Urban historical geography of North America

URBAN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA
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Introduction
Ruth Wilson Gilmore argues that racism is a form of ‘premature death` in which the life chances of racialized people are systematically lower than those of whites. Explain how race and racism structured American cities and suburbs during the 20th century. Use at least three examples from the readings and lectures. Racism is a practice of abstraction, a death dealing displacement of difference into hierarchies that organized relations within and between the planet`s sovereign territories. Racism functions as a limiting force that pushes disproportionate costs of participation in an increasingly monetized and profit-driven world onto those who, due to the frictions of political distance, cannot reach the variable levers of power that might relieve them of these costs.` (Gilmore 2002)
In the early 20th century, the African Americans migrated to several cities across the united States. However, the African Americans were confined to ghetto areas due to segregation. They therefore developed functioning communities for achievements in culture, education and for recreational purposes. In the late 20th century, however, deconstruction process was then put on course. The deconstruction of the ghettos was done in three forms namely urban renewal, planned shrinkage and contagious housing. This process resulted into displacement of large numbers of the African Americans from the ghettos in the 20th centu...