
1950 — late consolidation 1956” : Los Angeles City 1940-1950 and
1950-1956
POPULATION CHANGE
TOTAL POPULATION 1940-1950 1950-1956
RACE P e r cent P e r cent
1940 1950 1956 Change Change
White 21,366 6,327 3,709 -7 0 .4 -4 1 .1
Nonwhite 26,370 49,393 44,662 87.3 - 9.6
Negro 24,895 48,174 43,692 93.5 - 9.3
Total 47,736 55,720 48,371 16.7 -1 8 .2
It is interesting to note again that although the total popula
tion and the population of N egroes, non-whites and whites were de
c reasin g in this area, between 1950 and 1955, the non-white proportion
continued to in crease. Two of these tra c ts (204 and 205) are located in
the W est Jefferso n community which has above-average in -m ig ratio n .^
The decrease in population is probably explainable in te rm s of m ove
m ent of white population away from Negro com m unities and the Negro
population which stops in this “ port of e n try ” a re a and la te r moves to
other com m unities. The growing proportion of non-whites can be
understood in te rm s of whites who moved out fa ste r than N egroes. The
num ber of Negro in-m igrants has not been substantial enough to
^ F r a n k , op. c it ., p. 31
91
stabilize e ith er the 1950 total or non-white population of the a re a. The
tra c ts had an average density of 17,734 persons per square m ile in
1950.
E arly Consolidation T rac ts
This category of tra c ts had a non-white proportion of two per
cent o r m ore in 1940 and 250 o r m ore non-white residents in 1950 but
few er than 250 non-white residents in 1940. This group included 16
tra c ts . All of the sixteen tra c ts which were in the early consolidation
stage in 1950 had shifted to the consolidation stage by 1956. (See
Figure 4.) The total population of these tra c ts had increased from
69,380 in 1940 to 93,623 in 1950, representing a 34.9 per cent in crease.
However, while the total population of eight of these sixteen tra c ts d e
creased during the 1940-1950 decade, the increase of the rem aining
eight was substantial enough to resu lt in an increase for the total
num ber of tra c ts .
Whites com prised 87.1 p er cent of the total population of the
tra c ts in 1940. In 1950, whites com prised 81.7 per cent of the total,
but had increased in absolute num bers to 77,910 as shown in Table 8 .
The increase of whites in absolute num bers was absorbed by
the rapid increase in the non-white population. The white population
increased in tra c ts 1, 125, 196, and 295, four of the tra c ts that had
gains in total population in 1950. Despite the decline of whites in 12 of
92
the trac ts for the 1940-1950 period, the total population increased 34.9
per cent from 1940 to 1950. By 1956, the whites had gained 7,793 p e r
sons, which m eant a 10.0 per cent increase. Most of the gains in
whites were in tra c ts 1, 69, 196, and 295.
TABLE 8 . — Percentage change of population: early consolidation
tra c ts, Los Angeles City, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956
POPULATION CHANGE
TOTAL POPULATION 1940-1950 1950-1956
RACE P e r cent P e r cent
1940 1950 1956 Increase Increase
White 66,848 77,910 85,703 16.5 10.0
Nonwhite 2,532 15,713 26,740 520.5 70.2
Negro 700 11,525 21,612 1,546.4 87.5
Total 69,380 93,623 112,443 34.9 20.1
Each racial category of the population continued to increase
from 1950 to 1956, but the rate of increase of Negroes exceeded that of
the others. Unlike other stages of succession, the total, as well as the
white and non-white populations, continued to increase for the complete
sixteen year period.
Invasion T racts
The tra c ts classified in the invasion stage of the succession
cycle were those which had few er than 250 non-white residents in 1940
and 250 o r m ore in 1950. The proportion of nonwhites was less than
two per cent in 1940. In 1950, this group of thirty tra c ts had an
93
average of 16,309 persons per square m ile. The tra c ts had all shifted
to the consolidation stage when reclassified in 1956. (See Figure 4.)
In T940, only 1029 or 7.2 per cent of the total population of
these tra c ts was non-white. By the end of the 1940-1950 decade, the
proportion of nonwhites had increased to 29,736 o r 18.2 p e r cent. This
per cent increased to 51.9 in 1956. Table 9 shows that the total popu
lation increased during the ten y ear period from 1940 to 1950, but
decreased 11.2 per cent from 1950 to 1956. The continuous decline of
the white population for the sixteen year period can be noted from
Table 9.
TABLE 9 .— Percentage change of population: Invasion tra c ts, Los
Angeles City, 1940-1950 and 1950-1956
POPULATION CHANGE
TOTAL POPULATION 1940-1950 1950-1956
RACE P e r cent P e r cent
1940 1950 1956 Change Change
White 140,178 126,451 67,907 -9.8 --46.3
Nonwhite 1,029 29,736 73,512 2789.0 14.7
Negro 249 23,426 62,878 9308.0 168.4
Total 141,207 156,187 141,419 12.7 - 11.2
The nonwhite population of the invasion tracts increased at an
exceedingly high rate of growth. The highest rate of in crease was in
the Negro population. N egroes, who totaled 249 in 1940, constituted a
15.0 per cent of the total population in 1950 and com prised 78.8
94
per cent of the non-w hites. Unlike some of the stages of succession,
the Negro population in creased in absolute and relative te rm s during
the 1950-1956 period.
The percentage of non-whites by tra c ts increased from a m ean
of 3.7 in 1940 to 18.2 in 1956. Each of the sixteen tra c ts had an in
c re a se in the absolute num ber as well as percentage of non-whites. By
1956, the per cent of nonwhite was 32.3. Two tra c ts, 180 and 196,
which had no Negroes at all in 1940, had 3.1 and 3.2 p er cent re s p e c
tively of th eir total population Negro in 1956.
The highest num ber of non-whites in any one of these trac ts
was 88 in 1940, as com pared with a high of 5,100 in 1950 and 9,973 in
1956. In 1940, the non-white proportions in these tra c ts ranged from
0.0 to 1.8 p e r cent. By 1950, se v e ra l of these trac ts had above 10.0 per
cent o r m ore non-white population. In 1956, the lowest per cent of 6.9
of non-whites was found in only one tra c t.
Sum m ary
Within Los Angeles County, the total population in creased at
each stage of the succession analysis during the 1940-1950 decade. The
m ost rapid rate of population increase was at the e arly consolidation
stage. S im ilar to the total population in crease was the increase of the
nonwhites. But non-whites increased m ore rapidly than did the total
population and showed the g rea test increase at. the invasion level during
95
the ten y e a rs between 1940 and 1950. The increase in the non-white
category was substantial enough to offset d ecreases in the white popu
lation which occurred in all tra c t stages except those in the early con
solidation category and the 38 consolidation identified as the consolida
tion tra c ts of 1950 and 1956. The g reatest decline in the white popula
tion during the decade was a t the piling-up level.
F o r Los Angeles City, from 1950 to 1956, the total population
declined in all tra c ts except those in the e arly consolidation stage and
the 38 tra c ts classified in the consolidation stage for both 1950 and
1956. These two groups of tra c ts were the only ones that had a con
tinued increase in white population for the sixteen y e ar period covered
by this investigation. Accompanying the decline in white population fo r
the six y e ar period, were the decrease of the non-whites and N egroes
who showed the sam e pattern of decline and increase except at the in
vasion stage where the white population declined and the non-whites
and N egroes increased. During the 1950-1956 period, the greatest d e
cre ase fo r the total population was at the late consolidation level, but
for the whites the g reatest decline was at the piling-up stage, the sam e
stage of decline as in 1950. All tra c ts beyond the consolidation level
experienced a d ecrease in non-white population between 1950 and 1956
and those below the consolidation level had in crease in their non-white
proportions. The increase in non-whites at the invasion stage exceeded
that for the o ther stages in the succession cycle.
CHAPTER VI
CONCOMITANT CHANGES OF THE
SUCCESSION CYCLE
Among the factors related to the changing racial composition
of A m erican urban a re a s are land values, housing m arket conditions,
in tra-u rb an transportation, community facilities, and the socio
economic level of the inhabitants.* These factors can be used to
2
evaluate the physical and social status of com m unities. The entry of
non-whites into residential a re a s is opposed usually due to changes
which th eir presence is believed to impose upon the local community.
Social and economic argum ents dissem inating from these beliefs have
been used to justify the restric tio n of non-whites to separate a re a s of
residence.**
This chapter analyzes some of the m ajo r changes which a c
company the ra c ia l transform ation of com m unities within Los Angeles
*Nathan G lazer and Davis M cEntire (editors), Housing and
M inority G roups (Berkeley and Los Angeles: U niversity of California
P r e s s , 1960), pp. 3-12.
n
Luigi L aurenti, P ro p e rty Values and Race (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: U niversity of California P r e s s , 1960), pp. 4-6.
3Ibid., p. 5.
96
97
City. The scope of the investigation includes home ownership, room
crowding, education, and age. Home ownership is an index of the e co
nomic well-being of a group, since it is related to income. Room
crowding takes into account the num ber of-rooms and the num ber of
persons in a household. It is a m easure of density as based on the
num ber of households with m ore than one person per room. Education
is used here to re fe r to the median num ber of school years completed
for persons twenty-five y ears old and over. Age reflects the re p ro
ductive and work capacity of the population. To m easure the changes
in these social ch arac teristics, the 98 census trac ts located in Los
Angeles City are analyzed for the 1940-1950 decade according to the
4
stages of succession fram e of reference described in Chapter III.
Home Ownership
The level of home ownership in any area is associated with
patterns of occupancy, economic conditions, the housing m arket, racial
re stric tio n s, and social prestige, as well as with the classification of
single and multiple dwelling units. Home ownership is related to
economic conditions and to social status of the population of an area.
To obtain knowledge of the changes in home ownership at
different stages of succession, census tract proportions of occupied
dwelling units which were owner-occupied were determ ined.
4
See C hapter III, p. 49.
98
Piling-up T ra c ts
As shown in Table 15, the two trac ts in the piling-up category
had an average of 38.4 per cent of ow ner-occupied dwelling units in
1950 as com pared with 29.9 per cent in 1940. The level of home ow ner
ship in the piling-up tra c ts was below the county average. In Los
Angeles County in 1950, 53.4 per cent of all dwelling units were owner-
g
occupied. This rep re se n ts an increase of 13.0 per cent in the p ro p o r
tion of owner occupied hom es since 1940.
The num ber of occupied dwelling units in the piling-up trac ts
in creased num erically from 3,143 in 1940 to 3,657 in 1950 o r a 16.3
per cent in crease. The num ber of owner-occupied units increased from
942 in 1940 to 1,408 in 1950, a gain of 466 in absolute num bers as
shown in Table 15.
TABLE 15.— P ercentage distribution of owner-occupied dwelling units:
piling-up tra c ts, Los Angeles City: 1940 and 1950
T ra c t
and
Y ear
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Ow ner-occupied
N um ber P e r cent
White
O w ner-
Occupied
P e r cent
Non-White
Owner-
Occupied
P e r cent
(1940)
252
254
Total
x
(1950)
252
254
Total
x
1,473
1,670
3,143
1,573
1,755
1,902
3,657
1,828
432
510
942
471
653
755
1,408
709
29.3
30.5
29.9
37.2
39.6
38.4
15.2
22.2
18.7
4.3
4.1
4.2
84.8
77.8
81.3
95.7
95.9
95.8
99
Whites occupied 18.7 per cent of the ow ner-occupied dwelling
units in 1940, but by 1950 th e ir proportion of the total population had
decreased to 1.7 per cent, and their proportion of the owner-occupied
dwelling units had d ecreased to 4.2 per cent. By 1956, whites consti
tuted only 1.4 per cent of the total population of these piling-up tra c ts .
(See Appendix A.)
Table 16 shows that in these tra c ts in 1940 slightly m ore than
one-fourth of the non-white dwelling units were owned by the occupants.
By 1 950, the rate of home ownership had increased among non-whites
from 26.5 to 38.0 per cent. The development of m ore home ownership
among non-whites has probably been due to the rise in econom ic condi
tion of N egroes and changes in the postw ar policies of the F ed eral
6
housing program s.
Tenant occupancy in trac ts 252 and 254 fo r non-whites was
still high in 1950 with 2,201 of the 3,550 occupied dwelling units being
tenant-occupied. The m ean percentage change in home ownership for
non-white3 was 59.1. The m ajority of the whites who m aintained r e s i
dence in the tra c ts were living in ow ner-occupied dwelling units.
In 1940, the m ajority of the occupied dwelling units (2,877 out
of 3,143) w ere non-white occupied. As the dwelling units increased to
g
C om m ission of Race and Housing, Where Shall We L ive,
R eport of the C om m ission on Race and Housing (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: U niversity of C alifornia P r e s s , 1958), p. 31.
1 0 0
3,657 in 1950, the amount of non-white occupancy increased to 3,550 or
97.0 p er cent. Data of Negro home ownership for the piling-up aregiven
in 1940 only and showed that total non-white and Negro ownership were
equivalent.
TABLE 16.— P e r cent of non-whites residing in Los Angeles City
ow ner-occupied dwelling units: piling-up tra c ts , 1940 and 1950
T ra c t and Y ear
Occupied by Non-whites
Non-white
Owner-occupied
Number P e r Cent
1940
252 1376 366 26.6
254 1501 397 26.4
Total 2877 763
X 1418 386 26.5
1950
252 1702 190 26.5
254 1848 625 36.7
Total 3550 1349
X 1775 674 38.0
Table 17 shows the pattern of change in the c h arac teristics of
dwelling units in the piling-up tra c ts for the 1940-1950 decade. The
increased owner-occupancy for the a re a was consistent with the trend
7
in other parts of the county.
The rate of increase in non-white owner-occupancy exceeded
rate of increase for the total tra c ts. The percentage of white owner-
occupants declined during the ten y ear period.
7
W elfare Planning Council, op. cit.
