OCTOBER 1957

METROPOLITAN SEGREGATION— “The white and non-white citizens of the U.S. are being sorted out in a new pattern of segregation. In each of the major urban centers the story is the same: the better-off white families are moving out of the central cities into the suburbs; the ranks of the poor who remain are being swelled by Negroes from the South. These population shifts bring with them profound economic consequences. Of first importance is a decline of parts of the central cities’ business activity. In almost every city the big downtown department stores are losing trade to the suburban shopping centers. Retail sales in the central business district of Chicago fell 5 per cent between 1948 and 1954 while sales in the suburbs increased 53 per cent.”

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