Back To Main Page
 
 

 
                       "Here is a large group of people—a city within a city—who do not form an integral part
                        of the larger social group.  This in itself is not altogether unusual; there are other
                        unassimilated groups. . .and yet in the case of the Negroes the segregation is more
                        conspicuous, more patent to the eye, and so intertwined with a long historic evolution,
                        with peculiarly pressing social problems of poverty, ignorance, crime and labor, that the
                        Negro problem far surpasses in scientific interest and social gravity, most of the other race
                        or class equations.”

In East St. Louis, 98% of the residents are African American.  Therefore racial segregation is relevant.  Although we have come a long way since the era of the Jim Crow Laws and desegregation has swept across the nation, the effects of these misfortunes are still radiating.  African Americans may be equals by law, but prejudices and racial discrimination continue to stifle their prosperity.  The East St. Louis Action Research Project has been working in conjunction with the people of the Emerson Park community and surrounding areas since 1990.  The need for affordable housing, neighborhood parks, volunteer cleanup, and other such restorations in this area is mostly due to the consequences of past and present discriminations against blacks.  They have not been given a fair chance to compete with white counterparts and are therefore still struggling to establish their solid ground.  It may not be so much that African American culture defines their environment, but instead, that their history in this country has unduly imprinted upon them a “culture” that they are hoping to revive.

Audrey Smedley, author of Race in North America claims, “people who live and interact together in a common community develop life-styles, value orientations, language style, customs, beliefs, and habits that will differ from their neighbors” (Smedley, 1993).  Smedley’s case seems to be verifiable, but what if the people who are “interacting together in a common community” were forced into that community because no one else would allow them to integrate into theirs?  The reason we believe racial segregation is relevant to the communities in East St. Louis is because it is segregation that probably gave the community many of the characteristics that it still suffers from today.

Nothing resembling the modern ghetto could be found before 1880.  Ghetto developments arose with dramatic demographic shifts, including movements from rural to urban and from South to North, as well as the evolution of cities and the rise of suburbs.  Blacks began to move into cities just as whites were exiting to the suburbs, which fueled the situation of residential segregation. The separation of blacks and whites was not merely a cause of economic status.  Obviously, the black southern migrants were poor and their housing opportunities were restricted.  However, even poor whites were not found in the same neighborhoods as poor blacks (Hirsch, 1985).

Researchers argue that some of the clustering was voluntary.  Hirsch says, “[clustering] represented an expression of cultural affinity and that these strangers in a strange land sought neighbors of like backgrounds to ease their transition into urban, industrial America” (Hirsch, 1985).

This may have, at one time, been the case with many ethnic groups, but it seems that other immigrants eventually dispersed while blacks never had the same choices no matter what their economic status was.  Many times job location and class status of urban workers determined their place of residence, but for blacks, race, not occupation, was still the determining factor for residency.  This predictable quality of finding blacks in black neighborhoods cannot be laid to rest as simply voluntary.
Many views contribute to the causes or encouragement of black and white separation.  In some instances, it is thought that ethnic groups prefer to live in homogeneous areas.  On the other hand, whites may be responsible for holding negative perceptions regarding racial change in neighborhoods, including lowered property values when blacks were present.  Black attitudes on interracial neighborhoods proved to be very interesting and possibly even surprising.  National samples have consistently resulted in two-thirds to three-fourths of black respondents preferring integrated neighborhoods.  A survey done in the Detroit area showed that, “whites strongly endorsed the ideal of equal opportunities for blacks, but would be uncomfortable if more than token numbers of blacks entered their neighborhoods.  Blacks desire to live in mixed areas, but are reluctant to be the pioneers” (Farley,1985).

Hirsch writes, “Despite all of the pressures and forces, however, the simple fact remains that many blacks-especially those in developing middle class—made frequent, repeated attempts to move beyond the confines of identifiably “black” neighborhoods” (Hirsch, 1985).  It was the hand of the dominant white majority with their legal restrictions and forces of power by the state that kept blacks separated.  Even the Government, especially through justifications such as FHA, was able to lock blacks into economically weak central cities while simultaneously promoting white flight towards a massive suburban boom.

It is the repercussions of a growing suburbia and simultaneous discriminatory actions to keep blacks out of suburban neighborhoods that has left East St. Louis in its current depressed condition.  We can only volunteer our efforts, our voices, our ideas, and our hopes that one day this area will be restored and its residents will enjoy the renewed quality of life which they deserve.
 

Index | Intro | Terms | History | Vernacular Architecture | Harlem Renaissance | User Needs | Racial Segregation | Stats | Front Yard Design | References | Summary