Is the geography of Pittsburgh's murders changing? (Clairton, Homestead: homes, store)

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Pittsburgh is one of the few larger American cities that still has a white majority so it does make total sense white flight wasn't a major issue here. It of course happened in some areas, but most neighborhoods lost population for reasons besides that. The Great Migration partially missed Pittsburgh which led to a smaller African American population here than many other older nearby cities.

I don't know - the "white flight", if there was one, coincided with a declining city + the steel industry decimation. Hazelwood may be an example of that.

However, Larimer, as a former resident was telling me, might be an example of white flight. The white population left en masse well before the early 80s steel meltdown.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

I don't know - the "white flight", if there was one, coincided with a declining city + the steel industry decimation. Hazelwood may be an example of that.

However, Larimer, as a former resident was telling me, might be an example of white flight. The white population left en masse well before the early 80s steel meltdown.

Garfield, East Liberty, and Homewood I believe also have the typical white flight example such as Larimer.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Garfield, East Liberty, and Homewood I believe also have the typical white flight example such as Larimer.

Belzhoover, Manchester.

[eschaton]

Almost all of Pittsburgh's black neighborhoods are the product of white flight, insofar as they used to be white areas, but are no longer so. Some areas changed slowly enough there was no social instability though, like Chartiers City and southern Stanton Heights. The farthest reaches of East Hills and Lincoln Lemington Belmar were built out while white flight from the area was already in full swing. And a few of the project neighborhoods were essentially built from scratch, like Northview Heights. I know some of the projects started out as integrated in the 1940s and only drifted into being 90%+ black areas over time however.

What sets Pittsburgh apart from other cities isn't that we didn't have white flight. It's that we had a lot less of it than most other cities. Many of the neighborhoods which had the most dramatic white flight only happened because the destruction of the Lower Hill meant there were thousands of low income blacks who needed somewhere new to go. For obvious reasons, they tended to migrate to the neighborhoods which already had an integrated black middle class, which unfortunately had the knock-off effect of destroying basically all the formerly integrated neighborhoods in the city. One wonders without the Civic Arena how different the racial geography of Pittsburgh would be today.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Pittsburgh is one of the few larger American cities that still has a white majority so it does make total sense white flight wasn't a major issue here. It of course happened in some areas, but most neighborhoods lost population for reasons besides that. The Great Migration partially missed Pittsburgh which led to a smaller African American population here than many other older nearby cities.

The great migration had a tremendous impact on Pittsburgh. Keep in mind that when Pittsburgh was king there were satellite cities with black populations equal to Pittsburgh. Most cities concentrated industry in the city proper. Pittsburgh's industry was spread out up and down three rivers. Aliquippa, Clairton, Mckeesport, Duquesne, Monesson, Homestead, and Braddock are perfect examples of satellite cities with a black population that rivaled Pittsburgh proper. All the cities listed had segregated black neighborhoods complete with black business districts. Clairton's main business district was Miller and St. Claire Avenue. Clairton's black business district was State St.. State street had its own post office, butcher, restaurants, salons, funeral home, and above all else the Downbeat and Hollywood Social Clubs. The Crow turned black in the 1940's and was previously a Croation Club for recent immigrants. The Crow still stands today on maple Ave and is now a black Pentecostal church. The chittlin / Chitterling music circuit would travel and perform in these satellite cities before giving final performaces in Pittsburgh's Hill district. All former industrial towns with a black presence still have local chapters of the NAACP. All of the cities listed also had sports rivalries with adult baseball teams that competed up until the 1990's.

[eschaton]

It's been a busy week. Since the beginning of this thread there have been the two murders in Brighton Heights, and the one in Allentown discussed in the thread. Also another murder in Perry Hilltop, plus one in McKees Rocks - neither of which have been been discussed in the thread.

Thus the county total is up to 45, with 23 in the city, and 22 in the suburbs.

It doesn't look like this will be a low violence year for the city at large. But even though our number of killings is looking on the high side by historic standards, they almost all continue to be at the fringes of the city, not the core.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's been a busy week. Since the beginning of this thread there have been the two murders in Brighton Heights, and the one in Allentown discussed in the thread. Also another murder in Perry Hilltop, plus one in McKees Rocks - neither of which have been been discussed in the thread.

Thus the county total is up to 45, with 23 in the city, and 22 in the suburbs.

It doesn't look like this will be a low violence year for the city at large. But even though our number of killings is looking on the high side by historic standards, they almost all continue to be at the fringes of the city, not the core.

I stopped watching the news a few weeks ago. Thank you for the update.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

The great migration had a tremendous impact on Pittsburgh. Keep in mind that when Pittsburgh was king there were satellite cities with black populations equal to Pittsburgh. Most cities concentrated industry in the city proper. Pittsburgh's industry was spread out up and down three rivers. Aliquippa, Clairton, Mckeesport, Duquesne, Monesson, Homestead, and Braddock are perfect examples of satellite cities with a black population that rivaled Pittsburgh proper. All the cities listed had segregated black neighborhoods complete with black business districts. Clairton's main business district was Miller and St. Claire Avenue. Clairton's black business district was State St.. State street had its own post office, butcher, restaurants, salons, funeral home, and above all else the Downbeat and Hollywood Social Clubs. The Crow turned black in the 1940's and was previously a Croation Club for recent immigrants. The Crow still stands today on maple Ave and is now a black Pentecostal church. The chittlin / Chitterling music circuit would travel and perform in these satellite cities before giving final performaces in Pittsburgh's Hill district. All former industrial towns with a black presence still have local chapters of the NAACP. All of the cities listed also had sports rivalries with adult baseball teams that competed up until the 1990's.

If you want, you can useModerator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowedto look at racial data by census tract in Allegheny County as far back as 1940. I'm attaching a screen capture. It's zoomed out a bit, but with work if you know Pittsburgh geography you can figure it out.

One of the big unexplained things for me is why New Homestead was 30% black in 1940 but has next to no black people today. There was a lot of newer suburban development in the area bordering Munhall in the mid 20th century (and some more recent McMansions) but I wouldn't have expected the black community to vanish.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

If you want, you can useModerator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed to look at racial data by census tract in Allegheny County as far back as 1940. I'm attaching a screen capture. It's zoomed out a bit, but with work if you know Pittsburgh geography you can figure it out.

One of the big unexplained things for me is why New Homestead was 30% black in 1940 but has next to no black people today. There was a lot of newer suburban development in the area bordering Munhall in the mid 20th century (and some more recent McMansions) but I wouldn't have expected the black community to vanish.

The black communities were mostly located in the lower sections of the cities. As Industry increased black people were displaced by larger factories. During WWII the mills increased production and since New Homestead has a large riverfront blacks were most likely displaced by industry. This happened in Clairton, PA and there are still houses adjacent to the huge coke works plant. Clairton's black baseball field is in the shadow of the huge USS Coke Works plant. There are 50 - 100 foot slag piles right next to homes along the Peter's Creek area.

[wpipkins2]

Munhall was a white community and never had a black presence until recently.