NAR Centennial: 100 Years in Celebration of the American Dream: Chapter Four

Evolving Conscience

In his seminal novel Native Son, published in 1940, Richard Wright describes a Chicago where African Americans live in a Black Belt with poor housing conditions and inflated prices. Wright traces the anger of his protagonist, the murderous Bigger, directly to the real estate industry. “No white real estate man,” Bigger thinks, “would rent a flat to a black man other than in the sections where it had been decided that black people might live.”

More than a decade before the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® was founded, the U.S. Supreme Court laid the groundwork for segregation, establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson. And for the first half of the twentieth century, the “separate” part was taken as a matter of course in real estate. Land developers routinely declared “No Negroes” in their marketing materials and imposed restrictive covenants to prevent owners from reselling to blacks and other minorities. Even after such covenants had been struck down in court, minorities faced discrimination in the purchase and financing of homes, and association leaders trod awkwardly over how a fair housing law would impact owners’ rights.

In the 39 years since passage of the Fair Housing Act, however, the association has evolved into a leader in the promotion of equal housing opportunity — developing landmark education for its members, seeding programs for minority home buyers, seeking out a more diverse membership, and building bridges with minority real estate associations. NAR today celebrates the country’s racial and ethnic diversity and strives to make the benefits of real property ownership available to all.

Next Chapter: City Sculptors >