The Invisible Black Middle Class

This article investigates black middle class invisibility in research on black urban geography, which is the result of a focus on the spatial concentration of black urban poverty. I offer an alternative interpretation of a key assumption in the urban poverty literature - the black middle class out-migration hypothesis (Wilson, 1987). Using spatial demographic and qualitative data from Chicago, I argue that a wide lens view of the black community exposes substantial and unrecognized class heterogeneity. Black middle class out-migration has occurred steadily in history, but racial segregation ensures that the black middle class continues to live near and among poor blacks. The observed increase in class segregation among African Americans can be accounted for by the numerical increase in the size of the black middle class and a spatial enlargement of their residential enclaves. This analysis highlights the unequal ecological context of whites and blacks.