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SCLC Moves North: The 1966 Chicago Campaign. HIS 265. Background: Chicago. Chicago had de facto residential segregation like most Northern cities Redlining made it difficult to get mortgages & insurance on the South & West Sides 285 out of 316 Chicago insurance companies redlined in 1960
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Background: Chicago • Chicago had de facto residential segregation like most Northern cities • Redlining made it difficult to get mortgages & insurance on the South & West Sides • 285 out of 316 Chicago insurance companies redlined in 1960 • Rates sometimes 700% higher for blacks • Blacks had separate National Association of Real Estate Brokers because excluded from white National Association of Real Estate Boards • Black homeownership increased 103% from 1960-1970 • Chicago NAACP was largest chapter – over 50,000 members by 1960 • 10,000 marched to GOP convention in July to demand civil rights plank in platform • Aug. 29 wade-in at Rainbow Beach touched off riot when Velma Murphy hit with rock
Progress in Residential Desegregation • 1866 Civil Rights Act barred housing discrimination, but gov’t couldn’t enforce • Supreme Court ruled in NAACP’s favor: • Buchanan v. Warley (1917) struck down residential segregation ordinances • Shelly v. Kraemer (1948) outlawed restrictive covenants • 1962 Housing Act ended discrimination in federally owned or funded housing
Focusing on de facto segregation • Watts Riot (1965) shook King • Illustrated that gains had only addressed de jure segregation in South • L.A. blacks were openly hostile to King • SCLC invited to Chicago by Jim Bevel, head of Coordinating Council of Community Organizations King & Young, 1965
Chicago Freedom Movement, 1966 • Launched Jan. 1966 with 2 main goals: • Ending de facto residential segregation – challenging Chicago Real Estate Board • Operation Breadbasket (headed by Jesse Jackson) put pressure on businesses to hire more African Americans • Supporters & opponents: • Supporters: United Packinghouse Workers & United Auto Workers, Catholic Interracial Council, & Chicago Conference on Religion & Race • Opponents: Rev. Joseph Jackson (NBC head), Mayor Richard Daley & Black Muslims • Campaign had only modest success • Riots in mid-July left 2 dead & over 80 injured • Threatened march into Cicero led to Palmer House Summit (Aug. 29), where Chicago Real Estate Board agreed to withdraw opposition to open housing