Dilemmas of Civil Rights Groups in Developing Urban Strategies and Changes in American Federalism, 1933-1970

Abstract

T HE DEVELOPMENT OF PLANNED STRATEGIES for housing and community development predate the passage of the 1937 Housing Act. However, beginning with the 1937 Housing Act, or more precisely, with the Public Works Administration in 1933, the growth of federal-city relations and the dilemmas confronting blacks as modern American federalism developed, between 1933-70, can be outlined.1 There were four periods that evidenced the development of the federalcity relationships and black interest-group strategies. Although overlapping in many respects in terms of issues, these periods were: 1933-45; 1945-54; 1954-65 and 1965-70. The first period was marked by pragmatism, among civil-rights groups, regarding the emergence of federal-city relationships and urban development The second period was characterized by greater demands of civil-rights groups for due process of the law and legislative safeguards in programs developed for urban centers; 1954-65 was a period of cross currents in the strategies outlined for urban change by the federal level and civil rights groups. The fourth period, 1965-70, reflected new experimentation at the federal level with assistance to black-dominated inner cities, and a growing strain on federal-local relationships created by the diverse demands of an increasingly mobile white population and increasingly stagnant central cities.