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Primary Source Sets
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A 1939 memo about “The Negro Population of Philadelphia and Sub-Standard Housing Conditions.”

A 1939 memo about “The Negro Population of Philadelphia and Sub-Standard Housing Conditions.”

This memo from is dated October 25, 1939, and comes from the Urban League of Philadelphia, a local chapter of the National Urban League, an organization founded "to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights." The memo outlines key statistical differences between white and black Philadelphians, particularly with regard to housing. The memo makes clear that African Americans were disproportionately living in substandard conditions, and paying higher rents, with profound implications for health and crime. It suggests that contemporary housing policy did not address the issues facing black residents and that more would have to be done to address systemic inequalities.

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Citation Information
Barnes, Dr. and Shorter, Charles A., “Re: The Negro Population of Philadelphia and Sub-standard Housing Conditions,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/5ad51fe7bf87a4dea9cea01358b25acc.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Temple University via PA Digital.

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For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
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Item 8 of 13 in the Primary Source Set Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Previous ItemNext Item
A poster of the boxer Jack Johnson, circa 1910.
A photograph of Jack Johnson and wife, circa 1905-1915.
A 1904 photograph of Booker T. Washington.
An excerpt from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois about double consciousness, 1903.
The Negro Motorist Green Book, 1950.
A theatrical poster for Neil O'Brien as a blackface minstrel performer, 1915.
A 1921 collage of newspaper clippings about Marcus Garvey and African American activism.
A 1939 memo about “The Negro Population of Philadelphia and Sub-Standard Housing Conditions.”
The painting Moon over Harlem by William H. Johnson, circa 1943-1944.
An excerpt from FBI files on Ralph Ellison’s communist activities, 1950-1964.
A typed quotation from Invisible Man.
An audio recording of Ralph Ellison testifying before the US Senate about Harlem, 1966.
An excerpt from a 1992 episode of the PBS television program “Main Street, Wyoming” that discusses Invisible Man.

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