Detroit's Birwood Wall - Detroit, MI - There's a Book About It on Waymarking.com

Detroit's Birwood Wall: Hatred and Healing in the West Eight Mile Community is a book about "The Detroit Eight Mile Wall, also referred to as Detroit's Wailing Wall, Berlin Wall or The Birwood Wall, is a one-foot-thick (0.30 m), six-foot-high (1.8 m) separation wall that stretches about 1/2 mile (0.80 km) in length. 1 foot (0.30 m) is buried in the ground and the remaining 5 feet (1.5 m) is visible to the community. It was constructed in 1941 to physically separate black and white homeowners on the sole basis of race. The wall no longer serves to racially segregate homeowners and, as of 1971, both sides of the barrier have been predominantly black."-Detroit Wall

Yes. It is that Eight Mile made famous by local rapper Eminem. Eight mile has been the historic divide between Detroit and the suburbs for almost 100 years. Eight Mile is an east/west thoroughfare yet the Birwood Wall runs north south. From the historical marker at the site:

Birwood Wall. Constructed in 1941, the Birwood Wall divided the existing Black community in the Eight Mile-Wyoming area from Blackstone Park. a newly built White subdivision. The wall is a reminder of institutionalized racial segregation in the United States. For example the 1936 Federal Housing Administration underwriting manual stated that artificial barriers could protect a neighborhood's value from "adverse influences." such as "inharmonious racial groups." Maps provided by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation labeled Black neighborhoods and other ethnic or low-income communities as "hazardous" for home loans, a process known as redlining. The Reverend Horace White, the first Black member of the Detroit Housing Commission. denounced the wall and led protests against its construction. By the 1950s Black families lived on both sides of the wall.

The description of this book at Amazon:
"In 1941, a real estate developer in northwest Detroit faced a dilemma. He needed federal financing for white clients purchasing lots in a new subdivision abutting a community of mostly African Americans. When the banks deemed the development too risky because of potential racial tension, the developer proposed a novel solution. He built a six-foot-tall, one-foot-thick concrete barrier extending from Eight Mile Road south for three city blocks--the infamous Birwood Wall. It changed life in West Eight Mile forever. Gathering personal interviews, family histories, land records and other archival sources, author Gerald Van Dusen tells the story of this isolated black enclave that persevered through all manner of racial barriers and transformed a symbol of discrimination into an expression of hope and perseverance."-Amazon

ISBN Number: 9781467142014 Author(s): Gerald Van Dusen

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