ABSTRACT
Almost all the indicators Reynolds Farley and Albert Hermalin examine suggest that Blacks progressed to a significant extent. But almost all of the indicators show that a large gap persists between Whites and Blacks. In 1960, 94 percent of the non-White population identified themselves as Blacks. Rises in family income were greater among Blacks than among Whites. Median family income among Whites rose about 25 percent, while that of Blacks went up 40 percent, and as an outcome, the ratio of non-White to White income rose. The measures of racial differentiation imply that the income distributions of White and Black families have become more alike. Black families headed by a woman under 35 had incomes 90 percent as great as similar White families. Between 1960 and 1970, the ratio of non-White to White income rose, and this implies that the 1960s differed from the previous decade in terms of the progress made by Blacks who were entering the labor force.
