Assignments
Dividing Spaces, Dividing Races: Residential Segregation in Richmond,
Virginia (Web Project Proposal)
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The site will offer different presentations of the material. First,
a general introduction will give the general public a mediated presentation
of residential segregation ordinances and the larger history of
Jim Crow segregation in Richmond and Virginia in general. This section
would provide a variety of "storylines" that present primary
and secondary source material in ways easily accessible and understandable
for those viewers not familiar with the deeper historical issues
of segregation.
Second, a scholarly publication that gives more explicit arguments
about the material at hand, engages the historiography of Jim Crow
segregation, and encourages scholars to use the data available in
the site to enhance or refute the arguments presented. By focusing
on one city, Richmond, I hope to find important information regarding
population density changes before and after the residential segregation
ordinances, changes in population numbers, relation of residential
segregation to city expansion, and connections between race districts
and property values, public works, and non-residential aspects of
city life such as railway service, dining and entertainment, and
schools. Residential segregation has been one of the most neglected
aspects in the scholarship on segregation. By analyzing its origins,
purposes, and results, I hope to add new dimensions to the arguments
about legal segregation in U.S. history.
The third is an interface for education, in which teachers and
students can explore the problems of residential segregation by
learning its particulars, the broader historical contexts and significances
of segregation, and the ways in which historians ask and answer
questions through the use of primary sources. Here I would model
the attempts in DoHistory
to encourage an active participation in historical problems and
give teachers resources to assist students in “doing history.”
One way I would like to accomplish this is to create several “modules”
on residential segregation that require students to use some primary
source material and answer questions provided on the site. Similar
to the modules available at History
120, these exercises would give basic lessons on how to analyze
documents, interpret historical evidence, and create narratives
from a variety of sources. One way to do this would be to find an
individual who was tried for violating the residential segregation
ordinance. There were 25 such cases pending in 1917 alone, which
were dismissed because of the ruling in Buchanan v. Warley. I would
like to create some personal cases that explore the role of those
individuals tried, looking at their family information in the census
data, locating their housing purchase or rental on the broader segregation
map, and provide any court information, newspaper articles, or other
sources that pertain to that person and his/her case for violating
the ordinance. By focusing on a real individual and exploring indepth
their life and circumstances in relation to residential segregation
students can gain a deeper connection with the historical issues
involved and see ways to take that kind of analysis into other topics.
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