101
Late Consolidation T rac ts
The two trac ts in the late consolidation stage experienced an
increase in owner-occupied dwelling units of 42.2 p e r cent during the
1940-1950 decade. Table 18 shows that in 1940, the p e r cent of ow ner-
occupied dwelling units was 29^6. By 1950, this p e r cent had increased
to 37.5.
TABLE 17.— Percentage change in occupied dwelling unit c h a ra c te r
istics: piling-up tra c ts , Los Angeles City: 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h a rac te ristic s
1940
P ercentage Change
1950
Occupied Dwelling Units 514 16.5
O w ner-occupied Units 466 49.5
Nonwhite Owners 586 76.8
White Owners -1 2 0 -6 7 .0
TABLE 18.— Percentage distribution of ow ner-occupied units: late
consolidation tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
T rac t
and
Y ear
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Ow ner-occupied
Num ber P e r cent
White
Owner -
Occupied
P e r cent
Non-White
Owner-
Occupied
P e r cent
(1940)
214 1,079 354 32.8 16.1 83.9
226 1,871 494 26.4 18.2 81.8
Total
X
2,950
1,475
848
424 29.6 17.2 82.9
(1950)
214 1,216 499 41.1 7.6 92.4
226 2,083 707 33.9 10.3 89.7
Total
X
3,299
1,649
1,206
603 37.5 8.9 91.0
1 0 2
The proportion of home ow ners in the late consolidation trac ts
was below the county average of 53.6 per cent in 1950. The num ber of
tenant-occupied units was alm ost as large for non-whites in 1940 as in
1950. Table 18 shows that non-whites owned 91.0 per cent of the owner-
occupied dwelling units in 1950. White householders occupied approxi
m ately 17.2 per cent of the ow ner-occupied dwelling units in 1940.
This rep resen ted 42.6 per cent o r 147 out of 345 of the white house
holders living in the two tra c ts . (See Appendix D.) The per cent of
ow ner-occupied dwelling units occupied by white householders decreased
to 8.9 per cent of the total num ber of whites in 1950. This decline was
consistent with the d ecrease in the white population in this a re a during
the 1940-1950 period.
The in crease in the num ber of non-whites who were home
ow ners is seen in Table 19, below.
TABLE 19.— P e rc e n t of non-whites residing in owner-occupied dw ell
ing units: Late consolidation tracts; Los Angeles City 1940 and 1950
T ra c t and Y ear
Total Units Occupied Owner Occupied
by Non-whites Num ber P e r cent
(1940)
214 932 297 31.9
226 1,673 404 24.1
T otal 2,605 701
x 1,302 350 28.0
(1950)
214 1,125 461 40.9
226 1,925 635 32.9
T otal 3,050 1,095
x 1,525 547 36.9
103
As shown in Table 19, 1,095, o r 36.9 p er cent of 3,050 non
white householders, were residing in owner-occupied dwelling units in
1950. T his was a gain of 9.0 p e r cent in the num ber of non-white r e s i
dents living in ow ner-occupied dwelling units in 1940. The occupied
dwelling units in creased 11.8 p er cent between 1940 and 1950, while
the total population increased 13.7 p e r cent during the sam e period.
The non-white population, which was predom inantly Negro, increased
20.7 per cent. The non-white population was increasing fa s te r than
dwelling units o r the total population.
Data for the two piling-up tra c ts showed that home ownership
in creased fo r non-whites but declined for whites during the 1940-1950
period (see Table 20). S im ilar to the piling-up tra c ts , the rate of
in crease in non-white home ownership in the late consolidation tra c ts
exceeds the total home ownership increase for the tra c ts. The rate of
in crease in hom e-ow nership fo r the late consolidation tra c ts was less
than that of the piling-up tra c ts.
TABLE 20.— P ercentage change of occupied dwelling unit c h a ra c te r
istic s: late consolidation tra c ts , Los Angeles City: 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h a rac te ristic s
Percentage Change
Num ber Increase P e r cent Increase
Occupied dwelling units 349 11.8
O w ner-occupied units 358 42.2
Non-White owners 396 56.4
White ow ners - 3 6 -2 4 .5
104
“ Consolidation T ra c ts , 1950 and 1956”
The 38 tra c ts classified as consolidation, 19-50 and 1956 in
c re ased in num ber of occupied dwelling units. The num ber of occupied
dwelling units in the 38 tra c ts increased from 61,635 in 1940 to 76,064
in 1950, an in crease of 2374 per cent, as sum m arized in Table 21.
Approxim ately one-fourth of these units were ow ner-occupied in 1940
and little m ore than one-third were owner-occupied in 1950 (see
Appendix D). As the increase in non-white population would indicate,
non-w hites, who com prised about 27.5 per cent of the population of
these tra c ts in 1950, occupied 19.5 per cent of the owner-occupied units.
TABLE 21.— P ercentage distribution of ow ner-occupied units: "con
solidation tra c ts 1950 and 1956';' Los Angeles City: 1940 and 1950
T rac ts
and
Y ear
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Ow ner-occupied
N um ber P e r cent
White
Owner-
Occupied
P e r cent
Non-white
Owner -
Occupied
P e r cent
(1940)
Total
X
61,635
1,622
15,220
4,005 23.4 82.9 9.6
(1950)
Total
X
76,064
2,535
23,334
87
0
34.6 80.5 19.5
The p er cent of white owner-occupied units declined in these
38 consolidation tra c ts, but the num ber of ow ner-occupied units
increased. Non-white owner-occupancy also showed an increase during
105
the ten y e ar period.
The in crease in home ownership from 1940 to 1950 among non
whites in this group of tra c ts can be seen from Table 22. Non-whites
owned only 57 dwelling units in 1940, but in 1950 the total num ber of
owner-occupied units among non-whites had increased to 5,652 or 34.4
per cent of the total units occupied by non-whites.
TABLE 22.— P e r cent of non-whites residing in owner-occupied dwell
ing units; “ consolidation tra c ts , 1950 and 1956,” Los Angeles City:
1940 and 1950
N um ber of
T ra c ts and
Y ear
Total Units Occupied
by Non-whites
Non-white Owner-occupied
Num ber P e r cent
(1940)
Consolidation (38)
Total 10,400 2,171 4.7
X 207 57 2.1
(1950)
Consolidation (38)
Total 16,417 5,652 34.4
X 433 148 34.4
Table 23 shows that there was a gain in the num ber of non
white householders. The changes of other dwelling unit c h ara c te ristic s
can be seen from Table 23 which depicts the fa s te r rate of increase in
non-white ownership for these tra c ts.
It m ay be noted that home ownership among whites increased
in the “ consolidation tra c ts , 1950 and 1956” for the 1940-1950 period.
1 0 6
TABLE 23.— Percentage change of occupied dwelling unit c h a ra c te r
istics: consolidation tra c ts 1950 and 1956, Los Angeles City 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h aracteristics
P ercentage Change 1940-1950
Num ber Increase P e r Cent Increase
Occupied Dwelling Units 44,429 23.4
Ow ner Occupied Units 11,114 73.0
Non-white Owner Occupied 3,481 160.3
W hite-Owner Occupied 8,438 66.2
“ Consolidation, 1950 — Late Consolidation, 1956”
The ten consolidation tra c ts that shifted to the late consoli
dation level from 1950 to 1956 had an alm ost equal distribution of
owner-occupied dwelling units between whites and non-whites in 1940.
The continued increase in the per cent of home owners among non
whites in these tra c ts is shown in Table 24.
The m ean average percentage of householders living in
ow ner-occupied increased from 31.2 to 39.7 over the 1940-1950 decade,
o r an 8.5 percentage increase in home ownership occupancy as indi
cated in Table 24.
The 49.1 per cent of non-white ow ner-occupied units in 1940
increased to 86.2 in 1950. Table 25 shows the changing pattern in the
ow ner-occupied dwelling units by non-whites.
These ten tra c ts which shifted to the late consolidation stage
in 1956 had a higher rate of increase in home ownership among non
whites than did the other 38 consolidation tra c ts that rem ained fairly
107
stable in the proportional distribution of non-whites.
TABLE 24.— P ercentage distribution of ow ner-occupied dwelling units,
“ Consolidation tra c ts 1950 —late consolidation tra c ts 1956,” Los Ange
les City 1940 and 1950
Y ear
All
Occupied
Units
O w ner-
Occupied
Units
Num ber P e r cent
Non-white
O wner-
Occupied
P e r cent
White
O w ner-
Occupied
P e r cent
(1940)
Total
X
14,389
1,438
4,340
434 31.2 49.1 50.9
(1950)
Total
X
16,435
1,643
6,110
611 39.7 86.2 13.7
TABLE 25.— P e r cent of non-whites residing in owner-occupied dw ell
ing units, “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 and late consolidation trac ts,
1956,” Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
N um ber of
T rac ts and
Y ear
Total Units Occupied
by Non-whites
Non-white O w ner-occupied
N um ber P e r cent
(1940)
Consolidation (10)
Total
X
7,865
786
2,170
217 27.6
(1950)
Consolidation (10)
Total
X
14,261
1,426
5,435
543 38.1
Tenant-occupancy among non-whites was still high for these
ten tra c ts during the 1940-1950 period.
108
The “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation trac ts
1956” had a 14.2 per cent increase in occupied dwelling units from
1940 to 1950.
TABLE 26.— Percentage change of occupied dwelling unit c h a ra c te r
istics: “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation trac ts 1956,”
Los Angeles City, 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h aracteristics
P e r centage Change 1940-1950
Number Increase P e r Cent Increase
Occupied Dwelling Units 2,046 14.2
Owner Occupied Units 1,770 40.8
Non-white Ow ner Occupied 3,265 150.5
W hite-Owner Occupied
In this predom inant Negro a re a, the num ber of non-white owner-
occupied dwelling units increased at a fa s te r rate than did the total
num ber of owner-occupied units. The pattern of change in dwelling
unit c h arac teristics was sim ila r to those at other stages of the su c
cession cycle previously discussed.
E arly Consolidation T rac ts
This group of 16 trac ts had an increased rate in home ow ner
ship during the 1940-1950 decade. The population increase was
slightly g re a te r than the rate of increase in owner-occupancy. Table
27 shows that the total num ber of occupied dwelling units increased, as
well as did non-white owner occupancy. The per cent of white home
owners decreased from 1940 to 1950. At the beginning of the 1940-1950
109
decade, 32.3 per cent of the dwelling units were owner occupied; in
1950, an average of 39.4 per cent of the total dwelling units were
ow ner-occupied. The proportion of non-white ow ner-occupied units
increased from 1940 to 1950, but the p e r cent of ow ner-occupied units
decreased among whites. In com parison with the rate of home ow ner
ship at other stages of the succession cycle, the e arly consolidation
tra c ts had the second highest rate among non-whites and were exceeded
only by tra c ts in the invasion stage.
The e arly consolidation tra c ts had a high rate of change among
non-white home ow ners. Table 29 shows that the num ber of occupied
dwelling units had increased 33.0 per cent, which was about the sam e
as the p e r cent increase fo r the total population of this group of tra c ts.
This is one of the two groups of tra c ts in which the proportion
of white ow ner-occupied units increased during the 1940-1950 decade.
The “ consolidation tra c ts , 1950 and 1956” was the other group.
Invasion T rac ts
The num ber of dwelling units in the 30 invasion tra c ts in
creased to 10,058 o r from 48,345 in 1940 to 53,403 in 1950. This was a
per cent increase of 10.4. In 1940, 99.2 p er cent of these hom es were
occupied by white ow ners. This per cent decreased to 79.3 in 1950.
The non-white population, which constituted 7.2 per cent of the total
population in 1940, had a very sm all proportion of the household
11 0
TABLE 27.— P ercentage distribution of owner-occupied dwelling units,
e a rly consolidation tract; Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
Y ear Occupied Owner Occupied Non-white White
Units N um ber P e r cent P e r cent P e r cent
(1940)
Total
X
21,153
1,322
6,344
396 32.3 2.0 98.0
(1950)
Total
X
28,136
1,758
12,680
39.4 16.0 84.0
TABLE 28.— P e r cent of non-whites residing in owner-occupied dwell
ing units: e a rly consolidation tra c ts , Los Angeles City; 1940 and 1950
T ra c t and
Y ear
T otal Units
Occupied by
Non-whites
Non-white owner-occupied
N um ber P e r cent
(1940) .
E arly Consolidation (16)
Total 503
31
146
9
34.4
3
(1950)
E arly Consolidation (16)
Total 3,850
241
1,904
119 49.4
TABLE 29.— P ercentage change in occupied dwelling unit c h a ra c te r
istics: e arly consolidation tra c ts, Los Angeles City, 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h a rac te ristic s
Change
Num ber P e r cent
Occupied Units 6,977 33.0
Ow ner Occupied Units 6,336 49.9
White Owners 4,668 76.4
Non-white Owners 1,758 1,204.0
I l l
ownership (Table 30).
TABLE 30.— Percentage distribution of owner-occupied units: inva
sion trac ts, Los Ange-les City, 1940 and 1950
Y ear
All
Occupied
Units
Owner-occupied
Non-white
O w ner-
White
Owner-
Num ber P e r cent
Occupied
P e r cent
Occupied
P e r cent
(1940)
Total
X
48,345
1,611
13,277
29.3 .7 99.2
(1950)
Total
X
53,403
1,780
19,507
650 36.3 20.7 79.3
However, the rapid gain in population from 1940 to 1950 ex
ceeds the increase of owner-occupancy for this group. It is safe to
assum e that the non-white group was responsible fo r the increase of
7.0 percentage points in home ownership for these trac ts since the
decrease in the per cent of white home owners was even g re a te r than
the gain. The shifting of the non-white population to this a re a is ev i
denced by the increase in home owners among non-whites.
Table 31 shows that only 68 of the 250 dwelling units occupied
by non-whites in 1940 were owner-occupied. In 1950, the level of home
ownership had increased to an average of 50.1 per cent among non
whites.
This high level of home ownership among non-whites in the
invasion trac ts indicates that a large percentage of non-white
1 1 2
in -m ig ran t were purchasing th e ir hom es. The rate of population tu rn
over among non-whites in these thirty trac ts exceeded that of all other
stages previously discussed.
