Endnotes for White Family in Deerfield

head In 1960, the husband was considered the "head" of the family. Lending institutions assumed that the husband was the head of the family.

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29 In 1960, the median age for white males was 29.4. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1962, Eighty-third edition (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table No. 18: Population, By Age and Sex, 1930 to 1960, And By Color, 1950 and 1960, 26.

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eleventh In 1960, the median number of school years commpleted for all males was 10.3. The median number of school years completed for all whites was 10.9. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1962, Eighty-third edition (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table No. 148: Persons 25 Years Old and Over, By Years of School Completed, By Color and Sex: 1940 to 1960, 117.

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manufacturing In Illinois in 1960, the industry with the largest percentage of employees was manufacturing, at 34.4%. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1962, Eighty-third edition (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table No. 293: Employees in Nonagricultural Establishments—Percent Distribution, By Industry Division, By States: 1960 and 1961, 224.

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secretary In 1958, 29% of white married women living with their husbands were in the labor force. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 118. In the North Central Region in 1960, the largest occupation group for white females was clerical and kindred workers, at 32.1%. Daniel O. Price, Changing Characteristics of the Negro Population: A 1960 Census Monograph (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969).

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children In 1960, the average size of a white urban family was 3.51. Homer C. Hawkins, “Urban Housing and the Black Family,” Phylon, Vol. 37, No. 1 (1st Qtr., 1976), 74.

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white family Image of a family scanned from a Kellogg's Concentrate advertisement in Time, November 16, 1959, 133. A third child was removed from the picture.

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The large discrepancy between the median incomes of whites and nonwhites can be explained not only by differential earnings within occupations, but perhaps even more so by the concentration of nonwhites into lower paying occupations. Daniel O. Price, Changing Characteristics of the Negro Population: A 1960 Census Monograph (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969), 111.

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map of Deerfield http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html

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23 miles northwest Time, “High Cost of Democracy,” December 7, 1959, 23.

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11,786 Thomas A. Auger, “Deerfield, IL,” The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society, 2005) http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html

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$23,000 Time, “High Cost of Democracy,” December 7, 1959, 23.

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$9,000 Time, “High Cost of Democracy,” December 7, 1959, 23.

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Edens Expressway Thomas A. Auger, “Deerfield, IL,” The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society, 2005) http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html

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standards "Mortgage credit is the key to acquisition of good housing via homeownership. But, of course, any person seeking a loan to buy a house must possess adequate financial status to qualify for credit according to prevailing standards, and he must be able to offer a suitable property as security for the loan." Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 218.

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them Leo Grebler, "Housing Issues in Economic Stabilization Policy," Occasional Paper 72 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 1960), 11.

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credit “Even with the contingent liability of the federal government, the market does not regard FHA and VA loans as riskless assets. In judging them as investments it applies traditional standards of quality, just as in judging conventional mortgages. Thus, from the point of view of the lender, government underwritten loans with all the advantages noted, if secured by poorly located or otherwise less desirable properties, will command lower prices or higher yields than loans on more favorable or less risky properties." Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 93-94.

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Homebuilder Milgram Image of Morris Milgram by Stan Wayman for LIFE scanned from Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

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99.9% In 1960, 11,771 of Deerfield's 11,786 residents were white. Thomas A. Auger, “Deerfield, IL,” The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society, 2005) http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html

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concentrated In 1960, 0.1% (12) of Deerfield's 11,786 residents were African American. Thomas A. Auger, “Deerfield, IL,” The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society, 2005) http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html They would most likely have been upper-class families with very high incomes, well above the median income for Negroes. Studies of integrated housing (in particular, Davis McEntire's Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960) generally suggest that white families are not necessarily opposed to a few nonwhite families living in their community. Only when certain conditions occur do whites tend to voice their opposition. These conditions include a perceived (if not real) influx of nonwhites, fear of declining property values as a community transitions from white to nonwhite, being surrounded on more than one side by a predominantly nonwhite community, or having a concentration of nonwhites within the community forming a sort of "suburban ghetto." It is possible that the 20% of homes for sale to Negroes in the Floral Park subdivision of Deerfield represented a potential "suburban ghetto" in the minds of the whites living in the village, despite the high cost ($30,000-$40,000) of the homes, and that this was one of the main reasons for their strong opposition to the development.

