Race Impacting the Space

            Since slavery in America started, racism was always present in our society. Black people were forced to migrate to America and be treated like they were nothing but animals. They were treated poorly by White people for many years but in the late 1800s, things started to take a turn for them. As slavery ended, in the late 1800s, another form of it would take its place: Jim Crow Laws. These laws made sure that whites and blacks were always separated into their own communities. However, as the years went on and more blacks, and many other races, were trying to integrate, things would begin to change for these segregated communities. In our society today, the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta metro region are known for its diversity. Many people from different states and countries have come to Atlanta and now call it home. Diversity is a real plus for Atlanta and the Atlanta metro region but there still are certain areas of just mainly one race. This can be seen in the Atlanta metro region (ex. Cobb County) where there still seems to be a divide from the communities not just because of race, but for housing placement and education as well.

In the 1950s and 1960s, suburbs were beginning to emerge and become more popular. So for Atlanta and the Atlanta metro region, this would cause more African Americans to move to the city of Atlanta. With them moving to the city, the white people that were living in the city were not happy. They decided that they should move away from the black people. This was where white flight would take place as white people would move to the suburbs not only because it was popular, but so that they would not have to be near black people. By the 1970s, many white people would live in Cobb County, Douglas County, and other counties that were in Metro Atlanta. Currently, the Atlanta metro region is known as the “capital city of black America” (Pooley). According to an article, the Atlanta Metro Region carries 80% of the African Americans. This is due to the rising in population for the black middle class during the New Great Migration. This was the movement of blacks that were living in the North and Midwest to come to the South in the 1970s. The Fair Housing Act also came into play in 1968 to help outlaw discrimination in housing. However, housing problems still occur as the white areas that exist today tend to keep the areas white in different ways. There tends to be “…’racial differences in housing prices’ and decreasing property values in diverse neighborhoods” (Pooley). The article continues to say, “…this housing value “drag”—or the difference between where property values would be if race were not a factor in housing choices, and where values are since race is a factor—as “segregation tax” that minority households, particularly blacks, are forced to bear” (Pooley). These issues with the households continues to be a problem today.

 

As most of us know, there has been segregation in most southern states since the late 1800s to mid-1900s. Cobb County, a county right next to Atlanta, was a part of these times. During segregation, the South used to try and serve to only predominantly white people. There were predominantly white restrooms, restaurants, and schools. But, as things began to change during the civil rights movement, blacks would show that they still had a fight in them and that they wanted more opportunities. A part of this was to get better education for their children and children’s children. So, states in the South, slowly had black people attending these all-white schools. Evidence of this can be seen from one woman, Virginia Ward, as she explains her life growing up in the South Cobb area during the 1960s. From 1966 to 1970, Virginia Ward would do the unthinkable: go to an all-white school. At first, she would attend a school that was, somewhat, starting to desegregate, with the 4 to 5 black students that they had (yet hundreds of white students attended the school). But, since it was not her districted school, she would attend the all-white school, at the time: Pebblebrook High School. Just like most schools in the South during this era, the school that she attended would have students and parents that were not pleased that a black girl was going to their school.  She would go through some struggles as people, other students and even some teachers, would make fun of her by calling her a racial slur. She says, “She remembered of one teacher, “I knew he was prejudiced…I heard him call me ‘nigger’” (Yow). Her dad would not allow this as he did talk to the school principal about the problem. However, this would lead to an even more embarrassing situation for her as the principal would call all the students into an assembly. The principal would proceed to then make Ward stand as the principal explained how it was bad to call her racial slurs and that everyone is equal. This really did not lead to helping Ward as more students would call her the slur after the assembly. If you add this struggle with her already struggling in school and not keeping up, Ward was having a hard time. However, Ward would start to go to the school library more and she would get help by a librarian at the school. Slowly her grades was going up and she was able to graduate in 1970. As Ward would leave her mark at Pebblebrook, many other blacks slowly started to attend the school. As a matter of fact, when Ward was started her senior year at the school, another black would begin to attend the school as a junior. Even though it was only a couple black students at those times, Pebblebrook, and schools around it like South Cobb and Campbell, were slowly starting to turn into a more diverse school as well (now these school have mainly a black population).This would only be the beginning of the white flight in this area and differences in the education systems.

As the years went by, Cobb County would continue to turn. By the 1990s and 2000s, there would be more of a diversity in the county yet still some separation. For people that lives in Cobb County now, they know that there are certain areas for certain races in the county. In the South Cobb area, there are mostly African Americans, Hispanics, and elderly living there. In the West Cobb area, there are more of a mixture between whites and blacks yet it is mainly white people. In East Cobb and North Cobb, there are many whites and other small races mixed in (Asian, Europeans).  The problem with these division in races is that they lead to problems in diversity which causes major-minority schools. Problems occur from this, because it seems that most of the white schools have better test scores and receive the best public school education. Meanwhile, the black schools are failing their test and receiving lower academic scores. One problem that seems to come up is that the white schools have more resources to use for their students along hiring better teachers. Some black schools in the county seem to be trying to do better on test scores yet things are always missing for them to get over the hump of passing. In the black schools, “Black students are more likely to have teachers with fewer years of teaching experience and attend schools with higher student turnover rates and higher poverty rates” (Pooley).   It can be said that the reason for this was because the South Cobb area is closer to Atlanta so as the black population grew in Atlanta it spread to that area as well and once again white flight took place to the northern and eastern part of the county. Even though there were some issues with the education gap on these separated communities, because of the growth of African Americans in the metro region, the HBCUs (Historically Black College/University) would grow into very good schools to go to. Atlanta has also grown into one of the top schools for businesses along with the film industry. These changes that came started to show in the 1990s and 2000s.

The Atlanta metro region has become one of the most diversified areas in the country. It is filled with Blacks, Whites, and many other racist. Even though the area started mainly white, white flight came into effect and took over. As the changes of county became present, many other communities and spaces were changing as well. This gave the opportunity for blacks to come into the community and change it. When it came to the end of segregation, aspects of an area tended to change just like Cobb County. Education and housing in these areas would make a difference as well. Even though, certain areas can be fixed (like schools and buildings), it will take time for these spaces to catch up with everyone else and change for the better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Pooley, Karen. “Segregation’s New Geography: The Atlanta Metro Region, Race, and the

Declining Prospects for Upward Mobility.”Southern Spaces. N.p., 15 Apr. 2015. Web.

 

Yow, Ruthie, ‘“It’s Being Black and Poor”: Race, Class, and Desegregation at Pebblebrook High’, Southern Spaces, 2012

Pictures:

http://southernspaces.org/2012/its-being-black-and-poor-race-class-and-desegregation-pebblebrook-high

http://southernspaces.org/sites/default/files/images/2015/pooley-m004-segregation1990-sm.png