Almost 120 years ago, African American domestic workers settled in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, where they held Fourth of July parades, patronized shops on Horne Street and lived for several generations in what seemed like a small town within the big city.
But many young families started moving away at the end of the last century, leaving behind small frame houses ready for renovation. An economic boom in Fort Worth helped make that possible. Hispanics who came from Mexico and Central America to work in construction, manufacturing and service jobs moved in, refurbished the homes and helped revitalize the area.
The new arrivals have changed not only the Como neighborhood but surrounding Tarrant County, one of a growing number of places in the U.S. where white residents no longer make up the majority. No racial or ethnic group does.
New data from the Census Bureau due to be released Thursday will map the scope of that demographic transformation over the last decade. The numbers are expected to show dozens of counties across 18 states, largely in the South and Southwest, that no longer have a majority racial or ethnic group. The non-Hispanic white population is expected to shrink for the first census on record.
The estimates suggest that about 113 million people – a third of all Americans – now live in a plurality county.