The Evolution of Uneven Development in Dallas, TX

Abstract

Dallas has a long history of uneven development. It is the product of excess capital, white planning, and a desire to shape the land into something it is not. Communities in Dallas broke sharply along racial and class lines, and as a result black and white Dallas developed separately. Forces of structural and physical violence largely determined where African American neighborhoods were, and are, located in Dallas. African American, Mexican American, and other low-income communities suffered not only from low housing availability and high rent prices, but also bombings, arson, and other physical threats. When alliances formed between poor whites and their neighbors of color, the construction of a highway or railroad was apt to split a neighborhood and fracture the community. The effects of segregation and discrimination have followed the African American communities in Dallas since their inception. Space for African Americans, who made up almost twenty percent of the population, within the Dallas city limits continued to shrink. In 1940, African American neighborhoods were squeezed into 3.5 square miles within the City and in small communities along the perimeter. Meanwhile, the wealthy sequestered themselves into enclaves within the city, avoiding both minorities and municipal taxes while benefitting from city services. In this paper I explore how this historical discrimination and segregation shaped geographic inequality across Dallas today. Much of the wealth in Dallas is clustered in the north around the Park Cities enclave as illustrated by viewing the property tax values over the city. Low-income, majority African American neighborhoods like Joppa, located in southern Dallas, illustrate the impacts that the flows of capital have on livelihoods. South Dallas experienced a sharp decrease in population as residents moved to the suburbs in the 1960s and has since been underdeveloped. Joppa, a small, historically neglected, neighborhood has remained isolated until recently. Developers are interested in Joppa for its cheap, empty lots, and valuable proximity to booming downtown Dallas and the Trinity River Corridor. Gentrification is a concern for the neighborhood; residents have a desire to revitalize their neighborhood on their own terms, not developers’. This research will help to visualize and amplify the continued material effects of a history Dallas is trying to make invisible.