Eureka & Jackpot ! I know this quarter is nearing to the end; but my first historic primary document has been found by yours truly ! I feel like Indian Jones or something....
It's May 11, 1954 in the sunny Hayward east bay area and post-WWII is sociologically being shaped by determining factors throughout California. Housing covenants has limited forward progression for many minority groups through confining them from the American Dream. Many people have assumed that early-20th-century suburbs were enclaves for middle-class whites, a concept that carries a tremendous cultural impact yet is very stereotypical. People do not want to say why this neighborhood is "good" and the other is "bad," yet racism is the underlying answer. The suburbs were created to supply affordable housing, and ultimately provide a zone fore middle class whites to escape inner city ethnicity. The power of political rhetoric has limited the minority groups of San Lorenzo greater area.
A museum exhibit should be interactive, informative, and fun. When educating people about sensitive subjects such as racism, it is important to show the progression and outcome of the event. I suggest that we as historical curators create a Housing Discriminatory Maze. If you have ever been in a indoor maze, it may remind you of a hallway of a house or closet. As visitors walk through the simple maze, the came come across documents that show the concern of racial discrimination. Hence, my primary document find was not about San Lorenzo villages, but the social concern of housing discrimination in California reached the Daily Review of Hayward.
Depending on what path you take, you could hopefully end up down the progressive middle pathway. David Bohannon vision of planned neighborhoods with shopping malls, movie theaters, schools, and neighbors that look like you would be appealing. But in this maze you could come across a dead end avenue with restrictive covenants on walls and slum neighborhoods to retreat to. The dead end in the maze could end up ultimately end up in counties with poor facilities.
The Truth Hurts ( 1996 data) :
Rural African Americans:
• One in eight non-metro African Americans (12%) versus one in 10 whites (10%) lives in a county without a hospital.
• In majority African American counties, there are 6.2 physicians for every 10,000 residents, versus 8.7 physicians per 10,000 residents across all non-metro counties.
• Seven out of 10 non-metro African Americans (71%), versus six of 10 non-metro whites (64%), live in counties that are whole or in part Health Professions Shortage Areas (HPSAs).
Hopefully this maze will shed light on a difficult subject for some people to talk about. Housing discrimination is active in rural America and people should understand the history and side effects of restrictive covenants. Through a maze of restrictions, a visitor could end up in the best and worst counties of society regardless of their race or religion.
Congrats on finally finding a primary source!! That’s very aggravating that you have been unable to find some good material on your topic.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your idea of creating a maze. It’s AMAZING and definitely something I am interesting in participating in. That would be so exciting to take part in. I think it would really make people think (outside of the box) more conscious about social unease in politics and the housing practices in our area. It’s terrible that race/ethnicity are so important to people that we, as a society, put certain restrictions on living arrangements, education, and access to health care. It’s incredibly sad to me, even in this day, that people discriminate.