Jim Crow Guide to the U.S.A.: The Laws, Customs and Etiquette Governing the Conduct of Nonwhites and Other Minorities as Second-Class Citizens

6. Who may Live Where

CHAPTER 6 WHO MAY LIVE WHERE ONCE you have found yourselfa legal spouse ofmatching colour, your next problem will presumably be: Where to make a home? Ifyou are a Caucasian and a Christian, you are more or less free to live anywhere you can afford in the U.S.A. But if you lack one or both of these qualifications you will find yourself barred by one or more such factors as laws, contracts, conspiracies , and terrorism from buying, leasing, renting, inheriting or otherwise acquiring or occupying a residence in many neighbourhoods, both desirable and undesirable. It is true that Congress passed a law in 1866 which said: "All citizens of the United States shall have the same right, in every state and territory, as is enjoyed by white citizens thereof to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey, real and personal property." But that law was repealed in 1894. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution-which was supposed to take the place of this law-does not assert any right to acquire property, but only forbids the states (not individuals) from depriving anyone of property without due process oflaw. You can invoke Federal law against such discrimination only ifyour property was acquired in accordance with some Federal provision, as in the case of public lands made available for homesteading by the U.S. Government. Needless to say, the restrictions against racial and religious minorities make housing more expensive for everybody. Ifyou are a Christian Caucasian, you have to pay extra for living in a neighbourhood restricted to your own race and creed. If you are not a Christian Caucasian, you will generally have to pay more than your Christian Caucasian neighbours in order to live in a mixed neighbourhood. For instance, in a U.S. Supreme Court case it was shown that Negroes living in a mixed neighbourhood in Washington , D.C., are being charged 30 per cent more rent than their white neighbours. WHO MAY LIVE WHERE 73 Even if you make your abode in some non-Christian or nonCaucasian neighbourhood, you will probably be charged premium prices because of the hobsing shortage created by the restrictions on other sections. Zoning by Law For generations, residential zoning on a racial basis was widdy accomplished in the U.S.A. by municipal laws, some of which were backed up by state statutes. These laws set aside certain sections of the city for the exclusive habitation ofwhites, and consigned all nonwhites to other (undesirable) sections. The Virginia statute, adopted in 1912, was typical: "The map so prepared and certified and corrected shall be prima facie evidence of the boundaries and racial designation of such districts .... Nothing contained herein shall preclude persons of either race employed as servants by person of the other race from residing upon the premises ofwhich said employer is the owner or occupier." Such laws were widdy adopted in 1910 and in the years that followed. The courts of Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky, among others, uphdd these laws as a valid exercise of a state's powers "to promote the general wdfare". North Carolina, on the other hand, ruled that such laws were contrary to public policy (the state at that time-1914-was trying to discourage its Negro citizens from moving to the North). All racial zoning laws were ruled out in 1915 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that they interfered with the rights ofowners to dispose of their property to whomever they please. Proponents of the laws had argued that they hdped to enforce anti-intermarriage laws and promoted more peaceful relations between the races. Various states have since tried various ways to perpetuate racial zoning, with much success. Some states adopted laws forbidding anyone to move into a block occupied exclusively by members ofanother race. Virginia tried a law forbidding anyone to move into a block principally inhabited by persons ofanother race with whom intermarriage is prohibited by law. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled these out, too. In Texas, large groups ofprivate citizens drew up signed agreements as to racial boundaries within their communities, and these communities then passed laws to enforce these agreements. But the state courts ruled this out. 74 JIM CROW GUIDE TO THE U. S .A. In Louisiana, the city of New Orleans passed a law requiring a prospective home-purchaser to get the consent of a majority of the racial group which predominated...