AROUND 1929 THE SOUTH BRONX WAS CERTAINLY NOT WHAT IT IS TODAY

 It was a place where Irish, Jewish and Italian families raised their children and did their best to maintain their cultural traditions, while living

in what was so often referred to as the New World. Despite the Great Depression that was going on at the time, the future didnt look so bad, for at least they had their own communities or so they thought! In 1929 the New York Regional Plan Association had something else in mind for the future. They envisioned Manhattan as a centre of great wealth and to provide the necessary workforce to fuel this affluent centre, a massive expressway would be built that would connect Manhattan to the suburbs. This way commuters could literally drive over the Bronx and whatever other areas spanned across this 7 mile experiment.

Robert Moses, who was recognized as the most powerful Urban Builder of all time, was at the head of this project after World War II. He was a man who wanted to make history by any means necessary. And indeed he has done just that, but the price has been higher than just the cost for the raw materials. In the path of this expressway were those communities who dreamed of a better future. 60,000 Bronx residents were simply told that they had a few months to move out and were given $200 per room as a compensation. Thus began the exodus of the Irish, Jewish and Italians out of the Bronx.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, another exodus was to take place. Under the guise of Urban Renewal poor Blacks and Hispanics were forced to leave and relocate to the South Bronx and East Brooklyn. To house them, towering flats were built on a massive scale. The Bronx River Projects and the Millbrook Projects both contained 1,200 units on fifteen floors; the Bronxdale Projects contained 1,500 units and the Patterson Projects rose to 1,700 units.

Those Italian, Irish and Jewish families who were not able to leave so quickly began to form gangs that attacked the incoming Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean and Hispanic families. In turn, these newcomers formed their own gangs in self-defence. Tensions were high on both ends. Organizations like the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords did what they could to mobilise the communities to protest for better services, but pressure from the authorities and conflicts with the gangs soon ended those efforts.