TABLE 31.— P e r cent of non-whites residing in ow ner-occupied dwell
ing units; invasion tra c ts , Los Angeles City; 1940 and 1950
T ra c t and
Y ear
Total Units Occupied
b y Non-whites
Non-white
Owner-Occupied Amounts
Num ber P e r cent
(1940)
Invasion (30)
Total 250 6 8
X 8 2 27.2
(1950)
Invasion (30)
Total 8,014 4,029
X 267 134 50.1
The differences in the ra te s of change in dwelling unit c h a r
a c te ristic s for the invasion tra c ts are shown in Table 32.
TABLE 32 .— P ercentage change of dwelling unit c h a ra c te ristic s: inva
sion tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940-1950
Dwelling Unit C h a rac te ristic s Number
P e r cent
Occupied Units 5,058 10.4
Owner Occupied 6,230 46.9
White Ow ners 2,269 17.2
Non-white Owners 3,961 5,882.5
The rapid rate of increase in the proportion of non-white owner-
occupied units in these tra c ts exceeds that of all of the other a re a s .
113
Sum m ary of Home Ownership
While a substantial rate of increase in home ownership d is
tinguished each stage of succession, the in crease was g reatest for non
whites at the invasion level; as fo r a com parison of rate of increase in
home ownership fo r the total population of each stage of succession,
the increase for the “ consolidation tra c ts, 1950 and 1956“ was the m ost
substantial. The pattern of changes in the rate of home ownership
among N egroes follows very closely that of the non-whites fo r all
stages of succession. An exception is that in all stages the rate of in
crease in home ownership for Negroes exceeded that of the non-whites.
A large percentage of the non-whites in these tra c ts are N egroes and a
la rg e r percentage of the N egroes are in-m igrants to these a re a s . In
m any instances, it is n e ce ssa ry for N egroes who are moving into r e
stricted a re a s to purchase th e ir homes in o rd er to gain entrance into
the a rea.
The proportion of white ow ner-occupied units increased at the
e a rly consolidation and “ consolidation 1950 and 1956“ levels, but de
creased in the other stages.
The increase in proportion of occupied dwelling units was
g re a te st fo r the “ consolidation trac ts 1950 and 1956.“ This is the
stage of continued in crease in both white and non-white population and
home ownership fo r the sixteen y e ar period covered by this investi
gation.
114
Room Crowding
The num ber of persons per room is a conventional m easure of
population density within households. A ratio of 1.0 person per room is
g
considered as a m axim um desirable level of density. F o r purposes of
discussion, tra c ts with a level g re a te r than 1.0 persons p er room are
re fe rre d to as “ crow ded.”
Piling-up T ra c ts
The data for 1940 chowed that in tra c ts 252 and 254,12.7 per
cent of the total occupied dwelling units had a ratio of 1.01 o r m ore
persons p e r room . In 1950, the per cent of room crowding had in
creased 2.7 p e r cent.
Table 33 shows that of the total occupied units in this trac t
with m ore than one person per room increased from 1940 to 1950.
TABLE 33.— P ercentage distribution of occupied dwelling units with
1.01 o r m ore persons per room : piling-up tra c ts , Los Angeles City*
1940 and 1950
T rac ts and
Y ear
Total Units with
1.01+ persons
Num ber
Non-white
P e r cent
White
P e r cent
(1940) 252
254
Total
x
(1950) 252
254
Total
x
173
223
396
198
266
291
557
278
6.1
13.1
9.6
11.7
16.3
14.0
12.3
13.5
12.9
15.1
15.5
15.3
115
White householders occupied an average of 37 dwelling units out of a
total of 107 with 1.01 o r m ore persons per room in 1950, as com pared
with 28 out of 262 in 1940. (See Appendix D.) This re p re se n ts a p e r
centage point difference 25.5 and indicates fu rth er the continued trend
toward increased room density in this a re a for whites as well as
N eg ro es.
In 1940 non-whites occupied a m ean average of 184 dwelling,
units with 1.01 o r m ore persons per room . This m eant that 12.9 per
cent of ail the dwelling units occupied by non-whites were o v e r
crowded. By 1950, this percentage had increased to 15.3 per cent. The
total population in these piling-up tra c ts increased at approxim ately
the sam e rate as the num ber of occupied dwelling units. From 1940 to
1950, the non-w hites, predom inantly N egroes, increased at a fa ste r
rate of increase of occupied dwelling units. This is of special signifi
cance here since the white population of the piling-up tra c ts decreased
74.2 per cent during the 1940-1950 decade and the Negro proportion of
the population in these two tra c ts was the highest in Los Angeles County
in both the 1940-1950 and 1950 and 1956 periods. The doubling-up
process pointed up the lag in available housing for Negroes. Significant
here also is the fact that the ratio of dwelling units with m ore than
1.01 persons per room fo r the decreasing white population increased
from 1940 to 1950. The whites rem aining in the a re a o r the white in
m igrant contributed to the increasing density of these two tra c ts, which
116
a re a p a rt of the C entral Avenue Community.
Late Consolidation T rac ts
In the two late consolidation tra c ts 214 and 226, the amount of
room crowding increased for non-whites during the 1940-1950 decade.
These tra c ts are located in the West Jefferson and C entral Avenue
a re as respectively. The increase in room crowding for non-whites a c
companied the failure of the supply of dwelling units to expand as rap id
ly as the population.
TABLE 34.— P ercentage distribution of occupied dwelling units with
1.01 o r m ore persons p e r room : late consolidation trac ts, Los Angeles
Cityf 1940 and 1950
T rac ts and
Y ear
Total Units with
1.01+ persons
Numbe r
Non-
Number
white
P e r cent
White
Num ber P e r cent
(1940) 214 148 136 14.5 12 8.2
226 296 247 14.7 49 34.2
Total 444 383 61
X 222 191 14.6 30 21.2
(1950) 214 1,105 141 12.5 11 .9
226 996 371 31.7 48 4.8
Total 3,111 512 59
X 1,555 256 15.8 29 2.9
The data in Table 34 show that for the late consolidation tra c ts , in
1940 an average of 14.6 per cent of the dwelling units occupied by non
white householders had m ore than one person per room . The whites
who rem ained in these predom inant Negro tra c ts had a high percentage
117
of home ownership and room crowding. The percentage of room
crowding in 1950 had increased for non-w hites as seen from Table 34.
T here was d rastic d ecrease in the proportion of room crowding for
whites. The reduction of room crowding among non-w hites in the
late consolidation tra c ts w as consistent with their decline in num ber
and proportion in this a re a at this tim e. It was different from the
pattern of change in the piling-up tra c ts in which the decline in the
proportion of whites was accom panied by an in crease in room crow d
ing. The rate of increase in room density was less for these tra c ts
than for those in the piling-up stage.
"Consolidation T rac ts, 1950 and 1956"
In the 38 tra c ts which rem ained in the consolidation stage in
both 1950 and 1956, the rate of in crease in the num ber of dwelling
units with m ore than 1. 01 persons per room for non-whites exceeded
that of the total population. At the sam e tim e the proportion of
crowded dwelling units d ecreased for whites in the 1940-1950 period.
This is one of the two stages of succession in which the white popula
tion and home ownership ra te s continued to in crease during the 1940-
1950 period. The num ber of occupied dwelling units increased in
these 38 tra c ts at a slightly lower rate than did the population, during
the period from 1940 to 1950.
118
TABLE 35.— P ercentage distribution of occupied dwelling units with
1.01 o r m ore persons p er room: “ consolidation tra c ts 1950 and 1956,”
Los Angeles City; 1940 and 1950
_ . , Total Units with
T rac ts and , ,
Y ear 1.01+ persons
Numbe r
Non
Number
-white
P e r cent
White
Number P e r cent
(1940)
Consolidation (38)
Total 11,107
x 292
1,972
52 22.4
9,135
240 20.1
(1950)
Consolidation (38)
Total 13,892
x 365
5,073
133 27.8
8,819
232 2.9
“ Consolidation T racts 1950— Late Consolidation T racts 1956”
The m ajority of ten tra c ts which shifted from the consolidation
stage in 1950 to the late consolidation stage in 1956 were located in the
C entral Avenue A rea. Two of the trac ts form ed a part of the West
Jefferson Community.
The non-white population of these ten trac ts of the consolida
tion stage increased at a fa ste r rate than did the total population for
1940-1950. The rate of Increase of occupied dwelling units was less
than that of the population o r the increase in home ownership. The
tra c ts had an increase in room crowding for non-whites, but a decrease
for whites during the ten -y ear interval.
Table 36 indicates the increasing room density of these trac ts
as the rac ial composition changes.
119
TABLE 3 6.— Percentage distribution of occupied dwelling units occu
pied by non-whites with 1.01 o r m ore persons p er ro o m :" consolidation
tra c ts 1950 — late consolidation tra c ts 1956; Los Angeles City; 1940 and
1950
T rac t Total Units
and with 1.01 +
Y ear P e rso n s
Non-white
N um ber P e r cent
White
N um ber P e r cent
(1940)
Consolidation (10)
Total 2,293
x 229
(1950)
Consolidation (10)
Total 2,805
x 280
1,062
106 13.2
2,404
240 16.7
1,241
124
401
40
19.1
18.4
The increase in room crowding fo r non-whites exceeded the rate of
increase of occupied units. This group of tra c ts which had a non-white
population of at least 90.0 per cent in 1950 had the second highest rate
increase in room crowding among the various stages of succession.
E arly Consolidation T racts
The sixteen early consolidation tra c ts in 1950 which had less
9
than 250 non-white inhabitants in 1940 had increased th eir proportions
of non-white population to a m ean percentage of 18.2 by 1950. These
tra c ts which were in the e arly stage of succession showed a decrease
in room density for the ten y ears (see Table 37).
In 1950, each of the e a rly consolidation tra c ts had at least 250
Q
See C hapter III, p. 49.
120
non-white residents. At this tim e, the proportion of occupied dwelling
units with m ore than one person per room was higher for non-whites
than for whites ( T a b l e 37 ). The m ean proportion of dwelling units with
room crowding decreased for the group of tra c ts as a whole from 1940
to 1950.
TABLE 37.— Occupied dwelling units with 1.01+ persons per room:
early consolidation tracts., Los Angeles City: 1940 and 1950
T ract
and
Y ear
All occupied
Dwelling Units
Total Units with
1.01+ persons
Num ber P e r cent
Non-white
P e r cent
White
P e r cent
(1940)
Total 21,032 3,857
♦ ♦
X 1,314 241 18.3 ♦ ♦
(1950)
Total
X
26,201
1,637
4,490
280 17.1 21.4 15.9
♦Data not available.
Invasion T racts
Room density rem ained ra th e r stable for this group of thirty
tra c ts during the 1940-1950 decade. Approxim ately 12.0 per cent, or
5,940 of the total of 48,069 occupied dwelling units in these tra c ts, had
m ore than the num ber of persons per room regarded as desirable. In
1950, the per cent of room crowding was 11.3. At this tim e, all trac ts
had 250 non-white residents and a com parison of white and non-white
population was possible. Table 38 shows that non-whites had a highest
121
proportion of occupied dwelling w ith 1. 01+ persons per room in the
consolidation stage in 1950. The proportion was below the average for
early consolidation tra c ts at the sam e period of tim e.
TABLE 38.— Occupied dwelling units with 1,01+ persons per room:
invasion tra c ts , Los Angeles City: 1940 and 1950
All Total Units with
T ra c t Occupied 1.01+persons Non-white White
and Dwelling P e r
Y ear Units Number cent P e r cent P e r cent
(1940)
Invasion T ra c ts (30)
Total 48,069
x 1, 602
(1950)
Invasion T ra c ts (30)
Total 53, 438
x
♦Data not available.
Sum m ary of Room Crowding
The proportion of occupied dwelling units with m ore than one
person per room in creased at four stages of succession for the total
and non-white population from 1940 to 1950. The rate of increase in
room crowding for non-w hites was g reatest in the "consolidation
tra c ts 1950 and 1956. " The proportion of room crowding for whites
declined at each stage of succession for which data perm itted racial
com parisons.
5, 940 ♦ *
198 11.4 * *
6, 090
11.3 16.9 10.6
1 2 2
Education
Education is an indicator of the quality of a population. It is
associated closely with incom e, occupations, and status, or social
position, in the community. ^ The median y e a rs of school completed
was chosen as one index of the educational level of the population.
P roportions of the population 25 y e a rs of age and older completing
four or m ore y e a rs of high school and four or m ore y e a rs of college
constituted the other indexes of educational attainm ent.
Piling-up T rac ts
The data for the piling-up tra c ts show that the median num ber
of school y e a rs completed for total population did not change between
1940 and 1950, rem aining at the level of 9,1. The educational level for
non-whites decreased from a m edian of 9. 5 y e a rs in 1940 to a median
of 9. 2 y e a rs in 1950 for tra c t 252, but in creased for tra c t 254 from 8. 8
to 9.0. There was a d ecrease in the average educational attainm ent
for non-whites by .1 per cent (see Table 39). This is a particularly
significant statem ent since the population had changed from a non-white
proportion of 89. 9 per cent in 1940 to 98. 8 per cent in 1950, the m ajor
ity of whom were N egroes. The proportion of non-w hites who had com
pleted four y e ars of high school decreased only slightly from 1940 to
1950 in tra c t 252 but increased for 254. As shown in Table 40, T ract
^D onald J. Bogue, op. cit. , pp. 340-341.
123
252 stood at the top in both per cent with high school and college educa
tion in 1940, and in high school education only in 1950.
TABLE 39. — Median num ber of school y e ars completed fo r the popula
tion twenty-five y e ars old and over: piling-up tra c ts , Los Angeles City,
1940 and 1950
T rac t
1940
Total
Non-white
1950
Total
Non-white
252 9.4 , 9.5 9.2 9.2
254 8.7 8.8 8.9 9.0
X 9.1 9.2 9.1 9.1
A slightly la rg e r proportion of the non-whites had four years
of high school education in 1940 than in 1950, but the proportion with
four y ears of college o r m ore had a relative sm all gain of 0.5 per cent
in 1950.
