T. J. Woofter, Jr., ed. NEGRO PROBLEMS IN CITIES

(New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969; originally published in 1928 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc.)

On Residential Integration in Chicago

"In Chicago the first rapid expansion of the old south-side area led to such intense friction that more than sixty bombings of Negro residences occurred, and these incidents culminated in the bloody riots of 1919. Since that time, however, there has been further rapid expansion of Negro residence areas with very little friction. The riot seemed to clear the atmosphere and bring about the realization that the rapid expansion of Negro population makes the expansion of residence areas inevitable." (68) [1]

On Neighborhood Associations

"Social pressure toward segregation often results in the formation of neighborhood protective associations, particularly when Negroes first begin to invade a white neighborhood. The property holders organize to prevent the threatened change of the neighborhood, hold meetings, and often, under the leadership of some prejudiced person, become very excited." (72) [2]

"The riots of Chicago were preceded by the organization of a number of these associations; and an excellent report on their workings is to be found in The Negro in Chicago, the report of the Chicago Race Commission. The endeavor of such organizations is to pledge the property holders of the neighborhood not to sell or rent to Negroes, and to use all the possible pressure of boycott and ostracism in the endeavour to hold the status of the area. They often endeavour to bring pressure from banks against loans on Negro property in the neighborhood, and are sometimes successful in this." (73)

On the Effectiveness (or Lack Thereof) of Neighborhood Associations

"The danger in such association lies in the tendency of unruly members to become inflamed and to resort to acts of violence. Although they are a usual phenomena when neighborhoods are changing from white to Negro in northern cities, no record was found in this study where such an association had been successful in stopping the spread of a Negro neighborhood. The net results seem to have been a slight retardation in the rate of spread and the creation of a considerable amount of bitterness in the community." (73)

Notes

[1]Philpott attributes the relative peace in the early 1920s to the expanding neighborhoods and housing stock of Chicago, allowing whites to easily "escape" from areas "infiltrated" by blacks. He asserts that the contraction of the housing stock starting in about 1926 is responsible for the renewal of efforts to block black expansion, specifically the development of the "model" racial restrictive covenant by chicago William "Nathan" McChesney and its adoption en masse in the late 1920s.

[2]Woofter thus seems to assert that the prejudice of the group only emerges in full force when it is mobilized by a particularly prejudiced person, perhaps implying that the populace as a whole is not especially prejudiced.

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