> black poverty was already decreasing before the 1960s

All poverty was decreasing before the 60s. Black poverty was just decreasing much more slowly than whites. So let’s talk about the times leading up to the 60s.

In 1947, half (49%) of all college students were military veterans, going to school on their GI Bills ($137 billion government money spent in today’s dollars). However since blacks were straight up banned from southern universities, and effectively banned from northern ones, of the few black veterans able to collect at all, 95% ended up in unaccredited or underfunded black universities, while whites filled the ivy league. Since being an alumni gives your children and grandchildren preference, whites are still directly benefiting while blacks were shut out.

By 1955, nearly a third of all post war home loans had been GI bill loans ($316 billion in todays dollars). However, since blacks were banned from buying homes in white neighborhoods (otherwise known as any desirable neighborhood) and banks would just deny black loans in black neighborhoods, they were unable to buy homes, and the few homes they were able to buy were in the least desirable areas. In places where black veterans made up almost 40% of the veteran population, 99% of approved GI home loans still went to whites. The overall homeownership gap between whites and blacks doubled from pre to post-WWII.

Since home values skyrocketed in value over the next several decades, homeownership and education are the cornerstones of wealth generation and intergenerational wealth, and a college leads to much higher lifetime earnings, is it any surprise that white wealth boomed along with the post-WWII economy and black wealth didn’t? Is it any wonder that the children of the now financially secure post-WWII white families also did well and benefited from their preferential legacy college admissions and financial freedom and security of their family? The US government handed out $450 billion in today’s money, over 95% going to whites, allowing them to own homes and get valuable educations during the biggest economic boom in the country’s history.

So no, black poverty wasn’t slowed by welfare, it was just that white poverty was massively cut (and white intergenerational wealth increased) with home ownership and education, while being denied to blacks. While welfare is, and was, not perfect, it is not the primary driver or cause of black inequality in the US.

> Thomas Sowell's books (and listened to some conversations on YouTube), I remember reading statistics proving the opposite.

Tomas Sowell is a perfect example of the phrase “data without context is meaningless”, where he basically blames violent “ghetto culture” caused by liberal welfare and public housing, while ignoring actual economic activities going on. Things like the massive amount of urban decline (or urban decay) that has happened across the US in the last 50 years. Something that has economically disadvantaged and trapped people of all races, but blacks most of all due to the redlining and white flight to the newly built suburbs in the 50s and 60s (that blacks weren’t allowed to buy). The massive drug war that directly targeted black individuals and neighborhoods, both by accident and by design, and the subsequent explosion of imprisoned blacks. Funny how drug use rates between whites and blacks are basically the same, but blacks are 4-6 times more likely to be arrested, convicted, and have longer prison times for drug crimes. Even what I have talked about is only one part of the picture, but Sowell bends over backwards blame everything on welfare making blacks violent and lazy.