Week 8 Post 3

 Week 8 Post 3- informal reflection

    This weeks chapter was a big one, but one of my favorites. This chapter was called local tactics, and it was focused on cities and their various policies for trying to segregate communities while working around not being able to do actual racial zoning. This chapter had one of my original interests when starting this topic, which was the interstate highway system and how it was used in segregation. There were so many examples in this chapter from major cities and the slum areas they completely destroyed for highways, and the confessions of many builders that this was intentional. The chapter started with an in-depth look at some northern California suburbs, and the many attempts at creating integrated suburbs, all the basically failed until the project could not be continued, a pattern of suburb building for integrated communities all over the country. This chapter also went over a lot of words that were used as hidden racism, such as 'urban renewal', which essentially meant demolishing poor black neighborhoods to create new neighborhoods and highways while not giving the residents improved living conditions. After the chapter discussed highway displacement, it went into the details of school segregation, and how many cities intentionally put white-only schools in integrated neighborhoods, forcing black families to move if they wanted their children to go to school. 

    I think this chapter is going to be my tool for additional research

- Highway displacement in more detail, and other displacement because of road construction, such as on MLK in Des Moines

- More local focus, since Des Moines' history with displacement is so recent

- More research on failed integrated suburb projects

Comments

  1. Ms. DunleyMay 11, 2023 at 9:31 AM

    What examples of urban renewal can be seen in Des Moines? What impact do you think it has had?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sofia ReamMay 15, 2023 at 3:35 PM

      The interstate that runs right next to Roosevelt demolished a community around center street that was predominantly POC. The construction of new large roads in the downtown area during the 90s also displaced many non-white neighborhoods. These areas are still majority minority, but you can see how much they have shrank since so many of their people have been displaced.

      Delete

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