A Black Family Moves into a White Neighborhood, Bakersfield, California
Covenants – Neighborhoods – Suburban Expansion – Before 1938 – Moving into a Neighborhood
Zoning – Public Housing – Resources – Eminent Domain
Buying on Contract – East Bakersfield – Rumford Fair Housing Act
On August 9, 1960, a Black family moved into the Hill Crest neighborhood. Days after moving in, the new homeowners received numerous phone calls, garbage service was denied, and they were harassed. A “Community” conversation was held to debate open, unrestricted housing.
Hillcrest was a racially restricted (white only) neighborhood. The covenant reads, section 5, “No part of said realty shall ever at any time be used or occupied or be permitted to be used by any persons not of the white or Caucasian race, excepting such as are employed as servants upon said realty by the owners or tenants of said realty actually residing thereon.” Explore restricted neighborhoods https://hrc.csub.edu/neighborhood-mapping/
October 1960
November 1960
