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Touché. I think I looked into it once and at least between 2010 and 2019 by the ACS estimates the US-born black population in the Boston metro has been pretty steady (in migration and births [potentially 2nd gen] matching out migration) with the biggest chunk by far of net growth being immigrants.
Still, the OP makes it sound like there’s been massive black flight from eastern MA..
He didn't say that at all. Black people move places. Black Americans have generally left the Northeast recently. He didn't say there was a flight from MA. He also didn't say Eastern MA.
I met someone in JC the other day who is moving to “the brockton area”. After digging, it turned out they are renting in Easton
There are some black people in Easton, yea. It's 5% black non-mixed, non-hispanic. But probably a little higher than that tbh..
When I played Brockton Youth Basketball League back in like 2010. Our coach was from Easton and half our players were from Boston, including me, lol. Every single kid in Brockton Youth Basketball League was black. Every last one.
The black movement between NJ and MA has been a forever thing. See: Bobby and Whitney, Patrice Oneal, Coi Leray and many many others. The owner of MiDA in the South End is a black man from AC. One of my good buddies moved to Mattapan from Morristown NJ when he was 7. A wealthy black family in my elementary class moved from MA to NJ at the same time another moved from NJ to MA. My own father is an example as well. Matter of fact, they just shot the Whitney Houston biopic in Roxbury- using buildings on Warren Street as a stand-in for Newark.
Yea I used to know a girl from Springfield, Virginia who moved to Mattapan in HS. Still lives in Boston.
Do what area do you live in (don't gotta drop the town)?
When I first moved to the area I landed in Waltham to be sort of in between my job and the city. My job was located in Concord at the time. They moved our offices back downtown so now I am living not too far from Boston Common.
When I first moved to the area I landed in Waltham to be sort of in between my job and the city. My job was located in Concord at the time. They moved our offices back downtown so now I am living not too far from Boston Common.
That what's up. Black people who move to Boston always seem to start off in Waltham, Brighton, or Cambridge. I'm guessing because it's close to the jobs, college and they are some of the few towns in that area that have rentals and some brown faces. When I hear that it is kind of an indicator this is a well-educated individual.
The bulk of the black activity/populace is below I-90 Mass Ave and it takes folks time to get out there. (If they want to- downtown is niiice) You sound like the exact person I was describing in my post when it comes to the "gentrification" of the black community in Boston (no offense at all btw). More families in the suburban towns we listed while more young, single, professional types (from places like Virginia) moving into the central areas. The census bore that fact out.
New Yorkers sometime refer to DC as the south but generally anywhere south of DC is what most Black northerners mean when they say moving south.
Black Bostonians refer to MD and DC as the South often, though not always by any means. Relative to where we are? it's really black and a 7 hour drive south- that's the South as far as many are concerned.
Black Bostonians refer to MD and DC as the South often, though not always by any means. Relative to where we are? it's really black and a 7 hour drive south- that's the South as far as many are concerned.
The further north you are from, the further north the South becomes. Cairbouans think the South starts at NYC whereas plenty of Bamans consider NC the “north”
From the OP: “Boston did have a strong Black American population at one point. Where did they go?” Maybe I read into it to much, but to me that implies a drastic change.
I put “eastern MA” cuz the OP probably doesn’t know the city on a neighborhood-level. I feel like they weren’t differentiating between Mattapan and Milton. I’d prefer to just talk about Boston and maybe I’m wrong about the OPs intent. Maybe they did mean “city not suburbs”.
From the OP: “Boston did have a strong Black American population at one point. Where did they go?” Maybe I read into it to much, but to me that implies a drastic change.
I put “eastern MA” cuz the OP probably doesn’t know the city on a neighborhood-level. I feel like they weren’t differentiating between Mattapan and Milton. I’d prefer to just talk about Boston and maybe I’m wrong about the OPs intent. Maybe they did mean “city not suburbs”.
Yea I saw that I took it to mean stronger.
I don't think this is fundamentally true though. Black Americans are definitely better off now than they were in the Boston Area. And they enjoy more visibility/political power. The difference is our presence has been diluted by the West Indians and Cape Verdeans over the last 45 years. Also, I'm sure many of the people OP assumed to be Black American were really West Indians. even in 1950 12% of Boston's small black population was foreign-born. So you can assume 20% of the black population in Boston even back then was 1st or 2nd generation. That's very high. But back then assimilation was the name of the game.
Additionally, many of us are mixed with other ethnicities. My half-brother for instance is part of Cape Verdean and my uncle married and had kids with a Cape Verdean. My son is half West Indian through his mother.
Springfield is more AA and then Jamaican.
^Lynn and Framingham are is the same
Cambridge is very AA and West Indians with almost no Cape Verdeans.
Worcester is very Ghanaian with a smaller longtime Black American population and a growing West Indian population.
Malden and Everett are predominately Haitians.
Brockton is predominantly Cape Verdean.
Boston is more evenly split between AA, Haitian, Cape Verdean and other West Indians- but also has many Africans from Nigeria but even Uganda and Kenya et al.
not every city in MA has the same black makeup.
The same can be said for NJ NY CT. Like I know NNJ and Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk is pretty Haitian and AA. Bridgeport, New London and Waterbury also have some Cape Verdeans. New Haven is definitely mostly AA, then Jamaican. Hartford is predominately Jamaican and then Black American with some Ghanaians in the area too.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 03-15-2022 at 01:37 PM..
That what's up. Black people who move to Boston always seem to start off in Waltham, Brighton, or Cambridge. I'm guessing because it's close to the jobs, college and they are some of the few towns in that area that have rentals and some brown faces. When I hear that it is kind of an indicator this is a well-educated individual.
The bulk of the black activity/populace is below I-90 Mass Ave and it takes folks time to get out there. (If they want to- downtown is niiice) You sound like the exact person I was describing in my post when it comes to the "gentrification" of the black community in Boston (no offense at all )btw. More families in the suburban towns we listed while more young, single, professional types (from places like Virginia) moving into the central areas. The census bore that fact out.
None taken at all. Its funny because a while back I read one of your posts describing the type of black people moving to Boston and I thought to myself "that's literally my exact situation" lol.
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