Summary

The design and location of public housing is an essential element of de jure segregation, but most Americans do not have an accurate idea of what public housing entails. When public housing was first built, in the mid-twentieth century, most tenants were white and the housing “was not heavily subsidized” (17-8).

Government housing for civilians was first developed during the First World War; developments across twenty-six states housed 170,000 white workers and their families, African Americans were excluded. Following the war, the government sold these segregated developments to private real estate companies. Housing shortages continued through the depression and into the 1950s. The New Deal created the nation’s first public housing, but the developments were either segregated by building or restricted African Americans completely.

Other programs that were part of the New Deal also enforced segregation. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Civilian...