Black Springs, Nevada
A case study of institutionalized racism in
Washoe County.
Black Springs, Nevada
What I hope to do today is
illuminate how the development
of and civic problems associated
with the Black Springs
community are a reflection of
institutional racism at work in
Washoe County.
Racism:
race prejudice
plus power
AN AMERICAN DILEMMA
Gunnar Mrydal (1944)
• Commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation, Swedish economist
Myrdal travels nation wide to study the “Negro Problem” in
American society.
• Reframes the problem of racism in American society as a “moral
dilemma” existing within the hearts of white Americans.
• His work establishes a historiographical foundation for the way
racism was understood in the academic community and in
popular culture.
• Historians liken its influence to the Bible.
• His findings are cited in Brown v Board, MLK, and influential
historians and journalists of the day.
American Dilemma
• American thoughts on race exist on two unreconciled planes.
• A General Plane: Belief in the American Creed: National Ideals of
democracy, equality, justice and belief a belief that faith in Christian
Precepts undergird national life.
• Specific Planes: Where local interests, class, job security, prejudice,
prestige and social jealousies override national ideals.
• He recognized factors such as economics, politics, and social
norms, but concluded that trends such as returning veterans and
democratic rhetoric during WWII, would propel white Americans’
hearts toward the embrace of a racially equal American Society.
The Dilemma contended that…
Regarding Civil Rights, Laxalt said he did not feel Nevada has a
serious problem and “is certainly no Mississippi of the West. This
type of talk will only create a problem,” he added.
I think we should avoid, if at all possible, civil rights legislation as
such,” Laxalt said. He said that if there is a problem it should be
dealt with through “private persuasion.”
Laxalt said he was opposed to having state agencies use the power
of licensing to halt discrimination practices, or do condition licenses
on this basis.
An example: Nevada Lt. Governor
Paul Laxalt August, 1963
A shift in the narrative
Yeah, but….
• School desegregation efforts lagged along with housing, vocational,
economic and political opportunities.
• Minority recruitment for Vietnam
• African Americans grow weary of protests
• Urban Riots Ensue
• A reframing of the problem of race in America form one that is
primarily a Moral Issue to one that is structural and that penetrates
every aspect of American Culture and society (1967)
Stokely Carmichael, Charles Hamilton
and the Black Power Movement
• Carmichael and Hamilton shift the historiographical narrative
around racism in three important ways:
1. Introduce the idea of Institutionalized Racism.
2. Call African Americans to take control of their history.
• ("Negro” rejected for Afro or African American or Black.)
3. Reject Myrdalian notion that Americans are moral individuals and
that race is a moral issue. They critique non violence and defend
alternative expressions of protest.
“There is no American Dilemma”
Individual Racism
• Consists of overt acts
by individuals, which
cause death, injury, or
the violent destruction
of property.
• Displayed through
white violence towards
protestors at sit-ins, the
freedom rides,
lynching, marches or
despicable events like
church bombings.
Institutionalized Racism
• Originated in the operation of
established and respected
forces in society and receives
far less public condemnation
than the first.
• Perpetuated through social
injustices that pervade black
communities such as poverty,
discrimination, lack of access
to proper food, overcrowded
and dilapidated houses, poor
medical and educational
facilities, and unequal job
opportunities.
Individual v Institutionalized Racism
A STORY OF INSTITUTIONALIZED
RACISM IN WASHOE COUNTY
MARCH 1967:
A 3-DAY FRONT PAGE ARTICLE EXPLORING “BLACK
SPRINGS: WASHOE COUNTY’S MOST BLIGHTED AREA”
“… It’s called Black Springs– a predominantly Negro area
which developed in the early 1950s to accommodate colored
airmen at Stead Air Force Base.”
(NSJ: March 26, 1967)
Going backwards
from 1967 to
understand
• 1880 Black Population
• 47 residents in Eureka, 20 residents in Gold Hill, 96 residents in Virginia
City.
• No information provided for Reno.
• 1900: 25 African Americans in Reno working as
laborers, for the railroad, a few had their own businesses.
