Policing Race in Chicago Public Housing: 1937-1960

Keywords: policing, race, Chicago, public housing
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 6

Abstract

This paper explores early police interventions in Chicago public housing developments during the beginning years of public housing, from the late 1930s to 1960. In particular, drawing upon historical newspaper sources, it argues that police played an early and central role in policing racial integration in Chicago’s nascent housing projects, at a time when the developments were racially diverse but highly segregated. As planners pushed to integrate public housing, riots broke out at several developments. Police were called in to manage unrest but were entirely ineffective at quelling the tensions. What did result from the actions, however, was the establishment of a close working relationship between the municipal police and the public housing authority, setting the stage for the intensive policing of public housing throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. As the racial makeup of the projects changed from primarily-white to primarily-Black, the nature of police work became increasingly racially charged, with important implications for the public housing program and the people living there.