The fear of declining property values was often used as a justification to sustain segregated housing, although that fear often became a self-fulfilling prophecy as homeowners sold their houses en masse and glutted the market, as Davis McEntire shows in Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 84. Although Time magazine suggested that "Deerfield's trouble is not so much hard-shell racism as pocket-book fear," some of the quotations associated with the controvesy had racist messages. Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

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Floral Park Milgram's company, Modern Community Developers, provided the financial backing for the Chicago-based Progress Development Corporation to build the 51-house development. Developers who sought to build for African Americans often had difficulty obtaining financing for their projects. Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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A $30,000 to $40,000 house in 1960 would cost $191,460 to $255,280 in 2004. http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

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me A white woman from Deerfield, quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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white woman Image of a woman identified as the wife of Mr. Arthur C. Hadden, scanned from a Bantron Smoking Deterrent Tablets advertisement in Time, January 18, 1960, 88.

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not thought much about it A white woman quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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8 miles New York Times, “A Suburb Fights Biracial Housing: Deerfield (Ill.) Developer’s Plan to Sell to Negroes Called ‘Subterfuge,’” November 29, 1959.

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Dykeman and Stokely write in a New York Times article, "In Deerfield and parts of the North, there have been only limited opportunities for individual Negro-white relationships. The legal status of the minority has been codified, needs and undertakings have been institutionalized, and what has been left out is personal involvement." The lack of individual interaction with members of other races reinforced the belief that all African Americans were alike based only on their race and therefore were all fundamentally different than whites, despite an emerging tendency of some of the growing middle class of African Americans to identify more strongly with members of their social class rather than their race. Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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Harold Lewis Harold Lewis quoted in Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

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property values Gregory C. Randall aptly notes in America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 200), that "the inherent and perceived values of property are not identical." (200). The fear of declining property values was often used as a justification to sustain segregated housing, although that fear often became a self-fulfilling prophecy as homeowners sold their houses en masse and glutted the market. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 84.

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married couple Image of a married couple scanned from a Bankers Life Company advertisement in Time, November 2, 1959, 52.

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resale value An "attractive young married couple" quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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Morris Courington Image of a man scanned from a Trig deoderant advertisement in Time, November 2, 1959, 58.

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listing Morris Courington, quoted in Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

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homeowner from the North Shore Image of a man from a Trig deoderant advertisement scanned from Time, November 2, 1959, 58.

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businessman Image of a man from a Du Pont Dacron advertisement scanned from Time, October 19, 1959, 115.

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do-gooders A businessman quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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democratic A North Shore householder quoted in Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

By 1960, housing had become a major civil rights issue in the context of the 1954 Brown v. Board decision and the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, as well as voting rights. The Brown v. Board decision ruled that "separate but equal" school facilities for African Americans and whites were inherently unequal. Segregated schools were deemed unconstitutional. Likewise, the Montgomery Bus Boycott resulted in a Supreme Court decision that ruled segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Remarks by Robert Weaver echoed the connection between the various arenas of civil rights activity: “in housing, as in most other areas, there is no such thing as separate but equal...The NAACP cannot fight for racial integration in public schools and acquiesce to segregated suburbs." Segregated housing was a particularly important issue in light of Brown v. Board because it often resulted in the de facto segregation of schools.

The Housing Act of 1949 declared that the national housing objective was “the realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.” By 1960, a growing African American middle class was increasingly able to afford better housing, but they were unable to obtain this housing because of restricted access to the general market. A select group of builders and lenders were beginning to see the potential for profit in catering to this growing middle class, but for the most part society remained adverse to the inclusion of African Americans in the free market for housing. Builders and lenders may have sensed that the reprisal from those opposed to African Americans having equal access to housing would outweigh the profit to be made from granting that access. The capitalist system, predicated on a belief in the profit motive of a free market and couched in the language of democracy, restricted the agency of these African Americans. While civil rights leaders championed equal access to housing in addition to schools, transportation, and voting, the attitudes of the African American people are an area for further inquiry. McEntire notes that many African Americans indicated in interviews that they did not want to be "pioneers" into white areas. A study of the housing market from the perspective of average African Americans--rather than lenders, government commissions, or civil rights leaders--would help to illuminate the question of African American consumer agency. Furthermore, like all social issues the issue of discrimination housing was more complex than simply a matter of passing a law or ruling it unconstitutional. Wyatt observes that "even if Negroes were free to compete in the open market for more adequate housing on the same basis as whites, they would still be at a decided disadvantage because of lower incomes.” A solution for equal access to housing would have to address the issue of differences in pay within occupations as well as the discrimination that restricted African Americans from obtaining higher-paying jobs in professional occupations.

