Emily presented a story map project that looked at How Omaha’s North Freeway paved the way to inequality and how Omaha is racially segregated. To do this, Emily looked at racism on the frontier and how it was seen in Omaha. She then discussed Redlining and what it is, providing the HOLC map of Omaha. Afterward, Emily discusses road building specifically the North Freeway. She provides background information on the interstage system and why it was implemented. She also discusses freeway revolts and how Omahans reacted to new freeways being built. She ends her project by talking about how people are trying to reconcile what was done.
I enjoyed overall how the story map was set up. It first discusses racism and segregation by focusing on the nation and then narrowing it down to Omaha. I also enjoyed how it gave background information on how the highway wars were in other cities across the nation. I also enjoyed the images throughout the project and how the maps were analyzed. I also liked the slide bar for the various maps and images, especially the one showing how Omaha has changed from 1962 to 1972. Another strength of the project was the inclusion of the reconciliation. I feel it provides the audience with information on what is being done about this currently. A final strength was the use of sources.
One critique I have of the story map is the lack of a conclusion as a way to wrap things up. While I enjoyed the section about reconciliation, I don’t feel it serves the best as a conclusion. Something else that could have been included is how the interstate systems in Omaha still affect Omaha today. It does talk about how it is still seen today, but potentially a census data map of Omaha currently could have helped show how it is still in effect. While I know we looked at Redlining in Omaha in class, I feel the story map could have benefited from it. Another critique I have is of the HOLC map compared to the 1960s census. I feel the colors of the sections should have been the same colors as other HOLC maps where A = green, D = Red, etc. Otherwise, a map key would have been useful. The caption gives what the colors represent for the census map but not for the HOLC map. I don’t feel the project made any claims that it did not support.
This site offers a map of Area D12 of Denver which is the Five Points Neighborhood. It also offers clarifying remarks on the area, and area characteristics which include favorable influences, detrimental influences, and trends of desirability within the next 10-15 years as of 1940. It also includes inhabitants, building presence, and availability of mortgage funds.
This is a Sanborn map of the Five Points neighborhood. The area I would focus on is the places between 20th Avenue and 35th Street. This map shows the types of buildings in the area and what they might have been constructed with. For example, section 216 has buildings that are deemed fireproof while 212 is deemed as a special building. I can then look further into the specific areas within the Five Points neighborhood.
IPUMS NHGIS Census Data
This will show me the census data during the 1930-1950 about race.
I am using this site as a guideline of what I hope to potentially achieve with my project. I won’t be able to do everything this project has done within the time frame.
I am using this site to see the racial makeup of the Five Points Neighborhood today to see if things have changed. I am looking to contrast this with the census data
This Is a map of Denver around 1887. This map shows the index to subdivisions and additions to Denver. It also has an outline of the types of buildings within each subdivision.
This is a map from 1879. I couldn’t find a more recent map but I will be able to use this one to look at how Denver was before the great migration and how Five Points was impacted by it.
This website shows modern-day maps of Denver in which I look at the Five Points neighborhood. I am hoping to overlay this as the background and potentially use it as a base map.
I am using this site as a guideline of what I hope to potentially achieve with my project. I won’t be able to do everything this project has done within the time frame. This site also has some great information on Denver in general that I can use for the Five Point neighborhood.
This site is done by the local news station for Denver and discusses the story of the Five Points neighborhood. It also includes a video from the news station discussing the story of the Five Points neighborhood as it celebrated Juneteenth.
AN HISTORICAL-URBAN GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT IN DENVER, 1860-1970.
This is a book I haven’t been able to look at yet but put an interlibrary loan for. It discusses the black neighborhood development in Denver during the period I am looking for.
This paper discusses how Five Points is changing and the need for African American Reparations. It also includes maps that show the percentage of the population in Denver 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree, the racial and ethnic distribution of the Five Points neighborhood, and discusses redlining of the neighborhood.
Mapping the history of sensitive topics such as racial violence and white supremacy comes with large ethical implications that must be considered when understanding and interpreting maps. As outlined in the abstract of the Racism in the Machine article, it mentioned how “data visualizations are inherently rhetorical, and therefore bias-laden visual artifacts that contain both explicit and implicit arguments.” When looking at maps of such sensitive topics, it is important to keep in mind the bias-laden artifacts and look at both the explicit and implicit arguments within them. The article takes a look at the two projects that look at lynching in the United States and outlines both the positives of each project but also the critiques of them.
