Fueled by vacant land in Merced Heights and Oceanview, the post-war housing boom, the desire to own their own homes, and the already significant presence of African-Americans in the neighborhoods, the black population exploded from 1950 to 1960.
There is anecdotal evidence that African-Americans moved to the OMI after being displaced by the first phase of urban renewal in the Western Addition (the A-1 Project) in the late 1950s.