Background
At the December 2006 meeting of One Huntsville, the 2007 Race Relations Initiative was launched to
"revisit and re-vision race relations in our community," said Rev. Frank Broyles, Chair.
The Indicators Committee was charged with gathering data on the nature and extent of racial inequality in
Huntsville. This report is the end-product of the Committee's work. Its intent is to provide a starting point for
open discussions about ending disadvantage and racial inequities in Huntsville,
The indicators presented herein are limited by accessible public data by race for comparing blacks and
whites.
2005 Population
In the population of Huntsville reporting one race,
64.3% or 101,915 were white. 29.4% or 46,581 were black ; and 4,285 or 2.7% were Asian. Other racial
groups comprise the remainder.
Household Income
The median household income in the U.S. in 2005
was $46,318.
In 2000, the most recent year of income data by race, the median household
income in Huntsville was $48,401 for whites and $25,073 for blacks.
Business Ownership
In 2002, there were 14,886 businesses in the City of
Huntsville. Although 88% were white-owned, they generated 98% of the business receipts, $17.6M. The
remaining 1,802 or 12% were black-owned businesses that generated a meager $303,904, less than 2%
of business receipts. |
Home Ownership
Homeownership provides a foundation for financial security and is an important engine for wealth
accumulation. Nationally, black homeownership rates are still more than 25 percentage points below
those of whites.
In 2000, there were 41,121 owner-occupied housing units in Huntsville. Of this
number, 82% were owned by whites and 18% by blacks. Black homeownership was 64 percentage
points below whites.
Property Values
In 2000, the median value of owner-occupied housing in the U.S. was $119,600.
In Zip Codes
35802 and 35803 where the majority of residents are white, the median property values were $137,000
and $120,000, respectively.
In Zip Codes 35810 and 35816 where blacks are the majority, the
median property values were $65,00 and $70,000.
Public Housing
In 2005, only 29% of Huntsville residents were black, yet 84% of public housing residents are
black.
Poverty
Nationally, 13.3% of Americans were below
the poverty level in 2005.The percent in Alabama was 13.7. The percent in Huntsville was 13% or 20,685
persons. However, 7.3% were white and 26% were black.
Children in Poverty. Nationally, 18.5%
of children under age 18 were below poverty, and 21.3% of children under age 5 were below poverty. In
Huntsville, 4,595 or 73% of black children were below the poverty level, compared to 27% or 1,677 white
children.
Families in Poverty. Ten percent (10%) of all families in Huntsville were below poverty.
Female heads of households with children under 18 had the highest poverty level at 37.4%, and for those
with related children under 5 years only, the percentage was a staggering 61% in 2005. |
Reading/Math Proficiency
There were significant gaps in Reading and Math proficiency between black and white students in the
Huntsville City Schools during the 2005-06 school year.
Black high school students scored 1.21 in Reading, and 10.18 in Math. White high school students scored
13.85 in Reading and 24.04 in Math. Similar disparities were reported for Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8.
Educational Attainment
In the population over 25 years of age,
14,983 have not completed high school; 3.8% of whites have less than 9th grade, compared with 6.7% of
blacks
Voter Participation
In the 2004 election, a total of
179,412 individuals voted in Madison County. Only 17.5% of the active voters were black.
Crime
In 2005, there were 8,773 crimes in Madison County,
including homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle
theft. Of these crimes, 58% were committed by blacks and 42% were by whites.
Media
The 2005 Knight Foundation Newsroom Diversity Report for
The Huntsville Times indicates that only 5.5% of the newsroom staff was non-white, a drop from 11.5%; an
all-time high in 1994. |
