Not In My Neighborhood: The 1939 Controversy over Segregated Housing in Salt Lake City

In the fall of 1939, a large group of residents living in one of Salt Lake City's central areas, a part of the larger Sumner neighborhood, reacted to a rumored petition that requested a zoning change to create a “negro residential zone” in their part of town and encourage more Black families from outside Utah to relocate there.¹ These residents did not name the plan's proponents, nor is it possible to be certain, even now, who might have suggested that this segregated housing area be created in Salt Lake City. At the time, the protesters insisted that an unnamed group of Black people were responsible for the petition asking for the zoning change. It is possible the Sumner residents and property owners may have learned about a new federal housing program under investigation in Ogden, Utah where members of that Black community had proposed that it be sponsored by...