The Color of Law A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (z-lib.org).epub

that the decision was at least in part racially motivated, if not
entirely so.
p. 120, 1 Although California had no open housing law at the time, Brown
may have relied on the equal protection clauses of the state or
federal constitutions, or perhaps on an argument based on two
earlier California Supreme Court rulings (e.g., James v. Marinship
1944, 739) that racial discrimination is “contrary to the public
policy of the United States and this state [and that the] United
States Constitution has long prohibited governmental action
discriminating against persons because of race or color.” Brown’s
complaint, however, never got to the stage of an actual filing.
p. 120, 3 In 1950, a provision permitting FHA insurance of loans to
cooperatives was added to the National Housing Act, and in 1959
projects that were originally constructed as separate units were
permitted to convert to co-ops and gain the benefits of the lower
rates that followed from FHA endorsement. It was to take
advantage of this provision that the UAW converted its Sunnyhills
project to a cooperative. It is unclear why the FHA was willing to
support integrated developments if they were organized as co-ops
but not if they were individually owned. Section 213 was designed
to encourage construction of lower-cost units for working-class
families. Perhaps the FHA was willing to tolerate integration in
lower-priced working-class developments from a belief that such a
policy would not undermine its promotion of segregation in more
middle-class suburbs. More likely, I think, is that administrators of
Section 213 projects, favorable toward cooperatives, were more
liberal on racial issues than administrators of the regular FHA
program, who mostly came to the government from the real estate
industry. In earlier years, when the FHA refused to endorse
integrated co-ops (as in the case of the cooperative that Wallace
Stegner helped to lead, or the co-op that Lombard, Illinois, families
tried to establish), the cooperatives had to appeal to regular FHA
administrators. Now, in the 1950s and 1960s, they had a special
group within the FHA to which their banks could apply.
p. 121, 1 Milpitas Post 1955 or 1956.
p. 121, 3 Theobold 2004; Smith 1967, 600; Reagan 1967, 592. The
Trailmobile plant moved from Berkeley to Fremont, a town
adjacent to Milpitas. The plant manager’s explanation for not
hiring African American workers may not have been well founded.
The general counsel of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights asked