Between 1910 and 1960, the Great Migration saw 6 million African Americans move from the rural South to the industrial North. Through public policy and private action, the black migrants were largely segregated into neighborhoods that were almost exclusively black. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 required the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to take “affirmative” steps to end housing discrimination and promote integration. But 45 years of the federal housing discrimination ban has failed to break up that segregation. Move your mouse over the national map to see the how the segregation formed during the Great Migration and click on the city maps to see to the right of the national map how, despite the law, segregation has remained firmly intact in the nation’s most segregated cities.
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1940

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28 years before the FHA.

Black Population

5%   - 15%

15% - 30%

30% - 45%

45% - 60%

60%+

(Source: NHGIS and Map USA)