Reproduced with permission from Ebony/Johnson Publishing Company.

Ebony, September 1998

Many African-American migrants to the South were drawn by burgeoning middle-class communities. In 1950 the annual median family income for African Americans was $952, compared with $31,778 in 2000. Fifty-two percent of black married couples had incomes of $50,000 or more in 2001, and 27 percent of all black married-couple families had incomes of $75,000 or more in 2001. In 1950, 35 percent of black householders owned homes. In 2000, 46 percent of black householders owned homes.