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FREEDOMWAYS                 SECOND QUARTER 1973

derogatory.6 Since the self-image of black people has been conditioned primarily by white estimation and judgment of blackness, it seems inevitable that blacks' estimate of themselves will be negative.

Equally important as the historical maltreatment on the psychological development of black people, has been environmental influence. Presently three out of every four blacks live in the city. A million-and-a-half left the South in the years 1950-1960. Of the blacks who live in the North ninety-five percent now live in cities.7 Eleven metropolitan areas have black communities of between 200,000 and one million: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, and New Orleans.8 Now the largest percentage of blacks (of the total population) is in Washington, D.C.; the largest concentration of black Americans in an urban ghetto area is in Chicago, and the largest number of black Americans live in New York City.9

Black people came to urban centers with great expectations and hopes for a better life. However, as whites left these areas where blacks were locating, signs of congestion, deterioration and total depreciation grew more apparent as time passed. In short, ghetto dwellers' expectations fall victim to the dirt, the filth and neglect of their communities.

One of the greatest problems of life in Afro-America is the problem of poor housing and is common to all living in the black community. In Harlem, the Mecca of black America, over 232,792 people live within a radius of 3 1/2 square miles. This is more than 100 people per acre. Ninety percent of Harlem's 87,369 residential buildings are more than thirty-three years old and nearly half of them were built before 1900.10

In general, the condition of all but the newest buildings is poor. Eleven percent were classified as dilapidated by 1960 Census. Over thirty-three percent of the buildings were considered extremely deteriorated. They need more repair than would be provided in the course of regular maintenance.11 There are more people, in fewer rooms, than anywhere else in the city Yet, the rents and profits from Harlem are unusually high. Ellen Lurie has documented this by saying, "In the early sixties in decontrolled buildings a single room may cost as much as thirty-five dollars a week."12

It has been said by many social scientists that the best single index of a community's general health is its infant mortality rate. For Harlem, this rate in 1968 was 48.8 per 1,000 live births compared to 26.2 for New York City.13 Poor housing conditions, malnutrition,

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