Along the Color Line: Economic

The Crisis

Citation Information:

“Along the Color Line: Economic,” The Crisis, v. 1, n. 1, November, 11, 1910.

Baltimore is aroused over the fact that the Negroes are buying property on McCulloh Street. They are proposing to pass an ordinance which provides that, within a section specified, it shall not be lawful for any white person to move into or begin to occupy any house as a residence in any street in which a majority of the bona fide residents are Negroes; said, on the other hand, that it shall not be lawful hereafter for any Negro to move into, or begin to occupy, as a residence, any house in a street in which the majority of bona fide residents are already white people. There is further provision that it shall be unlawful hereafter for any person to open, or cause to be opened, any new streets to be used for residences, without first declaring in the application for a permit to build whether the houses are to be built for and occupied by whites or Negroes, and the building inspector is to issue a permit accordingly.

It is to be noticed that this ordinance does not interfere with any residence heretofore acquired. The invasion of Negro property owners is put down as a reason for the failure of Baltimore to grow faster in population.