Back in the 1950's and early 60's blacks generally were on the east side of Wilmington, east of Walnut St. The west side was the various European ethnic groups. Now the front street area, aka MLK BLVD today also was a poor neighborhood heading from the train station towards Justison Street towards where I-95 cuts through the city. The only Hispanic population was small and was limited to only Puerto Ricians (think West Side Story). There were a couple of streets in Newark, that was considered the "negro section of Newark" back then. It ran along Cleveland Avenue where the car dealers are today to where 896 intersects and heads north a couple of blocks. I worked with a guy a number of years ago, a black guy, who lived in that part of Newark. He said that there was an unwritten rule, that we were not welcomed on Main St. So we went to Downtown Wilmington to shop and go to the movies, etc. I forget the name of the movie theatre he said they went to see movies back then in town. I lived near Newark back then in what then would have been the fifth largest town in Delaware, if they had incorporated, Brookside. So I went to Newark all the time riding my bike to Main St. to see a movie. My friend was right, I don't remember ever seeing blacks other than on Cleveland Ave, or in Wilmington. I also never saw any signs that said Whites only, etc. But apparently the city fathers of Newark back then must have made it very clear the black tax paying citizens of Newark would have to take their money and business to town, meaning Wilmington.
Once the civil rights act passed in I believe it was 1964, then of course the black population started moving towards the west side of the city as folks could no longer legally not sell their homes to minorities. The city also caused this to happen due to Popular Street Project A. The city along with the Feds, were going to build nice homes for low income people aka today as Section 8 housing on the east side, and as any thing the city of Wilmington seems to do (usually with poor planning) they torn down a major section of the east side so that at Rodney Square you could see the Delaware River. It took quite a few years for those new houses to be built. Well those folks needed someplace to live, so they moved west and then white flight took wings in a major way. Then the riot of 1968 right after the assassination of if Martin Luther King pretty much put the final nail into the coffin known as Downtown Wilmington and white flight really increased.
As years passed and the population of middle class blacks grew in America, they also moved into the older suburban developments that circle around the perimeter of Wilmington with the heaviest concentration along New Castle Ave (Rt9) heading towards the Del Memorial Bridge. Today, of course the metro area is well blended so all groups can be found living almost everywhere, other than maybe Greenville, Hockessin, and Centerville. That's what I remember. There may be others who remember more detail and can fill in the blanks better, but that gives you a general overview.
