Artifacts of the residential segregation that occurred beginning in the early 1900s are still present today (e.g., Osypuk, Galea, McArdle, & Acevedo-Garcia, 2009; Williams, 1999). McKinnon and Humes (2000) reported that although Non-Hispanic European Americans account for approximately 70% of the total U.S. population, only one-fifth (21.7%) live in inner cities; in contrast, while African Americans account for about 12% of the total U.S. population, more than one-half of them (55%) live in inner cities. Acevedo-Garcia and colleagues (2008) examined opportunities for growth and development of children in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States where children reside and found that 76% of African American children lived under worse conditions than the worst off European American children. Similarly, Sampson and Wilson (1995) concluded that the worst urban context in which European Americans reside is significantly better than the average context of African American communities.
