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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Social Inequality - 29. Patterns of Social Segregation and Discrimination - 4. Sanctions for Residential Segregation - 5. The General Character of Institutional Segregation
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Chapter 29. Social Segregation and Discrimination 627
eventual Negro invasion of white areas must actually be considered to be
an insufficient ^^self-healing” which in Northern cities takes the place of
intelligent political action. The impossible situation which prevails is
being studied in excellent ‘^ecological” research—a branch of social science
and a direction of scientific interest which is itself a by-product of big cities’
being allowed to grow without any plan. But in the practical field there is
great lack of courage and interest. It must be stressed that if white people
insist on segregation—and if society is assumed not to tolerate a socially
costly sub-standard housing for Negroes
—
the logical conclusion is thaty
in a flanned and orderly way^ either areas of old housing now inhabited
by whites or vacant land must be made available for Negroes, The F.H.A.
has tended to tighten the present impossible situation. The U.S.H.A. has
not been in a position to change it. The local city authorities avoid going
into the problem. And the Negroes themselves are inarticulate and void
of constructive ideas.
It seems of urgent importance that residential segregation and all the
connected problems of Negro housing become the object of scientific
research with more practical vision than hitherto. The general structure of
this complex of problems is clear-cut and ready for social engineering.
There is material available for the detailed statistical analysis needed for
local planning. The field of conflicting and converging interests is easily
mapped in every community. The strategic time for this planning work is
now. After the War a great increase in private and public building is likely,
since housing construction has been moribund for several years, and popular
needs seemed about to cause a building boom when the War started and
diverted the construction industries’ efforts into the field of defense hous-
ing. Also, the War will leave in its wake a tremendous need for public
works and private investment to prevent a new and more devasting world
depression. To be maximally useful this housing boom should be planned
in advance.® And it would be prudent not to overlook segregation and the
abominable housing conditions for Negroes. Gross inequality in this field
is not only a matter for democratic American conscience, but it is also
expensive in the end.
5. The General Character of Institutional Segregation
While there is much segregation of Negroes in the North in public
facilities and private commercial establishments—^a segregation which we
term “institutional,” for convenience, to distinguish it from both personal
and residential segregation—there is a tremendous difference between the
North and the South in this form of segregation. The difference arises out
of two facts.
• The National Resources Planning Board is now planning for post-war housing con-
struction as a public works program.
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