The “Racial Terror Lynchings Map” which was created by the Equal Justice Initiative looks to document the lynchings of African Americans primarily in the southern portion of the United States. While this map can be used as an advocacy tool as it highlights the historically targeted injustices and their current-day implications such as mass incarceration, the map reviews many critiques. Firstly, it has a narrow focus and overlooks other marginalized groups experiencing similar targeted violence during its time period such as Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexicans. It also has an emphasis on the Southern regions of the United States, but these other marginalized groups often experience injustices outside of the South. The map immediately centers itself on the United States South, even when there are counties outside the region that are marked as lynchings occurring. It takes some navigating of the site in order to see the rest of the United States to look at other Lynchings. Looking at the broad overview of the site, it does offer different ways of observing information. It has an interactive map, stories of lynchings, videos, and the original report on lynchings in American. It also offers educators lesson plans on how to talk about Lynching. I find this especially interesting because we did not talk about lynching in high school. This could have been because of where I went to school and it could be different in other states.
The Map of White Supremacy is the second project the article takes a look at. This project is an interactive map that systematically documented lynchings in the United States. It depicts lynching records in the context of historical racial violence and public discourses of white superiority. Developed by Auut Studio, the map presents a comprehensive depiction of racial violence, emphasizing the nationwide prevalence of white supremacy enforced through mob violence. Initially showing grey dots representing each recorded lynching, the map becomes more detailed upon interaction, displaying state and county boundaries subtly while highlighting individual incidents with bright colors. It incorporates features like a timeline and a color-coded legend to allow users to explore different aspects of lynching history, including the racial diversity of victims and the temporal patterns of racial violence. Moreover, the map personalizes the data by listing the names and details of lynched individuals, shedding light on the humanity behind these tragic events and underscoring the racism inherent in lynching incidents, often obscured in historical records. Through these features and interactive elements, the Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence effectively contextualizes the data within the broader societal issues of racism and white supremacy, offering users a deeper understanding of this dark chapter in American history.
The next section compares the representation of lynchings in California on two maps: the Racial Terror Lynchings map and the Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence. While the former only illustrates lynchings of African Americans, the latter includes incidents involving Native Americans, Latinos, Italians, and other races, providing a more comprehensive view. The Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence presents a stark visual narrative indicating widespread lynchings across California, underscoring the enforcement of white superiority. In contrast, the Racial Terror Lynchings map lacks clarity in its data representation, implying fewer instances of racial terror or lynchings in California. This discrepancy is problematic given the high rates of black incarceration in California today, contradicting the Equal Justice Initiative’s aim to address racial injustice tied to the history of lynchings. The section highlights how the visual argument of the Racial Terror Lynchings map inadvertently weakens advocacy efforts regarding California’s prison system and racial disparities in incarceration rates.
When looking at these topics, one cannot avoid the ethical implications of the topics. As such, the article discusses an ethical visualization workflow that they Hepworth and Church feel with minimize harm to three groups: people using visualizations, people represented in visualizations, and people personally affected by the represented material. In addition, this will also maximize the capacity and effectiveness of the visualization itself.
Bibliography:
EJI and Google. “Lynching in America: Racial Terror Lynchings.” https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/explore
Hepworth, Katherine, and Christopher Church. “Racism in the Machine: Visualization Ethics in Digital Humanities Projects.” Digital Humanities Quarterly. Vo. 12, no. 4 (2018).
