Fractures within Fair Housing: The Battle for the Memory and Legacy of the Long Fair Housing Movement

Abstract

This article examines how white supremacy diluted the nationwide struggle to eliminate racial residential segregation known as the Fair Housing Movement. As the sole civil rights organization dedicated to fair housing, the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing (NCDH) fought valiantly to help African Americans buy homes in white neighborhoods and generated the political momentum necessary for the passage of fair housing laws from 1950 through 1987. However, it also disseminated a moderate vision of fair housing that depended on white Americans’ comfort. This vision left the NCDH vulnerable to criticism from Progressive and Black Power fair housing activists who believe in fair housing on African Americans’ terms or advocate for reinvestment in African American neighborhoods. Although these factions remain ignored and underfunded, they challenge the notion of a unified national Fair Housing Movement and offer an alternative, more equitable vision of this often-overlooked portion of the Civil Rights Movement.