Community
In Chicago, "The Low End" and Bronzeville are distinct, though related areas on the city's South Side. Bronzeville, historically referred to as the city’s "Black Metropolis," is a vibrant African-American neighborhood with vast cultural heritage. Bronzeville is in the official area of Douglas, and is predominantly composed of lower and middle-income African-American residents. The neighborhood has produced some of the country’s greatest artists, entertainers, intellectuals, politicians, and writers.
This predominantly Black community is centered around south 31st Street to Pershing Road and several blocks east to Lake Michigan. Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood covers 3 1⁄2-square-miles from Cermak Road at its northern border to south 60th street, Lake Shore Drive, and the Dan Ryan Expressway.
While Bronzeville is the core of this demographic, "The Low End" is a term referring to the area's historically lower-income demographic and more broadly encompasses the impact of gentrification and economic development challenges for the South and West Side neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Overview
Gentrification
The neighborhood is also an example site of Black gentrification. Goetz (2010) published a study that supported the claim that gentrification led to the scarcity of public housing, which disproportionately affected residents that relied on the availability of public housing. According to Boyd (2008), gentrification has occurred due to city officials, Black working-class elites, and incoming wealthier White and Asian residents who have not made it their primary concern to maintain the availability of affordable housing or community resources, and instead are focused on upgrading the neighborhood for increase in property values.
Following the adoption of urban planning policies implemented by Richard M. Daley’s mayoral administration, Chicago’s South Side became a sea of empty lots and the poster-child for economic disinvestment over several decades. Banks, savings and loans, and insurance companies redlined the area; and manufacturers left, relocating employment opportunities to suburban, out of the state, or international areas. Over time, the City of Chicago seized a significant amount of vacant land from overburdened homeowners. By 2004, the city owned approximately 2,000 vacant lots in the Bronzeville area.
In an earlier era of rigid Chicago segregation, community organizers fought to maintain Bronzeville’s proud history as Chicago’s foremost African-American community where rich, poor, and moderate-income residents lived side-by-side. Despite the challenges many South and West Side communities face, Bronzeville residents and local stakeholders have continued to advocate for the improvement of public safety, economic growth, accessible community health resources, and affordable-housing developments.
Former Housing Bronzeville Co-Chair, Kenneth Williams, once stated, “The City of Chicago has decided it does not want moderate-income people like you and me living in Bronzeville.” Local residents have historically supported the idea that moderately-priced homes owned by moderate-income families balance community investment, reduce crime, and increase both community self-worth and African-American families’ net worth (source). This should remain the primary focus as community members continue to advocate for the forward progress of the national heritage area (NHA).
The Future of Bronzeville
It is important for current and future Bronzeville community members to remember our fight is not with each other. Instead, it resides with generations of structural and economic violence through redlining and inequitable urban planning in the City of Chicago. There are networks of Black developers, architects, and community advocates who have been challenging the narrative through collaborative efforts to keep key resources generated in our communities. Having personal and economic investments in our Black communities ensure the people who live and work there are the beneficiaries of the continued growth, rather than watching dollars drain to outside owners and businesses with little interest in the community beyond making a return on their investments.