Black in place : the spatial aesthetics of race in a post-Chocolate City / Brandi Thompson Summers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Summers, Brandi Thompson, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gentrification--Washington (D.C.).

Gentrification.

Social conditions.

Race relations.

Washington (D.C.).

Washington (D.C.)--Race relations--Economic aspects.

Washington (D.C.)--Social conditions--21st century.

H Street (Washington, D.C.)--Economic aspects.

H Street (Washington, D.C.).

Aesthetics, Black--Economic aspects--Washington (D.C.).

Aesthetics, Black.

Economics.

Race relations--Economic aspects.

Washington (D.C.)--H Street.

Physical Description:

xxi, 232 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2019]

Summary:

"While Washington, D.C. is still often referred to as 'Chocolate City, ' it has undergone significant demographic, political, and architectural change in the last decade. No place represents this shift better than H Street, one of the neighborhoods devastated by the April 1968 riots after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Over the last decade and a half, the H Street corridor has changed from a historically low-income, African American neighborhood--featuring black-owned businesses that catered to the local residents--to one of the most sought after commercial and residential areas in the nation, replete with art house theaters, fusion restaurants, and rising property values that have pushed out much of the original population. Brandi T. Summers explores this shift from chocolate city to cosmopolitan metropolis, looking at the role of race in urban environments and how the neighborhood's aesthetics--from fashion and language to foodways and black bodies themselves--have been commodified and branded. Through ethnography, interviews, archival research, and media analysis, Summers sheds new light on the relationship between race, space, and capitalism"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Capitol reinvestment : riot, renewal, and the rise of the black ghetto

Washington's "Atlas District" and the new regime of diversity

The changing face of a black space : cultural tourism and the spatialization of nostalgia

Consuming culture : authenticity, cuisine, and H Street's quality-of-life aesthetics

The corner : spatial aesthetics and black bodies in place.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781469654003

1469654008

9781469654010

1469654016

OCLC:

1089883564