I’m doing a research project on the ethnic makeup of the region surrounding the Islamic Circle of North America Centre, on the corner of Granville and California.
It looks like there are some very wealthy areas nearby in Evanston, but I can’t find much other information.

Dr. Higley, do you have any information about the religions, ethnicities, or economic levels present in that area?

Claire

Thanks for your great response! I think that historical processes did indeed have a great deal to do with Blacks first settling in on the South Side of Chicago. Don’t forget that the stockyards were on this side of town and the heavy manufacturers always had some dreadful jobs that even the immigrants didn’t clamor for.

When Mrs. Potter Palmer built her mansion on Oak Street and Lake Shore Drive in the early 1890s, the mansions of Prairie Avenue were deserted by the Anglo Blue bloods whole scale during the following 20 years for the fashionable North side. Encroaching Horse-car/trolley lines and the Levy red light district also played a role in elite Chicago’s northward flight. Although it would take decades for other South side Chicago neighborhoods to decline (e.g. South Shore, Hyde Park, and Kenwood), the wholesale abandonment was indeed set in motion in at the turn of the century. Parts of Hyde Park and Kenwood would be able to hang on only through the efforts of the University of Chicago. Kenwood is currently being reborn as a solid middle class Black neighborhood.

Although I have no first hand knowledge, I do think that your hypothesis that nouveau riche Blacks are not “comfortable” in wealthy white neighborhoods might have some validity. It would be an interesting research topic.

In light of your observations about the ethnic make-up of the wealthiest suburbs, the 2000 Census clearly shows that the old WASP elite is in serious decline. I looked at entire suburbs instead of individual neighborhoods as this was the finest detail I could find on Ancestry in the Census. I analyzed four of the wealthiest suburbs: Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Lake Forest.

The ethnic group that is most widely represented in these four suburbs are Germans. They came in first in Lake Forest (22.3%), Winnetka (23.1%), and in Glencoe (16.0%). Germans were third in Kenilworth (20.6%).

The Irish were first in Kenilworth and a close second to the Germans in Winnetka. They were also second to the Germans in both Lake Forest and Glencoe. The WASPs could only manage a second in Kenilworth, and third in Winnetka and Lake Forest. The English fell to 4th in heavily Jewish Glencoe behind Russians. So much for the WASP ascendancy on Chicago’s North Shore. They only made up 22.1% in Kenilworth, 18.3% in Winnetka, 16.4% in Lake Forest, and a mere 10.7% in Glencoe.

What accounts for all of those blonde hair blue eyed people running around the North Shore in their BMWs? There are quite a few Scandinavians and Dutch roamin’ them thar suburbs. These Germanic people make-up an additional 9.7% of Kenilworth’s population, 9.6% of Lake Forest, and 9.0% of Winnetka.

Blacks and whites in Chicago prior to the “great migration” of poor southern blacks lived in very integrated neighborhoods with a large percentage of blacks residing in the North Shore area of Chicago (black pop was like 15k to 20k). It was not until the “lower class” relatively poor uneducated “redneck” blacks moved to the area during the great migration that restricted blacks from accessing upper middle, middle, and lower class white neighborhoods (note not all blacks from the southern migration were poor and uneducated, but the bulk of them were obviously). Following the influx of southern uneducated farming blacks whites gross generalized all blacks even the one’s that had been their neighbors for 30 years into one stereotyped bucked (very similar to today ie all blacks are poor & uneducated etc). They restricted upper class blacks from living in upper class white areas regardless of their class, education, and wealth. Also lower and middle class whites did the same even though they may not have been as wealthy or as educated as the black upper class. This would probably be the same middle class whose grandchildren now heavily populate the North Shore areas such as Winnetka and Glencoe etc.

The reason so many blacks lived on the South Side of Chicago and still do is all historically related to the early 1900’s. It was the only place the city would allow them to have land after the great migration. The historical contexts to a lot of your questions are very relevant even to today’s discussion as to why blacks with money do not populate these areas in higher numbers.

The question I believe you want to know is, why do upper class blacks, who now by law, are allowed to move into these areas choose not to at such a high rate. Clearly upper class Asians would have been subject to the same laws as blacks and restriction, but they seem to move into these elite north shore neighborhoods at higher rates than there upper class black counter parts.

In most cases i would have to assume for blacks it is psychological. I think those blacks that grew up upper middle class around whites in the north shore are probably the most likely group of upper class blacks to remain in predominately upper class white neighborhoods (very small percentage). However, I would suspect that blacks who grew upper class around other blacks would probably remain very suspicious of all white neighborhoods and tend to choose to live around other upper middle class blacks. I think there are two segments of black upper class just like there are two segments of white upper class. The first segment of black upper class does not mind integrating with white upper class and will do so at any available opportunity. The second set of black upper class grew up in the 1970’s during the pro-black era and most likely lived amongst other blacks and probably has a healthy distrust of whites in general, so they would choose to live around upper class blacks as opposed to upper class whites. There are two segments of white upper crust society the less racist segment (older more establish whites who have been wealthy for a few generations) and the new money more racist segment as they typically come from the lower white middle and poor segment.

I think when you’re trying to figure out why one group of upper class individuals live in one area you cannot discount race, education, and historical significance. I would be happy to hear how the whites treated their lower class as they were also subject to the great poor southern white migration and the influx of poor white immigration. Look at the transformation of the Irish in Boston. The Irish were the lowest people on the scale and now albeit illegal activities they practically run everything in the city of Boston and State of MA. However if you take a closer look you’ll notice that most Irish people in Boston are either poor or lower middle class (blue collar). The WASP still control the largest portion of the money and assets, but it would be interesting to take a look at that within the white community. I would be interested to hear the historical significance of how those whites who are currently the elite in Chicago’s north shore got there you know? Are they the decedents of the poor white southern farm families that moved there in the early 1920’s or are they the decedents of the immigrants of that same time period? It’s been talked about in the black community ad nausea for a decade now.

Oh PS where do i go to get the book?