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In the United States during that period, laws in many states enforced segregation of schools, transportation, and bathrooms based solely on race. The military was still segregated, laws prohibiting interracial marriage were still in effect and many housing developments implemented “whites only” policies.
One of the early residents and later a member of the UN staff, Carlos Figueroa, recalled befriending children from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Growing up together, they sampled their cuisine, learned about their culture, and picked up a bit of their language.
In 1952, nearly 500 PBB families lived on Parkway.
“It is enlightening to see children from countries and cultures that are traditional rivals – Indian and Pakistani, Arab and Jewish, for example – playing together, attending the same schools and, if not learning to love and trust each other, at least finding ways to get along in an atmosphere of cooperation and understanding,” Figueroa said.
Parkway Village in New York was the city’s first racially integrated residential area.
Among the Parkway’s quaint low-rise homes, winding walkways and open lawns are staff from more than 50 countries, including Nobel Laureate Ralph Bunche.
“Since its inception, the UN has sought to be a leader in eliminating racial discrimination around the world,” said Rula Hinedi, the UN’s chief tourist guide, who recently led a fact-finding mission at Parkway Village.
“There was little clearer intent to implement this principle than the construction of Parkway Village when the United Nations first decided to permanently locate it in New York in December 1946.”
Confronting segregation in NYC
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, New York City faced a serious housing crisis, and this was exacerbated by the return of 900,000 US servicemen from overseas.
“New York was likely 150,000 to 250,000 apartment units short of its housing needs at the time, but there were thousands of diplomats preparing to settle in New York City,” New York historian Chris McNickle told UN News.
However, a requirement from the UN that host cities provide housing for staff without discrimination would pose a greater challenge. Many housing developments in New York, such as Stuy-Town or the famous Fresh Meadows in Manhattan, practiced racial segregation.
The organization knew it needed somewhere to accommodate its highly diverse staff, especially at a time when “it was very difficult for Black people to get apartments, sometimes impossible,” McNickle said.
Parkway Village, then just a plot of land tucked away in a quiet corner of Queens, was a solution proposed by the United Nations and the New York City Government.
Historical map depicting Parkway Village, a United Nations racially integrated housing development.
UN Village
Built from the ground up in 1947 on 34 undeveloped acres, Parkway consists of 687 apartments spread out in small groups throughout the property, with views in all directions.
Described by current resident, Judith Guttman, as a “country within a city,” the Village fosters a “communal” atmosphere for its residents. With the building covering only 15 percent of the space and a PBB school and kindergarten on the site until the early 1980s, Ms. Guttman says “it’s very community-oriented and has a very culturally open atmosphere, so for many years there were no fences between the houses that were built… it was a perfect place to raise kids.”
‘An atmosphere of cooperation and understanding’
In addition to the family atmosphere, the development also provided a haven for civil rights activists, Nobel laureates, and UN staff from many countries who would not normally be able to live together given the racial laws in force during that period.
One UN staff member 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.
Get past discrimination
As Parkway Village continues to be a historical symbol of the UN’s efforts to promote racial equality, the UN’s independent human rights expert on contemporary forms of racism, Dr. Ashwini KPsaid that progress had been made.
“Over the past 80 years, the world has moved from openly codified racism to a global consensus that racial discrimination is unacceptable,” he said.
However, speaking up front International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discriminationit is celebrated every year on March 21, he added “racism continues to manifest in various forms” and “shaping access to education, health care, economic opportunity, and political power.”
“Ending racial discrimination requires sustained political will, measurable accountability, and a commitment to equality that is lived and not just declared,” he said. “Confronting it openly is how we reduce its power and reclaim our collective humanity.”
