Welcome to Brookhill

Welcome to Brookhill may not reveal the story one expects when they hear the words gentrification and displacement. The uninitiated consider the land and the now crumbling buildings. Photographer Alvin C. Jacobs, Jr. focuses on the people. Men are raising daughters, grandchildren splash in shallow pools, and neighbors gather on porches. Developers, anxiously eyeing this plot of land across a busy street, must wait, leaving families hanging in the balance.

The land where Brookhill Village stands has been an African-American community since the 1930s. One company owns the property that makes up this 36-acre community just south of Uptown Charlotte, another firm owns the wooden, single-story buildings that were developed in 1951. This arrangement has become a quagmire for the owners and, subsequently, for the residents.

In Charlotte, the current cost of an apartment averages $1,142 per month. Two-bedroom units are $1,169. With rents ranging from approximately $350 to $515 per month for two bedrooms, prices in Brookhill Village are among the lowest in the city. New construction in South End – a neighborhood just next to the Brookhill community – is one of the most active with thousands of new units currently under construction.

Commissioned by the Gantt Center to produce this body of work, Jacobs forged deep relationships with Brookhill Village residents. Relying solely on sun and shadow, he documented his subjects in black & white. There is no artifice in Jacobs’ images nor in his technique. This is his valiant attempt to give voice to those in our community who are often rendered voiceless.

What Jacobs has captured in Welcome to Brookhill is a collection of images that, like poetry, stir emotion. The photographs reveal what this neighborhood – like every other neighborhood – has come to be to its inhabitants: home.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website