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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Institute Inc.
Introduction
Freedman's Town, the oldest of the freedmen's towns, in the State-Thomas area northeast of downtown, virtually disappeared with commercial development in the 1980s except for a historic cemetery that was literally unearthed during the widening of Central Expressway.
(McElhaney and Hazel 2005)
Contemporary American cities are caught up in processes of community transformation that reflect the power of real estate developers and governmental officials to reconfigure well-established neighborhoods beyond all recognition. Under the rubric of gentrification, (1) urban neighborhoods across the nation have been transformed as old housing stock has been replaced and long-time residents have been displaced. Looking from the top down, most social commentators, urban planners, and local government officials praise the positive consequences of gentrification (cf. Duany 2001). Looking from the bottom up, most social scientists and community activists decry its negative impact on local populations, especially on those lacking the economic resources to compete in the marketplace of post-industrial urban development (cf. Hamnett 2003: 159-187; Williams 1988). Depending on one's perspective, the case of Dallas, Texas, demonstrates the best--or the worst--effects of gentrification on an urban community, since the spatial and residential reconfiguration of near North Dallas has been nothing short of spectacular.
In this article, we tell the story of this community's transformation from its origin as a freedman's town in the post-Civil War period through its glory days during the first half of the 20th century as a center for the African-American community in Dallas. Then, beginning in the 1940s with two major government-sponsored projects (Roseland Homes and the Central Expressway) and continuing through the speculative real estate "bubble" of the 1970s and the "bust" of the 1980s, many square blocks of Freedman's Town (also known as North Dallas) were literally leveled to the ground and the residents dispersed to parts unknown. After more than a decade of virtual abandonment, this area (re-invented as "Uptown" and honored as the "State-Thomas Historic District") became the target for a new generation of real estate developers during the late 1990s. With the cooperation of the City government, manifested through the creation of taxpayer-funded Tax Increment Finance Districts, Public Improvement Districts, and Historic Districts, private developers acquired large blocks of property and began to build up a high-density, mixed-use residential/commercial area. Thus, Uptown represents a new ordering of urban space in Dallas, and offers important lessons for assessing community transformation and gentrification in contemporary America.
Historical Overview
The African-American community in near North Dallas was established in 1869 when a number of former slaves began purchasing one-acre plots of what then was rural land (cf. Smith 1995). With segregation well entrenched, racial violence a real threat, and local vagrancy ordinances targeting freedmen, these early African-American settlers were forced to build self-sufficient communities, where they could rely on one another for goods and services, protection, and social needs. Early residents of Freedman's Town (alternatively, Freedmen's Town or Freedmantown) quickly organized church services, held classes for basic education, and eventually established a cemetery (Prince 1993: 99). (2)
Their inwardly focused community soon suffered an external threat to its separate existence. In 1872, the Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) laid tracks near Dallas. Originating in Houston and heading north to the town of Denison, located just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border, the rail line cut through Freedman's Town between the cemetery and the plots of land that the first settlers had purchased. The following year, the Texas & Pacific (T&P) Railroad, traveling west from Shreveport, intersected with the H&TC line approximately one mile south of Freedman's Town.
The railroads dramatically altered the landscape of Dallas and the surrounding communities. Railroads facilitated migration to the area, spurred commercial activities, and prompted a population boom. From an 1870 population of about 1,500 inhabitants, Dallas surpassed 10,000 by 1880 (Davis and Peterson 1991; Enstam 1995; McElhaney 1995).
Freedman's Town, located close to the railroads, experienced a population surge and an economic boost. The Dallas Herald newspaper reported in 1873 that more than 500 African-Americans were living there. African-American men frequently were hired for railroad construction work. Small, shotgun-style houses, built for railroad workers and their families, lined the H&TC tracks from Dallas northward to Freedman's Town, forming a community known as String Town. Dallas City Directories from the 1870s and 1880s provide evidence that Freedman's Town residents worked as laborers, teamsters, draymen, expressmen, porters, carpenters, plasterers, woodsawyers, and brickmakers. In these occupations, they contributed their skills and labor to the burgeoning construction, transportation, and commercial enterprises that were redefining Dallas as a city (McDonald 1978).
