Wharfed Out: Gentrification and Resistance on the Early American Waterfront (Jeffersonian America)

How urban waterfront development in the early republic displaced working-class communities, creating lasting patterns of inequality and resistanceIn the early years of American nationhood, civic leaders undertook the construction of thousands of acres of man-made land along urban coastlines-a process known colloquially as "wharfing out," in which landfilled blocks increased a city's surface area by pushing outward into deep water.Workers cleared wetlands and dredged harbors in service of ever-expanding ports and waterfront workspace in cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.But not everyone shared in the benefits of these so-called improvements.Poor and working-class people, many of whom had done the hard labor, became physically displaced and economically dispossessed.Many pushed back against this gentrification, organizing protests and launching reclamation efforts. Drawing on an innovative combination of architectural, social historical, and material culture m