Dissertation Defended, Dr. Michael Upchurch
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Michael Upchurch on his successful defense of his dissertation entitled “Historical Residential Segregation in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area: An Exploration of Location Attainment in 1940 L.A.” Dr. Upchurch defended his dissertation on October 11th, 2022. The committee members consisted of Ernesto Amaral, Arthur Sakamoto, Alex McIntosh, and Mark Fossett.
Dr. Upchurch dissertation’s results provide detailed insights into the nature of racial-ethnic segregation in Los Angeles in 1940 that extend beyond previous quantitative research. Because he use previously unavailable restricted-access data, the results provide the best available systematic assessment of White-Latino segregation in Los Angeles 1940. The main findings are that pan-ethnic minoritized groups are segregated from Non-Hispanic Whites with African-Americans experiencing the highest level of segregation followed by Asian-Americans and Latino-Americans. Among these groups, Latino co-residence with Whites is more strongly shaped by spatial assimilation dynamics, Black co-residence with Whites is only minimally shaped by spatial assimilation dynamics, and Asian co-residence with Whites falls in between. The findings of his analysis for 1940 Los Angeles closely reflect residential attainment patterns observable in recent years.