• 1910: Bethel Afro-Methodist Episcopal (AME) church
established
• 1919: NAACP Chapter founded by Bethel members
• 1946: Second Baptist Church established
Northern Nevada’s African
American Community
• Through the 1920’s Reno maintained a chapter of the KKK.
• KKK burned crosses on Peavine during the initiation of 2000 men.
• During the 40s– 60s, Nevada coined the “Mississippi of the West.”
• Discrimination and de facto segregation practiced in all public
accommodations, employment and housing.
• 1940: VA Hospital integrated only after veteran Alfred Smith
denied service multiple times.
• Black performers required to stay in different hotels than those they
performed in. Blacks couldn’t attend their shows.
• 1956: Only 17/100 businesses asked said they would serve African
Americans.
• 1964: First home loans and sales to African Americans
Washoe County’s Racial Climate
• Nevada passed and enforced Civil Rights Legislation only
after the Federal Government and often under pressure from
the Fed.
• 1964: Federal Civil Rights Act of ... 1965: Nevada Civil Rights Act.
• 1968: Jones v Mayer bars racial discrimination in all sale and rental
property under Section 182 of the Civil Rights Act
• 1971: Under threat of federal court action, Nevada Legislature
approves legislation effectively ending housing segregation.
• 1974: Dan Dean is the first African American lawyer to begin
practicing in Reno.
Washoe County’s Racial Climate
Activists testing
equality in public
accommodations
There was public
awareness of Black
Springs’ problem of no
sewer or streets as far
back as 1960..
Poor
construction,
faulty chimney,
distant service
from Sparks Fire
Department
3 Headlines from the front page of the
Reno Evening Gazette: March 21, 1960
Black Springs, Nevada
• A rural setting, unincorporated and away from the city.
• White settlement.
• Friendly for travelers.
• Lemmon [Valley] hosted brothels, bars, cafes, and service
stations.
• By 1926 the area was commonly known as Black Springs
• By 1950 Black Springs it was being touted as “Washoe
County’s newest community” replete with a neighborhood
association, boys club, plans for a church, and was attempting
to get water piped in by Sierra Pacific.
Black Springs before 1950
• Sweatt, local realtor and President of the Nevada Association for the
United Nations, hosted a visit to Reno by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
• Mrs. Roosevelt influenced him to do something to improve the housing situation for
the local black population. This was his motivation for developing Black Springs.
• He bought land in Black Springs and by the mid 1950s sold parcels to
black families who proceeded to move small wooden houses and shacks
they had acquired for free or at auction in from various places in Reno.
• Sweatt paid for a water system to be installed.
• Electricity accessed from a adjacent subdivision.
The 1950s and J.E. Sweatt:
Stead Air Force Base
• Outside city limits and not incorporated into county government.
• No public roads or access or public services such as sewer, trash
collection, gas lines, curbs, gutters, sidewalks.
• Frequent Fires: structures were low quality and built piece by
piece or moved from other locations in town.
• Residents dug large holes to use as cesspools- homemade rather
than prefabricated- often overflowed
• Garbage dumped everywhere (by residents and outsiders)
• In 1967 residents, neighbors, the county and others disturbed by
the unhealthy conditions reported on the problem but no official
entity was willing do do anything about it.
Black Springs’ Problems
• Restrictive Housing Covenants: Established
who could and could not live in or purchase
property in given neighborhoods.
•
Benefitted builders and brokers through racial
exclusivity.
• The more restricted a neighborhood, the more
appealing it was to white buyers.
• Shelly v Kramer 1948 determines that
restrictive covenants are unenforceable.
•
Strengthened in 1953 when the court ruled that
damages could not be collected from a seller
that violated a covenant (they can sell to
whomever they want) .
• It wasn’t until 1971, under the threat of
federal court action that the Legislature
effectively ends housing segregation in Reno
and Las Vegas.
Housing Discrimination
• University Terrace (West of UNR) 1930:
• …the said lot shall not, nor shall any part thereof, or any estate
therein, nor any part of the same, be at any time sold, conveyed,
demised, leased or transferred to or be permitted to be occupied or
used by any person or person other than those of the Caucasian or
white race.
