From Civil Rights to Housing Advocacy
This presentation examines how urban renewal failed to serve the new freedoms of the civil rights movement. The urban planning responses to fair and affordable housing resulted in continued racial and economic segregation and worsened conditions in many communities. Current advocacy efforts and population patterns will be presented through a historical lens. Audience members will be encouraged to probe current housing problems and needs in the context of the civil rights movements and Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Denese Neu holds a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of New Orleans and has researched and consulted on place-based issues. In 2007, she ran a feasibility study for heritage tourism in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She has spoken on a number of humanities-based panels around the state and has authored papers on urban renewal and affordable housing.
