Mapping Race: The Problem of the Color Line Across Three Centuries

Background/Purpose: With a string of highly publicized, fatal encounters between black men and the police, we recognize a continuing need to address the unfinished business related to racism, race relations, and racial equity. We highlight the problem of the color line as a grand challenge of our profession. We take inspiration from Du Bois’  1899  classic,  The Philadelphia Negro and  look  to  Philadelphia’s  old Seventh  Ward,   where Du Bois conducted his research, for concrete examples of how black residents and community leaders confronted, challenged, and at times transcended the color line over three centuries, from 1896 to the present. Using the data he collected through surveys, interviews and observation in conjunction with archival research, census data, local government reports, and the press, Du Bois described the ways in which black residents of the Seventh Ward confronted racial discrimination in the major domains of black life—health, occupation and employment, education and literacy, housing and the environment, voting, and institutions. Du Bois identified many strategies black residents developed for negotiating the color line at the end of the 19th Century. He also noted that the world had “glided by blood and iron” into a “wider humanity” with greater understanding that the differences between men were not  as  vast  as  previously assumed. But “this widening of the idea of common Humanity” was of “slow growth” and, in 1899 “but dimly realized” (p. 387). We revisit Du Bois' work, seeking to understand and address the challenges of today's color line.  

Research method: Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including GIS mapping, archival data, historical documents, photos, and oral histories, we explore the  “problem of the  color  line”  over  three  centuries. We start with churches as a primary source to identify oral history participants and interview 30 African American elders from historic congregations. 

Results: Our new work maps race and finds these lines are drawn differently relative to various institutions. For example, within the 20th century housing landscape, black residents looking to purchase homes and refinance mortgages with the assistance of the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), Federal  Housing  Administration  (FHA),  and  Veteran’s   Administration (VA) confronted new forms of racial discrimination through redlining, racial steering and block-busting by realtors, as well as various forms of violence and intimidation. Displacement of black residents and institutions, and, eventually, gentrification lead to new forms of racial segregation. By the 21^st century, demographics have changed in the old Seventh Ward, with many White residents now living in areas that were formerly occupied by Black residents. According to Black Philadelphians like 100 year old Louis Tucker the impact of poverty, racism and inequalities in educational opportunities, housing, health care and overall living conditions have improved yet persisted.

Conclusions and Implications: Through our research project, THE WARD, we find new versions of racism and the color line. As we have observed, race is not fixed. It is a social category organizing people around identity, behavior, culture and power as well as opportunities, outcomes and the consequences of life.