However, the census started to geocode enumeration districts only starting with the 1980 census. Starting with the city of Chicago, I have begun to assemble a consistent database which allows researchers to follow the movement of ethnic groups across Chicago on the block level starting from 1910. I have included two maps of Chicago documenting the spread of the black ghetto between 1940 and 1950.
Tract boundaries are slightly thicker than block boundaries.
Yellow blocks indicate an African American share of between one and 5 percent, while black blocks contain more than 75 percent blacks. Red-colored blocks of varying intensity indicate an intermediate share of African Americans in the population. Chicago in 1950 All documents can be viewed as pdf files in Adobe Acrobat. If you do not have a copy of the free viewer, please follow the link to Adobe's Homepage to download your complimentary copy.