GGR124H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Federal Housing Administration, List Of Divided Cities, The Philadelphia Negro
7 May 2018
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Department
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03/17/2016
LECTURE 9
Learning Goals:
1. The akig of the Aeria ghetto through la ad poli
Restrictive Covenants
Redlining
Urban Renewal
2. The uakig of the ghetto ad the dispossessio of Blak ouities
The subprime crisis
Gentrification
3. Canadian histories of segregation and displacement
The case of Africville
Today’s Questions:
How has racism built a particular urban geography in North America over the last half
century, and how has urban space also been an active part of the making of North
American racism and racial inequality?
How can a focus on the making and unmaking of particular kinds of urban space help us
better understand contemporary anti-Black racism and resistance?
What role did federal and local government, financial institutions, the real estate sector,
neighbourhood associations, and others play in these processes?
What is similar and what is different in the Canadian and American experience of racial
segregation in cities?
W.E.B. Dubois:
• (1868-1963)
• I his lassi ork The Philadelphia Negro , Duois desried the th Ward of
Philadelphia as a it ithi a it
• Dubois insisted that understanding this highly segregated community required looking
beyond the community to the broader physical and social environment of the city
• Color prejudie i Philadelphia is that idespread feelig of dislike for his lood, hih
keeps him and his children out of decent employment, from certain public conveniences
and amusements, from hiring houses in many sections, and in general, from being
reogized as a a
The Great Migration:
• Largest internal migration ever within the United States
• 2 waves of movement 1910-1930 and 1940-1970
• Movement from south to north, but also rural to urban
• More than 6 million African Americans moved from the rural south to cities of the north
• Black people moved to escape the virulent racism of the Jim Crow south
• They also moved in order to find better jobs in the industrial cities
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03/17/2016
• Chicago known as a kid of proised lad over 500,000 Black people moved there
over the course of this migration)
I laguage suggested the Chiago ‘eal Estate Board, legall idig oeats attahed to
parcels of land varying in size from city block to large subdivision prohibited African Americans
from using, occupying, buying, leasing, or receiving property in those areas... covenants
covered large parts of the city and almost wholly surrounded the African American residential
distrits of the period, uttig off orridors of etesio.
- Encyclopedia of Chicago
The eat etet of the use of the restritie oeat has ot ee asertaied, ut i
Chiago, it has ee estiated that peret of the it is oered suh agreeets.
- Gunnar Myrdal
Restrictive Covenants:
• In the early part of the 20th century, cities and towns used zoning to restrict African-
Americans and ethnic and racial minorities to specific neighborhoods
• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled such zoning unconstitutional in 1917, but developers and
neighborhood associations started inserting clauses in their bylaws and deeds to keep
Black people out
• Coeats are used to protet lad fro partiular uses or users at the poit of
purchase
• Some are socially benign and instead protect the land from heavy industry or
environmental destruction
• However, historically, the majority of restrictive covenants were used to exclude groups
based on race, ethnicity and religion
• Covenants were used in Canada as well as the United States
No rae or atioalit other tha those for ho the lots i Harriso Hill Extended Unit "A"
are intended, shall use or occupy any dwellings or lot except that this covenant shall not
prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race or nationality employed by an
owner or tenant, any person of the Mongolian or Ethiopian race or any person who is a native
of a Easter Europea outr.
- 1986 Restrictive Covenant from Illinois
The lad shall eer e sold, assiged, trasferred, leased to, ad shall eer e oupied or
used by any person of the Jewish, Hebrew, Semitic, Negro or coloured race or blood, it being
the intention to restrict the ownership, use, occupation and enjoyment to persons of the white
or Caucasian race."
- 1993 Restrictive Covenant from Ontario
Redlining:
• 1930s-1968
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