Residential Segregation in North Carolina

When blacks and whites reacted so differently to the verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial, many observers commented that it was almost as though the two races inhabited two different worlds. Unfortunately, this comment is not as much an exaggeration as many would think. Although blacks are increasingly present in corporate America, the entertainment industry, politics, and other spheres of public life, blacks and whites for the most part still live in separate residential communities. Research by social scientists has found that levels of residential segregation (hereafter referred to as segregation) between blacks and whites remained high in most metropolitan regions as of 1990 (Farley and Frey 1994). This is true even though more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. This article discusses the causes and consequences of segregation. Data is presented to illustrate segregation levels in North Carolina by county, based on the 1990 census. To conclude, the article discusses the policy implications of segregation