Three-day, 14-mile march for No. Va. open housing: 1966
Marchers for open housing in Northern Virginia are shown in Alexandria Va.’s back streets October 8, 1966 on the first day of a three-day, 14-mile trek.
The protest was sponsored by the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation (ACCESS), which was carrying on a widespread campaign to desegregate rental housing in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
When the march began in Fairfax County, Nazi Frank Drager mounted a horse and paraded in front of the civil rights group with a sign that read “The N_____s are Coming” until the group entered Alexandria, Va. where police made Drager take down his sign.
On the second day of the march, a short, minor clash between police and supporters occurred at South 24th Street and Shirlington Road.
Police donned riot helmets and shouldered tear gas guns during a peaceful block party that marchers were invited to. Residents briefly hurled rocks and bottles at the officers before dispersing.
On the third day, marchers reached the Buckingham Apartments, the scene of an ongoing campaign by ACCESS to desegregate the complex.
About 300 marchers paraded around the parking lot in front of the rental office while a group of Klan and Nazis counter-protested. The group then moved on to nearby Lubber Run Park for a final rally.
A green-robed Ku Klux Klan member (probably Xavier Edwards) and American Nazi Party members, along with some neighborhood whites, heckled and booed speakers.
The march passed through some of the areas where poor housing conditions of many black people in the area were highlighted. It also passed by the whites-only apartment complexes that denied African Americans the opportunity to rent.
The ACCESS campaign to desegregate Washington, D.C. suburban housing began in March 1966 with picketing at the offices of Carl M. Freeman Associates that managed 12 Americana Apartment developments in suburban Maryland and Virginia.
In what became a common refrain, Freeman claimed to be in “complete agreement with the principle of open occupancy, but only if other apartment complex operators did the same.
The Buckingham Apartment complex in Arlington, Va. quickly became on ongoing target of weekly pickets and sit-ins, including one where 10 people were arrested.
ACCESS would go on to picket HUD offices, rally in Annapolis, picket the Olney farm of apartment owner Milton Polinger, the Whitehall and Aldon Apartments in Montgomery County, and complexes in Prince Georges County, Md.
Rev. Charles Jones, ACCESS chair, led a 66-mile march around the Beltway in June 1966 to highlight the lack of open housing in the suburbs.
Late in 1966, the group shifted its strategy to place pressure on the military to declare “off limits” apartment complexes that were not open to black and other minority Americans.
As part of the pressure, the group briefly staged a sit-in at Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s office and picketed Andrews Air Force base.
An informal survey found that only 129 of the 1300 apartment complexes in the Washington metropolitan suburbs had registered as “open.” A Defense Department spokesperson said the numbers were “roughly accurate.”
In June 1967, McNamara put “off limits” apartment complexes and trailer parks within 3.5 miles of Andrews that wouldn’t open their doors to black service personnel.
ACCESS proclaimed it as a start, but refused to be placated.
However, the Buckingham apartments remained a focus of ACCESS throughout their year-and-a-half campaign.
Picketing was held weekly—sometimes more often—and a march through Fairfax and Arlington ending at the Buckingham was held.
The group was harassed by Xavier Edwards’ Interstate Ku Klux Klan group and by the American Nazi Party, but didn’t back down.
The state of Maryland rejected an open housing law in a referendum in 1967 and the state legislature replaced it with a weak law that did not even cover home sales.
ACCESS achieved victory in Montgomery County, Md. in August 1967 which the passage of the toughest and most comprehensive county open housing law in the country.
Despite the belief at that time that enacting open housing would be political suicide, an informal survey of 675 families in Montgomery County selected at random from the phone book found that only 33 percent of homeowners and 31 percent of apartment renters were opposed to open housing.
ACCESS never achieved victory at Buckingham. It wasn’t until after the passage of the 1968 federal open housing law that the complex desegregated.
