Central Avenue Project

Imagine living in a town that was once thriving with successful businesses to a community that barely exist. As you travel down the deserted roads of your community you are surrounded by boarded up memorable buildings, deteriorating homes, and empty storefronts. The water tower that stands tall for all to see is now covered by rust. While the streets in which you are traveling on show signs of frequent patchwork in an effort to salvage the road. As you pass by what once was your favorite mom and pop’s restaurant you began to reminisce on the time you spent there with loved ones. This has become the story of residents in Boley, Oklahoma; one of the first all black towns in the state.

Heritage has an influential role in every individual’s life. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a short story that portrays two sisters’ from a poor African American home and their conflicting views on the value and meaning of heritage. Maggie, the younger sister, is uneducated but truly appreciates where she comes from. Dee, the oldest sister, is an educated college student but her she has a warped idea of heritage. Alice Walker uses the characters, point of view and symbolism to develop the main theme of heritage.

Alexander writes, “I have a specific audience in mind—people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not yet appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color… I am writing this book for people like me—the person I was ten years ago” (p. xiii). By writing to an audience of readers who are not

When people think of Central Park, the thought of African-Americans once owning the land is inconceivable. Yet, this was the case 150 years ago when there once thrived a place called Seneca Village.

By the 1920’s the amount of African Americans in New York City had more than doubled. Meanwhile the roadways and subway system had just begun to reach Harlem, where some of the most influential Blacks had situated themselves. Soon after, Harlem became known as “The Black Mecca” and also as “The Capital of Black America”.

Racism is a constitutive feature of capitalism. Along with other modes of domination, racism constructs and enshrines those social hierarchies that legitimize expropriation, naturalize exploitation, and produce the differential value capital instrumentalizes in the interest of profit (Rodney 1981; Robinson 2000; Melamed 2015; Pulido 2016). Historically in the U.S., race has been produced in and through space. Housing, lending, zoning and environmental policies, as well as foundational and ongoing confiscatory processes at the heart of racial capitalism have linked race, place, and power in pernicious, “death-dealing” ways (Gilmore 2002:16; Lipsitz 2007; Fraser 2016). From the frontier to the plantation, the border to the reservation, the constitutive geographies of U.S. nationhood have inextricably bound race and space. Scholars of racial capitalism embed uneven development within this active and ongoing co-production of race and space. They emphasize that social difference is foundational, not incidental, to the production of the uneven spatial forms that underwrite racial capitalism. Race has been produced with and through space via urban renewal, restrictive covenants, systemic abandonment and the ‘racialization of state policy’ (Gotham 2000:14) by which the benefits of housing, lending and other urban policies have been afforded to some and denied to others (see Coates 2014; Shabazz 2015 for Chicago). Thus, vacant land and buildings on Chicago’ s South Side are not

On October 4th 2016 Deputy Akins was dispatched to 8821 Centennial Road for an accident involving a red truck that left the roadway and struck a parked vehicle. Upon arrival Deputy Akins saw a 2013 Red Dodge 1500 in the ditch with the truck’s front end smashed into the rear end of a 1001 Honda Civic. In the driver seat of the dodge truck was a male Caucasian. Deputy Akins recognized the male as Evan Case. Deputy Akins asked Mr. Case if he was injured. Mr. Case replied with I can just pay the deductible and leave right. Deputy Akins asked Mr. Case again if he was ok or if he needed medical. Mr. Case replied no.

How we dress, talk, and behave can have life or death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. Myself would define it as the ultimate black urban experience. More importantly, I was more engaged to read the book eager to base my own personal experience of my black urban neighborhood to compare to the residents interviews Anderson tackles and the assertion Anderson makes between street" persons from "decent" persons and families, with decent families tending to accept mainstream values, while street values are part of an oppositional culture. In addition, I wanted to see if he is accurate about his assumptions that the constant threat of violence to the circumstances of life among the ghetto stir from poor lack of living-wage jobs, dearth of basic public services, the stigma of race, the fallout from rampant drug trafficking and use, and the ensuing alienation and lack of hope for the future. After just finishing chapter one and two I was amazed and shocked by his knowledge and illustration on the distinction along with the relationships between “street” and “decent”

Black Wall Street in Greenwood, Oklahoma: The Destruction and Historical Erasure of a Black Ethnic Enclave

it is through the widespread dissemination of black history during Black History Month and elsewhere that the historical category of the post-racial era has been constituted. The post racial era is not, as is so often claimed, a denial of historical context.” (VAN DE MIEROOP, KENAN. "On the Advantage and Disadvantage of Black History Month for Life: The Creation of the Post-Racial Era." History & Theory, vol. 55, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 3-24. EBSCOhost,

Beale Street, which is commonly known as the “heart of Memphis” is one of Memphis’s most famous places to visit and is known for people having a good time. Beale Avenue was established in 1841, by a self-made entrepreneur by the name of Robertson Topp, the name was later changed to Beale Street. Whether it is the mouth watering food venues, wild nightlife, or even the bands playing blues, people are drawn to Beale Street with the expectations to experience a great time. However, Beale Street has not always been home for unforgettable strip of neon lights and local bands, lined with bars and small walk-in eateries. For some, we are unaware of Beales true history, and the exploratory measures that African Americans experienced

Problem Identification: As African American moved to Prince George’s County to be part of a phenomenon that has been rare in American history: a community that grew more upscale as it became more black. “The county became a national symbol of the American Dream with a black twist” (Michael, 2015). However, their dreams were shattered.

I arrived at the museum at exactly 9:26. Due to the fact that the house was not scheduled to open until 9 am, I was afforded the opportunity to take a stroll downtown for the first time in almost 8 years. As a kid, my mother and her sisters would take myself, my sister and cousins on “field trips “to downtown Savannah. Like most low income families, we didn’t have a lot of money therefore we found ways to enjoy the city without breaking the bank. This relates to the topic at hand

Public space can easily be changed if you belong to certain minority groups that are stereotyped and devalued, such as being a person of color. Brent Staples describes his “ability to alter public space in ugly ways” in his essay “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” (239). Racial profiling is still a discernible issue in America and Staples’ essay is a perfect example of the damaging effects racial profiling has on people of color. He recounts the event that caused him to become aware of the change his presence creates in public and the steps he took to help people not fear him during the walks he took at night to help battle his insomnia.

In the early twentieth century, East Liberty was a flourishing business district with affordable housing for its residents. Decades later, this neighborhood’s prosperity declined as residents began fleeing to other areas and businesses were forced to shut down. This left East Liberty in diminished conditions, like the conditions depicted in John Edgar Wideman’s story of Homewood in Our Time. Urban renewal efforts were quickly adopted for East Liberty, but these efforts failed. Today, the area is in a state of continuous revitalization, which is beneficial for the economy and some citizens, but African Americans don’t always benefit from these changes. Chris Ivy explores this division in his documentary Easy of Liberty. Failed urban renewal efforts of the sixties and continuing gentrification have transformed East Liberty’s booming business district into a racially divided neighborhood.