Black-Friendly Businesses in Cities During the Civil Rights Era

Maggie Jones, Trevon Logan, David Rosé and Lisa Cook

No 26819, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Quantitative analysis of Black business districts and evidence on the magnitude of social change leading up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in particular as it relates to the accessibility of public accommodations, is limited. We combine newly digitized data on the precise geocoded location of nearly 6,000 Green Book establishments—public accommodations that were friendly towards African American clientele—across major urban areas with existing and new sources of data on social change to understand the dynamics of Black-friendly businesses within cities during the middle of the twentieth century. In doing so, we document a new set of facts. First, we show that the location and growth of Green Book establishments responded to economic forces. Second, we show that there was a large increase in the number of Green Book establishments in cities between 1939 and 1955. Third, for Green Book establishments located in cities for which the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) drew residential security maps, the vast majority (nearly 70 percent) were located in the lowest-grade, redlined neighborhoods. And finally, we show that 1950s urban renewal projects were related to the contraction of non-discriminatory businesses. Collectively, these facts suggest that more research on Black-owned and Black-friendly businesses is needed to fully understand the economics of urban change in the twentieth century.

JEL-codes: J15 L83 N32 N82 N92 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-lab, nep-ore and nep-ure
Note: DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as Maggie E.C. Jones & Trevon D. Logan & David Rosé & Lisa D. Cook, 2024. "Black-Friendly businesses in cities during the Civil Rights Era," Journal of Urban Economics, .

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