Red Lines, Black Spaces: The Politics of Race and Space in a Black Middle-Class Suburb

Bruce D. Haynes writes a readable academic study which is rich in detail through citations and footnotes,with a narrative as wide as the island of Manhattan is narrow. Never losing the line of the story, Dr. Haynes draws on mundane policy-driven sources for his data like census figures and population numbers used in some of the urban planning reports used in the drive for reddening of the redline around Nepperhan. This is not a clinical review of forces which surrounded a community, it the story of how identity, in institutions, in communities and in individuals can withstand the larger forces which seek to structure their lives. To the opposition to government policy makers, individual Nepperhanians stood, as their ancestors opposed earlier chamber of commerce types, to hold their community and hence their individuality. For example,

Dr. Haynes has captured the unique character of Runyon Heights in a way that brings the neighborhood to life for the reader. This is an important book of research regarding a little studied aspect of African American history. Using both human and historical resources, Haynes faithfully portrays the development of a community that challenges white America's stereotypical perceptions of predominantly Black neighborhoods, and thereby challenges their perceptions of African Americans themselves.