Structural Violence in The Baltimore Sun’s Coverage of 1910 McCulloh Street

Abstract

Housing in Baltimore has had a long and complicated history of racist, exclusionary policies and practices. From intense racial segregation to redlining and blockbusting, both legal and social pressures have enforced a structurally violent system within the city. After reading historian and former Baltimore Sun writer Antero Pietila’s book “Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City” I decided to focus this paper on a series of Baltimore Sun articles published in 1910. These articles narrate a historically white Baltimore neighborhood’s fierce reaction to an African American man moving in during the Jim Crow period. The racist language and obvious bias present in these articles demonstrates just how deeply the violent housing policies penetrated the lives of those involved. By studying and drawing attention to historically unjust instances like this one, we can both learn from the past and strive for future systems based on equity and respect rather than prejudice and exclusion.