The Downside of Racial Uplift: meaning of gentrification in an African American neighborhood

Abstract

In the last 20 years, African Americans have changed both their role in and orientation toward gentrification. Where once it was viewed with suspicion, the strategy of attracting middle class residents to poor, black communities is now gaining popularity—provided the new residents are themselves African American. This article draws from a 2-year ethnographic study of the Douglas/ Grand Boulevard neighborhood on Chicago’s south side to examine how black advocates of gentrification understand the process and its implications for their neighborhoods. It argues that those who support attracting middle-class blacks to the community see their financial and personal investment as a form of race uplift. This interpretive framework masks intra-racial class differences and minimizes the disproportionate negative impact that gentrification could have on lower-income residents.