David Jones, center, is believed to be Skokie’s first Black resident. He spoke about his experience of buying a home at a fair housing event in honor of Juneteenth. Left to right: Becky Betts, David Jones, David Donegan. When David Jones attempted to buy his first house in 1961 on Kildare Avenue in Skokie, he said he realized that the real estate agent had given him the wrong key to visit the home he was interested in. At first, Jones thought it was an innocent mistake.
Back in 1961, Jones was able to enter the house after climbing through an open window, which he thought was okay because he was presented with the key in the first place. Jones described his experience after moving to Skokie as “a few difficulties when we first moved in and then after for about four or five months.”
Although Jones said he doesn’t remember the name of the real estate agent, the ad names him as Joseph J. Hansen, the same name as the developer of the Concord Lane subdivision, which included 20 lots between Kenton and Kostner Avenues to the east and west and James Drive and Cleveland Street to the north and south. The houses in that subdivision had a restrictive covenant that said “premises shall not be conveyed or leased to be occupied by any person who is not a Caucasian, except servants.
The village passed a Fair Housing Ordinance on Jan. 1,1968, months before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the federal Fair Housing Act into law on April 11, 1968.