"Trivia" Question: Until the mid-50s, Baltimore housing and school were was racially segregated by law and "negroes" could only live in three neighborhoods. What were they?)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Did you know?
... that before Cherry Hill became famous for attresting white people for asking directions, it was founded as a community for African-American World War II veterans?
"Trivia" Question: Until the mid-50s, Baltimore housing and school were was racially segregated by law and "negroes" could only live in three neighborhoods. What were they?)
"Trivia" Question: Until the mid-50s, Baltimore housing and school were was racially segregated by law and "negroes" could only live in three neighborhoods. What were they?)
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10 comments:
Great post! Please post any info you have or send me some links. I am well on my way to becoming quite a Baltimore historian.....
I would say the neighborhoods were:
Cherry Hill
Druid Heights
Upton
I would say Harlem Park, but prolly not since you said 3 and you already stated that Cherry Hill was one....
I say Druid Heights with confidence because Marble Hill is in Druid Heights (Thurdgood Marshall's childhood home is in this neighborhood)
Upton - the Upton School (which educated blk kids) is located there.
And FYI:
Baltimore is still segregated by the same lines.
One mo thought.....
since development occurs in cycles...it would appear that putting the black ppl where they did was strategic.
Why were projects built on waterfront property (i.e. Cherry Hill, Dundy Village, Turner Station, etc.) and bordering downtown Bmore (Westside/MLK)........?
Well if you ask me...it was a great way to keep the waterfront (i.e.) less desireable until the same rich developers/builders who's families built the city could build up every inch of the county ....make all the money that is to be made out there.........then come back and convince folk that the city is the place to be....so they can then get another opportunity to make more money when they come in and "redevelop" the city.....that is until they convince folk that city life is not for families.....the cycle continues.
Why was Cherry Hill allowed to deteriorate to the point where a historically significant community was in need of a total redevelopment...so much of a blight to the city that they want to go so far as to change the name of the community???.....
I say total redevelopment because there is not way you can build marina condos on the border and have bombed out projects around the corner...they are most def gonna change the look and fabric of that community.
also.........
Who has the money it would take to truly re-develop Cherry Hill?
Rich non-blacks!!!
And white Baltimoreans .....IMO will be the majority of the ppl that will be able to afford to live in what they are proposing for Cherry Hill ..........and you know what.....in a few years Cherry Hill will become folklore and dissapear from our memeries.
Its sad that all the black folk will eventually be forced to leave Cherry Hill or "Inner Harbor West" as I hear its going to be renamed. What a crock of ish! but I guess that is progress....RIGHT?!?
Wow, a conspiracy to increase one's wealth at the expense of blacks and it only took 60 years to complete.
Those rich whites are some smart SOBs. I gotta get me some of that action.
Head over to my blog people, and search through my wonderful(lol) archives. I also dug up some of BALTIMORE'S ugly past.......
Time for my two cents.
What we call waterfront property ($$$)in 2007 was referred to in 1950 as low-lying homes in the flood plain, and before government flood insurance came of age only lower-income or racially/ethnically-challenged folks were willing to live in flooded basements. The well-to-do lived in places like Guilford, Mount Vernon, or Reservoir Hill, which are largely upland. Guilford, in fact, was completely regraded before its construction to divert the groundwater into adjoining communities so as to flood their basements. Thank you so much.
The notion that being near actual water was really an amenity is quite recent and sorta corresponds with the clean-water act of 1974, which imposed limits on the amount of sewage and industrial waste you could dump into the water. Anyone know what offal is? The butchers of Baltimore used to dump it at the waterfront.
So it's really NOT a big conspriracy, but please don't tell Lyndon LaRouche.
As for displacing black people to make way for high-end stuff, it's not just white people with money.
Government does it, too. And ever hear of a tall guy named Michael Jordan? Used to play some hoops? Well, his real estate company does it too. It's called gentrification and its objective is NOT to remove blacks. Black neurosurgeons and investment bankers are very welcome to stay. But people without a lot of money, they usually gotta go. Black, white, yellow,... all those considerations are secondary to uh,... the Green. It's not strictly about money, but income requirements usually do a good job of screening out hoodlums and scumbags.
Interestingly, organized crime types like the Rice Brothers... they have $$$. They can live wherever they want and Ol' Miss Erma who worked at the Phone Company for many years, improbably raised good children in nasty West Baltimore and now has a minimal pension, well, she can't afford to live in any community as virtuous as she is. Gentrification works pretty well at raising towers, but still falls short on ethical grounds.
