The city of Roanoke uprooted hundreds of mostly Black residents through its urban renewal projects during the 20th century. Now the city is wrestling with what it can do to restore some of those communities — at the same time as it faces budget cuts and other problems.
Roanoke’s urban renewal projects that played out from the 1950s into the 1980s destroyed dozens of blocks of neighborhoods to make way for Interstate 581, the civic center, a post office and other uses. The city seized hundreds of so-called “blighted” properties, uprooting residents and businesses in largely Black neighborhoods.
Along with redlining and other policies that enforced segregation, urban renewal disrupted generations of Black Roanokers by displacing them from their homes. Phazhon Nash’s grandparents were among them…