TABLE 40 .— P ercentage distribution of non-white population by edu
cational attainm ent: piling-up tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940-1950
Total 1950
College Popu- High School
4 Y ears lation 4 y ears +
-t-
Num ber % N um ber % Number %
252 3,112 606 19.4 96 3.0 3,840 685 17.8 105 2.7
254 3,330 529 15.8 89 2.6 4,300 700 16.2 175 4.0
X 3,221 567 17.6 92 2.8 4,070 692 17.0 137 3.3
The educational level of the county as m easured by median num ber of
school y ears com pleted by all persons 25 y ears of age and over was
1940
High School
T ra c t Total 4Years-t-
N um ber %
124
11.0 in 1940. This area, below the county average, belongs to those
having the lowest education level 6.8 to 9.1 m edian school y e a r s . I n
1940 and 1950 the a re a had an education level of 9.1 which is typical of
m ajo r m inority settlem ents, blighted are as and problem a re a s . By
1950, the m edian educational attainm ent for Los Angeles County was
12 y ears of school completed. This m eant that even though the a re a
piling-up tra c ts continued to m aintain their previous levels, they were
now three y ears below the county average.
Within Los Angeles County the piling-up tra c ts are an a re a
with a low percentage of persons having advanced education. The
county average in 1950 was 21.6 per cent.
Late Consolidation T ra c ts
The educational level of the two late consolidation tracts in
creased from 1940 to 1950.
Data from the 1940 and 1950 censuses fo r tra c ts 214 and 226
show that the m edian num ber of years of school completed by persons
25 y e ars of age and over in trac ts 214 and 226 in crease .7 of a year, o r
from 9.2 to 9.9 over the ten year period. The increasing educational
level of the tra c ts can be seen from Table 41. These data indicate that
the level of educational attainm ent had risen by one y e ar in trac t 214
^ W e lfa re Council of M etropolitan Los Angeles, Background
for Planning, P re p are d by Elizabeth R. F rank (Los Angeles: W elfare
Council R esearch Dept.), pp. 54-55.
125
and by .4 of a y ear in tra c t 226. The average level of increase for the
two trac ts was .7 of a year.
TABLE 41. — Median num ber of school y e a rs completed fo r population
twenty-five y e ars and over: late consolidation tra c ts, Los Angeles
City, 1940 and 1950
T rac t
Total
1940
Non-white Total
1950
Non-white
214 10.3 10.4 11.4 11.4
226 8.1 8.1 8.4 8.5
X 9.2 9.2 9.9 9.9
' Another m easure of the educational attainm ent of non-whites is
the percentage distribution of high school and college graduates. Table
42 sum m arizes the change in the proportion of non-whites with a high
school and college education. The num ber of persons with college edu
cation decreased in trac t 226 from an absolute num ber of 77 in 1940 to
55 in 1950, a percentage d ecrease of —28.5 per cent However, trac t
214 had a percentage increase of 78.2 and for the two trac ts the average
proportion of non-whites who had four y e ars o r m ore of college in
creased by .5 per cent.
The proportion of non-whites in these tra c ts continued to
increase and the educational attainm ent showed im provem ent over the
1940-1950 period.
126
TABLE 4 2 .— P ercentage distribution of non-white population by educa
tional attainm ent: late consolidation tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940 and
1950
1940 1950
T rac t Total High School College Total High School College
No.
%
No.
% No.
%
No. %
214 1989 495 24.8 101 5.0 2545 680 26.7 180 7.0
226 3799 473 12.4 77 2.0 4900 815 16.6 55 1.1
X 2894 481 18.6 89 3.5 3722 747 21.6 117 4.0
'Consolidation T racts, 1950 — Late Consolidation T ra c ts, 1956 "
In the a re a of education, these tra c ts had a gain of 1.0 in num
b e r of school y ears completed for the total population and .3 grade for
non-white as shown in Table 43. These trac ts followed the county pat
tern of increase in educational level for the ten y e ar period. The
increase, however, was not substantial enough to raise the average for
the group of trac ts to the Los Angeles County average.
TABLE 43. — Median y e a r of school completed by population' consolida-
tion tracts; 1950 —Late consolidation, 1956, Los Angeles City, 1940 and
1950
Median Grade Compl e t ed
1940 1950
Total Population 9.0 9.9
Non-white 8.8 9.1
"Consolidation T ra c ts 1950 and 1956"
A decline of 1.4 in the median school y e ars completed was
127
noted for the non-white population but the level of education for the
total population rem ained the sam e for the total population.
As shown in Table 44, the level of educational attainm ent of
the total population increased by 1.1 grade for the decade 1940-1950.
However, there was a decrease in m edian y e ars of school completed
for the non-white population of 1.4 y e a rs . Since no com parison is made
here of the high school and college attendance it is difficult to account
for this decline.
TABLE 44. — Median y e ars of school completed by population: consoli
dation tra c ts 1950 and 1956, Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
1940 1950
Consolidation (38) 8.7 9.8
Total Population 8.7 9.8
Non-White 8.7 7.3
Table 44 shows that the educational standard of the tra c ts in
creased from 1940 to 1950.
E arly Consolidation
The level of education of the early consolidation tra c ts as
m easured fo r the total population showed a gain 1.8 grade during the
ten -y ear period 1940-1950. The com parison between total and non
white population was not possible due to lack of available data. How
ev er, the data for m edian grade com pleted in the Table 45 below shows
that the lowest grade completed in 1940 was much higher in 1950.
128
TABLE 4 5 .— P ercentage distribution of educational attainm ent: early
consolidation tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
1940 1950
Range 5.0-12.2 8.9-12.5
Median 8.9 10.5
The early consolidation tra c ts showed an im provem ent in edu
cational level which was consistent with the trend of the other stages of
succession.
Invasion
The m edian num ber of school y e ars completed for the invasion
tra c ts of tra c ts increased by .8 of a grade over the ten year span. This
im provem ent was consistent with the general trend of other a re as.
Table 46 shows a d ecrease in the range of educational achievem ent for
the various tra c ts and the in cre ase in grade attainm ent.
TABLE 4 6 .— Percentage distribution of educational attainm ent: inva
sion tra c ts , Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
1940 1950
Range 7.1-12.1 8.0-12.3
Median 9.6 10.4
In 1940 the m edian y ear of school completed for the total
population of the invasion tra c ts was 9.7. In 1950, there was an im
provem ent and the m edian grade was 10.5.
129
Sum m ary of Education
The level of educational attainm ent for the total Negro popu
lation im proved in all stages of succession during the 1940-1950 de
cade. In the e arly consolidation and "consolidation 1950 and 1956"
stages the level of im provem ent was slightly higher than for the r e
maining stages. Although a slight decline occurred in the educational
level of non-whites in the "consolidation 1950 and 1956" and piling-up
stages, the decline was not substantial enough to lower the total edu
cational level at each stage.
A g - e
The age composition of a population refle cts its reproductive
and work capacity. V ariations in the proportions of young, m ature,
and older population m ay be expressed in te rm s of the balance between
14
w orkers and consum ers. Age stru ctu re is described h ere in te rm s
of categories : (1) the young, under fifteen y e ars of age; (2) the m a
ture, between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine; and (3) above fifty
y e a rs of age, the older population.
Piling-up T racts
The piling-up tra c ts had a high concentration of non-white
persons between the ages of 15 and 49 in both 1940 and 1950. In 1950,
14
E sh ref Shevky and M arilyn W illiam s, The Social A re a s of
Los Angeles (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1949), pp. 78-83.
130
there was a slight decrease in the proportion of persons under five
y ears of age and over 49 years. The proportion of persons in the,m a-
ture group showed a slight d ecrease of 3.0. The distribution of ages in
these trac ts was sim ilar to that of Los Angeles County in 1950, in
which the .sm allest proportion of the total population was in the old age
group, the youth com prised the second highest proportion and the
m ature population was com paratively large.
TABLE 4 7 .— Percentage distribution of non-whites by age: piling-up
tra c ts, Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
Male Fem ale
Y ear Total
No.
%
under
15
15-
49
%
over
50
No.
%
under
15
15-
49
%
over
50
1940 9,502 4,429 18.5 64.0 16.5 5,073 15.5 65.5 17.5
1950 11,791 5,550 18.0 61.0 19.5 6,241 17.5 61.0 20.5
Late Consolidation
The age distribution of the two late consolidation trac ts as
shown by Table 48 depicts a low proportion of persons of the very
young and those above 50 years of age for both 1940 and 1950. The
distribution by sex showed a slightly higher proportion of fem ales for
both tra c ts at the beginning as well as at the end of the decade. The
high proportion of persons in the reproductive y ears for both m ales and
fem ales suggests a heavy in-m igration of persons under 50 y ears of
age. The young population amounted to 19.4 per cent and those above
131
50 y e ars of age made up 22.5 per cent of the total. A high proportion
of persons in the young o r old category m eans a higher proportion of
dependency in an area.
TABLE 4 8 .— P ercentage distribution of non-whites by age: late con
solidation tracts; Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
T ra c t
and
Y ear
T otal
Male Fem ale
No.
%
under
15
lb-
49
%
over
50
No.
%
under
15
15-
49
%
over
50
(1940)
214 3,250 1,601 16.0 58.0 22.0 1,649 17.0 62.0 20.0
226 5,623 2,607 17.0 61.0 21.0 3,016 17.0 59.0 23.0
Total 8,873 4,208 4,665
X 4,426 2,104 16.5 79.5 21.5 2,332 17.0 60.5 21.5
(1950)
214 3,613 1,676 18.0 57.0 23.0 1,937 18.0 56.0 24.0
226 7,102 3,345 21.0 57.0 20.0 3,757 17.0 59.0 22.5
Total 10,715 5,021 5,694
X 5,357 2,510 19.5 57.0 21.5 2,847 17.5 57.5 23.2
Consolidation T rac ts 1950 and Late Consolidation 1956
The ten consolidation trac ts had less than 80.0 per cent of the
total population non-white in 1940 but each had 90.0 per cent o r m ore in
1950. In this are the age composition of the tra c ts showed a heavy con
centration of the population in the reproductive stages of 15-49 y ears of
age both at the beginning and the end of the decade. T here was a slight
d ecrease in the percentage of persons 50 years o r m ore of age.
132
TABLE 49.— Percentage distribution of non-whites by age: consolida
tion 1950 —late consolidation, 1956; Los Angeles City, 1940 and 1950
T ract
and
Y ear
Male Fem ale
Total
No.
%
under
15
15-
49
%
over
50
No.
%
under
15
15-
49
%
over
50
(1940)
C onsoli
dation
Total
X
26,370
2,637
12,162
1,216 20.3 73.8 5.9
14,208
1,420 16.5 72.6 10.9
(1950)
Consoli
dation
Total
X
49,393
4,939
23,540
2,354 21.2 61.4 17.4
25,853
2,585 23.6 62.7 13.7
Sum m ary of Age
The age distribution for the three sets of stages analyzed
showed a distinct concentration of persons between the ages of 15 and
49. There was an increase in the proportion of persons under 15 years
of age.
Summary
The rate of home ownership increased in each stage of su c
cession, but the increase was m ore substantial at the invasion level for
nonwhites. Although the rate of room crowding increased at each stage,
the g re a te r increase was at the consolidation level. The educational
level of all stages eith er rem ained stable o r showed a slight im prove
ment. Non-whites showed high concentration in the age group 15-49.
CHAPTER VII
CHANGES IN THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OP
THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY NEGRO POPULATION
This chapter describ es changes in the spatial distribution of
the Negro population in Los Angeles County from 1940 to 1956. Census
tra c t populations of Los Angeles County and City Negroes were ana
lyzed to determ ine changes in the spatial distribution. The data will
be presented in three contexts: (1) community concentration of Negro
population within Los Angeles County, (2) changes in patterns of Negro
ecological succession in Los Angeles County, and (3) the spatial g ra d i
ent of Negro population.
Community C oncentration of Negro Population in
Los Angeles County
Concentration is the pro cess by which populations tend to c lu s
te r together in lim ited a re a s. Ecological concentration involves
changes in the spatial distribution of units within a homogeneous a re a
so that a progressively g re a te r difference in num bers o r density of
population is found among its s u b -p a rts .1
B arn es A. Quinn, Human Ecology (New York: P ren tice Hall,
Inc., 1950), pp. 275-276.
133
134
The recent increase in num ber and proportion of the Negro
population of Los Angeles County has been accompanied by an uneven
red istrib u tio n of their num bers and proportions in various sections of
the county and by a m arked concentration in a few com m unities. F rom
an analysis of one of the m ajor hypotheses of this study, the trend in
the concentration of Negro population of the county is examined. This
2
hypothesis, as put forth by Otis D. Duncan and Beverly Duncan, stated
that once an are a reached a Negro proportion of ten per cent or m ore,
the proportion of N egroes would continue to increase with tim e. To
test this hypothesis, census tra c ts of Los Angeles County for 1940
were analyzed as a basis for selecting those tra c ts which had Negro
proportions of ten per cent or above. Of a total of 577 tra c ts in Los
Angeles County in 1940, twenty-nine had reached the 10.0 per cent level
3
at that tim e. Six of the 29 tra c ts were located outside of Los Angeles
4
City. The 29 tra c ts were re-exam ined as to their increase in Negro
5
proportions as of the census dates of 1940, 1950, and 1956. By 1946,
2
Otis D. Duncan and Beverly Duncan, The Negro Population
of Chicago (Chicago: The University of Chicago P re s s , 1950), p. 11.
3The city tra c ts were 106, 189, 204, 205, 214, 215, 223, 224,
225, 226, 227, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 285,
286, and 287.
4
These were census tra c ts 417, 427, 445, 446, 517, and 527.
^Data were available only for Los Angeles City tra c ts in
1946 and 1956.
