A Nation of Walls
Research Project
Related Publication:
Chat Travieso, “A Nation of Walls: The Overlooked History of Race Barriers in the United States,” Places Journal, September 2020.
Chat Travieso, “Concrete Terror: Race Barriers and Vigilantism in the United States,” MAS Context 33 (Fall 2021): 236–249.
A Nation of Walls investigates the overlooked history of segregation walls, fences, and road barricades in the United States. Not unique to the south or to a bygone era, these race barriers have been erected throughout the country since the New Deal by public agencies, developers, and white homeowners, often working in tandem and sanctioned by the courts. In the words of a white public-housing official in Houston in the 1950s, the obstructions were intended to separate the races “psychologically and physically.” These structures helped harden racial divisions, facilitated police and vigilante intimidation, and forced Black residents to take circuitous routes to fulfill daily needs. From Florida to New York to California, fragments of these barriers are scattered throughout the nation to this day, yet there is no comprehensive study of them. This project catalogues the physical remnants and political legacies of these bits of racist infrastructure hidden in plain sight.
Research for A Nation of Walls is supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, with fiscal sponsorship from Storefront for Art and Architecture.
