Gains by Blacks Became Stalled, Study Contends

A panel of leading scholars has concluded that the economic and social gains made by black Americans beginning in the 1940s effectively stopped in the last two decades and warned that the problems of poverty, segregation, teen-age parenthood and joblessness among blacks could worsen in coming years.

The report issued Thursday by a committee of the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said that about a third of the black population will continue to be poor and the employment and earnings status of black men relative to white men is likely to deteriorate further.

“A substantial majority of black Americans will remain contributors to the nation, but improvements in their status relative to whites are likely to slow even more as the rate of increase of the black middle class is likely to decline,” the panelists said.

‘Culture of Poverty’

In looking for causes for the slowed gains among blacks, the panel emphasized the continuing impact of racial discrimination and said that voluminous evidence “throws serious doubt” on the idea of a “culture of poverty.” The reference was to the theory of some social scientists that the condition of poor blacks has not improved because their values, aspirations and behavior are different than that of middle-class whites.

“A legacy of discrimination and segregation continues to affect black-white relations,” Gerald Jaynes, a Yale University professor who directed the study, said Thursday at a news conference.

Whites accept the principle of equal treatment for blacks, he said, but “in practice, many whites are reluctant or refuse to participate in social settings where significant numbers of blacks are present.”

The report, which took four years and cost $2.7 million, summarized its findings with a bleak assessment. “Americans face an unfinished agenda: Many black Americans remain separated from the mainstream of national life under conditions of great inequality.”