Mobile but Stuck: Multigenerational Neighborhood Decline and Housing Search Strategies for African Americans

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora E. Taplin–Kaguru
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Search Strategies ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Racial Residential Segregation ◽  
Housing Search ◽  
Racial Demographics

While many scholars have demonstrated that entrenched racial residential segregation perpetuates racial inequality, the causes of persistent racial segregation continue to be debated. This paper investigates how geographically and socioeconomically mobile African Americans approach the home–buying process in the context of a segregated metropolitan region, by using qualitative interviews with working–class to middle–income African American aspiring homebuyers. Homebuyers use three principal search strategies to determine suitable neighborhoods: avoiding decline, searching for improvement, and searching for stability. The findings suggest that despite these strategies African American homebuyers end up in areas that may not retain characteristics they desire in terms of racial demographics and amenities, in large part because such neighborhoods remain rare.

Abstract MP58: Racial Residential Segregation is Associated With Worse Cardiovascular Health in African American Adults: The Jackson Heart Study

Circulation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 137 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharrelle Barber ◽  
Kiarri Kershaw ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Mario Sims ◽  
Julianne Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Residential Segregation ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Jackson Heart Study ◽  
Racial Residential Segregation ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
Heart Study ◽  
Neighborhood Environments ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: Racial residential segregation results in increased exposure to adverse neighborhood environments for African Americans; however, the impact of segregation on ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) has not been examined in large, socioeconomically diverse African American samples. Using a novel spatial measure of neighborhood-level racial residential segregation, we examined the association between segregation and ideal CVH in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS). Hypothesis: Racial residential segregation will be associated with worse cardiovascular health among African American adults. Methods: The sample included 4,354 men and women ages 21-93 from the baseline exam of the JHS (2000-2004). Racial residential segregation was assessed at the census-tract level. Data on racial composition (% African American) from the 2000 US Census was used to calculate the local G i * statistic- a spatially-weighted z-score that represents how much a neighborhood’s racial/ethnic composition deviates from the larger metropolitan area. Ideal CVH was assessed using the AHA Life’s Simple Seven (LS7) index which includes 3 behavioral (nutrition, physical activity, and smoking) and 4 biological (systolic BP, glucose, BMI, and cholesterol) metrics of CVH. Multivariable regression models were used to test associations between segregation and the LS7 index continuously (range: 0-14) and categorically (Inadequate: 0-4; Average: 5-9; and Optimal: 10-14). Covariates included age, sex, income, education, and insurance status. Results: The average LS7 summary score was 7.03 (±2.1) and was lowest in the most racially segregated neighborhood environments (High Segregation: 6.88 ±2.1 vs. Low Segregation: 7.55 ±2.1). The prevalence of inadequate CVH was higher in racially segregated neighborhoods (12.3%) compared to neighborhoods that were the least segregated (6.9%). After adjusting for key socio-demographic characteristics, racial residential segregation was inversely associated with ideal CVH (B=-0.041 ±0.02, p=0.0146). Moreover, a 1-SD unit increase in segregation was associated with a 6% increased odds of having inadequate CVH (OR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.00-1.12, p=0.0461). Conclusion: In conclusion, African Americans in racially segregated neighborhoods are less likely to achieve ideal CVH even after accounting for individual-level factors. Policies aimed at restricting housing segregation/discrimination and/or structural interventions designed to improve neighborhood environments may be viable strategies to improving CVH in this at-risk population.

scholarly journals Redefining Racial Residential Segregation and its Association With Physical Activity Among African Americans 50 years and Older: A Mixed Methods Approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle Armstrong-Brown ◽  
Eugenia Eng ◽  
Wizdom Powell Hammond ◽  
Catherine Zimmer ◽  
J. Michael Bowling
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Residential Segregation ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Racial Residential Segregation ◽  
Older African Americans

Physical inactivity is one of the factors contributing to disproportionate disease rates among older African Americans. Previous literature indicates that older African Americans are more likely to live in racially segregated neighborhoods and that racial residential segregation is associated with limited opportunities for physical activity. A cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted guided by the concept of therapeutic landscapes. Multilevel regression analyses demonstrated that racial residential segregation was associated with more minutes of physical activity and greater odds of meeting physical activity recommendations. Qualitative interviews revealed the following physical activity related themes: aging of the neighborhood, knowing your neighbors, feeling of safety, and neighborhood racial identity. Perceptions of social cohesion enhanced participants’ physical activity, offering a plausible explanation to the higher rates of physical activity found in this population. Understanding how social cohesion operates within racially segregated neighborhoods can help to inform the design of effective interventions for this population.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley A. Hill
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Health Attitudes ◽  
American Women ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Health Deficit

This book explores how the health of African Americans is influenced by numerous social settings and policies that reinforce racial inequality. The author accomplishes this by expanding on existing literature and research on the health deficit experienced by African Americans, as well as drawing on interviews with a class-diverse group of African-American women and men about health attitudes and experiences. This chapter introduces the structure of the author’s research and the structure of the remaining chapter of the book.

