URCA – Rockford Matters

What is URCA?

Undergraduate Research or Creative Activities or URCA is a program found at SIUE. This program encourages undergraduates to go above and beyond to further their education and explore their passions. Through this program, students can either become a URCA Assistant or an Associate. As a URCA assistant students will assist a faculty member on a current project; this role is assigned in single semester periods, can be paid or unpaid, and is led by the faculty member. An assistantship allows students an opportunity to begin understanding research and decide if it is the right path for them. In contrast, as a URCA associate students lead their own research for a school year while receiving funding for their work, resources, and travel to conferences.

For more information regarding SIUE’s URCA program, check out https://www.siue.edu/urca/

Rockford Matters: A History of Racial Segregation in Rockford, Illinois

During the 2024-2025 school year I have committed to the role of an URCA Associate under the guidance of Dr. Brown from SIUE’s Geography Department. My project, titled Rockford Matters: A History of Racial Segregation in Rockford, Illinois focuses on answering the question of how redlining has affected and continues to affect the black community of Rockford.

If you’d be interested in staying updated regarding my progress, please reach out!

My Proposal

I. Abstract

Since the creation of this country, the United States government has been complacent and willing in the exclusion and sedation of the African American race. A city that has a long tradition of segregation is Rockford, Illinois. Rockford is situated 2 hours west of Chicago and is a manufacturing powerhouse.  This project will gather historical documents for Rockford, Illinois to determine why the other side of the river has such a bad reputation. Geographical Information Systems will be utilized to organize various data, including Home Owner Loan Corporation maps (red-lined areas), school districts, planning and zoning maps, census data (both historical and current), and additional information gleaned from the Rockford Public Library and the Rockford Community and Economic Development Office. This research will catalog and analyze the history of African Americans in early Rockford. 

II. Introduction and Significance

As someone who grew up near Rockford, IL, I was always told not to cross the river. After taking various geography, sociology, and other courses, I began to wonder why and when this anecdotal phrase became so prominent. After reading the Color of Law (1) and learning more about the influence of zoning on city development, I became even more curious as to why the other side of the river became such a problematic and dangerous place to go. I have since acquired additional books and literature about the history of Rockford that adds even more evidence about how this statement came to represent segregation and separation for African Americans in Rockford.  Much of this literature is fractured and not cohesive. Therefore, my aim is to create a geospatial database, an ESRI StoryMap, manuscript, and academic presentations that show the transformation of the “other side of the river” as well as the entire city of Rockford to show that this area has suffered from systemic racism like what is mentioned in the Color of Law (1).  

Study Area  

Rockford, Illinois, situated 2 hours west of Chicago, has been an important part of Illinois history since it was first settled in 1834. The first settlers consisted of Thatcher Blake, Germanicus Kent, and a boy named Lewis Lemon, Kent’s slave who accompanied him on the journey (2). From these first three settlers, Rockford would continue to grow and mature into the largest metropolitan area in Illinois outside of Chicago. Rockford would become an anchor for the northern Illinois region and a manufacturing powerhouse.  

Research Statement  

With this research, I wish to catalog and analyze the history of African Americans in Rockford. To accomplish this goal, I will build both a literature and a geospatial database to catalog the racial history of Rockford, focusing on redlining, school district changes and documenting the migration of Rockford’s black population. Additionally, I will compare historical data and link this history to modern-day issues that impact Rockford residents. This goal will be accomplished by the following:  

  • Using GIS to visualize the growth and movement of the black population of Rockford, IL  
  • Using historical documents, images will be georeferenced to document visually the stages of how the black population in Rockford migrated throughout the city  
  • Create a variety of visuals that will culminate in an ESRI StoryMap to show the impact of redlining, exclusionary zoning, school district court cases, and census data on the black population of Rockford 
  • Compare past data with modern day data to show how these trends continue into the modern age using the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey. These government datasets will answer a variety of questions, including: 
  • Are black residents still living in isolated neighborhoods?  
  • How does the education of Black residents compare to their white neighbors? 

III. Literature Review  

There is not much research or literature on Rockford, Illinois alone. When conducting a Google Scholar search for Rockford, IL, there are roughly 25,000 results that emerge. However, there are only 4 results that discuss ethnic and racial groups in the early history of Rockford, with most of them centered on the Swedes of Rockford (3, 4, 5, 6). Only two books have been found that discuss African Americans in early Rockford (2, 7). Thus, this research will fill the knowledge gap between these historical documents, government intervention in creating segregated cities, and current issues facing residents due to past policies.  

