Date of Award
Summer 2015
Thesis Type
Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Liberal Studies
Advisor(s)
Julian Chambliss
Second Advisor
Matthew Nichter
Abstract
The present project centers on how the African American community of Parramore in Orlando, Florida, became a low-income neighborhood. Based on a timeline from 1880 to 1980 and the construction of the Interstate 4, this thesis investigates Parramore’s decline grounded in the effects of urban sprawl and racial oppression. Among the effects that contributed to the neighborhood's decline in the postwar era were the closing of black schools and the migration of black residents to other places after the 1960s; the disruption of the neighborhood with the construction of highways and public housing; and the lack of investment in new urban infrastructure. The social, economic, and cultural decay of this community begins with the racist ideology of the Jim Crow era and continues with the racialization of spaces and the control of the wealth distribution through the urbanization of the Sunbelt region. Divided into five chapters, the paper presents the following: Intersection of modern social black history and racial segregation; history of the American urban sprawl; historical development of racial segregation in Florida; history of the National Highway System; and history of Parramore. Ultimately, this thesis aims to draw awareness to how urban megaprojects serve as class and racial barriers. Thus, this paper presents the history of an inner city built upon the violence of the Jim Crow era, and the postwar development that led to the transformation of a thriving neighborhood into a low-income community.
Recommended Citation
Gama, Yuri K., "Parramore and the Interstate 4: A World Torn Asunder (1880-1980)" (2015). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 71.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/71
Rights Holder
Yuri Kieling Gama
Cover of the Thesis
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Social History Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons