Vintage Photos: Hansontown

This short piece, produced by long-time Florida Theatre projectionist Bender Cawthon, includes rare footage of Hansontown and LaVilla from around 1950 and seems to have been created to convince citizens to take advantage of federal slum clearance programs in order to demolish and replace these neighborhoods. The pejorative language and tone used throughout makes it an excellent example of institutional racism.

“Slum Heart of Jacksonville” was the source of a couple of seconds of B-roll for Florida Junior College’s “Jacksonville: The Inside Story,” and was discovered in our files during a mass digitization project. The College neither owns this film nor endorses the views expressed in it, but we offer it for its historical value. If you have additional information regarding the history or ownership of this film, please contact us.

Original File Name: File 210 Cauthen Collection (presumed misspelling of Cawthon) Supervisor of Production: Bender A. Cawthon Copyright - Unknown (1950?)