Examining James Johnson’s Black Manhattan and Gilbert Osofsky’s “Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890-1930” and how they explain the segregation process of certain neighborhoods in the U.S.
This paper reviews two studies about how social and political policies of the U.S government formed clearly separated neighborhoods in many parts of America. The paper focuses mainly on Harlem and follows the development of the neighborhood through recent history. It examines factors which influenced the final demographic situation of Harlem.
“We all know that American society is segregated, with some neighborhoods being almost entirely given over to being the home for one race or another. And while we understand that racism is in general responsible for such separation of our society into different spheres, we rarely stop to think about the precise mechanisms involved that make one neighborhood black and another white, nor do we usually consider the benefits of segregation. But James Johnson’s Black Manhattan and Gilbert Osofsky’s Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890-1930 help us to understand something of the mechanics as well as the consequences of segregation in America.”