Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Sept. 19, 1996, edition 1 / Page 3
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September 19, 1996 NEWS/ The Charlotte Post 3A Blacks are moving throughout Continued from page 1A “In late 60s and early 70s,” Heard said, “economic integra tion began. If you had money, you could go somewhere else. “The upper class, people mov ing in from outside and people moving back to the area, like myself, who moved back from New England, began moving to other areas, outside of tradition al black areas.” Other African Americans, some very active in pohtical and community affairs, have made similar moves. Folks hke Urban League executive director Madine Fails, lawyers Frank Emory and James Ferguson, school board member Arthur Griffin, and businessman Michael Evans and his wife. Judge Yvonne Mims-Evans. Others include NationsBank vice president Ed Dolby and Transamerica Reinsurance chief executive Bill Simms. Heard sees the black popula tion shift as a trend that will continue and even intensify in coming years, with concurrent impact on the city’s political and social life. • • • Based on 1990 census statis tics, the heaviest concentration of blacks continues to be in the areas north and west of Charlotte’s center - Belmont, Earle Village, Piedmont Courts, Davidson Street, Villa Heights, Wilmore and the Beatties Ford and Statesville Avenue corri dors. Those are also some of the poorest areas, with aging hous ing stocks and high crime rates. Earle Village is being com pletely changed with plans to introduce niLxed-incoine housing into that uptown public housing area. But economic forces keep much of the rest troubled, despite ongoing revitalization efforts in areas like Wilmore. African American concentra tions thin as it spreads outward along the major thoroughfares like The Plaza, Central Avenue and North Tryon Street. Some of the heaviest growth as been beyond Eastland Mall, along Albemarle Road and Idlewild Roads. In some tracts, the per centage of blacks has doubled and tripled, from single digits to more than 20 percent around the intersection of Central Avenue and Eastway Drive, and south of The Plaza, beyond Eastway. Inner city areas with the low est percentages of blacks include the exclusive Myers Park and Eastover areas. Much of the remainder, however, have seen an increase in the ratio of blacks. Only along the county’s fringe has the percentage of blacks remain consistently low, partic ularly in the Mint Hill and Matthews area and in the Lake Norman area in north Mecklenburg. African Americans maintain a stable presence in the University City area. • • • “The original pattern of hous ing in Charlotte was economic and social segregation,” Heard said. ‘Tou had pockets of black population, such as Cherry, Grier Heights, and rural areas such as Sterling (and) Derita...The most pronounced area was the West Trade- Beatties Ford Road corridor, especially Beatties Ford Road. Areas such as Seversville, Smallwood and Wesley Heights (now all-black) were predomi nantly white.” Urban renewal efforts, such as the destruction of Second Ward’s Brooklyn community, kicked off a mass movement of African Americans from uptown, into previously white areas such as Piedmont Courts and Villa Heights, and other parts of west (’harlotte and north and east along The Plaza and Central Avenue. And greater economic integra tion allowed African Americans who could afford it to live wher ever they pleased. Much of that phase of the migration was forced by the lack of new housing construction on the west side and a desire for larger, newer housing by the growing black middle class. And as the region’s economic growth spiraled, attracting new African American residents to high pajdng professional, skilled and managerial jobs, the demand for housing grew. Accompan3dng this population shift, was a decline in the white flight that had changed Hidden Valley - seemingly overnight back in the early 70s - from an all-white to a predominantly- black community. Today, in neighborhoods like Shannon Park and those along Idlewild Road in east Charlotte, black and white middle-class families have civil, if not friend ly, relationships. Houses are sold when the owner wants to move up or ages out of a family-sized home and wants a smaller home. In many cases, when whites sell, blacks, starved for quality middle-class housing, eagerly buy. • • • The social and political impli cations of the population shift haven’t been fully explored or dealt with by either the white or black communities. Griffin, who moved to south east Charlotte near Quail Hollow Country Club in 1978, said the demographic changes sometimes has a positive impact on efforts to maintain a desegre gated school system. For exam ple, Idlewild Elementary in east Charlotte was able to be natu rally integrated with students from surrounding neighbor hoods without crosstown busing of black students. But formerly predominantly white schools in the Plaza area, like Briarwood and Devonshire elementary schools and See HOME on page 6A o KINGSMRK APAflTHENTS Clean, safe, quiet community conveniently located on bus line. Affordable 2 bedroom garden and townhouses. Refrigerator, range, AC and water included in rent. Helpful resident manager and mainterwnce staff. 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The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 19, 1996, edition 1
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