Property and Racial Exclusion in Illinois: Patterns and Practices from Colonial Slavery to Suburban Marginalization, 1720s–2010s

• Published in: Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998) Vol. 116; no. 4; pp. 9 - 47
• Main Authors: Kisiel, Caroline M, Miller, Brian J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springfield University of Illinois Press 22.12.2023; Illinois State Historical Society
• Subjects: African Americans; Book publishing; Community; History; Minority & ethnic groups; Publishing industry; Race; Racism; Right of property; Slavery; Social aspects; Sovereignty; Statehood; Suburbs; United States; Indiana; Illinois; Missouri; Mexico; United Kingdom; France; Louisiana; United States > US
• ISSN: 1522-1067; 2328-3335
• DOI: 10.5406/23283335.116.4.03

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, the intersection of race and ethnicity with property—what has been defined as property, who has property rights, and who can benefit from property—has impacted people and communities. In Illinois, other northern states, and in the United States more broadly, access to and the belief in the right to property and all that comes with it is highly racialized. 1 In this discussion, we consider the changing forms of racial exclusion via property by specifically examining how the complex legacy of slavery and the Illinois Black Codes in the early statehood years, three significant race massacres in the early twentieth century, and the local and informal practices in suburbs regarding open housing and development contributed to broad and dynamic racialized property patterns. 2 Across these periods, this study reveals the connections between when African Americans were considered property and when they and other people of color could own property. Some historians have contended that slavery under the French in this period in the Illinois Country (Upper Louisiana) was not harsh. 5 The Codes recognized slaves as human beings, and enslavers had to provide food, shelter, clothing, Sundays and holidays off, and instruction in the Catholic faith. 6 However, the Codes also described Black enslaved people as “chattels that could be bought and sold like other personal property.” 19 The language of “claiming” other human beings outlined in article 6 codified in law the concept of the right of ownership of other human beings.