135
each of the 29 tra c ts had increased th eir Negro proportions. At this
g
tim e, 17 additional tra c ts , which were added to the original 29, had
reached a Negro proportion of ten per cent o r m ore. This brought the
total num ber of tra c ts under analysis to 45. All of the 17 tra c ts added
in 1946 were in Los Angeles City. By 1950, the num ber of tra c ts with
7
10 per cent o r m ore N egroes had increased to 76. Eleven of these
O
tra c ts were located outside Los Angeles City. The m ajority of the city
tra c ts with 10.0 per cent o r m ore Negro population were adjacent to
the other tra c ts , which already had a high proportion of Negro popula-
9
tion.
Only one tra c t dropped below the 10 p er cent level of Negro
population in 1950. This was tra c t 446, which is located in D uarte. The
Negro population of this tra c t d ecreased from 11.5 per cent in 1940 to
3.3 p er cent in 1950. Here the Negro population was absorbed by an in
crease in total population from 2,197 in 1940 to 13,267 in 1950.
^ T racts added in 1946 were 107, 117, 118, 119, 121, 186, 187,
188, 202, 203, 225, 245, 246, 247, 251, 284, 290.
7
The group of 76 tra c ts in 1950 did not include the subdivided
tra c ts 4A, 31A, 374B and 514A, which had above the ten p e r cent level
of N egroes when these tra c ts w ere subdivided in 1950. Some of them
dropped below the 10 p e r cent level.
8
T ra c ts outside of Los Angeles City in 1950 which reached the
10 per cent level at that tim e were 303, 305, 325, 377, 414, 418A, 425,
513, 516, 517A, and 528.
g
Census tra c ts in Los Angeles City in 1950 which reached the
10 p e r cent level at that time were 122, 163, 166, 191, 200, 208, 209,
136
Complete data are not available with which to check the county tra c ts in
1956, but the findings for 55 city trac ts which were analyzed showed
that the hypothesis was substantiated. Thus the findings of the Duncan’s
were fu rth e r confirm ed.
Changes in P a tte rn s of Negro Ecological Succession
in Los Angeles County
The Negro community in Los Angeles County has expanded
from its point of origin at F ir s t and Los Angeles Streets in 188010 to
include such a re a s as San Fernando Valley and San P edro. Efforts to
expand the space of Negro occupancy have resulted in invasion by N e
groes of a re a s from which they were fo rm erly re stric te d . In some
instances, when Negroes moved into all-white com m unities, white
residen ts have m igrated to other a re as.
Whites have moved out of invaded com m unities at varying
ra te s of speed and in different proportions. The factors which d e te r
mine how long they stay in the invaded a re as and how many rem ain have
not been investigated completely. But it is fairly w ell-established that
the out-m igration of whites from invaded are as has left behind sections
211, 213, 221, 244, 268, 269, 270, 271, 273, 280, and 283.
Max Bond, “ The Negro in Los A ngeles” (unpublished
P h .D . d issertation, D epartm ent of Sociology, U niversity of Southern
California), p. 103.
137
1 2
which have become alm ost com pletely occupied by N egroes. Some of
the a re a s of predom inantly Negro occupancy in Los Angeles County are
exam ined in this section on the basis of the stages of succession cycle.
F o u r of these Negro com m unities— C entral Avenue, Temple Street,
13
W est Jefferso n and W atts— are described in C hapter IV. The
Holmes Avenue Community which was an early a re a of Negro occupan-
14
cy is now a p art of the C entral Avenue area. Included in the su c c e s
sion analysis are some of the census tra c ts which consist of sections in
G reen Meadows, Pasadena, Santa Monica, San P ed ro , and Boyle
Heights (Appendix E). Due to the fact that N egroes were concentrated
in only a few tra c ts in these com m unities and that se v era l of the tra c ts
had less than 250 non-whites, these com m unities are not fully discussed
h ere. To do so would have entailed fu rth er computational analyses.
Each of the following Negro com m unities are analyzed on the b asis of
the data presented in the preceding chapter on the succession cycle.
C entral Avenue Community
C en tral Avenue is the oldest Negro community in Los Angeles
15
County. F ro m census tra c t 186, the space has been extended to
12 13
Jam es A. Quinn, op. c it. See C hapter IV, p. 56.
14
See page 56.
15
C ensus T rac t 186 is now designated as Little Tokyo C om
munity, which joins C entral Avenue. See footnote under the discussion
of little Tokyo Community on p.
138
include 15 census tra c ts which had a total Negro population of 76,038
in 1950. This was 53.8 p e r cent of the total population of the com m uni
ty and 3.8 per cent of the total population. The special Los Angeles
city census of 1956 showed a total of 66,545 Negro residents in this
community. F ro m a sm all are a around F ir s t and Los Angeles S treets
in 1888, the community has extended as fa r North as Pico Boulevard,
west to Maple Avenue and Main S treet, south to Slauson, and e ast to
Alameda. Several Negro businesses are still located in this a rea.
In 1950 the C en tral Avenue Community had a density of 18,405
persons per square m ile. At this tim e, all of the tra c ts in the C entral
Avenue community were in o r beyond the consolidation stage. F o u r of
the fifteen tra c ts rem ained in the consolidation stage in 1956, ten
becam e late consolidation trac ts and two changed to piling-up tra c ts .
Table 50 identifies the census trac ts of the C entral Avenue Community
by stages of succession.
TABLE 50.— Census tra c ts of C entral Avenue Community, by Succes
sion stage: 1950 and 1956
Census T rac t Succesion Stage 1950 Succession Stage 1956
223, 224, 225, 247 Consolidation Consolidation
(227, 248, 249, 250,
251, 253, 255, 256) Consolidation Late Consolidation
252, 254 Late Consolidation Piling-up
226 Late Consolidation Late Consolidation
139
The special Los Angeles city census of 1956 showed a total of 66,545
Negro residents in this community.
Temple Street Community
This are a is bordered by Figueroa, Second, Douglas and Lilac
Streets and is one of the a re as of old houses, vacant houses and sm all
co m m ercial e n te rp rises in C entral Los Angeles.
The Temple Street Community consisted of census tracts 113
and 115 in 1950 and had an average of 16,660 persons per square m ile.
It is located in the central business d istrict and has declined in total
population since 1940. The Negro population of this area rem ained
ra th e r stable from 1940 to 1956. In 1940, the Negroes com prised 2.0
p e r cent of the tra c ts ’ total population. This percentage of Negroes
increased to 2.7 in 1950 but decreased to 2.0 per cent in 1956.
The level of Negro population changed only slightly between
1940 and 1950, and the decline in total population has caused the p e r
centage to rem ain stable. This community has been rath er stable over
the 1940-1956 period. The m ajority of the Negroes live in tra c t 113.
Little Tokyo Community
Little Tokyo includes the area which is reported to have con
stituted the original Negro community in Los Angeles County form ed at
16
F ir s t and Los Angeles Streets in tra c t 186. Little Tokyo adjoins the
16
E sh ref Sheoky and M arilyn W illiams, The Social A reas of
140
C entral Avenue community at Pico Boulevard and the Tem ple Street
a re a at Temple Street. Its e a ste rn boundary is Alameda Boulevard,
Los Angeles Street and Maple Avenue on the west, Pico on the South,
and Tem ple Street on the north. The community had an average of
19, 755 persons per square m ile in 1950. The four tra c ts in the com
munity a re characterized as in the consolidation stage for both 1950
and 1960. The proportion of N egroes increased from 4. 9 per cent in
1940 to 29. 9 per cent in 1956 in this community.
Watts Community
The W atts community is located south of the C entral Avenue
community. A pproxim ately one-third of the population was Negro in
1940. Its boundaries a re 92nd Street on the North, C entral Avenue on
the west, Im perial Highway on the south, and Alam eda Street on the
east. Im m ediately south of this community is Wilmington and West is
G reen Meadows. Four census tra c ts — 285, 286, 287, and 517^— -are in
cluded within the boundaries of W atts. The average num ber of persons
per square mile for this group of tra c ts was 15, 922 in 1950. All the
tra c ts a re in the consolidation category. The average mean
Los Angeles (B erkeley and Los Angeles: U niversity of California
P re s s , 1949), pp. 125-139.
17
Section A of census tra c t 517 is in Los Angeles County.
Sections B and C a re designated as W atts a p a rt of Los Angeles City.
The community consists of census tra c ts 156, 157, 158, 159, 197, 198,
199, 200, 201, 202, and 203.
141
proportion of N egroes in these tra c ts in 1956 was 83.7. The total pop
ulation of the a re a has been declining since 1950. It is considered one
of the w orst blighted a re a s in Los Angeles City.
W est Adams Community
Of the com m unities investigated, the West Adams rep re se n ts
one of the m ost recently invaded a re a s. The eleven census tra c ts of
this community had only 120 N egroes of a total population of 53,247 in
18
1940, o r ,1 p e r cent. The total population increased from 7,596 to
24,672. In 1956 N egroes constituted 38.3 p e r cent of the total popula
tion. The boundaries of this community consisted of C ulver City on
the west, Rodeo Road and C oliseum Street on the south, Arlington
S treet and W estern Avenue on the east, and Venice Boulevard on the
north. Of the eleven tra c ts which constitute this community, six were
included in the succession analysis. The other five tra c ts — 156, 157,
158, 159 and 197—-had a combined Negro population of 110 in 1950.
T hese tra c ts are located in the extrem e west section of the community
and rep re se n t tra c ts invaded since the 1950 census. The census tra c ts
included in the analysis were all invasion tra c ts in 1950, except for
B erkeley Square, tra c t 203. This tra c t was classified in the consolida
tion category.
18
The community consists of census tra c ts 156, 157, 158, 159,
197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203.
142
West Jefferson Community
This community, which was firs t settled by N egroes about
1926, had 5,251 Negroes in 1940. This was 13.6 per cent of the total
population of an a re a with an average of 15,759 persons p e r square
m ile. At firs t, Jefferson Boulevard form ed the northern boundary,
T hirty-fifth Street the southern, and Normandie and W estern Avenues
on the e a st and west. The a re a has expanded to include ten census
tra c ts; two of the tra c ts — 212 and 216— were not included in the su c
cession analysis because they did not have at least 250 non-whites in
1950. The total population of the a re a was 40,337 in 1950, with 36.4
per cent of this num ber Negroes. Table 51 shows that the tra c ts of
this community ranged from invasion to late consolidation in 1950.
TABLE 51.— Census tra c ts of West Jefferso n Community, by su c c e s
sion stage: 1950 and 1956
Census T rac ts* Succession Stage 1950 Succession Stage 1956
204, 205 Consolidation Late Consolidation
209, 210, 213 E arly Consolidation Consolidation
211 Invasion Consolidation
214 Late Consolidation Late Consolidation
215 Consolidation Consolidation
♦ T racts 212 and 216 are not included in the analysis.
By 1956, the proportion of Negroes in these tra c ts had increased to
51.4 p e r cent and the total population had decreased from 40,337 in
1950 to 36,017 in 1956. All tra c ts except one were in the consolidation
143
o r late consolidation category in 1956.
Wilmington Community
A sm all community of Negroes resided in Wilmington in 1950.
Negro concentration w as in tract 290 which is north of the Willowbrook
D istrict and joined to Los Angeles City by T orrance and G ardena. In
1940, only 132 N egroes lived in the four tra c ts of this community, but
by 1950, 2,798 Negroes were resid en ts. This num ber showed a d e
c rease by 1956. T ra c ts 290 and 292, which were consolidation tracts in
1950 and 1956, constituted the a re a of Negro residence. T ra c ts 291 and
293 did not have m ore than a combined total of 25 N egroes at any cen
sus date from 1940 to 1956. The total a re a had an average of 3,515
persons p e r square m ile, and tra c t 290, where the m ajority of the
Negroes resided, had a total population of 6,361.
Willowbrook Community
The community of Willowbrook, which consists of three cen
sus tra c ts , had a heavy concentration of N egroes in tra c ts 527 and 528.
Only 5 Negroes were listed in tra c t 529 in 1950. The two tra c ts with
heavy Negro concentrations are im m ediately adjacent to the Watts
community. The total Negro population of this community in 1950 was
16,424. Negroes com prised 47.6 per cent of the total population of the
two trac ts in which they were concentrated. In 1940, the combined
total of N egroes in the three tra c ts was 1,043. T rac t 527 was
144
classified in the consolidation stage in 1950 and tra c t 527 was in the
e a rly consolidation category. T ract 529 had few er than 250 non-white
residents in 1950.
Pacoim a Community
This community, which is located in trac t 4, had a total Negro
population of 1,429 in 1950, which is 5.8 per cent of its total. These
N egroes resided m ostly in the area from San Fernando Hoad north to
Glen Oaks Boulevard and from Paxton to P ie rc e Street. The total
Negro population of Pacoim a in 1956 was 3,426 o r 6.3 per cent. Many
M exican-A m ericans live in this area. The tra c t was in the consolida
tion stage in both 1950 and 1956.
Gradient Hypothesis
One of the hypotheses of this study was that com m unities with
the highest proportions of Negroes would show a p rogressive decrease
o r increase in th eir Negro proportions as the distance from the city
center increased. To test this hypothesis, six Negro com m unities were
selected on the basis of th eir proportion of Negroes and th eir location
and distance from the City of Los A ngeles’ Civic Center.
It is evident from Table 52 that the hypothesized gradient that
the proportion of Negroes in the various com m unities would tend to
show a continuous rate of decrease with increasing distance from the
city was not substantiated.
145
TABLE 52.— P roportion of N egroes in Negro com m unities by direction
and distance from civic center, Los Angeles County, 1940, 1950 and
1956
Com m unities,
D irection and
Distance from
Civic C enter
(miles)
1940 1950 1956
South
0- 5
C en tral A ve. 54.9 53.8 89.6
5-10
Watts 31.2 73.2 83.7
Willowbrook 8.6 39.1
*
15-20
Wilmington .7 8.5 7.3
West
0- 5
W est Jefferson 13.6 36.4 57.4
5-10
W est Adams .21 11.5 38.3
♦Data not available for county tra c ts in 1956.
