Back in the early 1900's and now, homeowning was a very important and "big deal." Though houseowning has brought many Americans together, it has also turned us against one another due to the big competition of owning a house. Detroit, 1920. housing supply was very short. As the war began in 1925 thousands of "black newcomers" entered Detroit and scared White house owners. White owners felt that black house owners would make the value of the houses go down and increase burglary and such. There was a Dr. Sweet, a Black physician, that ended up fighting to keep his house that was in a white neighborhood.
1. Besides the fact that white owners thought that value would go down, do you think there was another reason for them not wanting black homeowners?
2. If Sweet would not have been allowed back into his house, do you think he would've fought for his house still?
Home owning was very difficult and brought a lot of problems for black people. Home owning was difficult for black people because "real estate agents refused to show blacks houses in white neighborhood’s. Banks turned down blacks for mortgages. “Sweet was an educated man who just wanted his family to be safe and not rat infested so he was determined to buy a house in a "good neighborhood." Sweet didn't have that quest of ownership be so sweet, he ended up shooting at a mob that threw rocks and broke his windows. Sweet was declared not guilty for killing a man. Sweet was plead to the judge he was only protecting his family and acted in self-defense.
ReplyDelete1. The reason white people did not want black people in their neighborhoods is because they would "cause their neighborhood to decay and fill their streets with criminals."
2. I think Sweet would have still fought for his house because he seemed determined to live there considering his moving van carried a shotgun, two rifles, six pistols, and four hundred round s of ammunition.