“Bottoms Up”
reflections by Carl C. Anthony
I spent the early years of my childhood in a Philadelphia neighborhood called the “Black Bottom,” or simply the “Bottom” – a predominantly poor and black neighborhood built on a drained swamp. In blatant contrast, the neighborhood where the white people lived was called the “Top.” Many years later, I learned from a prominent professor of landscape architecture and urban planning that in Philadelphia and in many other cities across the country, the poorest people – primarily blacks and immigrants – had no choice but to live in undesirable low-lying locations. Such disparity continues to exist. It is an example of what we call “environmental racism.” Continue reading