The General Ecological Organization of the City of Washington.
- Title:
- The General Ecological Organization of the City of Washington.
- Alternate Title:
- The General Ecological Organization of the City of Washington.
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Jones, William Henry
- Other Creators:
- Interracial Committee of the Washington Federation of Churches, sponsor.
- Date:
- 1929
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2571.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2571_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Bias
Slavery/Race - Measurement:
- 21 x 14 page (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map appears in a landmark 1929 report, "The Housing of Negroes" in Washington D.C., as a graphic summary of the investigation's findings on the "ecological organization" of the city. The study was done by a pioneering African-American social scientist, William Henry Jones, who had served as Chair of the Department of Sociology at Howard University. It includes detailed, block-by-block surveys of the city's housing characteristics, along with historical background and extensive community and cultural information on subjects including Negro delinquency, mortality, and unmarried mothers. The report is meticulously even-handed and presents the data gathered in a number of maps and charts. As the author states in the Introduction (p.25), "much of the data which it contains is that of social psychology and statistics."
Although he notes that Negoes in D.C. had been subject to insults and "attacks at the hands of white people," Jones praises the District for having avoided the worst events that had occurred in other cities, like racial "bombing or incendiarism" over housing (pp.65, 148). And he reports finding general cooperation and courtesy in face-to-face interviews done at some 200 homes in white residential areas. But despite the author's scrupulous fairness, he is candid in discussing the problems and tensions found in the canvas. One "suspicious professional man . . . drove an investigator from his premises;" other individuals "refused in strong, profane, and vituperative language to reply to our inquiries" (p.21). As to those whites who did respond, Jones found that "the objections to living with Negroes lies so deeply embedded in the realms of social psychology and human nature that few of the persons who were consulted could formulate any clear and lucid statements of their attitudes and feelings regarding Negroes coming into their neighborhoods. The replies to the inquiries varied from strong, terse, and vituperative language, which carried very little meaning, to veritable 'systems of philosophy'" (p.74).
The map of "ecological organization" is the only one in the study drawn by hand, and it reflects the scope of the city's racial housing divide. It shows the "Area of Deteriorated Negro Neighborhoods" in the city's southwest blending into the housing area of "Negro Aristocracy" and then to the "Restricted Residential District" further north. And between the largest "Negro Area" and the white "Residential Area," it describes the "Area of Negro Expansion and Invasion" as "conflict attitudes." The map succinctly illustrates the scope of the problem of equal access to housing, an issue that persists to this day, almost a century later.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Jones, William Henry. 1926. The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D.C. - A Study in Human Ecology. Washington: Howard University Press.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.