A. Barton Hinkle on the Racist Roots of Zoning Laws

“Blacks,” said Mayor Barry Mahool,
“should be quarantined in isolated slums in order to reduce the
incidents of civil disturbance, to prevent the spread of
communicable disease into the nearby White neighborhoods, and to
protect property values among the White majority.” Mahool was the
mayor of Baltimore who, in 1910, signed into law a racial zoning
ordinance. According to Christopher Silver’s The Racial Origins
of Zoning in American Cities, he was also “a nationally
recognized member of the ‘social justice’ wing of the Progressive
movement.” And unfortunately, writes A. Barton Hinkle, zoning’s
racist roots still bear fruit.

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