Asserting Economic and Spatial Dominance
This response assignment draws on the two assigned readings for the week, Colin Gordon’s “’The Steel Ring’: Race and Realty in Greater St. Louis”, and Lydia Otero’s “Asserting Economic and Spatial Dominance”. Stepping forward from our discussion of mobility, we are looking this week at some of the restrictions on mobility that emerged in U.S. cities, particularly those that were organized around racial exclusion.
Once you’ve read the assigned chapters, compose a response that is at least 500 words in length and responds to all of the following:
- Both Gordon and Otero discuss the legacy of restrictive covenants as tools by which racial exclusion was embedded in the urban landscape, particularly regarding the geography of housing. Explain what these restrictive covenants were and why they became such useful tools for white citizens to exclude non-white residents from their neighborhoods. Include at least one specific reference to the Gordon or Otero texts.
- Gordon demonstrates that racial exclusion in housing was practiced not only by private individuals, but was also part of the formal policies of the real estate and banking industries and the federal government itself. Explain how these formal policies affected private patterns of mortgage lending and homeownership. In your response, be sure to name the specific organizations that Gordon discusses and include at least one relevant quotation from Gordon’s work that contributes to your explanation.
- Explain what Otero means by the “Anglo fantasy heritage”, and discuss the role that these ideas played in urban development in Tucson. Include at least one specific reference to Otero’s text.
