Detroit Eight Mile Wall/Birwood Wall, 20194 Mendota St (Alfonso Wells Memorial Playground), Detroit MI

This now iconic wall was built in 1941 to physically separate black and white neighborhoods. The FHA was unwilling to provide loans in the Eight Mile area and a developer wanted to build a new development. So he offered to have the wall built to keep his new, white neighborhood apart from the pre-existing black neighborhood. It worked for him and housing loans were provided for the whites.

(Black & white photos from the internet; all others from our 2021 visit.)

In 1948, the Supreme Court outlawed redlining and deed restrictions and by the 1960s, both sides of the wall were predominantly black communities. Rather than demolish the wall, residents decided to keep it standing as a reminder of our country's racist history. In 2006, the wall was turned into the mural you see today. 

It stands one foot thick, six feet high, and 1/2 mile long.

It's a moving memorial to a dark past.