The UN housing development that challenged the segregated United States of the 1940s

In the United States of that period, laws in many states enforced separate schools, transportation, and restrooms based solely on race. The military was still segregated, laws banning interracial marriage remained in effect, and many housing developments enforced a “whites only” policy.

Carlos Figueroa, one of the first residents and later a UN employee, recalled being friends with children from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. They grew up together, tasting cuisines, learning about their cultures and learning little bits of their languages.

In 1952, nearly 500 United Nations families lived in Parkway.

“It was enlightening to see how children from countries and cultures that are traditional rivals – Indians and Pakistanis, Arabs and Jews, for example – play together, go to the same schools and, if they do not learn to love and trust each other, at least find a way to get along in an atmosphere of cooperation and understanding,” said Mr. Figueroa.

Among the Parkway’s quaint low-rise homes, winding paths and open lawns lived staffers from more than 50 countries, including Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche.

“From its very beginnings, the United Nations has sought to be a leader in eliminating racial discrimination worldwide,” said Rula Hinedi, head of UN tour guides, who recently led a fact-finding mission to Parkway Village.

“There are few clearer intentions to put this principle into practice than the development of Parkway Village, when the UN first decided to settle permanently in New York in December 1946.”

The fight against segregation in NYC

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, New York City faced a serious housing crisis, exacerbated by the return of 900,000 U.S. military personnel from abroad.

“New York seemed to be 150,000 to 250,000 apartments short of the housing needs needed at the time, and yet there were thousands of diplomats preparing to make their homes in New York City,” New York historian Chris McNickle said. UN news.

However, it was the United Nations requirement for the host city to provide staff housing without discrimination that would pose an even greater challenge. Many housing projects in New York, such as the famous Stuy-Town or Fresh Meadows in Manhattan, practiced racial segregation.

The organization knew it needed a place to house its incredibly diverse staff, especially at a time when “it was very difficult for Black people to get an apartment, and sometimes impossible,” Mr. McNickle said.

Parkway Village, then located just one plot deep in a quiet corner of the Queens neighborhood, was the solution that the UN and the City of New York came up with.

A historic map shows Parkway Village, the UN’s racially integrated housing development.

The United Nations Village

Parkway was built from scratch in 1947 on 34 acres of vacant land and consisted of 687 apartments spread throughout the site, with views in all directions.

The village, which current resident Judith Guttman described as the “country in the city,” provided a “communal” atmosphere for its residents. With buildings covering just 15 per cent of the area and housing the UN school and nursery on site until the early 1980s, Ms Guttman said: “It was so community-oriented and had a very culturally open atmosphere that for many years no fences had been built between the houses… it was the perfect place to raise children.”

‘Atmosphere of cooperation and understanding’

In addition to the family atmosphere, the development also provided a refuge for civil rights activists, Nobel laureates and UN workers from numerous countries who would not normally have been able to live together given the racial laws in effect during the period.

One UN staffer who benefited from the village’s integration was Ralph Bunche, the first black person to win the Nobel Peace Prize after his mediation efforts on behalf of the UN in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the late 1940s.

Discrimination is over

While Parkway Village remains a historic symbol of the UN’s commitment to advancing racial equality, the independent UN human rights expert on contemporary forms of racism, Dr. Ashwini K.Psaid progress has been made.

“Over the past 80 years, the world has moved from overt codified racism to a global consensus that racial discrimination is unacceptable,” she said.

However, in anticipation of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discriminationmarked annually on March 21, she added “Racism continues to manifest itself in different forms” and “shaping access to education, health care, economic opportunity, and political power.”

“Ending racial discrimination requires sustained political will, measurable responsibility and a commitment to equality that is lived and not just stated,” she said. “By openly confronting it we diminish its power and regain our collective humanity.”