How MLK's Fight for Homeownership Equality Changed My Life

"During the Civil Rights Movement, the Chicago Freedom Movement took place from 1965 to 1967. Dr. King co-led this campaign with local activists to confront racial discrimination, segregation, and housing inequities in one of America's largest cities. Unlike the Jim Crow laws of the South, segregation in Chicago was often enforced through policy, lending practices and real estate discrimination rather than explicit laws."

"Black and brown families were systematically denied access to quality housing, mortgage coverage and neighborhoods with adequate schools and resources. Redlining, restrictive covenants and predatory lending practices kept Black and brown residents confined to overcrowded and underfunded areas, many of them public housing projects like the ones I grew up in. Dr. King understood that housing was not just about where people lived; it was about safety, education, health and economic opportunity."

"Dr. King put himself directly into the lived reality of the people he was fighting for. The Chicago Freedom Movement organized marches, rallies and protests demanding open housing and equal access to neighborhoods. Participants faced hostility, violence and resistance, particularly when marching through segregated white neighborhoods. Dr. King later stated that he encountered some of the most intense racism of his life during these Chicago marches, yet he did not retreat."

The Chicago Freedom Movement (1965–1967) addressed racial discrimination, segregation, and housing inequities in Chicago through coordinated local and national activism. Segregation in Chicago operated via policies, lending practices, real estate discrimination, redlining, restrictive covenants, and predatory lending rather than explicit Jim Crow laws. Black and brown families were denied quality housing, mortgages, and access to neighborhoods with adequate schools and resources, concentrating many in overcrowded public housing. Dr. King and local activists organized marches and protests for open housing; he lived in a West Side project apartment to share residents' realities and persisted despite intense hostility. The campaign helped lay groundwork for the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Read at www.housingwire.com