Perilous Ground: Black Towns in North Carolina

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Race/Ethnicity: Housing and Cities

Abstract

This paper examines municipal incorporation as a tool for black autonomy and resilient placemaking in North Carolina. Using archival data, public databases, and secondary sources on black towns in North Carolina—a significant state in the history of black town building—I interrogate the efficacy of municipal incorporation to protect the environmental, political, and economic interests of black communities. I argue that though black incorporation affords some autonomy from local white interests, black towns experience many of the same inequities as unincorporated black communities and non-independent municipal communities, as they are still embedded in larger white governance structures that shape their ability to access critical tools of growth, sustainability, and resiliency.

Author

• Danielle Purifoy, Duke University