See Hubert M. Jackson, “Public Housing and Minority Groups.” The Phylon Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1st Qtr., 1958), 21-30; Robert C. Weaver,“Excerpts of Remarks at the Open Occupancy Housing Session of the 50th Annual NAACP Convention.” July 14, 1959; Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 77; Donald W. Wyatt, “Better Homes for Negro Families in the South,” Social Forces, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Mar., 1950), 299.

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lover A young housewife quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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young housewife Image of a woman and child scanned from a First National Bank of Chicago advertisement in Time, September 14, 1959, 94.

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daughter An anonymous townsperson quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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church member Image of a man from a Trig deoderant advertisement scanned from Time, October 5, 1959, 82.

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ghettoes A member of a church congregation, quoted in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960.

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Homebuilder Milgram Image of Morris Milgram by Stan Wayman for LIFE scanned from Time, "High Cost of Democracy," December 7, 1959, 23.

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business This is not a direct quote from Morris Milgram. The quote is taken from Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960: "According to its creator and leader, Morris Milgram, this concern has a twofold purpose--to prove that integrated housing is not only good democracy but also good business." However, it is feasible to suggest that Milgram would have used such language himself, given that he also built four other integrated communities, two near Philadelphia and two near Princeton, before beginning the one in Deerfield. Milgram's Modern Community Developers, Inc. provided the financial backing for Chicago-based Progress Development Corporation, headed by Dr. Arthur Falls, an African American surgeon. Furthermore, Milgram lived in Greenbelt Knolls, one of his intergrated communities near Philadelphia. New York Times, “A Suburb Fights Biracial Housing: Deerfield (Ill.) Developer’s Plan to Sell to Negroes Called ‘Subterfuge,’” November 29, 1959.

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The fear of declining property values was often used as a justification to sustain segregated housing, although that fear often became a self-fulfilling prophecy as homeowners sold their houses en masse and glutted the market, as Davis McEntire shows in Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 84.

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built The Deerfield Park Board had on previous occasions been denied bond issues for public parks, and they saw the controversy over the development as an opportunity to obtain those parks. They told the developers to sell their land for the parks or condemnation proceedings would begin. The developers didn't sell, and voters voted 2,635 to 1,207 in favor of a $550,000 bond issue to condemn the land for parks. The builders sought an injunction to prevent the condemnation proceedings, but a federal judge ruled that the park board could proceed with the condemnation. The developers appealed. Despite a long series of court battles, the seizure of the land for public parks was upheld. Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960. William Robbins, "Investing Trust Widens Assault on the Color Line," New York Times, February 11, 1968.

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built The Deerfield Park Board had on previous occasions been denied bond issues for public parks, and they saw the controversy over the development as an opportunity to obtain those parks. They told the developers to sell their land for the parks or condemnation proceedings would begin. The developers didn't sell, and voters voted 2,635 to 1,207 in favor of a $550,000 bond issue to condemn the land for parks. The builders sought an injunction to prevent the condemnation proceedings, but a federal judge ruled that the park board could proceed with the condemnation. The developers appealed. Despite a long series of court battles, the seizure of the land for public parks was upheld. Wilma Dykeman and James Stokely, “’The South’ in the North,” New York Times, April 17, 1960. William Robbins, "Investing Trust Widens Assault on the Color Line," New York Times, February 11, 1968.

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The median family income of a white family receiving an FHA loan in 1956 was $6,173. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220.Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $6,716 for 1960. Again, if the wife's income is included, the white family makes close to this amount, but the wife's income is not included.

The median family income of white families with VA mortgages in 1956 was $5,870. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $6,386.56 for 1960. The VA considered counting a wife's income if the veteran couldn't qualify on the basis of his income alone, but only under certain circumstances, including the wife's "age, the nature and length of her employment, and the composition of the family [meaning number of children]." Emily Card, "Women, Housing Access, and Mortgage Credit," Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3, Supplement: Women and the American City (Spring, 1980), S217-S218. This simulation argues that the VA would not count the white wife's income because she was young enough to have a third child, after which they might consider to include her income. Even if the VA decided to include the wife's income, lenders had to approve the family first according to conventional standards. Lenders were often hesitant to make a VA-guaranteed loan on expensive properties because the maximum guarantee of a VA loan was $7,500. To avoid such risks, some large financial institutions would not accept VA loans if the unguaranteed portion exceeded 50 per cent of the appraised value of the property. Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 93-94. In the case of a typical home in Deerfield, the unguaranteed portion was about 67 per cent.