More Shadow than Substance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Wright Rigueur
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Substance P ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Black Republicans ◽  
State And Local ◽  
American Party ◽  
Local Party

This chapter studies how, as the 1970s progressed, black Republicans were able to claim clear victories in their march toward equality: the expansion of the National Black Republican Council (NBRC); the incorporation of African Americans into the Republican National Committee (RNC) hierarchy; scores of black Republicans integrating state and local party hierarchies; and individual examples of black Republican success. African American party leaders could even point to their ability to forge a consensus voice among the disparate political ideas of black Republicans. Despite their ideological differences, they collectively rejected white hierarchies of power, demanding change for blacks both within the Grand Old Party (GOP) and throughout the country. Nevertheless, black Republicans quickly realized that their strategy did not reform the party institution.

Reducing Police Brutality in African American Communities: Potential Roles for Social Workers in Congregations

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-84
Author(s):  
Betty Wilson ◽  
Terry A. Wolfer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
General Public ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Police Brutality ◽  
Religious Congregations ◽  
Predominantly Black ◽  
African American Communities ◽  
White Congregations

In the last decade, there have been a shocking number of police killings of unarmed African Americans, and advancements in technology have made these incidents more visible to the general public. The increasing public awareness of police brutality in African American communities creates a critical and urgent need to understand and improve police-community relationships. Congregational social workers (and other social workers who are part of religious congregations) have a potentially significant role in addressing the problem of police brutality. This manuscript explores and describes possible contributions by social workers, with differential consideration for those in predominantly Black or White congregations.

Emancipation and Free African Americans

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Archer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
New England ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
African Descent ◽  
American Population ◽  
African American Population ◽  
Free African Americans

Except in parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, slavery was a peripheral institution, and throughout New England during and after the Revolution there was widespread support to emancipate slaves. Some of the states enacted emancipation laws that theoretically allowed slavery to continue almost indefinitely, and slavery remained on the books as late as 1857 in New Hampshire. Although the laws gradually abolished slavery and although the pace was painfully slow for those still enslaved, the predominant dynamic for New England society was the sudden emergence of a substantial, free African American population. What developed was an even more virulent racism and a Jim Crow environment. The last part of the chapter is an analysis of where African Americans lived as of 1830 and the connection between racism and concentrations of people of African descent.

Racial Justice and Criminal Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Neighborhoods

The criminal justice system in the United States both reflects racial inequality in the broader society and contributes to it. The overrepresentation of African Americans among those in prison is a result of both the conditions in poor black neighborhoods and racial bias in the criminal justice system. The American system of criminal justice today is excessively punitive, when compared to previous periods and to other countries, and its harsh treatment disproportionately harms African Americans. In addition, those released from prison face a number of obstacles to housing, employment, and other prerequisites of decent life, and the concentration of prisoners and ex-prisoners in black communities does much to perpetuate racial inequality.

Slavery and Class in the American South

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
American South ◽  
Frederick Douglass ◽  
Harriet Jacobs ◽  
Slave Narrative ◽  
William Wells Brown ◽  
The American South ◽  
Work Family

In this study of an entire generation of slave narrators, more than sixty mid-nineteenth-century narratives reveal how work, family, skills, and connections made for social and economic differences among the enslaved of the South. Slavery and Class in the American South explains why social and economic distinctions developed and how they functioned among the enslaved. Andrews also reveals how class awareness shaped the views and values of some of the most celebrated African Americans of the nineteenth century. Slave narrators discerned class-based reasons for violence between “impudent,” “gentleman,” and “lady” slaves and their resentful “mean masters.” Status and class played key roles in the lives and liberation of the most celebrated fugitives from US slavery, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, William Wells Brown, and William and Ellen Craft. By examining the lives of the most- and least-acclaimed heroes and heroines of the African American slave narrative, Andrews shows how the dividing edge of social class cut two ways, sometimes separating upper and lower strata of slaves to their enslavers’ advantage, but at other times fueling convictions among even the most privileged of the enslaved that they deserved nothing less than complete freedom.

Justice and injustice in Christian liturgies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Wolterstorff
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Biblical Story ◽  
The Cross

The chapter begins by briefly taking note of various ways in which Christian liturgical enactments are related to the doing of justice. Attention then turns to the fact that at the heart of the biblical story is an appalling case of the perversion of justice. Christians worship one who was unjustly crucified. The chapter employs The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by the African-American theologian James Cone, to bring to light some of the implications of this fact. Cone notes that Christ’s crucifixion is central in African-American preaching and hymnody, and that the pain and injustice of the crucifixion are highlighted rather than concealed because African-Americans identify with Jesus in his pain and as a victim of injustice. After noting that the pain and injustice of Christ’s crucifixion are veiled in most liturgies, the chapter concludes by asking whether they should not instead be highlighted.

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