Detroit's Segregation Wall

In 1941, a white real estate developer built the so-called Eight Mile Wall (almost 13 km) in Detroit to secure financing for their white customers by segregating Black and white neighbourhoods. The east side was the Black side, the west side the white side.



This act of segregation had an impact on generations of people living in Detroit.

The side of the wall these residents called home would later affect the sale price of their houses, the value of their next homes, and, eventually, the wealth they might inherit from their parents. Their experience in elementary school would determine the classes they took in high school, their decisions about college or the military, and the ease with which they achieved their goals. And throughout their lives, the friendships they made would frame their interactions with classmates and colleagues, with doctors and law enforcement, in social settings and in job interviews. (via)

In the 1930s, this area had been a remote one (the city had not yet extended sewer lines there) attracting Black families who wanted to get away from other neighbourhoods and build their own small houses there. Then, in the early 1940s, a white developer discovered the area and wanted to create a neighbourhood for white people. What he needed was the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) to agree, however, the administration did not. It refused to back mortgages since the area was too close to the Black neighbourhood increasing "the homeowners' risk of default". The developer found a solution, i.e., building a wall that separates the two neighbourhoods and by doing so sending a very clear message. And, in fact, after the wall was built, the FHA agreed to back mortgages in the white zone which again led to an influx of white people in this area. Decades ago, nearly all white residents left for the suburbs (via and via).

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photograph via