![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ontheline.trincoll.edu\/book\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/1954-02-17HT-OakwoodAcresWH.jpg\")
<\/a>\nPhoto of Oakwood Acres public housing<\/a> in West Hartford, from the Hartford Times<\/em>, February 17, 1954, digitized by the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library.[footnote]Hartford Times, \u201cOakwood Acres Temporary Housing, West Hartford,\u201d February 17, 1954, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library, https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cthistoryonline\/5717411442\/in\/set-72157626521582021.[\/footnote]\n<\/div>\n
The advent of World War II brought significant changes to a country that had been in the grip of a deep financial depression. Across the nation, as people moved into cities looking for jobs in wartime defense industries, demand for housing soared. Often, that demand far exceeded the availability of properties to purchase or even rent. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Congress established the United States Housing Authority (USHA) and authorized it to build public housing units with the goal of providing adequate living quarters for war workers.[footnote]Kristin M Szylvian, \u201cThe Federal Housing Program during World War II,\u201d in From Tenements to the Taylor Homes: In Search of an Urban Housing Policy in Twentieth-Century America<\/em>, ed. John F Bauman, Roger Biles, and Kristin M. Szylvian (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), 121\u201338, https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=YZ9mO3NLP90C&pg=PA121#v=onepage&q&f=false.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n An influx of war laborers, both white and African American, and their families came to the greater Hartford area in the 1940s. They worked in defense factories, such as the Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool plant and the newer Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company. As a result, housing options were limited in the Hartford area. By August of 1943, 8,000 new housing units had been developed in Hartford and New Britain to accommodate the growing population. These apartment-style homes were built under the Hartford Housing Association (HHA) and paid for with federal funding from the USHA.[footnote]\u201c1877 Worker Visits New Tool Plant,\u201d The Hartford Courant<\/em>, October 29, 1941; \"Housing Reaches 8000 Mark in City and New Britain,\u201d The Hartford Courant<\/em>, August 14, 1943.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n According to a 1943 Hartford Courant<\/em> report, \u201cConnecticut has about half of all the government war housing constructed in New England. Half of the government housing in this state has been put up in the Hartford-New Britain area\u2026.\u201d With these statistics, one might think that workers\u2019 need for housing in Greater Hartford had been met. However, families and single African American war workers found it more difficult to procure homes. The Courant noted that \u201c400 housing units for white in-migrant families\u201d were being constructed and, in \u201cthe case of Negroes,\u201d it was thought that \u201ctemporary dormitories\u201d might be built if additional government grants could be obtained. Berkley Cox, chairman of the HHA called this situation \u201csatisfactory.\u201d[footnote]\u201cHousing Reaches 8000 Mark in City and New Britain,\u201d The Hartford Courant<\/em>, August 14, 1943.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n One unit developed under the HHA was the Oakwood Acres Housing Tract. Located on Oakwood Avenue in West Hartford, it spanned the area between St. Charles Street and Seymour Avenue. Contemporary descriptions present the Oakwood Acres\u2019 living spaces as new, simplistic, and affordable. In 1943, only 14 out of the 300 apartments in the building were occupied at a time when many African Americans either had no place to live or could only find substandard accommodations. The federal government planned to use the complex to provide housing for these workers and their families.[footnote]\u201cNegroes May Occupy Oakwood Acres to Solve Rental Lag,\u201d The Metropolitan News<\/em>, September 30, 1943.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n Because the government funded Oakwood Acres, the unit needed to abide by federal law, which stated that officials could not legally reject African Americans applying for housing. West Hartford homeowners, living near Oakwood Acres, were quoted in a September 1943 issue of the Metropolitan News<\/em> as being \u201calarmed\u201d and \u201chorrified\u201d at the idea of \u201cNegroes\u201d living in their neighborhood. One woman said she and her family would move out the day after any African Americans moved in. The paper itself described the situation in harsh, racist language, calling it an \u201cinfiltration,\u201d and reported the prevailing sentiment among community homeowners as being: \u201cWe don\u2019t want them here.\u201d The consensus among West Hartford realtors and homeowners, the newspaper reported, was that real estate values would show \u201can immediate and sharp\u201d drop if \u201cNegroes in any considerable number moved into town.\u201d[footnote]\u201cNegroes May Occupy Oakwood Acres to Solve Rental Lag,\u201d The Metropolitan News<\/em>, September 30, 1943.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n Furiously, homeowners wrote to the HHA and West Hartford Housing Authority (WHHA) asking if African Americans would indeed be admitted to Oakwood Acres. When the Hartford Courant posed the question to WHHA chairman Richard F. Jones, he equivocated, saying, \u201cI won\u2019t say we are and I won\u2019t say we\u2019re not going to admit Negroes\u2026At the present time that is a topic we\u2019d rather not publicize too much.\u201d This prompted West Hartford residents to send petitions to their senators, Francis Maloney and John A Danaher, and congressman, William Miller. Miller responded that he would look into the issue.[footnote]\u201cHousing Official Noncommittal on Racial Question,\u201d The Hartford Courant<\/em>, October 21, 1943; \u201cResidents Ask Congressmen\u2019s Aid on Negro Housing Threat,\u201d The Metropolitan News<\/em>, November 4, 1943.