ENVS 228: Environmental Racism 

Stop in at the Reference Desk in Seymour Library: 

• Mon-Thur: 10am-4:30pm, 6-10pm

• Fri: 10am-4:30pm

• Sun: 1pm-5pm, 6-10pm

Or contact Laurie Sauer (x7788) the librarian liaison for the Environmental Studies department.

Data on the labor market, employment and unemployment rates is available at two sites:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment
  
• For Illinois, see the Illinois Dept. of Employment Security, Local Area Unemployment data collection

U.S. Census Data with Maps

The American FactFinder website from the Census Bureau is the best place to get data from the last census. The tabular data for the Galesburg zip code area (61401) is here. This Fact Sheet gives general demographic characteristics, some social characteristics (marriage, disability status, etc.), some economic characteristics, and housing characteristics.

When viewing the tabular data, notice the links on the right to "map."

Clicking on that link gives you a map showing the data for that area. Use the zoom function to display the data at the census tract level.

U.S. Census Data: Detailed Data Sets

For more detailed information from the 2000 census for specific areas or neighborhoods within Galesburg, you will need to view the data by census tract, block group, or block. (NOTE: A tract encompasses a block group, and a block group is comprised of blocks.)

To find out which blocks or block groups comprise the neighborhood you are interested in:

1. Go to the American FactFinder home page.
2. Mouseover the link to "Maps" on the left navigation menu.
3. Select - Reference Map (boundaries)
4. Type in the zip code (61401) and click the "2000 Census Tracts and Blocks" radio button.
5. The map will display, but you'll need to zoom in on Galesburg to see the block group and block level information.
6. Use the link on the left to "Reposition on... a street address..."
7. Also, you can change the features on the map by clicking on the link "Change... Boundaries and features."

The resulting map should look something like this one for the Knox College area (Block 2028, Block Group 2, Census Tract 8):

Once you have the right census divisions (tract, block group or block numbers), you can get detailed information for those specific areas:

1. Go to the American FactFinder home page.
2. Mouseover the link to "Data sets" on the left navigation menu.
3. Select - Decennial Census
4. The "Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data" will be marked. From the list on the right, choose "Detailed tables."
5. In the drop-down list for "Select a geographic type" choose the census division you are interested in seeing data for.

6. Select the state, the county, the census tract, block group or block from the lists that are presented.
7. Click the ADD button.
8. Click the NEXT button
9. Select tables from the list, clicking the ADD button after each table. You'll see the tables added to the box at the bottom.
10. When you are finished adding tables, click the SHOW RESULT button to see the data tables.

To get tables with income and other economic data, repeat the steps above, except, in step #3, don't accept the default dataset, but, rather, choose "Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) - Sample Data" and proceed with clicking on the "Detailed Tables" link.

1990 Census

Use the American FactFinder site - Click on "Data Sets" menu item in the left navigation menu, then on the 1990 Census tab. Continue with the instructions for finding block group or tract data as above. Caveat: The tract boundaries between the 1990 census and the 2000 census may have changed. Compare the 1990 and 2000 tract boundaries (using the mapping feature of American Factfinder as described above) of your neighborhood to determine if the 1990 census tract numbers are the same as the 2000 census tract numbers.

1980, 1970 Census

The census data from the 1980 and 1970 cenusus are in the Finley Room on the second floor of Seymour Library, however, the data at the tract level for the 1980 or the 1970 census is not available (data for places, e.g., cities and towns, is included in these data sets). The 1970 census was conducted at the tract level only for larger metropolitan areas, and, presumably, the 1970 census for Galesburg wasn't done at the tract (or smaller) level. Data from the 1980 census was, apparently, collected at the tract level for most of the nation, however, the Library does not have access to those data. Some commercial publishers like GeoLytics sell the data.

1960 and Earlier Censuses

For the earlier censuses, the data were collected (and reported) at the level of a civil division, such as county, city or township. There is no data on the level of tract or block group or block. The earlier census data is available in Seymour Library in the Finley Room on the second floor and is also online at the University of Virginia Library's Historical Census Browser.

Galesburg was the research focus of Knox Professor J. Howell Atwood from 1930-1960. Atwood developed the sociology department at Knox and used Galesburg as an area of study. One of his main interests was in racial issues. The Archives (Seymour Library, second floor) holds his papers. Amongst the papers is the document Statistics on Galesburg, which is a statistical summary of the demographic characteristics of Galesburg up to 1950, with some data on the social characteristics. [About this source... The accompanying archival material provides no information about how Atwood collected the data, although it is likely he relied on census data. One should use Atwood's material with caution, knowing he may have gathered the data from unknown, and possibly varied, sources and methods.]