Segregation can’t get more literal than building a wall to block Black from white neighborhood. In 1941 northwestern Detroit, white real estate developer did exactly that in an neighbohood called Eight Mile-Wyoming.

This concrete wall was initially called Birwood Wall. It served one clear goal: To keep Black people on the east side so a white only community could be developed on the west side.

More than 80 years has passed and Detroit went through deindustrialization and white flight. Nowadays both sides reside prominantly black families. The wall is painted with coloful murals and quotes. Discriminatory policies that allowed that wall have long been abolished, but the wall still stand as a silent testament to the reasons for the ongoing fragmentation of this nation — a country that, despite being one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the world, continues to struggle with neighborhood segregation.