The Landscape as We (Don't) See It: Race in the Landscape By: Matthew Arrington, Paul Meredith & Ashley Doerner

Race in the Landscape

By Matthew Arrington, Paul Meredith and Ashley Doerner

Pierce Lewis defined cultural landscape as “our unwitting autobiography, reflecting our taste, our values, our aspirations, and even our fears in visible form.” Cultural landscape gives us the ability to interpret and read the landscape for what it might be trying to tell about its social world. In this photo synthesis we studied the landscapes of ethnicity and race. Ethnicity and race can be expressed in the landscape through advertisement signs, murals, place names, specialized buildings such as civil rights and ethnic museums, and historic parks. This is important in understanding race and landscapes because the racial minorities continue to be highly regionalized in the United States, reflecting historical and contemporary institutional practices and resulting in distinctive cultural landscapes.

Our study was done in the downtown Newport News and Hampton area. What we discovered was interesting and in a way it was completely different than your average landscape and race study. We noticed a pattern of houses, corner stores, food places, churches, funeral homes, museums, and schools. The landscape was naturalized in this case due to the power the community had on the people. Since the community was built around or close to the stores that the people needed, they did not have to go out of the community for entertainment, school, or daily needs. The pictures below show some of the buildings and stores the area felt was important for their community.

This photo represents an African American family who has lived in the house for over 30 years. The wife is a retired elementary school teacher.

Highway in Downtown Newport News named after a famous African Civil Rights leader.

A highway in downtown Newport News named in honor of a well known hair stylist.

Triumph Christian Center, a well known Church located on 36^th street.

A well known funeral home in downtown Newport News.

Historical Church on the campus of Hampton University.

The bottom floor of the James A. Field house was used as a law office and the top floor was used as a hospital. This institution represented the only outlet for hospitalization for blacks.

The Newsome House was a house of the first black lawyer in Newport News. After restoration in 1991 the house is now used as a museum and cultural center.