Black Bottom and Paradise Valley

Black Bottom was one of the few original neighborhoods in Detroit that African Americans could live. With a long history that dates back to before slavery was abolished, many African Americans who migrated to Detroit during the Great Migration settled in Black Bottom, in addition to the various immigrant communities that settled there. Bustling with culture, this community, which encompassed Paradise Valley, was the center of black business in the city of Detroit. In fact, by the 1930s there were over 350 black-owned businesses in Paradise Valley, which was the business and entertainment district of Black Bottom.

It was in 1944 that Detroit's city council and mayor proposed a plan to tear down "old structures." But really that was code for "negro removal." Unfortunately, black residents lacked the funds and resources to protest the demolition of their neighborhoods. Lacking the funds to move forward until the federal government passed the National Housing Act in 1949, this act gave states and cities the funds needed to raze "old structures." [1] In fact, the Housing Act of 1949 was not necessarily driven by the needs of the people living in blighted areas, rather it was driven by the economic interests of downtown landowners and business owners. The places targeted for redevelopment strongly correlates with redlined areas, those unsuitable for bank lending during the New Deal's HOLC programs. These are the areas in which racial and ethnic minorities live. [2] Within two months of the Housing Act, they began to destroy the buildings in Black Bottom, which began the mass displacement of black residents. Demolition in Black Bottom continued into the mids-50s, when President Eisenhower passed the National Highway Act, which funded the creation of Interstate 75. This project would completely destroy what was left of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. [3]

This highway system was intended to make commuting easier for commuters from the suburbs. Unfortunately, it disproportionately hurt communities of color the hardest.