Housing in Postwar Philadelphia

The roots of America’s public housing crisis are intertwined with the Great Migration (1916-1970s) and solidified through federal policy beginning in the 1930s. Following the Civil War, The Great Migration marked the movement of African-Americans from the rural South into what is now considered major cities including New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia to seek economic opportunities and to escape racial violence and prejudice. 

As more people moved North and the country faced an oncoming economic crisis in the Great Depression, many Americans were left without basic necessities of life, especially housing. In response, the Housing Act of 1937 was formed. This act established the foundation of the federal public housing program, later expanded by programs like Section 8, or low-income/subsidized housing. While intended to provide affordable housing for low-income Americans who no longer could afford housing amidst the Great Depression, the program was implemented in racially discriminatory ways.

Other federal housing policies created during the New Deal era—such as the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)—sought to stabilize the economy but often did so by codifying racial discrimination. Through practices like redlining, these agencies denied loans and housing assistance to communities of color, deeming them “high-risk” regardless of actual financial standing.

If you lived in these areas, you were more than likely denied a loan regardless of your financial qualifications. Amidst this, veterans were coming back from World War II and being granted various amenities for their service, one of them being low-interest home loans. 

Next, there was the Housing Act of 1949. Although not designed to segregate, the 1949 Act was implemented in ways that reinforced racial housing divides rooted in earlier HOLC and FHA policies. This resulted in many Black populated sectors missing out on renovations, efficient structural design, economic and business opportunities, and lack of upkeep of resources.

Philadelphia Housing Association, "The Changing Metropolis: Data About Philadelphia from the 1956 National Housing Inventory." Thelma McDaniel Collection Coll.# 3063

The housing crisis worsened in the post World War II period. There were increasing opportunities for Americans to move out of cities and into suburbs. Ending up in the suburbs of Philadelphia was not unusual for Black families during the early 1950s. However, there were many roadblocks put in place to disadvantage them as well as exclude them from the benefits given to help American citizens. Black families seeking to move into many suburbs face discriminatory practices in purchasing newly-constructed housing. This precedent was set when the creator of the Suburban archetype, William Levitt, created his first town called Levittown in 1947, New York. Levitt’s intention was to have these communities be racially restrictive, with the deeds of the homes emphasizing that they could not be “occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race.” These inexpensive family-units catered to white veteran families, but got the attention of the entire country. Levitt continued to build Levittown communities throughout the U.S., selling the American dream with every house. Eventually, one was established in Pennsylvania in 1953 under the same “whites-only policy”. The publication shown here demonstrates the impact of these policies on where and in what conditions Black households resides, though it does not evaluate the impact of the restrictive policies.

The Myers Family represents one of the first widely publicized Black experiences in a postwar suburban community, a story that is often overlooked by the presumed narrative created about the conditions of Black people during the 1950s. Daisy Myers retells this story in her autobiography, Sticks n’ Stones, and gives the reader insight into their lives before, during, and after moving into their 3-bedroom house on Deepgreen Lane in Levittown, PA.