ABSTRACT
The historical legacy of slavery continues to affect where Afr i can Americans live at the end of the 20th century. The states w i t h the highest percentages of Afr i can Americans are all former slaveholding states: Miss iss ippi (35%), South Carol ina (30%), Louisiana (29%), Georgia (27%), Alabama (26%), M a r y l a n d (23%), and N o r t h Caro l ina (22%). Yet the Great M i g r a t i o n of the 20th century has also placed an indelible A f r i c a n Amer ican mark on the country's urban landscape. The largest populations of A f r i c a n Americans are in N e w York (2.1 mi l l ion) , Chicago (1.4 mi l l ion) , Detroit (800,000), Phi ladelphia (700,000), and Los Angeles (600,000). Large cities (those w i t h a populat ion of 300,000 or higher) wi th the greatest percentages of blacks are still mostly in the South: Washington, D C (70%), At lanta (67%), N e w Orleans, (55%) and M e m p h i s (40%), wi th the exception of Detroit (65%).
