Gating Union: The Politics of Making a Historically Black Community

ABSTRACT

In 1999, Union was officially recognized as a Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places. Although approximately 80 percent of the residents are raced white, Union was identified as a historically black space. The recognition, premised on Union's origins as a town founded by freed slaves in the late nineteenth century, was the culmination of efforts by the Union Community Association. Its members, who are predominantly white, middle class, and newcomers to the area, took on the role of “protecting” their community by gaining official historic recognition, a task that established them as the gatekeepers of history, and black residents as historical artifacts. As Union became established as a historically black community, its social and legal boundaries could act to protect the place against unwanted land developers. While (white) residents took on the role as history's gatekeepers, (black) descendent residents were turned into tangible metonyms for history, authenticating by their presence Union's historic status. Official recognition has allowed the Union Community Association to fence in an oasis of rustic living at the edge of development, while less affluent residents find themselves gated into a stagnant social landscape in which social and economic opportunity has been effectively gated out.