MONTPELIER, Vt. — John Tucker is sticking it out in Vermont, but he isn't urging his three grown children to join him.
''Would you be interested in being Jackie Robinson?'' asked Tucker, who is a rare black in northern New England.
The region's three states are the whitest in the country, according to 2000 census figures: Maine is 96.9 percent white, just ahead of Vermont (96.7 percent) and New Hampshire (96 percent).
Each state grew slightly more diverse during the 1990s, but their minority populations remain proportionately the smallest in the country.
One theory on the lack of diversity is that northern New England did not have the industries of Detroit or Chicago to draw southern blacks during the 1930s and '40s, said Deirdre Mageean, a demographer at the University of Maine.
All three states have enjoyed record-low unemployment – under 3 percent – for much of the past decade. But until the 1990s, many industrial mainstays – machine tools, shoes, textiles – were in decline.
Tucker, who works on issues of race for a Burlington advocacy group, said the region isn't particularly attractive to people of color.
He cited the small numbers of others from the same background with whom to socialize, limited job opportunities and cultural offerings.
''I think if you're young and black and starting a family, there's not much happening for black folks in these states,'' he said.
The region's minority populations did grow during the 1990s.
New Hampshire was 98 percent white in 1990. Since then, its Asian population has climbed from 0.8 percent of the state population to 1.2 percent last year. And its black population grew by 26 percent, more than twice the overall population growth rate.
But that 26 percent growth came on a tiny population base in a small state – New Hampshire's 2000 population was about 1,236,000. Maine's population was about 1,275,000 and Vermont's about 608,000.
Elsewhere in New England, Rhode Island is 85 percent white, Massachusetts is about 84.5 percent white and Connecticut is about 81.6 percent white.
Richard Haynes, an artist who lives in Portsmouth, N.H., said he has felt pressure to excel in order to be accepted. He said his photography and painting have received favorable reviews in local and regional media, but advertising agencies have turned him down.
''If I had to depend on New Hampshire for my commercial life, I would starve,'' said Haynes, 51, who is black.
''So when I tell my African-American friends about New Hampshire, I tell them, 'If you come up here, you definitely have to bring yourself a trade with you, a trade you can do all on your own or you're not going to survive.' ''
Bonnie Johnson-Aten, an assistant principal at a Burlington middle school, moved to Vermont in 1985 from New York. She said things are improving for minorities.
''African-American hair requires certain (techniques),'' she said. ''I'd have to go to New York every three or four months to get my hair done.''
Now, there are two shops in the Burlington area where Johnson-Aten can get her hair done.
In all, 10 states are more than 90 percent white. The others are West Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Kentucky.
The states with the smallest percentage of whites were Hawaii, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland and Georgia.
To top of page
|
