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Why did the @KCStar publish this irresponsible article? Jay Nichols makes a number of assertions about J.C. Nichols that are demonstrably false. No fact checking. No voice on the other side of the issue. So here are some facts. https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243459771.html
Jay: “B/c it was 1903 [JCN] had to have restrictive deeds. Restrictive deeds meant that the house had to have certain setbacks . . . size of the house . . . was restricted and, unfortunately, in order to sell to contractors, you had to say no Black people. It was a fact of life."
Untrue. Census says in 1880, no KC ward had more than 21% of the total black population. “Isolation index” was 13.3% in 1880, 12.7% in 1890, 13.2% in 1900. 100% means Blacks live in all-black neighborhoods. 50% or lower means that Blacks more likely to have Whites as neighbors.
This means KC was integrated before J.C. Nichols began building subdivisions in 1908. Even wealthy neighborhoods in the old Northeast (soon depopulated by white-only Nichols developments) had a significant black population, living in housing NOT controlled by racial covenants.
So segregation was not a “fact of life” when JCN began his business. What JCN did was capitalize on this fact and use the idea of white-only space as a way to make his properties more attractive—as compared to existing integrated neighborhoods.
Here’s an ad from 1908: “HAVE YOU SEEN THE COUNTRY CLUB DISTRICT? 1,000 ACRES RESTRCITED FOR THOSE WHO WANT PROTECTION.” Protection from whom? Jay Nichols criticizes Trump, but this is clearly Trumpian language.
Here’s who J.C. Nichols’ buyers were being protected from. His racial covenants read: “None of said land may be conveyed to, used, owned, or occupied by negroes as owners or tenants.” Segregation was a selling point. It distinguished JCN properties from integrated parts of city.
Thus, saying that JCN “had to have” restrictive deeds is wrong. The city had done fine w/out them. It is also wrong to claim that restricting the size of the house or the set back is same as restricting what kind of human can own the home. The latter is systemic racism.
From historian Kevin Fox Gotham: “In Kansas City, beginning in 1908 and continuing through at least 1949, the Nichols company built dozens of racially restrictive subdivisions for upper- and middle-income whites.” That’s in @KCMO. https://www.amazon.com/Race-Estate-Uneven-Development-Second/dp/1438449429
In @jocogov, KS, “Between 1906 and 1953, Nichols developed over 6,000 homes and 160 apartment buildings that included more than 35,000 white Kansas Citians and would eventually encompass . . . Prairie Village, Roeland Park, and Fairway" in KS.
Again, the whiteness of these neighborhoods was Nichols’ sercret sauce. Saying "no Black people" was advertising. He taught ppl to think that presence of Black people hurt real estate values. This increased value of his properties compared to integrated space. So he made bank.
By 1940, the block level index of nonwhite-White segregation was 88. That meant that 88% of minorities would have to move in order to live in an integrated neighborhood. A big difference from 1890-1900 before Nichols started building.
Amazing one quote can have this many inaccuracies. These facts are available to @kcstar and @eadler. I’ve discussed them in MANY public interviews. So have colleagues @stevekraske @DrRodneySmith1 & Jake Wagner. A journalist's job is to correct facts when sources distort them.
I’ll unpack more later. But no one, esp. @KCParksBoard & Chris Goode, should have to waste any more time refuting false assertions like this. This interview is gaslighting. The historical record is real. Read my work and the work of the authors I cite below. It’s all there.
Sources: my reporting for my novel The King Of Kings County. Historian Kevin Fox Gotham’s book Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development and Tanner Colby’s Some of My Best Friends are Black—which I helped him research.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143037692?tag=duckduckgo-ffnt-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143037692?tag=duckduckgo-ffnt-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
Messed up my own link so: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143037699
