African Americans and Immigrants in Northern Cities: The Effects of Relative

Prior to World WarI millions of immigrants arrived from Europe to workin northern plants and factories. During and after the war theAfricanAmericanpopulations of northern cities grewrapidly assouthern migrants movednorth. Thisarticle examines theeffects of therelative sizes of these twopopulation groups on theoccupational standing ofAfricanAmericans and immigrants in 1920. The results showthat theoccupational standing ofAfrican Americanswas unaffected by the relative sizes of the black and immigrantpopulations in theirlabor markets. In contrast, theoccupational fortunes of allimmigrants were morefavorable in labor markets withproportionately larger black populations. For new immigrants a curvilinear relationship also existed between individualoccupational standingand the relative sizeoftheirpopulation in the labor market, with the negative relationship observed at lower levels of immigrant concentration turningpositive in areas with proportionately moreimmigrants. During the early decades of the twentieth century cities in the northern U.S. grew increasingly diverse- both racially and ethnically. Record numbers of immigrant