• Home > United States > Detroit race wall located on Birwood Street that once separated whites and blacks now haven for art

Detroit race wall located on Birwood Street that once separated whites and blacks now haven for art

by Jeff Karoub

A section of a half-mile long concrete wall, six feet tall and a foot or so thick, now covered with murals, built in the 1940s is shown in Detroit, March 28, 2013. The wall was built with a simple aim—to separate blacks and whites.

DETROIT — When Eva Nelson-Mc Clendon first moved to Detroit’s Birwood Street in 1959, she didn’t know much about the wall across the street. At 6 feet tall and a foot thick, it wasn’t so imposing, running as it did between houses on her street and one over. Then she started to hear the talk.

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017

  • About WHES & Hunger Notes
    For the past 40 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.