Land Speculation and Suburban Covenants: Racial Capitalism and thePre‐RedliningRoots of Housing Segregation in Syracuse, New York

Abstract

This article examines the interrelationship of race, space, and landed property in the historical development of racially segregated housing geographies in the United States. Using archival methods, I directly connect late 18th century land speculation to early 20th century suburban real estate development based on racially restrictive covenants. I investigate the city of Syracuse—a small, post‐industrial city in Upstate New York on unceded Onondaga Nation land and one of the most racially segregated cities in the US. Dispossession, speculation, and homesteading on the “Central New York Military Tract” generated a racialised, spatialised form of property that real estate capitalists later utilised to create and maintain profit‐oriented suburban segregation. This article extends the historical timeline in studies of residential segregation, provides clarity on dispossession and housing inequity in small and mid‐sized cities, and contributes to understanding how processes of racial capitalism operate through private real estate markets.