• Westfield Village (near Reno High) 1945:
• That said lots or an portion thereof shall not be sold, transferred
leased, rented, or mortgaged to any person or persons other than the
Caucasian Race, nor shall any person or person other than the
Caucasian Race occupy or be permitted to occupy said lots or any
portion thereof except as the servant of the occupant thereof.
Restrictive Covenants in Reno
• 1964: Financing Opens Up. Housing is 90% segregated.
Housing, however, is the key problem, as seen by Rev. Mr. Matthews, pastor at the
Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.
“If we could provide Negros with decent housing, Reno could attract some of the most
talented Negroes in the West. But we can’t with the present housing pattern.”
“We should concentrate our fire on an effort to find desegregated housing in Washoe
County. That’s the key to the problem.
Reno Evening Gazette
Monday June 8, 1964
Housing:
Financing/Mortgages
“I am appalled at the lack of
public support being given to
NAACP branches in their
efforts to secure civil rights
legislation for the state of
Nevada. It is indeed
shocking to find public
opinion in Nevada… as
reactionary as that found in
our Southern states.”
Tarea Hall Pittman of San Francisco,
regional secretary of NAACP
March 9, 1963
“the name was applied to the state at least
partly because of the openness of private
discrimination”
“Nevada also earned the title ‘Mississippi of
the West’ by its slowness to act against
private discrimination; significant
legislation in this area was not enacted until
after the major civil rights statues had been
passed by Congress.”
Elmer Rusco, political scientist, author and
expert on race relations in Nevada
Why was Nevada referred to as
the “Mississippi of the West”?
Organized protests, addressed injustice through correspondence with local
and statewide business and political leaders, encouraged voter registration.
• 1960: Put pressure on local businesses prior to the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics.
• In a letter to the Mayor of Reno NAACP leaders explained that the US
Commission on Civil Rights has reported that Reno and Las Vegas “seem to be
the areas of major problems in the general field of denial of civil rights.”
•
•
•
•
1960: Picketed F.W. Woolworth Co. in Reno (First and Virginia St)
1961: Sit in at the Overland Hotel (2nd and Lake St).
1961: Picket two Reno Casinos
1962-5: Intermittent protests at legislature for Civil Rights Bills.
The Local NAACP
• Fourteen years after Kramer in 1962. the NAACP told
members of the Nevada Equal Rights Commission about
“Negro” servicemen being discriminated against in housing.
• Three Stead trailer parks promised space but refused to rent it
once they saw the color of the serviceman’s skin.
• Servicemen’s families could not find housing in Reno.
• In an effort to find an agreeable solution to the problem the base
recommended that the Negro personnel seek housing in Black
Springs, which was deemed substandard by the NAACP.
• Nevada State Journal, November14, 1962
The NAACP and Black Springs
• Governor Grant Sawyer (19581966)
• First Governor to make Civil Rights
an issue
• Did suspend discrimination in public
accommodations during the 1960
Olympics.
• 1961: Establishes the Equal Rights
Commission
• 1963: Memorandum to heads of state
boards and regulatory agencies
reminding them on
nondiscrimination policies.
• 1965: State law passed banning
discrimination in employment and
public accommodations.
Political Leadership
1967
• 4 Years after the Feature Article and after housing legislation finally passed, Washoe
County was “persuaded” to set up a general improvement district.
• Responsible for
•
•
•
•
•
•
New water system
Drilling wells
Installing a water tank
Putting mains to the houses
Fire Station
Community Building
• Funding from
•
•
•
•
The Fleischmann Foundation ($65,000)
Washoe County
Reno Kiwanis
HUD Grant
• Additional Projects and Funding
•
•
$248,000 HUD Grant for “Home Rehabilitation”
$8,000 HUD Grant to Pave Streets/ Streets named after Civil Rights Leaders
1971: Black Springs General
Improvement District
Black Springs
Today
(Lemmon Valley)
STUDENT LESSON
Available Online: PDF File, PPT Slide Show,
Stations Worksheets, Last Word Template,
Thank You for
Coming!
Katie Anderson: kmanderson@washoeschools.net