ABSTRACT
AFRICAN AMERICAN PMW ARE VIEWED AS HAVING A REJUVENATING AND stabilizing effect on urban communities. Their absence is, conversely, credited with hastening urban decay. One way in which their presence is believed to benefit the larger population in urban black communities is through the vaguely conceived process of role modeling (Anderson 1990). In emphasizing the significance of the current “revitalization process,” Horowitz also reports that Harlem lost its positive role models when black PMW left the area in droves during the 1970s (1997). This writer portrays the “black middle class” as the cornerstone of both the community’s economic vitality and its psyche.
