Evolution of an Urban Area

James L. Minter, III PD 120 Assignment 2 Evolution of an Urban Area Location battle of battle of Atlanta, Ga. / Fulton County I have chosen to do my research on the urban center of Atlanta, Georgia within Fulton County. Atlanta is the largest city within Fulton County and has significant value to the Black residential area. It is of interest to me as Black/Latino man who has been astonished by how quickly so more(prenominal) minorities have jumped at the opportunity to head siemens when we not so long ago were heading northbound at a record pace for the same reason, opportunity. I will discuss what I have read, researched, and learned from my own experiences as well.In this kingdom, so many curve at the very mention of the changeurban etiolate Flight of White persons buying suburban homes every since WWII. However, the fact remains that in this country no matter what race you are if you are awarded with a demote alternative for living and take forming you will gravitate towards that lifestyle. This is extremely unembellished in my research, as so many Blacks headed back to where their mothers and fathers fled to either escape death, racism, slavery or was meet simply whole steping for a job to imbibe a living.Within my community the state of Georgia was not looked upon favorably, in fact, when I was a child, 40 years ago, it would have been considered just about crazy to leave modernised New York for the racist south, in particular Georgia where cotton was a anchor to the parsimony. Nowadays, its becoming just the opposite the businesses are leaving for the south ( on with the jobs) and the racism being experienced up north, I believe, is because of the shrinking grocery store for jobs and the disdain for someone in a minority group victorious what used to be yours job.So for those reasons, Id like to involve you on a journey to under(a)stand what Atlanta has become and why many Blacks affectionately refer it to as Chocolate metropolis. Fulton County in 1900 had a population of 117,363 persons and has grown to 816,006 in the 2000 census. Whereas, the urban center of Atlanta in 1900 had a population of 89,872 persons and has grown to 537,958 since the 2000 census. Fulton county since the early 1900s has steadily been in the low single digits as far as foreign natural persons residing within the county ntil 2000 where the foreign innate(p) rate climbed to 10%. Although historically in Atlanta and Fulton County the predominant immigrants are those whose ancestry are from Russia, Germany, UK, Italy, Ireland, and Greece it wasnt until the 2000 census that Africans were migrating to Atlanta as the 4th largest migrating group on record. It further exhibit that those of African descent and those who were the Statesn Blacks looked upon Atlanta as a pretend for minorities to get ahead and share some form of American success.Many Blacks from the north began migrating south, just the opposite as the early 1900s, as indust ries such as auto plants began downsizing, steel plants were shutting down more than and more, affirmative doing was being frowned upon, and the large incomes that were being made within the construction industries (both via underdeveloped and trade unions in the west and north east) was not being shared with northern & western Blacks. The trade unionist, unagitated to this day, struggle to give up what they perceive to be their own trade with minority groups (i. e.Italian cement masons & laborers, German Operators, Irish Iron Workers, etc. ). This shutting out phenomenon of varying industries, especially within the northeast, has caused many minority groups (esp. Blacks and Latinos) to migrate south for opportunities that were not present to them at home. When you couple the coloured/brown migration south to Atlanta on with subsidies being given to oil companies and big corporations to relocate supply along the Sunbelt there is no wonder that opportunity was available for t hose who were willing to work non-union and compete for low paying jobs a recognizest migrant workers.Since the immigration laws were eased via command in 1965, the most extreme documentation of Sunbelt workers in Fulton County have been those of Spanish speaking origin for various reasons. Since the 1970 census, Hispanic ethnicity in Fulton County went from 8,260 to a wham 48,056 in the 2000 census. Whether it be Cubans fleeing communism, Mexicans looking to just make a everyplacenice living, or Blacks fleeing being shut out during the up rise of our economy during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the fact remains that Atlanta was viewed as a city where minorities could go and make a make better life for themselves and their families.This black/brown migration was not going unnoticed by the native Whites of Atlanta. As Blacks became the majority group in Atlanta by 2000 at 60% of the citys population, Whites make to move away to their suburban homelands of Fulton Coun ty, as they made up 66% of the suburbs population in 2000. Atlanta and Fulton County continued to grow but it was obvious that it was growing into a more extreme segregated population. However, there was a transformation-taking place, the Black suburb.The more populated the city of Atlanta was getting the more Blacks began populating the suburbs themselves. Along with the pattern of the housing market targeting low and mid(prenominal)dle-income residents to buy homes from the mid 1990s through the 2000s. Blacks (and other minority groups) began buying suburban homes attempting to gain the American Dream. As a political foresight to the black/brown migration, the affluent suburb of Buckhead was annexed and became part of Atlanta, as many believe, to keep the majority-voting block in the city White.So, now being part of Atlanta, many Blacks began buying beautiful homes in Buckhead and other surrounding suburbs creating the vision of a Black suburb. However, since this annexation ther e has been increased feuding with the northern residents of the more affluent White suburbs with the collection and distribution of taxes towards the southern portion of the county. The thought amongst the northerners within the county is that they are subsidizing the south because thats where the most local contain service dollars are being spent.So after the 2000 census Blacks now make up at least 28% of the Fulton County suburbs, and still maintain over 60% of the population in the city of Atlanta, thus justifying the affectionate attain of Chocolate City. Another varying phenomenon is the research numbers that make that even with a expectant influx of Asian/Pacific islander into Fulton County and the city of Atlanta less than 1% actually migrated to the city date over 4% migrated immediately to the suburb.This further shows the trend of those even born in another country knows that to hot in the suburbs in America is a matter of status more than anything else. Especially when the suburbs in European cities represent all the ills of their societies, and its literally vice versa. Our affluent residents look to leave the central cities, charm European affluent residents look to live as close to the center of the city as possible (Paris, for example).Between 1950 and 1960 is when the sterling(prenominal) changes came to the region, with the city growing by almost 140,000 persons due to its annexation of the Buckhead suburb. The city of Atlanta varies from its suburbs in Fulton County for one main reason, the highway structure and volumes of headquarters for major corporations and media outlets. While the suburbs in Fulton County are littered with strip malls and sub divisions, the City of Atlanta is filled with tall corporate buildings surrounded by winding and crisscrossing highway roads.The Fulton County suburbs are predominantly White (with a heavy influence of Russian and German ancestry), clean and quiet within the neighborhoods, while the City of Atlanta is predominantly Black, loud and busy (especially during the day), with stand still traffic on the highways during the morning and evening rush hours, covered under a layer of fog from vehicle emissions. The problem that Chocolate City and Fulton County will be facing soon is the lack of jobs even in this economy that may be on the rise.The burst of the dot com bubbles, the weakness oil refineries, and globalization of businesses will surely have the residents of this once emit land of opportunity in Atlanta possibly fleeing again for greener pastures elsewhere, or fighting for jobs for even less pay with migrant workers or expansive residents willing to take almost anything that you would not, if you had a choice. So Chocolate City has been good to many minority workers, especially over the last dickens decades, however the sun may be rising and the chocolate sweet of success may be melting sooner than one business leader think.