By the late 1960s, an estimated 10,249 families had been displaced by urban renewal projects in Boston, 32% of which were families of color.
This is one of the cities were people of color weren't in majority. It is also important that the context of Boston building highways and expressways and that Boston is a very old city in the U.S gives a little more insight.
"culture of clearance"
This is a interesting quote when put with the context of how during this era over 330,000 families , not people families where displaced. Add that they didn't even include certain years and demographics it paints a smudge on this "golden era" of the U.S.
By the late 1960s, an estimated 4,077 families had been displaced by urban renewal projects in Atlanta, 89% of which were families of color.
This is a much higher number between the one in Chicago 89% compared to 64%. Granted Chicago is larger but, the density of the color disparity is alarming.
By the late 1960s, an estimated 26 families had been displaced by urban renewal projects in Maywood, 88% of which were families of color.
This one really shows the complete displacement of POC families during this period. With there being 26 families removed its a lot smaller of a sample size but with most of them being POC you can see where complaints would arise.
By the late 1960s, an estimated 22,950 families had been displaced by urban renewal projects in Chicago, 64% of which were families of color.
It is not surprising to me because I have family in Chicago so I know a bit about the history there but 64 it definitely a number that reflects the time. Many of those families, still haven't recovered from this. It is important to understand why they wanted to move these families and what justification they used.
The previous year, the Overton Hygienic Company had closed the doors to the Bee Building for the last time. But the Commission listed it as one of nine historic structures worthy of landmark designation as the “Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District,” which now stretches from East 31st to East 39th Streets and from the Dan Ryan Expressway to Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive
Shows that these buildings had to be protected and claimed as historical landmarks or they would have been torn down decades ago. We also again here the term "Black Metropolis" and it gives us insight just how important these buildings are to the black communtiy.
et for Chicago’s Black press and its buildings, other stories merit our attention too: stories about the complex intersections of Black enterprise, urban renewal, and racial politics; about nostalgia, neighborhood demographics, and Black flight and displacement; about inequities that continue to govern class and caste in one of America’s most segregated cities
The Black publications tackling race sensitive topics was one of the factors that made it so popular among African Americans. Where else would they find these topics? This might even be an issue today as digital news outlets are out there but are often overlooked or underrated.
The Defender’s premises and others like them were modest in comparison to the Tribune Tower and bastions of other White-owned publications. But time and again it was to the Defender’s Bronzeville plant, to the South Side’s newspaper row, and to other Black media houses that Black readers in and beyond Chicago looked to orient their political and civic worlds.
The Author tells us that despite not having the grand scale and beautiful buildings like the Tribune or other white owned publications. African Americans still tuned into the black owned publications to get their consumption of media. I think this shows a level of "Black owned" pride and also maybe a level of distrust in White owned news publications.
Cutting eastward on Van Buren Street, we can follow the “El” tracks past the hulking central branch of the Chicago Public Library, dedicated in October 1991 and named in honor of Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, to turn right on Michigan Avenue
The Author approaches this like a tour guide as he gives us directions and history as we start in the loop area and head across the river and south.