Redefining Redlining is an ongoing installation by artist Amanda Williams in the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago. In fall 2022, Williams and the Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative led hundreds of volunteers in a mass planting of one hundred thousand red tulips at E. 53rd Street and S. Prairie Avenue. The bulbs were planted in plots that replicate the original footprint at full scale of the almost two dozen houses and buildings that once occupied the site. The artist chose tulips because of their history as a commodity in the Dutch Golden Era (1575–1675). During that time, frenzied speculation over the promised beauty the flowers led the bulbs to be sold for as much as the value of a home.

In the spring of 2023, a sea of red tulips bloomed for three weeks at the site. These floral footprints symbolize the social and financial value the neighborhood of Washington Park once held, honor the people living and working there now, and express hope for the beautiful Black neighborhoods that will be there in the future. The tulips will continue to bloom each spring, bringing a colorful burst of joy and also serving as a year-round outdoor classroom for local students and residents to gain agency through conversations about alternative approaches to equitable development.

Project team: Alana Berry, Marlease Bushnell, Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative, Sarah Hanson, Sophie Lipman, Bianca Marks and Nick Raffel

Special thanks to Chicago Architecture Center, Jordan Grimes, Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts