Most are in neighborhoods in western Rockingham near U.S. 220. Bob Carter, a historian at Rockingham Community College, says one reason those areas have fewer nonwhite residents may lie in their history. A lot of blacks moved to Reidsville in the 19th century to work in tobacco factories, and so you have descendants from them still living in the area. Neighborhoods are more diverse than 10 years ago, and nonwhite residents are blending more evenly into the local fabric. It is the percentage of a minority group that would have to move to new neighborhoods to achieve perfect integration.
Lower numbers mean higher integration.
Rockingham's dissimilarity index in 2000 was 39, the lowest of any county in the Piedmont Triad. It means Rockingham's nonwhite residents are more spread out than in any of the surrounding counties. But there still a lot places in the county that blacks and other minorities don't live because they are restricted by their income. Michael Pearce, Reidsville's community development director, believes the city's large minority population has made it more diverse than other Rockingham towns. Betty Price attributes her neighborhood' s diversity to young blacks and Hispanics moving into homes vacated by older, white residents who have died or moved away.