The gradient pattern existed in 1940 but failed to appear in 1950. The
Watts community offset the pattern for com m unities south of the civic
cen ter in 1950. In 1956, the pattern was present fo r two com m unities
west of the civic cen ter but data were not available for the Willowbrook
Community.
F o r com m unities west of the civic cen ter the hypothesized
gradient pattern did not appear at any one of the census y e a rs.
146
A sub-hypothesis which stated that educational attainm ent as
m easured by the median school grade completed would show an in
crease in Negro comm unities with g rea ter distance from the city
center was tested.
An exam ination of data for a spatial gradient of education in
six Negro com m unities showed the the absence of the hypothesized
gradient for com m unities south of civic center in 1940 and 1950. The
average educational attainm ent was higher in three of com m unities with
increasing distance from the city center in 1950 for both the total and
non-white populations. The community of Wilmington which is farthest
removed upset the reg ular gradient pattern for both the total and non
white population in 1950. On the other hand, if Willowbrook were
removed from the list, a gradient pattern would be found in 1940 and
1950 for the total population and in 1940 for the non-white population.
F o r com m unities west of the civic center, the average educa
tional attainm ent for the total population was higher in 1950 as the d is
tance from the city center increased. In 1940, these two comm unities
had shown just the rev erse pattern — a decrease in educational attain
ment with increasing distance from the center of the city.
Although the findings in the presence of a gradient of education
is partially supported by the two comm unities west of civic center, it is
felt that the inclusion of other communities in a w esterly direction from
the city center is necessary for adequate substantiation of this
147
hypothesis.
TABLE 53. — Median grade com pleted of Negro com m unities by d ire c
tion and distance from civic center, Los Angeles County, 1940 and 1950
Com m unities:
Distance and
D irection from
T otal Population
Non-white
Population
Civic C enter
(m iles)
1940 1950 1940 1950
South
0- 5
C entral A ve. 8.4 9.1 8.9 9.3
5-10
Watts 7.5 9.2 8.4 9.4
Willowbrook 8.5 10.5 7.1 10.2
15-20
Wilmington 9.0 9.7 7.8 8.7
West
0- 5
West Jefferson 11.1 11.9
* *
5-10
West Adams 10.8 13.9
* *
♦Data not available.
Sum m ary
An analysis of the spatial distribution of the Negro population
in Los Angeles County indicates the tendency toward an increase in the
num ber of a re a s occupied by N egroes. C om m unities invaded by
N egroes have followed a pattern of becom ing a re a s of high Negro occu
pancy after the proportion of N egroes reach the ten p er cent level. In
the m ajority of the Negro com m unities, the trend has been toward
148
m ore consolidation and piling-up. Once the num ber and proportion of
N egroes in an a re a have become significantly high, the proportion of
Negroes continues to increase until the a re a is alm ost exclusively occu
pied by N egroes.
The spatial pattern fo r the a re a of occupancy by Negroes has
depended largely upon the expansion of C entral Avenue, the original
Negro community. The expansion of C entral Avenue in all directions
to join with other Negro com m unities fo rm s an extension of the a re a s
occupied by N egroes which gives the Negro community in Los Angeles
County some sim ila rities of other Negro Ghettoes like H arlem in New
York City.
Although the proportions of Negroes in the Negro com m unities
continued to increase from 1940 to 1956, the proportion of N egroes in
the com m unities showed no reg u lar gradient pattern. Educational
attainm ent of com m unities showed no progressive rate of increase o r
decrease with g re a te r distance from the city center outward.
CHAPTER VIII
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This chapter sum m arizes the plan of the investigation, p re
sents the m ajor findings and conclusions of the study, describes some
• i
of the im plications of the study, and indicates a re a s of needed fu rth er
research .
The general purposes of this study w ere: (1) investigate the
origin and location of the m ajor Negro com m unities in Los Angeles
County, (2) to examine the social and ecological factors affecting their
location and internal stru ctu re, (3) to analyze the social, econom ic,
and ecological changes of the Negro population, and (4) to analyze the
im pact of the increasing Negro population upon the nature and d is tr i
bution of Negro com m unities.
The fram e of reference of the re se a rc h focused upon the p r e
vious investigations of such urban ecologists as E rn e st W. B urgess
and Otis D. Duncan and Beverly Duncan. E rn est W. B urgess advanced
the gradient hypothesis and the Duncans gave em p irical content to the
concept of population succession, and developed a set of hypotheses
concerning selective changes in population and housing c h arac teristics
149
150
which accompany different stages of succession.
T ests of Hypotheses
The study was designed to te3t two m ajo r hypotheses: (1) that
a re a s inhabited by a substantial num ber o r proportion of N egroes tend
to increase th eir Negro proportions, w hether rapidly o r slowly, w here
as a d ecrease seldom occurs once an a re a has reached a proportion of
ten per cent N egroes, and (2) that fo r com m unities with the highest
proportions of N egroes, there is progressive change in the Negro p ro
portions by distance from the city center. A sub-hypothesis: that
educational attainm ent in com m unities with the highest proportions of
Negroes will show progressive increase with increasing distance from
the city cen ter was also tested.
The specific fram e of reference for testing the hypotheses was
the cycle of population succession. A total of 110 census tra c ts in Los
Angeles County were analyzed on the b asis of the proportion of non
white residents in 1940 and classified into five stages of succession:
invasion, e arly consolidation, consolidation, late consolidation, and
piling-up. The sam e tra c ts were reclassified in 1950 by stages of the
succession cycle. Changes in ra c ia l com position, home ownership,
educational level, population, and age stru ctu re of each class of tra c ts
in 1940 and in 1950 were subjected to analysis. Nine Negro com m uni
ties were delineated on the basis of the succession analysis. Basic
151
data for the statistical analysis were obtained from the 1940 and 1950
census of Los Angeles County and the 1946 and 1956 Los Angeles City
censuses. The analysis of changes in social c h arac teristics was re -
<.
stricted to 98 tra c ts in Los Angeles City due to the need for longitud- ^
inal data which was not available for tra c ts outside of Los Angeles
City in 1946 and 1956.
The relevant findings a re presented in three categories:
those related to the hypotheses of the study, (2) those related to the
stages of succession, and (3) those related to Negro com m unities in
Los Angeles County. The hypothesis that a re a s inhabited by a sub
stantial num ber or proportion of Negroes will tend to increase their
Negro proportions, whether slowly or rapidly, w hereas a decrease
seldom occurs once an are a has reached a proportion of ten per cent
N egroes was supported. This finding of continued increase in Negro
proportions in a re a s of high Negro concentration was predicted and
confirm ed by the Duncans in their study of the Negro of Chicago. The
hypothesis that there is a progressive decrease in the proportions of
population classified as Negro with increasing distance from the city cai-
te r was not substantiated. No regular gradient pattern was found in the
Negro com m unities tested. The sub-hypothesis, that for Negro com
m unities there is a progressive increase in educational attainment with
*Otis B. Duncan and Beverly Duncan, The Negro Population
of Chicago (Chicago: The University of Chicago P re s s , 1957).
152
increasing distance from the cen ter of the city was not substantiated by
the findings of this study.
The six Negro com m unities selected on the basis of th eir
inclusion in the analysis of the succession cycle rep resented only fifty
per cent of the a re a s designated as Negro com m unities in Los Angeles
County in 1940 and 1950. These com m unities were located south and
west of the city center. Lack of a la rg e r representation of Negro com
m unities and com m unities north and e ast of the cen ter of the city r e
duces the reliability of these findings.
Stages of Succession
Data analyzed on the stages of succession showed: (1) in each
stage of succession the Negro population increased during the 1940-
1950 decade; (2) in the consolidation, late consolidation, and piling-up'
tra c ts the Negro population decreased from 1950 to 1956; (3) the p ro
portion of N egroes continued to in crease in all stages of succession-for
the entire period under investigation; (4) the Negro population increased '
m ore rapidly than the increase in occupied dwelling units in each
stage; (5) the in crease of non-white ow ner-occupied dwelling units e x
ceeded the increase in such units for the total population at each stage
of succession; (6) the rate of in crease in room crowding was g rea ter
for non-whites than for the total population in the consolidation, late
consolidation, and piling-up stages; (7) the m edian num ber of school
153
grades com pleted fo r the non-white population declined slightly in the
piling-up and thirty-eight of the consolidation tracts but the total edu
cational attainm ent of the tra c ts rem ained stable; (8) the age com po
sition of non-whites showed a distinct concentration of persons in ages
15-49 in the consolidation, late consolidation, and piling-up tra c ts for
the ten y e ar period; (9) the m ajor Negro com m unities included in the
study were in the consolidation category in 1956, except the West
Jefferso n and C en tral Avenue com m unities, which were in late consoli
dation o r piling-up stages; (10) the rate of increase in Negro population
was g reatest in the invasion stage and least at the piling-up level from
1940 to 1950; (11) the white population declined in all stag es, except
the early consolidation and consolidation, for both the 1940-1950 and
1950-1956 periods; (12) the highest rate of decline of the white popula
tion was in the piling-up stage fo r the entire period; (13) the highest
rate of d ecrease in room crowding fo r whites was in the consolidation,
late consolidation, and piling-up stages.
Relevance to P revious R esearch
A num ber of the findings of this study confirm ed the resu lts of
the Duncans’ investigation. (l)T he sam e kinds of changes in population
and housing c h a ra c te ristic s occurred at each stage of succession in
Los Angeles as occu rred in Chicago. An exception to this statem ent
existed at the e arly consolidation and “ consolidation 1950 and 1956“
- ...................................... 154
stages in which the white population continued to increase during the
1940-1950 decade. (2) F o r the total population at each stage, there
w ere in cre ases in population density, room crowding, and home own
ership; although the increase in educational level at each stage of
succession reported by the Duncans was supported, an exception was
found for the "consolidation 1950 and 1956" and the piling-up stages,
in which there was a slight decline for non-w hites. (3) The educa
tional level of the total population rem ained stable at the piling-up
stage and increased 1.1 grade at the "consolidation 1950 and 1956"
level. (4) Both studies indicated that the in crease in room crowding
was m ost severe at the interm ediate stages of succession. (5) The
in crease in home ow nership was g rea test among non-whites at the
invasion stage. (6) In each of the five sets of tra c ts, the total popula
tion expanded m ore rapidly than the dwelling units. The Duncans r e
port, however, that the in crease in population density was less at the
invasion stage, a finding which was ju st the opposite of that obtained
for this study. The invasion tra c ts had the highest rate of increase
for non-white, Negro, and total population from 1940 to 1950.
Negro Com m unities in Los Angeles County
The re su lts of the study indicate: (1) C entral Avenue, the
original Negro community in Los Angeles County, has served as the
center of dominance from which other m ajor Negro com m unities have
155
developed; (2) as the Negro population increased, the trend has been
for N egroes to m igrate to com m unities n ear the original community;
(3) as C entral Avenue and the other adjoining Negro com m unities have
expanded, one continuous space of Negro residential a re as has resulted.
This gives the Negro community in Los Angeles County the same
ghetto-like appearance as exists in Negro H arlem in New York City;
(4) the m ajority of the Negro com m unities in Los Angeles County are
at the consolidation stage; (5) the tendency in the Negro com m unities is
toward a continued increase in the proportion of Negroes and a decrease
of whites; (6) the Negro population is increasing at a fa s te r rate than
occupied dwelling units in the areas of th eir concentrations; (7) within
the Negro community, as in the county as a whole, there has been a
rapid increase in home ownership in recent y ears; in Negro com m uni
ties the level of home ownership was below the county average; (8) in
invaded a re a s Negroes have higher rates of room crowding and home
ownership than the whites who rem ain in the areas; (9) the m ajority of
the N egroes in Los Angeles County are concentrated in predom inant
Negro a re as; (1) the pattern in Los Angeles County has been toward
m ore congestion, m ore concentration and an extension, ra th e r than a
dissipation, of the Negro community.
Lim itations and Im plications
Although a complete analysis of Negro com m unities in Los
156
Angeles County was not the original objective of this investigation, the
scope of the study was fu rth e r re stric te d by an alm ost complete r e li
ance on census data. This basic data placed a lim it on the tim e in te r
vals and selected variables. In many instances, this data was lim ited
to white and non-white com parisons, and in others to a com parison
betw een the total populations fo r census y ears. F o r the longitudinal
analysis of census tra c ts by stages of succession, 1956 data was avail
able fo r only tra c ts within Los Angeles City. The num ber of Negro
com m unities included was determ ined on the basis of available data for
the succession analysis and the social c h arac teristics analyzed. In
spite of these lim itations, some inferential conclusions can be made.
This study provides sufficient evidence to support the conclu
sion that an increase in the num ber and proportion of Negroes in the
a re a s of white occupancy has resulted in the out-m igration of whites to
other com m unities. A significant trend has been toward m ore consoli
dation and the extension of the segregated Negro Community in Los
Angeles. The invaded com m unities have all undergone changes in the
social c h arac teristics of home ownership, education, room crowding
and age. In all of the a re as the changes in education and home ow ner
ship were consistent with the trend in Los Angeles County. The age
composition indicated an age stru ctu re which deviates from the age
pyram id of Los Angeles County, 1950, in the resp ect of having a
sm a lle r proportion of youth and persons above 50 years of age.
157
This consistency in social c h a ra c te ristic s of the non-white
population disqualifies any argum ents supported by the belief that non-
whites "alter unfavorably the basic social pattern of invaded com m uni
tie s. The disproportionate increase in room crowding seem ingly
reflects the disadvantages faced by the rapidly expanding non-white
population which is re stric te d from freely securing adequate living
space, a s well as from an economic and social standpoint.
The data presented in this study indicate that some of the
social and ecological factors and conditions which affected the origin,
growth, and location of Negro com m unities in Los Angeles County con
tinue to exist. The data em phasize that Negro concentration during
the period from 1940 to 1956 increased and that the Negro population in
Los Angeles County is distributed residentially with a high degree of
physical separation. Separation in living space leads to cultural iso
lation, along with segregated schools and community facilities, red u c
tion of the N egro's living space, and an institutionalized and extended
ghetto. The im pact of changes in the size, growth, and distribution of
the Negro population will be felt throughout the Los Angeles com m un
ity; whether in the form of changes in land values, governm ent policy,
proxim ity to employment, or the need for additional community
facilities. If the Negro population continues its present rate of growth
in Los Angeles County and N egroes a re continually confined to limited
space, pattern of land use and occupancy will probably create slum s
158
and blighted a re a s fa s te r than any agency or public program will be
able to elim inate them .
