No More Dual City

Christina Jackson is an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University, Camden. She is the co-author of Black in America: The Paradox of the Color Line.

• PrefaceIntroductionPart I Black Geographies and Root Systems1 The Other Atlantic City: Building the Black Village with Sticks2 Root Building on Fire: Civil Rights, Urban Renewal, and Slow ViolencePart II Dual Disasters and Cumulative Dispossession3 The Wrecking Ball and the Consolidation of Wealth4 What Dual Disasters Teach Us5 The State Takeover and Paralysis: A Final Nail in the CoffinPart III Reimagining the City Through Rooted Futures6 Social Movements, Root Work, and Slow Violence7 Contradictions and Frameworks for Healing in Atlantic CityMethodological EpilogueGlossaryReferencesIndex

"In No More Dual City, Jackson not only demonstrates the power of public policies to segregate the city but also shows how vulnerable residents fight for their homeplace. Jackson tells the story of cumulative dispossession and disaster that consistently threatens to displace low-income Black residents. This compelling work carefully explains how the forces altering Atlantic City represent the social, economic, and environmental crises affecting urban America. This is a must-read for urbanists concerned with the core U.S. political tensions pulling apart and bringing people together in our cities." - Derek Hyra, author of Slow and Sudden Violence: Why and When Uprisings Occur"In this thoughtful and compelling book, Jackson offers a nuanced account of how a Black community navigates the promises and consequences of urban growth and renewal plans with rootedness, resilience, and heart. Centering duality, the book shows how revitalization and investment in Atlantic City have often arrived alongside displacement, stigmatization, and empty promises for Blacks. Rich in storytelling and clear in its capturing of the swinging pendulum of 'progress,' this is an important contribution to the scholarship on racial communities, cities, and inequality, and an engaging read for scholars and students alike." - Scott N. Brooks, Arizona State University"This compelling book brings Atlantic City's historic Black community to the forefront, revealing the devastating effects of racial segregation, token integration, and that community's current state of near social and economic collapse. Through meticulous research, Jackson exposes how corporate economic discrimination, urban renewal, and government intervention—particularly in the wake of failed casino ventures—have generated displacement and devastation of Black communities. Yet this is also a story of resilience and resistance, documenting the determined efforts of Black residents to preserve their communities, institutions, and livelihoods in the face of persistent structural inequality. No More Dual City offers a disturbing portrait of racial oppression in Atlantic City while demonstrating how its history reflects broader patterns of inequality in cities across the United States. More than a study of one city, this important book diagnoses the racial dynamics undermining urban communities nationwide and points toward the possibilities for renewal, justice, and meaningful change." - Aldon Morris, author of The Scholar Denied