Unpaved Lines: Blight and Race in Fayetteville at Mid-Century

I have used the 1951 Fayetteville, NC city directory and a 1963 federal study of urban blight to overlay patterns of segregation and neglect onto a modern map of the city.

Unpaved Lines: Blight and Race in Fayetteville at Mid-Century (link opens in new window)

1951 Hill’s City Directory

All streets within the city limits which, in 1951, were listed as being 100% “colored” are highlighted on the map. Clicking on those streets will often show more detail including screen captures of the 1951 city directory which used the designator (c) to indicate a “colored” household. This designator was used to determine which streets were entirely “non-white.”

Highlighted areas on the map show neighborhoods that, in 1963, were more than 75% “non-white.” Clicking on those areas will show more detail.

The 1951 city directory can be found here: Hill’s 1951 Fayetteville, NC City Directory (link opens in new window)

The 1963 Neighborhood Analysis can be found here: Neighborhood analysis, Fayetteville, North Carolina (link opens in new window)

1923 College Park plat map overlaid on map of modern-day Washington Drive
1949 Washington Square Public Housing plat map overlaid on map of modern-day FSU campus at Langdon Street
Examples of urban “blight” in Fayetteville as seen in the 1963 Neighborhood Analysis