A very real issue for Baltimore is that if it should ever succeed in becoming a desirable place to live, that will necessary demand that most of its large accummulated population of scumbags go... somewhere else. Mixed income, uniform conduct works, but mobile people with options will not long coexist with hoodlums, junkies, and bums.
As long as Baltimore continues to embrace/tolerate that element, people with opportunities will not live alongside it in the long run. The result, alas, is that Baltimore's hype campaigns jack up the real estate market, only to crash when the optimistic 'urban homesteaders' figure out that local government has no intention of making this place safe from scumbags.
Galt is right. People may not believe it but before the 70's living by the water was living near a literally stinky, sliming, festering shit hole. The farther one lived from water, and higher up in elevation in the city, was indicative of one's wealth over others (Mount Vernon being one).
"Living up on the hill" was a term for rich people and the current term "shit flows downhill" was a very real situation from that time, that is why rich people lived up and away from the water. The poorer you were the closer you lived near the discharge of the citie's filth (the water).
But conspiracy sells (fiction also does) and conspiracy also gives people reasons for their misfortunes without the need to change because the big powerful "them" will not allow it. This belief also cleasnes one of guilt due to their own failure. The sad part is grande conspiracies can take away people's hope and in the end the conspiracies become sort of a self-fulfilling prohpesy.
That was one of your better rants, Galt.... but I still haven't found out for certain what the three neighborhoods are and what the boundaries were. May have to go to the library, check out an actual book!
I guess I shouldnt be surprised that Baltimore neighborhood history pages published by the city don't think this "detail" is worth noting.
Here's another question-- when were they segregated?
I learned something to.... THANK YOU!!! THIS IS A GREAT POST!
let me also add...
what I say may come across as conspiracy theory to some of you, but its not that serious.
Please recognize that my history is not like yours and so notions, recollections and stories that were shared with me throughout my life have shaped my opinion sand outlook on things differently that you....thats all. Perhaps for the first time in life....the internet is making it possible for all ppl to come together and share how our understanding of America is SO VERY DIFFERENT!!!! but that is OK!!!
you can look at the historical details of the areas with grand homes on hills...i know that everything you've said is the truth....i also agree that water front has only recently become desireable.....and why it has now make no sense look at New Orleans or how about when ppl were riding up Broadway in Fells point in boats a few years ago when we had those terrential rains..
all that is well in dandy if folk with big bucks dare to be different, but that stil dont change the fact that it worked out in someone's favor (a lot of the time for the same companies) that they were able to build build build and profit profit profit....there is only but so much land left that is not used....these developers and I agree city planner (governments) are are a very creative lot. Gotta Love America...I'm not hatin...i want to get a piece of the pie too. If I could...I'd buy property on Cherry Hill over looking the dirty harbor too....LOL! get me a big boat and sale to Annapolis on cool summer nights
BUT please believe just like no one on here could probably understand how anyone could miss the projects (Flagg, Murphy Homes, Lexington Terrace)...there are a whole bunch of ppl organizing yearly reunions. Generations of ppl grew up in these communities. The are going to be displaced. Instead of educating the populations more vigorously in some of the more depressed areas....these schools are often the worse therefore future generations are not vested...they don't care. Mom gets old..house has been falling apart little by little over the last 16 years...no one wants to move in so the house is boarded up. its a vicious cycle that will continue. You see it all over the city. Cherry Hill just like the other projects was slated for demolition because most are a blight to the establishment so it looks great to tear down and rebuild and you can do that without anyone making a fuss in the hood. There is absolutely no effort on the part of the city to specifically court certain types of individuals to move back and invest in the city. You want the city to be rich...you have to have great ppl of all backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses living together. Ah right...ima get off the soap box.
for the record....i respect ppl that show respect. You may not agree with my opinion, but they are from my heart and based on life as I've known it. I want Baltimore to be a good place and my point is....with all these black ppl in it...greatness cannot be fully achieved with out embracing black ppl. not giving us money (also for the record...I have never recieved a check or food stamps or any other kind of help from the government except for a few student loans)
not all black ppl that think the governement should do more for the AA community are looking for an outright hand out...just organizational expertise...reinvestment in areas that will make our communities stronger..so then crime would decrease...you would see more stable neighborhoods....a good number of ppl feel so disrespected, ignored and used that they could care less about anything.
I think we are forgetting a basic human desire. People like to be around those they can identify with, when possible.
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