Hello- Sorry for the wait and I hope this information reaches you in time. -Emma
This was your question: What is the percentage of African Americans living in public housing? Do you know of a good book that illustrates the Reagan Era and its effects in communities of color (employment, housing, criminalization)
I located several sources that you may find helpful. First, the website for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Policy Development and Research offers several tables (or datasets) the most recent being "A Picture of Subsidized Households 1997 - Quick Facts." There may other useful data on this website so I included a thread of links concerning assisted housing in the US.
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/pdrdatas.html
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/assthsg.html
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/assthsg/picqwik.html
The following link leads to a US Census publication titled "the Black Population: 2000." On page 2 you will find population statistics for African Americans.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-5.pdf
I actually did some rough calculations (figuring the percentage of African Americans living in subsidized housing and then what percentage that is of the national population) and it looks like, based on these two sources, a little less than 10% of African Americans live in some form of subsidized housing.
The following books were recommended by a Sociology professor at the New College of California's Activism & Social Change MA program.
Regulating the poor : the functions of public welfare / Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward. 1993
The deindustrialization of America / Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison 1982
When work disappears : the world of the new urban poor / William Julius Wilson 1996
Sections of: Lockdown America / Christian Parenti 1999