Designed as supplementary material to undergraduate geography courses, this document focuses on a contemporary social problem and its relation to geography. The paper examines existing patterns of residential separation in which ethnic and racial groups--primarily black Americans--generally are spatially clustered in segments of urban space that frequently assume a territorial identification. The purpose is to explore the operation of forces that are responsible for patterns which are molded by both economic and social behavior. After an overview of the problem is in chapter 1, a brief history of the black ghetto as a legacy of the past is included in chapter 2. Chapter 3 examines urbanization of the early 1900s and its relation to ghetto formation. The location of urban space throughout the United States is explored in the fourth chapter, determining that the ghetto is a universal spatial configuration in large urban centers. The fifth chapter presents an explanation of the mechanism which produces such spatial patterns. It includes social, economic, and political variables. These variables are examined in relation to balck and white residential patterns in chapter 6. A list of references cited in the text concludes the document. (Author/JR)