The decrease in Black residents in Chattanooga and Hamilton County over the past decade is the result of choices made by politicians and civic elites in the area, according to a presentation Sunday by Kenneth Chilton, associate professor of public administration at Tennessee State University.
In the 21st century, Chattanooga was successful in branding itself as a destination for tourists, as well as a landing spot for young entrepreneurs and a certain demographic, Chilton said.
“Branding, creating a brand and then marketing that nationwide, Chattanooga has done an excellent job of getting their story out to The New York Times, to NPR, to tech industry people, doing tourism and things like that,” Chilton said. “And part of that was to reverse white flight, to bring back higher-paying jobs, higher-paying earners back to our downtowns, back to our inner-urban neighborhoods.”
Chilton’s presentation launched a week of virtual events for this year’s MLK Week, sponsored by the Unity Group. Eric Atkins from the Unity Group said the presentation was in response to concerns about the city following the 2020 census.
The results of the 2020 census, released in August 2021, showed the population of people identifying themselves as only Black or African American in both Chattanooga and Hamilton County declined from 2010 to 2020. The Black population in Hamilton County in 2020 was down by 3,504 people from 2010.