Dramatic developments occurred in economic and demographic features. Nonetheless, the situation of African Americans by the end of the nineteenth century had not significantly improved. Their situation was not different from those in the mid-1800s. 

So, African Americans still lived in the south in 1900 at the same proportion as lived in 1870. Three-quarters of Black households were in rural areas. Only about 20% of African American owned their own homes (less than half the percentage among whites). About half of Black men reported that they worked as a farmer or a farm laborer. About thirty-five percent of Black women did the same. In contrast, about one-third of white men worked as farmers or farm laborers. About eight percent of white women worked in the same capacity. Outside of farm work, African American men and women were greatly focused on unskilled labor and service jobs. Most Black children had not attended school in the year before the first Census. White children were much more to have attended school. Members of a typical African American family at the start of the twentieth century lived on a farm. Their home was in the South. They worked there as well. They did not own their home. Children in these families were unlikely to be in school even at young ages. (“African Americans in the Twentieth Century – EH.net”)

The economic conditions of African Americans, by 1990, had changed intensely. They were much less concentrated in the South. Fewer worked in rural places or farming jobs. They entered better blue-collar jobs and selective white-collar jobs. By the end of the century, they were nearly twice as likely to own their own home. Ninety years later, Black children’s rate of school attendance at any age had risen. Even after a century of change, though, African Americans faced disadvantages in education. They also were disadvantaged in labor market success and home ownership.

By the twentieth century, it is indisputable that the economics of African Americans transformed. They moved from a concentration of Southern agriculture to a significantly greater variety in housing and jobs. Over the same period income increased in Black income, both qualified and unqualified. Schooling gap between Black people and whites fell, as well. The progress grew out of incredible social healing, particularly during war times. Shaped by conflict between Black workers and white workers, overlapping the growth in residential discrimination. It was not continuous but gradual. Disrupted by periods of rapid gain and periods of inactivity. The rapid gains are due to actions by black workers, especially relocation. Broad economic forces also contributed, like tight labor markets and narrowing of the general wage distribution. Specific antidiscrimination policies had an impact. These initiatives included the Fair Employment Practice Committee in the 1940s. They also involved Title VII and contract compliance policy in the 1960s. (“African Americans in the Twentieth Century – EH.net”) Finally, we should note that the twentieth century progress ended with considerable gaps remaining between African Americans and white Americans in terms of income, unemployment, wealth, and life expectancy.

References

African Americans in the Twentieth Century – EH.net,

https://eh.net/encyclopedia/african-americans-in-the-twentieth-century/.