Airport Homes Race Riots

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West Elsdon & West Lawn residents played a central role in the history of racial segregation in Chicago, Illinois during the Airport Homes race riots in 1946, the first of a series of public housing race riots in Chicago. “Airport Homes” was the name of the site in nearby West Lawn established by the Chicago Housing Authority to provide public housing to returning veterans and their families during the postwar housing shortage. Residents of West Lawn and West Elsdon rioted on 60th Street & Karlov Avenue. They succeeded in intimidating a few black war veterans and their families from joining white veterans in the homes.

The West Elsdon Civic Association became one of the first vocal political enemies of the CHA and its first executive secretary, Elizabeth Wood. Opposition to public housing remained strong in the area. In the early 1970s the West Elsdon Civic Association was an active participant in the “No-CHA” citywide coalition opposing scattered-site public housing in predominantly middle-class white neighborhoods.

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