Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Berkeley, California, is a compact city of 111,268 residents, housed within 9.7 square miles, with a resulting population density of 11,471 per square mile—one of the highest in northern California. It is a city of socioeconomic contrasts. The “Flats,” encompassing the western two-thirds of the city, is a low-lying area containing the city's major business and industrial areas. Here, too, live the vast majority of Berkeley's minority groups and low-income families. The “Hills,” which comprises the eastern one-third, is solidly residential, predominantly Caucasian, and generally expensive. Bisecting the Hills and stretching briefly into the Flats is the University of California, Berkeley's major landmark.
Editors' Note: This is a report, condensed by the staff of the Law & Society Review, of Professor Heyman's larger study (“Race and Education in Berkeley, California” 126 pp.), conducted in 1965–66 for the United States Office of Education.