P rivate re stric tiv e covenants have been declared con trary to
2
public policy. This decision should have had some influence on the
m ovem ent of N egroes into re s tric te d residential a re a s . An equally
im portant kind of re s e a rc h needed to clarify the findings of this
study concerns an analysis of the dynamic role that the attitudes of
prejudice and discrim ination play in molding land use policy. More
related to these a re a s of investigation are the m ore general problem s
of determ ining the social and economic consequences of segregation
and concentration upon the Negro and the community as a whole.
2
George C. A tteberry, et a l . , Introduction to Social Science
(New York: The M acm illan Company, 1950), p. 304.
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Los Angeles County Com m ittee on Human Relations. Annual Report of
the Executive S ecretary for the Y ear Ending A pril 30, 1958. Los
Angeles, California, 1958.
.1
Los Angeles Urban League. M inority Housing In M etropolitan Los
A ngeles. A Sum m ary Report prepared by the Health and W elfare
D epartm ent. Los Angeles, 1959.
W elfare Council of M etropolitan Los Angeles. Background for Planning.
P re p are d by Elizabeth R. F rank. Los Angeles, 1949.
Unpublished M aterials
Bond, J . Max. “ The Negro in Los A ngeles.” Unpublished P h .D .
dissertation, D epartm ent of Sociology, University of Southern
California, 1936.
R ichards, Eugene S. “ The Effects of the N egro’s M igration to Southern
California Since 1920 upon His Socio-cultural P a tte rn s .”
Unpublished P h.D . dissertation, D epartm ent of Sociology, Uni
v ersity of Southern California, 1941.
Rothstein, Mignon E. “ A Study of the Growth of Negro Population in
Los Angeles and Available Housing Facilities between 1940 and
1946.” Unpublished M aster’s thesis, Departm ent of History,
University of Southern California, 1950.
A P P E N D IX E S
APPENDIX A
SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES ON POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
TABLE A -l.— Growth of Negro population in Los Angeles County: 1900-
1950
Year Total Negro
P e r Cent
Negro
Other
Non-whites
P e r Cent
Other
Non-whites
1950 4,151,687 217,881 5.2 55,862 1.3
1940 2,785,643 75,209 2.7 50,392 1.8
1930 2,208,492 46,425 2.1 45,161 2.0
1920 936,455 18,738 2.0 22,783 2.4
1910 504,131 7,599 1.5 11,160 2.2
1900 170,298 2,841 1.7 3,482 1.4
TABLE A-2.— P e r cent distribution of the population of the City of Los
Angeles by race: 1920-1956
Year Total Negro
P e r Cent
Negro
Other
Non-whites
P e r Cent
Other
Non-whites
1956 2,243,901 254,595 11.3 56,801 2.5
1953 2,104,663
209,499
10.0 45,433 2.2
1950 1,970,358 171,209 8.9 40,376 2.0
1940 1,504,277 63,774 4.2 34,073 2.3
1930 1,238,048 38,994 3.1 125,570a 10.1
1920 576,673
15,579 2.7 14,230 2.5
aIncluded Mexicans.
168
169
TABLE A -3.— Population by race, for census tracts classified by stage
of succession, Los Angeles City
1956a
Group of
Census T racts
Total White
Non
white
P e r Cent
Non
white
Negro
P e r
Cent
Negro
All T racts 633,966 389,363 244,603 38.5 207,856 32.7
Invasion 141,419 67,907 73,512 51.9 62,878 44.4
E arly Con
solidation
112,443 85,703 26,740 23.8 21,612 10.2
Consolidation 342,613 219,710 122,903 35.8 102,670 29.9
Late Consoli
dation .
19,450 746 18,704 96.1 18,296 94.1
Piling Up
Other0 18,041 15,297 2,744 15.2 2,400 13.3
1950
All T racts 732,231 503,932
228,299 31.2 194,694 26.5
Invasion 156,187 126,451 29,736 19.0 23,426 14.9
E arly Con
solidation
93,623 77,910 15,713 16.8 11,525 12.3
Consolidation 327,716 205,010 122,696 37.4 102,693 31.3
Late Consoli
dation ,
23,541 1,035 22,506 95.6 21,834 92.7
Piling Upb
Other0 131,164 93,516 37,648 28.7 35,216 26.8
1940a
All T racts 562,913 468,994 93,919 16.7 67,584 12.0
Invasion 141,207 140,178 1,029 .7 249 .2
E arly Con
solidation
69,380 66,848 2,532 9.6 700 1.0
Cons olidation 267,619 203,985 63,634 23.8 42,373 15.8
Late Consoli
dation .
20,443 2,068 18,375 89.9
17,175 84.0
Piling Up
Other0 64,264 55,915 8,349 12.9 7,087 11.0
a Based on 1950 succession analysis.
^There w ere no census trac ts classified as piling up in 1950.
cT racts excluded from succession analysis. See Appendix C.
APPENDIX B
CENSUS TRACT CLASSIFICATION
FOR SUCCESSION ANALYSIS, 1950
171
TABLE B -l.— C lassification of census tra c ts according to stage of
succession for 98 census tra c ts with 250 or m ore non-white population,
Los Angeles City, 1950
Census P e r Cent of Population Census P e r Cent of Population
T ract Non-white T ract Non-white
1940 1950 1956 1940, 1950 1956
Invasion
1. 67 1.2 7.2 23.1 17. 222 1.5 25.4 40.8
2. 124 .5 8.0 19.4 18. 236 .4 5.8 34.8
3. 169 1.4 5.2 17.5 19. 239 .4. 10.9 33.8
4. 181 1.8 5.1 6.9 20. 242 .5 7.2 63.3
7. 198
-
11.9 66.1 21. 243 .8 7.7 12.6
8. 199
.1 12.2 60.0 22. 244 1.0 33.2 38.7
9.
200 - -
82.5 23. 245 .8 51.5 74.7
10. 201 .8 19.0 62.3 24. 258 .2 5.7 37.2
11. 202 .7 70.7 82.9 25. 268 .4 26.4 60.0
12. 206
-
10.5 58.4 26. 269 .1 35.1 71.1
13. 208 1.3 56.3 65.3 27. 270
-
15.0 55.2
14. 219
1.2 3.8 11.0 28. 271
-
21.5 66.4
15. 220 1.8 6.4 8.6 29. 273 .1 10.7 66.8
16. 221 1.5 17.7 23.7 30. 280 .7 12.2 71.0
31. 283 .2 26.8 74.9
32. 211 .6 46.1 80.2
E arly Consolidation
1. 1 5.5 2.7 1.9 9. 196 5.6 5.6 10.8
2.
69
3.4
3.9 13.1 10. 203
3.9 31.6 73.5
3. 121 4.3 23.6 59.4 11. 209 4.3 18.0 48.2
4. 125 2.6 7.7 5.8 12. 210 2.5 10.4 29.1
5. 131 5.4 6.7 8.3 13. 213 2.0 40.5 60.0
6. 132 4.1 7.8 8.7 14. 246 2.2 47.4 74.0
7. 163 2.9 23.3 37.4 15. 284 2.5 41.0 68.0
8. 180 5.4 10.4 10.6 16. 295 3.2 10.0 8.1
Consolidation
1. 4 4.5 7.9 7.7 18. 133 4.1 5.5 6.0
2. 48 5.3 2.7 1.4 19. 142 6.5 8.6 16^3
3. 87 12.6 18.9 22.2 20. 143 17.1 20.2 25.3
4. 97 36.8 38.2 44.6 21. 166 19.4 24.5 40.8
5. 105 5.7 7.7 7.9 22. 167 20.2 28.3 38.3
6. 106 18.1 21.2 24.6 23. 185 12.0 12.7 10.4
7. 107 11.8 16.9 18.8 24. 186 29.3 59.7 52.8
8. 113 7.1 12.7 9.2 25. 187 15.8 46.8 38.1
9. 115 3.8 3.4 5.9 26. 188 17.8 27.9
26.3
10. 116 13.4 23.8 32.7 27. 189 46.8 52.1 57.7
11. 117 18.0 22.4 22.0 28. 191 5.2 14.1 25.9
12. 118 10.6 21.5 63.9 29. 204 57.6 90.9 92.9
13. 119 10.9 31.1 18.8 30. 205 30.0 89.3 95.8
14. 127 3.9 7.7 11.4 31. 215 42.8 57.6 73.9
15. 128 9.2 9.6 15.5 32. 223 28.7 48.0 50.2
16. 129 26.0
20.9 22.6 33. 224 61.1 76.2 78.5
17. 130 15.4 13.0 13.2 34. 225 49.8 74.8 84.8
I
TABLE B -1.— Continued.
172
Census
T ract
P e r Cent of Population
Non-white
Census
T ract
P e r Cent of Population
Non-white
1940 1950 1956 1940 1950 1956
Consolidation (continued)
35. 227 57.9 82.0 85.3 47. 290 7.1 16.9 15.7
36. 247 10.1 78.0 89.7 48. 292 4.8 6.1 8.5
37. 248 62.0 92.9 96.5 49. 296 6.8 14.0 25.3
38. 249 55.4 94.8 97.2 50. 517 24.8 75.2 -
39. 250 42.5 90.9 95.1 51. 374 6.2 9.9
-
40. 251 44.9
83.2
91.1
52. 377
9.1 12.8
-
41. 253 55.7 81.3 81.1 53. 417 53.3 72.7
-
42. 255 76.9 92.7 94.7 54. 425 8.2 20.1 -
43. 256 70.7 89.1 91.7 55. 427 23.5 37.0 -
44. 285 13.9
70.1 78.9 56. 445 14.8 17.8
-
45. 286 51.5 78.0 91.9 57. 446 12.9
3.4 -
46. 287 29.2 63.5 74.4 58. 527 12.2 53.9
-
59. 418 4.8 10.2 -
- Data not available in 1956
Late Consolidation
1. 214 87.3 93.3 93.6 37 252 94.5 97.4 98.6
2. 226 87.5 92.4 92.6 4? 254 90.9 98.4 99.2
aPiling-up T racts in 1956.
APPENDIX C
CENSUS TRACTS EXCLUDED FROM
SUCCESSION ANALYSIS, 1950
174
TABLE C -l.— Percentage distribution of population by color, for 12
census trac ts excluded from 1950 succession analysis.
All
Classes
White Non-white Negro Other
T racts Number Numbe r Number Number Number
5 1,536
Population- -1940
1,525 11 11
31 8,502 8,341 161 35 126
374 11,033 10,348 685 582 103
377 3,811 3,465 346 214 132
417 4,514 2,109 2,405 2,250 155
418 6,650 6,334 316 283 33
425 3,849 3,533 316 179 137
427 3,793 2,903 890 559 331
445 4,282 3,650 632 596 36
446 2,197 1,913 284 252 32
517 4,649 3,498 1,151 1,095 56
527 9,448 8,296 1,152 - 1,042 110
Total 64,264 55,915 8,349 7,087 1,262
X 5,355 1,689 695 906 105
5 5,540
Population- -19 50
4,770 770 424 346
31 16,763 15,457 1,306 1,074 232
374 21,968 19,793 2,175 1,984
191
377 5,036 4,389 647 596 51
417 6,100 1,634 4,466 3,954 512
418 7,845 7,037 808 690 118
425 4,043 3,229 814 478 336
427 3,842 2,417 1,425 1,183 242
445 7,746 6,282 1,364 1,292 72
446 13,267 12,809 458 435 23
517 10,945 2,714 8,231 8,170 61
527 28,169 12,985 15,184 14,936 248
Total 131,164 93,516 37,648 35,216 2,432
X 1,093 7,793 3,137 2,934 202
175
TABLE C-2.— Distribution of owner-occupied dwelling units, by color,
for 12 census trac ts excluded from 1950 succession analysis.
T racts
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total
Owner
Occupied
White
Owner
Occupied
Non-white
Owner
Occupied
Negro
Owner
Occupied*
Number Number Number Numbe r Numbe r
Home Owne rship--1940
5 441 258 257 1 -
31 2,689 1,367 1,337 30 8
374 3,357 1,735 1,667 68 64
377 1,241 378 348 30 28
417 1,380 655 315 340 331
418 2,269
1,004 461 43 42
425 1,260 359 331 28 22
427 973 344 280 64 57
445 1,300 697
591 106 102
446 480 223 195 28 28
517 1,352 696 453 243 2 34
527 2,635 1,389 1,219
170 163
Total 19,377 9,105 7,584 1,151 1,079
X 1,614 758 662 95 90
Home Owne rship--1950
5 1,663 739 684 55
31 5,293 2,029 2,017 12
374 6,946 3,720 1,605 217
377 1,809 566 487 79
417 1,645 947 221 726
418 2,825 1,434 1,320 114
425 1,374 503 405 98
427 1,090 503 358 145
445 2,395 1,587 1,352 235
446 3,752 3,076 3,009 67
517 2,790 1,227 381 846
527 7,362 4,795 2,348 2,447
Total 38,944 21,117 14,187 5,041
X 1,757 1,187 420
*Data not available for Negro owner-occupied units in 1950.
APPENDIX D
STATISTICS ON CENSUS TRACT CHARACTERISTICS
1940 AND 1950
177
TABLE D -l.— Distribution of owner-occupied dwelling units, by color,
for piling up trac ts, Los Angeles City.
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total
* •
White Non-white Negro *
T racts Number Numbe r Number Numbe r Numbe r
252 1,473 432
1940
66 366 365
254 1,670 510 113 397 394
Total 3,143 942
179
763
759
X 1,572 471 89 381 379
252 1,755 653
1950
28 625
254 1,902 755 31 724
Total 3,657 1,408 59 1,349
X 1,828 704 29 679
*Data not available for Negro owner-occupied units in 1950,
178
TABLE D-2.— Distribution of owner-occupied units, by color, for late
consolidation trac ts, Los Angeles City.