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n The United States Housing Authority responded with an ultimatum. They stated that it was unlawful to exclude occupants from Oakwood Acres based on race. Local housing officials were advised that unless the race restrictions were lifted, the federal government would step in. Under this decision, African Americans would be admitted if they applied for a unit. This angered many West Hartford homeowners, prompting the town\u2019s housing officials to find a loophole. They decided to accept applications only from \u201cNegroes with essential West Hartford industry jobs.\u201d Officials made this ruling knowing that, at the time, only six African American families fit this criterion\u2014and they had not expressed interest in living in Oakwood Acres. Ultimately, with this restrictive technicality in place, no African American war workers moved into the housing tract. The white West Hartford housing officials and their supporters had trumped the federal government. They found a way to circumvent federal guidelines and discourage African Americans from living in publicly funded housing within the town\u2019s borders.[footnote]\u201cNegroes May Not Move Into Oakwood War Housing Tract,\u201d The Metropolitan News<\/em>, December 16, 1943, https:\/\/history.westhartfordlibrary.org\/items\/show\/421; Katherine Ellen Winterbottom, \u201cBeneath the Veneer,\u201d The Spectator [West Hartford Historical Society Newsletter]<\/em> Autumn (1998): 1,10\u201314.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n In 1956, Oakwood Acres was demolished. It had become dilapidated and the people of West Hartford feared it made their neighborhood look like a \u201cslum.\u201d[footnote]Tracey Wilson, \u201cWest Hartford in World War II,\u201d West Hartford Life<\/em>, April 2002.[\/footnote] By destroying the unit, West Hartford also erased the physical remnants of this racist chapter in the town\u2019s housing history. Today, West Hartford remains a predominately white community. One can argue that its demographics have been shaped, in part, by discriminatory housing practices of which the standoff over Oakwood Acres is but one example.<\/p>\n About the contributors:<\/strong> Emily Meehan (Trinity '16) published the initial version of this essay in ConnecticutHistory.org, which Jack Dougherty expanded into this chapter.[footnote]Emily Meehan, \u201cThe Debate Over Who Could Occupy World War II Public Housing in West Hartford,\u201d ConnecticutHistory.org<\/em>, January 2014, http:\/\/connecticuthistory.org\/the-debate-over-who-could-occupy-world-war-ii-public-housing-in-west-hartford\/.[\/footnote].<\/p>\n As we saw in the previous section, housing discrimination did not occur solely due to private individuals, but often as a result of deliberate actions by public policymakers. Yet in some cases, different levels of government came into direct conflict over this issue. During World War II, the Roosevelt administration clashed with West Hartford political leaders over the right of African-American workers to reside in federal wartime housing. To manufacture weapons to defeat Germany and Japan, the United States Housing Authority (USHA) created shelter for thousands of wartime workers who migrated to work in factories in the city and suburbs of metropolitan Hartford. In comparison to the Federal Housing Administration, the USHA took a racially progressive stance in favor of housing blacks workers wherever need and space existed, even if that meant government-funded housing in virtually all-white neighborhoods. But in West Hartford, racism trumped patriotism. Suburban political leaders mobilized against federal authority to block African-American workers from moving into their community. Even when Washington DC pushed back, local leaders prevailed by finding a legal loophole to block non-whites from moving in.<\/p>\n The Oakwood Acres dispute arose in 1943. Federal housing officials and West Hartford leaders clashed on whether or not African Americans should be allowed to live in the World War II public housing development, located in a virtually all-white town. During this period, public housing tracts were created to shelter the many war workers and their families drawn to the Hartford area by the availability of defense-related jobs. The United States government funded these developments; therefore, local housing officials needed to abide by federal laws regarding occupancy. Federal Housing authorities eventually did require West Hartford to admit African Americans; however, town residents and leaders prevailed by specifying residency criteria in such a way as to maintain the racial homogeneity of their community. Racist actions such as these, even when they occurred decades ago, have been factors in shaping the present-day demographics of West Hartford and other towns in the state.<\/p>\n The advent of World War II brought significant changes to a country that had been in the grip of a deep financial depression. Across the nation, as people moved into cities looking for jobs in wartime defense industries, demand for housing soared. Often, that demand far exceeded the availability of properties to purchase or even rent. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Congress established the United States Housing Authority (USHA) and authorized it to build public housing units with the goal of providing adequate living quarters for war workers.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n An influx of war laborers, both white and African American, and their families came to the greater Hartford area in the 1940s. They worked in defense factories, such as the Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool plant and the newer Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company. As a result, housing options were limited in the Hartford area. By August of 1943, 8,000 new housing units had been developed in Hartford and New Britain to accommodate the growing population. These apartment-style homes were built under the Hartford Housing Association (HHA) and paid for with federal funding from the USHA.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n According to a 1943 Hartford Courant<\/em> report, \u201cConnecticut has about half of all the government war housing constructed in New England. Half of the government housing in this state has been put up in the Hartford-New Britain area\u2026.