Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Suburb
- Metro Area
- DC
- Politics c. 1860?
- Don’t Know
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Don’t Know
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Surely
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Surely Not
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 21,456 | 8,871 | ||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
email 4/2008
I and my husband David Koopman, both European Americans, moved to Greenbelt Maryland in December 1963 from Ann Arbor, Michigan where I had experience volunteering in fair housing issues.
When we went to GHI (Greenbelt Housing) to sign the papers for purchasing our
home, I B Westway Rd. I inquired about the inclusion of African Americans as residents. The response was, “Don’t worry about it, we don’t allow them in here.” Having explained that my inquiry was about inclusion not exclusion of racial minorities, to an incredulous
GHI representative, we nonetheless did move into our duplex.
Greenbelt was built all-white in 1937.
“Although there were no written rules explicitly stating
that blacks were not to be allowed as residents of
Greenbelt, no black families were selected….
“There was some mild support for the inclusion of
black families living in Greenbelt, but ‘the idea was
never considered politically feasible.’ The
simultaneous construction of housing for blacks in
nearby Washington, DC convinced officials that
housing for blacks in Greenbelt was unnecessary.
Fourteen blacks were considered as residents of
Greenbelt in statistics, although they did not actually
live in the town, but ‘in outlying farms located on
Greenbelt property.’
“W. H. Form, who researched Greenbelt and its
residents in the 1940s, observed the black workers
perform janitorial duties and the like in the town.
Unlike white workers with similar jobs, the blacks were
not greeted by the townsfolk, received very little
compensation, and ‘no deference’ was ‘paid to
them.’… Because blacks were at the bottom of the
social ladder because of existing prejudices and
norms, Greenbelters did not attempt to form any
relationships with the black workers, resulting in their
isolation at work and during their meals. The
Greenbelt Cooperative and local liberals quelled
protest among some residents concerning the black
workers buying food in the local stores. When black
visitors toured Greenbelt out of curiosity upon hearing
about the Greenbelt project, local citizens objected to
the service of ‘colored people … in the town
drugstore.’ The council dismissed the complainers’
objections and allowed blacks to receive services in
the town…”
-“Blacks in Greenbelt”, 8 October 2002