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Communities |
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Federally
Planned Public Housing
for Blacks in Hampton Roads
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Begun in 1919, Truxton was the first federally planned housing community for Blacks in America. The forty-three acre neighborhood consisted of single-family homes, a church, a community house, and a school. Although local White residents initially objected to the community, it was finally built by architect R.E. Mitchell and town planner H.P. Kelsey. However, Truxton was intentionally isolated - located off Deep Creek Boulevard - so that Blacks would have no reason to enter White neighborhoods.
Aberdeen
Gardens Housing Community
Aberdeen Gardens was a federally planned Black community begun
in 1934. It was designed to have two-story homes, churches, a school/community
center, and a small business center. White opposition to the neighborhood
was fierce because many racists believed that Aberdeen Garden's close
proximity to White neighborhoods would lead to an interracial community.
Still, William McNeal, chief construction engineer, Hilyard Robinson,
head architect, and William Walker, Jr., community manager, developed
the four hundred and forty acres they oversaw into a living space for
hundreds of people in Hampton Roads.
Liberty
Park Housing Community
Built in 1942 in the Brambleton section of Norfolk County, the Liberty
Park Housing Community is presently occupied by Norfolk State University.
Originally, Liberty Park provided housing to Norfolk's African American
military personnel and their families. Although it was created as temporary
housing, Liberty Park was adjacent to a larger, middle class African American
community which provided it stability in the years following the Second
World War. Still, soon after the war the houses were razed, and the community
replaced them with more suitable permanent housing.