1949

The Housing Act of 1949 authorizes $1 billion for urban renewal, requiring 'predominantly residential' use of cleared land. In practice, cities use the law to demolish Black neighborhoods and replace them with civic centers, universities, hospitals, and luxury housing. A 1964 study finds that urban renewal has demolished four times as many low-cost housing units as it has built. Sixty-three percent of families displaced by urban renewal are non-white. Martin Luther King Jr. calls urban renewal 'Negro removal.' The law creates no right to return for displaced residents.

The Housing Act of 1949 authorizes $1 billion for urban renewal. In practice, cities use the law to demolish Black neighborhoods and replace them with civic centers, universities, hospitals, and luxury housing. A 1964 study finds that urban renewal has demolished four times as many low-cost housing units as it has built. Sixty-three percent of families displaced by urban renewal are non-white. Martin Luther King Jr. calls urban renewal 'Negro removal.' The law creates no right to return for displaced residents.

In Groveland, Florida, four young Black men — Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, and Samuel Shepherd — are accused of raping a white woman. Thomas is hunted down and killed. The other three are tortured into confessions. An all-white jury convicts them. Mobs burn Black homes in Groveland. Thurgood Marshall wins a Supreme Court reversal in 1951. Sheriff Willis McCall shoots Irvin and Shepherd while transporting them; Shepherd dies. Irvin survives and testifies McCall shot them in cold blood. McCall is not charged. The case is called 'Florida's Scottsboro.'