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Many writers have said that the 'gap' between rich and poor increased during the 1980s. William Julius Wilson, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, describes the situation for black families:

The differential rates of progress in the black community persisted through the 1980s. Family incomes among the poorest of the poor reveal the pattern. From 1978 to 1987, the number of blacks with incomes under half the poverty line (below $4,528 for a three-person family in 1987, adjusting for inflation) increased by 69 percent. In 1978 only one of every three poor blacks fell below half the poverty line, but by 1987 the proportion rose to 45 percent. The average poor black family in 1986 and 1987 slipped further below the poverty level than in any year since the Census Bureau started collecting such data in 1967. While the average income of the lowest fifth of black families in the United States was dropping 24 percent, the average income of the highest fifth of black families was climbing by more than $3,000 and that of the top 5 percent by almost $9,000. Upper-income whites are considerably wealthier than upper-income blacks, but in 1987 the highest fifth of black families secured a record 47.4 percent of the total black income, compared to the 42.9 percent share of total white family income received by the highest fifth of white families.

So while income inequality widened generally in America during the 1980s, it widened even more dramatically among black Americans.

Reference: From "Race-Neutral Programs and the Democratic Coalition" by William Julius Wilson, included in Debating Affirmative Action edited by Nicolaus Mills, p. 161.