The US Government has had a long history of encouraging and/or being complacent in the exclusion of African Americans in the housing market. While many policies began at the local level the Government was not against embracing them at the national level (1). Examples of this can be seen with the creation of organizations such as the Home Owners Loan Corporation, Better Homes in America, and the Federal Housing Administration (1). All of which had close ties to the US government and embraced segregation in the United States (1). Better Homes in America was endorsed by former US President Herbert Hoover and designed to increase home ownership with citizens (1). However, in its published manual it encourages homeowners to consider the makeup of potential neighborhoods before moving, endorsing the fear of black neighbors (1).  This manual also included a statement on apartment living stating that “…apartments were the worst kind of housing, frequently overcrowded because of the ‘ignorant racial habitat’ of African Americans and European immigrants,” (1, pg. 62).   

In 1933, the US government created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) to help rescue homeowners who could not afford to pay off their homes after the Great Depression (1). This organization offered mortgages with lower interest rates, however, before offering they would require an inspection to determine if you and your neighborhood were trustworthy enough to qualify (1). To do these, inspectors would assess the risk by looking at factors such as the condition of your home, your neighbor’s homes and your overall neighborhood (1). After the assessment, the inspector would draw up a color-coded map labeling good and bad areas (green = the best, yellow = possible risk, red = risk/should be avoided) (1, pg. 64). These inspectors were required to uphold segregation in the United States so any neighborhoods containing a black resident would immediately be lined in red, hence the term redlining (1). The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was first created in 1934 to help with the purchasing of homes (1, pg. 64). However, like the other policies discussed, this policy focused on the continued segregation of non-white residents (1). The FHA was open about its whites only appraisal policy and would not continue if it learned that the proposed homeowners were black (1). The FHA was interested in the continued segregation of neighborhoods along with school districts too (1).  

There is a confirmed pattern of using toxic waste zoning to turn African American areas into slums (1). The pattern was confirmed in a 1983 analysis by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), concluding that, across the nation, commercial waste treatment facilities or uncontrolled waste dumps were more likely to be found near African Americans than white residential areas (1). These choices were made to avoid the deterioration of white neighborhoods. “Some 40 years after the first redlining map was drawn, redlining was banned under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. But in many ways, HOLC and the Federal Housing Administration had already written the textbook for racist real estate practices” (8, para. 47).  

The Race Line in Rockford to 1930 is an important catalog of the racial history of Rockford, Illinois. In this text, the author identifies four key phases of movement that the black population went through between the years 1880 to 1930, in addition to identifying other important dates for the history of Rockford (6).   

The key periods that were identified in Rockford consisted of:  

  • First phase (pre-1900) – Blacks held the least regarded jobs and lived only in the poorest areas of town, two black men were found dead outside of town and even though suspects were identified no arrests were ever made (6) 
  • Second Phase (1900-1914) – turn of the century, the race line became clearer, and residents were more open about their racial bias (6) 
  • Third Phase (1914-1922) – WW1, first great migration, an uptick in black residents causing greater issues between the black and white communities, the first influx of uneducated southern black people, race riot between Italians and blacks, large influx of black residents for the war led to mass spread outside of the southwest quadrant (6) 
  • Fourth Phase (1922-1930) – post-war, doubling of black population but 20% decrease in residents living outside the southwest quadrant, return to 1910 housing patterns (blacks were segregated into poor/over the river communities,) but no racial ghetto emerged (6) 

The black population in Rockford would never reach the racial majority before the 1930’s, even in the southwest quadrant where most of them lived (6). A quote from a former resident stated that “(w)here we had come from there were so many [blacks]. But if you saw just one colored person in Rockford, you were so happy you ran all the way home to tell Mama,” (6, pg. 16). 

While Rockford’s white residents went through stages of acceptance, they made their opinions known regarding the black population. During this 50-year period there were very few white landlords that would rent their property to black tenants (6). In 1918 a race riot erupted between the Italian and Black populations in Southwest Rockford (6). During the late 1910s and early 1920s Rockford would have a well-established chapter of the Ku Klux Klan that focused on the continuation of anti-black sentiment in Rockford (6). In its manifesto it states: 

“We stand for white supremacy….We must keep this a white man’s country…The Republic was established by White Men. It was established for White Men. Our forefathers never intended that it should fall into the hands of an inferior race…Purity of the white blood must be maintained. One of the crying evils of the times is the mixture of white blood with that of the Negro” (6, pg. 28). 

