City, Suburban & Rural Population

At the turn of the 20th Century Du Bois rightfully predicted and evidenced in his data portraits that cities would become central to Black populations in the U.S. due in large part to the Great Migration. In the 21st century that has shifted dramatically to Black populations increasingly moving toward suburban areas. A category that did not exist in 1900. There may be no greater marker of modernity than the suburbs. Indeed, since this phenomenon began in the middle of the 20th Century it has become iconic of the “American Dream” with white picket fences and perfectly maintained lawns. It has also come at a great cost to historically Black areas in cities which were paved over by highway systems to connect the burbs to cities, nearly decimating small town economies in rural America. Now, many factors contribute to the increasing Black suburbanization from higher incomes for some Black families to increasing rates of gentrification in cities making them unaffordable. We updated the iconic spiral used by Du Bois to suggest an unraveling of what used to be the City/Rural divide. The decorative graphics within our spiral suggest wallpaper designs, yet another staple of suburban life.