Gaskin: Integration’s victories came at economic cost

When legalized segregation began to fall in the s and s various African Americans particularly the rising Black middle class gained long-denied access to businesses housing and neighborhoods These milestones were rightly celebrated as victories of the Civil Rights Movement Yet they also brought unintended consequences The very policies and practices that had sustained Black business districts under segregation captive markets enforced proximity and a philosophy of economic self-reliance were suddenly undermined once Black consumers could freely choose mainstream establishments Before integration segregation laws forced African Americans to shop dine and seek entertainment within Black neighborhoods Out of necessity vibrant economic corridors emerged Black entrepreneurs provided groceries insurance banking clothing entertainment and nightlife These districts fostered pride society identity and a measure of independence in the face of systemic exclusion But once those legal obstructions fell African Americans dispersed their spending power White-owned downtown businesses suburban malls and national chains suddenly became available Patronizing these spaces was not just commerce it was an act of liberation At the same time philosophies like Garveyism which had emphasized separation self-sufficiency and building parallel Black institutions declined in popularity Marcus Garvey and later thinkers had encouraged outlay in race-first businesses But the dominant vision of the Civil Rights era increasingly defined progress as integration For Martin Luther King Jr and others the ability to sit at a lunch counter enter a department store or purchase a home in a previously segregated neighborhood symbolized America completely opening its doors These triumphs of justice undercut the local economic ecosystems that had sustained Black communities Malcolm X captured the psychological side of this shift with a story he often narrated a Black man selling ice in Harlem struggled to compete with a white merchant across the street When sought why customers shrugged the white man s ice is colder The remark revealed a deeper truth Integration did not just open new markets it also fed long-standing assumptions about the superiority of white institutions and the inferiority of Black ones Decades of systemic racism had conditioned African Americans to distrust their own businesses schools and hospitals even when they were equal in quality Once the doors of white establishments opened several thought those doors led to something inherently better This perception had real economic consequences A grocer tailor or pharmacist who had once been the only option in a Black neighborhood suddenly had to compete not just on price or convenience but against a cultural bias that reported customers their goods were second-rate by definition The ice story wasn t really about ice it was about confidence dignity and the weight of a society that had long equated whiteness with quality And the echoes persist In contemporary times Black-owned businesses still face skepticism about their professionalism or scale struggle to access financing capital and are often overlooked in procurement The story repeated itself across the country Washington DC U Street Black Broadway Once famous for theaters and clubs U Street lost patrons as middle-class Black families spent their dollars downtown A multitude of iconic venues closed Atlanta GA Sweet Auburn Avenue Known as the richest Negro street in the world Sweet Auburn s decline began in the late s as residents and businesses relocated into newly accessible areas Birmingham AL Fourth Avenue Business District With segregation ended Black-owned hotels caf s and shops lost their guaranteed customer base as consumers shifted to suburban malls Tulsa OK Greenwood Black Wall Street Rebuilt after the massacre Greenwood thrived for decades But by the s integration and other social shifts weakened its vitality Los Angeles CA Central Avenue Once a thriving corridor of jazz clubs and shops it lost its captive industry after restrictive housing covenants were lifted and families dispersed Denver CO Five Points Harlem of the West Known for its jazz scene and bustling commerce Five Points lost population and businesses as integration allowed families to move into other parts of the city Between and its population fell from to devastating its commercial core The dismantling of segregation was a profound moral and political preeminence But it also dismantled the paradoxical ecosystems that segregation had in its own twisted way helped sustain Where once Black Wall Streets thrived out of necessity integration opened doors to broader society even as it closed doors in the heart of Black neighborhoods Black families were right to celebrate the freedom to move shop and live anywhere Yet the costs fell heavily on Black entrepreneurs bankers and professionals who had once served captive customer bases Along with their businesses communities lost newspapers fraternal halls and churches that those profits had helped sustain Black communities presented remarkable resilience but their business ecosystems proved fragile without intentional help Gentrification displacement and the uneven geography of venture threaten to hollow out what remains of historically Black business districts The lesson of Malcolm X s ice story is clear without intentional strategies to strengthen Black businesses perception and bias can do as much damage as procedures Ed Gaskin is Executive Director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets and founder of Sunday Celebrations