Power from the people : tenant activism in the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex, 1950-1980

Abstract

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 5/1/2024] Built in the mid-1950s in St. Louis, Missouri, the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex was constructed as the future of high-rise public housing design but was quickly labeled as a problem for local housing officials. Counter to the recycled narrative of Pruitt-Igoe as the "failure" of public housing, Power from the People argues that many tenants actively worked to better their living situations through communal organizations and kinship networks. Though the complex was ultimately vacated in 1974 then subsequently demolished, the daily grit and determination of resident activists is not forgotten.