In large part, the railroads defined and perpetuated the physical and social development of Freedman's Town over the next several decades, as it quickly grew to become the center of African-American life in Dallas. The 1890 census listed 7,993 African-Americans in Dallas, but provides no breakdown by ward or tract. During the late 1880s, the residents of Freedman's Town merged with another group of African-American landowners who had settled on the west side of the tracks, closer to the Dallas city limits. During this period, the Dallas City Directories dropped the label "Freedman's Town." In 1889, the Dallas City Council redrew the city's ward system to create a Ninth Ward, which included the two African-American communities, henceforth to be identified as North Dallas (Prior and Schulte 2000).
By the beginning of the 20th century, North Dallas African-Americans had made significant strides in establishing a viable, self-sufficient community that served the needs of African-Americans throughout the city. Their businesses included grocery stores, blacksmiths, meat markets, a millinery, dress makers, and shoe repair shops. Their churches (including New Hope Baptist, Evening Chapel, St. Paul Methodist Episcopal, St. John Missionary Baptist, and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal) served not only the spiritual needs of community residents, but their educational, welfare, and social needs as well. Formal public schools arrived in 1884, when the city's second school for African-American children was established in North Dallas. Several years later, in 1892, the first brick school building erected for African-American children (serving both elementary and high school students) was placed along the east side of the H&TC railroad tracks (Banks 1973: 15; Brewer 1991: 8; DeVaughn 1987; McKnight 1989, 1990; Prince 1993).
North Dallas attracted a diverse population of unskilled and skilled laborers, as well as professionals (teachers, ministers, attorneys, undertakers, doctors, and dentists) many of whom became prominent community leaders. With such a large population of well-educated professionals, many of whom were experiencing first-hand the detrimental impact of racism, North Dallas became a focal point for reform movements. Excluded from white organizations devoted to social and political reform, African-Americans in North Dallas formed numerous committees devoted to the "upliftment" of their race. Like their White counterparts, African-Americans established kindergartens, formed clubs to assist the less fortunate, organized to establish libraries and reading rooms, and crusaded against the use of alcohol (McElhaney 1995:12; Schulte and Prior 2000a: 117-119).
The built environment of North Dallas, after 30 years of development, reflected the hopes and dreams of African-American Dallasites, as well as the limitations imposed by segregation and the racist attitudes of the dominant White society. Homes in North Dallas revealed the socioeconomic diversity of its residents. Narrow, shotgun-style houses stood crowded together, interspersed with larger, L-shaped or irregularly shaped houses. Unpaved streets and alleys crisscrossed the neighborhood with street names such as Huffman, Fuqua, and English, intended to pay homage to some of the earliest African-American landowners.
With four cemeteries (including the Freedman's cemetery) forming the northern boundary, a string of White-owned mansions along Ross Avenue forming the southern boundary, and with elite, White-owned homes to the west and to the east, the African-American North Dallas community was virtually sealed off against potential expansion. Having successfully established many of the amenities found in the dominant White neighborhoods, African-Americans effectively created a city within a city. Although in many ways a source of pride and testament to their skills, courage, and talents, over the next several decades, a growing population and prohibitions against moving into or encroaching upon the adjacent White neighborhoods jeopardized the community's future.
1920s: North Dallas at its Peak
Throughout the first three decades of the 20th century, North Dallas continued to develop, furthering its reputation as the heart of African-American life in the growing city of Dallas. Between 1910 and 1920, the African-American population of Dallas increased by one-third, reaching 24,023, although how many lived in the North Dallas community is unknown.
By the 1920s, North Dallas reached its peak as both a residential and social center for African-Americans in Dallas. Up to then, African-Americans occupied the core of North Dallas, surrounded by Whites. By the early 1920s, Whites were beginning to vacate the area, prompting middle- and upper-class professionals among the African-American population to purchase the "nicer" homes that the middle-class Whites had occupied. North Dallas was still an ethnically mixed community, but the African-American population was expanding to incorporate more of the area.
For the first several years after World War I, the number of businesses in North Dallas remained at approximately 50. But by 1924, more than 130 businesses and self-employed individuals occupied the neighborhood (Dallas City Directories 1920, 1924). The sudden influx may have stemmed from a number of sources. A steady increase in population would certainly generate a need for more commercial and service-oriented businesses, as well as social organizations. The end of World War I also stimulated a new resolve among African-Americans who had joined the armed forces and returned expecting, and willing to fight for, a fairer society. In contrast, there was a tremendous surge in Ku Klux Klan activities in Dallas. In 1923, 5,000 new members joined the Klan in front of 25,000 spectators. The combination of need, determination, and even greater threat to life and freedom combined to generate a renewed spirit of self-sufficiency and drive for equality in the North Dallas community (Alexander 1966;...
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