In the early 1920’s the Klan would host multiple rallies in Rockford with attendance reaching between 30,000 and 50,000. This prevalence of the Klan would remain in Rockford until the mid-1920’s when the midwestern Klan Leader D.C. Stephenson was arrested in Indiana (6).  

Rockford housing records fail to show any evidence of why the Black population in Rockford resided only in the southwest quadrant (6). However, based on former residents claims and court records there is evidence showing that the white population worked hard to keep segregation as it was in Rockford (6). This evidence includes real estate refusal to sell to African Americans, a court case stating that black residents moving into a majority white area would lower home values, and memories from black residents stating it was clear where they weren’t wanted (6) 

IV. Objectives and Hypothesis 

The overall goal of this research project is to understand how the past influences the present. How do the governmental policies of the 1930s and earlier influence the city landscape of Rockford today in 2024? This research is an important one to conduct to evaluate the systems, structures, policies and practices that have led Rockford to become a segregated community. An equity-minded approach will be taken to meet the following objectives and test these hypotheses. 

As mentioned in the introduction, I want to be able to understand how the phrase “do not cross the river.” This anecdotal phrase was mentioned to Dr. Brown and after telling her my idea, she thought of how to incorporate geospatial data and told me about “The Color of Law.” The more I read and the less I found out about Rockford encouraged this proposal submission. 

Hypotheses  
  1. There will be statistical evidence that the African American population in Rockford has remained stationary in the historic city’s boundaries for the past 100 years.  
  1. Using historical and current censuses, this research will show that the African American population has remained stationary disproportionately to other populations (Asian, Irish, Swedish, Italian, etc.) 
  1. The educational obtainment will be lower in the historically segregated part of Rockford.  
  1. The homes, retail, and food options will be different for the historically segregated part of Rockford compared to other parts of Rockford. 
Findings 

The findings of this research will be disseminated in both public forums and in an online environment. The ESRI StoryMap is an interactive website that includes historical data, visualizations and text that tells a story (9).  

Future Goals

  • Complete layers comparing previously redlined tracts to black populations between 1970 and 2020
  • Compare modern amenity access based on race factors
  • Create an ArcGIS storymap connecting my research to the following texts
    • The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
    • African Americans in Early Rockford 1834-1871 by John L. Molyneaux
    • That Men Know So Little of Men by Barbara Chapman

Presenting My Work

  • American Association of Geographers
    • Poster Session
    • March 27, 2024 Huntington Place, Level 1, Exhibit Hall E, 10:30 AM to 11:10 AM

Sources

1. Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Liveright, 2017. 

2. Moolyneaux, John L. African Americans in Early Rockford, 1834-1871. Local History Department, Rockford Public Library, 2000. 

3. Jaffe, Christopher. ‘Us and them’: The changing boundaries of acceptance and exclusion for incoming ethnic, religious, and racial groups in Rockford, Illinois, 1880–1933. Northern Illinois University, 2008. 

4. Hillary, Michael Lee. Religion, immigrant churches, and community in an industrializing city: Swedish Protestants in Rockford, Illinois, 1854–1925. Columbia University, 2005. 

5. Dearborn, Lynne M. “Deploying Heritage to Solve Today’s Dilemmas: The Swedes of Rockford Illinois.” Encounters with Popular Pasts: Cultural Heritage and Popular Culture (2015): 97-114. 

6. Jaffe, Chris. “The Race Line in Rockford to 1930.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998-) 103, no. 1 (2010): 7–42.  

7. Chapman, Barbara. That Men Know so Little of Men: History of the Negro in Rockford, Illinois 1834-1973. Rockford Public Library, 1975. 

8.  Best, Ryan and Elena Mejía. 2022. “The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining.” FiveThirtyEight. February 9, 2022. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redlining/. Last accessed 27 March 2024. 

9. ESRI StoryMap. 2023 ArcGIS StoryMap Competition Award Winners. ESRI. https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-storymaps/contest/gallery/2023-winners. Last accessed 28 March 2024.