A decade before the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of topEka, kansas (1954) helped launch the modern civil rights movement, a million African Americans were fighting overseas for the United States in World War II. In St. Louis, as in other American cities, their parents, spouses, and children at home were denied access to public accommoda- tions, equal education, fair pay, and decent housing. The last item was particularly problem- atic in St. Louis, as its African American population grew rapidly and black neighborhoods began to burst at the seams. As African Americans of necessity sought housing outside the restrictive racial barriers set up by the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange and its partners, legal confrontations between segregationist whites and African Americans in need of homes became inevitable.
This was the case with Lewis Place, a private place near St. Louis’s Central West End.
The entrance Gate to Lewis Place
In 1940, the entrance gate to Lewis Place marked a color line in St. Louis.
Behind the gate only whites could own homes, while on the other side of the street was the African American.
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They recall, too, a fierce pride in the accomplishment of opening the ornamental gates of Lewis Place to African Americans—gates that once stood fast on St. Louis’s color line.
Ordinary men and women fighting for their rights joined together to open the gates of Lewis Place and erase the color line it stood on. Photograph by David Schultz, 1993.
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The Beginnings of Formal Housing Segregation
“Look at These Homes Now! Save Your Home! Vote for Segregation!” The infamous Look! campaign sought to stir up anti-black sentiment in support of a 1916 city ordinance seeking to restrict neighborhood occupancy based on race.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
World War II and the Need for Housing
“Back to the Slave Quarters! Vote No on Segregation Feb. 29.” St. Louis’s segregation ordinance passed overwhelm- ingly but was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court a few years later.
World War II and the Need for Housing
Civil rights protestors demonstrating for fair employment during the Great Depression (detail). Activists demanding equal treatment for blacks during the 1930s and World War II helped pave the way for African American efforts to fight housing segregation.
An Uneasy Alliance: African American Home Buyers and the Wildcat Real Estate Agents
In the 1940s, many African American neighborhoods in St. Louis, such as Mill Creek Valley, were deteriorating, unsafe, and overcrowded. Such pressures led those who could afford to seek housing elsewhere to do so. For many, this meant fighting racially biased housing practices.
"To stop racial discrimination, we must embrace equality, justice, and respect for all."
Breaking Restrictive Covenants in the Courts before
“Wildcat” realtors like the H.J. Gannon Real Estate Company made a profit by using straw parties to buy restricted houses and then selling them to African Americans. Advertisement, 1942. MHS Library.
The First Lewis Place Case-The Restrictive Covenant Cases of Lewis Place
In 1948, the United States Supreme Court ended judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants in home sales with the case Shelley v. Kraemer effectively ending housing segregation. Poster, 1988. MHS Photographs and Prints.
The Lessons of Lewis Place
They recall, too, a fierce pride in the accomplishment of opening the ornamental gates of Lewis Place to African Americans—gates that once stood fast on St. Louis’s color line.
Ordinary men and women fighting for their rights joined together to open the gates of Lewis Place and erase the color line it stood on. Photograph by David Schultz, 1993.