The exclusion of African-Americans from Stuyvesant Town is a
“form of fascism,” insisted Bebe Hyslop in her letter to Mayor La Guardia in
1943. La Guardia supported the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that year in
its plan to prohibit African-Americans from living in Stuyvesant Town, then
being planned in lower Manhattan. The letters presented here, including Ms. Hyslop’s, are a sampling of some 1000+ letters written, expressing
the outrage felt by New Yorkers of all backgrounds to the mayor’s decision. Anger against the mayor in the city’s African-American
community especially was fueled by a sense of betrayal as many had considered La
Guardia an ally in addressing racial injustices. La Guardia’s choice to support exclusion of
African-Americans from Stuyvesant Town was a contributing factor precipitating
the Harlem Riots a few weeks later.
Together these letters from our collection reveal how large
historical events of the 1940s helped forge a foundation for the battle over housing
segregation and progress of the civil rights movement that followed. They also invite us to think about the
components of our own housing crisis of affordability amidst the greater subtleties
of inclusion and exclusion in today’s housing market.
