The all-white “model community” built by Black workers in 1930s Maryland

Greenbelt’s Thirty-Year Fight Against Housing Segregation

Greenbelt, Maryland looked like a dream come true in 1937.

This New Deal “Garden City” had modern homes, green spaces, and a bold vision for the future. Yet the same Black workers who built it couldn’t live there.

The land itself had once been farmed by Black families before the government took it for this whites-only experiment.

For thirty years, African Americans were shut out completely.

Then in 1963, the Greenbelt Committee for Fair Housing stood up and fought back. By the late 1960s, the walls of segregation finally fell.

Today, Greenbelt Park holds this complex story that shows how even “model communities” hid America’s harshest truths.

FDR’s New Deal Created a Whites-Only Utopia in 1937

During the Great Depression, Roosevelt wanted to build a better America.

He started the United States Resettlement Administration on May 1, 1935, with Rexford Guy Tugwell running it.

His wife Eleanor helped plan the Maryland town on old tobacco fields. Early plans included the Rossville Rural Development area for Black families to farm.

The government bought 12,000 acres near Berwyn, Maryland, on land worn out from tobacco farming.

White Neighbors Killed Plans for Black Housing

Racism in Prince George’s County quickly ended the Rossville Rural Development plans. Local white neighbors and lawmakers fought against it.

The first design had 1,000 homes for white folks and 250 for Black residents. The government cut both Rossville and the housing for African-Americans from the final plan.

They gave in to pressure and made Greenbelt for whites only.

Black Workers Built a Town They Couldn’t Live In

Work began in fall 1935 with 1,000 laborers, many of them Black. Workers started clearing land for a lake before town plans were even done.

Trains brought up to 5,000 men daily to the Branchville railroad stop. Black construction workers helped build homes they could never live in as residents.

Families Lost Their Farms to Make Way for Greenbelt

About 14 Black people lived on farms on land that became Greenbelt. The city took over former tobacco fields that Black families had worked for years.

Joseph Younger, a WPA laborer with five family members, moved from southwest Virginia in the 1920s and lived along Muirkirk Road.

William Jackson, another WPA worker with a family of seven, also lived in the area. The government pushed these families out when it took their land.

The Government Hand-Picked White Families in 1937

The first people moved to town on September 30, 1937, after tough screening. Though Black workers helped build it, only white families could apply to live there.

More than 5,700 families tried to get one of the 885 homes. The town filled up with “white, Protestant, low-level government employees.

” Black Americans who built the community watched others enjoy the results of their work.

Officials Checked Your Home Before You Could Move In

To apply, you needed to be married, earn between $800 and $2,200 yearly, and the husband needed a job.

The government looked at income, health, family size, spending habits, clean living, and community spirit. Workers came to check out people’s current homes before saying yes.

The town kept out Black residents but allowed some religious mix: 63% Protestant, 30% Catholic, and 7% Jewish.

Black Workers Served White Residents But Couldn’t Join Them

The government counted 14 Black people as Greenbelt “residents” in their numbers, but they lived “in outlying farms on Greenbelt property,” not in town.

Black workers cleaned buildings and did similar jobs. Unlike white workers doing the same jobs, Black workers got ignored by residents, paid less, and shown “no respect.”

Some residents complained at a 1939 town meeting that Black customers were being served at the local drug store.

The War Doubled Greenbelt’s Size But Kept Segregation

Washington DC needed more housing during World War II for defense workers. The government built 1,000 more row houses in 1941, making the town twice as big.

The Federal Works Agency put up these homes as “defense housing” in 1941-42.

Even with all this growth and the war effort bringing Americans together, the town still kept Black families out.

The segregation rules stayed firm throughout the war.

Brave Citizens Formed a Fair Housing Group in 1963

A group called Citizens for Fair Housing started fighting for change in 1963.

Their meetings caused heated arguments full of racism and fears about property values dropping. When the Williams family wanted to move to Greenbelt, they got help from this group to buy a home.

On February 12, 1966, they moved into 7-H Southway in the Greenbelt Homes Inc. development, breaking the color barrier after nearly 30 years.

The City Council Finally Pushed for Change in 1967

The Greenbelt City Council told apartment owners in 1967 to voluntarily stop segregation in their rentals.

Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968 right after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on April 4.

By 1967, the city council was pressuring building owners to change their ways. The Fair Housing Act made it illegal across the country to discriminate in rentals and home sales.

Greenbelt Finally Welcomed Black Families After Three Decades

Black families started moving into Greenbelt in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This ended 30 years of keeping them out of this “model community.”

School busing in Prince George’s County around 1972 brought more debates about race. By 2000, African-Americans made up 41% of Greenbelt residents.

The town that began as a whites-only experiment eventually became the diverse community we know today.

Visiting Greenbelt Park, Maryland

You can learn about Greenbelt’s segregated history at the museum house at 10B Crescent Road. Guided tours run Sundays every half hour from 1pm to 3pm for $5 per person.

Museum staff explain how this planned community excluded African Americans for 30 years despite being built by Black workers.

Park across the street at the library. Group walking tours need two weeks notice, and there’s a free New Deal art exhibition at the Community Center.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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