In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chicago Freedom Movement faced an old problem. Housing discrimination against African Americans had existed across the United States for generations. Through a series of discriminatory processes, the housing market restricted the African American population of Chicago to what has been referred to as, since the turn of the 20th century, the “Black Belt” of Chicago. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley’s administration did not help to alleviate the problem. In fact, many scholars argue that Daley’s infamous Democratic machine reinforced this segregation to ensure that he remained in power. This is to say, the housing discrimination problem was not simply ignored by Chicago officials; it was enforced by them. 

During this time, the Chicago Urban League was fighting for equality. Harold ("Hal") Baron, Director of the Chicago Urban League’s Research Department and an avid supporter of ending housing discrimination, saw the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a useful and unique opportunity to combat housing discrimination and Chicago's segregated public school system. Baron wrote a memorandum outlining the effects of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 entitled, “Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Federal Aid Controversy in Chicago.”
This SourceLab edition presents Hal Baron’s strategic memorandum and contextualizes it within Chicago's housing policies and activism in the Civil Rights Era. Students and researchers can explore the strategy Baron envisioned as it pertains to housing segregation in Chicago leading up to and directly preceding the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Baron’s memo may be used both as a historical source and as a model for current or future activists.