St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-02-24

offered for their consideration an
other way of doing it--an Catho-
lie, all-Jewish, all-Lutheran
buildings. They were intelligent
enough to get the point.
Although there were objections
to Red Hooks new Negro tenants
from the neighborhood and, of
course, occasional arguments be-
tween tenants, no serious trouble
developed.
At stair halI meetings, tenants
and staff discussed their problems
and gradually got acquainted, al
though, on the whole, the first ten
ants treated each other with con-
siderable reserve. In the sitting
areas on the grounds, white
mothers grouped themselves and
their baby carriages together. and
Negro mothers wheeled their car
riages to a place apart. After
some weeks a white mother asked
Negro mother to keep an eye
on her child while she went to her
apartment. The Negro woman
gladly agreed and the ice was
broken.
Soon white women were per-
forming the same favor. Then
came a rotation plan, with each
mother taking her turn in looking
after all the children. Later there
was some visiting of each others
apartments and shopping together
The barriers were gradually low
cred within the limits of the pro-
ject. But outside the project there
was a difference in their relation
ship. on the whole families did not
go to Coney Island together, nor
visit each others friends on the
outside nor go to the movies to-
gether.
The situation remains much the
same today at Red Hook Houses.
The families may feel that their
friendship would not be understood
by outsiders; 1t is a project affair.
Or, more likely, the relationship
which develops between two fam
lies living in one building
whether they are both white, both
Negro or mixed-is merely
neighborly one, as it is in private
housing, and the instance when a
solid and lasting friendship ripens
is unusual. Negro and white fam
lies have the same tolerance and
consideration for each other as
other apartment dwellers. One
white woman, a grandmother,
baby-sitting with her two grand
children at Amsterdam Houses,
summed 1t up TO an inquiring side
walk sociologist: They're no diff
ferent. They mind their own bust
ness and l mind mine. When
people mind their own business,
they get along"
Since 1889 all public housing
projects have been nonsegregated,
and more Negro families have
moved into Red Hook Houses and
into the almost all-white Williams
burg Houses as vacancies occur
red.
II may be pointed out that most
public housing projects were built
in areas already occupied by many
racial groups. There were several
reasons why a project would be
likely to have among its tenants
the same kind Of people already in
the neighborhoOd Families moving
from the site to make way for the
project were given first prefer
ence in the new apartments II
they met the eligibility standards.
A heavy percentage of applica-
tons came from the neighborhood
families who had watched the
buildings rise. People want TO re-
main in their own neighborhood.
Negroes and whites alike want
TO be near the stores, churches,
clubs and movies which they use
and are used by people they know.
Applicants were allowed to ex-
press a preference among the pro-
jects, which was honored when
ever possible. As a result there
have been no drastic upheavals of
populations. no great moving OF
large numbers of Negroes into
areas predominantly white, no
great moving Of large numbers of
whites into areas predominantly
Negro.
These conditions may have help
ed the non-segregation policy to
succeed, but the attitude of the
manager and his staff, who are
thoroughly ''briefed" before being