RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology

Research Paper

The migration by people of African descent to the United States began in colonial times and continues to the present day. People of African descent began immigrating to what is now the United States well before the Revolutionary War. Most of these early immigrants were slaves from the Caribbean, who often settled in the port cities in which they landed. Over time, these black immigrants exerted a strong cultural influence on cities such as New Orleans and New York.

Other blacks immigrated to the United States from South America, most notably from Venezuela and Brazil. Since the 1990s, increasing numbers of black immigrants have come to the United States from Somalia and Ethiopia in North Africa, as well as from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal in sub-Saharan Africa.

All of these more recent immigrants have brought diverse traditions to the United States, and they continue to add to the rich diversity in cities such as New York, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Boston. Not all immigrants remain in the United States. Perhaps 80 percent are seasonal workers who return home after they finish working in this country.

Based on (a) racial prejudice, (b) lack of steppingstone jobs, (c) welfare programs, (d) low education levels, and (e) inferior trade skills, some feel America's leading minority groups will never become full-fledged, mainstream retail participants. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether African Americans and Native Americans display greater mainstream retail participation levels as they move from rural plantation and reservation areas into cities.

Literature Review

As noted by Perlmann and Waldinger (1998), eastern and southern European immigrants to the United States from 1890 to 1920 started at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. However, these eastern and southern Europeans worked extremely hard to achieve socioeconomic assimilation. With a diligent work ethic and with no difference between their own and the earlier immigrants' skin colors, the new Americans, by the third generation, usually surpassed descendants of those who came before them when it came to their purchases of mainstream goods.

However, studies by Gans (1992), Portes and Zhou (1992, 1993), and Rumbaut (1994) suggested that racial prejudice will hinder the ability of African Americans and Native Americans to fully participate in the American economic system. To further compound this skin color barrier, Nelson (1997) asserted that U.S. manufacturing job reductions, associated with the restructuring of the U.S. economy into a technology-based society, will not allow for a socioeconomic climb from proletarian to plumber to professional.

Others such as Brill (1994) further noted that individuals feel less obliged to assimilate, in part due to government support programs. Because of welfare assistance, she believed that non-Whites would remain in their own neighborhoods rather than venture out from them. As explained by Brill, the southern and eastern Europeans came to the United States, settled and/or congregated in close-knit, central-city neighborhoods and communities composed of individuals from their native lands, and entered the labor force as assembly-line workers. Due to necessity, these newcomers, who were not ...