“At no time shall said premises or any part thereof or any building erected thereon sold, occupied, let or leased or given to any one of any race other than the Caucasian, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domicile with an owner or tenant.” (This restriction appeared in a deed of the Crawford Realty Company in the office of the Register of Deeds for Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Ohio. )
The deed restriction above is typical of thousands which are still part of property records in the United States, including Chicago despite the fact that none can be honored by either federal or a state court. Racially restrictive covenants refer to contractual agreements that prohibit the purchase, lease, or occupation of a piece of property by a particular group of people, usually African Americans, Latinos and Asians. Racially restrictive covenants were not only mutual agreements between property owners in a neighborhood not to sell to certain people, but were also agreements enforced through the cooperation of real estate boards and neighborhood associations.These restrictive covenants became common after 1926 after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Corrigan v. Buckley, which validated their use (W. Arnold Jolly, Restrictive Covenants Affecting Land, 2010).
Owners who violated the terms of the covenant risk forfeiting the property. Most covenants “ran with the land” and were legally enforceable on future buyers of the property. In 1948, in four cases where neighbors sought to enjoin sale to and occupancy by non-Caucasians, the Supreme Court ruled that such covenants are not enforceable, and in 1953 the Supreme Court emphasized this ruling by holding that money damages could not be collected from a seller who violated a covenant. (C.H.S. Preston, Restrictive Covenants Affecting Freehold Land, 1976).
Despite the fact that DuSable, a black man, founded the city in the 1780s and fugitive slaves and freedmen established the city’s first black community in the 1840s racial segregation through the use of restrictive covenants well existed in Chicago (Encyclopedia of Chicago). From 1916 (the first wave of the Black migration from southern States) until 1948 (the second wave), racially restrictive covenants were used to keep Chicago’s neighborhoods white.
bronzevilleblog 
I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your post and after doing so, it incited me to think more about the topic you presented in the blog. This information is very informative because even though we may know the how the city of Chicago is “organized” we never really give it much thought as to why there are a certain group of people tending to live in a certain area where there is another group occupying a different area.
I think when we look around and actually think about the way the city or how we are all situated in regards to living areas, you have given a words to what we see everyday. Its kind of an unspoken idea of people living where they see their own kind. I never really thought about how there still is a prohibition of letting certain races occupy, rent, or purchase land or property in certain areas.
This isn’t hard to identify with because we see this all the time where there are Whites living in there own area, Black, Hispanics and Asians in there respected areas.
Growing up I was raised on both the South side and North side Rogers Park area. I saw every racial group living in the same vicinity as my family, but was often separated by this invisible barrier that we knew we would probably live in as blacks.
I lived on Howard st. growing up and across the street was Evanston, it was then that I noticed how there would be all whites occupying a certain apartment complex and blacks maybe surrounding the complex or adjacent to the complex, but never in the complex. There were the times as well when our white neighbors would seemed irritated by the black children outside, often times calling the police as if we didn’t belong, but as children, we thought we had just as much right to be there as well.
This article really made me think about the things we see everyday, and most of us never think anything is wrong with how we are all to ourselves in terms of where we live or complacent with the idea of living in one particular area…or are we as a people on more of an economical restriction and have been for years, to where it has become the norm? I think racial restrictions as far as living situations can be readily identified when given thought, which also in my opinion are economically deprivation ties in with it all.
I was not aware of Chicago’s origins , let alone the separatist movement! Being from Memphis and having many great-aunts/uncles flee from the South to Chicago, I’ve always seen the city as progressive. I know these laws were ultimately banned, but I can see the remnants still exist!