When rumors of segregated zoning unleashed a torrent of racism in Salt Lake
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Salt Lake City was in the grip of racist backlash 85 years ago this week, after white residents in what is now Central City heard a rumor that the neighborhood was to be zoned specifically for Black residents.
- This is Old News, where we trace a map of Utah history each Monday.
The intrigue: Rather than object to the racism inherent in forced segregation, white residents of the Sumner neighborhood took it to the next level: They said some other neighborhood should be the "negro area" instead.
What drove the news: About 1,000 white residents gathered Nov. 2, 1939 to protest a rumored "special residential district for negroes" in the area from 600 South to 900 South and Main Street to 500 East.
- White residents claimed Black residents were circulating a petition supporting the designation.
Reality check: The Salt Lake branch of the NAACP immediately opposed any such district.
- Black residents in Ogden similarly objected to a proposal earlier that year that would've banned them from housing north of Washington Boulevard.
More reality: Housing was already segregated in Salt Lake.
And more reality: Even by the norms of 1939, city officials in Salt Lake and Ogden recognized such zoning schemes would be flagrantly unconstitutional.
Zoom in: The protest against the rumored Black district was led by Sheldon Brewster, a state lawmaker and bishop of the neighborhood's ward for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Brewster claimed that an "influx" of Black people was imminent.
By the numbers: As the Salt Lake Telegram pointed out, "only 1,106" Black people lived in the entire state as of the 1930 census.
- By 1940, that number had risen to just 1,235 — 0.2% of the population.
Between the lines: The rumor may have stemmed from a federal program to "clear slums" and build new low-income housing, wrote historian Tonya Reiter.
- That program was frequently used to wipe out integrated neighborhoods and replace them with segregated housing.
What they said: "We agree that a residential district for colored persons should be established, but we object to the area of the proposed district," said one member of the newly-formed white homeowners' committee, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The big picture: For weeks, the white neighbors seized on the rumor as an excuse for unabashed racism, eventually driving out a popular Black social club and drafting appalling language into a petition signed by at least 1,000 residents.
- It claimed that Black residents would bring "evils" and would "confiscate" … "one of the most attractive and valuable parts of the city."