Several decades ago, an academic named Scott Cummings wrote a book entitled, “Left Behind in Rosedale.” It was about the very rapid decline of a large area in Fort Worth, Texas during the 1970s, as the black population exploded and white residents fled. It was a very stark transformation: From 1950 to 1990, Rosedale went from roughly 100% white to more than 80% black. At the time, pretty much every commentator was describing this phenomenon — which was also taking place all over the country, in hundreds of different cities — as “white flight.” These commentators derided white people as bigots for fleeing the wonders of diversity. But none of these commentators spent any time investigating what happened to the whites who, for one reason or another, *remained* in urban areas as this demographic shift took place. Oftentimes, these whites were elderly and poor, so they had no choice but to remain where they were. What happened to them, Scott Cummings asked?
Left Behind In Rosedale, by Scott Cummings, Copyright 1998 by Westview Press, Basic Books, A Member of Perseus Books, L.L.C.
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