The existing literature on southern cities suggests that the older ones are less segregated residentially than the newer ones. This generalizations, however, has been mainly on case studies of individual cities and upon impressionistic observations. This study examines current (1960) levels of residential segregation by color in seventy-six southern cities and finds that the popular generalization tends to be true. The historical pattern of "backyard" residence, which emerged in the ante bellum Sout under slavery, has apparently survived into the present, dispite the passage of a hundred years. Even when other relevant variables are controlled, there continues to be a negative association between age of the city and current level of segregation.
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Schnore et al. (1966) studied this question.