ORIGINS OF THE GHETTO

Transcription

1 ORIGINS OF THE GHETTO

2 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

3 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

4 Less segregation by and large, there were no black areas of town before the 1900 the segregation levels in major cities during the 19th century were less than half of what they are today In 1890, the average black person living in Milwaukee resided in a neighborhood that was 1% black; today, the average black person living in the Milwaukee resides in a neighborhood that is over 70% black. In 1860, only 40% of St. Louis s black population would have to move into predominantly white neighborhoods to achieve a perfectly integrated city; today, that number exceeds 80%.

5 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

6 Great migration great migration between 1910 in 1930, over 1.5 million African Americans traveled north 3 million African Americans followed between 1940 and 1960

7 Increased segregation By 1940, thanks to the discriminatory efforts of the federal government and the housing market, racial residential segregation was widespread. Blacks were cordoned off to restricted districts. Blacks kept a safe distance from the surrounding white population. The South doesn t care how close the Negro gets just so he doesn t get too high; the North doesn t care how high he gets just so he doesn t get too close.

8 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

9 Race riots Chicago, summer of 1919 a 17-year-old black teenager went to the white side of the bathing beach this sparked a weeklong uprising that left 38 people dead (23 blacks and 15 whites) Detroit, June 1943 Fights between white and black youths escalated into three days fighting, shooting, and looting. 34 people dead, most of them black.

10 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

11 The creation of the ghetto Urban development Urban renewal White flight Discriminatory real estate practices

12 Urban development After World War II, urban development projects necessitated the destruction of entire nonwhite communities. highways had to be installed, hospitals had to be erected, and sewage processing plants had to be built

13 The creation of the ghetto Urban development Urban renewal White flight Discriminatory real estate practices

14 Urban renewal In the mid-twentieth century, dozens of African American and Puerto Rican neighborhoods were razed in the name of urban renewal. Developers were driven by large profits to be made by the erection of luxury apartments, art museums, and toll roads. It was the first time in the country s history that the government was given the right to seize an individual s property not for its own use but for reassignment to another individual for his use and profit.

15 The creation of the ghetto Urban development Urban renewal White flight Discriminatory real estate practices

16 White flight White outward migration grew massively in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement migrations spurned on, not by job loss, but by racial fear. As whites fled cities like Atlanta, they took their accumulated wealth with them, depleting the city s tax base. Soon, city centers, spaces that just a few decades before that housed massive factories and bustled with the vibrancy of urban life, were hollowed out and abandoned by factories, by thousands of white homeowners, and by welloff nonwhite families. In 1940, only one third of all metropolitan residents lived in the suburbs; by 1970 the majority of them did.

17 The creation of the ghetto Urban development Urban renewal White flight Discriminatory real estate practices

18 Discriminatory real estate practices covenants White home sellers sometimes included in the deeds of their property, covenants, which sought to uphold desirable residential characteristics of a neighborhood. Covenants could restrict the purchase of land or property to certain religious or racial groups.

19 Discriminatory real estate practices Redlining Lender refused to offer mortgages and home loans in nonwhite neighborhoods through a discriminatory practice known as redlining.

20 Discriminatory real estate practices Blockbusting agents This fear of blacks was exploited by real estate agencies who spotted a chance to cash in on neighborhood integration.

21 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s

22 Black rebellion in the 1960s In the mid-1960s, many inner-city neighborhoods exploded. The majority of these racial uprisings took place in poor black neighborhoods. In 1965, the weeklong Watts uprising of Los Angeles resulted in the deaths of 34 people (25 of whom were black) Detroit uprising in 1967, left 43 dead (most of them shot by police) After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, uprisings erupted all across the nation.

23 Differing opinions with respect to the black rebellion of the 1960s Uprisings were expressions of rage and suffering caused by a racist system. Nearly half of all blacks surveyed in 1968, however, believe the uprisings were in reaction to discrimination and unfair treatment. The majority of surveyed whites felt the uprisings mainly were caused by losers and undesirables.

24 Origins of the ghetto lecture outline Before the great migration The great migration Race riots The creation of the ghetto Black rebellion of the 1960s