Racial Uplift? Intra-Racial Class Conflict and the Economic Revitalization of Harlem and Bronzeville

• Published in: City & community 2006-03, Vol.5 (1), p.71-92
• Main Author: Hyra, Derek S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Black Community; Class Politics; Class Struggle; Community Change; Community development; Economic Change; Economic Development; Neighborhoods; Politics; Racism; Social change; Social classes; Urban areas
• ISSN: 1535-6841; 1540-6040
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6040.2006.00156.x

The study of revitalizing African American urban neighborhoods is needed to understand how race, class, and politics influence community development. While numerous investigations of urban neighborhoods stress inter‐racial conflict, few explore intra‐racial class discord. Class antagonism within black America is a controversial and debated topic. Several scholars claim that the common experience of racism has led to social and political unity among African Americans. However, others predict that with greater economic differentiation, shared feelings of social and political commonality will decrease. The economic transformation of Harlem in New York City and Bronzeville in Chicago, two historic African American communities, provides valuable insight into the importance of class conflict to community change. After decades of economic abandonment, these areas are experiencing a resurgence of residential and commercial investments, triggered, in part, by the return of the black middle class. Based on a 4‐year, comparative ethnographic investigation, using extensive participant observation, interviews, and archival data, this study reveals the conflict between lower‐ and upper‐income residents. I highlight the process by which members of the black middle class translate their preferences for community improvement, through local organizations, by advocating for the removal of the poor from these once low‐income neighborhoods. I argue that intra‐racial class antagonism plays a critical role in the economic development of these communities, and assess whether the redevelopment of Harlem and Bronzeville can be considered “racial uplift.” This study supports the notion that class conflict is essential for understanding community change and the black experience in urban America.