Monroe and Florence Work. “White Supremacy Mob Violence.” https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/nKAyaWTMZtLxS/
For this project, I am going to focus on a specific neighborhood in the city of Denver. I am debating on doing the Five Points neighborhood or the Whittier neighborhood. If I decide to only do one of them then there will be some overlap since the two are so close in proximity to one another. Five Points neighborhood is often referred to as the Harlem of the West. My project aims to look at how the latter half of the Great Migration affected these neighborhoods. Because of this, I will be looking at the times from potentially the 1930s through the 1950s. In addition, I might also look to see how the demographic makeup of these neighborhoods has since shifted or if they are still predominately black. Because the area I am looking at is relatively small and I am only looking at potentially 20 years, I feel that this project is manageable given the time frame. One potential source I am going to try and use is census data sources from the time frame specifically looking at race. One such source for this is the mapping inequality link from the classroom site. Also, a potential site I could use is the National Historical GIS site for census data. Another source I am looking at using is Sanborn maps of the neighborhood. These will show me the different types of buildings in the neighborhood. Additionally, I am also going to look for HOLC maps of the neighborhood to see how redlining might be affecting it. As far as secondary sources go, I’m going to try to find some sources on the Great Migration and how it specifically affected Denver. I also am going to look for some history related to the Five Points Neighborhood. I have only done a little bit of preliminary research on it and have found history through pictures so that may or may not be useful. Ultimately, it would depend on what type of final project I am looking at creating. If I want to create a story map, pictures would be useful but not so much for a static map. I am also hoping to use some sources from ArcGIS online as there are projects that have looked at race and Denver at this period. There is also a project called Envisioning the Urban Past: GIS Reconstruction of a Lost Denver district. This project looks at the old Auraria district in downtown Denver. I am hoping to use this project as motivation and inspiration for what I hope to achieve with mine. I won’t be able to do everything the project has done due to the time constraints. As far as how I hope to create the project, I am debating on two different ideas. One idea is for the ArcGIS to create maps with layers and how they have changed over time. Another idea is to do a story map. If I were to do this, then I would be able to incorporate the pictures from a secondary source. However, I have not made a story map yet and I know we are making one in class soon. Depending on how that goes will determine what I want my final project to look like. I feel that this project will help contribute to the ongoing field that is history. I feel it can contribute to how we view redlining in major cities and potentially how it is still seen today. I also feel it can add to our understanding of how cities were affected by the Great Migration. I have seen other projects that look at race in Denver and hope my project can contribute to the conversation.
These maps demonstrate how things changed between 1880 and 1940, particularly how cultivation generally extended from east to west.
There is the least amount of cultivated land on the first map, which depicts the terrain in 1880. Some counties had a cultivation rate of only 26-42% at most. The majority of the cultivated land is found in eastern and central Kansas, as well as eastern Texas. However, the several dark blue counties in Kansas show that the proportion of cultivated land in those counties is higher.
The 1900 map shows an increase in counties cultivated. Oklahoma counties can be seen on this map while on the previous map, they were not shown as cultivated. At this point, there is some cultivation visible on the land in Oklahoma. Another significant alteration is shown in the legend of the map. The counties with the highest proportion of agriculture, ranging from 44-66%, are shown on this map. Kansas had more cultivation by 1900, with the counties with the most cultivation (dark blue) being seen. This showed the beginning of farmers discovering the boundaries of the amount of land they could cultivate.
Overall, the counties depicted on the 1940 map have greater widespread cultivation. Given that the map shows an increase in cultivated area in Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma, it is simple to observe how farming has extended from east to west. The legend of the 1940 map, however, only shows 37–66% of the land as farmed, suggesting that farmers had to lower their land cultivation to create a more sustainable equilibrium. This suggests that the limits had been reached.
The Great Plains is an area that has long been associated with being the breadbasket of the United States as it produces wheat for the rest of the nation. However, it was not always like this. As settlers from Europe came over and with Westward Expansion, land west of the Mississippi River became more and more settled. This was also in part due to the Homestead Act of 1862 which allowed citizens to own and settle a parcel of land known as a homestead. As settlement increased, the introduction of farming technologies and colonization led to a decrease in grasslands in the area known as the Great Plains.
As we can see in the maps found in Cunfer’s book, we can see that as time went on, the percentage of grassland decreased over time. The map depicting the percentage of grassland in 1880 shows there is an abundance of grasslands that have not been plowed yet.
Comparing this same area but much later, we can see that by 1997, there were very few regions that still had 80-100% grassland and there were regions where there was no grassland.
While we see that the presence of grasslands in the Great Plains has decreased over time, it is important to look at why they may have decreased. As we can see in Henry Gannett’s map depicting Wheat production per square mile in 1903, wheat is becoming much more common in the Great Plains. If we compare Gannett’s map with Cunfer’s map in 1903, the maps are related. Where we see a decrease in grassland, there is an increase in wheat production. I am sure that if we were to look at wheat production per square mile during a different year, I would assume that it would match the decrease in grassland as presented in Cunfer’s maps.
Cunfer, Geoff. 2005. On the great plains. Texas A&M University Press, pp. 16-37.
Gannett, Henry. 1903. “Production of Wheat per Square Mile at the Twelfth Census 1900.” DavidRumsey.com.
One other situation in which Voronoi polygons might be useful is when outlining where grocery stores or medical centers might be in relation to neighborhoods. This could outline where food deserts might be. This might be useful in terms of my final project as I could use heat maps to identify high-interest loans or regions with high minority populations. I could potentially use Voronoi polygons as a way to outline distance from railways or major roads as a way to show how Denver had built up over time. I could also use Voronoi polygons to show distance from specific parts of the city such as medical centers, churches, etc.
