“A place under the sun”: African American Resistance to Housing Exclusion

Abstract

Melissa Lang was one of three panelists at a public history roundtable at the Oregon Historical Society commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. In this record of her presentation, Lang documents African American resistance to housing exclusion by highlighting stories of those Portlanders who “fought back and uplifted their community from within.” Three ways that resistance manifested included Black realtors and investors who helped circumnavigate the system of exclusionary practices and redlining; Black-owned banks and credit unions that provided loans for property upkeep; and Black activist organizations beginning in the 1940s that advocated for better housing policies. Lang argues that by “capitalizing on their industriousness,” these resisters “developed a network of realtors and investment opportunities when they were otherwise excluded, and they founded and utilized community organizations to keep the work of the city and the state in check.”