Los Angeles Uses Racial Covenants to Confine Black Residents to 5% of City

By the 1920s, racial restrictive covenants covered the overwhelming majority of Los Angeles County residential property, confining Black residents to a narrow corridor of South Central. The Los Angeles Realty Board and California Real Estate Association actively promoted and enforced covenants. Black families who purchased in covenanted areas faced eviction by court order. By 1940, over 95% of L.A. housing was unavailable to Black buyers. The concentration created the hypersegregated communities that persisted through the 20th century and were the context for the 1965 Watts uprising.