Black migrants did not have the same shot at craft unions or foreman jobs or country clubs or exclusive cul-de-sac lacecurtain neighborhoods that other immigrants could enter if they were of a mind to do so. A daughter of white ethnics could instantly escape the perceived disadvantages of her origins by marrying a man of northern or western European descent and taking his surname. She and whatever children she bore could thus assume the identity of a more privileged caste.
