Building the Black City: The Transformation of American LifeA new way of seeing Black history—the sweeping story of how American cities as we know them developed from the vision, aspirations, and actions of the Black poor. Building the Black City shows how African Americans built and rebuilt thriving cities for themselves, even as their unpaid and underpaid labor enriched the nation's economic, political, and cultural elites. Covering an incredible range of cities from the North to the South, the East to the West, Joe William Trotter, Jr., traces the growth of Black cities and political power from the preindustrial era to the present. Trotter defines the Black city as a complicated socioeconomic, spiritual, political, and spatial process, unfolding time and again as Black communities carved out urban space against the violent backdrop of recurring assaults on their civil and human rights—including the right to the city. As we illuminate the destructive depths of racial capitalism and how Black people have shaped American culture, politics, and democracy, Building the Black City reminds us that the case for reparations must also include a profound appreciation for the creativity and productivity of African Americans on their own behalf. Cities covered: Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Birmingham, Durham, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tulsa, early New York (New Amsterdam), Philadelphia, Boston Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Seattle |
Contents
Framing the Black CityBuilding Process I | 1 |
Building Their Own City on the Hill | 123 |
Establishing the Industrial Metropolis | 146 |
Constructing the Black City under That Open Sky | 180 |
Notes | 213 |
| 251 | |
Other editions - View all
Building the Black City: The Transformation of American Life Joe William Trotter Jr. Limited preview - 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
African American American Revolution antebellum Atlanta Avenue Baltimore Baptist Church Birmingham Black business Black Charlestonians Black churches Black city Black community Black in Urban Black metropolis Black Panther Party Black population Black Power Black property Black residents Black urban Black women building Chapel Hill Charleston city’s city's Black Civil Colonial Colored Town Deep South Detroit District Durham early emancipation emerged enslaved and free enslaved Blacks Forging Freedom free Black Freedom's Port Harris historian History homes housing Houston institutions Jim Crow labor land lived Louisiana Methodist Episcopal Church Miami Migration Milwaukee movement National Negro neighborhoods North Carolina North Carolina Press numbers numbers of Black organizations Orleans percent Philadelphia Pittsburgh political purchased Race racial real estate Republican rise Savannah Shadow of Slavery slave Slavery social southern Street Struggle tion Trotter Tulsa University of North University Press Urban America urban West W. E. B. Du Bois Washington white supremacist William York