1950s - Residential Segregation

According to the 1950 Census figures, Charlotte becomes one of the most residentially segregated cities in the US.

• Divided by both race and class, blacks now live primarily in the northwest section of town. 
• Upper-middle-class whites live in the southeast, and lower-middle-class whites move into the southwest and northeast. 
• Blacks and whites live in separate worlds. Most black men are manual laborers; half of the black women in Charlotte work as domestics in white households. 
• The average white person completes 12 years of schooling; the average black only six grades. High school education for a black child is not yet widely available in North Carolina. 
• In accordance with state and local laws, Charlotte has segregated schools, parks, swimming pools, playgrounds, and cemeteries. 
• No black person has held any significant position in local government since the 1890s.