Race as a Factor in Municipal Underbounding

A major redistribution of the black population in the Yazoo Delta in Mississippi occurred between 1940 and 1980. Almost 20 percent of the blacks now live within one mile of the corporate limits of the region's 57 municipalities. Federal housing programs that were initiated during the War on Poverty in the 1960s have been significant in the concentration of blacks in the municipal fringes. Twelve municipalities for which the political limits significantly underbound the black population were identified for detailed study. For political reasons, white-controlled municipal governments have refused to annex new black residential areas or have selectively expanded the corporate boundaries to exclude the neighborhoods. Racial discrimination in annexation has resulted in federal court suits under the Civil Rights Act and in efforts to incorporate unannexed areas as new municipalities. Municipal underbounding because of race demonstrates that race relations in the nonmetropolitan South have evolved from overt basic problems to more sophisticated spatial issues.