The “Other Half” Still Suffered

Yet while these upscale neighborhoods developed on the outer skirts of Baltimore, the poor, specifically Black residents suffered within the interior. Even though the Segregation Ordinance was removed, Blacks quickly faced another barrier of neighborhood covenants which put similar racial restrictions on neighborhoods. These restrictions were particularly hard on poor Blacks. The Black population in Baltimore dramatically increased due to the “Great Migration” from 1920-1930 giving the city the fourth largest Black population in the country. With little options of where to move, Blacks were forced into crowded areas with upwards of 50,000-100,000 people per square mile. So while the middle class lived in luxurious and spacious homes with rooms like this:

Accession Number P75-54-N894, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Many poor Blacks had no choice but to live like this:

Accession Number P75-54-0244g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The bottom picture is significant not only because of what is taking place but because the Hughes Collection has very few pictures of people in these houses let alone African Americans. It shows how important and perhaps shocking to the photographers to see living conditions like this.