Urban Modulation: An Investigation into the Effects of Urban Renewal on Chicago’s South Side Jazz Community

Abstract

This study looks at the effects of housing related urban renewal policies on Chicago’s South Side jazz communities from 1940 to 1970. During this period, Black migration patterns reshaped neighborhood demographics throughout the city, specifically on the South Side. A rapid expansion of the South Side jazz community occurred, followed by a sharp and sudden decline towards the end of the period. Using a mixed-method approach that combines case study, historical analysis, and urban geography, this study provides both general and detailed analysis of the effects of urban policy decisions on the South Side jazz scene in Chicago. Interviews were conducted with seven participants to add to data collected from historical documents. Each participant was chosen based off their long-term status as a member of the South Side jazz community or their long-term status as a South Side resident, and in most cases, participants fulfilled both qualifications. Findings illuminate the extreme measures initiated by policy makers such as the Illinois Redevelopment Act of 1947, Relocation Act of 1947, and the Urban Community Conservation Act of 1953 that funded the destruction of residential and commercial spaces to curtail Black migration to predominately White South Side neighborhoods, and how these and similar measures directly and indirectly eliminated jazz venues and performance spaces within Chicago’s South Side.