Urban renewal in New York City is typically considered a time of growth and, as the name implies, revitalization. Individuals like Robert Moses are remembered as giants of the time, creating beauty from blight. All too often though, the role that African Americans played in urban renewal was silenced. The policies and public works projects undertaken during this time led to African Americans being forced to move from blighted area to blighted area, perpetuating the problem rather than solving it. Additionally, when they chose to speak up, their voices were silenced by government officials who thought they should not have a voice due to racial biases of the time. By utilizing primary sources such as newspapers, advertisements, and government
Chicago in the 1920s was a turning point for the development of ethnic neighborhoods. After the opening of the first rail connection from New York to Chicago in the 1840s, immigration sky rocketed from that point on. Majority of the immigrants to Chicago were Europeans. The Irish, Italians, eastern European Jews, Germans, and Mexicans were among the most common ethnicities to reside in Chicago. These groups made up the greater part of Chicago. The sudden increase in immigration to Chicago in the 1920s soon led to an even further distinguished separation of ethnicities in neighborhoods. The overall development of these neighborhoods deeply impacted how Chicago is sectioned off nowadays. Without these ethnicities immigrating to Chicago almost 100 years ago, Chicago neighborhoods would not be as culturally defined and shaped as they are today.
More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African American people, instead, it actually hurt them because the laws were not enforced, and eventually lead to the organization of white supremacy terrorist groups.
What role(s) did African Americans play in achieving the "rights" outlined in this document by the late 1870s?
By the mid 60s and 70s the famous Robert Moses’ created Expressway’s that influenced the Bronx in nothing positive. His imagination to obtain his projects done perfectly is truly fascinating but New Yorkers weren’t thrilled with his plans. It destroyed plenty of neighborhoods with roads that created urban sprawl, (large stores, houses, apartments, etc.). Banks and insurance companies were letting know landowners about mortgage services that were going to be raised which was known for redlining in past decades. In the Southern half of the Bronx there were tons of working class and poor neighborhoods that made this mess a huge impact on them. It even states, “for years, the city’s banks have been categorically refusing to refinance properties
Newark began to deteriorate and the white residents blamed the rising African-American population for Newark's downfall. However, one of the real culprits of this decline in Newark was do to poor housing, lack of employment, and discrimination. Twenty-five percent of the cities housing was substandard according to the Model C...
Following the Civil War, America underwent many changes during the Reconstruction era to reach where it needed to be or where it should’ve been. The purpose of reconstruction was to rebuild the South after the Union’s victory in the war that freed all the slaves the South had and needed. During this period, there were ratifications of amendments, social and economic factors that affected African Africans, and the end of reconstruction.
Dumenil, Lynn, ed. "New York City." The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2012. Oxford Reference. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.
Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second class individuals. They lacked the freedom and equality they sought for. To the African Americans, the Civil War was a war of liberation. Contrary to what African Americans perceived, Southerners viewed the war as an episode of their journey to salvation. Southern lands may have been destroyed and depleted, but the South was persistent that their racial order would not be disrupted. To most, the goals of the Reconstruction era were to fully restore the Union, and to some, grant emancipation and liberty to former slaves. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naïve dreams of complete equality and liberation collapsed due to the immense resistance of the South.
Jonnes, Jill. “South Bronx rising: the rise, fall, and resurrection of an American city.” New York: Fordham University Press. (1986).
“The Deeper Problems We Miss When We Attack ‘Gentrification’”exhibit their opinion on the positives of gentrification and the potential of “revitalization” in low-income urban communities. Badger argues that gentrification brings nothing more than further opportunities for urban communities while integrating citizens of different social classes.Furthermore , she continues to question if gentrification is in fact the monster that brings the prior expressions against gentrification where she says “If poor neighborhoods have historically suffered from dire disinvestment, how can the remedy to that evil — outside money finally flowing in — be the problem, too?”(Badger) Stating that the funds generated from sources external that are brought into these communities can’t be problematic. This concept is further elaborated in the article “Does Gentrification Harm the Poor” where Vigdoor list the potential positive enhancements gentrification can have on an urban area in America ,stating that gentrification can
Progress can take shape in many forms; music, dance, education, political activism, and literature all played a role in black people making space for themselves in America from the 17th century up to today. The Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement brought black Americans a boom of culture and pride, urging each other to admire the arts and look toward the future where they could express themselves more freely, differing from the era of lynching, disenfranchisement, and terror that was the Reconstruction Era. Black political figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Marcus Garvey all had differing ideas for the future of black people across America and the globe, and how to come about those futures. Their ideas ranged
Sherman Alexie’s Gentrification first sets out to show the effect a white man has on his black community, but ends out taking a deeper dive into the protagonist, instead. Gentrification is littered with the internal struggles this person faces as a minority in his community. The white protagonist of this short story appears very self-conscious of his race, perhaps even apologetic.
As a direct result of the “fear” of white people, more police officers were hired for both the schools and city, communities of color became more hyper-policed, gang injunctions and zero-tolerance policies were implemented and gentrification began. Through gentrification alone, communities began to be rebuilt, rent prices increased, and while the people that could not afford to live in their community anymore had to relocate, the city began attracting affluent white people to own the new “reconstructed”
People behind the 42nd St. renewal believed that the hustle of this area would subside; the upscale is needed to clean up the social problems of this area. They wanted to push out the “bad” people and replace them for profitable people who will make the area flourish. The hustlers are the ones who would be struggling, since they’d be forced out and would have to find a new area to make money in. Kornblum made a connection to Katz’ slum clearance, while speaking for the homeless and ill, as they are the “refuse of society”, and can be “swept away” (367). Although, renewal and gentrification can help out cities and benefit them, they can also cause a lot of problems and force residents and people who work in the area out.