On June 19, 1865, emancipation was officially declared in the state of Texas, more than two full years after the Emancipation Proclamation and more than two full months after the pro-slavery rebellion was defeated in the Civil War. This day, thereafter called Juneteenth, marked the real end of the juridical and economic system of slavery in the United States, but in reality the political struggle for freedom continued and continues to this day in new forms.

Tomorrow, we celebrate this emancipation. But it is also a time for reflection on the legacies of freedom deferred.

To mark the day, we are highlighting some recent research on the state of economic mobility for Black Americans. While not an exhaustive list, these studies demonstrate both the long history of the aftermath of slavery and the persistence of racial inequality that continues to shape the U.S. economy and society.

New findings on restricted economic mobility for Black Americans
Two recent studies utilize new methodological innovations to examine the relationship between economic mobility and racial inequality, helping to shed light on the different ways mobility is continually restricted for Black Americans.

A 2022 working paper by Princeton University economist Ellora Derenoncourt analyzes the impact of the Great Migration of Black Americans out of the South in the early to mid-20th century on the future generations of these migrants. She constructs a novel database using several large data sources, including data on local government expenditures, private schools, crime, incarceration, and other variables spanning the period 1920 to 2015, as well as assembling U.S. Census data from 1900–1940.

Derenoncourt finds that the gains accrued by the first generation of Black Americans during the Great Migration dissipated with future generations. In fact, by the third generation, she finds that Black Americans whose grandparents migrated from the South to the North in the early 20th century have the same or worse economic outcomes as Black Americans whose grandparents did not move away from the South.

Derenoncourt explains that this erosion is due, at least in part, to backlash to the Great Migration, including racial terror, in Northern cities, where segregation was entrenched through White flight to the suburbs and public investments were siphoned from social infrastructure to policing.

According to Derenoncourt, without this backlash, the Black-White mobility gap would be 27 percent smaller.

New research on racial disparities in access to income supports
While there are numerous mechanisms restricting economic mobility for Black Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic recession—and the policy responses to it—provided an opportunity for researchers to analyze a specific factor: the current system of income support programs.

Read the full article about Black economic mobility by Shaun Harrison at Washington Center for Equitable Growth.