  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 973 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 216.78.33.124 |
Birwood Wall's racist legacy painted over with notes, symbols of harmony Symbol of racial division transformed into a symbol of unity http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060507/M ETRO/605070339/1003 | ||
623kraw Member Username: 623kraw Post Number: 902 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.41.224.200 |
Any more pictures? | ||
Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 974 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 216.78.34.2 |
I've seen several photos of the murals on another website, but that site no longer exist. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 2576 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 63.138.19.234 |
https://www.detroityes.com/webisode s/2002/8mile/021106-04-8mile-b erlin-wall.htm | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 7350 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.159.19 |
Great story. Glad to hear that members of the communities on both sides of the wall were in attendance. Nothing like using a wall to build a bridge. Congrats to those that participated. | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 1487 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 208.44.117.10 |
Does anybody ever talk about the 6 foot concrete wall that seperates Burns form the alley between it and fisher? Or the one that runs much of the way on the back of houses between Seminole and Maxwell? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 7352 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.159.19 |
Any info on those walls. Were they built by one Detroit community to keep out another? | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 1488 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 208.44.117.10 |
I don't know, that's why I was asking. My assumption has always been that it was like a an early 20th century concept of a gated community, but not really sure. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 284 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
isn't there a wall by grosse pointe? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 7353 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.159.19 |
I thought it was a fence, not a wall. I may be mistaken. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 288 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
you might be right I just thought there was something | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 817 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 208.39.170.90 |
There are fences and walls. A fence runs along the canals off Alter south of Jefferson. Walls run scattered along the next street over (can't remember the name) which is the actual GPP/Detroit border from the river up to at least Mack. Not all streets are blocked by walls, but some are. (edit: and the walls are only about 3 ft. high) (Message edited by susanarosa on May 08, 2006) | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 289 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
any pics? | ||
Border5150 Member Username: Border5150 Post Number: 144 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 207.232.204.254 |
I don't have the exact facts and figures, but at the time, housing was segregated to the point that LEGALLY, blacks and whites couldn't live with x number of feet of each other. Such walls were built as a compromise by the developers of the newer housing. Also, in some older neighborhoods there was often a clause in the original title to the house (or deed or whatever its called) that the homeowner would have to agree to NOT sell the house to a minority. I know people who've gone back and seen this in the original title to their home. Segregation wasn't just considered the norm; it many cases, it was the law Pretty sickening stuff... | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 818 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 208.39.170.90 |
I don't even own a camera. Maybe someone else has some. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 290 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
I was looking at google earth and noticed a huge canal on alter. Im thinking about driving by there later to peep it, but was the canal built to seperate GP and D or is it natural? | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 819 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 208.39.170.90 |
It's natural. There's canals all through those neighborhoods. It's a nice drive but an even better bike ride. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 293 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
yeah that bike shop on Warren and Mack screwed my bike up hardcore. Bastards! Maybe a rollerblade will do | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1130 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 136.2.1.103 |
Dabirch, those walls along Maxwell and the alley behind Burns (in Indian Village) are simply backyard walls put up by individual homeowners, there was no coordinated effort. It's actually a mix of walls and fences of various heights, and in the case of some yards, there is no wall/fence. Also, there are similar walls/fences on the alleys inside Indian Village (for example between Iroquois and Seminole), not just along the outer border of the neighborhood. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3772 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.160.138.107 |
"Restrictive Covenants". No dogs or Jews is a wonderful example. (Axtual signs put in by developers.) The Pembroke Ave. Area wall has been previously documented in length on this Forum. Punch up Lowell's link. Basically, it was a requirement of FHA loan policies just after WW II. East of the wall was a traditionally black neighborhood, and the builders were abutting to the West. Without FHA financing, the project was doomed. That's a short-hand explanation. jjaba, tells it like it tis on the Westside. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2493 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
The canal along Alter is a man-made straightening of the Fox Creek. The fence is to keep cars and people from falling into the creek, or at least to prevent loitering. Both sides of the canal are in Detroit. Community groups in the area have been planting trees along the berm each spring to help the aesthetics. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3775 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.160.138.107 |
MikeM, contact jjaba when you reach 2,500 posts. Congratulations for your dedication to this Forum. jjaba sends rewards for centurians' benchmarks. jjaba. | ||
Renf Member Username: Renf Post Number: 42 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 141.211.32.81 |
The wall erected near 8 Mile and Wyoming to separate a white neighborhood from a black one is quite unusual. It was deliberately built so as to qualify a builder's home for financing from the federal housing agencies. This is an example of how federal policy created and maintained the residential segregation that still divides this metropolis. The wall was put up just after 1940 in an area where some blacks had built sweat equity homes after World War I. I do not know of any similar wall in any other US city although one may have been erected in Miami. A wide variety of different effective strategies were used to enforce racial residential segregation but Detroit may be the only location where a wall was built for that purpose, a wall that still stands today. http://detroit1701.psc.isr.umi ch.edu/Black-WhiteWall.htm | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 184 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 4.229.72.36 |
Why did they never just tear that shit down? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3780 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.160.138.107 |
Because the homeowners love the security of a real backyard fence. It runs right down the alley, stops for a side street, and picks up again, behind another block. No need to maintain it. It is more stout than a Guiness. jjaba, on the Westside. | ||
30th_street Member Username: 30th_street Post Number: 10 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
Do we have any info on who was the developer? or maybe who were the first African Americans to settle in the area. How they came to chose that spot to settle, was it an orgainized effort. It would be intersting to talk to some of the original folks that were there before the developers came. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3785 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.160.138.107 |
Black people came along W. Eight Mile Road as it was so far away, they could self-segregate. Factories were built along there, and across the road was Oak Park Township, also a place for them to live. During WWII, the big defense plants attracted evne more to this area. They could live close to the rich and work as home workers, landscaping, drivers, etc. The Wyoming bus was a lifeline all the way down to the Ford Rouge and the Desoto plants. jjaba. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1318 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.14.122.57 |
"A divisive wall is becoming a sign of unity" Barrier that once separated races in Detroit displays healing artwork The 6-foot-high concrete wall stretches for a half-mile, starting just south of 8 Mile Road, along an alley between Birwood and Mendota. It was built to divide the blacks living on one side from the whites living on the other. Over the years, there has been talk of tearing down the wall because of the ugly divisiveness it represents. But now the Motor City Blight Busters, an 18-year-old nonprofit that cleans up Detroit neighborhoods and rehabs dilapidated properties, is working with the neighborhood to paint a mural on a 310-foot section of the wall that runs along the western edge of Alphonso Wells Park. ..." http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20060517/NEW S01/605170429/1003 | ||
Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 507 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.215.30.34 |
Why don't the graffiti artist exhibit their talents on this wall instead of tagging good structures that are in used ? A half-mile long wall will provide ample canvas space for beautiful artwork for those who are seeking to show their creativity side. Back to the Motor City Blight Busters, I comment them for the plan to use this wall as a signature of peace and unity from now on. |
