The Hell We’ve Been Through
Housing and Property Discrimination
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Richard Hause moved to Harrisburg in 1965. In his oral history interview, he recalls what life was like during this time:
“There was a lot of discrimination went on back then, and I think younger people today can’t even identify or imagine it, but—for example, I had friends who would go to look at an apartment they were interested in, and they were told, ‘Well, I’m sorry, we just don’t rent to your kind.’” In 1974 Mary Nancarrow was attending Shippensburg University and met her partner Char. Mary recounts in her oral history interview: “But at that time, Stonewall had happened, of course, but there was rampant discrimination, and Char and I rented a small apartment, a farmhouse outside of Shippensburg. We were both going to school there. And our first experience with this discrimination is that the landlord came to the—pounded on the door one day and said, “I need you to leave.” Okay? And I had a thought—I had a feeling that—that it was because of our relationship, but I needed to make—I forced him to tell us. Keep—keep asking, “So why? What’s the reason? We’re paying our rent, we’re—you know—we’re not wild, crazy people. We take care of your place.” And he finally stammered, “Well, it’s your relationship.” |
Mary Nancarrow. Photograph. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project collection at Dickinson College Archives.
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