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Urban Renewal, Vinegar Hill, 1960, Charlottesville Daily Progress Articles

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

In the decades after World War II, many towns and cities across the United States considered plans to redevelop aging neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods suffered from substandard housing, including public housing that had been erected during the 1930s or during the war. These areas were often characterized by a high concentration of tenants living in unsafe housing rented to them by absentee landlords. Often these tenants lived at or below the poverty level and were generally African American.

This situation was a result of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (a federal agency) designating segregated neighborhoods as unworthy of prime bank loans. The practice was known as redlining because those neighborhoods were marked with red on maps. Redlining and existing de jure and de facto segregation hindered economic development in such neighborhoods and ensured that they often had a majority of Black residents.

Vinegar Hill, in Charlottesville, was one such neighborhood. It had a similar history of segregation and redlining as did other primarily Black neighborhoods across Virginia, including Jackson Ward in Richmond, Gainsboro in Roanoke, and Lambert's Point in Norfolk. These areas suffered from depopulation as some Black residents moved away during the post-1940s era. The poor residents who were left lacked the political clout to fight “urban renewal” plans that tended to displace the most vulnerable residents of a city or town.

Charlottesville’s city council created a housing authority in April 1954. The Housing Authority conducted a survey to find “substandard dwellings occupied by Negro families” in an effort to secure federal funding to redevelop Vinegar Hill, the heart of the city's Black business community. Many of the houses that were deemed to be “blighted” were rented by Black residents and owned by white landlords. In 1960, Charlottesville voters, who were primarily white because poll taxes and literacy tests limited the number of Black voters, narrowly approved a referendum to authorize the redevelopment of Vinegar Hill. The city used eminent domain to seize the businesses and homes of Black residents in order to make way for a new commercial development. By 1964, about 600 residents had been displaced from their homes and forced into public housing, and 30 Black-owned businesses that had generated about $1.6 million in business had closed. The city’s renewal project stalled, and the land remained vacant for well over a decade.

These three articles were published in June 1960 in the Charlottesville Daily Progress, a white-owned newspaper. They include an account of a radio interview with three pro-development bank presidents, an editorial challenging assertions that the new housing for displaced residents would be integrated, and an excerpt from an article about the city council's decision. Together, these reflect the attitudes of the white city leaders at the time and foreshadowed what would become of the Black businesses and homeowners in the community.

Citations: "Bank Presidents Support Redevelopment Program,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 6, 1960; "Fact and Propaganda” (editorial), Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 13, 1960; "City Council Approves Vinegar Hill Project” (excerpt), Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 28, 1960.

For more information see the Urban Renewal in Virginia entry at Encyclopedia Virginia.

See some Vinegar Hill photographs at "UVA and the History of Race: Property and Power," UVA Today, 2021. 

Standards

USII.8, VUS.10, VUS.12

Suggested Questions

Pre-Activity

Look at it: Whose opinions are reflected in these articles? Whose voices are missing? What is the opinion of the newspaper related to urban renewal and the construction of new housing?


Post Activities

Form an opinion: After reading the articles, what were the major concerns of the supporters of urban renewal? What did these supporters fail to discuss when talking about the benefits of urban renewal? After reading these articles, what do you think about the process Charlottesville leaders went through to redevelop Vinegar Hill, and why? Give a few examples from the readings to support your opinions.

Take a Stand: You are the attorney representing the business and homeowners of Vinegar Hill. Write a brief argument about why Vinegar Hill should not be redeveloped, and why. What concerns would you bring from the people residing in the area, and why?

Food For Thought: Many of the Black residents of Vinegar Hill rented their properties and did not receive any financial compensation when they were forced to move for redevelopment. What impact might this have on the wealth and status of these families who were renting property?