Although the low interest rates associated with VA and FHA loans benefited borrowers, the higher interest rates on conventional mortgages benefited lenders, making them more attractive to them. Saul B. Klaman explains, “in the face of generally rising interest rates and yields, federally underwritten mortgages with less flexible rates became unattractive to investors with alternative uses of funds.” Federally underwritten mortgages suffered a competitive interest rate disadvantage compared to conventional mortgages. The FHA was legally able to increase the permitted maximum interest rate on FHA loans to make them more competitive with conventional loans (as it did for example in December of 1956 when it increased the interest rate from 4 ½ to 5 per cent. However, the VA had no authority to increase the interest rate on VA loans, which was at 4 ½ percent as 1956 ended. Federally-underwritten mortgages, although advantageous to borrowers, could be difficult to obtain depending on the status of the market at any given time. See Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 63 and 73.

The median family income of white families with no mortgage in 1956 was $3,568. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $3,881.98 for 1960.

The white family in this simulation has an effective income ($4,400 when the wife's income is discounted) between the median for a conventional mortgage and no mortgage. The family might not be able to afford a house as expensive as one in Deerfield, but it would have a good chance of being approved for a house with a lower income to value ratio.

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This down payment amounts to 40 to 65 percent of a year's income for the white family in this simulation. The down payment for a conventional mortgage would likely be even higher than that expected by the FHA.

In 1956 Congress reduced the minimum down payment requirements on existing homes bought with FHA loans to match those for new homes in order to stimulate building by facilitating the sale of old houses by owners seeking new ones, so presumably the down payment on an existing home would be the same as a new home for the 1958 data in this table. Leo Grebler, "Housing Issues in Economic Stabilization Policy," Occasional Paper 72 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 1960), 72.

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The 1968 Fair Housing Act prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing on account of race, color, religion, and national origin, but discrimination on the basis of sex was not prohibited. Not until the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1973 prohibited discrimination on account of sex or marital status, and a 1974 companion bill prohibited discrimination on account of sex under the Fair Housing Act, were women's incomes regularly considered in lending decisions (before the laws were passed, women's incomes were considered in limited cases where her husband could not qualify on the basis of his income alone and where the woman was in the later part of her childbearing years or had already had 2 or more children). Emily Card, "Women, Housing Access, and Mortgage Credit," Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3, Supplement: Women and the American City (Spring, 1980), S216-S218.

A woman had a better chance of her income being counted if she was employed in a professional occupation. The wife in this simulation is not. Policies varied among and even within institutions. Some lenders would count some, but not all, of a wife's income. Some lenders required a "baby letter" attesting to the husband or wife's sterility, use of approved birth control methods, or willingness to terminate a pregnancy in order to count the wife's income. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Mortgage Money: Who Gets It? A Case Study in Mortgage Lending Discrimination in Hartford, Connecticut, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974), 18-29.

In 1960, the median income of female clerical and kindred workers working full-time and year round (35 hours or more for 50 weeks or more) was $3,645. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1962, Eighty-third edition (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table No. 454: Money Income of Persons--Recipients and Median Income, By Major Occupation Group and Sex: 1960, 336. The wife in this simulation works only part-time, but the (approximately) $1,800 dollars she contributes to the family income could make the difference between qualifying for a home or not. However, even if the wife's income were included in this case, it would still be difficult to buy a $23,000 house. The average salary of Deerfield residents ($9,000) suggests that lenders expected qualifying families to make about that much.

The figures for the median income of female private household workers includes both white and nonwhite females; however, in Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), Davis McEntire suggests that the gap between the incomes of white and nonwhite females is significantly smaller than the gap between the incomes of white and nonwhite males, perhaps because nonwhite women tend to complete more education and are able to obtain better-paying jobs as a result, because nonwhite women are perceived as less of a threat than nonwhite men, or because sex is the primary form of discrimination faced by all women regardless of race.

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The median family income of a white family receiving an FHA loan in 1956 was $6,173. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220.Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $6,716 for 1960. Again, if the wife's income is included, the white family makes close to this amount, but the wife's income is not included.

