The word Bottom is an informal term used to describe Black communities that surround or sit within clearly segregated urban areas. The term was created in the twentieth century to epitomize where Black communities physically reside and their social rank in American society. The negativity imbued in the term gives Black communities a distinct vulnerability within society. “Bottoms” become susceptible to destruction and structural violence when confronted with the inequitable power structures inherent in American urban planning protocols. Attacks on these communities, which are clouded by ideas of development and propaganda demonizing Black communities, destroy the presence, history, and voices of the many people that called the space home

Bottoms across the United States are neighborhoods, containing homes, schools, churches, shops, and most importantly families. Bottoms have faced scrutiny due their concentrated Black populations faced with meager opportunities for employment, housing, and high quality of life. Bottoms often do not have strict geographical boundaries, however race-based segregation put in place by redlining created stark divides in urban areas. Redlining is a systematic exclusionary practice in which banks refuse to give financial services (such as insurance loans, mortgages, and business permits) to Black individuals in certain areas. An act of system violence, it was used as a tool to eradicate racial integration of neighborhoods and perpetuate local economic stagnation and public disinvestment, directly contributing to the deterioration of public services, goods, and housing. Redlining was fortified through Anti-Black campaigns in which propaganda told white residents that allowing Black people into their neighborhoods would decrease land values and cause a crime surge. Black communities who pursued better housing opportunities were met with angry mobs, protests, and conflicts with the police. This suite of practices, all rooted in White Supremacy and structural violence against Black people, systematically decreased the value of Black neighborhoods.

Despite these origins, for many residents Bottoms transformed into thriving and aspirational spaces that served as stages for sanctuary and success within oppressive White supremacist society. Amongst mediocre housing and infrastructure blossomed professionals and lucrative businesses. Tenacity allowed Black people to slowly build wealth and financial security within their communities. Bottoms were home to America’s first Black teachers, doctors, lawyers, manufacturers, politicians, and community leaders. Bottoms gave rise to literary and musical movements that would go on to shape America’s cultural identity. Bottoms allowed Black individuals to be connected to place and community.

Though Bottoms had grown to be positive places for their residents, as early as the 1930s they were labeled and displayed in the media as “slums” and “blighted.” Masked behind the concept of Urban Renewal and the Federal Highway Act of 1956, city planning departments reviewed local bank’s redlining maps to identify prime locations for redevelopment and highway construction. Consistently, they chose the Bottoms and, in the process, destroyed and displaced Black communities. 

The Displacement of Communities in Philadelphia’s Black Bottom

The boundaries of the Black Bottom of West Philadelphia were never fixed and different people have different memories, but the rough area stretched from 33rd St. to 40th St., with the northern boundary of Lancaster Avenue and the southern edge along Market Street. The Black Bottom also reached Powelton and Curie Boulevard on the north and south (University Avenue). Originally referred to as “Area 3”, this section of Philadelphia is now known as “University City.” In the 1950s, Black Bottom was a bustling neighborhood of homes and businesses. The average household consisted of two adults and four or more children. Black families both owned and rented their homes. The neighborhood included Black-owned stores, barber shops, markets, and restaurants. Members of the community enjoyed sitting on the front steps of the church having conversation with neighbors or singing. Children jumped rope while adults pitched horseshoes or dressed up to go to the movies. Parents did not worry for their children’s safety and doors were often left unlocked.

The University of Pennsylvania received immense governmental backing and increased public recognition of their research and academic efforts during the 1950s. This gave the University a powerful level of authority over local communities. Concurrently, the Housing Act of 1949 allowed the government to pay two-thirds of the cost incurred by local authorities in purchasing and cleaning up “blighted” areas. It is with these conditions that newly formed West Philadelphia Corporation, under the guise of “urban renewal” and with the financial support of the government, was able to displace between 5000–10,000 individuals from the Black Bottom during the late 1960s and 1970s.