Making Slums and Suburbia in Black Washington During the Great Depression

Abstract

This article examines newspapers, government records, sociological studies, and the personal papers of elites to argue that black Washingtonians helped to stigmatize and ghettoize D.C.'s African-American community during the Depression. Black residents in the nation's capital especially characterized the working- and under-class populations, who resided in inner-city wards, as menaces to public health, safety and prosperity. Working- and middle-class blacks who flocked to new "colored" suburbs also participated in the government and market driven efforts to maintain racially-segregated housing during this time.