Chicago's Black Population Over the Past Century

In 1930, African-Americans were mostly confined to a section of Chicago's South Side known as the "Black Belt" - whose boundaries were roughly 22nd St to 55th St North-South and Cottage Grove Ave to State St East-West Due to both formal and informal discrimination, blacks were largely unable to purchase homes outside the Black Belt. One notable exception, however, was the Far South Side community of Morgan Park. In addition, Chicago had only just experienced the first great migration of blacks from the South, so there were no where near as many blacks living in the city as there would be in the future.

Chicago's African-American population grew rapidly from 230,000 in 1930 to 810,000 in 1960 or 7% to 23% of Chicago's population. The huge population growth lead to mass overcrowding in Chicago's black belt. The Chicago Housing Authority was forced to build public housing for African-Americans in less densely populated white neighborhoods. Modest economic gains among blacks also allowed for some of them to be able to afford homes in white neighborhoods. They were meet with fierce and violent racism when attempting to move into these neighborhoods, sometimes just a rumor of home being sold to an African-American was enough to cause a riot among white neighborhood residents as was the case in the Englewood neighborhood in 1949. Nevertheless, neighborhoods mostly on the South and West Sides changed rapidly from all-white to all-black as whites fled changing neighborhoods for newly developed suburbs.

Despite these changes, African-Americans were still unable to buy homes in most Chicago neighborhoods with many of the neighborhoods having under 10 black residents according to 1960 Census. For example, the Southwest Side community of Chicago Lawn had over 50,000 residents in 1960, only three of whom were black.

By 1990 African-Americans were the largest racial group in Chicago at 39%. As result of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which was passed largely due to the effort of Chicago activists in highlighting housing discrimination, African-Americans were more able then ever to purchase homes in a variety of neighborhoods. This, combined with continued white flight to the suburbs turned many more neighborhoods on the South and West sides from predominately white to predominately black.

On the surface, it appears as though there has been little change in Chicago's black population since 1990. The South Side and parts of the West Side are still overwhelmingly Black, the rest of the city less so. It is not until the total population change of these communities is analyzed that a new trend in Chicago black population becomes apparent.

Chicago as a whole has lost 2.8% of its population since 1990, almost all because of residents leaving black neighborhoods on the South and West sides, with Chicago losing 20.6% of its black residents since 1990. There are two main reasons for this decline. The first reason is the Chicago Housing Authority tearing down most of its infamous high rise housing projects in the 1990s and 2000s which displaced thousands of black residents. The second reason the general trend of African-Americans leaving Northern Cities like Chicago that have been hit hard by de-industrialization for job opportunities in Southern States with more robust economies.