Many cities struggled with the issue of open housing in the 1950s and 1960s, and Seattle was a contested site in the struggle for civil rights. Until 1968, it was legal to discriminate against minorities in Seattle when renting apartments or selling real estate. This fine website created by the Seattle Municipal Archives explores the history of the open housing campaign through a range of primary documents, including photographs, legal documents, and so on. The Table of Contents provides a nice introduction to the subject, along with thematic areas such as Restrictive Covenants and Years of Ferment: 1964-1967. Visitors would do well to start with the Restrictive Covenants section, as it explains the role of these clauses in keeping minorities out of certain neighborhoods.
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