However, ACCESS can be credited with changing public opinion through their high profile actions that ultimately helped lead to changes in the Defense Department policies and open housing laws at the federal and local level.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk4S6zrA
Photo by Owen Duvall. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Three-day, 14-mile march for No. Va. open housing: 1966
Marchers for open housing in Northern Virginia are shown in Alexandria Va.’s back streets October 8, 1966 on the first day of a three-day, 14-mile trek.
The protest was sponsored by the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation (ACCESS), which was carrying on a widespread campaign to desegregate rental housing in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
When the march began in Fairfax County, Nazi Frank Drager mounted a horse and paraded in front of the civil rights group with a sign that read “The N_____s are Coming” until the group entered Alexandria, Va. where police made Drager take down his sign.
On the second day of the march, a short, minor clash between police and supporters occurred at South 24th Street and Shirlington Road.
Police donned riot helmets and shouldered tear gas guns during a peaceful block party that marchers were invited to. Residents briefly hurled rocks and bottles at the officers before dispersing.
On the third day, marchers reached the Buckingham Apartments, the scene of an ongoing campaign by ACCESS to desegregate the complex.
About 300 marchers paraded around the parking lot in front of the rental office while a group of Klan and Nazis counter-protested. The group then moved on to nearby Lubber Run Park for a final rally.
A green-robed Ku Klux Klan member (probably Xavier Edwards) and American Nazi Party members, along with some neighborhood whites, heckled and booed speakers.
The march passed through some of the areas where poor housing conditions of many black people in the area were highlighted. It also passed by the whites-only apartment complexes that denied African Americans the opportunity to rent.
The ACCESS campaign to desegregate Washington, D.C. suburban housing began in March 1966 with picketing at the offices of Carl M. Freeman Associates that managed 12 Americana Apartment developments in suburban Maryland and Virginia.
In what became a common refrain, Freeman claimed to be in “complete agreement with the principle of open occupancy, but only if other apartment complex operators did the same.
The Buckingham Apartment complex in Arlington, Va. quickly became on ongoing target of weekly pickets and sit-ins, including one where 10 people were arrested.
ACCESS would go on to picket HUD offices, rally in Annapolis, picket the Olney farm of apartment owner Milton Polinger, the Whitehall and Aldon Apartments in Montgomery County, and complexes in Prince Georges County, Md.
Rev. Charles Jones, ACCESS chair, led a 66-mile march around the Beltway in June 1966 to highlight the lack of open housing in the suburbs.
Late in 1966, the group shifted its strategy to place pressure on the military to declare “off limits” apartment complexes that were not open to black and other minority Americans.
As part of the pressure, the group briefly staged a sit-in at Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s office and picketed Andrews Air Force base.
An informal survey found that only 129 of the 1300 apartment complexes in the Washington metropolitan suburbs had registered as “open.” A Defense Department spokesperson said the numbers were “roughly accurate.”
In June 1967, McNamara put “off limits” apartment complexes and trailer parks within 3.5 miles of Andrews that wouldn’t open their doors to black service personnel.
ACCESS proclaimed it as a start, but refused to be placated.
However, the Buckingham apartments remained a focus of ACCESS throughout their year-and-a-half campaign.
Picketing was held weekly—sometimes more often—and a march through Fairfax and Arlington ending at the Buckingham was held.
The group was harassed by Xavier Edwards’ Interstate Ku Klux Klan group and by the American Nazi Party, but didn’t back down.
The state of Maryland rejected an open housing law in a referendum in 1967 and the state legislature replaced it with a weak law that did not even cover home sales.
ACCESS achieved victory in Montgomery County, Md. in August 1967 which the passage of the toughest and most comprehensive county open housing law in the country.
Despite the belief at that time that enacting open housing would be political suicide, an informal survey of 675 families in Montgomery County selected at random from the phone book found that only 33 percent of homeowners and 31 percent of apartment renters were opposed to open housing.
ACCESS never achieved victory at Buckingham. It wasn’t until after the passage of the 1968 federal open housing law that the complex desegregated.
However, ACCESS can be credited with changing public opinion through their high profile actions that ultimately helped lead to changes in the Defense Department policies and open housing laws at the federal and local level.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk4S6zrA
Photo by Owen Duvall. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.