Handlin Analyzes Racial Problems In Third Volume of Regional Study

The Newcomers, third volume in a unique study of metropolitan New York by the Graduate School of Public Administration, reaches book stands today. In it, Oscar Handlin, professor of History, assesses the position of Negroes and Puerto Ricans in a changing metropolis.

"Nothing like this Region Study has even been done," declared Raymond Vernon, professor of International Trade and Investment, and director of the Metropolitan Region Study. "We have spent $600,000 in grants from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefellers and a staff of more than 40 professional people have worked over three years on the project."

The survey was commissioned by the Regional Plan Association, Inc., a non-profit organization which was one of the first regional planning groups in the United States. "Although we concentrate on the New York area, our survey will be used by city planners everywhere. We can give planners a good idea of which forces in a city they can change, and which they'll just have to live with," Vernon pointed out.

The first two books in the nine volume study dealt with changes in the internal structure of New York; others will deal with the city's relation to changes occurring in the nation and the world. Next fall, Vernon's summary of the survey's findings, Metropolls 1985, will appear. "Our function is simply to inform," Vernon said. "We have found certain advantages in keeping normative notions out of our work."

Handlin's Newcomers is most concerned with race problems peculiar to New York. He shows that the effort of Negroes and Puertan Ricans toward social and economic integration has precedents in the experiences of other immigrant groups. But because of the color bar and economic factors, these newcomers have failed to integrate into the life of the city as well as their predecessors.

Handlin concludes that Negro and Puerto Rican groups must develop closer communal institutions. He points out that these ethnic groups will continue to live in cohesive settlements, and does not believe that dispersal will solve economic and social prejudice.