“hand, it became increasingly clear that many problems that U.S.

Blacks faced were not due solely to racial discrimination. While many African-
Americans benefited from the changed legislative climate, many others did not.

Class factors were equally important. Many Blacks endured downward social
mobility from the working-class center. The downwardly mobile—those who
lost their jobs and failed to find new ones—joined a growing population of poor
Blacks that had been on the bottom all along.This growing group on the bottom,
often referred to as the “Black underclass,” was not the cause of Black economic
disadvantage but, instead, constituted one outcome.”