8 MILE ROAD SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL DIVIDE

8 Mile Road has long served as a de facto cultural dividing line between the predominantly poor African-American city and its wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs. (The suburbs of Grosse Pointe are exceptions to this cultural dividing line since they are white affluent suburbs south of 8 Mile Road. Harper Woods is another exception, being traditionally white but not affluent.) Although in fact this line has become blurred as certain communities immediately north of the road (notably Southfield and Oak Park) have gained black residents in recent years, the perception of 8 Mile as the chief dividing line between racial groups and classes persists, in part because the suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb remain, on the whole, significantly whiter and more prosperous than the city of Detroit.

My photographic survey analyzed the economical and racial division through portraits of people coming out grocery stores located above and below 8 mile road.Above the white wealthier class with full grocery carts and below the poorer coming out of small shops with almost empty carts . A series of stark landscapes of 8 mile road that are underlining the economical crisis that the real america is living right now.



This wall was built in the early 1940s when a developer wanted to build homes for middle-class whites but found that the U.S. government would not back mortgages because too many blacks lived in the neighborhood, said Blight Busters founder John George.The developer proposed putting up a wall to show that whites and blacks would not be living together, George said. It worked, and federal officials approved the loans.

CONSUMERS LIVING ABOVE 8 MILE RD.

8 MILE RD. LANDSCAPES

CONSUMERS LIVING BELOW 8 MILE RD.