Making it in America: Differences Between Eminent Blacks and White Ethnic Groups

Jewish Educational and Economic Success in the United States: A Search for Explanations

“…Finally, through the 1940s, their representation in Who's Who was less than the overall American average and considerably less than for those of British background; by the 1970s, though, their representation was close to 2.5 times the national average and double the British and by the mid-1990s, more than 4.5 times Ayal et al (1983) 136 percent of median income among men, 145 percent among women 1957 Goldstein (1969) $2,986 above grand mean income 1967 Featherman (1971) 155 percent of non-Jews mean earnings 1970 B. Chiswick (1983) 136 percent of Protestant earnings, if raised Jewish or Protestant; 159 percent for current religion 1973 to 1980 Tomes (1984) 147 percent of non-Jews' income overall, 129 percent next-highest group 1972 to 1980 Homola et al (1987) 138 percent of non-Jews ' earnings 1974' earnings to 1986' earnings B. Chiswick (1993 180 percent of mainline Protestants' wages 1995 Lehrer (2005) 246 percent of Protestants' earned income, 1999: 243 percent of Catholics 1999 Steen (2004) the national average and close to 6 times the British average (Table 5; Lieberson and Carter 1979;McDermott 2002).…”

Too Many Preachers? Black Participation in the Ministry in Northern U.S. Cities during the Great Migration

“…This interpretation, furthermore, sheds light on why the ministry was a significant ethnic niche for blacks in northern cities during the early twentieth century. A popular account of blacks’ high level of participation in the ministry in the urban North during this time is that this occupation was a primary route of upward social mobility for blacks because racial discrimination closed off other avenues and “channeled” ambitious blacks into “churches and religious orders” (Light 1972:136; see also Lieberson and Carter 1979:352). Yet, there is more to this account, according to the present investigation.…”

“…Employment in the ministry is a form of religious participation that is worthy of analysis, too, because the ministry was a significant occupation for blacks in the early twentieth century. During this time, it was a pathway into the elite stratum of black America (Lieberson and Carter 1979:352) and was often a means of livelihood for those blacks who suffered economic dislocations, most notably, the southern blacks who moved to the urban North during the first wave of the Great Migration, circa 1915–1930 (Boyd 1998, 2006). The findings of the study, it will be argued, add to knowledge about church participation, urbanism, and the occupational niches of ethnic groups.…”

Galileo's Children: Italian Americans' Difficult Entry into the Intellectual Elite

“…Accordingly, research on elites is frequently qualitative in nature, which makes for difficulties in estimating with any precision the representation of minority ethnic and racial groups. To date, quantitative studies of racial and ethnic elite representation have mainly utilized Who's Who listings (see Davidson, Pyle, and Reyes 1995; Lieberson and Carter 1979; McDermott 2002; cf. Alba and Moore 1982).…”