U.S. History Collection
Northern Jim Crow and Housing Segregation in the 1920s

Northern Housing Conditions for Black Residents

During the Great Migration, Detroit attracted thousands of Black migrants which increased the demand for housing. However, those migrants, including Ossian himself, generally had to live in crowded areas such as Black Bottom because of discriminatory housing laws that limited where Black people could rent or buy homes. These laws, or housing covenants, were upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court.

This photograph shows a backyard in a Black neighborhood in Detroit in the 1920s. Analyze what the image tells you.

Think About

  • What do you see in the image?
  • What do you think about the living conditions of some Black migrants in Detroit?
  • What do you wonder about life for some Black people who had moved to Detroit during the Great Migration?

Detroit "Negro Quarter," 1929. Click to enlarge.

A grainy black and white photo shows a residential corner lot with apartment buildings at least six floors high creating an L shape. A two-story house is on the left of the buildings. A fence encloses part of the backyard. It includes a leafless tree in the center and heaps of trash strewn all around covering most of the yard. Some scrap, wooden panels are stacked behind a portion of the fence on the right.

GBH Logo