Reclaiming Our Way promoting the well-being of African American children & families

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth – Setting the Record Straight on Racism, Urban Abandonment and Public Housing

This weekend I had a chance to watch a film that had been on my 'to-watch' list for some time. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the human story of the families who experienced the Pruitt-Igoe housing development in St. Louis, and the larger structural context - structural racism - that was responsible for its deterioration - and eventual failure.

I highly recommend the film... for personal viewing, and for professionals whose work is focused on children, families and communities, and/or the creation of a healthy and just society.

Here's the brief description of the film, followed by the trailer just below. Check Netflix and your other video services to watch online, and then order the DVD directly.

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History

It began as a housing marvel. Two decades later, it ended in rubble. But what happened to those caught in between?

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the transformation of the American city in the decades after World War II, through the lens of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing development and the St. Louis residents who called it home. At the film’s historical center is an analysis of the massive impact of the national urban renewal program of the 1950s and 1960s, which prompted the process of mass suburbanization and emptied American cities of their residents, businesses, and industries. Those left behind in the city faced a destitute, rapidly de-industrializing St. Louis , parceled out to downtown interests and increasingly segregated by class and race.

The residents of Pruitt-Igoe were among the hardest hit. Their gripping stories of survival, adaptation, and success are at the emotional heart of the film. The domestic turmoil wrought by punitive public welfare policies; the frustrating interactions with a paternalistic and cash-strapped Housing Authority; and the downward spiral of vacancy, vandalism and crime led to resident protest and action during the 1969 Rent Strike, the first in the history of public housing.

And yet, despite this complex history, Pruitt-Igoe has often been stereotyped. The world-famous image of its implosion has helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and stigmatize public housing residents.

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe’s creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth.