The end of an era: the Brewster Housing Projects in Detriot

Nate Millington sent in this blog which speaks directly to the topic of our lecture today on postwar urbanization. The story documents the decline of the Brewster Housing Projects in Detroit. A quote from the blog:

View of Detroit from the Brewster Housing Projects

They were the first federally funded public housing development for African Americans, remnants of a time when black citizens faced restrictive covenants in land deeds that prevented them from moving into white neighborhoods. The projects were built when the development of I-75 displaced residents of the black neighborhood of Paradise Valley. Last year at this time, people were still living in several of the towers until the housing commission shut operations down for good. By June 2008, the only people living in the towers were squatters and scrappers diligently removing all recyclable metals from the four towers and numerous low-rises”

Read the full story on the projects in the Sweet Juniper blog here