Invisible Experiences: Making a Living as a Minority in Muncie
The fortunes of Muncie’s Black residents would rise and fall with the city’s economy, but they were never as prosperous as their White neighbors. During the Gas Boom of the late nineteenth century, Muncie would attract a large influx of migrants from across the United States. Although neglected by the Lynds, Black Americans would become the most significant minority in the city, drawn there because they found it to be a comparatively open community.[1] While racism might not have been as prominent in Middletown compared to the Southern communities many Black migrants came from, they still faced hostility and discrimination. Later, in the twentieth century, Blacks would gain more civil protection and an increase in their standard of living, through well-paid factory jobs, at companies such as Borg-Warner, and by becoming prominent union members. Despite this improvement, there remained large racial disparities in areas such as housing and education. The city’s industrial decline during the late twentieth century would be especially damaging for them, as they shifted into low paying service jobs. The effects of deindustrialization have made it very difficult for many Blacks in the city to achieve upward economic mobility.
The mass movement of African Americans to the industrial hubs in the north of the United States is often referred to as the Great Migration. Two spikes in this movement occurred between 1915-1930 and then again from 1940-1970. These influxes increased the Black population in urban areas, as migrants searched for work that was more difficult to find in the South.[2] The Great Migration continued its spread northward and its impact can be seen through the experiences of people such as Annie Rose Johnston, whose family moved from Georgia to New Jersey. This experience was common for the African-American community, as the father’s often chose to move so that they could best provide for their children and open up more opportunities than would have been possible had they stayed in the south.[3] Although Muncie was not as large as other Northern urban centers, it was still an attractive destination because of the economic opportunities it offered during and after the Gas Boom and its relatively calm racial atmosphere. As a result, the local Black population increased by 140% from 1890 to 1910, going from 418 to 1,005 Black members of the community.[4]
