Washington Park Subdivision

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Coordinates: 41°47′00″N 87°36′44″W / 41.783457°N 87.61219°W / 41.783457; -87.61219
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41°47′00″N 87°36′44″W / 41.783457°N 87.61219°W / 41.783457; -87.61219

Washington Park. (Chicago Park District - green, University of Chicago
- lavender)

The Washington Park Subdivision is the name of the historic 3-

Washington Park Race Track. The area evolved as a redevelopment of the land previously occupied by the racetrack. It was originally an exclusively white neighborhood that included residential housing, amusement parks, and beer gardens
.

During the late 1920s and 1930s, the area became the subject of discriminatory twenty-year

Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry
's struggles in this neighborhood.

Location

Due to the non-rectangular shape of the

Washington Park and both south and east of the Washington Park community area. It would be part of the Washington Park community area if the community area were to complete its logical proper rectangle.[1]

Historical significance

Between 1884 and 1905, the race track occupied part of the area now known as Washington Park Subdivision.[1] After the city outlawed gambling, the area was redeveloped as a residential housing subdivision with neighboring commercial recreation such as the White City amusement park that flourished until the Great Depression.[1] The neighborhood also included a beer garden that was remodeled by Frank Lloyd Wright.[1][2]

Between 1900 and 1934, the

African American population in Chicago grew from 30,000 to 236,000. In this time, Chicago's demographics changed so that instead of having this population diluted in scattered places, it was concentrated in two large strips of land. The concentration was enforced by violence at first, but restrictive covenants became the preferred way to enforce segregation after a few decades.[3]

When necessary, community organizations used violence to pursue their segregationist purposes, and between 1917 and 1921, bomb use discouraged encroachment into majority white neighborhoods. The bombs were used at the residences of African Americans as well as the properties of real estate agents and bankers.[4] In 1919, African American banking magnate Jesse Binga, the owner of the first Chicago bank to be operated by African Americans, and the first African American who lived in the Washington Park Subdivision,[5] endured five bombings of his home by angry whites.[6] Binga lived on the block diagonally northwest of the northwest boundary of the subdivision at 5922 South Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.[7]

Although they were previously rare, racially restrictive

South Side,[8] and 95% of the homes in the subdivision were covenanted.[9][10] Most African American neighborhoods were bounded by covenanted areas since 85% of Chicago was covenanted.[3]

Legal issues

Between 1928 and 1940, the subdivision was a legal battleground. In 1928,

landlords in the subdivision signed the covenants in which they agreed that they would not rent to non-whites. The language of the covenants state that no properties in the subdivision "...shall be sold, given, conveyed or leased to any negro or negroes, and no permission or license to use or occupy any part thereof shall be given to any negro except house servants or janitors or chauffeurs employed thereon..."[11] The covenants were signed by "owners of land on the one or the other side of Evans, Langley, Champlain, St. Lawrence, Rhodes, Eberhart, Vernon and South Park Avenues, between 60th and 63rd Streets and on 60th, 61st and 62nd Streets between South Park and Cottage Grove Avenues" on September 30, 1927, and they were recorded at the Cook County Register of Deeds on February 1, 1928. They were intended to be valid and in force until January 1, 1948.[11]

The Great Depression decreased white demand for the subdivision's properties. A few well-off African Americans convinced some owners to sell properties to them. The most famous case was that of Dr. James L. Hall, who rented a property located at 419 E. 60th St. from the white Issac Kleiman.[12] In 1933, Olive Ida Burke (the wife of Mr. Burke—a future defendant in the famous Hansberry v. Lee case)[3] sued Kleiman in the case now known as Burke v. Kleiman.[3] The circuit court granted an injunction in favor of the plaintiffs, which was upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of Illinois.[13] The plaintiffs stipulated that as of 1928 more than 95% of the property owners signed the covenant. This stipulation was later proved false—only 54% had actually signed.[3]

In 1937, Carl Hansberry purchased a property from James Joseph Burke located at 6140 South Rhodes. Anna M. Lee, and other promoters of the covenants, sued to prevent Hansberry's family from living in the neighborhood.

Raisin in the Sun was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's time in the neighborhood after her father won the repeal of restrictive covenants.[15]

The result of Hansberry v. Lee led to racial succession. White tenants were often evicted to make way for higher-paying African American renters.[16] By 1950, the subdivision was over 99 percent African American.[1][2] The Hansberry case is a seminal case in civil procedure and class action legal studies.[3] It is also considered an important study of African American, Chicago and legal history.[3]

While the purchase case proceeded, some landlords subdivided properties and rented them to blacks at a premium. Some realtors began encouraging white families to move out so that they could rent properties to African Americans. Smaller property owners were pressed to sell to realtors or directly to African Americans because the neighborhood was undergoing a racial transformation.

Horace Roscoe Cayton.[10]

The Supreme Court ruling and several similar rulings led to the racial transformation of the

community areas. Political futures were determined by positions taken on this issue. Future five-term Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley ran for Cook County Sheriff in 1946 as a progressive anti-covenant candidate.[8] Eventually, in Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), which was argued by Thurgood Marshall, the U. S. Supreme Court declared restrictive covenants in general unenforceable.[8]

Notes

  1. ^
    Chicago Historical Society
    . Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  2. ^
    Chicago Historical Society
    . Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kamp, Allen R. (1986–1987). "The History Behind Hansberry v. Lee" (PDF). UC Davis Law Review. 20. University of California, Davis: 481–500. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  4. ISBN 0-7391-1029-2
    . Retrieved January 3, 2009. Washington Park Court.
  5. ^ "Jesse Binga". negroartist.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
  6. ^ Rutkoff, Peter M. & William B. Scott (Fall 2004). "Pinkster in Chicago: Bud Billiken and the Mayor of Bronzeville, 1930–1945". The Journal of African American History. Retrieved January 1, 2009. [dead link]
  7. ISBN 0-9758664-9-4
    .
  8. ^
    Chicago Historical Society
    . Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  9. ISBN 978-1-58051-121-6
    .
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-16234-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  11. ^ a b Plotkin, Wendy (September 1, 2003). "Racial Restrictive Covenant of the Washington Park Subdivision in the City of Chicago". Arizona State University. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
  12. ^ staff (August 5, 1933). "Judge Gentzel Upholds Jim Crow Plot; To Appeal Woodlawn Property Owners Show Colors in Tilt Against Race". Chicago Defender. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  13. ^ "Burke v. Kleiman Decree (Partial), August 3, 1933". Wendy Plotkin. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  14. ^ "State of Illinois — County of Cook In the Circuit Court of Cook County Anna M. Lee, et al. vs. Paul A. Hansberry, et al. Gen. No. 37C 6804 Complaint in Equity Complaint to Enforce Restrictive Agreement Injunction and Other Relief". Wendy Plotkin. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  15. ^ "A Raisin in the Sun". NPR.org. March 11, 2002. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  16. ISBN 978-0-226-34244-3
    .

External links

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