White Flight Research Paper Example

Question: Why did white flight take place in United States and its impact both socially and economically?Theses: White flight was highly experienced in the 20th century. This involves a situation where whites moved out of cities while the African American moved into the towns. During this time was characterized by increased home ownership by both whites and blacks. African American bought houses within the central business districts while whites moved to suburbs. Based on the America’s history this is an important event that need to be analyzed since it has an enormous impact even to the current living situation in United States. For instance, currently in such cities as Ferguson, killings of unarmed blacks by white are witnessed (Frey).IntroductionPart one of the ThesisA. According to Boustan and Margo, the white flight took place and until date, it is still witnessed and has some huge impacts on the living standards of the people. According to their research conducted in 98 metropolitan cities, it is evident that white flight had a lot of influence on home ownership. For instance, between 1940 and 1980, the homeownership had increased by about 29%. The research took into consideration such factors as race, location, and ownership status. According to, them, white flight was facilitated by the improved highway condition that attracted the whites into the suburbs (Boustan et.al). Additionally, the fall in house prices and reduced restriction in the cities enabled more blacks to purchase homes at lower prices.B. This is an important topic to research on since it is one of the historical events that took place in United States. This will help understand why whites or blacks migrated from one location to another and also acknowledge the social integration in our current society. Additionally, it will also understand its impact both to the socially and economically (Armor and Schwarzbach).Part II of ThesisC. The white flight is associated with a lot of reason from different scholarsI. As stated above, it is assumed that the whites migrated into suburb as a result of the improved high. Additionally, this is also linked to the increased income after the World War II. Many whites viewed this as the best move and therefore shifted to suburbs (Avila).II. The move is also based on racism. After the integration, whites moved into suburbs so that their children student could not attend the same schools to those of the African Americans. According to the thinking of the whites, moving to all white suburb would help them out to deal with this problem and therefore retain their high status from the people of their situation who undermined them for staying in the cities (Boustan).III. On the other hand, historians believe that whites moved into suburbs as a result of increased homes being built in there. Additionally, increased income was also issues that were motivated the migration (Armor and Schwarzbach). It is also interesting that the blacks were refused to access money to purchase houses in the suburbs by banks and realtors a technique referred to as redlining.IV. Currently, this is still witnessed. Based on the statistic, between 1990 and 2010, whites moved from various suburbs giving rise to ethnoburbs. This is a suburb with little or no whites. Such communities are entirely different from other white suburbs in terms of education, income level, and wealth. These environments are usually associated with increased levels of crimes, arrests, and shootings (Kruse). Part III of ThesisD. This shift of whites into the suburbs had a lot of impacts that are witnessed up to date.1. Until today, white flight have had an adverse impact to the individuals living in different cities. For instance, in the recent times, shooting of unarmed blacks by whites have been witnessed (Dippel). A good example is the recent killing of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri by armed white police.2. There was a little demand for houses in the urban areas. This was a definite consequence since the African Americans were able to buy such homes at lower prices. Additionally, the resistance that blacks faced against homeownership reduced since the whites were moving out of the urban area. For this reason, within the same period, the black homeownership increased by 27% (Frey).3. This shift of white from the cities has had an adverse impact on the economic development. It has turned cities into regions of perpetual poverty. As a result, there is a need to change the current situation of the towns into competitive areas. This will attract millennial and Y-generation so that they can work, lives and creates their families once more.4. This also had a tremendous impact to the businesses. For instance, as a result of a shift to suburbs, the company lost high number of customers, and even large number of such businesses had to close. Additionally, it had a lot of impact on economic development of different regions (Dippel). For instance, the shift from manufacturers in New Orleans had an enormous impact as the neighborhoods succeeded and changed the locals into middle-income class.ConclusionThe white flight in the America is an important historical event that requires a lot of research to determine its primary causes and impacts. From the above, it is evident that white flight took place as the result of various factors. However, there is still a controversy on the issues of difference in income between the blacks and whites as a factor that led to white flight (Kruse). Further research is, therefore, necessary to find out more reasons for the white flight and its impact.

Works Cited

Armor, David J, and Donna Schwarzbach. White Flight, Demographic Transition, And The Future Of School Desegregation. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 1978. Print.
Avila, Eric. Popular Culture In The Age Of White Flight. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Print.
Kruse, Kevin Michael. White Flight. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. Print.
Boustan, Leah Platt. 'Was Postwar Suburbanization “White Flight”? Evidence From The Black Migration *'. Quarterly Journal of Economics 125.1 (2010): 417-443. Web.
Frey, William H. Central City White Flight. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1977. Print.
Dippel, John V. H. Race to the Frontier: "white Flight" and Westward Expansion. New York, NY: Algora, 2005. Print.