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro*
T racts Numbe r Number Numbe r Numbe r Numbe r
214 1,079 354
1940
57 297 265
226 1,871 494 90 404 399
Total 2,950 848 147 701 664
X 1,475 424 74 350 332
214 1,216 499
1950
38 461
226 2,083 707 73 634
Total 3,299 1,206 111 1,095
X 1,649 603 55 547
*Data not available for Negro owner-occupied units in 1950.
179
TABLE D-3.— Distribution of owner-occupied dwelling units, by color,
for "consolidation tra c ts, 1950 and 1956," Los Angeles City.
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro
T racts Numbe r Number Number Number Number
4 1,927 1,134
1940
1,113 21 6
48 2,166 1,534 1,532 2 1
87 1,494 282 237 45 37
97 864 170 137 33 15
105 2,108 513 484
29 26
106 1,224 337 277 60 56
107 1,896 326 281 45 38
113 2,615 265 261 4 3
116 1,707 168 167 1
-
117 1,674 37 37
118 821 68 49 19
-
119 627 83 70 13 11
128 1,608 274 265 9 2
129 1,869 449
367 82 47
130 1,959 700 665 35 14
133 1,717 661 654 7 1
142 1,386 627 613 14 2
143 2,078 501 466 35 3
166 2,262 257 210 47 29
167 1,912 316 268 48 22
185 175 3 3 - -
186 834
9 6 3
-
187 2,017 52 52 - -
188 1,704 28 22 6 4
189 1,155 68 33 35 17
191 2,434 765 718 47 37
215 1,274 335 191 144 125
223 2,051 221 138 83 64
224
1,091 185 40 145 142
225 1,707 280 164 116 83
247 1,951 413 365 48 41
285 1,599 726 608 118 112
286 1,456 769
231 538 527
287 1,310 632 376 256 249
290 1,685 491 479
12 -
292 1,441 462 443 19 14
296 1,375 244 240 4 2
127 2,462 836 788 48 36
Total 61,635 15,220 13,049 2,171 1,766
X 1,622 400 355 57 46
TABLE D-3.— Continued.
180
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro*
T racts Number Number Numbe r Number Number
4 6,527 4,237
1950
4,105 132
48 4,977 4,192 4,188 4
87 1,543 396 287
109
97 828 215 137 78
105 1,982 553 510 43
106 1,376 456 356 100
107 2,355 346 303 43
113 2,592
490 378 112
116 1,473
189 151 38
117 266 19 19
-
118 1,025 74 68 6
119
564 97 81 16
128 1,733 357 321 36
129
2,047 650 650 130
130 2,083
959
860
99
133
1,814
820 781 39
142 2,102 1,205 1,116 89
143
2,164
703 570 133
166
2,410
426 264 162
167
2,004 454 293 161
185
327 21 18 3
186
945
19
12 7
187
1,560
86 49 37
188
1,175
83 58 25
189
989 141 63 78
191
3,026
1,445 1,282 163
215
1,386 500 193 307
223
1,828
379 168 211
224
1,021
315 65 250
225
1,845
512 119 393
247
1,994
606 127 479 - -
285
1,981
1,113 84 352
286 2,273 1,149 70 413
287 1,994 1,038 357 681
290 5,155 1,168 466 10
292 1,889 875 809 66
296 1,762 367 245 22
127 2,660 1,028 957 71
Total 75,576 27,694 21,582 STITT
X 1,988 728 568 161
*Data not available for Negro owner-occupied units in 1950.
TABLE D-4.— D istribution of ow ner-occupied dwelling units, by color7
for "consolidation trac ts, 1950-~late consolidation, 1956," Los Angeles
City.
T racts
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro *
Numbe r Number Num ber Number Number
1940
204 824 330 147 183 145
205 1,075 414 309 105- 97
248 1,674 448 209 239 236
249
1,982 566 305 261 255
250 1,912 495 306 189 186
251 1,788 521 310 211 210
253 1,37 3 397 183 214 213
255 962 342 82 260 258
256 1,389
524 180 344 342
227 1,410 303 139 164 153
Total 14,389 4,340 2,170 2,170 2,095
X 1,439 434 217 217 209
1950
204 839 489 46 443
205 1,243 626 74 552
248 1,776 680 105 575
249 2,088 566 79 687
250 2,037 707 83 624
251 1,977 770 132 638
253 1,683 57 3 100 47 3
255 1,294 459 45 414
256 1,832 7 30 110 620
227 1,666 510 101
409
Total 16,435 6,110 875 5,435
X 1,643 611 87 543
*Data not available for Negro ow ner-occupied units in 1950.
182
TABLE D-5.— D istribution of ow ner-occupied dwelling units, by color,
for early consolidation trac ts, Los Angeles City.
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro *
T racts Number Numbe r Number Numbe r Numbe r
1 874 436
1940
432 4
69
1,422 327 324 3 2
121 910 109 108 1
-
125 1,409
322
319
3 1
131 1,113 289 286 3 3
132 1,570 609 594 15 1
163 536 244 243 1 -
180 2,008 34 34
- -
196 886 549 535 14
-
203 774 272 266 6 2
209
1,692 439 332 17 11
210 1,694 277 267 10 10
213 2,102 476 466 10 6
246 1,314 402 393 9 7
284 1,279 795 766 29 29
295 1,570 764 743 21 2
Total 21,153 6,344 6,108 146 74
X 1,322 3,965 381 9 4
1
3,189
2,453
1950
2,443 10
69 1,413 387 380 7
121 1,097 35 29 6
125 1,487 435 414 21
131 1,202
349 333 16
132 1,591
722 684 38
163 566 303 220 83
180 1,637 39 39
-
196 2,894 2,298 2,187 I l l
203 944 373 294 79
209 1,563 430 344 86
210 1,680 376 337 39
213 2,218 638 352 286
246 1,317 559
311 248
284 2,518 1,845 1,052 793
295 2,820 1,438 1,357 81
Total 28,136 12,680 10,776 1,904
X 1,758 792 673 119
*Data not available for Negro ow ner-occupied units in 1950.
183
TABLE D-6.— D istribution of o w n e r-o c c \x jg i» X e d dwelling units, by color,
for invasion tra c ts, L o s A — j r » - ^ e l e s City.
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total W h i t e Non-white Negro
Tracts Number Number N u m t > e t Number Number
1940
67 1,283 516 : 5 1 . - 4 k 2 1
124 1,321 513 5 1 - 3
- -
169 ' 1,895 367 36*. 5 ' 5
198 806 394 3 ^ -
- -
199 1,690 685 6 8 . 3 - -
200 1,041 287 2 3 1 1
201 2,973 1,037 1, 0 3 - 0 7 4
202 1,954 781 7 T ^ 2
-
206 1,364 467 ~~ F ~
- -
208 1,182 349 3 4 r 3 4 2
219 2,712 381 3 T 2 1
220 2,145 39 3 S 1 -
221 1,808 122 1 1 3 7 1
222 1,956 209 2 0 ^ 3
-
242 1,204 413 4 1 - X 2 1
243 1,440 217 2 1 - -
244 1,723 345 3 4 X 4
-
245 1,823 453 4 4 £ * 7 4
258 2,023 642 6 4 0 2 1
268 940 313 3 1 3
- -
269 492 178 IT T »
- -
270 1,462 511 5 1 - X
- -
271 699 277 2 . T - r
- -
273 1,317 573 5 7 3
- -
280 2,454 1,377 1, 3 6 * 4 13 13
283 1,292 680 6 7 " 7 3 1
181 2,485 32 3 X 1 -
236 2,032 400 4 0 O
- -
239 1,787 459 4 3 " 7 2
-
211 1,042 260 2 6 * . O
- -
Total 48,345 13,277 13 , 2 0 ^ 68 35
X 1,611 442 4 4 0 2 1
TABLE D-6.— Continued.
184
Tracts
All
Occupied
Dwelling
Units
Total White Non-white Negro*
Number Number Number Number Number
............................ —
1950
67 1,250 555 522 33
124 2,06,3 701
691 10
169
1,901 523 493 30
198 946 565 490 75
199
2,550 1,386 1,177 209
200 1,191
453 208 245
201 3,425 1,328 1,076 252
202 2,098 1,224 533 836
206 1,364 626 555 71
208 1,387 414
319 95
219 2,985 456 436 20
220 1,800 63 54 9
221 1,661 152 117- 35
222 1,947 289 203 86
242 1,260 531 495 36
243 1,468 255 230 25
244 1,915 485 294 191
245 1,981 637 303 334
258 2,071 856 797 59
268 984 429 314 115
269
483
^24
148 78
270 1,573 696 585 111
271 767 370 302 68
273 1,456 797 701 96
280 3,950 2,704 2,363 341
283 1,847 1,237 935 302
181 2,754 47 44 3
236 2,162 548 501 47
239
1,822 622 552 70
211 1,125 329 182 147
Total 53,403 19,507 15,620 4,029
X 1,780 650 520 134
*Data not available for Negro owner-occupied units in 1950.
&
APPENDIX E
XOMMUNITY IDENTIFICATION FOR CENSUS TRACTS
USED IN SUCCESSION ANALYSIS, 1950
TABLE E-l. — Census trac ts in Los Angeles County, by Community
Identification*
Census
T racts
Community
Census
T racts
Community
1. 1 Sylm ar 34. 169 Pico-V erm ont
2. 4 Pacoim a 35. 180 Bunker Hill
3. 5 Roscoe 36. 181 Bunker Hill
4. 31 Griffith P ark 37. 185 Downtown
5. 48 Pacific P alisades, 38. 186 Little Tokyo
Brentwood, 39. 187 Little Tokyo
B el-A ir 40. 188 Little Tokyo
6. 67 Chavez Ravine 41. 189 Little Tokyo
7. 69 Lincoln Heights 42. 191 Venice
8. 87 Silver Lake 43. 196 Del Rey
9. 97 Beverly, M elrose, 44. 198 West Adams
Vermont, 45. 199 West Adams
Hoove r 46. 200 West Adams
10. 105 Echo P a rk 47. 201 West Adams
11. 106 Westlake 48. 202 West Adams
12. 107 Westlake 49. 203 Berkeley Square
13. 113 Temple Street 50. 204 West Jefferson
14. 115 Temple Street 51. 205 West Jefferson
15. 116 Wholesale 52. 206 South Vermont
16. 117 Downtown 53. 208 West Adams Heights
17. 118 Wholesale 54. 209 West Jefferson
18. 119 Wholesale 55. 210 West Jefferson
19. 121 ' Boyle Heights 56. 211 West Jefferson
20. 124 Boyle Heights 212 West Jefferson
21. 125 Boyle Heights 57. 213 West Jefferson
22. 127 Boyle Heights 58. 214 West Jefferson
23. 128 Boyle Heights 59. 215 West Jefferson
24. 129 Boyle Heights 216 West Jefferson
25. 130 Boyle Heights 60. 219 Figueroa & Adams
26. 131 Boyle Heights 61. 220 Figueroa A Adams
27. 132 Boyle Heights 62. 221 Figueroa & Adams
28. 133 Boyle Heights 63. 222 Figueroa A Adams
29. 142 West Los Angeles 64. 223 C entral Avenue
30. 143 Sawtelle 65. 224 C entral Avenue
31. 163 W ilshire 66. 225 C entral Avenue
32. 166 Pico-V erm ont 67. 226 C entral Avenue
33. 167 Pico-V erm ont 68. 227 C entral Avenue
186
187
TABLE E - l — Continued
Census
T racts
Community
Census
T racts
Community
69. 236 Exposition P a rk 91. 273 G reen Meadows
70. 239 Exposition P a rk C D
to
280 G reen Meadows
71. 242 South Vermont 93. 283 G reen Meadows
72. 243 Exposition P a rk 94. 284 G reen Meadows
73. 244 Exposition P a rk
95. 285 Watts
74. 245 Exposition P a rk
96. 286 Watts
75. 246 Exposition P ark 97. 287 Watts
76. 247 C entral Avenue 98. 290 Wilmington
77. 248 C entral Avenue 99. 292 Wilmington
78. 249 C entral Avenue 1 0 0 . 295 San P ed ro -In d u strial
79. 250 C entral Avenue 1 0 1 . 296 San P ed ro -In d u strial
80. 251 C entral Avenue 1 0 2 . 374 Santa Monica-South
81. 252 C entral Avenue 103. 377 Santa Monica-South
82. 253 C entral Avenue
104 417 Pasadena-L incoln A v e .
83. 254 C entral Avenue
105. 418 P asadena-C om m ercial
84. 255 C entral Avenue and Residential
85. 256 C entral Avenue
106. 425 Pasadena- Lincoln Ave.
86. 258 South Vermont
107. 427 Pasadena-L incoln Ave.
87. 268 G reen Meadows
108. 445 Monrovia- South
88. 269 Green Meadows
109. 446 Duarte
89. 270 G reen Meadows
1 1 0 . 517 Watts
90. 271 G reen Meadows
1 1 1 . 527 Willow Brook
♦Eshref Shevky and M arilyn W illiam s, The Social A reas of
Los Angeles (Berkeley and Los Angeles: U niversity of California
P r e s s , 1949), pp. 125-139.
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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Williams, Dorothy Slade
(author)
Core Title
Ecology Of Negro Communities In Los Angeles County: 1940-1959
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Program
Sociology
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, ethnic and racial studies
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by ProQuest
(provenance)
Advisor
Van Arsdol, Maurice D., Jr. (
committee chair
), Rodee, Carlton C. (
committee member
), Sabagh, Georges (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-98104
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UC11358051
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6102541.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-98104 (legacy record id)
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6102541.pdf
Dmrecord
98104
Document Type
Dissertation
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Williams, Dorothy Slade
Type
texts
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University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...
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Tags
sociology, ethnic and racial studies