\u201d With these statistics, one might think that workers\u2019 need for housing in Greater Hartford had been met. However, families and single African American war workers found it more difficult to procure homes. The Courant noted that \u201c400 housing units for white in-migrant families\u201d were being constructed and, in \u201cthe case of Negroes,\u201d it was thought that \u201ctemporary dormitories\u201d might be built if additional government grants could be obtained. Berkley Cox, chairman of the HHA called this situation \u201csatisfactory.\u201d[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n One unit developed under the HHA was the Oakwood Acres Housing Tract. Located on Oakwood Avenue in West Hartford, it spanned the area between St. Charles Street and Seymour Avenue. Contemporary descriptions present the Oakwood Acres\u2019 living spaces as new, simplistic, and affordable. In 1943, only 14 out of the 300 apartments in the building were occupied at a time when many African Americans either had no place to live or could only find substandard accommodations. The federal government planned to use the complex to provide housing for these workers and their families.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Because the government funded Oakwood Acres, the unit needed to abide by federal law, which stated that officials could not legally reject African Americans applying for housing. West Hartford homeowners, living near Oakwood Acres, were quoted in a September 1943 issue of the Metropolitan News<\/em> as being \u201calarmed\u201d and \u201chorrified\u201d at the idea of \u201cNegroes\u201d living in their neighborhood. One woman said she and her family would move out the day after any African Americans moved in. The paper itself described the situation in harsh, racist language, calling it an \u201cinfiltration,\u201d and reported the prevailing sentiment among community homeowners as being: \u201cWe don\u2019t want them here.\u201d The consensus among West Hartford realtors and homeowners, the newspaper reported, was that real estate values would show \u201can immediate and sharp\u201d drop if \u201cNegroes in any considerable number moved into town.\u201d[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Furiously, homeowners wrote to the HHA and West Hartford Housing Authority (WHHA) asking if African Americans would indeed be admitted to Oakwood Acres. When the Hartford Courant posed the question to WHHA chairman Richard F. Jones, he equivocated, saying, \u201cI won\u2019t say we are and I won\u2019t say we\u2019re not going to admit Negroes\u2026At the present time that is a topic we\u2019d rather not publicize too much.\u201d This prompted West Hartford residents to send petitions to their senators, Francis Maloney and John A Danaher, and congressman, William Miller. Miller responded that he would look into the issue.[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The United States Housing Authority responded with an ultimatum. They stated that it was unlawful to exclude occupants from Oakwood Acres based on race. Local housing officials were advised that unless the race restrictions were lifted, the federal government would step in. Under this decision, African Americans would be admitted if they applied for a unit. This angered many West Hartford homeowners, prompting the town\u2019s housing officials to find a loophole. They decided to accept applications only from \u201cNegroes with essential West Hartford industry jobs.\u201d Officials made this ruling knowing that, at the time, only six African American families fit this criterion\u2014and they had not expressed interest in living in Oakwood Acres. Ultimately, with this restrictive technicality in place, no African American war workers moved into the housing tract. The white West Hartford housing officials and their supporters had trumped the federal government. They found a way to circumvent federal guidelines and discourage African Americans from living in publicly funded housing within the town\u2019s borders.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n In 1956, Oakwood Acres was demolished. It had become dilapidated and the people of West Hartford feared it made their neighborhood look like a \u201cslum.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a> By destroying the unit, West Hartford also erased the physical remnants of this racist chapter in the town\u2019s housing history. Today, West Hartford remains a predominately white community. One can argue that its demographics have been shaped, in part, by discriminatory housing practices of which the standoff over Oakwood Acres is but one example.<\/p>\n About the contributors:<\/strong> Emily Meehan (Trinity ’16) published the initial version of this essay in ConnecticutHistory.org, which Jack Dougherty expanded into this chapter.[11]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/consejos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2017\/08\/1943-12-16MetroNewsOakwoodHeadline.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nHeadline from 1943 Metropolitan News<\/a>, digitized by West Hartford Public Library.[footnote]\u201cNegroes May Not Move Into Oakwood War Housing Tract,\u201d The Metropolitan News<\/em> [West Hartford], December 16, 1943, https:\/\/history.westhartfordlibrary.org\/items\/show\/421.[\/footnote]\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/consejos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2017\/08\/1951-2013-Aerial-Oakwood-WH.jpg\")
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\nAerial images of Oakwood Acres Housing Tract, in 1951 and today, on the West Hartford border with Hartford, from MAGIC UConn Libraries.\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/consejos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2017\/08\/1954-02-17HT-OakwoodAcresWH.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nPhoto of Oakwood Acres public housing<\/a> in West Hartford, from the Hartford Times<\/em>, February 17, 1954, digitized by the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library.[1]<\/sup><\/a>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/consejos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2017\/08\/1943-12-16MetroNewsOakwoodHeadline.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nHeadline from 1943 Metropolitan News<\/a>, digitized by West Hartford Public Library.[5]<\/sup><\/a>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/consejos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2017\/08\/1951-2013-Aerial-Oakwood-WH.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nAerial images of Oakwood Acres Housing Tract, in 1951 and today, on the West Hartford border with Hartford, from MAGIC UConn Libraries.\n<\/div>\n