The median family income of white families with VA mortgages in 1956 was $5,870. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $6,386.56 for 1960. The VA considered counting a wife's income if the veteran couldn't qualify on the basis of his income alone, but only under certain circumstances, including the wife's "age, the nature and length of her employment, and the composition of the family [meaning number of children]." Emily Card, "Women, Housing Access, and Mortgage Credit," Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3, Supplement: Women and the American City (Spring, 1980), S217-S218. This simulation argues that the VA would not count the white wife's income because she was young enough to have a third child, after which they might consider to include her income. Even if the VA decided to include the wife's income, lenders had to approve the family first according to conventional standards. Lenders were often hesitant to make a VA-guaranteed loan on expensive properties because the maximum guarantee of a VA loan was $7,500. To avoid such risks, some large financial institutions would not accept VA loans if the unguaranteed portion exceeded 50 per cent of the appraised value of the property. Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 93-94. In the case of a typical home in Deerfield, the unguaranteed portion was about 67 per cent.

Although the low interest rates associated with VA and FHA loans benefited borrowers, the higher interest rates on conventional mortgages benefited lenders, making them more attractive to them. Saul B. Klaman explains, “in the face of generally rising interest rates and yields, federally underwritten mortgages with less flexible rates became unattractive to investors with alternative uses of funds.” Federally underwritten mortgages suffered a competitive interest rate disadvantage compared to conventional mortgages. The FHA was legally able to increase the permitted maximum interest rate on FHA loans to make them more competitive with conventional loans (as it did for example in December of 1956 when it increased the interest rate from 4 ½ to 5 per cent. However, the VA had no authority to increase the interest rate on VA loans, which was at 4 ½ percent as 1956 ended. Federally-underwritten mortgages, although advantageous to borrowers, could be difficult to obtain depending on the status of the market at any given time. See Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 63 and 73.

The median family income of white families with no mortgage in 1956 was $3,568. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $3,881.98 for 1960.

The white family in this simulation has an effective income ($4,400 when the wife's income is discounted) between the median for a conventional mortgage and no mortgage. The family might not be able to afford a house as expensive as one in Deerfield, but it would have a good chance of being approved for a house with a lower income to value ratio.

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This down payment amounts to 40 to 65 percent of a year's income for the white family in this simulation. The down payment for a conventional mortgage would likely be even higher than that expected by the FHA.

In 1956 Congress reduced the minimum down payment requirements on existing homes bought with FHA loans to match those for new homes in order to stimulate building by facilitating the sale of old houses by owners seeking new ones, so presumably the down payment on an existing home would be the same as a new home for the 1958 data in this table. Leo Grebler, "Housing Issues in Economic Stabilization Policy," Occasional Paper 72 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 1960), 72.

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The 1968 Fair Housing Act prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing on account of race, color, religion, and national origin, but discrimination on the basis of sex was not prohibited. Not until the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1973 prohibited discrimination on account of sex or marital status, and a 1974 companion bill prohibited discrimination on account of sex under the Fair Housing Act, were women's incomes regularly considered in lending decisions (before the laws were passed, women's incomes were considered in limited cases where her husband could not qualify on the basis of his income alone and where the woman was in the later part of her childbearing years or had already had 2 or more children). Emily Card, "Women, Housing Access, and Mortgage Credit," Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3, Supplement: Women and the American City (Spring, 1980), S216-S218.

In 1960, the median income of female clerical and kindred workers working full-time and year round (35 hours or more for 50 weeks or more) was $3,645. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1962, Eighty-third edition (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table No. 454: Money Income of Persons--Recipients and Median Income, By Major Occupation Group and Sex: 1960, 336. The wife in this simulation works only part-time, but the (approximately) $1,800 dollars she contributes to the family income could make the difference between qualifying for a home or not. However, even if the wife's income were included in this case, it would still be difficult to buy a $23,000 house. The average salary of Deerfield residents ($9,000) suggests that lenders expected qualifying families to make about that much.

The figures for the median income of female private household workers includes both white and nonwhite females; however, in Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), Davis McEntire suggests that the gap between the incomes of white and nonwhite females is significantly smaller than the gap between the incomes of white and nonwhite males, perhaps because nonwhite women tend to complete more education and are able to obtain better-paying jobs as a result, because nonwhite women are perceived as less of a threat than nonwhite men, or because sex is the primary form of discrimination faced by all women regardless of race.

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$17,500 In 1960, the median value of owner occupied single family units was $17,500. County and City Data Books, Retrieved June 26, 2006, from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ (2003).

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